OPI Skyfall Swatches

Hey There!
So today's post is swatches of the polishes I got from the OPI Skyfall Holiday collection.  I only have two, but my roommate got a couple more, so maybe I can borrow hers when I get back to school.  Anyway, lets get on to the swatches!

 The first polish is Goldeneye.  This is a warm golden color.  The consistency of this polish is really interesting.  It is kind of flaky, yet goes on pretty solid.  It takes a good two coats to get a solid color, but when a solid color is achieved it has a really nice metallic effect. 

This polish is Tomorrow Never Dies.  I have been eying this one for months and just got it recently.  It is a blue-purple color with a little bit of a sheen.  This may just be one of my new favorite polishes.  You could probably get away with using just one coat, but I used two just to make it a little more solid. 

Overall I love both of these colors.  I would definitely recommend both of them.  When I get back to school I will swatch the ones my roommate got.  I hope y'all enjoyed, and I hope you have a great day!
~ 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

Today's Mani

Hey Everybody!
It's good to be back!  Today I am just doing a quick post on my nail of the day (NOTD).  I found this combo and thought it looked gorgeous, so I thought I would share it with you!

I started with Sally Hansen complete manicure base coat.  Then for a base color I applied two coats of OPI India Mood for Love.  This is a beautiful pink creme formula.  It only takes two coats to get solid.  The glitter I used is OPI Excuse Moi! from the Muppet collection.  It's a fine multicolored glitter with a red/pink base.  This is the kind of glitter that I hate to use on it's own because 1) it's a pain in the butt to take off, and 2) the red/pink base stains my nails.  However by putting a color base underneath it I avoid the staining problem.  I topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta-dri topcoat, which I will be doing a review on very soon.  I hope y'all enjoyed this post, and have a marvelous Monday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

Update 1/6/2013 (so cool to put a new year!)

Hey Y'all!
Once again, I have been slacking big time.  I have officially completed my first semester of college! I think it was a great start to my college career.  The last few months have been pretty stressful, what with finals week,traveling back home, and other such doings.  I thought I would update you a bit on my life.  I am at my home right now, and will be for a few more weeks.  My Christmas was fantastic.  I love getting to spend time with my family. Now that I don't live at home, I am beginning to appreciate the people in my life who love me most.  Anyway, I should have some more time to blog while I'm home.  I might do a post about my two Christmas nail art looks plus some other things i think you will enjoy.  So there's a little summary of how my life's been lately.  I hope y'all enjoyed reading a little about me, and i hope to post again soon!
~ Mary Elizabeth
PS here are some pictures of stuff that's been going on lately!

House of Heroes opening at a Relient K concert in Nashville

Relient K

Lights at Opry Land in Nashville

Me and my sister on Christmas Eve

Me and Molly (that cute kitty)

Me and my friend Maggie

Green and Gold Freehand

Hey guys!
Today's post is a look that I did a few weeks back that I thought I would share with y'all.  I wanted to try out a gold nail art pen that I got at Francesca's (the same as the black one I talked about in my last post).  I hope you like what I came up with!

First of all, let me apologize about my broken pointer finger nail.  It broke not long before I did this mani, but it's back to normal now.  Anyway, I started with a base of OPI Here Today, Argon Tomorrow.  This is a nice dark green creme.  It takes about three coats to get a solid color.  Then, as I mentioned before, I used a nail art pen in gold for the stripes and stuff.  It is pretty difficult to get a straight line because you have to squeeze the tube and draw the line at the same time.  With that said, I really like how it turned out.  I topped it off with CND Air Dry top coat.  I hope y'all enjoyed this, and I hope you will try this out yourself!  Have a marvelous Monday!
~ Mary Elizabeth

(Late) Halloween Nails!

Hey Y'all!
So I know I'm super duper late on this, but I thought I'd show y'all how I painted my nails for Halloween last week.  I had a really fun time on Halloween.  My friends and I went to dance that was hosted by a guy in the music department on my campus.  I'll add pictures at the end of this post of us in our costumes at the end of this post :) Anyway, on to the mani!

Let me start by saying sorry there's only one pic.  I was on a bit of a time crunch.  I started with a base of OPI In My Back Pocket (I think.  It's a mini polish and it doesn't have a name on it).  For the stripes I used a nail art pen that I got from Francesca's.  I'm not quite sure of the brand, but any nail art pen will do.  I used Sinful Colors Black on Black for the thicker striped areas.  Finally I topped it all off with CND Air Dry top coat.  I plan on doing a review of this soon.  I hope y'all enjoyed this post, and I hope you had a happy Halloween!
~ Mary Elizabeth
Ps here are some pics from my Halloween festivities!

These are the school of the arts professors all dressed up as Harry Potter characters!  How cool are they?!

Me and my friends!  From left to right character names: neon girl, dude in box, Kevin and Rod from Hot Rod, hipster Harry Potter, and Kim Possible (me).  Ya we're cool :)

Glitter Gradient Madness! + Update

Hey Everybody!
I'm back!  I know that I haven't posted in a long time, but life has been crazy.  I began college in August, so I have been really busy lately.  It has really been an adjustment moving and becoming more independent, but I know that if I trust in God and work hard I will be able to succeed.
Now, on to the nails! I have been obsessed with glitter gradients lately.  It is a really quick, easy way to get impressive looking nails.  Here are some of my favorite gradients so far!

For this I started with Julie G polish in Gelato in Venice.  I got this polish at Rite Aid, and I'm really impressed with the pigmentation.  For the glitter I used OPI Glitter-ally the Best Silver Ever.  I like the fact that this glitter is big enough to make a good fade but not so big that it only leaves a few pieces of glitter on the nail.

For this one I used OPI Barre my Soul as a base.  This is a great sheer polish.  I love it for french manicures.  Again, I used Glitter-ally for the glitter.  For this one I tried to get more of a french mani look that kind of fizzles at the top. 

This one began with OPI Care To Danse?  This is another very sheer polish.  If you can't tell, I really like the whole glitter on sheer thing ☺.  The glitter is a Francesca's  polish in Confetti.  This glitter is a little tough to work with, but once you figure it out you get a super cool effect.

So I hope y'all enjoyed this post, and I hope you give the glitter gradient a try.  I will try really hard to get more posts up soon, but I can't make any guarantees just because of my work load.  The lament of a music student!  I appreciate all of you for sticking with me!  I hope you have a marvelous Monday!
~ Mary Elizabeth