mermaid manicure month part 2: ariel in abstract

today's manicure is inspired by everyone's favorite mermaid- ariel, of course. these nails are in honor of those of us who can't draw (ahem). so abstract is definitely the way to go.

index finger: 1 coat wet 'n wild wild shine red red + cheeky xl b plate stamping (6th row, 2nd from L) in revlon copper penny

middle finger: 2 coats nyc fashion safari + born pretty store plate m76 stamping in l.a. colors color craze nuclear energy

ring and pinky fingers: 1 coat l.a. colors color craze sea siren + 1 coat l.a. colors color craze treasure island

aaaand my thumb-

base: 1 coat sally hansen xtreme wear mint sorbet + sinful nail junkie gradient

gold stamping: revlon copper penny

image plate: messy mansion mm21

 the red is supposed to symbolize her hair, the purple stamping is her seashell bra, and the sparkling teal is her tail! get it?? i showed these nails to my mom, and her response was- "how old are you?" well you should know, mom, you were there on my birthday. i think my reply was, "never too old for ariel." and there's nothing more true than that, at least in my book.

and since this is mother's day, i thought i would throw in a gratuitous picture of my baby dressed as a mermaid (this was actually for halloween, so she's much much bigger now!)-

happy mermaid month, and visit again for ocean creatures nails!

mermaid manicure month part 1: pearly shells

as promised, here's the first installment in mermaid manicure month~! i'm soooo excited to be painting and blogging again. i'm also (a little too) excited about these nails-

base color: 2 coats nyc mulberry street
gold stamping: revlon gold coin
image plate: cheeky xl b plate (4th row, last image on the r)
gold shells: daily charme

i looove this! i wanted my nails to look like shells and sea glass on a white sand beach. i was more than a little inspired by hana4's beautiful gem-encrusted designs. in fact, i think her manicures were the reason i wanted to do mermaid manicure month in the first place! and those gold shell charms. . . . you do not know how long i've been hunting those down. i finally found them at dailycharme.com, and i could not be happier! they are just too cute and easy. plus, did i mention gold is my favorite??

revlon gold coin, amuse midnight star, love & beauty turquoise, amuse starry purple, wet 'n wild fergie glamorous

nyc mulberry street

i thought the pearly base coat was a nice touch, reminiscent of oyster pearls from the ocean :P. so basically, i love everything about this. except maybe how long it took to place all those stupid shells and glitter hexes.

stay tuned for more mermaid madness~!

at long last. . . .

did anyone miss me around here? i'm back. . . . finally. it's not that i haven't had time to do my nails and post pictures exactly, more like i just haven't had the energy and willpower. but i've decided upon a fabulous way to get my inspiration and motivation going again.

introducing. . . . mermaid manicure month! that's may, by the way. a whole month of manis inspired by mermaids! is there anything better than that? i'm gonna go ahead and say no.

so don't give up on me yet, guys. fun stuff to come (maybe even as soon as tomorrow??).

maternity mani

i have to be the only woman in the world who's done a manicure inspired by maternity clothes. what? there was one shirt in particular that i wore over and over, because it made me look like less of a whale than other shirts, and it had a pretty grey, swirly pattern. it reminded me a lot of this stamp-

base color: essence grey-t to be here

white stamping: jordana white

image plate: pueen 33

it seems like i always smudge the image on my middle finger. why only the middle?? no idea. . . . but i was much, much too lazy to redo it. so the smudge stays.

see that pink shimmer in the essence polish above? well, i could never get it to show up on my nails, until i added a bunch of polish thinner for this manicure. it had gotten a little thick since i bought it, and the thinner really made the pink show up. you can see it a little on my middle nail. the hint of pink shimmer made the manicure just that much prettier.

peanut butter jelly time

soooo, after having a baby and everything, i have some extra poundage to get rid of. so i've been dieting (hate diets), and am consequently hungry all the time. so a manicure inspired by food that i can't eat seemed like a good idea.

