Nail Art: Marble Effect for #hepicksmypolish

Once again, I have decided to participate in #hepicksmypolish. Once a month you have a "he" in your life pick out polishes for you and you have to use all of them in some sort of nail art design. It is a fun challenge because it is always a surprise and you can't swap out any colors. I had my husband pick out three and he choose Deborah Lippmann Swagga Like Us (Amazing!), China Glaze Blue Sparrow and Sinful Colors Mint Apple. I played around a little at first but settled on a marble type design using the saran wrap technique.

Nail Art: Neon Tribal Print

This is my first go at tribal nails, so go easy on me! I received these three Island Girl polishes from my good friend Hollie! She is so sweet! These polishes are only available in ABC Stores in Hawaii and Las Vegas, so I was super excited to receive them! I love these colors, they came in a set and are all neon type polishes, but unfortunately I cannot figure out the names. There isn't a sticker on the bottom or anything, so if you know what colors these are, let me know! I have a coral/orange, a light pink and a teal.

Nail Art: Plant Inspired

Do you ever see something inspiring and you just can't get it out of your head until you do whatever it was that you sought out to do? The nails I have for you today were just that. I have this house plant called a Sansevieria (I had to look at the tag) and I have been wanting to try to create its coloring on my nails for a while now. I used Color Club Wild Cactus, Sunrise Canyon and Sinful Colors Let's Meet. 

Nail Art: Memorial Day Poppies

It is Memorial Day. Today is a day when we take the time to honor our fallen soldiers and remember the cost of our freedom. 

I was given a challenge to create a nail art design for Memorial Day without using red, white and blue. I decided to try poppies, since they are supposed to symbolize remembrance. I decided to do a sunset gradient with grey and black poppies (since I couldn't use red). I'm not sure the poppies really look like poppies, but that is what I was going for here. I used Julie G Miami Beach and Old San Juan.

Nail Art: Richter Scale Nails with Orly Baked Collection

Today I have three of the six colors from the latest Orly Summer 2014 Baked Collection. I have Ablaze, Hot Tropics and Saturated. I wanted to share swatches first, but since I got these lovelies I have had this design in my head and had to do it first! I have created what I like to call Richter Scale nails. I think it looks like the zig zag line that measures earthquakes, maybe I have my terminology wrong, but Richter scale is what came to mind. I painted half of my nail with Ablaze and half with Hot Tropics. I didn't use tape or anything because the center line is covered with Saturated. I used a striping brush to just lightly brush the color with tons of little lines. 

Review of Maybelline Color Show Nail stickers

I apologize for these cell phone photos in advance, but today I have to share with you nail stickers. This is the first time I have ever tried nail stickers. I heard they were so easy to apply you could do it in the car, so that is what I did! I found some Maybelline Color Show nail stickers at the dollar store, so I figured why not give them a go?

Swatch and Review of Sally Hansen Blueberry Blast

Today, I have a simple swatch to share with you! I went to Big Lots recently, which is somewhat unusual, as it is pretty far from where I live. I say this beauty for $1, which was a steal! It is Sally Hansen Blueberry Blast. I think it was limited edition, but perhaps a Big Lots near you will still have it. 

  

Nail Art: Green Chevrons and Dots

Recently I did a fun mani that mimicked the two manis I did for my mom and my mother in law for Mother's Day. I did polka dots for my mom and chevron stripes for my mother in law, so I felt like combining them into one look. I used all green polishes. I started with a base of Julie G Tahiti and on my pointer and pinky fingers added dots with China Glaze The Grass is Lime Greener and finally added chevron stripes with OPI Gargantuan Green Grape. 

Nail Art: Dice Inspired Tape Mani

Today's design is inspired by a picture, which was a prompt for a nail challenge given to me by a fellow NW polish addict! We have a group on Facebook and we decided to do a round robin type challenge. I have to admit, I was a little stumped when I first got my prompt for this nail challenge. The longer I thought about it, the more excited I became! Below is my prompt.

I was inspired by the dice with many edges and the speckled colors on the dice. I started my design based on that. It didn't turn out exactly as I imagined, but I really love it! I used a base of L'Oreal Tea and Crumpets, then I laid down my striping tape and sponged on Color Club Mamba, Almost Famous and Evolution. The three combined to make purples and greens, which I think turned out really interesting!

Nail Art: Zoya Tickled and Bubbly Gradient Tape Mani

Press Sample

Oh Zoya, how do you make such fantastic polish? I recently reviewed the Tickled & Bubbly Collections on my blog and was so inspired by the colors I had to do some nail art right away. For this look I started with a base of Jesy from the Bubbly Collection and created a gradient over that with Rocha, Rooney and Kitridge. I used striping tape to create my design. 

Swatch and Review of Aurora Lacquers

Press Sample

I have a NEW indie brand to share with you today! Aurora Lacquers just started this year and have already launched some amazing colors. They send me these polishes in exchange for my honest review. They sent me four colors to review: Cookie Gardens, Mint Meadows, Imaginary Butterfly, and Hydrangea Surprise. 

Swatch and Review of Zoya Bubbly Summer Collection

Press Sample

Today I have the second part of the Zoya Summer 2014 collection, called the Bubbly Collection. If you missed the Tickled Collection you can view that post here. Unlike The Zoya Tickled Collection, Bubbly consists of jelly polishes packed full of glitter! There are six in all.

Swatch and Review of Zoya Tickled Summer Collection

Press Sample

I have something very special to share today. I am so excited to share that Zoya has accepted me as a media partner and sent me the new Ticked and Bubbly Collection for Summer 2014! I literally squealed when I found out! I am a huge Zoya fan, I have not yet met a Zoya I didn't like and now I get to swatch for them! I am just blown away. Zoya is a great company committed to keeping harsh chemicals out of their polish. They sent me these polishes in exchange for my honest review. Now on to the polish, there are 12 colors in all and I have broken the swatches into two posts. Up today, I have the entire Tickled Collection. The Tickled collection includes all of the bright creme polishes. The Bubbly Collection includes all of the bright glitterly polishes. This may be my longest post to date, but it is worth it! There are some great colors in this collection.

Nail Art: Emerald City

Hello readers! This past weekend I took a trip to Seattle and wanted a simple mani to wear for the trip. I, of course wanted to make sure the mani was suitable for the trip, yes, I'm weird like that. I thought since Seattle is the Emerald City, I would do some emerald nails. I used butter LONDON British Racing Green (they are based in Seattle!) and Color Club Apollo Star and my dotting tools for this look.

Nail Art: Glitter Placement

Today I have sort of a two part post. One is to review China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy and the other is to share my first ever glitter placement mani! I had a hankering for neon polish a week ago and picked up several neons that I have been wanting for a while. Flip Flop Fantasy is a great one that everyone seems to have. I would describe it as a peachy neon, but I have seen other versions as more of a coral color. I think there may be two versions out there. For the glitter placement I used some loose glitter I picked up at Fred Meyer from Essence.

Swatch and Review of Avon Cherry Jubilee and Untamed

Press Sample

Today I have two polishes that were generously provided to me in return for my honest review. Jodi Stevens, an Avon Representative wanted to make sure the products she is selling are up to her high standards and offered some for nail bloggers to review. I was provided Cherry Jubilee, a deep and true red with a darker undertone and Untamed, a taupe brown/grey. Let's start off with Cherry Jubilee: