Strawberry Fest

I'm going to "Strawberry Fest" in Cottage Grove today and had to do the most festive and appropriate nails I could.  I kinda feel a little girlish with these nails--ala strawberry shortcake.  It's cute but now I wish I had a strawberry to pose with (and then promptly eat).

Since Kari was here at my house, we turned hers into festival nails as well--strawberry flowers and their dirt.  She came up with the idea and executed all painting but the flowers.  

My Strawberries:


Kari's Strawberry Flowers (+ dirt):

I first base coated with China Glaze Something Sweet.  The Strawberry is a mix of Salsa on bottom with some Sexy Silhouette as an accent pink/red shimmer.  I dotted Black and Gold Metallic with So Easy Stripe Rite for the seeds and use China Glaze Four Leaf Clover mixed with Hot Green So Easy Stripe Rite.  I used two coats of Seche Vite this time.

Kari actually painted her nails herself and I painted the strawberry flowers.  The base color is China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise and the flowers are a mix of First Kiss for the flower, and Solar Power and Lemon Fizz for the fruit.  The other hand is supposed to represent the dirt these strawberries need to grow and that was In Awe of Amber.  Seche Vite was the top coat.

Behind the Veil

Picturing this manicure in my head, I was thinking about those beaded doors that only partially hide something fun behind.  You want to get to the other side behind the veil.  I wish the glitter polish would pop more in real life, but it's still fun.

I used China Glaze Frostbite as a base blue and then put two coats of Dorothy Who? on top.  I used Konad plate m65 with Millennium.  I used two coats of Seche Vite to coat the manicure.

Sun and Sand

This is the manicure I had on vaca.  I wanted to post Kari's as well, but I don't have a good picture of those yet.

I used China Glaze Peachy Keen as a base orange and then topped with two coats of Zoya Sienna.  I hand painted the stripes on my ring finger with So Easy Stripe Rite polishes and then coated with Seche Vite to finish the look.

Mermaid

I was on vacation for the past few days and with no computer--thus no posting.  Although we had pretty crappy weather on the lake, I couldn't resist swimming in the lake, diving off the boat at 59 degrees.  If I could live in the water, I would.  I will post the manicure I had at the cabin as well as a manicure I did for my friend, Kari.

This one had a shine I had to post

Polish focus.

I used Zoya Yasmeen for the base color and a decal from Cina (this kit) for the mermaid scales.  I used two coats of Seche Vite on top.

The Pretty Professional

Normally I get to wear a pretty relaxed style of dress, but today I had an important meeting and wanted to do something pretty yet professional.  I really like it!

I painted China Glaze Millennium for the silver and Something Sweet for the base pink color with Essie Cindy-Rella.  I coated it, finally, with Seche Vite.

I've Been Ruffied

Not to be confused with a roofie or being roofied, I am jumping on the "Ruffian Manicure" bandwagon in my own style, of course.  (here is a cool example.) I had recently participated in Zoya's Polish Exchange and have now purchased--or rather exchanged for my first Zoya polishes.  They are vegan, have many color options and people seem to like them and I thought I would give them a shot.  From where I live, I haven't found them in any stores, so if I want more of their polishes in the future, I will still have to order online.  It is kind of risky since you don't really get to see what the polish looks like in real life.  I tried to find color swatches from others on the Web in order to make my selections.  But so far, I really like the colors I picked and the application/dry time was pretty good.

I used Zoya Jolene for the pink and Charla for the green/blue sparkle.  I painted a coat of Seche Vite on top.

Invisible Ink

I had this idea that I wanted to use my color changing polish in a marble to see the effect that it would have on the look.  Well, it turned out nothing like I saw it in my head--and the polish was actually hard to work with in the water.  (That is the thing about water marbling: you may have the best idea and color choices that you want to use, but they might not disperse right in the water or dry to fast to get a good marble.  I get sad sometimes about that.  Typically I have found sparkles and metallics have a hard time for marbling.  Now I'm adding color changing polish to that list)  Anyway, even though it didn't turn out like I saw in my head, I thought this was actually a kind of cool result.  Since it's mostly hot here now, and the color changing polish didn't spread a lot in the water (which means less on the nail), you don't really get a chance to see the darker color this polish when looking at this manicure.  I feel like I have a secret hidden in my polish and that kind of excited me!  You may never see it, but I know it's there (and I'll see it every time I run my hands under cold water and want to see a surprise).

Left Hand Light and Dark:


Right Hand Light and Dark:


Thumb Close Up Light and Dark:

First I base coated my nails with OPI Skinny Dip'N in Lake Michigan.  I used China Glaze Tinsel, Sexy Silhouette and Claire's Daring/Innocent Mood Changing Polish for the three marble colors.  I used two coats of Seche Vite to finish the look.