52 week challenge week 9: vintage mani

Apparently this manicure was a way to save nail polish back in the day. Two things I learned about my nails from this one: you can only see a tiny bit of the moon on my ring and pinky fingers and my nails are yellow! Painting sideways was a very strange experience too as I didn't use French tape guidelines, I just free-handed this shiz. I actually like this style but in the future I'll either make sure I've buffed the yellow out of my nails or use a neutral base coat. This is two coats of Essie After Sex (which I bought solely for the name)

52 week challenge week 8: corset nails

Corset nails? The only thing I ever wear that laces up is shoes (are shoes?). I had to google images for this one. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White for the base, I free handed OPI Funky Dunky down the middle and used my dotting tools to make the grommets. I then used Sinful Colors nail art polish in black (I forgot the name and don't have the bottle) for the laces. I'm overall pleased with this but especially the thumb on my left hand.

52 week challenge week 7: valentine's day mani

My Valentine's mani started out with a base coat of OPI It's A Girl which was procured during an obsession with pale sheer pinks that would be wedding-worthy. This is definitely not the winner but it's a nice sheer color. I topped this with NOPI Love Your Life which is a clear base with pink heart glitters and small holo glitter. This is a PITA! I had to use a toothpick to get the heart shaped glitter out of the bottle and ended up with lumpy nails. The overall effect was subtle and cute except for the lumps.
Valentine's isn't a big holiday for me and the mister, we went out for sushi with the kid on Monday. I got him a box of chocolates and told him if he wanted to get me something a donut would be perfect. I'm still waiting for it lol!

52 week challenge week 6: half-moon mani

So I've skipped week 5, I don't have any newspaper. I may come back to it. Week six is half moon mani. I used two Sinful Colors, Cinderella and Blue By You. Cinderella is a pale blue with a pink shimmer, it's gorgeous. Blue By You is a darker blue with turquoise shimmer. My base was three coats of Cinderella. I then used hole reinforcements to mark off the moons and put one coat of BBY. The result is a shimmery half moon. My friend said I had Smurf nails lol!

Pure Ice Kiss Me Here and Milani Teal Jewel FX

Short and sweet, here is a gorgeous grey creme topped with one of Milani's new Jewel FX glitters. Real has hex teal, green and holo glitter combined with micro teal glitter. It's a top coat eater but so pretty! I love this combo!

Max Factor Fantasy Fire

There's a rare and famed polish known as Clarins 230 that has earned the nickname Unicorn Pee because of the rainbow colors it flashes and the rareness of it. Recently Max Factor came out with a polish called Fantasy Fire that is VERY close to 230. However it's only available in the UK. I was lucky enough to swap with someone to get this gem. First of all, it's a tiny bottle. But it's gorgeous! I put it over Revlon Royal, an amazing blue jelly polish that I now love and wish I'd had for the plain mani. I had a hard time catching glimpses of the green flash in the Fantasy Fire layered over it and failed miserably at capturing it on my phone. Go see Cris at Let Them Have Polish for her swatches using the same combo.

52 week challenge week 4: plaid nails

Welp, I procrastinated on this week for a while. This spring I went to get a pedicure and asked for plaid. What I got was not plaid, it was lame. So that put me off of plaid nails. Plus, I didn't know what pattern to do. Then it hit me: my mans tartan. I crocheted him an afghan with it (holy hard! I really love that man!) so I'm intricately familiar with it. This is the Duncan tartan, my crochet version of it and my nails. I used Nina Ultra Pro in Salsa, Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Thinking of Blue, Kiss Nail Artist in white and OPI OPI Red (not a typo, they call it OPI red) topped with ProFX Quick Dry Top Coat.