Showing my school spirit.

The Friday night I was in Houston, we went to watch Laura's daughter, Kelsey, cheer at her high school football game. In honor of the mustangs, I wanted a manicure that matched the school colors. I got inspiration from Kelsey's cheerleading uniform so I went with maroon nails with gold accents.


Go mustangs!

Halloween idea #3. Last one!

I love candy corn! So, to celebrate Halloween along with my love of the tri-colored candy, I did a candy corn manicure.


It was surprisingly easy. I started with two coats of orange with a top coat and waited until that was dry.

Then I cut Scotch tape into three equal pieces (as equal as I could get!) and placed the tape across the middle of my nail.

Then I painted two coats of yellow near my nail bed and two coats of white on the tip.

I pulled off the tape and topped with a top coat and ta-da! Candy corn nails!

Happy Halloween!

Flower practice.

I've been doing some practicing with painting flowers on my nails. For fun one night I just sat down and attempted a different design on each nail. This is what I came up with.

Stripes!

I wanted a quick and easy manicure to wear for a couple days. I started with OPI Blue My Mind (still my favorite blue so far!) and then free handed some white diagonal stripes. Topped with some Seche Vite and off I went!

Arizona sunset

The sunsets here in AZ are gorgeous. Almost every single night the sky is filled with reds, pinks, yellows and oranges. I love it. I still miss the sunset over the ocean, of course. But it's a nice replacement.

I wanted to do a manicure that reminded me of the sunset so I grabbed my Orly Orange Punch, Sinful Colors Pull Over and Revlon Kiss Me Coral.

I started with a base coat followed by two coats of Orange Punch on all my nails except my ring finger. On that one, I used two coats of Pull Over.

Next, I cut some thin strips of tape to place on my ring finger and topped that nail with the Orange Punch.

To finish, I painted Kiss Me Coral on all my nails to tone down the polish. Kiss Me Coral is a very sheer coral color so you could definitely still see the original color through it.

I did like this manicure. I loved the colors and conveyed exactly what I was hoping.

I'm slacking on new manicures but, luckily, I have a couple more still in my backlog. I've broken a different nail every week for the past three weeks! I'll get some more manis done this week so I don't get too far behind. Hope you all are doing great!

And welcome to my newest follower, Tammy!

Halloween idea #2.

I started this manicure thinking it would be one I would immediately change but I liked it so much that I decided to keep it. Even though I broke my nail on my right index finger.


I used Orly Orange Punch to start and followed up with Orly Liquid Vinyl. I cut thin strips of tape and placed them randomly on my nails. I ended up with 10 different patterns.

Light to dark.

For this manicure, I started with a base coat followed by two coats of OPI Moon Over Mumbai. Once that dried along with a coat of Seche Vite, I moved onto the next step.

I wanted to do some sort of gradual change so I opted to do steps of color with the circle reinforcers. I used the reinforcers and gradually covered more and more nail with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Gunmetal.

This mani was OK. I didn't love it and it wasn't one that I kept. I may have liked it better with different colors so I haven't completely written it off.

I have a couple other manis to post about but I think I will skip ahead to the one I have on now which is Halloween inspired! Another post to follow soon.

Halloween idea #1.

Since Halloween is coming up, I've been experimenting with Halloween inspired manis. This one is simple and easy.


I started with a base coat and two coats of Orly Liquid Vinyl followed by Sech Vite. Once that dried, I topped it with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pumpkin Spice which is a fun polish with orange glitter.

This was a basic manicure that didn't require much work. I have a couple other manis that I've done that I'll post between now and Halloween.

Floral half moon.

I had so much fun with my last half moon than I decided to go ahead and do another one. I opted for more contrasting colors this time with an accent nail.

For the base, I used two coats of Sinful Color Easy Going. I loved this polish! Even on it's own, it's a pretty great mani. I had no top show through and that's surprising when you realize how light pink this polish is.