1 coat nicole by opi purple yourself together

1 coat wet 'n wild fergie glamorous

1 more coat nicole by opi purple yourself together

1 coat love & beauty rust

i really like the look of gold, rust, and purple all together. and purple yourself together is the perfect sheerness to achieve a tasty glitter sandwich. i loved how this made my nails twinkle.

i love inventing glitter sandwiches. the only thing i hate about them, though, is that i always get shrinkage, either at the tip or the cuticle. sooo annoying. i don't know if it's the top coat i'm using, or just how glitter bases react with other polishes painted over top of them. probably the 2nd one. but i'll keep doing sandwiches- they're too much fun!

marine blue

this polish (one of the oldest in my collection) is called marine blue, but it's really more of a neon green. a lot like this one. and boy, is it hard to get a color accurate picture.

base color: 2 coats claire's marine blue

gold glitter: 1 coat salon perfect champagne toast

gold stamping: maybelline color show metallics bold gold

image plate: pueen 27

the last pic is the most accurate, even though my hands are a weird color. this is a pretty shade, but nothing new or innovative. so i had to jazz it up with 2 of my favorite things- gold and holo!

polish purchases: october edition

well hello, remember me? i know it's been a while. . . . i don't really have a good excuse, except that i've been really busy with baby, and have kind of lost interest in nails for a while. *gasp.* but i think i've recovered from my temporary apathy, and i'm back to show you what i bought last month-

opi gargantuan green grape, pinkdipsybulle indian ocean franken, hard candy so so sequin, sinful gilded

sinful gilded ($1.99)- i've been searching for this beauty at many a walgreen's, and finally found it at a rite aid. soooo glad! how beautiful and shimmery is this?

hard candy so so sequin ($4.00)- i need another silver holo glitter like a need extra baby weight, but while shopping at walmart, i was seduced by the sparkle. tale as old as time.

pinkdipsybulle indian ocean franken ($6 + $2.50 s/h)- i looove this polish. it's a gorgeous cornflower blue base with tons of magical magenta shimmer. can't wait to wear this one.

opi gargantuan green grape ($8.99)- wait, didn't i already buy this one? yes i did, but it was a total fake. not even close to the real (amazing) green shade that i wanted. observe-

l: the real gargantuan green grape, r: the imposter

the first one i bought was totally toothpaste, the one on the left is green gorgeousness. the perfect color.

GRAND TOTAL FOR OCTOBER: $23.48

i got 2 big-ticket items that i've wanted for a while, and 2 glittery cheapies that make me smile. all in all, a good month.

henna tattoo

here's one of my favorite manicures, from over a month ago (sheepish face).

base color: 2 coats nyc fashion safari

brown stamping: sinful mercury rising

image plate: born pretty store plate qa59

i stinkin' love this image. it's right up there on my top 10 list (which i think i'll post about sometime soon). i always seem to have better luck with images that have thin lines instead of thick ones. somehow it just transfers better. plus i think they're more aesthetically appealing, so that's a win. i wore this manicure for a week straight, that's how much i loved it :).

another awesome manicure for cheap- the nyc polish for $1.72, the sinful for $1.99, and the plate for $1.99. i call that a victory for us cheapskates :P.

fashion safari

i really love the name of this polish. fashion safari, how cute is that?? and i love the shade too. and the price (dirt cheap). there's absolutely nothing to complain about with this one!

2 coats nyc fashion safari

i really love classy, nude cremes and have quite a few of them. but this is the first "mannequin hands" shade i've ever tried. i'm not sure why i waited so long, because i love it! i think this is a great shade for my skin tone. 

this shade is creamy, shiny perfection. it's a mere $1.72 at walmart and target and $1.99 at drugstores. and psssst, nyc often goes on sale for 40% off at rite aid and cvs, which is when i stock up on my favorite top coat- nyc grand central station. i really love nyc polishes, and this one is a must in anyone's stash.

amusing glitter

when i was 12, my whole room was decorated in lime burn-your-eyes-out green and turquoise. green has been (and always will be) my favorite color, but i was super into the green & turquoise combo back then. this manicure took me back to my crazy room from thirteen years ago. . . .

