Vegas nails

I have such a good excuse for not blogging recently, I was in Vegas!! (and I was lazy after I got back) I got to go to Vegas with my sister-in-law for my best friend’s wedding. It was such a beautiful wedding, Jackie looked amazing and the whole trip was a blast. I’m so happy my sister was able to come with me too, we have never been on a trip together so it could have turned out very poorly but we ended up being really compatible travel partners. At least I think we did, maybe she is telling everyone how annoying I am. I burned my back so bad in Vegas, I have never burned myself that bad before, it was horrible. My back still looks like a lizard L

I’m going to skip one manicure because I really want to post my Vegas nails; I had these all planned out for weeks before we left and they turned out almost exactly how I wanted. For this manicure I used Color Club Status Update, essie Matte About You, China Glaze Prism and Luxe and Lush, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Strobe Light, and Butter Fairy Cake and The Black Knight. So much glitter! These nails were crazy sparkly under the bar lights in Vegas and I loved them.

 

Vegas nails

I took these pictures after I got back from my trip, which means that they were on their 6^th day when I took them. I’m really impressed with how well they held up, I did do a little touch ups on the tips while in Vegas but really not that much. By the end of our trip I was so tired of these nails I couldn’t wait to take them off. I can’t remember the last time I had my nails painted one way for this long!

So sparkly!

To get the glitter bomb effect I did thin layers of a bunch of different glitters. I started with the Butter glitters because they had the finest and densest glitter and ended with the polish that had the largest glitter pieces. I’m really happy with the overall look of the glitter but I think if I were going to do it again I would have made it come down a little bit further on my nails.

 

I’m pleased with how these photographed

I think these nails were perfect for Vegas; they were just the glitter bombs I needed to have while paying too much for booze. J

Glitter Wedding nails

I love weddings; I guess you could say I’m a romantic. I just think it is awesome to be part of someone’s best day. I had an amazing wedding, it wasn’t fancy but it was the best day of my life. For my wedding I got my first French manicure, my nails looked wonderful and for the first time I had a bunch of people ask me if they were fake (for some strange reason I love when people think my nails are fake). I did a very classic (read boring) French manicure for my wedding, but really there are a bunch of different options for classy wedding day nails. Since wedding season is in full swing I thought it would be fun to do some wedding nails. Hope you enjoy J

For my first wedding manicure I decided to do a twist on the classic French, let me just say right now that I love these nails. This manicure used Sally Hansen CSM Shell We Dance?, essie Matte About You,  Butter Fairy Cake, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Strobe Light, and China Glaze Luxe and Lush and Glitter Goblin. Holy sparkles Batman, that’s a lot of glitter!

These nails say “I do”

I love how the matte looks on the light pink and how well it goes with all the glitter, it created such a cool texture and overall feeling. If I were to do these nail again I wouldn’t use the glitter that has the orange in it (Glitter Goblin) it doesn’t look bad but I think it takes away from all the other sparkly glitter.

Perhaps they are too fancy for work

I love doing glitter gradients, they look so cool and they don’t require the same precision that a regular French does. I also really like having the glitter on the back ends instead of the tips; it makes these nails very different while also looking very pretty. So, what do you think? Do you think these nails are good enough for a wedding?

Rubber Duckie nails

When I moved into my first apartment I really wanted to have a rubber duckie bathroom, nothing says independent adult like a bathroom fully of yellow ducks. I got rubber duckie everything, shower curtain, trash can, soap dispenser, even wall art, that bathroom was so full of ducks you couldn’t walk into it without having hundreds of beady black duck eyes watching your every move. I feel like I’m somehow making my bathroom sound sinister but it was quite cute actually. I finally ditched the ducks when I moved into my house, although I do still have bride and groom ducks hidden in the closet.

I would say I did these nails to celebrate my duck bathroom of apartments past, but I really just did them because they were cute. J For this manicure I used China Glaze For Audrey and Sea Spray, Orly Skinny Dip and Liquid Vinyl, OPI Alpine Snow, Ulta Sun-Sational, and Sally Hansen Strobe Light. I’m very happy with how these nails turned out, I especially like the marbleized soap bubbles.  

Rubber Duckie nails

To do the bubbles I dipped my dotter in three different colors, the dotter made the color mix in some places but also have separate colors in one dot. This is similar to the technique used in water color nails and it really makes me want to try that (what don’t I want to try though?). I was surprised with how easy the ducks were to do, the ducks on my right hand aren’t bad but the left ring finger duck is definitely the best one.

Rubber Duckie you’re the one

These nails were really fun to do and they didn’t take long at all, start to finish I had these done in less than an hour (which is pretty good for me). They do cause me to sing the rubber duckie song from Sesame Street but that is a price I’m willing to pay 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

Galaxy nails

I’m not a fan of running - I’m the kind of girl that is built for comfort and not for speed. That being said, I’m also not a fan of my pants not fitting so I have been running at the gym. I may be in the minority on this, but I actually prefer to run on a treadmill to running outside. I’m not responsible enough to maintain a running pace when I’m outside; I require the treadmill to force me. I try to avoid running outside at all costs but my work hosted a 5k recently and I found myself in a situation where I was going to be running outside. I managed to survive the experience but I also burnt my forehead and got a heat rash in the process, oh well, at least my nails looked good.

I love these nails. I wanted to do galaxy nails for a while but I was worried that they would be too difficult or that I would mess them up and they would look like galactic vomit on my hands. The manicure ended up being super easy; they only took me about 30 minutes to do! For these nails I used China Glaze Splish Splash and Gothic Lolita, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Strobe Light, OPI Alpine Snow, and Orly Liquid Vinyl. I’m not quite sure what happened to my Liquid Vinyl but it was like putting tar on my nails, it’s a good thing I covered it up almost completely.



Galaxy nails

I love when nails look really difficult to do when they are actually super easy (like my plaid nails). These were crazy easy to do, I started with my tar like black base, then used a normal makeup sponge to lightly sponge on blue, purple, then white. After some dots for stars and a light coat of glitter I had galaxy nails. If you are going to try these out (which you should) make sure to put your glitter coat on before your nails fully dry so that it can blend some of the paint together.



Do they remind you of a starry night?

I love these nails so much that as soon as I was done I was thinking of reasons I could do them again. It makes me want to try other sponge painting nails, and you thought sponge painting was just for the guest bathroom.  :)