Snow White nails

Right after we booked our Disney vacation I decided I wanted to try to see all the Disney animated movies that I had either only seen once or I hadn’t ever seen. This ended up being a much harder task than I originally thought. I’m still about 10 movies shy of seeing all of them (and by all of them I mean the main theatrical releases). Some of them are so obscure and no one seem to have them; however, this is a quest I will finish, you will not best me Disney animated classics. I really want to see the newest movie Frozen, it looks so cute and I just know after I watch it I will think of fun Frozen nails to do.

For this manicure I’m going to focus on the first Disney princess. I haven’t seen Snow White since I was a kid, but I remember it being kinda scary, especially when the wicked queen dresses as the old lady, sorry for the spoiler. For this manicure I used China Glaze Splish Splash, Sally Hansen CSM All Fired Up, and Orly Liquid Vinyl.

Snow White nails

These nails looked way cooler in my head and I think part of the problem was that my red sucks. I really need to invest in a more saturated red, the Sally Hansen is a great color but it is very thin so it doesn’t work the way I want it to for nail art. The same can be said of my yellow striper but I don’t use yellow stripers enough for it to bother me like the red situation does. My problem is whenever I go to the store to buy a new solid red I end up buying some glittery fun red, and although that color is fun, it doesn’t replace the solid red like I need it to. Maybe I should put that on my Christmas list.

I keep finding myself singing to woodland creatures with these nails

This is the first time I’ve tried to do a French manicure with the curved line instead of a line that goes straight across, I used hole punch reinforcements as my guide instead of regular scotch tape. The reinforcements worked fine except they didn’t go all the way across on a few of my nails so I had to free hand the edges. Doing the curved line makes them look more feminine I think, I’m going to have to play around with these reinforcements more.

OPI - Pussy Galore nails

I’m a wuss. By that I mean I have a very low threshold for pain. By that I mean I cry like a little girl when I stub my toe. By that I mean I sometimes cry when I think about stubbing my toe. I’m fully aware of my limits but for some reason I really like tattoos, it’s a bad combination. It’s been about four years since I got my last tattoo, just long enough for me to forget how much it sucks, and I’d been toying with the idea of getting another for about a year so I finally took the plunge and got one a couple weeks ago. I’m not going to include a picture because right now it looks like a hot hairy mess, perhaps when he gets pretty again I’ll post one. I say ‘he’ because I got a pretty owl on my calf and all pretty birds are boys. It took four hours to finish, making this my biggest tattoo by about an hour. I would like to say I stoically took the pain but that would be a huge lie. By about the three and a half hour mark I started cursing like a sailor, but I didn’t cry, so at least there is that.

While I was getting my bad ass tattoo I had on some of the most girly nails imaginable, I like to be a dichotomy (I had to call my mom to spell that, I’m not sure what that makes me). For this manicure I used China Glaze Rich & Famous and OPI Pussy Galore. The OPI is my first liquid sand polish, yes, I fell victim to textured polish again.

OPI Pussy Galore nails

I pretty much hate most of the textured polish I’ve used so far, but I actually liked the liquid sand, it’s very faintly textured so it isn’t super annoying like all the other ones I’ve tried before. I also love how the texture looks compared to the shiny part of my nails (and let’s face it Rich & Famous is one of my favorite polishes).

There is nothing about these nails that says ‘it’s fall’

As soon as I got the OPI I wanted to use it right away, even though it’s about as far from fall as possible on the color wheel. Pink is my favorite color though, so I don’t really mind having pink nails any time of the year J

Interview nails

I generally don’t talk too much about my job, but this time it relates to my nails so I’m going to go for it. I really like my job, that isn’t something I thought I would be able to say a year ago. I’ve been filling in at work as an administrative assistant and I found that being an admin is something I truly enjoy, and not just because we have a whole day dedicated to us. There is something about the controlled chaos of being an admin that makes me happy to go to work, believe it or not, Monday is my favorite day of the work week, how freakin ridiculous is that?

I mention my job because in the last couple of weeks I was able to apply and interview to make my job a permanent position, of course, as soon as the job posted I started thinking about interview nails. This blog has two different designs because I had two different interviews. For the first manicure I used Orly White Tips. They are perhaps the most boring (read professional) nails I’ve ever done.

Interview nails

I was really nervous about my first interview and wanted to make sure my nails were really professional and not too flashy. These turned out just how I wanted, in person the line was a nice dark gray and I wore a dark gray skirt so they coordinated well. For my second set of interview nails I used Orly Liquid Vinyl and White Tips and China Glaze Rich & Famous. These nails are a bit bolder J

These nails say ‘hire me’

After the first interview I realized my nails didn’t really show at all, so I decided to have super fun nails that matched my outfit and made me feel fancy. This is only the second time I’ve tried a half moon manicure and I love how they turned out. To cover up the rough edge between the two base colors I put in the dots and I must say I really like how that turned out.

