A Valentine's Day Inspiration Nation

Love is in the air! 

Well it always is isn't it? I suppose I'm just looking for an excuse to use pink nail polish, but then again, I don't need one of those either... this blog IS called Pink & Polished riiiiight?! ;)

Details, details...

Anyways! I think it's about time for another inspiration nation post, I've been inspired by the extremely talented Lucy from Lucy's Stash time and time again and when she posted her Valentine's Day Dotted Swirl Nails I knew I had to give it a whirl! She even posted a tutorial video with some really helpful hints like how to get perfect swirls... I really recommend you watch it, it's so helpful! 

So I started this look off with a base of OPI Chic From Ears To Tail on all of my nails. When that was dry I created the dotted swirls using Essie Blanc, China Glaze Pool Party, and a dotting tool. I sealed it all in with some Poshe top coat and fell in love! 

Okay so, I absolutely love this design BUT these pinks do something to my camera that she just can't handle! I don't know if it's the neon-ness of CG Pool Party or just the fact that this light pink doesn't work with my skin tone... either way it looks like I did some nail art on a dead hand so I'm sorry for that ;( LOL But you'll just have to believe me it looks so pretty in person! Damn you camera devil!! 

Valentine's Day is right around the corner! What are YOU going to wear on your nails?
Thanks chickies :) 

Pretty in pink

Whew I disappeared there for a short while!

Sorry guys I didn't mean to! You know sometimes life gets in the way of blogging but it's all good! Hopefully I can get back on schedule soon :) 

Anyways my nubbies have finally grown out a bit! But I've still got my stamping mojo going on and I recently bought this super pretty pink Essie and knew some delicate black stamping would be just PERFECT over it!

I started with a base of Essie No Baggage Please, a gorgeous pale sheer pink. When that was dry I stamped over it using L.A. Colors Striping Polish in Black and Bundle Monster BM- 419. I top coated with some Poshe and I was done! 

I really love how the delicate stamping compliments the pink! Believe it or not this is actually my first Essie polish EVER! I never wanted to spend the money but now that I have I'm hooked! What's your favorite Essie polish? I'm itching to buy some more ;) 

Thanks loves :)

From the vault: Starburst Watermarble

Eeeeeeek my nails are NEKKID!!!!

I haven't painted my nails in almost a week! The horror right?! Lately I've been working on a project to improve my nail painting area, I bought my very first melmers from Michael's woohoo!! But you know I can't leave well enough alone and I had to Mod Podge the front with some pretty chevron paper and add some pink glitter and then when that was all done I had to completely reorganize my work area! It's still not finished but I'm hoping to put the final touches on tonight so I can finally get back to polishing! Don't worry I'll make sure to post some pictures too ;) 

So for now I had to pull out a manicure I did a while back, I'm surprised I didn't post it because I actually loved this design. I tried out my very first starburst water marble and even though it took me like 3 hours, I'm so happy with the way it turned out :) 

Since this was a while ago and you know I didn't write down what polishes I used I'm going to do my best to remember... if I get it wrong you can't yell at me though!! I started with a base of Azature White and then taped off around my fingers for easy clean up. When that was dry I created my marble using Maybelline Color Show Navy Narcissist, Maybelline Color Show Orange Fix, and Sally Hansen Hard Lemonade. I took the tape off, cleaned up, and added Color Club Snowflakes, a flaky iridescent topper, and put on some Poshe top coat over that to seal in the design. :) 

I think I wore this design for like five days! I really loved how unique it looked and the color combination is one that I don't usually wear. Actually the only reason I used these colors is because they all spread really well in water which made the marbling easier. I had to go through 6 or 7 polished until I finally found these ones :) I believe my original color combination was going to be using the Color Club Halo Hues but they just didn't want to work with me that day! Grrrrrrr ;) 

What do you think? Have you ever tried a starburst water marble? I forget which tutorial I used but there is plenty online so look it up and give it a go! 

Thanks loves :) 

A Valentine's Day Marble

Yay for water marble nails that aren't a fail!! 

