ABC Challenge - C is for Cheetah & Tutorial

For tonight's post I just wanted to switch it up a bit and do a pedi instead. I'm again a day late, I don't know what it is, but posting on Wednesday's I just seem to forget. I think we should change the posting day to Thursday's, anyone else agree?? Just kidding :)

For my toes I used OPI's Goldeneye for the base, then for the spots I used Nicole by OPI's My Empire... My Rules, then lastly to outline the spots I used Wet n Wild's Ebony Hates Chris. This is my first time doing cheetah print like this and oh my goodness it was probably one of the easiest and fastest nail designs I've done in a long time.

What you will need for supplies is:

• A paper plate
• Dotting tools
• Nail polish for the spots
• Black polish to outline the spots
• Acetone
• Nail brush to fix mistakes

 

First you will paint your base color:

 



 

Once that dries pour a little bit of the color you want to use for your spots onto the paper plate. Use your dotting tool and make random imperfect cirles on your toes. The more imperfect, the better I found.



 

Next, take a skinny dotting tool, I used my pontiest one, and dip it in your black paint and outline your spots. You don't want to outline the entire spot, just do about half. The more abstract you are the better. What I did was outlined half of some of the spots and on some other ones I did half, skipped a bit then outlined the rest of the spot.

 

Here's the finished result:

 





 

 

 

I'm totally in love with these! They were just the simplest to do and look so adorable! Can't wait to do a mani with these! Love the color combo.

 

Also I was able to swatch the Material Girl polish I purchased the other day, I tried Psychedelic. Which is a gorgeous purple shimmer.

 



 



The polish itself was gorgeous and application was great. It went on perfectly with no streaking and only took two coats. The only problem was is that for some reason my nails bubbled. I keep having this problem lately and can't quite figure it out. Is it the base coat I'm using, am I not washing my nails enough? Any hints, tips, or advice is GREATLY appreciated.

 

Well that is all for tonight fold.

 

 

Xo Brit

Let's Go Niners!

Yesterday in honor of the San Francisco 49ers playing in the championship game I did my nails to show my loyalty. For the pinky, pointer and thumb I used Wet n Wild's Red Red and sponged the tips with Ebony Hates Chris. For the middle and ring fingers I used Nicole by OPI's Disco Dolls. For the ring finger I used my Kiss finger paint nail polish to paint on the SF and for the middle finger I used my Sally Hansen nail art pen in white. For my other three fingers I used the nail art pen as well to write with.

 

 

 

 

 

I absolutely love these nails and I love the Niners! Did anyone else see that game yesterday?? Such a nail bitter. Here's a little fun fact about myself - I went to high school with Colin Kaepernick, the Niners QB, he's a year older than me and hung out in my group of friends. Pretty cool, huh?

 

Back to polish, I haven't bought any polish lately, and by lately I mean like a week or two :) I was at the store getting medicine the other day, when I noticed that the Nicole by OPI was still 50% off so I bought two more bottles. On the left is a texture polish in black and the right is My Empire... My Rules.

 

Here's a swatch of My Empire... My Rules, unfortunately this is the only polish that I've gotten to swatch.

 

 I also picked up a polish from Revlon's new line of Moon Candy, this one is called Galactic and I can't wait to try it.

 



 

Here are three more polishes I swooped up at TJ Maxx, the brand is called Material Girl, which I've never heard of, but the bottle was pretty cute as were the colors. A review of the polishes and the brand will be coming some time this week (I hope).

 

 

 

 

 

Last ones I swear... for this post :) and I didn't get these all in the same day. These are two different shades of green by Sinful Colors, the left one is called Beau Khaki and the right is San Francisco. Now I must admit that I wouldn't have bought San Francisco if it wasn't for Alex, he forced me to buy it because he loved the name so much. We will see how it looks on..

 

 

Hope everyone had a great start to their work week!

 

 

Xo Brit



ABC Challenge - B is for Bows

Did everyone love my post?? It was supposed to show last night, but for some reason it didn't Publish... maybe I just didn't hit the button.

I am again a couple days late for the ABC Challenge, not starting out well am I? I debated for a long time as to what I was going to do for the letter B. First, I was going to do blue, then I thought bubbles, then I thought blue AND bubbles, but because of my procrastination someone got to it first. :( I decided to go with a tried and true... bows. I know I've already posted two other manicures with my rhinestone bows, but I just LOVE them so much and I've really been wanting to do a mani with this lilac colored bow. For the nail polish I used Julep's Toni then placed a bow on both ring fingers. Here's how it turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These rhinestones never fail me! They are an easy go to and just add that extra something.

 

On another note, Alex and I ran to Walgreens to pick me up some more medicine because I'm sick as a dog, and I saw these Essie Sleek Stick nail appliques. Can I just say that they have the most amazingly cute designs, unfortunately Alex told me I could only get one (someone has to keep me under control!) so here's what I chose:

 

 

Of course I had to take my polish off and re-do my mani! Duh! (just channeled my inner valley girl)

 

 

I definately love how they turned out, but I must say I am still a huge fan of my imPRESS nails since I feel that they are more adherent and 'protect' your natural nail more. Also with the Essie nail appliques I feel like they would lift a lot easier and peel when they got wet, whether it be showering or washing your hands. I will check back in tomorrow to update on how well they last through the day. Overall, very cute cute designs and easy manicure for a night out or special occassion.

 

 Hope everyone has a great Friday night!!

Xo Brit



OPI's DS Extravagance

To tired and lazy for words right now so I'm going to use pictures! :)

 

 

 

 

L-O-V-E this polish!

