Over the past year, I have become a fanatic of nail polish. I don't know how it happened, really. Actually that's a lie. I remember I stumbled upon the AllLacqueredUp blog, and I was like, "Why can't my nails look like hers?" Besides the occasional self-done manicure, I really wasn't into managing the appearance of my nails. I would file them if I was bored, maybe, but otherwise I would slap on the same coral-y/pinkish family of shades and call it a day. Since then, I've accumulated about 70 polishes to my collection, bringing it up to about 80-90 now. While this isn't many to the hardcore nail bloggers I follow religiously, my friends deem me absolutely insane when they walk into my room to see my large shoebox full of bottles of nail polish. I've also strayed from the corals and pinks, with seafoam greens, bright blues, and wild teals being my new fav colors for my nails.
Anyway, I thought I'd post some pics of my manis, even though most are from my phone so they're HORRIBLE quality. But whatever. Maybe I'll start actually using my camera in daylight like you're supposed to with these kind of shots. PS I have really dry skin/hands, so get over it.
This was from the other day. It's Revlon "Peach Petal" layered underneath Sally Hansen "Golden Ticket." I had to wear an "interview-appropriate" color, hence the pinky shade. I couldn't stand it, so I layered the SH over it. This color has a bit of a sheer copperish base to the gold glitter, so it completely changed the look of the pink. The finish effect looked like the Michael Kors Very Hollywood perfume bottle, if you ask me. In person the bottle has more glitter, I swear.
This is just a basic shot of OPI's "Simmer n Shimmer" blue-based glitter from the Burlesque collection released in the winter. My mom got it on sale at Ulta for like, $3. It's totally not her type of polish, so I kinda stole it from her when I was home from school a few months ago. She won't even notice. My dad oddly complimented this mani. Having 3 girls does not help his masculinity :/ Sorry dad.
This is my current manicure. The only nail art I can do are swipes/stripes since I don't own any Konad plates or fancy brushes (yet!). So I end up with these really sad attempts. The camera makes the pink look really chunky, but it's not as bad up close and personal. The silver is Revlon Top Speed "Metallic," the neon pink is Sinful Colors "24/7," and the ring finger has OPI "Black Shatter" on it. It's like an 80s version of space future? Who knows?
This is from another random slash/striped attempt at nail art. I was so sad because I took the time to do this mani, then realized I had an interview the next day that I forgot about while doing this crazy look. I immediately had to take it off the next morning, and I was so sad because I thought it was a decent attempt for an amateur. It's OPI "No Room For The Blues," Revlon Top Speed "Metallic," and Orly "Royal Navy." Interviews just ruin so many great plans for polish, I tell ya.
Again this is OPI "No Room For The Blues" as a base. It's one of my current fave polishes. The formula is great, and I always love a good opaque cream. The blue is a perfect light, bright blue. Plus, I got this in combo with "A Good Man-darin is Hard To Find" for $9.99 for the set! I love Ulta sales. I also got "Lucerne-tly Look Marvelous" from the Swiss collection and "Color So Hot It Burns" as a combo pack for the same price. 2 OPIs for a little over the price of one? You got me. Anyway, this was when I was into trying to glitter gradation fading mani, but I started this too high up with too opaque of a glitter. Hmph. It's Sinful Colors "Frenzy" layered on top.
I see this one ALL over the nail blogs. It's Milani Jewel FX Nail Lacquer in "Gold." What a creative name. Anyway, the large, hexagonal glitter particles float around a lot in this thick, clear base, so it takes a lot of actual placement of the particles to get the entire nail gold-plated. Once you achieve it, though, it looks really cool. I really want to try some layering combos I've seen on other blogs, as well as pick up the "Silver" and multi-colored "Gems" versions.
While you can only see one nail in this pic, I was totally trying to capture the fact that my nails were a dead-on match to my shoes for NYE. I picked up these shoes ($40 Candie's by KOHL'S! I know, who knew Kohl's had cute shoes?! No offense to anyone, just sayin') When I bought OPI "Sparkle-licious," I was thinking how the glitter particles in it matched the glitter particles on the shoe. It almost blended in perfectly just by having the glitter as a stand-alone polish. To really get the dupe look going, though, I added Orly "Rage" underneath the OPI. It's the exact same rosy metallic as the heel part of the shoe, and it literally matched perfectly. I thought it was really cool, but now I just sound like a huge loser.. oops.
When I first picked up "Black Shatter," which I randomly scored at the salon right across the street from my apartment and everyone else barely could get their hands on it not even a week later, I vowed to only layer it over white, silver and gold. I felt like layering it over bright colors or crazy things would look very Avril Lavigne/Hot Topic-esque, which is just not my style at all. I have progressed in my acceptance of other colors to layer under "Black Shatter," but here is my first mani with the coveted polish from the Katy Perry line. It's Sinful Colors "Snow Me White."
I have a bunch of other pics in my phone's media folder, but maybe from now on I'll actually take real pics so the quality isn't as crappy. My next plans are to do a horizontal striped/layered mani with crazy summer colors, and a Skittles manicure using only neons and then layering the shatter over it. Maybe I'll even scope out Cara's selection for her white China Glaze crackle.
