OPI Atomic Orange

31 day challenge. 
Day two: orange nails.

As was true with the red nails, orange is not a prominent color in my collection. Though my fair skin tone can pull off a cherry red (which makes me feel sexy), orange usually isn't something that I find attractive. Nor is it a color I usually reach for outside of nail art or Halloween. I probably should, as orange is Mr. Manicure's favorite color, but I never found an "attractive" orange. Until now.

OPI Atomic Orange is a vibrant, red-based orange creme. It was released with the OPI Brights collection, and it definitely is just that. Though Atomic Orange is a vivid, summery color., it doesn't feel like a neon, and is quite wear-able. I wore it to work today and got several compliments on the color from fellow teachers.

I don't know why it's almost coming 

out as salmon-y - it's not at all.

 
And then, because I thought another plain colored mani would be monotonous, I decided to spice things up with an accent of Zoya Destiny.  This is a PixieDust finish in a coraly-orange color, with gold glitter. As with all of Zoya's PixieDusts, this polish seems to radiate in all lights, and therefore, makes it virtually impossible to photograph correctly. Destiny is a lovely orange, not over the top, but look how she shines!

 

One thick coat of Zoya Destiny over OPI Atomic Orange. 

You can still get Zoya Destiny from their website. I purchased my bottle of OPI Atomic Orange at Target, but if you can't find it there, it's available at most internet shops. 

Watermelon Day

Did you know that August 3rd is National Watermelon Day? Well, now you do :)

Watermelon nails in natural sunlight.

How to:

I began with two coats of OPI Alpine Snow. Next, a quick dry top coat was added to make sure that the nails were completely dry before applying striping tape (otherwise, it becomes a gooey mess). Top coating a base color whenever you do nail art is also a great idea, because if you mess any details up, you can use nail polish remover to fix your mistake, without destroying your carefully painted base color.

The striping tape helped make a clean white line for the mani, and also acted as a guide where the melon and the rind would be painted. One finger at a time, I used a generous coat of butter London Snog and Zoya Yara, quickly removing the striping tape on the nail before any polish dried to create a clean, sharp line. Then, I would move onto the next nail, continuing the process until I was finished.

Under a lamp, indoors. You can see the yellows
in Yara better than the first photo.

I think they turned out pretty cute. Now, off to celebrate this holiday with some delicious, ice cold watermelon slices!

Olympics!!!

For those who don't know me, I am a total nerd for the Olympics. I adore everything about the Olympics: the Opening Ceremonies, the camaraderie of all the participants, the comebacks, the fierce competition... everything.

I especially love the Winter Games. I could watch figure skating for days - and I will! I also love hockey, speed skating, ski jumping, bobsled, curling... I really love it all.

This manicure is dedicated to Team U.S.A. On my pinky and pointer fingers I used Zoya Richelle, a lovely golden bronze metallic (going for the gold!), while OPI Alpine Snow was used for the base on my middle and ring fingers. 

Next, I used my striping tape (first attempt) to create represent the U.S. I originally wanted to go for a flag, but as this was my first attempt, I kept it simple. This was done using Zoya America (of course) and China Glaze First Mate.

The Olympic rings are my favorite part of the mani! I think they turned out great. How did I get such a perfect circle you ask? A simple coffee stirrer. I dipped the ends in the nail polish and stamped it on. I centered the black ring first and continued from there, using blue, red, yellow and green cremes that I had in my collection.

USA! USA! USA!

With this manicure, I'm all set to watch the Americans win gold in Sochi. Hope you all enjoy the Olympic coverage as much as I am!

Super Bowl nails

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet - it's the Super Bowl and there are dips and beers to consume!

I am a die hard Bears fan, so I really don't have a team allegiance for this game; but with many family members and friends in Seattle, I decided to cheer the Seahawks tonight.

I found Essie The More the Merrier and OPI Ski Teal We Drop to be the closest Seattle colors in my collection. And to get all wild and crazy, I decided to finally use my dotting tools that I bought myself at Christmas to try my first dotticure.

Two coats of The More the Merrier and 
Ski Teal We Drop. No top coat.

Not too shabby for the first attempt ever, in my (no so humble) opinion. 

Alright, that's all. Have a fun and SAFE Super Bowl!!

2014: The Year of Nails.

I'm not normally one for New Year resolutions, but this year I decided I'm going to give this blogging thing another go. For the past few years, not only have I been adding to my collection, but I've also been making friends in the nail community, and become a fan of their Facebook pages and blogs. They have taught me new nail art techniques, pointed me in the direction of fantastic nail care products and have helped me gain the confidence to restart this blog. So, ladies, thank you. Because of you all, 2014 will be my year of nails.

...was that too sappy? I'm drinking wine and in love with the world.

Now, onto the nails!

For my New Year's Eve mani, I decided to go with a traditional gold and black. I started with two coats of OPI Glitzerland. But, then I thought I would kick it up a notch and free hand a chevron look using Zoya Storm and a silver nail art pen. And from this thought, came this abomination:

The horror! The horror!

Lesson learned - never again shall I attempt to free hand straight lines.

I decided to start all over again, and this time attempt my first Scotch tape mani. I think it turned out alright, considering this was a first attempt.

Two coats of OPI Glitzerland and Zoya Storm, 
topped with HK Girl.

Happy New Year! May the year of nails begin! :)