Feelin' Blue

Hello Friends!
So I was looking through my nail polish collection recently, and I realized that there are a bunch of polishes I haven't used in ages!  I decided it was time to break out some old favorites and perhaps put them to new use.  This was the result!

So as you can see I alternated shades of blue.  The lighter blue is Essie Bikini So Teeny, and the darker blue is Essie Butler Please.  I haven't used either of these in quite a while, which was obvious when I pulled the brushes out of the bottles.  However, on the second coat of each polish they evened out.  I did a sponge gradient on the ring finger using both colors.  Not the cleanest gradient I've ever done, but it looks ok.  On the rest of my fingers I did a glitter gradient using OPI Last Friday Night.  I don't know why it's been so long since I used this one; it's freaking gorgeous!  I think I probably could have used another layer of the glitter, but the light tip coverage looks nice too :)  The other change I would make if I  do this again would be to add a layer of the glitter on top of the gradient.  As I played around with this glitter later on, I found that this glitter is rather thin on its own, so it would have worked nicely.  However, if you do want full coverage with this glitter, you can sponge it on and it packs a punch!

I hope y'all enjoyed seeing my experimentation with old polishes!  Let me know if you try something like this or what polishes you have in your collection that could use some love :) Hope y'all have a fantastic week!
~Mary Elizabeth

Summer Diagonal French

Hello Friends!
Summer is in full force where I live, so I decided to do some summery nails.  What better color to use than an aggressively bright pink?!  This design is inspired by Kelli Marissa on YouTube.  I thought it would be fun way to use a mega bright color without putting it all over my nail.

So for the base I used one coat of Essie Gel Couture in Fairy Tailor.  I took some striping tape and laid it diagonally across the tips of my nails, starting at the right corner.  Then I used one coat of China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy below the tape.  I have now realized that I need to buy a new bottle of this one because mine is SUPER lumpy and old.  After that I pulled off the striping tape and finished it off with Seche Vite top coat to give it a nice glossy finish.

So that is my fun, bright summer diagonal french!  I love how this turned out! I'm going to have to do this type of mani with other colors in the future.  I hope y'all have a great weekend!
~Mary Elizabeth

4th of July Nails

Hey there!
I hope everyone had a stellar 4th of July! If you are reading this from another country, I hope you had an awesome Wednesday celebrating you :)  Every year I try and do some sort of festive nails for the 4th.  In the past I have done more literal versions of patriotic nail art, but this year I wanted to try something a little different.  I apologize ahead of time that there is only one photo, I was only able to get one good one before I started doing things and dragging the design around (I'll explain in a second).  Anyway, here it is!

So I started with a peel off base coat, since I had to take the polish off the next day for work.  I think this is what caused the dragging.  The design wasn't smudged (at least not from this), but it looked like the whole nail was pushed to the side.  I think this may have something to do with the fact that this base coat is meant to peel off relatively easily.  I plan on eventually doing a  comparison on some different peel off base coats when I've tried some more and have some more experience using them.

Anyway, for the base color on all the nails except the ring finger, I used Essie Gel Couture polish in Fairy Tailor.  I may do a post at some point about this line and the polishes I have within it.  I really enjoy this polish as a nice sheer wash of color on the nails.  I used two coats and still have a visible nail line, but that was fine since I covered up the tips anyway.  The colors I used for the dots were OPI Unfor-Greta-bly Blue, Zoya Vanessa (red), and Pop-arazzi Icing on the Cake (white).  I started by putting each color on a business card.  I used several different sized dotting tools to achieve the fading effect.  If you don't have dotting tools, you can use toothpicks and just vary the amount of polish you use.  I tried to make the dots decrease in size as they got closer to the cuticle.  I decided to do each size at once, not each color (does that make sense?), which may have been to my detriment.  The dots of polish on the business card started to dry a bit after a while, so they got a little gummy.  If you could see my other hand you would see little strings of red from after I placed some of the dots.  I kept having to add more polish so that wouldn't happen.  All that to say if you try this I would recommend either doing all of one color at once or testing the polish between rounds.

For my ring fingers I used the same white polish as a base and topped it with OPI Happy Anniversary.  I also sponged on some of OPI Pirouette My Whistle for that glitter.  Not gonna lie, this was not the look I was originally going for.  I originally wanted sparkly silver glitter, but I am totally in love with the result I ended up with! I'm definitely going to have to do this on all my nails sometime.  I've never sponged on this glitter, but now that I've tried it I realize how necessary it is.  It is ordinarily so hard to get those big glitters in there, but sponging is a big help.  I will say, however, use a makeup sponge or something along those lines.  Don't use a sponge-tipped eye shadow applicator like I did.  Not nearly as effective. I topped everything off with Seche Vite top coat.

