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Anchors Away!

Ok, long story short, I’ve been in the mood for a little accent nail lately, with a little nail art. I love anchors, so much so I have a tattoo of one. Actually, so does my husband, we got matching tattoos on our honeymoon. I chose the anchor because I felt it was very, very symbolic. I have an anchor on my wrist with the coordinates of where we got married underneath, I felt it symbolized ‘where I dropped my anchor.’ cheesy right? 😉 anyway! Who doesn’t love an anchor? If you do, here are some step by step tips to create one in your mani!

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Pick your colors and start with a full mani. I paint the accent nail first and then paint the rest of my hand so it has time to dry completely. [I used Essie “No More Film” for the blue and Essie “Really Red” for the red, & a Sally Hansen nail art pen in White for the nail art.]

Step one: When whichever nail you’re using as the accent nail is completely dry, start by drawing a straight line across your nail horizontally, towards the top.

Step two: Draw a straight line from the center of the first line all the way down. It will basically look like a T. 

Step three: Close to the bottom of the T but not completely, make two rounded lines, one off of each side. They’re kind of like half parenthesis.

Step four: At the top & center of the T, make a small circle.

Step five: Wait for the art to dry and slap a top coat on there.

There you have it! The anchor is that easy! Test it our yourself and send me pics! Until next time, kisses!

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Weekend Mani

Aloha friends! So I’m trying my very hardest to keep up with my blog whenever I have time. I’m currently sitting on the floor of my living room while Charlotte (formerly known as Baby R) relaxes in her little nap nanny next to me. My, my, how my life has changed! This time 10 and a half months ago I’d be out to dinner with the hubs, enjoying a couple cocktails before our adventures for the evening began. But honestly guys, when I look over at my boogie and she smiles at me, I wouldn’t trade it for the world! It’s really the best feeling. BUT! This post isn’t about how awesome being a mommy is.. because I could go on about that forever. Eventually I plan on integrating a little motherly wisdom onto this bad boy, but I’ll need way more time for that!

Something you may seriously take for granted before having a newborn? Painting your nails! It really is a luxury! As is blow drying your hair and even being able to take your time…… going to the bathroom. So when my mother comes to take the babe for a couple hours, I jump at the chance to paint my nails. Check out some of my newest creations.

This is what I’m currently rocking right now. It’s a lovely combination of my favorite shade by Essie, “Fiji,” tipped with a new Essie shade from their metallic line, “Nothing Else Metals.” Cute right? It looks silver in the picture, but it’s a pink metallic shade.

This little look is a combination of ‘Kutki’ by NARS and the new “A Stroke of Brilliance” by Essie. Love this look too. The only thing I hate about using the Luxe effect polishes from Essie is that they are a BITCH to get off! You literally have to file the top of your nails for like 20 minutes to get the glitter off. Such a pain. But they look so good at the time, it’s like, whatever! hah

So these are the only two manicures I’ve been able to do with some fun since I’ve had the baby. It just doesn’t seem right for me, I know! I tried the first manicure (the french) when the baby was home and I literally had to do it like one nail at a time before she needed to be picked up or something. It’s a process, LOL!

So that’s it folks. Now it’s time to watch a little bit of the Olympic opening ceremonies before the babe has to be put to bed. I’m beyond stoked for swimming & diving, being a swimmer myself. Can’t wait to watch Lochte kick some ass! I also love gymnastics… hello guilty pleasure! Until next time, sweeties. Kisses!

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Revenge of the Orange.

Well I knew it was going to happen sooner or later… I would want to paint my nails with that new orange polish from Essie before my hands got a tan. It happened last night. I was fishing through my polish collection and I just kept coming back to it. I wanted to use it again but I knew if I gave myself a complete neon manicure I would just end up hating it 3 hours later and I wasn’t about to go through that again. So I decided to mix it up a little bit. I was going to use my new orange polish, just not all at once.

I mixed three of my current favorite shades: Fiesta, Orange, it’s Obvious!, and A Cut Above. All from Essie.

I started with the basic, painting all of my nails except for the ring finger with Fiesta, the bright and punchy pink. Then I went back and filled in my ring fingers with Orange, it’s Obvious. I applied two coats and let my nails dry completely.

