Milani Ms. Milani

Hello! This is a scheduled post since I am going to be on planes all day. I hope you guys are having a good day! 

Today's polish is from Milani and it's called Ms. Milani. I'm not entirely sure why this polish was special enough to bear the name of the company...if you know, enlighten me please! :)

So here's Ms. Milani. It's a pewter, metallic shade. What's weird is that it applies like a holo (there is dragging and bald spots if you don't let it dry between coats). This shade is toned down, but still elegant and unique.

I let my husband's creativity run free for this mani and he didn't let me down! I recently showed him this tutorial for creating a faded look for stamping. A simple concept, but looks really cool! 

This is Konad Black and White special polish and Bundle Monster plate #211.

Hope you like it! Thank you for reading! <3

*This polish was sent to me for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

CND Asphalt

Hey ya'll! Hope your Monday is going great...as great as a Monday can be anyway. hehe

I have another CND polish for ya today. My husband, who perfectly painted this mani, said he was very impressed with this polish and it's formula. That is saying a lot coming from the perfectionist he is! This polish is pretty much a one coater...always a huge plus! And as with CND Gold Chrome, this polish dried super fast. I would say within 10 minutes it was totally dry.

I think Asphalt is a gorgeous shade of grey. Although I don't normally gravitate toward dark colors as often, I really love this one.

Of course I couldn't just leave this alone...I recently bought a Sally Hansen Color Quick Pen in Fuchsia Chrome on clearance at Target. The Chrome pens are amaZing for stamping...I highly recommend them! Here is something else that I used a chrome pen with in a previous mani. So that's what the stamping color is and then the plates used are BM 19 and Born Pretty plate 59. I had a freak out when I saw how beautifully it all came together. I am a girly girl through and through so I looove these designs! :)

Anyways, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed this mani! <3

* CND polish was sent to me for review in exchange for my honest opinions. 

Wet N Wild Ocean Grotto

Happy Saturday! Hope it's a good one for ya! I went to a bridal shower that was outside this morning and even though it was early in the day, it was HOT!

So I was in CVS this past week and saw a very picked over display of the WnW LE Mermaid's Cove collection. They just happened to have Ocean Grotto left, which was the only one I really wanted in this collection!  It's a gorgeous green/gold with microshimmer. 

We added a quick stamp to Ocean Grotto, this color didn't need a whole lot added to it because it stands out so well on it's own!

So there you have it! Enjoy the rest of your weekend! <3

OPI Nice Stems Collection

Good afternoon polish lovers! I bought the OPI Nice Stems! collection after deciding that I NEEDED it! haha After seeing swatches multiple times I couldn't say no. OPI seems to do that...I'm not impressed at first and then it grows on me. 

I got the mini collection to save on cost a little. These are my first OPI minis and they really are teeny tiny! Here's the cute packaging:

And here are the colors. I wanted to use them all because I couldn't decide on just one!

They are all 2 coats and the application is pretty good. The only one that was a little finicky is Play the Peonies. I had bubbling issues, but I am blaming that on my basecoat.

I hardly ever use flowers in my nail art, but with a flower inspired collection- how could I not?! :)

The super tiny bottles are so hard to hold for pics!

I bought this at Trade Secret, but by now it's on Ebay and you might get a steal of a deal there! <3

Layered Stamping w/ Zoya Tamsen

Hey ladies! Hope you are all doing well... life sure is crazy sometimes. Thanks for being apart of the blogging world and giving me a little escape each day :)

I really like this design I am about to show ya'll. It goes to show that the possibilites with stamping are endless and all it takes is some creativity! I say that because I have done a lot with zebra print in the past, so it's fun to make something new out of something old!

I used Zoya Tamsen and Sinful Colors Snow Me White as the base. Tamsen is a rich tomato red and practically perfect in one coat. We used the same colors for the stamping as well.

And here's the funky zebra design! I like the faded look of the flowers with the zebra print. I chose a silver metallic LA Colors polish from the dollar store to dot the middle of the flowers. 

Hope you liked this design and don't forget to check out the new Nail Care Q&A tab I added. Feel free to submit any questions you want answered! :)

4th of July Skittles Mani

Happy Independence Day to those living in the US! Hopefully you all have fun plans for the day! :)

Here is my mani to celebrate today. Milani Red Sparkle won my poll this week. I know this isn't a full mani using it, but hopefully you will let it slide just this once. ;) 

The base colors used: Sinful Colors White on White, Milani Blue Flash, and Milani Red Sparkle. How could I NOT involve glitter in my 4th mani?! haha

Dustin helped execute this mani perfectly! He was mostly the one behind this design. 