So those are my 4th of July nails!  Let me know what else y'all would like me to write about, and if you did anything fun for the Fourth I would love to see!  Hope y'all have a great week!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Valentine's Day Ideas

Hello there!
It's that time of year again  and I have some nail designs to share that you might like to try!  These are just fun, Valentine's Day themed nails that are simple and time friendly.  Hope you give them a shot!

 This first design is based on something I found on pinterest.  I used two coats of Zoya Mickey as a base color.  Then I used Essie Penny Talk for the french tips.  In the pinterest post they used tape to get the french tips, but I just kinda freehanded it.  This takes very little time if you have a steady hand.

This next design is my favorite of the two.  I used OPI Steady as She Rose as the base.  Then I used one of my dotting tools to plave two dots next to each other on the nail.  Then I dragged the dots together to a point in order to make the hearts.  For this I used OPI It's All Greek to Me.  Warning: I would wait a bit for the hearts to dry before applying top coat.  I smudged one of the hearts on my thumb because I used top coat too soon.  I love how cute and simple this one is.

I hope you get a chance to try one or both of these out for Valentine's Day!  If you do, I would love to see a picture of your take in the comments.  Have a terrific Thursday!

~ Mary Elizabeth

Blue Skies and Sunshine

Hey guys!
Today's post is a really fun yet classy summer mani that I think looks like the gorgeous blue skies outside my window! It is a reverse glitter fade that glistens beautifully in the summer sunlight.  Hope y'all enjoy!

For the base color I used Essie Bikini So Teeny.  I did a review on this color and one other from that collection about this time last year, so feel free to go check it out here.  I love this blue because it is not as intense as some of the other blues I own.  The glitter is my standard glitter fade go to, OPI Glitter-ally the Best Silver Ever.  This makes a great combo that looks very classy.  It is so simple and so perfect for summer, a day at the beach, or any other day :) Hope y'all enjoyed, and have a fabulous weekend!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Swatch Spam!

Hey there!
Today I am kind of going through my archive of swatches and talking about the polishes that I swatched and took pictures of but never posted about.  I have to let y'all know that my posts will be mainly older nail art things for a while.  This is due to the fact that I broke the nail on my middle finger this week.  Not just a little crack.  Half the nail is gone.  I won't be painting that nail for a while, so I won't be able to swatch for a while.  Anyway, on to the post!

 First,we have OPI Brand New Skates.  This is from a really old holiday collection.  It is a dark grey with multicolored sparkles.  I think this a pretty color, but the formula is a little thin for my taste.  It took a good two/three coats to get the solid color in the picture.  I added little snowflakes in the corner with my Kiss glitter polish.

 Next up, Essie Leading Lady.  This is from the 2012 Holiday collection.  It is a red with red glitter.  I like this one because it is a darker red.  Bright reds don't really work on my skin tone.  I also like that the glitter is not as hard to get off as most glitters. I used two coats for this swatch.

 This one is Butter London Dodgy Barnett. It is a silver holographic.  What I like about this polish is that it is it is holographic but not too linear.  I find that sometimes super linear holos can get a little distracting.  The downside to this one is that it takes about three coats to get a solid color.  It is beautiful, and definitely worth getting!

Last but not least, Zoya Charla.  This is a beautiful turquoise color with green shimmer. I love this color! This is the kind of color that I am always reaching for in stores.  The only downside to this one is that it stained my nails a bit when I took it off.  Other than that I had no problems with this polish.  I used two coats for these pictures.

So that's it for my first swatch spam! I hope y'all enjoyed, and have a terrific Tuesday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Long Time Coming Holiday Nails!

Hey Everyone!
Today's post is going to be about a look that I did a while back with two of the polishes from Essie's holiday collection.  I planned on posting this earlier, but time got away from me.  Anyway, I hope you like it!

For the base color I used Essie Leading Lady. This is a glittery, dark red color.  For the side argyle-type triangles, I used Essie Beyond Cozy.  This is a very solid silvery glitter.  To get this style I cut triangles out of scotch tape and placed them on the top and bottom of my nails.  Then I painted Beyond Cozy on the sides of my nails.  Then I removed the tape.  Some of them I had to fix afterwards.  Finally I finished with one coat of top coat (I'm not positive which top coat I used though).  I hope y'all enjoyed, and I hope you'll try it out yourself!  Have a terrific Tuesday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Christmas Nails

Hello There!
So today I decided to share with you the two nail designs I did for Christmas! I love just about any holiday that has theme colors because I can do things like this.  I hope this gets you back into the Christmas spirit :)

 This nail design is the more complicated of the two.  For the base color I used Essie Clutch Me if you Can Zoya Frida on the ring finger.  I like Clutch Me if you Can rather than a stark red because it looks better on my skin tone.  Reds usually tend to wash me out, so I tend to go for a darker, more burgundy shade.  For the tips I used OPI Goldeneye from the James Bond collection.  This one is a little thin and flaky, so it took two coats to get the tips solid.  For the stripes I used my Kiss nail art polish in gold.  I topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta-dri top coat.

