Well hello again!  Hope you all are doing spectacular.  This post is a little different than other posts I have done since it is a SHARED POST!  That's right, the lovely Gabi (@RubyStein79) is posting along with me!  Gabi has become my official manicure inspector, especially after my Meh Manicure incident.  I send her cruddy webcam pictures, messy edges and all, and she gives me her feedback.  She has yet to give a negative response (and I doubt she ever will).

This heart manicure though she absolutely loved and she said she was going to copy it.  This made me beyond ecstatic, because as I have said in the past, I created this blog in hopes to inspire some people to start painting and do nail art.  I told her to send me pictures when she was done and I would post them along with my manicure since she does not have her own nail blog......yet.

Are you ready for some nail action????  Doing a fancy smansy "read more" cut for suspense.  Here we go.....

Here's what I came up with....



Sun Shots where you can see some of the Flakie Goodness:




Colors Used:

• Zoya - Avery
• Essie - Shine of the Times
• Sinful Colors - Black on Black

Now, Avery freaks the hell out of me because when on, it makes my nails look like there is some form of concealer on them.  The only time I used it previously was on my leprechaun manicure for the guys lil faces.  I originally was going to just swatch some on and deal with the freakiness of them just to avoid having naked nails at work.

When I looked over and saw my bottle of Shine of the Times, I grabbed it and painted.  I figured the worst thing that could happen was I would just have to take it off again and have naked nails.  Instead, Avery became something brand new, something amazing.  I was in love!  I really wish that the pictures captured how awesome the flakies made it look.

I needed more though, something simple but more.  When I first was researching Avery, I remember seeing that someone added black french tips to the polish and it went so well.  So, why not add some dots?

After three failed manicures, and compliments from my mani inspector Gabi (@RubyStein79) & customers at work, I'm loving my nails....what do you think??

Also, my blog title makes me think of this scene from one of my favorite shows Psych.  Now when I look at my manicure, I snicker a little.

Colors Used:

• Base
• Color Club - Blue Light - but it might be Factory Girl, I'm still not 100% positive ever since the stupid sticker fell off
• Clouds
• New York Color - French Tip White
• Flowers
• Funky Fingers -Riot!
• Sinful Colors - Cream Pink
• Revlon - Sassy
• Top
• New York Color -- White Lights Glitter

Yup, you're seeing right.  I'm posting a recipe on my nail blog.  Why?  Well, these are the most amazing cupcakes I've ever tasted in my life, and the best part is, they're vegan!!  Sure, they aren't the healthiest for you, but they're healthier than the cinnabun cake I was going to make which called for 2 and 1/2 sticks of butter.  The only thing that makes this recipe vegan is that instead of using buttermilk, they use a mixture of rice milk/vinegar to make an equivalent of buttermilk.  See the note in the recipe if you want more info on this.

Not only is baking vegan healthier, to me, it's ten times easier than cracking open the eggs and all that jazz.  Plus, they're free of the most common allergens of dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, and eggs, which is an added plus for those with allergies.  Everyone who I have ever baked a vegan recipe for before has NEVER known the difference until I told them.  I always wait to see the reaction, then go "So, can you tell those are vegan?"  My chocolate chip cookies are the bomb, just saying.

Please excuse the photo, it is a webcam shot since my camera is dead as a doorknob and I was too lazy to charge it.  Plus, by the time it's charged, I think these will be gone :).  I credit Pinterest with this recipe.  Sadly, the link which the recipe led me to had no author or anything, but whoever originally made them, you're awesome.

Recipe this way....

Well hello everyone!  It's been about a week since I updated with a new manicure.  Thank you to the lovely Ryan over at Dream a Little Dream of Polish for her awesome guest post.  The butterflies were amazing!!!! <3

Spring time is officially here and I'm about 99% positive that there will be no more snow.  I have been seeing numerous gorgeous pastel polishes and have been rather jealous since I only own two.  Miss Gabi (@RubyStein79) got an amazing Revlon Mint green which I was extremely jealous of.  You should ask to see her Mint Chevron nails she painted, they're awesome.

I looked everywhere for the polish, and of course the only bottle I could find was all crusted up like someone used it and returned it.  Right when I was about to cave and purchase an expensive Orly Mint, I hit the polish jackpot.  Funky Fingers Nail Polishes, three for five dollars, and best part, they're Color Club.  Both are made by Forsythe and if you compare the bottles side by side, the colors are IDENTICAL.