I made sure to pray real hard to the water marbling gods before I even started this mani and thank goodness they answered my prayers ;) 

Valentine's Day themed nails would never be complete without at least one pink water marble design! So let's get to it! 

I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow. Then I taped off around my nails and completed the marble using Sally Hansen Hard Drive, Sally Hansen Party Hard-y, and Sally Hansen Heart of Stone. I finished off with some Poshe and was ready to go.

I almost added some China Glaze Fairy Dust on top.... almost.... but I really loved the clean and crisp look to this marble so I'm happy I left it alone :) 

I literally wore these for a full week before I could take them off! They were even all chipped and gross but I just loved the marble so much I held on to them way longer then I should have! Oh well LOL 

Thanks loves :) 

Neon outlines

Neons! And some more neons! 

Because eff-you winter that's why ;) 

Those winter blues keep trying to drag me down but I've been using neon polishes to fight them off and so far I'm succeeding! Neon outlined nails have been on my to-do list for about forever... and I'm not sure if these are a fail or not quite yet so let's see what you guys think :) 

I started with a base of Wet n Wild Black Creme. When that was dry I outlined with OPI Alpine Snow first so the neons would pop. Looking back now I probably should have outlined with some white acrylic paint because it wouldn't have been so thick, ehhh oh well. Then I used China Glaze Pool Party, China Glaze Orange Knockout, Orly Highlighter, and China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard to finish the outlines. I used some Poshe for top coat and the design was finished. 

I really liked the idea of these nails, and I have to say I got quite a few compliments on them but I just wasn't happy with them. I had to do some back painting with the black to get the outlines nice and thin and it just made them too thick right near the edges -_- Not even top coat could smooth it out. *sigh* I suppose I'll just have to be more careful next time. 

What do you guys think? Fail or not?
Thanks loves :) 

Heart-icure

Time for some Valentine's Day nails!! Woohoo! 

My nails today are kind of half and half... half Valentine's Day, half not Valentine's Day. They are hearts but they are also black so I suppose it could go either way :) 

I sat down to do my nails and knew I wanted to do a dotticure using my Color Club holos since I've wanted to do it for months now, and after I finished the dots I just envisioned black hearts in the center of each nail..... talk about a divine intervention! ;)

I started with a base of Wet n Wild Black Creme on all of my nails. Then I took my dotting tool and created the different sized dots using Color Club Cosmic Fate, Color Club Eternal Beauty, Color Club Kismet, Color Club Miss Bliss, and Color Club Over the Moon. I went back using all of the same colors and a toothpick to fill in the bigger spaces with tiny dots. When everything was dry I took Wet n Wild Black Creme again and painted a heart in the center of each nail. I finished off with some Poshe top coat and I was good to go! 

I tried to put some indirect light on these ones because the glare from the light makes it difficult to see the black hearts as you can tell in the first picture! So that's why my hands kind of look funny here.

What's your favorite Valentine's Day of Anti-Valentine's Day go to manicure? Maybe I'll take some suggestions for future manis... with credit given of course! ;) 

Thanks so much loves :) 

Neon watercolor houndstooth

I suppose 'watercolor' is kind of stretching it a bit... it's technically a random gradient but it looks pretty watercolor-ish right?! 

Since I'm still growing my nubs out I've been reaching for stamping plates more then ever, I'm not really sure what it is about short nails and stamping that attracts me so much LOL. 

Anyways I wanted to do something bright since winter is so blah and everything so I rounded up my favorite neons and tried to figure out how to incorporate them all in one mani. I'm pretty proud of the outcome ;)

I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow on all of my nails so the neons would really pop. Then I took a makeup sponge and painted random blocks of China Glaze Pool Party, China Glaze Orange Knockout, Orly Highlighter, and China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard. To get the different patterns on each nail I just rotated the sponge for each one. After I sponged and cleaned up I stamped using L.A Colors Black Striper and Bundle Monster BM-322. I top coated everything with some Poshe and the design was finished! 

I really enjoyed how bright and fun these were it almost made me forget how sad I am about my nubs... *almost* ;) 

What's your go-to polish to fight off those winter blues? 

Thanks loves :)