Rainbow gradient love

Hello loves

I've been on a neon kick lately... not sure what it is about summer and neons that just go so well together but hey don't let me question a good thing! I think it's because summer is just so bright and fun, and that's exactly what neons are. I don't think I can wear a neon and not smile because they are just so striking and attention grabbing. I may just wear a neon every day of my life... except that would probably be pretty boring for you guys ;) But I'll most definitely sneak some in every once in a while, like this super bright neon rainbow gradient!

You can't see the whole rainbow in the first picture because I have the red/pink to orange on my thumb so use your imagination! ;) 

To start of these bright babies I did two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I don't think I can praise this polish enough seriously everyone needs to own this one! :) Then I used two polishes for each finger:

-Thumb: China Glaze Pool Party / China Glaze Orange Knockout

- Pointer: China Glaze Orange Knockout / China Glaze Sun-Kissed

- Middle: China Glaze Sun-Kissed / China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard 

- Ring: China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard / Nina Ultra Pro Blue Blaze

- Pinky: Nina Ultra Pro Blue Blaze / China Glaze Flying Dragon

... Me thinks someone like China Glaze... A LOT ;)

Anyways to do this gradient I paint both colors in vertical lines slightly overlapping on a makeup sponge. Be careful on the order you paint them though because you want the rainbow to be in the right order. I learned this the hard way... apparently I paint my nails with my eyes closed -_- Then I tape around my nails because ain't nobody got time for that clean up mess ;) When they're taped of I lightly dab the sponge on my nails, I go over it 4-5 times on each nail to get a real saturated and seamless gradient. Top it off with a good top coat like Poshe and it will blend the colors even more! 

And because mattifying neons is my favorite thing to do lately I had to sneak at least one of those pictures in here. This is after once coat of NYC Matte Me Crazy, my one and only matte top coat ;) 

Just look at that chalky goodness! Which way do you prefer? I'm a matte girl all the way but I still love me a good shiny and smooth nail. I wish the colors showed up more vibrant though, oh is the woes of photographing neons. My camera refuses to make them the bright and beautiful colors that they are. I tried fixing them up in Photoshop but nothing I did did them any justice so I'm stuck with slightly less bright neon-y-ness. *Sigh*

How do you feel about neons? Yay or no way?

Thanks chickies! 

Mint Manis for Talia Joy

Good morning guys!

Or morning for me anyways.  

If you missed my post the other day I'll just recap a bit. Today is a special day in the nail community, on Tuesday, July 16th, we all lost a beautiful girl named Talia. Talia was an inspiration to the beauty community. She was a very special 13 year old girl who was battling two forms of cancer: neuroblastoma and preleukemia. Despite her challenges she put a smile on her face every day and brought beautiful makeup and nail tutorials to us all. She was truly the strongest girl I've ever had the honor to know and so very amazing at everything she did. 

Today, July 19th, the nail community has banded together to bring mint manis to honor miss Talia Joy. The last photo she posted on instagram was of a mint mani and the wonderful Nicole from Nail Polish Wars thought it would be great for all of us to show our mint manis for Talia. I think that's and absolutely amazing idea. So here's my mint mani for the beautiful little girl who was stronger then anyone. 

I started with a base of ORLY Gumdrop and did a glitter gradient using ORLY Sparkling Garbage on my thumb, pointer, middle, and pinky nails. I also put a little rhinestone at the base of each of those nails. On my ring I did two full coats of ORLY Sparkling Garbage and stamped over it with a little bow from BM-317 with L.A Colors striping polish in black. 

I really love how these came out, soft and sweet. 

For anyone wanting to participate today the hashtag is #mintmanisfortaliajoy. This is for Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. 

If anyone want to link their blogs up you can pick up the inlinkz code right HERE. But don't forget to add your name in the actual inlinkz! 

I can't wait to see everyone's love for Talia Joy and her friends and family. Rest in peace beautiful angel and make sure you show all those angels up there how to do their makeup and nails!

Thanks so much for reading guys. :) 

Watermelon Ruffians

Hi loves :) 

I think I was in the mood for some fruit when I thought up these nails ;) Whenever I look for fruit nails in the summer time most of the time I see watermelon nails. Good thing too because I love that stuff! lol! Watermelon is definitely one of my top 5 favorite fruits. I didn't want to do a normal watermelon mani though, I see a lot of beautiful ones around where they have watermelon tips. But I wanted to be different this time so I stared at my nails and thought, "hey, my nails actually kind of look like a slice of watermelon!" And so the watermelon ruffian was born! 

To start I painted all of my nails with two coats of Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal. Horrible name by the way... this polish is most definitely NOT teal -_- But that's besides the point I suppose. Then I created a ruffian using Maybelline Color Show Pink Boom a pretty light pink. When that was dry (or dry-ish since I don't have patience ;)) I used black acrylic paint and a toothpick to create the three little seeds. Seal it in with some Poshe top coat and you've got some juicy watermelon nails!

Oh! And for the thumb I started with a base of Maybelline Color Show Tenacious Teal and took a bunch of random green polishes and striped the up and down my nail to create a watermelon rind look... I can't remember all of the green polishes I used so I'll do my best to answer any questions if you have them lol!

I think the final look is really cutesy and great for summer time. Not to mention it was super easy to create and doesn't take a long time at all so you can spend more time outside in the sunshine ;)

Anyone have any favorite nail designs for the summertime? 
Thanks so much cupcakes!

Mint Manis for Taila Joy on Friday

Hey guys,

Many of you have probably heard, but the beautiful and talented Talia Joy earned her angel wings yesterday July 16th. Talia was an extremely sweet thirteen year old girl battling two forms of cancer: neuroblastoma and preleukemia. But despite her challenges she chose to live life to the fullest and was always so sweet and kind. She was also one of the most talented nail and makeup artist I have ever had the pleasure to watch. I was so very sad to hear this news yesterday and I hope that her family can find peace though this difficult time. 

