go french with OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede

Good morning lovelies!
Today I'll be showing off another OPI Suede polish and the resulting mani that I wore with it!

OPI - We'll Always Have Paris Suede
I seriously dig these suedes. I never liked matte finishes until I tried these out! They apply so nicely, dry in seconds, and just look really cool!

I wore this polish for 2 days before it started to wear away at the tips, which is great for a matte finish polish with no topcoat.
I wasn't ready to take it off, so it was time for some art to cover the tipwear!
(You may remember I did the same thing with Russian Navy Suede in this post.)

I went for a cool french mani! And man, I seriously enjoyed it. My nails looked so... vampy. I don't know. They were badass but still elegant. If that's possible.

To add on the V-shaped french, I used Essence - Black Is Back and just used the polish brush to quickly paint it on. It's not perfect, but it's hard to see the imperfections.

Et voilà!  A sexy french mani in Paris. Suede.

More about → go french with OPI We'll Always Have Paris Suede

neon leopard french!

The world must be coming to an end - I've been wearing a french manicure since Sunday.
And I love it!

No, I'm not going crazy. I just did a really great modified french mani!

Tada! Neon leopard french!
For some reason, the stains on my nails recently disappeared. They're just gone. I did nothing to make them go away, but they are gone.
(I think it is from all the times I have peeled off my polish in the last month. I must have taken off the stained layer.)

So, with my stain-free nails, I knew I had to do a french because I think I've ever only done it once before.

But of course, I couldn't do a normal french manicure. I had to make it more fun! And more me!
So I added leopard print. (Shocker.)

This design was loosely inspired by these nails from my friend Leslie at Polish Art Addiction.

I love this look so much it's ridiculous. I can't believe how much I am enjoying a french mani!
And because I love it so much, you're getting pic spam!

Here's the polishes I used to create this look:
- Zoya - Loretta (sheer nude to cover any nail imperfections or staining)
- Zoya - Carey (gray for the french tip)
- Color Club - Twiggie (green dots)
- Color Club - Pucci-licious (purple dots)
- Color Club - Peppermint Twist (pink dots)
- Essence - Let's Get Lost (blue dots)
- Wet N Wild - Black Creme (black detailing) 

I did the tip directly with the polish brush, and I did the leopard with a small dotting tool.
I finished it off with a thick coat of Seche Vite to even it all out!

I've been staring at my nails since I put this on. I'll have to change it tomorrow after I inevitably ruin it at my job, but 4 days is a pretty long time for me to wear something! (Especially something that doesn't involve glitter.)

Okay that's all my picture spam.
I really hope you guys enjoy this manicure as much as I do!

I'll have to come up with some more awesome french ideas to do while my nails are still all healthy looking!

More about → neon leopard french!

Sparkly Leopard

Hey Y'all! Here is this week's mani. A glitter leopard print using Ruby Kisses Look At Me Purple and Crazy Night Out and L.A. Colors Glistening Purple polishes. It's pretty simple so I did not make a tutorial. This set is available for purchase at my E-store.

More about → Sparkly Leopard

Gold Finger

Hey Y'all! Happy Valentine's Day! I changed my manicure today since all of my jems fell off doing housework. LOL! Since I have another week before I do a fill in I decided to do a quick, simple & elegant design.
I used NK Taupe Extreme, NK Mardi Gras & Sally Hansen 22k along with some small gold hexagons to create the look. Hope you enjoy!

More about → Gold Finger

Lina MM-2500 Manicure & Pedicure Set

Hey Y'all. I bought this e-file around Christmas time from Idio-Store and wanted to share. I really love it and this was the cheapest one I found so I hope this is helpful. $25.99 & FREE SHIPPING!
In the video I stated the shipping was $2.00 but it is FREE!!!

More about → Lina MM-2500 Manicure & Pedicure Set

Valentine's Designs available for purchase

Hey Y'all! Here are some more nail sets I made to sell on my webstore. Every month I have a sale that last the whole month long. January's sale is $5 off all sets and free shipping to USA & Canada!

More about → Valentine's Designs available for purchase

Valentine's Sets Now Available

Hey Y'all! I have some new Valentine's Day sets available on my webstore that I'd like to share. Every month I have a sale that last the whole month long. January's sale is $5 off all sets and free shipping to USA & Canada!

More about → Valentine's Sets Now Available

Inlaid Rose

Hey Y'all! I created this design because I have been wanting to try to do an inlaid 3D look. That is where the 3D object is encapsulated under the acrylic. The only thing that I don't like about the design is that there were a lot of air bubbles in it so I will have to work on that.

To create the look I used NSI Radiant White and NSI Ecstasy on the tip and used a pink mix to sculpt the rose then encapsulated the design. Hope you like it!

More about → Inlaid Rose

Pink & Silver New Year's Design 2012

Hey Y'all! As promised, here is part two of my New Year's design. As I said yesterday, when I got in the middle of doing my nails I decided to do each hand a different color. I realized that I had the same decorations in pink, silver and white. I decided to go for it because it would be a nice contrast to the dark colors I have on my left hand.