I guess they could have been more professional

I really liked both of my interview manicures; they gave me that little extra confidence that I needed going into the interviews. The best part about the manicures is that they were part of successful interviews; there really isn’t anything more I could have asked from them J

Classic Wedding nails

I can’t believe June is almost over, everyone is seriously running out of shopping days until my birthday. Don’t worry though, you do still have plenty of time to pick out the perfect birthday gift for me J. It has been miserably hot and stormy recently, I used to love thunderstorms but Millie is so scared of them that they are no longer fun. Fireworks are also no longer fun. I’m thinking about buying one of those thunder shirts that they sell in the pet store, I’m sure wrestling her into it would be less than fun, but it if kept her from waking us up that would be awesome and totally worth the glory rolling basset hound.

I went to a wedding this weekend and wanted very traditional wedding nails for the big day. For this manicure I used OPI Rosy Future and Orly White Tips. I was really pleased with how the design turned out (I used a couple of my many stripers) and I got the excuse to use my rhinestones again which always makes me happy.

Classic French Wedding nails

These nails are super simple but overall I’m very pleased with how they turned out. I painted them Thursday night and didn’t take pictures of them until Sunday though so they have a little road wear. There is something about drinking that really messes my nails up; I’m going to guess it is the general loss of motor control.

French Tips always make my nails look so long

These nails were perfect for the wedding; I wore purple so they coordinated without being too matchy. I also didn’t want them to be too flashy (they couldn’t be fancier than the Bride’s nails after all). I’m having fun with these bridal nails but I haven’t decided how many I’m going to do yet. . . I’m going to keep you at the edge of your seat I guess J

Zoya Song tips

Hello again! It’s been too long!! I found that if I don’t blog on the weekend I will not blog at all, it’s a good lesson. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but I’m going to Disney World in 193 days, I’m pretty excited. Because of this awesome trip (and time off for my best friend’s wedding and my dirty thirty) I don’t really have any vacation to use for the rest of the year. I think my job is pretty generous on the time off front and I actually really like my job, but not having a day off can get pretty rough; all that being said, I am so excited for this weekend, the idea of having three days off in a row makes me smile like a crazy person. I started the weekend off right by getting a pedicure with my mom, pedicures are awesome FYI. I’ve also done my fair share of drinking tonight so I apologize in advance if that impacts my blog negatively.

I had this manicure on for less than a day, I’ll let you infer what that means about my feelings about them. For these nails I used Zoya Song and Tanzy and OPI DS Radiance, these are three colors I officially love so it is a shame that these nails don’t rock my socks off.

Zoya Song Tips

I wanted to try to do little tips and see how I like them, I don’t like them. My nails are just too long to pull off the tiny baby tips, they simply look way better on short nails. As for the design, I can’t even tell you what I was going for; it looks like some sort of amoebae.

These nails scream ‘eh’

I know these nails are a disappointment after a long blog drought, but I hope you learn to forgive me with time. I was told at work the other day that someone’s adult daughter read my blog and my mom and brother told me people at their work read it, I just want to say I think that is awesome. If you really like my blog please follow and/or leave comments on it, I really enjoy sharing my nails with everyone J

Glitter Bomb nails

This weekend put me in a very unique nail situation. I had a bachelorette party on Saturday and a baptism on Sunday, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that those two events are just about as far apart as possible on the social spectrum. I don’t often get the chance to get all gussied up and go out with girls with the express purpose to drink and be merry and I wanted my nails to get all gussied up too! I had a suspicion that my sister-in-law wouldn’t appreciate phallic themed nail art at the baptism of her daughter so I knew I had to go the classy route (although I think it’s pretty clear that I need to be invited to another bachelorette party so I can do those other nails).

I’m really happy with how these nails turned out, they ended up being appropriate for both events, which I’m pretty proud of. For these nails I used OPI Rosy Future, Butter Rosie Lee, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Strobe Light.

Glitter Bomb tips

Rosie Lee is a super fine pink micro glitter; I put it on very thick on the tips because I wanted it to be solid glitter. I put Strobe Light on top of that to add some holographic glitter. Even though it is a cheaper polish Strobe Light may be my favorite glitter I own. It’s just sparkly and pretty.

