I Don't Think You're Ready For This Jelly

My first jelly sandwich!

The base is two coats of China Glaze Kinetic Candy, a beautiful blue that applies easily. Then I put on two coats of Nicole by OPI Rainbow in the S-Kylie, then topped it off with OPI Dont Touch My Tutu, a beautiful soft white jelly.

I think I went overboard with Rainbow in the S-Kylie - next time I'll try just one coat of it, but overall I loved it!Sun:

Shade:

You can buy Nicole by OPI at Target and CVS, China Glaze at Sally Beauty or Ulta and various etailers and OPI at Ulta or online.

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Another Work Friendly Manicure

Another day, another meeting...

This time I went with HITS Hestia, a soft pink holo. I thought it applied well and looked lovely in the sun, but it was sort of a blah for me, probably because I'm used to such bright, fun manicures.In the shade:

Showing off the holo in the sun

Close Up:

So when I came home and happened to receive nail mail from the indie Dandy Nails, I decided to put Funhouse over top. I loved this combo and Funhouse really took this manicure up a notch.

In the shade:

In the sun:

You can purchase HITS from llarowe http://shop.llarowe.com/ and Dandy Nails from her Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/DandyNails

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For The Love Of Harry

Here is one of my first (and certainly not my last) indie polishes Expecto Patronum by Dollish Polish.

I loved the look of this in swatches, but to be honest I would have bought it solely for the name. Harry Potter has been such a big part of my life for the past 14 years and watching the magic unfold for my sons now is even more precious.

I loved the formula and the glitter control on this, but it is still a bit sheer even with three coats. I think in the future I will layer it over Essie Marshmallow to save this precious polish.

You can purchase Dollish Polish through her website http://dollishpolish.bigcartel.com/ if you follow her on Facebook you can find out about upcoming restockings.

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I'm Addicted To You 'Cause You Know That I'm Toxic

Here is the gorgeous Toxic Seaweed by Cult Nails. It is this amazing green polish with tons of shimmer. This is one coat over two coats of Orly Lucky Ducky.

This was one of those polishes I would just stop and stare at throughout my day. It was limited edition and is now sold out of the store, but I am glad I was able to get it before it went away.

You can purchase Cult Nails online at http://shop.cultnails.com/ Orly polishes can be purchased at Sally Beauty Supply or Ulta.

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First Nail Art

I purchased a dotting tool from Sally Beauty Supply and decided to give it a whirl.

The base is two coats of Misa Grey Matters, a unique almost concrete looking grey. This polish went on with perfect application. For the accent finger I used Confetti Wedding White, Essie Navigate Her (green) and Essie To Buy or Not To Buy (purple).

Two days later I decided to try out CND Effects Amethyst Sparkle on top. You could barely see this effect on the nail (I blame camera operator error) but in person it added a fun shimmer.

You can purchase Misa and CND polishes from transdesign http://transdesign.com/index2.asp . Essie can be purchased at Target, Ulta, CVS or at several online etailers.

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Oh Yes It's 80s Night...

Every year we attend a themed school auction for my son's school, this year brought me back to high school with the 80s.

I decided to do a tape manicure using crazy neon colors!

Colors used: Sinful Aquamarine (blue), Sinful Innocent (green), NYC Taxi Cab (yellow), Spoiled Breakfast in Red (red jelly), OPI Kiss Me On My Tulips (pink), Sinful Hazard (orange), Sinful Dream On (purple) and I used the Milani Silver Nail Art Polish for the silver stripe.

The Spoiled polish was a disaster because I didn't realize it was a jelly, which is why it looks brown on the nail. The application of the NYC yellow was also a nightmare, which is why there is so little of it!

Sinful polishes can be purchased at Target or Rite Aid. Spoiled by Wet n Wild can be purchased at CVS. NYC can be found at Target. OPI polishes can be found at Ulta.

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When All Else Fails, Just Keep Adding More Polish

I usually have terrible tip wear issues because I type all day every day (and have two kids I'm cleaning up after constantly), so a lot of times I'll find a way to extend a manicure if it is showing wear if I don't have time to do a full manicure.  This is one of these experiments.

I started off with two layers of the stunning Catrice Dirty Berry. After lusting after this on several international blogs, I finally scored it on eBay.

Sparkly Close Up:

After the tip wear started to set in, I sponged Milani's Hi Res, a gorgeous green holo, on the tips.

I still wasn't thrilled with my application, so then I covered the entire nail with a coat of Wet n Wild Coloricon Speak When Spoken To a prismatic that incorporated the other colors in the manicure.

I think all of these colors blended well and I liked how the green on the tips shined through.

If you live in the US the only place I have found for Catrice is eBay. Wet N Wild can be found at CVS or Rite Aid. I purchased Milani at CVS. Milani is my favorite drug store brand of polish.

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Some Frothy Goodness

Some polishes you simply must own for their names. ManGlaze Santorum was this polish for me! The description on the back is worth owning the polish for alone.

Santorum went on perfectly and had a fantastic matte finish. The color was very unique on the nail.

The problem I have with mattes is they wear even faster because of the lack of top coat, so in an attempt to extend the manicure, I topped it off with Finger Paints Flashy after a day of wear.

ManGlaze and be purchased from their facebook page or amazon.com. Finger Paints can be purchased from Sally Beauty Supply.

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Lucky Dragon

My St. Patrick's day manicure was the stunning green holo Dragon from the magnificent a England.

This polish went on like a dream, covered in one coat and sparkled like a diamond on the sun.

I can't say enough how fantastic a England is. You can purchase a England at llarowe, http://shop.llarowe.com/ I have ordered many times from this shop and the shipping cost is extremely reasonable, the items are well packed and they arrive quickly!

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Work Safe Polish With Some Bling

I meet with clients every so often and I try not to have crazy colors or glitter bombs on my nails. I do though like to have a small amount of bling on my nails though to keep it fun.

This is Nails, Inc The Thames in two coats as a base with Nails, Inc 3D Holographic Special Effect Top Coat on the tips. I loved this look!

The Thames is a beautiful grey that applies like a dream and the Holo gave it just the punch it needed.

You can purchase Nails, Inc at Sephora.

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Let's Get Knackered

I had a few gift cards I had been hoarding, so when I saw this Butter London beauty I knew what I was going to buy.

Knackered was INCREDIBLY sheer. This was FOUR coats and you can still see a visible nail line. Next time I will find a good set of underwear to wear beneath it. Letting my nail line hang out for the world to see is not for me!

I thought the formula was great and it applied easily.

You can buy Butter London at Ulta, Nordstrom, and amazon.com through some of their etailers.

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The Red Knight

This is two coats of a England's Percival. This was one of my early manicures where I was still trying to figure it all out. Percival is a stunning eye catching red that is sure to garner many compliments throughout the time you wear it.

The polish from a England is outstanding, if you don't own any pop on over to llarowe http://shop.llarowe.com/ and get some for yourself!

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Flashy Tips At Tiffany's

This was my very first attempt at doing my own tips. Clearly, it shows! I tried to use those French tips guides which was a disaster. Then I tried to fix the disaster which only made it worse!

The base was two coats of China Glaze For Audrey, the tips were Wet N Wild Black Creme. In a final attempt to make it prettier, I covered the whole nail with one coat of HITS Poseidon, which is a beautiful light blue holo.

I want to try this one again now that I've gotten better with my technique.

You can buy HITS at llarowe http://shop.llarowe.com/  , China Glaze at Sally Beauty Supply or Ulta and Wet n Wild at CVS or Rite Aid.

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