Dot Mani

The One With The Serendipity Dot Flower Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Sunday?  I thought I'd fit one more post in before September is done!  I'm kind of overwhelmed again because here I am behind on posts, editing photos, and well everything.  I have to get the monthly mani favs up tomorrow or the next day.  I also need to update my Instagram, and should probably get around to updating Facebook again.  SOOOO many things to do.  Now that it's Fall though, I'm going to take some time to do it all.  Hopefully.

Also, guys....Halloween is almost here!  Some months I dedicate all of October to Halloween, but I haven't even started planning.  I blame work, I really need to not let it keep sucking up all my time.  I can't blame work entirely, I've just become super lazy in my older age.  Or maybe I've become boring.......hmmmmmm.

Anyways, today's manicure!  You know me and my floral manicures, and nothing is better than a simple dot flower design.  I found something similar to this on Pinterest and had to re-create it.  Have to love the yellow, black, and silver combo.  Really, this is one of my favorite dot manicures that I've done.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Serendipity Polish - Bottomless Mimosas
  • Serendipity Polish - Building my Empire
  • Serendipity Polish - #GoalDigger
  • Serendipity Polish - Holoday Lights
Cute, isn't it??  I'm not a huge fan of yellow polishes but this one is absolutely lovely.  It's right up there with the yellow OPI I love so much.  Probably the only two yellow polishes that look good on me.  Bottomless Mimosas covers completely in two coats.  Most of my Serendipity Polish's are one coat, but it doesn't surprise me that a yellow takes two.  I find that they always need two in order to build up properly.  Who knows, maybe there's a one-coat yellow out there and I'm just missing it.



I really love the index finger.  I feel this accent nail really did tie the whole manicure together.  I debated on keeping it plain, then debated on putting black polka dots on it.  I'm so happy I went with the flowers.  It's just so dang cute.

What do you think?  Like this design?

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

The One With the Sunflowers and Dots

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Thursday?  I meant to have this post up yesterday but again, time got away from me.  I did paint my nails twice this week, which lately that's a rarity.  I actually went the whole weekend with naked nails.  I don't even know who I am anymore.  Now that it's getting cooler again and the days are shorter, I'm going to be painting more and returning back to this blog.

Today's design is a perfect Summer/Fall transition manicure!  You can never go wrong with sunflowers, especially when they're on top of a gorgeous periwinkle blue polish.  I've come to the conclusion that sunflowers are my favorite flowers.  It used to be tulips, and I'm sure in the Spring I'll say tulips are my favorite, but right now it's sunflowers.  My co-worker gave me a bouquet of them yesterday because I had a rough day and it was the sweetest thing ever.  No one ever gets me flowers. 

And in my office at work, I have a painted sunflower portrait I did at Painting With a Twist.  I look at that painting daily and still sometimes can't believe that I painted it.  Sure I can paint my nails, but I never thought I could paint that well on a canvas.  Regardless, I just love me some sunflowers.

Enough of my babbling, let's take a loo!


Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Boho Blues
  • Acrylics
Absolutely love Boho Blues by China Glaze.  I purchased this one a few years back and I really need to see if it's part of the core collection because I need another bottle.  Two coats and full coverage.  It's just so beautiful!  I'm now imagining it with a top coat of INM Northern Lights and I'm really dying over here.



Looking back at this manicure, I'm realizing I created the look the hard way.  I should have started by painting my base, then adding white polka dots.  Instead, I started with the flowers then added the dots.  That was kind of a pain because I couldn't get the dots to fit in how I wanted with my OCD.  They look good though.

For the flowers, I again did them the hard way.  I should have drawn the outline and then colored it in like a coloring book.  Instead, I started with the semi circle, painted the petals, then outlined them.  Oh well, maybe next time I'll do it the easier way.  Watch, I do it the way I think is easier and it will end up being more difficult.

What do you think?  Like this look?  Something you'd try?

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

The One With the Watermelon Dry Brush Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I am so sorry I haven't posted more this week, but honestly this week really got away from me.  Before I knew it, Friday was here, then Saturday was over, and I just don't know where the time went.  Looking back at my week though, it's so unbelievable the stuff that has occured.  Seriously thinking about selling my life rights to Lifetime for a movie.  It would be quite a movie.

Today's nail design was supposed to be posted on Friday when it was 92 degrees.  Now it's back down into the 60s where it should be for this time of year.  It is a re-creation of a dry brush watermelon manicure I did a few years ago.  I actually wore this design in August for the family picnic at work, then just never got around to posting it.  Such is life lately, right?

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - I'll Pink to That
  • China Glaze - Lime After Lime
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Cool right?  A little abstract watermelon design.  I don't remember if I was originally inspired by someone else for this design or just came up with it on my own.  To be honest, I don't think I'm this creative....maybe I was.  I should probably scroll back through and check, but that involves effort and currently as I type this post, I'm watching blondies baking in the oven and sauce cooking on the stove.  Queen of multi-tasking at this moment.