On my ring fingers I added A Cut Above. I tried to apply it so it looked like the glitter was falling down my nail. I applied one coat to half my nail, let it dry, then went back and added another coat to just the top quarter of my nail. Once I let that dry I added just a small amount to the tips. I’m not 100% sure I accomplished the look I was going for, but I kinda dig it regardless.

Before the glitter.

& after.

 

So I’m pretty happy with the way this turned out. I really love hot pink & bright orange together and this was a great way of tapping back into my neon orange obsession without going overboard.

Funny story about these colors… I love them so much together that I wanted them to be the colors for my wedding. One night, my maid of honor and I are sitting in Dunkin Donuts, sipping hot chocolate, talking details about the wedding and I told her I wanted my theme to be hott pink and orange. She looks around… crinkled her nose like she just smelled something terrible, and goes… “Like…… Dunkin Donuts colors?” womp womp. That was all it took to make me change my mind, and fast. haha Honestly now I think I would have been able to pull it off, but better to be safe than sorry, right?

Anyway.. just a nice little side note. Felt like sharing. So this is my manicure for the week. Let’s see how long I last before I switch to my other new obsession… sky blue!

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The Battle of the Pinks

Isn’t it the worst thing ever when you go through all that effort to paint your nails and as soon as you’re done you know you hate the color? To me, that’s the worst thing! Right up there with paper cuts… just hate it! That’s exactly what happened to me last night. I was dying to paint my nails a light pink but I didn’t really have one in my vast collection & it was too late to go out and buy one.

Can you believe that in this entire collection I don’t have a single shade of pink that would satisfy me? The thing about me is… when I want something done, it has to be done like right then. So i dug through all of my colors and came out with one I thought would hold me over. This is what I came up with.

This is I Think in Pink by OPI. I hate it!! I feel like it’s the exact shade of pink all grandmothers wear. It’s just so hideous on. I bought this color when I was getting married as a potential shade for my wedding day. I never actually tried it out so I wasn’t 100% sure what it looked like. Aaaaand now I know. Gross. So I went to bed, woke up, and went to the store to find the perfect shade of pale pink that I had in my mind.

Now this is what I was looking for! This is a classic, Ballet Slippers, by Essie. In all seriousness, Essie can do no wrong. Am I right? I mean, typically OPI is pretty spot on too, it’s what they do after all. I just got a hold of the wrong stuff (said like the guy in that Leprechaun video, duh).

Alas, I am quite satisfied with my latest purchase. This is the perfect shade, it’s exactly what I was going for. I no longer feel like every time I look at my hands I should see wrinkles and giant blue veins. yuck. But that’s just my opinion. What do you guys think?

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Ombre Mani

I’m heading out of New Jersey for a few days to some warmer, sunny, weather. So of course, my manicure needs to reflect that.

This is my ombre-ish manicure featuring one of my favorites: Turquoise and Caicos. I have it on my toes right now too. This color and Fiji by Essie bring me right to summer and that is why I love them. I’m also currently obsessed with the luxe effect colors by Essie.. but only the chunky glittery ones. I have the pink already, and could not find any of the other colors anywhere, so when I finally found the silver I snagged it immediately.

Here’s what you need: 

Turquoise & Caicos, School of Hard Rocks, Set in Stones.

Steps:

ONE: Your first coat will be Turquoise and Caicos. It can go on really light and sheer so let it dry and add a second coat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO: After the first color dries, using School of Hard Rocks, draw a diagonal line across the nail and fill in towards the top. This color is much darker so you will probably only need one coat of that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THREE: After your first two colors dry completely, repeat step two with the glitter polish on top of the middle color.

And that’s it! You’re all done. With all three colors it can get a little thick so be careful about the top coat you choose to slap on there, if any.