I used a mixture of NSI Radiant White and NSI Tie Dye Pink to make a pastel pink. I should have used the NSI Superfine Bold White in the mix because as you can see they didn't blend so well...Oh well, lesson learned =P Anyways then I used a silver holographic glitter acrylic I made with glitter from Designer Nail Supply (won in a contest) and NSI Radiant White on the tip.

I decided not to record doing my left hand as it is not a pretty site. =P I am practicing sculpting Stilletto tips and had tried out the purple & black on a stiletto....but it popped right off! XD I knew I needed to practice a while before doing it on my own nails plus I wanted to see how it would look. Having said all that, I decided to continue my practice while recording the design in these colors. Hope you all enjoy!

More about → Pink & Silver New Year's Design 2012

Chanel Inspired New Year's Design 2012

Hey Y'all! I came up with this design while trying to figure out what to do to my nails for New Year's. I also did this because I wanted to practice sculpting stilletto tips. I decided against doing stilletto tips on myself because as you can see, I need Practice LOL!

The design itself is very simple and I only used a few items. I used NSI Basic Black acrylic, silver holographic striping tape and a Chanel sticker from Born Pretty store. Hope you like it!

More about → Chanel Inspired New Year's Design 2012

Gingerbread Man

Hey Y'all! Here is another Christmas design. This one has a 3D Gingerbread man. I used NSI Leaf Green and Fire Engine Red along with a green and red glitter mix on the tip. Then I used brown acrylic from Born Pretty store to make the Gingerbread man. Then I used red, white, light brown and black acrylic paints to decorate him. I hope you all like it!

More about → Gingerbread Man

Split Personality

It's been a very busy few weeks, but our big Halloween bash went off without a hitch. Last week was a whirlwind of activity around here, cleaning, new carpet, new entertainment center, and much less decorating than I would have liked (but still quite a lot). The theme this year was Heaven & Hell, and naturally, the two sides of my personality were allowed out for an evening - including my nails, of course. My only regret is that I broke several nails moving furniture, and didn't have enough length left to do stilettos for my right hand. *sigh*

Above on my right hand, China Glaze "Ruby Slippers" tipped with CG "Liquid Leather" and a fine line of a matte cement color by Nubar (I forget the exact name, and am too lazy to go look at the moment - sorry!). Obviously, this was my "devil" side, so I didn't mind the tip pull or chipping on my thumb. Just added character to the costume, I think.

Below, my "angel" hand on the left. I used one coat of my favorite pearl white from Finger Paints (also forgot the name), topped with two coats of The Painted Nail by Nubar's "Silver Screened". More pearl on the tip, with CG "Tinsel" along the smile line.

I have to say, it's kind of fun wearing two completely different manicures...and I actually got a few compliments, believe it or not. Perhaps I should try this more often? More nail art opportunities...

Next week, a webby manicure I've been waiting *all month* to do. Got Halloween art of your own? Post a link in the comments so we can all have a gander! :-)

More about → Split Personality

what's with the cattitude? + tape mani

Good afternooooooon, followers. All 870 of you (and more I'm sure who don't follow via GFC.) I can't believe so many people have joined my blog. I love each and every one of you! Thank you!
1000 will be coming up soon, I guess I have to start planning another giveaway! Haha.
In the meantime though, have you entered my current giveaway? It ends tomorrow night!!
And remember, all people who like my facebook get another entry ;)

On to today's post.
I've been doing so many swatches lately for my project that I have been neglecting my nail art posts. To be honest, I haven't had much inspiration lately and I am guilty of just wearing plain colors with no art almost all the time this past month.
I'm going to try to get back into the habit of nail art though, because I really hate that I've lost the drive to do it.

So the art I'm going to show you today is simple but I really liked wearing it.
Sadly the pictures don't really do it justice!

The pretty middle polish just didn't want to show up nicely so I took some photos from strange angles and with strange lights to try and capture it.

To create this "funky french" I added a piece of tape to a day-old manicure of OPI's What's With The Cattitude? and then painted on the second color, which is Essence's Choose Me!

And then I very carefully freehanded the black tip with Wet N Wild Black Creme.

This was so fun to wear, and I didn't want to take it off.
I really like this tip, it's like... a check mark, or something. I don't know what to call it.

And that's What's With The Cattitude? on it's own.
I wanted this polish for a long time and finally found it, only to realize that it is an exact dupe of China Glaze's Bahamian Blues.

Joe Fresh Powder Blue, China Glaze Bahamian Blues, OPI What's With The Cattitude?

So I really didn't need WWTC, especially considering BB is almost a one coater and WWTC takes 3.

Not to mention that WWTC was one of only THREE polishes I have bought for myself in June, so it was a bummer that one of the few polishes I let myself buy ended up being unnecessary.
Oh well. My Bahamian Blues is a mini so I guess I can deal with having a dupe :P

I was going to go work out after I finished this post but my lunch kinda made me feel sick, so I'm going to do some nail art instead. :)
Have a lovely day! See you tomorrow with some European polish swatch spam!

More about → what's with the cattitude? + tape mani