It's a super easy design to do.  First, start off with a base of white.  When that's dried, take your green polish and dry brush 1/3 of your nail.  Then go through with a pink polish and dry brush the rest of the nail.  When that's all dried, take a black polish and dot your seeds on.  Finish with a top coat and bam, done.

What do you think?  Like these watermelons?  Something you'd do?

Until next time, <3.

Orly

The One With the Neon Yellow Pineapple Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine day?  Work is in full swing again, my Pinterest project is coming along.  Everything is quite productive for me.  Except for the fact that I haven't posted manicures in so long that I have this back log of summer designs to share now in the Fall.  At least it's still warm out and I'm not sharing them in the winter.  Although, does it matter?

Today's design is a re-creation of one I did a year or so ago.  You know me and my love of pineapples, so it makes sense that I have a pineapple design posted to the blog each year.  I realized during the last week of August I hadn't done my annual pineapple design yet, so I had to get going on an idea.  I started to look at new ideas on Pinterest, but shockingly enough came across my own outlined design and I decided to just do that one.  I loved it then, I knew I'd love it now.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Glowstick
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ORLY - White Tips
Oh ORLY Glowstick, how I love you.  Now, I needed to have a base coat of white underneath it to get it looking how it does.  One coat of white, two coats of Glowstick, and bright highlighter yellow is what I was left with.  On it's own, you can build Glowstick up, but it takes a good 3 to 4 coats because it's so sheer.  Plus, it doesn't look as neon on it's own.



I love how the black accents look against the yellow nails.  It's just so 90s and fun.

What do you think?  Like this look?  Ever use Glowstick?

Until next time, <3.


China Glaze

The One With the Last Summery Palm Tree Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I'm feeling super accomplished despite the fact that I have an end of summer cold.  At least, that's what I think I'm sick with. Regardless, I'm feeling accomplished because I finally have edited a bunch of nail photos, and yesterday I started on a Pinterest project!  I feel like every Fall I do a craft I found on Pinterest.  Maybe it's because the decorations for Fall/Winter are the greatest.

With Fall and Winter around the corner, you'd never know it since we are back in the 80s for temperatures this weekend.  Therefore it seems fitting to share with you a palm tree manicure that I actually did at the end of last month.  These actually were the nails I wore to the Brett Eldredge concert.  Ahhhh if I could go back to that summer night, it would be so wonderful.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Let's Jam
  • China Glaze - I'll Pink to That
  • China Glaze - None of Your Risky Business
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Isn't it wonderful?  I wish I was able to get a photo of all my nails because on the thumb I did a swatch of None of Your Risky Business, and it really pulled the manicure together.  That's why I have a dot of it on my middle nail, because it was swatched.  Anyways, the picture still turned out well.  Two coats of all the polishes.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  I think I did well getting two palm trees on my short nails!

Until next time, <3.


#SallySquad

The One with Sally Hansen Smartease and Metro Midnight

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I could have sworn that yesterday was Thursday, but of course, it wasn't.  It's weird, because everyone I talked to felt the same way.  Odd how that happened.  Alas, here we are and it's Thursday, not Friday.  Guess we should talk nails.

Today is my last post for the Sunset Splash collection from Sally Hansen!  I think I saved the best for last too.  Smartease and Metro Midnight are the pink and purple from the collection.  Although I kind of can see Metro Midnight being a dark pink/purple.  You can be the judge of that part, all I know is that it's a holographic polish.  Yes, that's right, a mainstream brand has released a holographic, and guess what, it's just as good as an indie!

Let's take a look!

Smartease is a pale pink polish which covered completely in two coats.  Normally I'm not a huge fan of pink nails, but this one I did like.  In my opinion, it's not that summery of a polish, I see it more being a Spring shade.  Paired with Metro Midnight though, it does get that summery vibe.


Metro Midnight......just......no words people....no words.  Look how amazingly gorgeous that is?!  Two coats on my index finger and used for the tape design.  The holo effect is so strong in this baby!  I really felt like I was using one of my ILNP or Serendipity Polish holographics.  Speaking of which, this is actually a recreation of a design I did using my Serendipity holographic polish last year!

What do you think?  Like this design?  Love the holo??

I had fun this round with the #SallySquad!  Can't wait to see what's next!!

Until next time, <3.

#SallySquad

The One With Sally Hansen Bourbon Belle, Sundown Socialite, and Sunflowers!

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  It's Saturday, I'm kind of under the weather, so that means I'm going to rest up all weekend.  It really hasn't been my week.  On Wednesday I fell at work injuring my knee, so I've been living in a knee brace for the past two days.  My saving grace is that it's cooler out so I don't have to wear that thing in the brutal heat.  Finally Fall is here though.  It was such a wonderful Fall day yesterday, so I'm hoping I feel better today so I can enjoy it.