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t this manicure make you like, crave summer? It almost reminds me of those sea shells everyone calls “mermaid toenails” all crushed up and floating in the ocean. It’s just pretty to me! And by the time I get back from vacation I will be so over it and ready to give myself a new manicure haha. So try it out! It’s easy and cute and shiny and pretty and do it! ;] K byee. <3

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Make a Wish Manicure

AS we all know I have become recently obsessed with that website Pinterest. And can we all just share in the frustration of our iPhone’s autocorrecting that to Interest? Because it’s infuriating! But that’s besides the point. Through Pinterest I have discovered wall decals while looking for inspiration for the Baby’s room. I am now obsessed with wall decals and fun wallpaper and I’m trying to decide between the two. One of my favorite decals is a dandelion that looks like it’s blowing in the wind. I love it! But it’s huge and a little too much for the baby’s room I think, so I may have to find another place for it, perhaps the wall behind the couch? I am getting seriously off topic here. Let me get back to the point; this wall decal was the inspiration for my most recent manicure. Take a look!

I think I got way too literal with this manicure, I tried to make them look too much like real little dandelion leaf things. The dandelion itself…. I literally re-did about 15 times. I couldn’t quite get it right and this was the best I could get it. Well, actually, I wasn’t crazy about it but I figured I should just stop trying to perfect it before I drove myself absolutely insane. SO! Here’s whatcha need.

I used Sew Psyched by Essie for the base. I think the darker colors work better for a background if you’re using the Sally Hansen nail art pens. They tend to show up much better on darker hues. I used Sally Hansen and Milani nail art pens/polishes for the details. The Sally Hansen UV Top Coat is a great top coat to use as well because it protects your nails from harsh sunlight and keeps your manicure nice and shiny! It’s perfect.

The steps are super duper easy.

1. Apply two coats of your base color. Let dry completely!

 

 

 

2. When both coats have completely dried draw a little stem with the black nail art pen. 
*(a great test to make sure your nails have fully dried: press them against each other. If they stick together even the tiniest bit they still need time to dry).

3. This step is really easy. Draw a little white plume over the black stem. (this is the part I had the most trouble with because I can be kind of a perfectionist and it just wasn’t coming out right for me).

4. On the rest of your nails, starting with your ring finger and working towards your thumb, draw little leaves of the dandelion as if they’re blowing away in the wind, or someone is blowing on them making a wish.

And that’s that. You’re done! Wait for everything to dry and top it off with a shiny top coat and you’re good to go. Do you guys like my wish inspired nails? I’m enjoying them but I think my next manicure will have to be something super simple. Between my leopard print, Giants manicure, and this… my nails need a creative break!

 

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Super Bowl Manicure: NY Giants Inspired!

Are we all getting super excited for the big game tomorrow? Because I know I am! I’m trying not to think about it too much or else the anxiety will start to set in and I’ll start to panic! So let’s not think about the game… let’s think about how we’re going to prepare for tomorrow’s game, starting with our nails!

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people coming to my blog looking for Giants inspired manicures based on the last time I posted a manicure inspired by my team, which you can find here. I knew I had to kick it up a notch this time so let’s get started. This is what the final product ended up looking like:

The best part about this kind of manicure? I can only assume it will be on your nails for a day or two, so you can have all the fun in the world with this look. Tomorrow when everything is completely dry I’ll probably add more details and whatnot, but for now, this is what we’re working with.

What you’ll need:

White nail polish – I used Wet n Wild, Wild Shine in White.
Blue nail polish – I used Aruba Blue by Essie
Red Nail Polish – I used Midnight Red by Chanel. 

Nail polish pens in blue, red, and white. I used Sally Hansen and Cina pens.

 

Step one: Paint your nails white. (this is a good base color to start with in case you decide to more nail art on other nails).

 

 

 

 

Step two: With the blue nail art pen, carefully draw the logo. (You can find a big image to go by on Google).

 

 

 

 

Step three: With the same nail art pen, color in the logo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step four: This is where you have creative freedom. After this, you can pretty much do whatever you want. The logo is going to be the focal point of the manicure, so work around that. In my case, I chose to add another logo to my thumb nail and then colored in my other nails with their colors. Like I said, tomorrow when it gets closer to the game I’ll probably add some more details. With these nail art pens you can really do almost anything as long as you have a steady hand.

Well there ya have it! Your very own NY Giants manicure! What better way for us girls to show our support? If you’re throwing or going to a Super Bowl party tomorrow and don’t want to show up empty handed, a great quick fix is a buffalo chicken dip! SUPER easy to make and you can find my recipe here. The entire thing takes less than an hour to prepare and cook and it gets devoured in about half that time. You’ll be invited back to every party if you show up with this crowd pleaser, I promise!