After the base coat and a coat of Seche Vite, I taped off all but my ring finger with the round reinforcers so I could make the half moons. I painted a coat of Orly Liquid Vinyl on top. I waited a few minutes and then pulled off the stickers and using the Kiss silver glitter, I highlighted the half moon.

I really liked this manicure as is. I could have painted my ring finger the same and still liked it but I was feeling the accent nail that day so I went with a simple black flower. To make it, I used the flat end of a toothpick to make the dots and then used the pointy end to kind of drag a line from the center of the dot to the middle of the flower.

Since I was on the flower kick, I decided it should extend to my toes. It's hard to tell, but there are darker pink flowers along with the light ones. I really should have chosen a better pink that would have shown up more on the black but I liked the concept. There are three flowers on my big toe and then a partial flower on each of the rest.

I'm pretty proud of this manicure/pedicure. It turned out better than I had hoped and I will be using this Sinful Colors again in some more designs.

Breast Cancer Awareness month

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and pink is it's signature color, I decided to go with a pink/zebra stripe mani. I used Sinful Color Snow Me White, Sally Hansen HD Byte, Kiss Nail Art silver glitter and a black nail pen.


I was worried the pink would be too pale so I did white as the base coat. I did not tape this manicure, just did a strip of pink diagonally down the middle of the white. I lined the pink with the silver glitter and then topped it all with Seche Vite.

After that dried, I used the black nail pen to draw random Vs and lines to make the zebra pattern.

I think this manicure turned out really cute. I need to work some more on the actual zebra print but it's not bad for my first time. I will definitely repeat this in different colors.

On another note, I finally received my first order of Konad along with my Monster bundle pack. I did a couple manis with the stamps today. Some I liked, some I didn't. I really need to see what polishes are best for the design. But I know I'll have fun practicing!

Green on green half moon.

I had seen several posts and pictures of the half moons and I really liked the look so I decided to try it out. I had two new green polishes I hadn't used yet so I grabbed those to get started.

I used two coats of Sinful Colors Happy Ending followed by a coat of Seche Vite to get started.


After that dried, I used the circle reinforcers to make the half moon at the base of my nails and then painted Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe on top of that.

I waited a few minutes before pulling off the circle and topping with another coat of Seche Vite.

I loved this mani! I was digging the color combo a lot. The Mistletoe has a great glittery component to it that really complemented the lighter green. And I'm definitely a fan of the half moon. I thought the overall look would be great for St. Patrick's Day so I will probably be repeating this one.

Grey checkerboard

I wanted to try a full checkerboard mani with a couple grey polishes I'd recently picked up. The colors are OPI Moon Over Mumbai and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Gunmetal.

I was not a huge fan of the OPI as an all over color. It's a bit sheer for me although I haven't tried it over another shade.

I started with the OPI and Seche Vite. After that dried, I taped off all my nails as shown and painted the open corner with the Gunmetal.

I gave that a couple minutes before pulling off the tape and applying another coat of Seche Vite. Then I reapplied the tape to open the opposite corner and repeated.

I really did love this manicure even with the nail tip show through. I liked the subtlety of the greys although I wish I would have done my ring finger the opposite way. I'm a huge fan of an accent nail. I will definitely repeat this with new colors.

And a shout out to my newest follower even though Blogger isn't showing me who it is! I have a feeling I know... Check out the links I've posted of my friend's blogs as well. They are incredibly creative and talented!

Red and black French

Sorry for the lack of posts. I was out of town, having a girls' weekend in Houston with some friends I met while we were in Okinawa. Crazy weekend. Too much fun, definitely.

Before I left, I did a fun French. My friend, Courtney, said it reminded her of a ladybug. I like that comparison.


I used a clear base coat and did the tips with Revlon Valentino topped with Seche Vite. I'm not sure what kind of Revlon it is. That bottle is old but I still love the shade.

I highlighted the tip with Kiss black and I really like the end result. It's a fun French that I will definitely do again with some other color combos.

Also wanted to give a shout out to my second follower! Hi Doni!