For this look I started with a base of OPI Care to Danse.  I always use sheer polishes like this one for french manicures.  I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Honeymoon Red for the tips.  This is the exception to my no red rule.  For the glitter fade I used OPI Getting Miss Piggy With It.  This made a great glitter fade, oddly enough.  I thought the red would look weird on my nails, but it actually looked fantastic.  So there's my holiday nail fun!  I hope you enjoyed it, and have a wonderful week!
~ Mary Elizabeth

First Try: Edgy Half-moons

Hey there!
So today I'm doing another post in my ongoing First Try series!  I wanted to do a tape mani, but I didn't want to do just any old half-moon, so I tried a version that I saw in a post by Erika from Chloe's Nails.  It's not exactly like hers, but it's similar!

I started with a base of Essie A Crewed Interest.  This is one of my favorite summer colors!  Then, after the polish dried, I taped off triangles on my nails and used Essie Shine of the Times to create the edgy half-moons.  I didn't like how the Shine of the Times didn't show up too much, so I used my Kiss gold glitter to outline the triangles.  This is also a great way to clean up any mistakes made when removing the tape.  Finally I finished it off with one coat of Seche Vite top coat.  I hope this was a fun post for you, and have a fabulous Friday!
~ Mary Elizabeth
Ps be sure to check out Chloe's Nails!

Essie Summer Polishes

Happy Saturday!
  I hope your summer is off to a fabulous start! Today I will be reviewing the two polishes I picked up from Essie's summer collection. I am really excited about this collection, and I hope you enjoy!

 This first one is Bikini So Teeny.  This one is my favorite of the two that I bought.  It is a light, bright periwinkle color.  I like the formula of this because it isn't a streaky as a lot of Essie polishes, especially after the second coats.  I also like that is makes my white self look a little tanner :) It definitely takes two coats to make it solid.

This one is called Mojito Madness.  This is the color that I really wanted, but I ended up liking Bikini So Teeny better.  It is a really gorgeous Kelly green color.  This color is currently in my toes.  I was hoping it would be a little brighter, but it is still a very pretty color.  It only takes one coat to get a solid color, but I used two just to be sure. 

Overall, I really like these colors!  I plan to wear them a good bit this summer.  These would be really useful for creating designs.  I hope to get some more from this collection soon; these were just the ones that really stuck out to me.  I am always attracted to greens, so Mojito Madness was kind of a given :).  I hope you enjoyed this post, and I definitely recommend you pick up this collection.  I have a few new posts planned for this week, so keep an eye out! Have a fantastic Father's Day!
~ Mary Elizabeth

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

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

Easy Tape Manicure

Hello There!
I hope you are having a lovely week!  So this morning I went to CVS to get a new bottle Seche Vite top coat, which was much needed, and I ran into Essie's new collection.  All of the colors are beautiful, but the one that caught my eye was A Crewed Interest.

A Crewed Interest is the base color for this design.  It is a really nice peach color.  Before recently, I was not a huge fan of Essie polishes because of the small brush.  However, I really like the pigmentation in most of their polishes.  This particular polish is definitely a one coater!  I really love this polish!
As for the rest of this look, I actually did NOT start with OPI top coat.  I am trying out Essie Grow Stronger strengthening base coat.  I will do a full review on this after I have used it for a while.  Then I used one coat of Essie A Crewed Interest.  Then I put a piece of scotch tape diagonally across my nail and used Essie Tart Deco to make a diagonal stripe.  When I originally bought Tart Deco, I thought it would look more like A Crewed Interest.  Even though it's not what I expected, it is a gorgeous color!  For the middle gold stripe I used my Kiss gold glitter polish.  This is a great way to cover up any mistakes from removing the tape.  Then i finished it off with Seche Vite.  I hope you try this out, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Happy (late) St. Patrick's Day! + Update

Hey There!
I fel like I say this every time, but I'm sorry for not blogging lately.  This weekend I was at Thespian State competition.  It is a drama competition where troupes from schools all over the state perform pieces to be judged.  I performed in a large group musical, and we got a superior!  Anyway, on to today's topic: St. Patrick's Day manicure! I was in a hotel when I did this, but I think it turned out pretty good!

As usual, OPI base coat.  Then I used OPI Uh-oh, Roll Down the Window.  This is a mossy, brownish green.  In the bottle, this polish looks gross, but it is actually a nice color.  Next i used Essie Shine of the Times.  I blogged about this a few weeks ago.  I still love it :) I decided to try it over green, and it worked quite nicely.  I finished with SV top coat.  I hope y'all enjoy this look, and I hope you try it for yourself.  I also hope you will forgive me for not being around lately.  I will have some fun reviews soon!
~ Mary Elizabeth
PS thought I'd give you a glimpse of State :)

me and my friend Cailah at state!