OPI

The One With the Re-Creation of an Old Snowflake Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning Polished World!  How are you all doing on this cold, January day?  I'm low key proud of myself this month for posting as much as I have been.  As you all know, last year I took a bit of a hiatus when my life got crazy.  I didn't start painting my nails again until the Fall when life slowed down.  Now I'm finding that my biggest issue with blogging is editing the photos.  I have a lot of downtime in the evenings, so I really have no idea why I don't edit photos.  I think I got so used to not blogging that the whole idea skips my mind.  That is until I realize I have 5 posts to edit and another 4 to still share.  I'm getting there, and soon I'll be blogging like I used to....hopefully.  Despite the hiatus, I'm amazed that people are still here taking a look at my nails. My views are at an all time high since returning and I never expected that.  Thank you all for sticking around!

Again, I am proud of myself that I got back into the swing of it.  Some nights I'm more inspired than others.  Last night I just did a plain swatch because the inspiration was at a zero, but since I have so many posts to share, it didn't bother me.  I took the time to edit today's post which is a re-creation of a snowflake manicure I did a few years ago.  I loved it then and I truly still love it now.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - I Believe in Manicures
  • OPI - Champagne for Breakfast
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Could have had a manicure utilizing all OPI polishes, but no, I had to grab my beloved ORLY Liquid Vinyl.  I wonder if I even have a bottle of Black Onyx by OPI.....I should research that.  I have to ask, is it an amazing black polish?  I don't know if I can be converted from ORLY's Liquid Vinyl.  I'm getting off track; can we talk about how awesome a black accent is for this snowflake manicure?  I just love the look with the stunning blue, the holographic silver, and then the black snowflakes.



What I especially love is OPI Champagne for Breakfast.  A polishe released in 2016 as part of the Breakfast at Tiffany's holiday collection (seriously this was released 3 years ago), this polish was a liquid sand holographic silver glitter.  I love the textured polishes and OPIs take on them were fabulous.  This polish is no exception.  I think OPI needs to re-release it ASAP.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Love the combination?  Think I should do a more formal then and now series?

Until next time, <3.

Orly

The One With the Watercolor Pineapple

9:00:00 AM


Happy Thursday polished world!!  Are you enjoying your week thus far?  I feel like it has been a blur, but to be honest I have been feeling not myself since Sunday.  I'm not sick, but I'm not 100% normal.  *Insert joke of when am I ever normal here.* Tomorrow is Friday which means that the weekend is almost here and before we know it we will be headed into the last week of January.  And I've done nearly not enough snowflake manicures for the year.  Maybe I'll get to another one in the next few days.

I haven't been feeling the snowflake nail art because we keep getting these weird little heat waves.  It goes from 19 degrees back up to 45.  No sooner than it drops about 6 inches of snow on the ground, it's melted the next day.  Listen, I'm never happy when it comes to the weather, but I would be a little happier if it stuck to being either cold or warm, not all over the place.  Since we are in another "heat wave" I decided to have a little fun on my nails and do a more summery look.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • Acrylics
Cute, right?  Nothing says summer like a little pineapple.  I saw a watercolor pineapple on Pinterest, and you all know me and my love of pineapples, it went on the re-create board right away.  The look was a lot simpler to create than I thought it would be.

First I started off with a coat of my favorite black and white polishes.  I rave about ORLY White Tips and Liquid Vinyl pretty much in every post.  They are my go to black and white because they last a long time, apply evenly, and have such perfect shiny finish.


When my white polish was dried, I went through with a black acrylic and painted the outline of the pineapple.  I then took different acrylics and watered them down so they pretty much were just stained watered.  I then took that and added each watered down color individually to the nail.  I let it sit for a few seconds and soaked up the excess water.  I went through and did this with each color.  Once I got the colors I wanted, I went through and cleaned up the outline.

What do you think? Love the pineapple?  I have to say, this probably is my favorite pineapple manicure to date.

Until next time, <3.


Dot Mani

The One With the Black and White Snowflake Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose

Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this cold, chilly Monday morning?  I can tell you that I much rather be in bed.  Sure, I'm writing this post at midnight on the 20th, but I just know that come the time this post is published, I rather be in my warm bed than in my office.  Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but my bed is quite wonderful too.

Since it's been a snowy weekend, it's time for me to start painting snowflake nails.  I think I did a snowflake manicure back around Christmas, but I feel like that was an eternity ago that I cannot remember.  My inspiration for today's design is a kind of a re-creation of a snowflake manicure I did a few years ago.  I twisted it up a bit and added a new twist and overall love the end result.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Serendipity Polish - Holoday Lights
  • Serendipity Polish - Building My Empire
  • Serendipity Polish - #GoalDigger
Sometimes I just have to bust out my Serendipity Polish's and reminisce about how wonderful they are.  This company was one of the only that I have ever found that had one coat coverage in their creams, making Building My Empire and #GoalDigger the best black and white polishes to ever exist.  So sad that they went out of business and that more people didn't purchase their products.



