Robin Eggs: A Spring Manicure

By looking through my newsfeed over the last month or so, it seems that the people around me are craving spring more than usual. I don't know if it's because we were spoiled last March with 20+ degree weather, or that we've been getting a seemingly endless supply of snow, or maybe I'm just paying closer attention because I've been ready for spring since January. Regardless, I've been succumbing to spring-like choices for my nail colour in hopes that maybe the weather will start to warm up.

This week I bring to you my rendition of robin eggs.

Lately, just like many of you out there, I've been spending a lot of my time on Pinterest. I really love finding beautiful manicures that other people have done, but even more so I love getting inspiration for my nails from non-nail related posts. Since Easter is right around the corner too there's been a lot of egg posts flying around, and I found this photo especially striking.

For this look I used an unnamed Urban Outfitters Smush (I think? It came in a collection with no names on it!) and I sponged China Glaze For Audrey on top. Then to achieve the brown specks, I dipped a straw into a tiny bit of American Apparel Raccoon and blew through it toward the nail surface. I had to make sure to keep my distance from my nails while blowing the polish through the straw, otherwise the splatters would have been too saturated.
I topped it off with some Joe Fresh Matte top coat because it's not as mattifying as Essie's Matte About You and I didn't want too flat of a finish, since the eggs in the photo above have a bit of a sheen to them.

I'm more than halfway done my bottle of For Audrey, which is practically unheard of for me. It's one of my favourite colours and I love finding different ways I can use it.

Anyway, here's hoping spring comes soon!

Dexter Morgan - Blood Spatter Analyst v2

On a complete whim yesterday I picked up Essie's No Place Like Chrome and I wanted to figure out a way to incorporate it into a Halloween manicure. Since Dexter plays tonight I decided to do another blood splatter set, but this time using silver as the base so it looks like blood on Dexter's knife!

 

You can find my original version and a tutorial here.

A rare sighting of my right hand.

Okay is it just me or are these pictures turning out kinda fuzzy? They're clear on my computer until I upload them to Blogger. Anyway - I like it so much more with silver base! It gives it more of a "wow factor."

My tools and canvas.

Look how shiny the silver is with the flash!

The process looks so gruesome, I love it!

Essie No Place Like Chrome, before the blood bath. I used Revlon Valentine for the blood. I love the new Essie polish. It was very opaque, but I did notice that if I tried going over the same spot for a touch up while it was still wet the brush left even more bald spots. Overall though this is a 1-2 coater max.

I looooove getting to theme my nails, it makes the whole process so much more enjoyable (for me anyway). I'm looking forward to the sunshine coming back, it's been a while... and because of the hurricane will still be a long wait. Nail photos always turn out nicer in sunlight.

I have at least one more blog-worthy manicure planned before Halloween, see you soon!

Recent NOTD: OPI Zom-body To Love + Splatter

I layered OPI's Zom-body To Love over OPI Gargantuan Green Grape, which I don't think was really necessary at the end of the day because Zombody seems to have turned out pretty opaque after a few coats. Did I mention it's glow-in-the-dark? WIN.
To make it more Halloweeny I threw some black splatters over it with the method I used in this tutorial using Wet n Wild Black Creme.

My glow in the dark photo capturing skills are definitely sub par, but for once I actually managed to get something to appear so that's good enough for me. However, I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of the manicure during the day but the flash actually did the colour justice.

Left hand

Right hand

GLOWING

Not too shabby, huh?

NOTD: Accidental Camouflage Nails

What I was aiming for with this mani was something forest-y or wood nymphy, and what ended up happening was I guess I got a little over-zealous with my colours and it turned into a camo mani. That's okay! DBF really liked it, and so did a couple of my friends so the world isn't over this time around.

Mmm, tea!

I guess it's kind of cool eh? Too bad I'm not into the camo pattern, otherwise this would be heaven.