I purchased three and had to use two of them right away on a design I have never successfully done since I did not own the right colors.  This design was an adorable vintage rose design which I saw on Pinterest.

Time for the mani!  Please excuse my cuticles and wrinkly hands lol.

Colors Used:

• Rose Nails
• Base 
• Funky Fingers - Mrs. Mint
• Roses
• Funky Fingers - Queen Cupcake
• Sinful Colors - Luminary
• Sinful Colors - HD Nails
• Striped Nails
• Base
• Funky Fingers - Queen Cupcake
• Stripes
• Color Club White Striper

I have always wanted to create tutorials for my nail designs.  When I first started this blog, I wanted to not only share my nail art but inspire others to attempt some as well!  As my blog is growing and I'm gaining more followers, I thought now would be a great time to start.  So here goes nothing!

Here is how I am going to lay out the posts: first will be the manicure I'm doing the tutorial for, then the tutorial picture, with directions following.

For my first tutorial, I decided to do my  tiger manicure.  The tiger mani I feel is one that everyone knows me for since it is my Twitter, Facebook, and Google Friend Connect picture.  If you don't know which manicure I'm talking about, here is the picture from the mani when I first posted it back in February.  In total, this manicure took me about 45 minutes for both hands.

And now for my little photoshopped clip arted tutorial!


Free Hand Tiger Design:

1. Start with a base coat of your favorite orange polish.  For mine, I used Zoya Lianne.
2. With a toothpick, start stippling on black wavy lines with a black polish.  I start at the base of the nail and work my way towards the tip.  I also start from the outer edge and move my way in.
3. Add little connecting lines from the other lines to fill in the gaps and create more of a animal look.
4. Let dry and finish with a top coat.

Hey there y'all! Ryan here from the blog Dream A Little Dream Of Polish (Now Nail'd in the South)!!! I am so honored to be doing a guest post here for Alaina and her amazing nail art blog! I hope I don't let her and you, her readers, down!  I've been wanting to try butterfly wing nail art ever since 1st seeing it on Pinterest.  And even more special and exciting for me to do my 1st really intricate nail art attempt as a guest post for my AARM sister! **inside joke** between some other good blogger girlfriends & I who are about to do a 7 day challenge together.  Anywho, here's some of the original pics I pinned that inspired me:

I loved both of the colors these nail artists used and especially loved the gradual ombre gradient of colors on the right: from pink to purple.  For my butterfly wings nails, I chose to use Orly "Lollipop" & Zoya "Charisma" for the ombre base colors and Revlon ColorStay "Stiletto" for the black lines & OPI "Alpine Snow for the white dots.  I'm not super happy with the results...I don't have precision artist painting skills, so mine don't like anything these others :( I tried my very best to make good clean fine lines, but it's no joke you need hands of a brain surgeon to do these.  They were also extremely time-consuming! They took about 3.5 hours while watching some True Blood Season 4...this was also my first time to use my new dotting tool! So without further ado, on with the show!









This is really not my best mani and maybe I should give up on intricate freehand nail art....proof that i need some stamping plates already & maybe just stick with stuff like that ;D Anyways, I can't thank the lovely sweet Alaina for letting me do a guest post on her awesome blog! What do y'all think of this? Do you think you would want to try nail art like this??  If you're a neurosurgeon, I say GO FOR IT! :D Thanks for checking it out! Follow me on my blog, on My Pinterest, on Instagram: RyCoBra and also on Twitter!  Until next time! Stay classy....

Easter is over, and it's time to return to non-holiday themed manicures.  When I sat down to paint my nails, I had no idea what to do.  As usual, I sat starring at my tiny stash thinking "What color do I want?"  After a good half hour of sitting glaring at my collection, I took to Twitter asking for mani ideas.

My girl Megan from Let There Be Lacquer answered right away with a few awesome ideas.  She suggested a half moon but I don't have any of those fancy shmansy binder stickers so whatever I would have attempted would have looked horrid.   I also don't have a stamper to mimic her awesome Half Moon Tribal mani which you can see here. Then she suggested needle pull, but I was tired and didn't want to wait up forever for my nails to dry.  In the end I took so long deciding that I ended up being awake forever anyways.  After suggesting I do teal and realizing I do not own a teal, I grabbed the next best thing....my go to favorite color: Sinful Colors - Mint Apple.