The wonderful Nicole from Nail Polish Wars mentioned that the last photo Talia posted on her instagram was 4 days ago and it was of a mint green cream mani. (the polish was POP Nailglam Mint Magic.) She came up with the idea that a bunch of us should ban together and post our own mint manis this coming Friday for Talia. I think this is a great idea! 

The hashtag for the mint manis will be #mintmanisfortaliajoy

If you want to participate with everyone and link your blog up through inlinkz head over to her page HERE and she has the inlinkz code posted there. 

Sending many thoughts, prayers, and hugs to Talia's family and friends through this sad and tragic time. And many thanks to Nicole for coming up with a great way to honor Talia Joy's memory. 

Thanks so much guys. I can't wait to see everyone's mint manis on Friday. :) 

Let's get cartoon-y!

Hi chickies,

Happy Monday!! Or not so happy I should say. What is it about Mondays that just make me so irritated?! Maybe it the heat, it's been a pretty warm summer with temps in the 90's more often then not. I think its like 91 here today. Suppose I can't complain too much though I'm definitely a warm weather person... me and the winter just AREN'T friends. I mean seriously who wants to get dressed in 123785904 layers just to go outside in miserable weather and STILL freeze? Yeah I'll take this any day! lol! Anyways not that my little rant session is over I'm out of work and back to my nails and I hope you guys like what I've got on my little nubblins. ;)

I'm a little late to the cartoon nail party but hey... like I always say better late then never! 

To do these cute cartoon nails I started with a base of Wet n Wild Black Creme and then painted a ruffian in China Glaze Flying Dragon. I love this polish so much! It's a neon purple with tiny purple and blue glitters in it. Then I took Wet n Wild Black Creme again and did a black tip. I took my nail art brush and fixed the lines after wards. Then with my nail art brush I took some white acrylic paint and did a small line following the curve of my nail thicker at the top and tapering at the bottom and one small white dot after that to give it that cartoon "shine". Finally I added NYC Matte Me Crazy, a matte top coat to get my final result! Check them out :) 

I love how you can really see the glittery goodness of China Glaze Flying Dragon when it's mattified! But incase you don't like the matte look I included one shiny below that just has a coat of Poshe top coat. 

I loved this shiny too but I think the matte just brings it all together and solidifies the "cartoon" look! Which way do you like it better? Make sure you let me know in the comments! 

Oh and hey!! I just got on bloglovin'! Again... late to the party -_- But make sure you guys follow me there, and maybe help me struggle to figure it out lol!! See you there guys! ;) 
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I hope you guys have a lovely Monday and rest of the week :) 

Will you glow with me?

Hey chickies!

Happy weekend!! I hope you all had a lovely polish-filled week ;) Sometimes I love the work week.... well only when I get some nail mail! This week I finally bought my first Serum No. 5 polish! I mean finally right? Earlier in the week I saw Dayglow reviewed on a few blogs floating around the blogosphere and just fell in love. Dayglow is a glow in the dark polish and can I just say wow? This baby is BRIGHT! Like get your sunglasses on boys and girls ;)

Below is two coats of Serum No. 5 Dayglow over two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. I like to put it over white because it will save you polish... and that's precious!! Then I stamped over it with L.A Colors striping polish in black. Oh yeah, Dayglow dries a little gritty which is actually pretty cool, but if you love that smooth polish look and feel then top coat is a must! 

Look at the glow!!!! B) 

Do your eyes hurt yet?!

I LOVE the lightning bolt design! And I think it looks so cool when it's glowing in the dark. I originally wanted to stamp a little devil on my thumb and ring but the poor little guy just didn't want to come off the stamping plate :( Don't ask me who the cute little guy is on now... not sure exactly what it is. But he's sure cute right? 

So what do you guys think? Are glow in the dark polishes bad ass or what? Last night when I turned the lights off to go to sleep I literally stared at my nails for a good half hour haha! Distracting? I think so! 

Inspiration Nation: Sunset by the Palms

Hi cupcakes!

So being a nail blogger can get to be a lot sometimes. Sometimes I run out of ideas of what to paint on my nails. Terrible right? Well when this happens I love to look to my favorite bloggers for inspiration because there are so many amazing designs out there. One of my favorite bloggers is One Nail To Rule Them All. I love her nails she does such amazing designs. One of her designs immediately caught my eye and I knew I was going to have to try it. She did this beautiful sunset gradient and painted palm trees over it and you guys know I can't resist anything with a gradient in it! ;) 

So I had the day off from work today and figured it would be a good time to try this design and I'm so happy with how it came out! 

I started with a base of China Glaze Sun-Kissed and sponged a gradient using China Glaze Roguish Red and Bend Over Backwards. Then I painted the palm trees using black acrylic paint and a small striping brush. 

I decided to mattify it using NYC Matte Me Crazy like in the original and I'm super glad I did I love it even more!

And guess what?! My nails actually match for once! Well sorta anyways ;) Lol I was going to do the same design on my right hand but my sister suggested using blue instead of red and now I'm not sure which color combination I like better. I was super scared to try painting the palm trees on my right hand because I'm not nearly as steady with my left but I'm actually really proud at how they came out! 

For the blue version I started out with a base of China Glaze Sun-Kissed and sponged a gradient using China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard and Nina Ultra Pro Blue Blaze. The palm trees are also done in black acrylic paint. 

Sorry guys no awkward attempts at modeling with my right hand... you'll have to deal with the boring pose ;) 

The red reminds me of the sunset but the blue reminds me of right after when it starts to actually get dark... either way I wanna be there for sure! LOL  

Which color combination do you guys like better? :)