Angles

This week's inspiration comes from Nailside.  I've really been wanting to use China Glaze's Smoke & Ashes (from The Hunger Games collection) but it's much much too dark for my taste, especially with my fair skin.  It is a gorgeous color: a very dark black/blue base with some green/blue glitter.  You have to get rather close to see the glitter.

The base coat is Essie's Turquoise & Caicos - I love the color, but I had to put on three coats for it to come close to opaque.  I left it at the base coat for about 6 hours to make sure it had dried completely, then taped off a diagonal portion on each nail with scotch tape, then painted the tips with Smoke & Ashes.

I also picked up some Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter at Lush last weekend - makes a huge difference and is really cutting down on hangnails (no pun intended)!

Easy-peasy

I opted for something relatively simple for this past weekend.   The boyfriend and I went on a road trip up to Duluth for his college graduation.  :)

Stopped at Target on my way home from work on Friday and couldn't resist picking up some more nail polish!!  A friend of mine recently reminded me that Sinful Colors polish is only $2 per bottle - and they have some really fun colors!!!  The color on my index finger is called Happy Ending (strange name for a nail polish I thought, lol) and all the rest are Aquamarine.

A touch of organization

Found my inspiration for the day today on The Beauty Department.  I always end up with bobby pins and hair binders all over my bathroom counter - the madness had to stop!!!

Fortunately, I had some plastic shot glasses left over from my 21st birthday.  :]

Love it!!!

Stamping!

Essie Blanc stamped over OPI DS Extravagance (using the BM 203 plate.)  And I added a little gem on my thumbnails.

I'm still working on the stamping process.  It's more difficult than I expected!!!  The most challenging part is covering my entire thumbnail - the designs are never big enough.  So if anyone has any tips, feel free to share them.  :)


Enjoy!

Following the trend...

After a long day of driving (Saint Paul to Saint Cloud to Plymouth to Saint Paul) and teaching some technology classes, I decided to reward myself with a sandwich from Cossetta (YUM!) and a mindless activity for the night.....


I decided to try a microbead manicure - I'm seeing them all over Pinterest and they look unique to say the least.  And I'm all about looking unique.  :]

I don't think this will last more than a few days; quite a few beads have already fallen off.  But the process was simple/quick enough!

-Apply first coat of desired polish, let dry completely
-Apply second coat, then sprinkle with microbeads (I did this one finger at a time)
-Let dry completely - I find it's best to just not touch anything for 30-40 minutes to be extra sure.

I found a 6 pack of the microbeads at a craft store near the scrapbooking supplies for around $6.  I also just got a pack of Bundle Monster stamping plates in the mail today, so we'll see what kind of fun I can have with those.  :]