Today I have two more polishes to share with you from the Sally Hansen Sunset Splash collection from the Miracle Gel Line.  Have I mentioned how excited I am to be apart of the #SallySquad??  Bourbon Belle and Sundown Socialite are perfect summer to fall transition polishes.  As soon as I saw them, I knew what nail art I was going to do with them. 

But first, a swatch!


Above is two coats of Bourbon Belle.  A beautiful dusty peach polish.  Now I'm sure not everyone will call it dusty, but to me it's not as bright as a normal peach, therefore I think it's dusty.


I then grabbed the duochrome Sundown Socialite and dry brushed it over Bourbon Belle, and goodness was I in love.  Part of me wanted to swatch the whole thing over it, but after seeing the dry brush I was obsessed.  I need to use it though on it's own ASAP.

Nowwwww, for the nail art....SUNFLOWERS!


Every year I do a sunflower manicure.  Usually I do it over a royal blue polish, but these two polishes together were calling to me to use them for a base for some sunflowers.  At first, I wasn't too happy because the back orange petals seemed to disappear on the base, but once I added hte yellow petals, the details in the center, and added the top coat, I truly was in love.  To me, this is the perfect end of summer design.

What do you think?  Like this manicure?  Like the polishes?

Until next time, <3.

#SallySquad

The One With Sally Hansen La Vida Lilac and Floral Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!  How are you all doing today?  It's in the 90s, and September, so do not get me started.  We all know how much I love Fall, so it's killing me that it's not here yet.  While I should be posting my palm tree manicure I did last week, that's going to hold off and probably end up being posted this winter when I'm missing Summer.  I'm really a contradictory person, aren't I?

Anyways, the reason I'm holding off on my post is because I'm super delayed in posting my #SallySquad manicures!  Yup, that's right, I'm now part of Sally Hansen's #SallySquad where I get access to the new lines of polishes to share with you all.  The first collection I received is the Miracle Gel Sunset Splash collection.  You all know how I rave about the Miracle Gel polishes in all my other posts, so you know I was excited to receive more.  Truly, these babies wear like iron on my nails and take forever to chip.  I always end up removing them before they're ready to come off.

 First polish I want to share with you is La Vida Lilac.  Let's take a look!


Just like all my other Miracle Gel polishes,  this covers completely in two coats.  Smooth application, perfect brush size.  And what a color.  Beautiful grey lilac polish which is such a versatile base for nail art.  Speaking of which, let's take a look at what I did.


I went back and forth debating on what I wanted to do on this base.  I've been wanting to do my annual sunflower manicure, but another polish in this collection I feel would be a better base for sunflowers.  Then I was going to do daisies, but I'm kind of all daisy-ed out - for now.  Then it hit me, a while back I did a yellow and black nail art design over a grey polish.  I thought those colors would be a good match over the top of it.


And as you can see, I was correct.  Really loved how this manicure turned out.  Added a top coat of the Miracle Gel topper, and I'll be sad in three days when I go to remove this manicure and there are no chips.  But alas, I need to move on to painting more designs!!!

What do you think?  Like this look?  Fan of the Miracle Gel polishes??

Until next time, <3.

Monthly Mani Favs

The One With August's #MonthlyManiFavs

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I apologize for my lack of posts.  My motivation for blogging has gone down the toilet this past week.  I've been super busy with work.  Finally though I'm feeling slightly caught up.  I'm almost wondering if I've been sick this past week with a virus or something because I haven't had the want to paint my nails for the past 7 days.  That's right, I had the same manicure for the past 7 days on my nails.  I'll paint tonight though and get back into the swing of things.....hopefully.

It's September.....already.  I do not know where this year has gone.  Since it's the first post of the month, that means it's time for my #MonthlyManiFav recap!  I only had 7 manicures last month, and I still had a hard time picking my favorites.

Let's take a look!


  1. The One With the China Glaze Palm Trees - Absolutely loved this palm tree design.  I did one more and have to share it ASAP because it's now September and I need to start sharing Fall themed manicures.  Although, it's in the 90s all week therefore it's really not too fall like.  Anyways, LOVED this palm tree design, and cannot wait to share the next one with you.
  2. The One With the Blue Serendipity Polish Flowers...Again - A beautiful recreation of a design I did a few years ago.  Love me my Serendipity Polish's, and love anything blue.  This reminds me, I have yet to do my annual sunflower manicure this year on top of a blue base.....
  3. The One With the OPI Daisies - A re-creation of a design I used to do on one of my favorite resident's nails.  My lovely lady passed away recently and I miss her terribly.  Not a day goes by where I don't think about her.  I'm lucky to have known here, and the countless other residents that have came into my life.  This manicure is a reminder of not only her, but the others I've been blessed to know.
  4. The One With Flip Flop Fantasy - FFF is one of my all time favorite polishes.  Love this bright neon and the pretty floral design.  I had something different planned, but love this end result!
What do you think?  Which one is your favorite?

Until next time, <3.