Everyone have fun tomorrow and be safe and…. GO GIANTS! 

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Saturday Night Fever

Today’s manicure is brought to you by; boredom and pinterest. I saw a manicure kind of resembling this one while spending a billion hours on this website. It wasn’t exactly like this one, but feast your eyes on this mani and then I’ll get to the explanations.

I am loving this disco ball inspired manicure. The one I saw on pinterest was similar with the white backdrop but the sparkles this person used were silver and gold and they layered them. The only sparkles I had were the pink ones, and rather than going out and spending an arm and a leg on new glitter polish that who knows when I’ll use it again, I opted to change the manicure based on what I already own.

So here’s what you need:

Pure white polish, not a french manicure white. You want this white to be solid. Sparkle polish with big sparkles, not little glitter. I used Wet n’ Wild – Wild Shine in white and Essie – A Cut Above.


Steps:

1. Paint your nails with two coats of a base color and let dry completely.

2. Use the glitter polish and paint a diagonal line across your nail.

3. Let dry completely.

4. Paint a second coat with the glitter polish across your nails.

And when you’re done, voila! 

A very Saturday Night Fever/New Year’s Eve-esque mani to rock and keep you entertained on this boring and dreary Friday afternoon. So try it out and let me know what you think!

Speaking of Pinterest, who is on this fantastic and amazing site? Because I am and it’s totally and completely addicting. Find me here and follow me! I’m always looking for new inspiration. See ya soon. ;]

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Manicure of the Month!

This month’s manicure is dedicated to my football team, the New York Giants! I am a big believer in jinxes and good/bad luck charms. I don’t carry around a rabbit’s foot, I’m not that crazy, but I do believe that some things could have good vibes attached to them, and others could have bad vibes. I have lucky t-shirts that I rely on. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the Giants haven’t made it this far because I refuse to take off my lucky t-shirt when they play… but, I do believe it helps! (haha, crazy, I know!) I am a creature of habit and when I find something that works for me, I hate to switch it up. But yesterday as my best friend Ashley and I were wandering the mean aisles of Target, we came across this bright idea… Giants themed nails! This was a big step for me, I didn’t want to go too over the top before the game. I believe getting too amped up puts too much pressure on everyone, including the team, haha! So here they are. Our NY Giants inspired nails. Peep this.

We decided to try out the crackle nail polish. A first for both of us. So we went for the Aruba Blue by Essie and opted for the Sally Hansen brand Crackle polish. Be warned: it goes on thick! I really didn’t love the way mine came out so I’ll show you Ashley’s manicure step-by-step instead. (there’s only two steps… it’s pretty fool proof).

What You Need: 

Two colors of your choice: one will be the base, and the other the top coat.

Steps: 

1. Paint your nails with the base coat. We used Aruba Blue and it’s dark and thick enough that you only really need one coat. If you’re using a lighter or more sheer color you can probably get away with two coats. 

2. Wait for the base coat to dry completely.

3. When nails are dry, add a very thin layer of the crackle. I caked mine on a little too thick and I didn’t love the way it came out. Ashley’s, and my little sister Abby’s, came out much better than mine! hah

And viola! The finished product!

So our NY Giants nails proved to be good luck, they were able to beat the 49ers and are now Super Bowl bound, woo! It was a close call though and I blame it all on my choice to wear a Ross jersey instead of my good luck t-shirt. It wasn’t looking so good so I took off my jersey in the 4th quarter and boom! A big win for us. haha see? It’s all out the lucky things! I’m thinking for the Super Bowl I’ll do my nails up big. Something much more creative than just some crackle polish. But for now, this is a super easy manicure to try in your spare time. I hate the way mine look now though, so I’ll be taking this polish off between today and tomorrow and trying something else. I’m feeling creative!

I’m also working on a little self tanner post in the future. I have been experimenting with various self tanners recently and I think everyone can benefit from my trials and tribulations! So stay tuned for that!

Have you guys tried the crackle polish out yet? It was a huge trend not long ago but it seems like it’s kind of fizzled out. What are the experiences you’ve had with this wonder polish? Do tell! 😉