CRACKLE

Hi all! :) I'm sure you all know how awesome crackle polishes are! ...but I've just recently found out (lol) I knew of them and I thought they were fun for other people, but after this mani, I LOVE them!!

I'm excited about this one because I used the 3 Crackle polishes I bought. This is a technique I got from Chalkboard Nails, hers turned out beautiful!!! (Check it out here: 'CN Brush Strokes'). She picked colors that really complimented each other. She got the look from Gorgeois who calls it 'Brush Strokes'...and that's exactly what it is.

I love how the Crackle Polishes together make it look kind of like animal print. My boyfriend doesn't see that but I think that every time I look at them hahah...so feel free to tell me what you think :)

Here are the names of the Crackle polishes I used:

Oxidized Aqua- is the blue Crackle. When I look at the bottle the color has silver and a little tint of pink specs in it.

Latticed Lilac- is the purple Crackle. From what I can see this one has silver specs and maybe a little bit of gold? I'm not sure...

Haute Metal- is the pink Crackle. This one just has silver specs.

They are all beautiful and fun to use! When I saw them I first noticed they were Crackle polishes and I kind of wished they weren't because of how beautiful they are...hopefully I can find some polishes that are not Crackle but are these same colors because I love them! :)

(To see a picture of the bottles of the Crackle Polish, check out my post 'Steal of the Week')

SWATCHES

Swatches...hmm. A few days ago I had never heard of this term, and to be honest, when I did hear about it I still had no idea what it was...I had to google it :P hahah ...so glad that I know what swatches are now.

So today I will be sharing two swatches of the polishes I just recently bought. I'm not usually one to even look at these colors that I'm sharing with you, But! I see that changing! ;) So the first is a China Glaze color that caught my eye...it's called Agro. And I apologize in advance...I did not clean up my cuticles very well before I took pictures.

This color is very different. I do really like it though :) It's a deep, forest green, and these pictures show the color very nicely. What you see in the pictures is the true color.

The other color is by Orly. I seriously could not put this color down once I saw it, it's so pretty! And I normally don't look at brown polishes, but for some reason they are starting to grow on me. So, the name of this polish is Buried Alive.

This was a hard color to take a picture of...but in the second picture you can see the color a little bit better. It has small gold flakes that brighten it up and make it sparkle.  

BLUE STRIPES

Good Afternoon!!! :) I hope you are all having a wonderful day! Today I am posting a few new photos, as promised. I hope you enjoy!

This is one of my favorite designs so far :) I used my new Striping Polishes. For those of you that have a hard time making straight lines and don't have the patience for tape, you should definitely try them! They work so well.

I have on acrylic nails and I just wanted to do something simple to make them a little more eye catching :) I had just recently put on the acrylics and I had a new file which is why my cuticles don't look so well...lol but no worries! They are fine and I won't do that next time! hahaha

(To see what Striping Polishes I used, check out my post 'Steal of the Week'. I uploaded pictures and where I purchased them.)

STEAL OF THE WEEK!

Do you guys like a good deal as much as I do?? :)

A few days ago I had bought a new file, acrylic powder and Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat (Which I absolutely LOVE!! :P). What I didn't realize when I got home (and had applied glue-on nail tips, and acrylic to one hand) was that I did not have enough monomer to do both hands :S I had one hand done and the other hand just had glue-on nail tips. Now for anyone who knows me, I am what you could say "A Perfectionist" when it comes to my nails...And I have to finish them once I start. I am the type of person where, once I start something, I have to finish it or else I don't feel like I accomplished anything.
But the most depressing part of this was I did not have a car to drive across town to Sally's to buy more monomer, and as soon as I did have a car I had to leave for work and would not be done until after Sally's was closed :( So the next day when the car was available I drove to Sally's.
Now when I got to Sally's the only thing I intended to buy was the monomer...but I'm sure this has happened to everyone at some point haha. That moment when you walk into the store and they are having a Ridiculously good sale!! hahaha and of course there was nail polish! So after grabbing the $17 monomer, I stopped to see if there were any colors I would like...OH BOY!! After about 20 minutes, the sales associate asked if I needed any help lol probably because I had been in one spot for so long. I told her I was fine but was wondering if I could use 2 coupons I had at the same time, and explained what they were. So after grabbing what polishes I wanted, I nervously waited for her to tell me my total. After she rang up all of the polishes and the monomer she told me that if I spent about a dollar more she would be able to give me another $5 coupon. I was really excited because there were some Crackle polishes that had caught my eye (I'm not a huge fan of the Crackle polishes, not because they are not pretty, but because I like to do my nails with more detail. But I did want to try them out). So I grabbed 3 because they were .75 cents each and beautiful colors! And after her adding those to my total I was much more nervous than before lol...she told me my total was $15 (and something cents) and my jaw dropped! I had 10 polishes and monomer that was $17 on its own...So I walked out with a huge smile on my face because I received 10 polishes for free! Plus $2 off of the monomer I bought! I was one happy girl hahah :)

Here are the polishes I bought:

The 3 on the left are the Crackle polishes and then I bought the green because it's such a beautiful color.

I was/am most excited about the Striper polishes because I have never tried them before. So as soon as I got home and finished my acrylic nails I tested them out :) I will upload more pictures tomorrow.

COLORED BUTTERFLY FOR INTERNATIONAL CONJOINED TWINS DAY

The design I want to share with you today is inspired by these two beautiful girls here :) These girls are my cousins, Kendra and Maliyah Herrin. They were conjoined twins, separated 6 years ago. They were joined at the abdomen and the pelvis. If you would like to read they're story visit http://herrintwins.com.

The reason I was inspired to do this design was because yesterday (8/21/12) was International Conjoined Twins Day. My aunt Erin sent me a Facebook invite to the event, and although it was not an actual event I had to physically attend, it was asked of everyone to create a butterfly with two separate colored wings to represent conjoined twins. I was very excited because I needed inspiration for a new nail design and this was perfect! I uploaded the picture to the event wall and my aunt was very appreciative of the photo...plus it was very fun for me to do :)

I really enjoyed creating this nail design because it had more meaning behind it than just painting a butterfly. This butterfly represents my cousins :) I remember when I was in the hospital visiting them before their surgery I was able to paint their nails...I will never forget that :) This design is dedicated to them.

To create this look I used a Nail Art Brush and Dotting Tools.

NOT LADY BUGS

Hello Everyone :) Today I have a fun mani to share with you!

The first thing I think of when I see this design is Lady Bugs...it's also the first thing my boyfriend said when he saw it :P ...but as we all know Lady Bugs are red or green and have a straight line and all black dots. But nonetheless, it still reminds me of Lady Bugs lol. 

I used a couple different tools to create this look. To create the wavy line I used tape and scrapbook scissors. I used a Nail Art Brush to outline the wave created by the tape, and then I used Dotting Tools...it was a very fun design to make and it didn't take very long to do. The most time consuming part was the tape. Enjoy! :)