 

 That is all I have to say, good night all!

 

Xo Brit

ABC Challenge - Sally Hansen's Air

So I'm a little late for my ABC Challenge, but Alex and I did have an AMAZING time in San Francisco! The Lion King was such a fantastic show and the costumes were just insane! We loved every minute of it and it was such a great first experience for Alex! I will have some pictures to share with you all tomorrow, so stay tuned. :)

 

On to the ABC Challenge... In case you haven't heard of or seen an ABC Challenge before it pretty much consists of using a nail polish color or brand that coordinates with the letter for the day we are on. We are going to be posting every Wednesday, which will make it a lot less stressful. For my first post I chose to do a nail polish name, this one is Sally Hansen's Smooth & Perfect Air. The application was great and the formula went on well. The color itself was pretty opaque so this was three coats with a coat of SV.

 

 

Take a look at the other lovely ladies participating in this challenge:

Kimber @ Kimber'sLacquerKorner
Gini @ Sassy Paints
Kat @ Hooked On Polish
Lisa @ Lozlosa
Diana @ Nails By Diana
Nicole @ Nicole Gets Nailed
Nailista
Lariesa @ Me, Myself, and Polish
Patty @ Patty And Goldie's Day Off
Meredith@ Perfectly Polished
Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
Sammi @ GlitzNGlammer
Polishaholic
Dionne @ Glittery Fingers
Aly @ Wonderland Beauty
Kate @ Painted Pony Nails
Sarah @ Faithfully Polished
Small Budget Beauty
Alaina @ Dont Spill The Acetone
Simona @ Light Your Nails
Elle @ Miss Nail Polish
Holly @ Facebook (blog link coming soon!)
Sonya (link needed)

 

I hope that everyone had a great weekend.

 

Xo Brit

 



Chevron Mani

This is going to be a quick post as I need to get to bed! For Christmas Alex's mom got us tickets to see the Lion King in San Francisco and we are leaving early tomorrow morning! I am sooooo excited to see a Broadway play, it's my first ever! I'm even more excited that Alex and I get to experience our first Broadway plays together! So awesome!

 

Anyways back to the mani.... I'm completely obsessed with with the chevron pattern and last night I picked up a pair of pinking shears. To start I painted my ring and middle fingers with Essie's Marshmallow. Next I painted my remaining fingers with Sally Hansen's Mint Sorbet. Once my middle and ring fingers dried I used painters tape and cut strips of it with the pinking shears. Here's how they turned out:

 

Here they are before the chevron stripes

Final result





 









Another shot

Like I said this is going to be a short post, so good night everyone and I hope you have a great Wednesday.

Xo Brit

PS - The ABC Challenge starts tomorrow! Yay!!

Reverse French Manicure

 

Good evening lovies! Tonights post is a little different take on the French manicure. I've seen so many posts around the blog-o-sphere about the reverse French manicure and thought I would take a stab at it.

 

For my base I wanted a nude color so I chose ELF's nude. Application was good, it went on smooth and dried well, really have no complaints about ELF's nail polish line. Then once that had dried some I added a coat of SV. Once they were fully dried I used my Sally Hansen French manicure tip guides and applied those to my fingers. I then used CND's Blackjack for my tips. Once I finished with one finger I would take the guides off to ensure that they didn't smudge the paint. Here's how they turned out:

 

ELF's Nude

 

ELF's Nude plus CND's Blackjack

 

 

 

 

I absolutely love how these turned out! They were very simple to do and I love how very chic they look. Have you tried the reverse manicure yet? If not, you should really try it! Simply gorgeous.

 

One more thing, I'm so excited that I will soon be starting another challenge. I think we are aiming to start on Wednesday.  Kimber over at Kimber's Lacquer Korner is the one putting the challenge on. It's going to be an ABC challenge and we will be posting once a week. I am so excited for my next challenge!!!

 

 

Xo Brit

Statement Necklaces & Bold Nails

Tonight's post is about the a big fashion statement right now - statement necklaces! I absolutely love this trend, it's so fun and lets you experiment more with colors. I just recently ordered another one that I'm obsessed with off of Hautelook.com

Jade & gold; purchased on Hautelook.com

 

Black & gold; purchased at Charming Charlie

 

Black & Gold bubble necklace; purchased on Hautelook

 

Has anyone ever been to a Charming Charlie store? We don't have one where I live, but my mom does so any time I go to visit I'm sure to go there. It is an accessory haven! It has everything you could imagine and every color you could image! I could seriously spend an entire day there, it is just an incredible store, plus the prices are pretty reasonable. I just love these necklaces as that something extra you want to add to your outfit. They can really help complete an item and take it to that next level.

 

 

On top of some great accessories I have an awesome mani for you today!

 



 

 

For this mani I used China Glaze's Turned Up Turquoise, the formula is what you can exprect from China Glaze, it goes on great and smooth. However, once it dried it was a matte finish, which it didn't say that on the bottle anywhere. I then added Venique's Twinkling Glitter to all of my nails for a little extra punch. I absolutely love how they turned out! What do you think?

 

 

Xo Brit

Happy New Years Eve!

Happy New Years everyone!!

I hope everyone is having a great and safe New Years and spending it with their loved ones! For tonights manicure I am using China Glaze's Elephant Walk, which I picked up yesterday, along with Glitter All the Way. I picked Glitter All the Way because reminds me of confetti that falls in Times Square.

I also got my Julep Maven box today, in it I received Grace, Madison, and a Hand and Cuticle Stick.

Goodnight and Good bye 2012!!

Xo Brit