2 coats unnamed summer brights polish + 1 coat amuse midnight star + 1 coat wet 'n wild wild shine kaleidoscope

the turquoise glitter top coat had some silver holographic glitter in it, but it wasn't as dense as i wanted. i wanted bright green, turquoise, and in-your-face holo, dangit! so i added my favorite glittery top coat ever, kaleidoscope. now that's more like it.

phew, that was one intense mani. and a total beast to remove. my next manicure is much more subtle and elegant :P.

neon pastel green

so. . . . in the interest of time and laziness, i skipped base coat for this mani. what a bad, bad idea.

2 coats unnamed summer brights polish

as you can see, without a base coat, there are ridges and bumps visible on my nails. lovely, huh? also, this manicure didn't last very long (because of the lack of base coat). consider the lesson learned. from now on, base coat always!

regardless of my unforgivable nail-painting sin, i still really liked wearing this bright, happy creme. in some lights, it was super neon (see the first pic). in others, it looked like a perky pastel. i really love chameleon shades, don't you? it makes looking at your hands so much more fun :P.

clouds

this manicure was from a couple of weeks ago. . . . sorry! but maybe it's still worth sharing?

base color: 2 coats revlon cloud

darker blue stamping: petites periwinkle

silver dots: wet 'n wild fastdry silvivor

image plate: pueen 32

so. . . . petites periwinkle wasn't the best for stamping. it got a little smudgy in places. but i guess it worked. sorry i only have one picture, but this was the only one that didn't turn out horrible, 

i really like this stamp from pueen. it makes cloud nails super easy for those of us who suck at freehanded anything :P. next time i use it though, i'll choose a polish that stamps a lot more neatly.

polish purchases: september edition

well hi. i'm still here, i promise! i've been pretty busy these days- mostly baking for a couple of family birthdays and a friend's baby shower. wanna see what i made?

close to 100 baby shower macarons- cheesecake, white chocolate vanilla, and strawberry cheesecake!

a caramel cheesecake macaron cake for my mom- in her favorite color!

fun, right? aside from all the baking, i also managed to buy a few polishes-

l.a. colors enchanting, la splash embellished, sparkling torpedo, and tailscales

maybelline color show vintage leather lasting lilac and antique teal, hard candy emerald's eve

maybelline color show vintage leather lasting lilac and antique teal ($2.97 each)- i've been looking for this purple one ever since i saw swatches at nouveau cheap. it's a gorgeous red-toned purple with clear flakies! so unique. when i saw it at target, i caved and bought the teal one too. just because :P.

hard candy emerald's eve ($4)- so this is a new glitter from hand candy and i had to have it. i'm such a sucker for holographic gold glitter, and i can't wait to try this over mint green!

l.a. colors enchanting ($4.18)- this has been a long-time lemming of mine. it's supposed to be a dupe of orly fantasea, which is a beautiful purple/red/gold duochrome. when everything at cherry culture was 20% off, i knew it was finally time to snap it up.

la splash embellished, sparkling torpedo, and tailscales ($4.18 each)- la splash is a brand that i've really liked so far (i only have 1 polish- golden seahorse), and was curious about their other glitters. after a quick google images search, i settled on three amazing ones i needed. they all three contain holo glitter, and i can't wait to wear them! plus, i mean, the bottles. i love the shape and the gold cap! so cute.

GRAND TOTAL FOR SEPTEMBER: $26.66

i'm quite pleased with everything i bought this month. no regrets here. sorry i haven't been very regular with postings, but i now have a bunch of saved manicures to show you. to be posted soon!