The picture just doesn’t do the sparkle justice

These nails had visible tip wear by the day after I painted them, I think that was the result of too much paint right on the tips and drinking (my nails always have a rough night when I have a fun night). They are distractingly sparkly and looked awesome in bar light and church light (which were surprisingly similar).

Super girly nails

I like how these nails ended up being really fun without being over the top. It isn’t very often that my nails turn out just how I wanted them to and these did. I’m sure they will be a bitch to take off because of all the glitter but I think they were worth it J

Purple Rhinestone nails

Thad is a huge Vikings fan, huge. The movie Fever Pitch really resonated with me, except that Thad is not exceptionally annoying like Jimmy Fallon. This last weekend the Vikings had a fan appreciation day at the Metrodome, obviously we went. I like football, but mostly I watch it because Thad loves it so much. His excitement at fan day was infectious. We got to take a tour of the Metrodome and when we went into the locker room I thought Thad was going to lose it. He has wanted to be in the Vikings locker room since he was about 5 so it didn’t really matter that the locker room was kinda crappy or that this is going to be the last season that they are even in that building. I love that he can be so passionate about something.

Of course my nails had to dress appropriately for Vikings day, for this manicure I used Sally Hansen CSM Anenome of Mine (I would like to point out that is how the polish name is printed on the bottle, I didn’t just spell it wrong for fun) and a crap ton of gold rhinestones. These nails took for freakin forever and I hated these nails, they were not at all what I intended.

Purple rhinestone nails

At first my plan was to do matte finish tips with the gold rhinestones, the Vikings just unveiled their new uniforms which include matte finish helmets, so I thought it would be a cool touch. I have never had any issues with essie Matte About You before, but it really didn’t work right on the purple. It left a bunch of white spots and just got the purple kinda chunky. To make matters worse, I use topcoat to adhere my rhinestones and it made little glossy streaks in the matte finish, so that is why you are not looking at badass purple matte tips.

I don’t even know what to say about my pointer finger

The topcoat went on like a bitch and just made the whole thing look weird and horrible. What I hated most about these nails was also the weirdest thing about them. You know how some sounds or the feeling of something can make your teeth hurt? Well, these nails made my teeth hurt. Every time the rhinestones rubbed against something it made my teeth hurt and was beyond annoying. It doesn’t make any sense though because my rhinestone holly manicure didn’t do that. Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to get these nails off and I avoided showing them to anyone. I’m going to have to redeem myself with my next Vikings nails.

OPI - DS Radiance

My parents are pretty awesome, I know I’ve mentioned that before, but it bears repeating. We dog sat for them while my newest niece was making her grand appearance and to thank us they decided to grill us steak (in this sentence read ‘they’ to mean ‘dad’). My dad is an amazing cook, especially when fire and meat are involved. His grill is epic; it was specially made just for him and it weighs like 800 pounds. The steaks he made were ridiculous; they weighed a pound and a half each (don’t worry fitness center ladies, I didn’t finish mine). To go with these monster porterhouses, he made huge baked potatoes and amazing stuffed mushrooms - all that food just for watching their sweet little beagle for a few days, totally worth it. Now that I made everyone jealous and hungry, I’ll move on to totally unrelated nails J

I love when people at work come up to me to show me their nails, it makes me feel like I’m the resident nail expert, maybe I can get that into my job description. One such work encounter resulted in the idea for these nails, for this manicure I used OPI DS Radiance and Orly Liquid Vinyl. Every time I use that OPI I’m reminded of how awesome it is, the color is just amazing. When it’s wet it looks like metal that has been liquefied, it goes on so easy, and it looks amazing with one coat, what more can I say?

DS Radiance

This is another one of those manicures where I have no answer to the ‘what are those dots?’ question. Despite the fact that I have no idea what the dots are supposed to be, I love this manicure, it is one of my favorites that I’ve done. They are classy, but still whimsical, and the silver is super shiny and distracting, for me they are like nail heaven.

Maybe they look like ants?

I messed up the dots on my pointer finger but otherwise they came out pretty clean. I get over excited when I do this many dots and I forget to clean off my dotter and it results in sticky dots sometimes. I also had a huge problem with dog hair on this manicure, my girls must be shedding and I had to pull out several hairs from my nails, thanks girls. This is the first time I’ve done tips since the big break and I love the proportion, perhaps I do need to keep them this length.

I love them so much you get three pictures

I’ve been painting my own nails for over a year now, I just renewed my Sally’s card. For everyone who looks at nail art and thinks they can do it I have to say that you can, it really does just take practice. My nails are so much better than when I started, I can’t say I’ve saved money or time, but I’ve had a lot of fun painting my nails, and for me that’s more important J