Arrgh! Pirate Themed French Nails

Hello!

I'm back to doing Halloween themed nail art! My nails are once again at the perfect length for french manicures, so I decided to try one out. And I love it! There's something so classy about french nails...but any-hoo, on to the pictures:

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Materials Used (L to R):
Orly Bonder Base Coat
Seche Rose (French Base)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rapid Red (stripes)
Konad Special Polish in Black
Diamond Shield Top Coat (for sticking rhinestones)
Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
1mm Rhinestones (not pictured)
Fauxnad Image Plate m28 (not pictured)

I used a striping brush with Rapid Red to make the red stripes. I wanted to make it a little more interesting, so I stuck red rhinestones on the skulls eye sockets. Simple and cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hello Everyone!

Today is my 24th! And so far, it's been great. I got some great gifts, and got to spend the day with my family, so it's been pretty good :)
For my birthday mani, I wanted to combine elements of my favorite things. This mani incorporates my favorite color (purple), my favorite insect (butterflies), and of course glitter!

Materials Used (in order):
Milani 3D holographic Hi-Res
Sinful Colors Purple Diamond
Wet n Wild fastdry Hannah Pinktana
Sinful Colors Fiji
NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Starry Silver Glitter (2 coats)
Konad Image Plate m1
Konad Special Nail Polish in Black (stamping)

It may be hard to tell, but this was actually a gradient mani. My first successful one! I used a make up sponge to apply the polishes, and it was a breeze.

I got money as birthday gifts, so guess what I bought? Polish of course!

L to R: Milani Garnet Gems, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet, (2) NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Starry Silver Glitter, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement, Revlon Not So Blueberry

L to R: Revlon Blue Mosaic, Starry Pink, Facets of Fuchsia

 When I saw these 3 beauties in Target for $3.36 each, I literally squealed. My mom looked at me like I was a nut or something. She couldn't understand why I was so excited over polish. 3 lemmings satisfied in one go!

L to R: Sally Hansen High Definition Nail Color in Spectrum, Milani 3D Holograpic HD, NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel Top Coat, Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat.

 I got the four above from CVS. I haven't been to CVS in years and was shocked to see that they had a good selection of Orly products! Of course, at $7.99 a pop, I wasn't about to go crazy. The basecoat sounded good, so I decided to grab it. On the back of the box, it says that it prevents nail lacquer from wearing off for up to two weeks. I will definitely be putting this claim to the test soon.

$5 for this set at Target! The polish junkie in me simply couldn't resist.

Shades from Payless. I paid $9.99 for one and $4.99 for the other! Payless is buy one, get one half off of everything.

Spin Pins by Goody. Greatest hair invention ever made! It holds my bun up all day long.

Inked Wet n Wild Craze Collection: $1.99 ea. at Duane Reade

Pretty decent birthday haul! And I'm totally happy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Multicolored Pink Nails

 Hi!

 Was your weekend too short? Because mine was! Work rolled around way too fast :(. In anticipation of the cloud of depression that usually falls over me every Monday, I decided to combat the Monday blues...with pink! All pics were taken in natural light, and are enlargeable when clicked.

Materials Used:
CND Basecoat
Orly Cotton Candy (pinkie)
Orly Basket Case (ring finger)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pink Blink (middle finger)
Orly Fancy Fuchsia (index finger)
Orly Lollipop (thumb)
Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter (1 coat over index and ring finger)
Color Club Wild at Heart (stamping polish)
Seche Vite Top Coat
Bundle Monster Image Plate BM-213

As you can see, Wild at Heart is good for stamping. If I look at it really closely, I can see the holographic particles! Unfortunately, it isn't as noticeable in pictures.
I'm really loving using multiple polishes in a single manicure. It's a great way to 'test drive' a polish :)

Thanks for looking!

Pink Glittery Funky French!

Hey!

