Nail Art: FingerFood's Theme Buffet - Inspired by Music - La Vie en Rose

Wow. It:s hard to believe that it:s been over a month since I posted here! Well, I'm back from my unexpected hiatus, hopefully for good now, with a post for the Theme Buffet!

The theme for this week was "Inspired by Music," and even though I'm not a pink person, Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose" popped into my head. I figured a soft pink-hued look topped with roses would work well. How do you think it turned out?

Nail Art: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #26 - Neon

 So, I actually feel as though I'm cheating a bit in using this for the Theme Buffet this week.  I actually did this manicure almost a month ago and just never got around to posting it to the blog.

When I ran out of time this week between the 4th of July holiday, work and feeling under the weather, I suddenly remembered that I still had these photos floating around on my hard drive waiting for editing! They fit this week's FingerFood's Theme Buffet theme - Neon - perfectly, so I finally hunkered down and cleaned up the images so I could post it.

Nail Art: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #23 - Cocktail Nails - Gin and Tonic

Hello, hello! Yet another week, yet another Theme Buffet!

So, summer is upon us and it's that time of year where it's nice to lounge around and enjoy drinks with friends, enjoying the weather, each other... and a tasty beverage or two or three or....

The theme for this week was "cocktail nails," and I chose to put together a look inspired by my  favorite drink. I have no clue how well it come across.... but my cocktail of choice? The humble Gin and Tonic! <3

Nail Art: Happy Memorial Day!

For most people, this is simply the last Monday of May. To Americans, today is Memorial Day - officially meant to remember those who died in service of the country, but unofficially the start of the summer season and a reason for people to get together, have barbecues and otherwise enjoy the long weekend and the (generally) good weather. Here in the Philadelphia Area, it's also the beginning of shore season, and thousands of familys flock to the Jersey Shore for their first time at the beach after a brutal, cold and snow winter.

Nail Art: MoYou London Challenge Day 5 - Shadows (Bird Silhouette)

Today's nail art (which I posted to Instagram yesterday) was actually not really planned before it happened. It started off when I was swatching Wise Up, Janet from Indigo Bananas, a really pretty foil-like lavender glassfleck holo. (didn't edit the photos to post it, yet, but I posted a video swatch on Instagram!).

Sitting on my desk next to Wise Up, Janet was 2% Butterscotch Ripple and Pure Imagination. As they sat together, I thought about how the three together would make a really gorgeous and glittery dusk-like gradient.

Nail Art: MoYou London Challenge Day 4 - Fantasy (Mermaid Nails)

If you do nail stamping, it's most likely that you know of MoYou London and their absolutely AMAZING array of stamping plates. Seriously, these things are works of art in and of themselves!

Well, in honor of reaching 10K followers on Instagram, MoYou London is hosting a challenge/contest!

Today's post is my first attempt at the challenge. The theme for May 4th was "Fantasy." I was planning on doing a mermaid-inspired manicure, so it worked out perfectly for this theme!

Nail Art: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #17 - Something New

So, it looks as though I might actually have this week's contribution to FingerFood's Theme Buffet done a little earlier than usual! No last minute flailing about to try to get things in before the InLinkz expires.

The funny thing is that when I started doing this manicure, I hadn't actually intened it to be for the Theme Buffet...Yet somehow it just happened to fit all of the criteria for this week - Something New! New polish, new stamping plate, new nail accessories/accents, first time using said acccents.... Somehow the pieces all fell in place.

Nail Art: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #16 - Gothic

When all of the members of the Theme Buffet were throwing around ideas on the Facebook group for the upcoming months, I was excited to see Sarah of Penny Pinching Polish suggest a gothic theme. I had a whole bunch of ideas that I would have loved to try out.

And here I am, two hours before this week's deadline, trying to throw together a mani really quick - one which was none of the things I really had in mind. This was one of the weeks I was most looking forward too...and of course it would turn out to be the one where I had little to no free time.

Nail Art: Enchanted Polish Green and Blue Feathers

Have you ever gotten a nail polish and immediately thought, "I HAVE to do something with this polish as soon as possible"? Well, the moment I got my new polishes from Enchanted Polish last week, I KNEW I had to put one or both of them to good use in a new manicure.

