Bring that Bling!

Every once in a while, I feel like doing something that doesn't involve a nail art brush and several colors, and today/tonight was one of those times. In a twist of perfect fate, the bronze nail art jewels that Maria of Cult Nails sent in that fantabulous care package a while back inspired me to do a black and bronze gem-encrusted manicure. Figuring that all 10 nails might be a tad over the top, I decided to paint my fingertips with black polish, and do ring finger and thumb accent nails. Just enough bling to satisfy my need for sparkle at the end of two very mentally taxing days. I know I'm not generally one to wear glued on nail accessories/gems/whatnot, but this idea got in my head and I just couldn't shake it, so I went for it. I had tiny black Swarovski crystals left over from my Vegas showgirl Halloween costume a few years ago, and luckily I kept them- who knew that instead of ending up on my boobs, they'd end up on my nails?

The black I used for this manicure was also a Cult Nails product- Nevermore. I know I rave about American Apparel Hassid, and while I'll still keep that one around for my nail art, this Cult Nails polish will replace it for full nail coverage. :D This manicure was ONE. COAT, and it dried glossy as all hell. Now I have to figure out what to do with my 10 remaining bottles of Hassid. :-D More nail art?

I should mention that the bronze gems are far brighter in person, I just could NOT get a good picture of them!

I used:

Black: Cult Nails Nevermore
Multi-sized Bronze rhinestones from Cult Nails
Jet 7s Swarovski crystals

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Quoth the raven, bling some more!

Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick...BOOM!

Happy Monday, and welcome to my NEW weekly feature—Moonicure Monday!

Every Monday, I am going to do a half-moon manicure, but with my spin on it. This could mean funky colors, shapes, treatments–anything goes! I have so many ideas already! I have done half-moon manicures in the past (obviously), but I was never really stoked on them until I changed my nail shape. My epiphany? Half-moon manicures are awesome when mixed with oval nails! (My apologies if you disagree, you MAAAAY want to skip Mondays for the unforeseeable future.)

This inaugural Moonicure Monday design takes the half-moon shape, but adds a little twist... a little spark of something extra, if you will. I hope you (to borrow a phrase from the 90's? 00s?) think they're da bomb. (dot com?)

I used:

Dark Grey: Nubar Stronghold
Black: American Apparel Hassid
Light Grey: Nubar Marble Tower
Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Orange: CND Electric Orange
Yellow: Cult Nails Feel Me Up
Orange Sparkle: China Glaze Riveting
Orange crystal in the center of each spark

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Bright Meets Blah

Sometimes I just start a manicure with a color scheme in mind, and let things develop as I paint. Sure, manicures like this generally take way more time than even some of the more complicated ones (surprising, right?), but I like to do them every so often because it's fun to see what happens. I hope you guys don't mind! :D I actually really like how this turned out- and I think I might do a full manicure of just mix-and-match half moons.

Chris and I went to Mahabalipuram this weekend to grab some gifts for him to take home when he visits, and on the way, we stopped to talk to his surfing buddies in Kovallam. I'm pretty excited, when my sister comes, we're both going to take surfing lessons! (I'm also slightly terrified because neither of us can swim) How cool is it that we're going to surf for the first time in the Indian Ocean?! I'm pretty stoked, its going to be an amazing experience! I'm also pretty excited for all the other things that we have been planning to do when she gets here- we're going to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, stay at an elephant preserve in Jaipur, and tons of other stuff we haven't decided yet! I'm excited to finally see the country I've been living in for almost the past year. I'm totally going to pick up one of those curly toed pairs of leather shoes (and probably a million other things!).

Anyway, the nails. Yes, the nails. I have an array of half-moons, stripes, and dottiness in a bright-meets-blah color scheme for you today!

I used:

Dark Grey: Nubar Stronghold
Light Grey: Nubar Marble Tower
Yellow: CND Bicycle Yellow
Turquoise: Zoya Robyn

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Have I Crossed the Line? Tutorial!

