Lisa Frank Inspired Manicure

 I was playing around with some colors and thought it kind of reminded me of Lisa Frank stuff that I used to have in grade school.  So I show the different steps above in the order you do them for this manicure. Basically pick a few colors that you like together and keep layering them on top of each other, starting each one out a little further up the nail.  It doesn't have to be perfect and even, and really you don't want it to because it adds to the look.  After all of your colors are layered and completely dry, put a coat of a shatter nail polish over top.  If you don't have a shatter polish, you can use a little nail art brush to make little lines with nail polish that have the same effect.  The shatter polish is just a much quicker way to get that look!  The products used are listed below:

China Glaze Kinetic Candy (blue)
China Glaze Lemon Fizz (yellow)
Essie Infatuation (pink)
Sinful Colors Let's Talk (purple)
China Glaze Lightning Bolt (white shatter)

This look also looks great with neon colors underneath and black shatter over the top!  You can also layer the colors a little less "symmetrical" than I did and it can create a sort of tie dyed look.  Thanks for viewing!

Awesome K-Mart Clearance

If you like Sally Hansen nail products, run to your K-Mart right now and check for clearance!  I passed by the beauty department on my way to the register and noticed some clear tote like bins sitting on a shelf and there were nail polishes in them with clearance stickers, so of course I stopped to look.  They were all Sally Hansen products for super cheap!  I got the following items for a great deal:

Insta-Dry in Teal-y Fast: Originally $4.99 on clearance $1.23
Diamond Strength Nail Color in Pink Proposal and Rose Amore: Originally $4.69 on clearance $1.17
Salon Effects Nail Strips in Squeezed, Groove, Violet Night, and Red-y for Trouble: Originally $9.49 and on clearance (WAIT FOR IT)  for .80, that's right, just eighty cents!
Broadway Nail Dress Stickers: Originally $5.49 on clearance $1.37

I was most excited about the nail strips because I've heard people rave about them, but come on, $9 to get one manicure out of them?  I would rather put that toward a regular manicure at the salon.  I will gladly try them out for eighty cents though :-) I am super happy about my find and hope you can find some great deals at your local store!

Spring/Summer Manicure

So since the weather has been decent for a few days, I was starting to get into that spring/summer mood.  I decided I needed a brighter manicure.  I went searching through my stash to find a good pink since hot pink is always a good go to color.  I decided on Revlon's Pink Freeze.  It is a hot pink frost, which I typically stay away from, but this particular one is a good formula.  I then decided to throw on some Claire's nail polish in Candy Shop on top of Pink Freeze for the ring finger and thumb.  This polish is an exact dupe for the heavily sought after (and expensive) Deborah Lippman Candy Shop nail polish.  I was gonna leave it at that, but decided to play around with my nail stamping kit.  I used Pure Ice polish in Silver Mercedes to stamp with, and threw some little white dots onto the middle of the flowers.  I think the silver on top of a metallic pink was a little hard to see, so I'm gonna try the silver over a darker color next.  But the manicure is definitely bright and happy like I wanted!

Also on a side note, my cuticles are a hot mess, since I have insanely dry skin always....and if anyone has a recommendation for a great cuticle cream or oil I'd love to know.  I'd like to find one that really works and could use some ideas!

Enjoy and have a bright happy day :-)

My Charm Bracelet

So I have always loved charm bracelets because I think they are a fun way to create a personalized piece of jewelry. It's also nice because other people can contribute to that piece and it makes it mean more! My parents started a Brighton charm bracelet for me about 3 years ago when I graduated college and it is finally finished after this birthday!



So this is the finished product with a mix of beads and charms from my parents, my in-laws, and my husband. I'm really excited that this one is full, and now I can start working on my other one which I'll show below:














This charm is so stinking cute! It was their Box of Chocolates Charm that my husband got me for Valentine's Day. I didn't think there would be a better thing than a box of actual chocolates, but jewelry chocolates might be it. The charm opens up as seen on the right to reveal little enameled chocolates :-) So cute!

I think these are a great idea to get someone as a gift as well as for yourself. If you go to http://www.brighton.com/ you can play around on their "charm builder" and build your own bracelet! I warn you though, it can get very addicting!

Today's Manicure

I've been gone from here for so long and decided it's time I get this thing properly going! So I am starting back today with my current manicure. I have so much nail polish that I have decided to start "shopping my stash" and using polishes that are just sitting in there all lonely :-( I do my nails at least every other day, if not every day....I know that is sad, but it's my thing!

Sinful Colors Winterberry, Julep Sienna, OPI Rainbow Connection

So I apologize for my nails being super short and unattractive, but I just took some gel nails off, and my nails are screwed up at the moment so I cut them all down. On my nails I am wearing Nail Magic as a base coat, then three coats of Sinful Colors Winterberry (the purple one) on all nails except the ring finger. On my accent nail I have two coats of Julep Sienna (gold) and topped it with a coat of OPI's Rainbow Connection (glitter) from the Muppet's Collection. I personally like the accent nail since it gives me a chance to use more than one of my polishes, but I know it's not everyone's thing! I finished everything off with a coat of Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat to seal the deal :-)

Hope you enjoy!