In the end, it was the insane holographic effect that March 2014 puts off that made me chose that polish. I've been wanting to use this feather-patterned stamp for ages. Put the two together, and this is what you get!

Nail Art: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #9 - Flowers

 The theme for this week's installment of FingerFood's Theme Buffet was "Flowers." There's a million different directions you could go, in a million different styles. Something dark and broody? Something cute? Roses? Daisies?

I tend to gravitate towards bolder, darker colors and jewel tones with graphic nail art elements. This week, however, I decided I wanted to try and do something a bit more subdued and subtle.

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #8 - Cute - Doraemon Nail Art

Let me introduce you to Doraemon. Doraemon (ドラえもん) is a character beloved by generations of Japanese children and a Japanese cultural icon. He's a time-traveling, earless robot cat and the main character for the manga and anime series of the same name. He has a fourth-dimensional pocket on his stomach and possesses a door that can take you anywhere. He loves dorayaki and has all kinds of adventures with fifth-grader Nobita.

He's also star of the nail art I decided to do for this week's FingerFood Theme Buffet challenge.

Reviews and Swatches: Julep - Cassie

Back at the end of December, I picked up a ton of Julep nail polishes for really cheap in the company's warehouse sale. (I've also become a Maven since then, but will most likely be cancelling my account soon)

Most of the polishes that I got were parts of sets. I wanted some of the colors in each set, but each one had a few that I could have passed on. I think this polish, Cassie, was one of those that I didn't care much about. It's just been sitting in my drawer, untried. Despite the fact that this polish wasn't really to my tastes, I decided to give it a try anyways!

NOTD: Blue Birds

I have a whole bunch of untried polishes in my steadily-growing collection that I have been meaning to try out. Since I was in the mood to wear blue (even though it has a tendency to stain) I grabbed two polishes and put together this blue bird look.

Not only did I get to wear a polish that may be have become one of my favorite blues EVER, but I also got the chance to try out the MoYou London plates that had JUST come in the mail!

NOTD: Lingerie For Your Nails

A few days ago, I got a fresh batch of nail polishes in the mail. Among them were the December 2013 and January 2014 polishes from Enchanted Polish.

Today's nail art features December 2013, a lovely nude holo with hints of pink and gold. While I was swatching the polish , the color reminded me a lot of silk stockings or lingerie, so I just had to throw together some nail art to match.

NOTD: Valentine's Day Hearts

After spending hours yesterday shoveling snow, my nails were an absolute disaster: Two broken nails on my right hand and the polish I'd applied the night before a chopped mess.

Seeing as it is Valentine's Day today, I figured why not use one of my favorite nail polishes to do a festive manicure that was a bit more traditional than the one I had posted previously.

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #3 - Weather

So, here is week 3 of FingerFood's Theme Buffet. It may be Thursday, but I finally got around to posting this! Better late than never, I suppose.

Originally, I had planned on doing a lightning scene, but after seeing so many awesome lightning manicures, I decided to go with rain. Rainbow rain, at that!

NOTD: FingerFood's Theme Buffet #2 - Geometric

With a new blog and a ton of different nail art options to try, I figured why not try to join a challenge? When I came across FingerFood's Theme Buffet, it seemed perfect! No pressure, No doing your nails every day, no worries <3 The first week had just ended when I found the challenge, so I missed the first theme (animal prints). The second week started with geometric shapes, so I figured "I can do that!"

Swatches and Reviews: China Glaze "Charmed, I'm Sure"

Welcome to the first (sorta) swatch and review of the blog. This was originally intended to be a proper swatch and review post, complete with well-shot photos, shots in different lighting and everything.

The problem is that I'm not one of those bloggers who will sit and try on a nail polish just to shoot swatches, then take it off right away and do another set.  I want to actually DO something with my nails.

My intention was to put on the polish - in this case, "Charmed, I'm Sure" by China Glaze - take photos of the plain, unadorned nails, THEN do the nail art.

Guess what I forgot to do.

So, I present to you China Glaze "Charmed, I'm Sure" with bonus nail art! I promise better pre-art pictures in the future!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Not a big update, but I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve/New Year's Day. Take care!