polka dots

SPRING!!  I was stuck in Reno for the night and needed something fresh and bright.  What better way to do that then with a light, bright, nail paint job.  Reno was great but the lack of fresh air combined with cigarette smoke drove me crazy.  When I stepped outside, I overheard a lady say "It's cold out here, I'm going back inside to smoke."  I also lost $1 at the penny slots and did not win a mini cooper. Boo.

I brought some polishes and goodies with me while I am up in the mountains so I am limited as to my paint jobs.  Then, yesterday when cutting and stacking wood, I broke two of my nails so I had to trim them all down to almost nothing.  So I went with something easy and fun.  I don't know if I like the mint green and yellow but I definitely love the yellow with white dots.

Sally Hansen - White On, Mellow Yellow, Mint Sorbet

black to white with a dash of red

After cleaning out my box of paints. tools, and tricks from the birthday party, I re-found my two grey polishes.  Normally greys are so dull but they inspired me to do a gradient paint job.  I was going to start with the fifth nail being a silver halo polish but then I saw the red paint and it all came together.  

There is nothing fancy about this paint job and it still fun.  For some reason it reminds me of Vegas.

Sinful Colors - Black on Black, Smokin, Cool Gray
Sally Hansen - White On
Essie - A List

birthday party

So, after posting my Academy Award nails, my Aunt asked me if I was free tonight to come and paint nails at her daughter's 9th birthday party.  The theme for the party was an Awards Show so she thought the tux nails would be perfect.  So I packed up a few polishes, tools, rhinestones, stamps, etc and headed over to their house.

It turned out to be a lot of fun.  The hardest part was painting on a small scale.  9 year old's nails are a lot smaller than mine (duh) and they are super bouncy.  I ended up painting most of the girl's nails and doing tux nails on the thumbs of the one boy guest.

*photos after the jump*

Academy Awards (the oscars)

My last paint job (champagne cocktail) inspired me to do a full on Oscars paint job.  I am a little bit of a movie nut (Netflix looses money with my account) and I love the Oscars.  The Golden Globes definitely rocked this year and set the bar extremely high for the Oscars.  I also either have or go to an Oscar party every year.

*more after the jump*

champagne cocktails

I made a list of food inspired paint jobs I want to do in the future.  Champagne was at the top of the list.  And what better time to try a champagne paint job than for the Oscars.

*more after the jump*

blue gradient

My nails are getting long, at least long for me.  Having longer nails means being able to do different paint jobs that don't work very well on short nails.  So I went back to a previous paint job, gradient. 

*more after the jump*

blue & pink *updated

Another wondering mind paint job.  I have been wanting to use the two blue base polishes for a while.  I like this paint job, just not so sure about the glitter over on the pointer finger.  Maybe it would look a little better with another glitter coat.

*updated paint job above* After looking at the pink glitter, it just didn't look right.  Then I remembered another glitter paint that was light blue and fuschia, a mix of all sizes of glitter, and jam packed with glitter.  I applied a thick coat over the pink glitter (it is going to take forever to dry) and it looks so much better.  It is like the stamping nail paints got put in a shredder and became a jelly glitter polish.  

spring

I know it isn't technically spring yet but the cherry trees are in full blossom at the park across the street from my house.  I can see them from my living room and they just look like spring.  All the rest of the trees are still in winter mode so these blossoms are a refreshing site.  But the more I look at this paint job the more it reminds me of Valentine's candy hearts.

I went with pastels with a matte top coat.  Why a matte finish?  Because the fog has been coming in and even though the day was glorious and sunny, the fog calms everything down.  It is still bright out but there is a muted quality to everything.  Plus, when the paint job gets a little stale in a day or two, I can spruce it up with a normal top coat.

Sinful Colors - Unicorn (yellow), Easy Going (pink)
Sally Hansen - Air (blue), Mint Sorbet (green/teal)
OPI - Do You Lilac It? (purple)

Is it too soon to do a spring themed paint job?  What inspires you to use matte top coat?

pink hearts

Pink, pink, hearts, and some more pink.  I caved and did a girly Valentine's Day paint job.  I went through all my plates and pulled all the ones with hearts.  It turns out there are a lot of them, especially in those little side decals.

*more after the jump*

black & red

 I went to the flower mart this morning and am now in the Valentine's mood.  Maybe not totally pink & red, but a little bit of it rubbed off on me.  Side note - I love the flower mart, whole sale flowers sold in large bunches with no fillers.  You can buy the fillers at another stall, but I don't like cabbage in my flowers.  1 dozen spider mums for 5 bucks - yes please.  Plus, so many orchid stores with almost every type and size orchid plant you could dream of.

This was a super easy paint job.  I have been wanting to use this red glitter jelly for a while.  It is in a black jelly that is not quite thick enough alone but looks great over a base of solid black.  Then a deep red on the pinky (I think pinky accent nails should be called high tea accents).
*more after the jump*

primary stripes

Another directionless paint job.  I knew I wanted to do something with blue, red and yellow.  I thought about gradient but I wanted to keep the colors true and not mix to get other colors (green, orange and purple).

I started with planning on paper (yes, I am a dork).  It is a simple paint job but figuring out the color combos is easier when you can do it on paper first.
*more after the jump*

february polish days - back to nature

This month's Polish Day is "Back to Nature".  At first I thought I would do a sunset paint job, but I just did a paint job that was very sunset-esk.  I decided on something I have been wanting to try but have always been too chicken - animal prints.  Well, animal print on one hand, dandelion on the other.

*more photos after the jump*

gold glitter

After my last crazy paint job, I wanted to go with something simple.  I have had this nude polish that I have been wanting to try.  I have been wanting to do a nude nail with a dark polish stamp.  Stamping was just too much last night.  So I went with a super simple glitter polish gradient.  I usually like to use actual glitter but again, I didn't feel like dealing with glitter all over.  I did give this paint job a bit of a pop with making my middle finger an accent nail of solid gold glitter.

*sorry for the horror movie lighting*

Overall, it is a very clean paint job.  It really pops in the sunlight.  It reminds me of the ballet.  I have no idea why, but something about the nude polish with the little pop of glitter (like a tutu). 

Sinful Colors - This Is It, All About You
OPI - Coney Island Cotton Candy

How to you use a nude polish in your nail art?  When working with glitter, do you like glitter polish over real glitter?