“I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles.”― Audrey Hepburn
Who had this quote. I may have hijacked it from Jess, but who knows. I saw it. I planted it here and saved it. It made me think of how I need to show you guys my post-Lent nails. Giving up polish for Lent and focusing on Nail Treatments made a HUGE difference in the length and strength of my nails. I’m sad I had to recently cut them, but it was fun having super long nails for awhile.
1. My bare nails before any paint. They looked SO good! amazing. 2. First voyage back into polish. Because I’d been on a polish free diet for 40 days, I had to go out and buy a new one to commerate my return. I bought Essie’s Turqoise & Caicos. I wanted a similar shade to the China Glaze For Audrey. I saw some pics with the half glitter nail, I tried to paint it with an arch. I layered the glitter. It was fun and looked very spring like since it was right after Easter. 3. I was heading out and wanted some fun nails, so I did a leopard print. I still haven’t perfected leopard. But I just bought a new nail art pin with a fine point, so it should get better. 4. HUNGER GAMES. So I became obsessed with all things Hunger Games after reading the books before watching the movie. So of course I bought one of the polishes from the China Glaze Hunger Games Collection. Electrify is the color and it is the glitter on my fingers. I immediately though of Girl on Fire when I saw it, so they did a good job. It’s glittery but its not hexagonal glitter. Me likes.
1. One day I was feeling purple, but of course I needed something extra, hence my nude pinky nail with polka dots. I used both sides of my dotting tool. 2. Newspaper nails. Cindo De Mayo. I said I would try this design because everywhere I read said it was easy… and it also was something great for spring pastels. It was amazingly easy. LOVE IT. the 3rd and 4th pics are out of order, but 3. are my nails after a trim but pre- California / Vegas. I was playing (and failing) at tape designs and ending up trying to do the half moon design. I wanted bright. So that’s the Nicki Minaj Did it on “em Green by OPI. 4. Ombre. Ombre. Ombre. These nails remind me of waves. I used a white base color and 3 diff shades of blue + a makeup sponge.
While I was in LA/Vegas I broke a nail. 🙁 🙁 and I couldn’t walk around with jacked up nails. So I had been wanting to try some of the nail strips that seem to be all the rage. That’s what the red/black stripes are in photo box 1. LOVE! 2. I tried to create a bow and failed. Loved the neutral, loved the almost bow. Need practice. 3. Is Braziliant by Essie. A color I couldn’t live without last summer. Still a perfect summer color. 4. My current nails. I tried a glitter placement trick which I watched a tutorial on with my new DEBORAH LIPPMAN glitter polish.
*wipes brow* Lots of nail fun. Usually before attempting some of the designs, like marbeling or ombre or whatever I watch a few youtube vids or read a few tutorials, although I prefer vids. Lately my goto polish blogs are Chelseas Get Nailed or Polish Your Pretty I also look at Refinery29, or DIYnails.tumblr. or whatever other blog I find them on ..
Alot of the designs are replicates or just slight variations, but its also good looking at other peoples techniques to develop your own.
Nail polish and art makes me happy 🙂 Next time I’ll use my real camera vs. cell phone and have better quality pics