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

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

Avon Nail Stencil nails

Bacon is amazing and I love it. We bought half a pig, I named him Kubie, and he is the most delicious pig that had ever lived. Truth be told, I actually have no idea if Kubie was a boy pig or a girl pig (that’s city girl talk), what is important is that he didn’t die in vain; he died for his delicious bacon. Tonight for dinner Thad made me a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and fried in bacon grease. Let me say it again, I love bacon (and Thad). My fingers were all shiny with the bacon deliciousness and it was glorious.

I’m not really a fan of these nails, not that I want to sway you but just as a statement of fact. For this manicure I used OPI Alpine Snow and Rosy Future and China Glaze Rich & Famous (told you it was my new favorite). I also used Avon nail stencils that my mother in law gave me last weekend.

Oh how I hate you nail stencils

I hadn’t heard of the nails stencils before so being a 21^st century girl I Googled them right away. All the reviews said pretty much the same thing, they tear, and oh did they tear. I found them to be a great size and they were very easy to peel off the plastic sheet but as soon as you started pushing them onto your nail they tear like crazy. The directions say to leave the stencils on for 5-10 minutes before removing them; I didn’t listen to that direction but none of my issues seemed to be as a result.

Notice the red on my pointer finger

As if the tearing wasn’t annoying enough, part of the stencil got stuck in my polish and I couldn’t get it off (it’s the red smear). I yelled at the stencils so much so that my puppies were concerned for their mom’s sanity. I’m going to try more of them just to make sure, but right now I would give these nail stencils a big 0/5. I’m really disappointed in these nails because they could have been so cute, my right hand looks terrible because I tried to reuse the stencils and it was an epic fail. I wanted to repaint these nails right away but I’m forcing myself to wait until tomorrow so I can do my Valentine’s Day nails, hopefully I like them more. J

Dandelion nails

I love these nails so much I can’t think of any other way to start this but to talk about them, that’s a whole lotta nail love. I had no idea what to do and since my ideas recently haven’t been turning out the way I envisioned them I decided to ask for nail suggestions from a friend. She suggested I do dandelion nails, and again, I love them (thanks for the suggestion Gayle). For these nails I used OPI Rosy Future, Brisbane Bronze, and Alpine Snow and Orly Liquid Vinyl. As I may have mentioned before, I’m kinda a fan of these nails, so I wanted to take a picture of them in daylight since I think that usually looks better.

This is my ‘daylight’ picture, after all that waiting it is the worst one

The hours that I work are not contusive to taking pictures at home in daylight hours so although I painted these nails on Sunday I didn’t photograph them until Wednesday. I’m impressed with how good these still look after three days, there is a little wear on the tips but with this color it is really hard to tell unless you are looking really closely. I wanted the dandelion seeds to look like they were almost blowing off the flowers and I think the overall look of the nails is just what I was going for.

In the kitchen light

The purple background is one of Thad’s many Vikings shirts, I love wearing his shirts as pajama shirts and I steal them often, oops. For the dots on the seeds I actually mixed the Orly with the bronze to get kind of a color in the middle, it ended up more black than I had hoped but that’s ok.

I can’t help it, I think they are so cool

These are my first pink nails for Valentines (I’m aware that it isn’t quite February yet). My plan is to do pink nails between now and Valentine’s Day, not because I really love Valentine’s Day, but rather because I really love pink. I have some fun ideas so here is hoping they come out as well as these did.