Plum Petals is one of the new patterns released by Vera Bradley for Fall 2011, and it's gorgeous. It reminds me a little of another of my favorite patterns, Purple Punch. I love the purples and the brown with the cream and grass colors and the flowers are so pretty, so I wanted to try to do something similar on my nails. It turned out quite different than the original and I think that if I did it again, I'd leave out the white vines and green leaves and just do the purple flowers and purple leaf, but otherwise I liked this quite a bit.
I used Zoya Angelina as the base with OPI A Grape Fit, China Glaze Urban-Night, Sparitual Yes I Can and some white acrylic paint for the design.
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Another one of my favorite Vera Bradley patterns is Baroque. I bought a kisslock clutch last Fall when it first came out because the pattern, honestly, is just irresistable. I love the swirlies and the dark grey and citron, especially together. I've been meaning to do a Baroque inspired nail design for a long time, but I couldn't decide just what to do. I'm not good enough yet to re-create these types of swirlies and I didn't have the right sort of grey. I figured that OPI Who The Shrek Are You? would work for the citron, but then came China Glaze Electric Pineapple and the wheels started turning. It's a perfect match for the citron in this pattern. Then last week I got the Metro collection from China Glaze and Concrete Catwalk is a perfect match for the grey. So I set out to do a manicure that evoked the whimsical feeling of the pattern with these colors. Please realize that this is not meant to MATCH the pattern, it's inspired by it. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I do like it.
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I anticipate nothing more in the nail world than Autumn collections, especially from my favorite polish brand, so I'm ecstatic to show you China Glaze's Fall collection for 2011. Autumn is my favorite season; the smells and sounds, the temperature, the associations with new school clothes and new beginnings from my childhood... All of it gives me a huge boost in mood and I live for it every year. When Fall nail collections come out, usually in Summer, it gives me a little of that feeling in advance. It's like getting two Falls! So I'm very excited about this collection. It's got a very different feel than last year's Vintage Vixen collection which was full of complex shimmers and jeweltones. Metro is largely cremes, and most are very unique and range from muted to vibrant giving a nice mix that will enable everyone to find something they like.
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China Glaze Shower Together has long been a favorite of mine, along with it's doppelganger predecessor ChG Aqua Baby. It's a saturated, yet subdued, turquoise-leaning blue creme with great coverage. To be honest, Shower Together is a bit more green than most of these photos show, which is a shame because it's that touch of green that really makes this polish. ST loves my skintone, which might be one reason I love it so much. Anyway, I chose it as the base for my first all-zebra manicure ever. I've attempted zebra a few times but usually without much success, but this time it turned out pretty well. I love Shower together with the simple black design over it. The design isn't original or fancy, but I was proud of the end result! I used an Art Deco striper polish from the Dollar Tree for the stripes, and Seche Vite, as usual, for my topcoat.
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Happy 4th of July, everyone!! Here's my Independence Day mani; a festive french with an accent nail of "stars" and stripes. I used China Glaze Snow for the tips and the base of the ring finger. The blue is China Glaze Bermuda Breakaway, and it's applied over the tips of all fingers. On the french fingers, I used China Glaze Phat Santa for the dots, and on the ring fingers i used a sparkly red Art Deco striper polish to do the stripes. I made thin silver lines to separate the "stars" and stripes with China Glaze SIlver Bells. Everything was topped off with a coat of Seche Vite!
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Tarte has come out with a True Blood themed collection, and it includes a pretty interesting palette. I loved the look of the packaging so I decided to give it a try on my nails. The design is simple to do and it looks pretty cool. It would look really good with another color in place of the red as well, especially a nude shade. I painted my nails with a base of China Glaze Phat Santa, and then using a black striper polish from Art Deco I made two diagonal lines from the cuticle to the corners of the free edge. Then I filled in the empty triangles on the outer portion of the nails with Wet n Wild Black Creme. Then I used China Glaze Millenium to make silver dots for the holes for the laces. I put a smaller black dot in the middle of the silver dots to make them look like little eyelets. With the Art Deco striper I made crisscrossing "laces."
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From the new Island Escape collection from China Glaze come Electric Pineapple! It's a creamy pastel acid green. At first it looks almost like just plain yellow, but in most lights there is a green tinge to it which is an answer to a prayer for me. I've been dying for an acid green, and while I'd love it if I could find one slightly more neon than pastel, this one will definitely do for now. The formula is pure China Glaze, creamy and covers evenly and has a gorgeous finish. This isn't a neon, so it doesn't dry matte, but the shinier you make it with a topcoat, the more vivid it seems. I found that unless I was in bright light, the color blended too much with my skin, so I decided to improve upon it with a little China Glaze Crackle Glaze in Crushed Candy!
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I was just looking for another excuse to wear neons, and did this design which incorporates really simple elements like dots and stripes, along with just a touch of Konad stamping. I painted my nails white and then with the different China Glaze and Essie neons I painted strokes on different areas of each nail, then lined the edges of the color with a black striper polish. Within the remaining empty areas, I randomly added stripes going in different directions and dots, and on a couple I used a Konad stamper for the houndstooth. It's not perfect by any means when viewed close up, but I think it looks pretty cool at a normal distance. It wasn't too awfully time consuming and I think it's a great look for the horribly hot weather we've been having!
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This is what happens when you're bored and you've spent the day planting a bunch of Spring flowers. It's my first real completely freehand floral pattern. With a little leopard thrown in because it's me. A friend of mine said it reminded her of the fabric you'd find on furniture in a Florida room, which makes me happy since it's what I was going for. I wasn't super happy with the actual flowers or the placement. They weren't supposed to be identical but somehow they're not random enough for me and also they're not crisp enough to be perfect, nor blurry enough to call abstract. It just felt sloppy, but I did love the colors together. I used a bunch of Migi nail art pens over China Glaze Agent Lavender.
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Today is my birthday and I wanted to do something really obnoxious and bright and I think I have succeeded. HA! Four of the nails are inspired by the new Sephora Electric Safari Collection. I bought one of the cosmetics cases and the bobby pins and I loved the mix of camo and leopard on a clear bag. So i used China Glaze Millenium as a base for all fingers but the ring finger and then put different colors on each nail. For the thumb, I used MAC Dry Martini and OPI Who The Shrek Are You?, for the pointer I used China Glaze Shower Together and For Audrey, for the middle I used NARS Schiap and Nubar Pink Cream, and for the pinkie, i used China Glaze Agent Lavender and Color Club Puccilicious. I did a loose camo design with a dotting tool and those shades and then I used a black Migi nail art pen to do the leopard. On the ring finger I used Nubar Pink Cream, OPI WTSAY?, China Glaze Shower Together and Color Club Puccilicious to do a stripe of each vertically and then did leopard the same way. What do you guys think of the Sephora Electric Safari Collection? How about camo and leopard together?! I think it's awesome!