Stamping colors: Zoya Tamsen, Konad Blue and White

Stamping plates used: Bundle Monster 20 and 202 and Born Pretty plates 1 and 38.

I was super happy with how this turned out!

Here is my me, my husband, and little one at the parade this morning. :)

Thank you for reading and enjoy the rest of your holiday!

China Glaze QT

Hey hey! Today I have a fun mani for ya...using one of the coveted OMG collection polishes. This is QT. I have had this polish for a few months now and this is my first time using it...I underestimated how amazing it is because the holo-y goodness hides in the bottle! I still haven't decided if this is more red, or like a rose pink. It looks different in different lighting. I'll let you decide! haha

I think most holos can be left well enough alone without nail art, but since I had Color Club Revvvolution around, I decided to do some stamping with that. I used Bundle Monster plate 223. This is my first time doing stamping with a holographic polish. That I remember anyways...

I wish I would have paid attention better during clean up! 

Ok so I don't use a top coat with holo polishes because I am paranoid that it will mess with the holo...do you guys use a topcoat with holographics? Do you think certain holos are affected by topcoats while some are not? Would love to hear your thoughts! <3

China Glaze Sexagon + Mini Tutorial

Hi lovelies! I am trying to stay resilient through this mono by keeping up with my nails...it lifts my spirits a little bit. :)

Dustin found Sexagon from China Glaze's Kaleidoscope collection on Ebay. It was used, but it showed up in the mail barely used! Moral of the story: Give used polishes a chance! :) 

This polish was good in 5 coats because the formula is SUPER thin. Dustin had the idea to layer it over Color Club Worth the Risque in order to save this precious polish, and I don't think it affected the overall appearance of Sexagon. (I had done one hand with just Sexagon to compare.)

Dustin calls this the "psychedelic" stamp design. It's Bundle Monster plate M221 stamped with Konad Black and Pink. I am including some pics at the end of this post on how to stamp with multiple colors at a time.

So Dustin thought this was a self explanatory thing, but I know there are lots of newbies out there so I figured why not? Here is how to stamp with multiple colors at once:

Put dots of stamping polish on your design. Place the dots in the general area that you want the scraper to place each color when you actually scrape the polish across the image.

 

 This is what you'll get:

 As always, you have to be quick with stamping polishes since they dry really fast. This is just an example of how you could place the different colors on a stamp. Be creative! :)

I hope this helps someone out there and it wasn't too mundane! 

I mentioned that I am sick and I will be going to live with my parents for a few weeks while I try to recover and so they can help with my baby. That way my husband will be able to focus on school! We are going to still prepare some things for you before we part ways though...but even so, if there's a lack of posting you know why! Until next time! <3

Ombre Manicure

Hey! I am back finally... things have been crazy lately. I never really got better from being sick 2 weeks ago...I just went to the doctor today and I have MONO! ugh I really hope it doesn't affect my posting. At least I can still do nails even when I don't feel good right?!

So this mani is from last night and I really wasn't into it since I wasn't feeling too hot. This is an ombre, or gradient look. I chose to use my favorite color...although my middle finger (NOPI My Lifesaver) looks a lot more blue here. A tip if you don't have 5 different shades of a color: mix in white to lighten it up.

Thumb:  Sinful Colors Rise and Shine

Index: Sinful Colors Mint Apple

Middle: Nicole by OPI My Lifesaver

Ring: Revlon Minted

Pinky: Sinful Colors White on White with a layer of Revlon Minted

We topped it off with Bundle Monster plate 208. Sorry for the overall quality of the mani...I know it's not the best!

To make up for that, here are some more baby nails for you guys!

This is Sinful Colors Rise and Shine with Nubar 2010 on top.

Then we did Zoya Charla with Zebra print...but don't worry, as soon as she got in the bath an hour later, her mani came right off!

My little polish lover. <3 (She only has a nail polish bottle for this pic!)

Hope those of you in the USA have fun Memorial Day weekend plans. Don't forget...my giveaway ends in 5 days! Click the pic in the top right of my blog to enter! <3