You all know how I love a good silver, black, and white manicure, and this beauty is no different.  I love how it all came together to make a sleek, snowy design.  I think the dots I created on my index and pinkie finger really tied it all together.

Love the look?  Sad Serendipity Polish isn't a thing anymore?

Until next time, <3.

Gradient Mani

The One With the ILNP Gradient Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world! How are you all doing on this fine.....what day is it, Wednesday?  I swear my days just keep blending into each other.  Every single day I ask "what day is it?"  I'm not the only one though, so I don't feel so bad about it.

Today's manicure is a simple ILNP Gradient that looked better in my head.  After my New Year's manicure where I did a gradient with Versailles, all I wanted to do was another type of gradient using some of Barbara's holographic polishes on top of a black.  I couldn't get the color combination exactly right, but it doesn't look too shabby.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ILNP - Float On
  • ILNP - Tidal Wave

As expected, the polishes were amazing to use for a gradient.  My only, minor, tiny, little complaint is that the colors weren't as vibrant as I would have liked.  Don't get me wrong, they were pretty bright, but I think Tidal Wave blended too much into Float On.  I really should try this with say a pink and a purple.


Regardless, I felt like the manicure had a real mermaid vibe to it.  If I was really feeling artsy, I probably would have painted some scales on the accent nail, but it was midnight when I did this manicure, and well, I didn't have time for that.  Honestly shocked I did a gradient on all ten of my nails.

What do you think?  Like this gradient?  Think I should try other color combinations?

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

The One With the Neon Dot Flower Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Sunday?  I'm off to a rocky start with 2020 and this blog, but I really hunkered down last evening and edited all of my photos and set up some posts for you all.  Kind of proud of that.  I actually have one more post to edit which is the manicure I painted last evening, but since today it's going to rain, I have some time.

Speaking of weather, it was in the 60s yesterday.  I kid you not, it went from 20 degrees to 60 in a matter of 24 hours.  Now we have high winds and enough rain where you can swim down the street.  Last night driving home there was so much fog that you could barely see five feet in front of you.

Since we had this warm break in the normal winter cold, I felt it necessary to have a neon floral manicure.  This summer since I was on my hiatus, all of my gorgeous neons sat in their drawers never touched.  You know I jumped at the opportunity to use them.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - That's Shore Bright
  • China Glaze - Too Yacht to Handle
  • China Glaze - Pinking Through the Window
  • Zoya - Tomoko 
  • ORLY - White Tips

This is a recreation of a manicure I did a few years ago.  Only thing I did differently this time around was added the random black dots on the floral accent nail.  I also think that my dot flowers were a tad larger.


Still a cute, simple manicure which brought a refreshment to the boring winter color palette.  Too Yacht To Handle is my all time favorite neon polish.  Many complained about it's formula, but I never have had a problem with it and can have full coverage in two coats.

What do you think? Fan of this manicure?

Until next time, <3.

Flowers

The One With the Random Floral Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  Happy Sunday to you all!  I'm so excited that the holidays are over and the work week can go back to being just that; a work week.  Nothing was worse than the past two weeks working a Monday, being off on a Tuesday and Wednesday, then returning on Thursday to a day that feels like a Monday.  I miss the days of being a kid where I just had full weeks off of school and didn't have to worry about working.

But alas, I am an adult, who paints nail art on her nails.  Today's design is a simple floral manicure I did back in the Fall, but never got around to posting.  I tried my hardest this Fall to use some of my darker toned polishes.  My goal last year and this year was to stick with the whole color pallette of the season, but I'm going to tell you that I painted neons on my nails last night so it's safe to say I already failed.  Regardless, this manicure was perfect for Fall, and works for winter too.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Mystic Maven
I'm only putting the bottle color I used, because as usual I don't remember what the other polishes are and I didn't put them in the post when I created the draft.  You think after all these years of blogging, I would have learned by now.  Oh well.  Mystic Maven deserves her own post though because she truly is a gorgeous purple, mauve cream.  Truly unique to my collection and one I should wear more often.  Two coats and full, smooth coverage.  Not shocking since we all know ORLY is perfection.



I was rather proud of my floral design.  I'm getting better at creating leaves with some form of dimension to them with the random green shading.  I can tell you that I cheated and used acrylics for those little babies, but the flower itself was all polish.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Love the color combo?

Until next time, <3.