You asked for it!

I'm overwhelmed by the amount of you that wanted a tutorial for this design (in the best way!), and knew I had to let it jump queue to the top of the list!

With no further ado...

So how do you plan to cross the line?

What's YOUR Gilty Pleasure?

Who doesn't love a way to make a manicure look a little more rich in a little amount of time? Love the look of nail art, but want something a little easier? Sounds like Zoya has you covered with their new Gilty Pleasures velvet gift box set, which features Zoya Gilty, a limited-edition 18K Real Gold Flake topcoat, Zoya Raven, a great jet black, and Zoya Purity, a lovely white. 

Due to the scarcity and extreme demand of the gold used in the topcoat, they're asking everyone to pre-order the trio in advance. This means that after the pre-order is sold out, there will be no more available.  If you're a polish hoarder collector like I am, you definitely won't want to miss out on this!

The PRE-ORDER is open today HERE!

Official ship date for the Gilty Pleasures Trio is October 15, 2012, and you will not be charged until it actually ships.

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION!

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find over 300 other Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. Each and every name has a color as unique as the women who inspired it.

$30.00 US. Shipping October 15, 2012.
Order Zoya Gilty Pleasure at  Zoya.com today!

Have I Crossed the Line?

So this design MAAAAAAAY look a little familiar. Just a little. It may have been one-fifth of yesterday's design. Ok, it was. It totally was. I seriously loved how the thumb turned out, and thought it'd look totally rad as a full manicure in that style. The main difference this time around it that I didn't stick to red, I decided to totally taste the rainbow- but only when I eat with my hands.

Someone mentioned they'd like a tutorial for the thumb (or in this case, the full manicure). Anyone else interested? Let me know, and I'll try to work it in to the tutorial schedule. :) I have some fun ones that I'm planning to film soon (if the ideas work out other than in my brain). Anyway, I won't babble on too much more, here's the nail arty-ness.

I used:

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

Black: American Apparel Hassid

Red: Cult Nails Evil Queen
Orange: CND Electric Orange
Yellow: CND Bicycle Yellow
Green: CND Green Scene
Blue: CND Anchor Blue

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Eyes hurt yet?

Come and Meet This Spectacular Coterie

Ladies and Gentleman, May I present to you....

 Coterie is the latest and greatest in beauty sites for deal-savvy beauty enthusiasts like you and me! (Let's be honest, who doesn't like nail polish AND a good deal? A polish that's a good deal lasts longer, looks brighter, and applies easier! Right? lol) Coterie will offer a variety of great cosmetics with exclusive introductory offers sure to make you drool. Members will be able to create a 'Virtual Vanity' where you can customize your profile with skin type, concerns, skintone, and beauty type, ensuring you won't miss out on products you love, as well as purchase and replenish your products easily! Coterie won't just be offering great cosmetics at great prices, no siree! They'll be showing us behind-the-scenes beauty looks, tricks, and advice from the best of the best in hair, makeup, skin, and nails!

I'm pretty damn excited about this site- it seems like it'll be like Hautelook, but with ONLY BEAUTY!! *swoon*  I won't have to root through rugs and children's clothes to get to deals on my beloved cosmetics now.... :D

UPDATE: The early sign-up offer has since expired. However, if you still wish to sign up for this website, you can do so through my affiliate site (I get credit to spend on the site) at The Daily Nail link for Coterie, or if you'd rather not use my affiliate link, you're more than welcome to sign up at www.coterie.com :).   Enjoy, and if you use my link, thank you! :-D

I'm a little late on this, but I'm inviting YOU to get EARLY access!! If you use this offer before NOON EST today (9/17), you'll get $25 off the preview offer price of butter LONDON or any other future offer sold on Coterie.  (Rumor has it, if you like Butter, you're going to L-O-V-E what's comin' up soon!)

Sign up! (All the cool kids are doing it!)

GO. GO NOW. 

Yes, I did throw an Aladdin reference into the post title. :D