Hope everyone is having a great Friday. Today I have some glittery, almost sickeningly feminine nails to share with you:

Pink Slanted French With Glittery Fimo Flower Accent Nail

Couldn't you see Barbie rockin' this look? :D

Materials Used:
2 Coats of Seche Rose (Base Color)
1 coat of Orly Fancy Fuchsia for slanted french
3 coats of OPI Teenage Dream on ring finger with 2 fimo flowers
1 coat of OPI Teenage Dream over slanted french tips

I was so proud that I was able to freehand the slanted french so well on my left hand! But I had to use tape on my right hand. I'm not that great at doing my right hand yet :-/
Teenage Dream is gorgeous. I recently ordered a 2nd bottle just so I'd never be without it!

Yesterday I took a little trip to Walgreens. Thanks to a heads up from a few blogs, I was able to get my hands on some Wet n Wild polishes for only $.99! I also picked up 2 Sally Hansen Xtreme wear glitter polishes at $3.49 each; It felt like a lot compared to the Wet n Wild :-/

L to R: Rockstar Pink, In the Spotlight, 9.0.2.1.Orange, Buffy the Violet Slayer, The Wonder Yellows, Saved by the Blue, Ebony Hates Chris, Party of Five Glitters

I also got a few more things in the mail. I really need to go on a no buy.

L to R:  China Glaze Party Hearty & Cosmic, Milani Jewel FX in Silver and Gold, Milani One Coat Glitter in Ruby Sparkle, Sally Hansen Whirlwind White

Last night, I came across a cool challenge that I see other bloggers doing: the 30 Day Challenge!

I'm a little late for this month, and I have a lot of stuff planned for my favorite holiday next month. So I'm thinking maybe I'll start this in November. I can't wait! Seems like a fun thing to do :). Are any of you doing the 30 day challenge?

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!
-SmokE

Lightning Bolts!

Hi!

In my previous post I predicted that I would get bored with my nails the way they were. And surprise surprise, I did :-/. So I thought, what better time to try Nailside's Double Lightning Bolt Tutorial again? I'm holding China Glaze Blue Sparrow in my hand unless otherwise stated. All pics are enlargeable when clicked!

Here I'm Holding Sky High-Top

I used 1 coat of Orly Shine for the silver lightning bolt and 1 coat of Wet n Wild Black Creme for the black bolt. Overall, I like the way it came out. I think it looks very cool :). With the shatter polish, it kind of looks like the lightning bolts made the ground crack! And I'm so glad Hurricane Irene finally departed and gave us back the sun so I could take pictures! My camera still didn't quite capture the depth of this color to me, but its still a pretty blue.
If you haven't checked out Nailside yet, DO! She has awesome tutorials of her tape mani's.
On a side note, my engagement party is Friday! So of course I have to do something pretty with my nails. I'm thinking something pink and glittery. Perhaps Teenage Dream will make an appearance?? So stay tuned for that!

Later!

-SmokE

Happy Memorial Day!

Hello blog world! And a Happy Memorial Day to all :)
On this Memorial Day, I played hooky from work, and decided to start a blog. Good use of my time, no?
At the moment, I know that I want this blog to be, primarily, a means to share my nail art creations with the world. But I'm sure that my ramblings on other subjects will find its way in here from time to time. In addition to an almost shameful addiction to nail polish and nail art, I love horror movies. Zombies in particular! So maybe a movie review will find its way in here at some point...who knows? Expect other random ramblings, because I am a very random individual :)
So to kick things off, here's my Memorial Day mani:

Base Coat: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Hardner
Flag Background: Wet n Wild Wild Shine in 'French White Creme'
Flag Stripes: Orly 'Star Spangled'
Tip Color: Orly 'Royal Navy'
Smile Line Polish: Kiss Brush On Nail Art Paint in 'Silver Glitter'
Stars: Konad Image Plate m3 stamped with Konad white special polish
China Glaze in 'Fairy Dust'  (for added shimmer)
Top Coat: Seche Vite Top Coat

The photo doesn't do this mani justice. Orly 'Royal Navy' is very vibrant, and China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' just kicked it up a notch. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to photograph it in the sun. The sparkliness is beautiful :'(

Until next time,

-SmokE