Okay, so had a color......now what.  The lovely Ryan from Dream a Little Dream of Polish sent a link to her Pinterest page where she has loads of amazing pins.  Seriously, head on over to her blog and take a look at her Pinterest, it's amazing.  Nail ideas, awesome clothes, and not to mention her own awesome swatches.  Take a look at her Franken Nightlock here.  Loves it.

I came across this pin on Ryan's pinterest, and I had to re-create it, especially since I was going to use Mint Apple.  Enough of my babbling...onto my nails!  I again took my pictures outside because I loved how my last ones turned out.  Please excuse my random cuticles, but I refuse to do anything to them because I"m a bit freaked out by cutting/pushing back....*shiver*.  

• Base
• Sinful Colors - Mint Apple

• Diagonal French
• Sinful Colors - Black on Black
• New York Color - French Tip White
• Sally Hansen - Celeb City

I'm not sure why Mint Apple is my favorite color, but it is.  It's a pretty mint color with a lovely subtle shimmer.  The shimmer in Sinful Colors Luminary reminds me of the shimmer that is in Mint Apple.

The mani was extremely easy.  Typically when doing diagonal tips such as these, I use tape to make them even, but last night I was lazy and did them free hand with the brush.  When dried I took the dotting tool and added the dots.  Last but not least, with a toothpick, I added some celeb city for the silver divider.  I controlled myself from adding any glitter or flakies to top these off, and I'm beyond happy that I did.

What did you think?? If you have any ideas for what I should do for my next mani, feel free to tweet me, or leave a comment on the "Mani Idea!" page.  

It is time for my fourth, and final Easter Manicure.  I had something different in mind, but because I cut my nails short, and got some new polishes, I changed my plan and did something more simple.

I also decided to take my pictures outside today since it was so sunny and gorgeous.  I'm rather happy how the pictures turned out.  I think I like the first two pictures the best, but hey posting all four that came out decent.  First are more of a "shade" picture, and the second is when the "direct sun" was on them.

Colors Used:

• Base
• Sinful Colors - Luminary
• Bunnies and Flowers
• New York Color - French Tip White
• Sinful Colors - Cream Pink
• Sinful Colors - Black on Black
• Top Coat (Only on the Flower Nails)
• Essie - Shine of the Times

Luminary is from Sinful Colors new Sheer Shimmer collection.  I absolutely LOVE this new polish. It's so shimmery, but sheer, not so much.  Two coats and I had full color, for this mani though, I did three coats.  It went on so smooth and was not streaky at all.  It's a perfect Spring/Summer color, and definitely a must have if you like light shimmer polishes.

The bunnies were a super easy nail art design.  I used a dotting tool to dot on the head and ears.  Then, I took a tooth pick and added the details of the eyes, whiskers, and pink ears and nose.  The flowers were super easy as well.  Just a few dots with the dotting tool and they were done!

I topped the flowered nails off with my new Flakies, Essie Shine of the Times.  You cannot see it in the picutre, but it is the most amazing polish ever.  It is my first flakie top coat, and I think it's going to be one of my new "go-to" simple manis.  If you do not own this, go out and buy a bottle, you will not be sorry.  I was putting the bottle down next to different colored polishes and it was picking up the other colors and just looked amazing.

What do you think?  Like the pictures outside better than my old, inside pictures?  Have you done any Easter nail art that you have yet to post?  Let me know!

For those who celebrate Easter, I hope you have the greatest Easter!!!  For those of you celebrating Passover, Happy Passover!!!  And for those of you who celebrate neither, have a GREAT weekend!

Easter is fast approaching and I have done yet another Easter manicure.  Originally, I was planning on only doing three manicures for the holiday, but due to the Peeps tragedy, I was able to make time for one more mani.  This means after these little guys, I'll have one more for you!  It actually works out quite well because I had so many ideas in my head and didn't know how to do them all at once.  Originally this design was going to be part of my Easter Egg mani with the chicks on the ring finger and thumb, but with the extra time, I made them their own manicure.

My poor Peeps only lasted about two days in total.  I had painted the base coat on and wore that for a day before I painted on the nail art.  Probably not the best idea because the base wasn't in the best condition when I started adding the Peeps.  Then a day and a half after I had those lil guys on, they were murdered at my job.  Poor guys never stood a chance =(.  I miss the bright colors on my nails, not  going to lie.  I may have to do it one more time before Easter because it seems at the rate I'm going, I will have four Easter mani's in total.