Red, Orange & Yellow + Crackle

Hello, lovelies. I hope you are all having a fine and dandy Friday.

Last night I painted my friend Stephanie's nails. I  sponged on an orange, red & yellow gradient which I topped with a black crackle (China Glaze Black Mesh).

Yellow, Orange & Red Gradient

Black CG Crackle on top

Colors used:
   • CHINA GLAZE Lemon Fizz
   • CHINA GLAZE Black Mesh
   • SINFUL COLORS Ruby Ruby
   • SALLY HANSEN xTREME WEAR Sun Kissed 150

Who says crackle has come and gone, pssh. Granted I do not see myself picking up any new crackles at this point in time, but that doesn't mean I can't still enjoy the ones I have! I've done Melissa's (my other sister) nails with crackle and she really liked it too.

Thanks for popping in!

CHINA GLAZE Innocence

Good afternoon, ladies! I hope you all had a relaxing weekend. Guess what movie comes out this weekend?! Magic Mike! I am trying to plan a trip to visit my sister, Jessica, in Maryland so we can see it together.

Today's NotD is CHINA GLAZE Innocence. This was an impulse grab from CG's selection of stock colors at my Sallys. I grabbed it because I have been hankering for one of the OPI Ballet polishes and this looked like the next best thing and was right in front of me. I am super glad I grabbed it, I love this color. I have it on my toes right now too as a base color to a french pedi. My husband came home today and I was trying to show him my freshly painted nails and he just said, "I don't see anything. It looks like your nails." That is what I love about sharing my polish with you girls who can appreciate it!

Ok, enough gabbing. Innocence is a milky pink, very sheer cream that wants to be a jelly. It has a thin formula but yet it applied beautifully. It was very easy to work with and not the least bit of streaking. For a sheer polish that is great! I had a VNL after 2 coats, but because it's a sheer color I don't mind at all. You could layer on some more polish if you wanted a less noticeable VNL I imagine. 

Innocence - Direct Sunlight

Innocence - Shaded Natural Light

CHINA GLAZE Innocence

I don't know if you can pick up what I meant by wanting to be a jelly in the second photo. It almost to me has a borderline shiny squish to it. I love it. I think Innocence was a great name for it as well. I love the delicateness of a great sheer polish. It makes you look fabulously chic without having to make a statement. Don't get me wrong, I love a good bright color and glitters too! It just depends on my mood. Today I wanted a relaxed look.

What is your favorite sheer polish?

Thanks for popping in!

CHINA GLAZE Sun-Kissed

It's the first weekend of summer! I decided to go BRIGHT to celebrate. I chose Sun-Kissed from the China Glaze Summer Neons Collection. If ever there were a color that screamed summer, this highlighter yellow would be it. It has some green undertones to it and a beautiful and subtle shimmer. The shimmer for me is what drew me to this color. The formula was super easy to work with and it dried quickly. I did 2 coats and topped with Seche Vite. I took all photos in direct summer sunlight ;-).

Sun-Kissed

CHINA GLAZE Sun-Kissed

My only complaint about the color is that I think I might be a bit to fair-skinned to pull it off. It gave me lobster hand. It's certainly an appropriate shade for a summer neon though.

The name of this polish made me feel compelled to share this silly e-card I came across on Pintrest. Summer is the time for tanning, but beware of the fake'n'bake oompa loompa!

Thanks for popping in!

Butterfly Gradient Skittles

Welcome back, ladies! Boy is it HOT outside today. It's going to get even hotter as the week goes on for us here in VA. I decided on doing more nail art today. My last nail post I did ladybugs, today I have butterflies! This one is also a re-creation from a Pintrest find originally done by Beads. Nails. Food. Pairing the gradient with the butterfly look was so gorgeous I immediately bookmarked it in my head to do later. I have been getting a nice little collection of shimmer polishes so I decided to pair a shimmer with a corresponding color for my gradient. Lots of polishes and pictures for this one so hunker down there, girls.

Butterfly Gradient

butterflies and flowers (that's a Gerbera daisy from my garden)

Little Miss Amoki admiring Momma's nails from afar.

Dpow smelling the daisy

Skittle Gradients before butterfly-ification

Colors used:
   ● thumb: ZOYA Midori w/ ZOYA Ivanka
   ● pointer: ZOYA Arizona w/ ZOYA Myrta
   ● middle: ZOYA Lolly w/ ZOYA Kimber
   ● ring: ZOYA Robyn w/ ZOYA Charla
   ● pinky: JULEP Anne w/ ZOYA Zara
   ● KONAD Special Polish in Black
   ● White Acrylic

all the polishes I used for this look!

I told you I used a lot! It took a while to achieve this look. I started with 2 coats of each base color (the ones listed first under colors used) and let it completely dry. I then used a small makeup sponge and applied the shimmery colors (second colors listen under colors used) on the tips down partially to the middle of each nail. I let this dry and then applied Seche Vite. It helps to use a top coat before adding nail art so if you mess up it's easier to remove your mistake without mussing up your base color too much. After that was dried I used my small art brush and freehanded the black butterfly lines and then added the dots with white acrylic using my dotting tool. After the detailing was COMPLETELY dry, I topped once again with Seche Vite to smooth out the look and help make it last. When adding top coat over any sort of nail art be sure it's 100% dry. If it isn't, the drag from the brush can smear your work.

Phew! Hope you could follow all of that. I love my summer toes and nails! I kind of have a mixture of things going on here; skittles, gradient, nail art... :-)

Thanks for popping in!

MeMe

Hello, ladies! Popping in really quick to share something awesome with you.

Isn't this just the epitome of what we all feel inside? :-) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!