I am a WAH-nnabe

You guys know I'm a huge fan of nail art. Duh, right? I love wild and crazy nail art, I just don't have the chops to do it myself. All the freehand awesomeness I see round the blogosphere boggles my mind and I just bow down in worship to you ladies who can do it. I'm practicing more, and trying to get the hang of it. I even purchased a big set of nail art brushes to try to hone my skills. Hopefully I'll be able to show you some of those efforts soon, but for now I'm still using Konad to assist me with my nail art. I've used Konad and freehand together before, here in this palm tree mani. I find it a lot easier to get good results right now when I use Konad stamps as a sort of template. In the palm tree one, I used Konad for the clouds, then the tree itself, and then painted over it to make it look like complete freehand, and here I've done the same with the cupcakes, and more obviously so with the zebra stripes.

This manicure was inspired by one of my favorite sources of inspiration for nail art; a London-based nail art boutique that specializes in crazy and fun nails, and I am obsessed with their designs! This post of a manicure with "everything" is what inspired this particular manicure. I love WAH Nails use of off-the-wall designs, and the way they randomly seem to mix and match them. Four fingers with cupcakes and one with a carrot and a pea with faces; how amazing is that?! They are nail deities in my handbook.

Want to see more pictures and the breakdown for this manicure? Keep Reading!

Sephora by OPI Havana Nights Mini Collection - $18 at sephora.com

There are some great and not-so-great things about this set I want to share with you. I'm going to start with the bad, just to get it out of the way, then we'll get on to the good stuff. Regular ol' OPI full-size bottles will run you $8.50 retail, and the Sephora by OPI polishes will only set you back an extra fifty cents at $9. No biggie there, right? Well, then you look at the difference in price between this 4-piece mini set versus a 4-piece mini set of the regular OPI. The SOPI set of minis will set you back $18, whereas you can cop a OPI mini collection, with bottles the same size, for a low price ranging online from about $10-12. Why the huge yawning chasm between mini collection price points? I dunno, but it's ridiculous in this girl's humble opinion. At the least, I'd expect to see mini versions of all six polishes from the Havana Nights collection in this box for the extra six or eight bucks, am I right? This frustrates me, but let's move on, shall we?

These four polishes are all very nice in their own right, if not entirely unique. The Sephora by OPI formula is quite nice and these minis are no exception. At just the right balance between thick and thin, and they apply beautifully into the bargain. If you'd like to see the swatches and my thoughts, please check out the jump.

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Index to pinkie: Avon Jade, Charlotte Russe Jade, Essie Mint Candy Apple, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint

Avon Jade: I liked the formula of this one a lot. The first coat is a bit sheer, but it builds well. I like the color the best of these four as well because while it's cool enough to give a bit of contrast against my skin, it's got a slight touch of warmth. Also, it's neither too light nor too dark. Plus, It was incredibly cheap. Check out the full review here.

Charlotte Russe Jade: This one is supposed to be a duple of Chanel Jade, and with it's miniscule minty shimmer, it's gorgeous enough to deserve that honor. It's a bit sheer, but if you take your time you can make it work. Check out other photos of this shade here. It's similar to the Avon, but more sheer, and obviously with that shimmer.

Essie Mint Candy Apple: I've shown this one to you many times, and I still like it. I like the white base and the wash of blue-ish mint injected into that stark base. Again, it's a bit sheer upon the first coat, but builds up beautifully.

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint: The lightest of the four, it's most similar to MCA, but with less blue. This is the closest you'll come to finding a pastel true mint. It's a little streaky, like the rest, on the first coat, but layers well. Lovely color. All four are so pretty in their own way.

During the Winter holidays, we see so many candy cane scented goodies, but unfortunately when they're minty body products, the cooling sensation that comes along with them are just too much for many in continental climates. Stepping out of a hot shower into a cold bathroom is bad enough; slathering on a cooling lotion borders on masochistic no matter how festive you may smell. I find that I hoard my Winter mint favorites for summer, when the temperature starts to creep up. Here's a list of some great minty choices to keep you feeling fresh this summer!

Click to read on!

I went into Sally Beauty on Wednesday night to get a backup of China Glaze Millenium, my go-to silver polish for Konad-ing. I was also hoping to find 2030 still on the shelves, but no luck. I did, however, find Metallic Muse which is a minty green sort of metallic polish from the same Khrome collection as Millenium. I brought it home and tried to figure out what I wanted to do with it first, and I started to imagine it over Essie Mint Candy Apple, so that's what you see here. Three coats of the Essie and then Konad plate m63 with China Glaze Metallic Muse made this simple design. What I like about matching a shiny metallic over a similarly colored creme polish base is that while in some lights, the contrast in finish is very dramatic, in others it's very subtle and you can't even tell there is a design. It's very evident in these flash photos, but in person it's quite a chameleon.