Saturday, April 28, 2012

Secret Garden Nails!

Happy Saturday everybody!
I know I didn't post a Pink Wednesday this week, but I wanted to wait to post this manicure!  This weekend my school's drama department is putting on The Secret Garden, and I am house managing (which means that I am in charge of the ushers and making sure the audience isn't distracting anybody).  It is a tradition that my nails match the show, so of course I had to do Secret Garden nails!

 For the base color I used OPI Uh oh, Roll Down the Window.  I really don't use this one too much, but I thought it fit for this look.  Then I used Bundle Monster plate BM19 and Sally Hansen Insta-dri Silver Sweep, which I reviewed in my last post.  It works really well for stamping! for the flower, I used OPI Cajun Shrimp for the petals and Kiss gold glitter for the middle.  I may do a tutorial on how to make these flowers.  Finally I used Seche Vite top coat.  I hope you all enjoyed this post, and have a lovely weekend!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Review: Sally Hansen Insta-dri

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great week!  So today I am going to review a polish I picked up yesterday: Sally Hansen Insta-dri.  
The color I chose was Silver Sweep.  I chose this color because I ran out of my favorite silver, Sally Hansen Celeb City.  Also, I heard that these polishes are really good for stamping, so I figured silver would be a good color to start with.  Overall I really like this polish.  It went on very opaquely.  In the picture above, I only used one coat.  Ordinarily I would use two coats even if it really only needs one, but i didn't feel the need to use a second coat.  The finish is really nice and metallic.  I think I will get a lot of use out of this polish!  I got bored with the simple silver, so I added some stamping!
The plate I used Bundle Monster BM19.  It is a cool houndstooth print.  The problem I have with these plates is that the print is not always big enough to fit my whole nail.  Anyway, I thought this would look cool over the silver, and I was right! It turned out really nice!  So I hope y'all enjoyed this post.  I'm sorry I haven't been posting a whole lot; I've been crazy busy and probably will be for the rest of the school year, but this summer I hope to be able to post more often!  I hope you have a Marvelous Monday!
~ Mary Elizabeth
Edit: for those of you who read this when I first posted it, I spelled Insta-dri wrong, so I went back and corrected it :)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Pink Wednesday: Girly and Glamorous!

Hey there!
Sorry I've been MIA lately. I've had a ton of schoolwork lately. Anyway, today is Wednesday, which means I'm wearing pink nail polish! Before I begin, I have two disclaimers. First, this post is from my phone, so the pictures will be last. Second, please excuse my ugly, short nails. My nails have been breaking like crazy this week. Anyway, on to the post. So I began with Opi "flashbulb fuscia". This was one of my first Opi polishes ever! It definitely only takes one coat to get a good solid color. Then I used my black Kiss nail art polish to draw a stripe on the outside half of my nails. Then I took a silver Kiss art polish to draw stripes surrounding the black stripe. This helps to clean up any mess you made with the black. Then I finished with one coat of seche vite. I hope y'all enjoyed this post, and have a wonderful Wednesday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Pink Wednesday: funky French

Good morning!
Just a warning: I am posting this from my phone, so the quality may not be as good as usual. Anyway, I have decided to be a part of pink Wednesday. For those of you who don't know, the idea is that on Wednesdays I will wear pink nail polish and do a blog post of it. Now, I can't guarantee I will do this every Wednesday, but I will try! So for my first attempt at this, I started with OPI "strawberry margerita". Usually I would use two coats, but I just used one this time. For the tips I used Essie "braziliant". I didn't do this, but I would recommend using tape for this step to get a straight line if you don't have a steady hand. I probably should have used tape, but I like my French manicures to have a little bit of curve. Finally, I used Seche vite top coat.
So I hope you enjoyed this, and I hope you will join me in pink Wednesday! If you do, I would love to see a picture of it! Have a wonderful Wednesday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Monday, April 9, 2012

PROM!!

Hello lovelies!
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.  For me this weekend was not only Easter, but PROM TOO!  No, I did not have a date, but that's ok.  I had a fabulous time with my friends.  I thought I would post what I did with my hair, makeup, and nails.
Me and my friend Bianca :)

 I hope you can see my hair ok.  My best friend Maddi did my hair for me.  She used a one inch curling iron and curled it all to the right.  Then she put most of the hair in a side ponytail.  She left several pieces out so that it didn't look too much like a ponytail.  For my makeup I used a simple foundation and powder.  nothing crazy, but it stayed on all night!  On my eyes I used white glitter on the inner corner, grey in the crease, and a soft black in the outer corner.  I winged my eyeliner and used the same black shadow to smoke it out.  I used a waterproof mascara so that it didn't slide around.  On my cheeks I used MAC Dame blush.  Finally, I used a coral lipstick. 
Now for the nails, I used Essie Ballet Slippers as a base.  For the tips I used Sally Hansen Celeb City.  This is one of my favorite silvers.  Definitely a one coater.  For the black line I used a Kiss nail art polish.  Then I used Sinful Colors Black on Black and Bundle monster plate bm14.  This went really well with my black dress.  And of course I finished with Seche Vite.  I hope y'all enjoyed getting a glimpse at my prom, and I hope you got an idea for your prom too! I hope you have a terrific Tuesday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Lovely Layering

Hey there!
I hope you are all having a wonderful resurrection week (if you celebrate it like me)!  So, have you ever had a nail polish that was pretty, but way too sheer? Today I am going the show you how I used layering polishes to make a sheer color look really nice!

So for this I began with OPI Japanese Rose Garden  This is a pretty pink with a slight silver shimmer.  This polish is definitely a one coater!  The shimmer really just gives it a sheen, not so much a glitter.  So in order to give it a more noticeable shimmer, I layered OPI Princesses Rule! on top.  This color by itself is super duper sheer, but on top of other pinks it looks really nice!  I was planning on using this to begin Pink Wednesday, but I had a super crazy day yesterday.  Maybe I can start being a part of that next week!  I hope you find some fun ways to layer, and feel free to post it in the comments so I can see your favorite ways to layer.  Who knows, maybe you'll inspire me!  I hope you have a blessed Good Friday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Bumble Bee Shatter

Good evening!
Sorry this is so late, but I've had a busy day.  So this manicure was a pain in the butt to do!  I think I had to redo it two or three times.  It's not that hard, but for some reason I was having issues today. 

So the base color I used is OPI Need Sunglasses?  I have used this in another post.  It's a nice yellow, but it takes a few coats.  Then I used OPI black shatter.  One thing I have noticed about the shatters, this one particularly, is that you have to wait a while for the base polish to dry thoroughly before using the shatter.  If not, it just looks stripey and not shattered.  Anyway, I finished with Seche Vite.  I hope you enjoyed this post, and I hope you have a marvelous Monday!
~ Mary Elizabeth
PS I have a few more shatters that I would like to review soon!