Basic Bow Konad

Good morning all!  Here is a simple but classic design in neutral colors, perfect for work!  I wore these nails last fall when I needed something super toned down for working in the hospital but still wanted something fun.  Sorry about the sad cuticles, I sort of ignored them last fall.  They are looking better now.  :)

  For the base I used Deborah Lippmann Waking Up In Vegas, a "greige" creme and one of my favorite go-to neutral colors.  It looks fabulous with white designs and I have used it several times when I needed a more dressy, elegant look.  Stamping was done with Konad Special White and plates BM-310 and m59.  Just enough design to be unique, and the accent nail bow is super fun, but still a subtle look overall.

Deborah Lippamnn - Sweet Dreams!

  This pretty pink is from the new Deborah Lippmann Spring 2012 collection - bright pink and flakies, how could I possibly say no?

Outdoors, evening light

  This is three coats of Deborah Lippmann Sweet Dreams, a sheer bright medium pink packed with golden orange flakies.  It was a bit on the gloopy side to apply, but no worse than any other flakie-packed polish.  This polish is perfect for spring or summer - I can definitely see myself wearing this one on the beach in a couple of months... :)  It is really amazing in the sun but the camera had a bit of a hard time capturing it.

Close up

Outdoors - shade

Outdoors - full sun

Angled close-up

  I ordered this from HSN.com, although it appears to be out of stock there (at the time of writing, perhaps it is back).  I also found a first-time buyer coupon for 15% off and it already had free shipping, so that was nice - getting a Lippmann for less than $14!  Way worth it.  :)

That hits the Sweet Spot!

  Here is another polish from the Deborah Lippmann Fashionista trio that my sister Christy got me for Christmas - Deborah Lippmann Sweet Spot!

Outdoors, shade

  Sweet Spot is a pinkish bronze metallic.  It is really fun in that it is a total chameleon - in certain lighting it looks almost completely chocolatey-bronze, in others almost completely rosy pink.  It applied super smooth and was opaque in two coats.  As with most metallics, there is the faintest hint of brushstrokes if you really look for them, but honestly I felt like it applied smoother than quite a few other metallics I have worn.

Outdoors, indirect sun

Outdoors, direct sun

  For this manicure, I did DL Sweet Spot on all nails but my ring finger, which I painted with Nicole by OPI Not A Gold Bigger.  I then used the alternate color on each nail and Konad plate m85 to add the design.  The gold and the rosy bronze really complimented each other well, and I thought the look was very elegant and classy.  What else would you expect from a "Fashionista" collection?  :)

Peachy Keen

  Recently I had another really nasty nail break.  These always seem to happen when I am at work and do not have my full compliment of tools to deal with it.  So I confess - obsessing over this break lead me to bite off another one of my nails.  After that I had to bust out my clippers and (with polish still one) hack off all of my nails.  Oh little nubbins... how short you are!  I just have to remind myself that they will grow back - so everything is peachy keen! :)

Outdoors, natural light

  This gorgeous peachy color is Majolica Majorca Caramel Cream.  It has a very subtle golden shimmer that gives it a pearly, soft look.  This is three thin coats and application was fairly smooth.  I added the design using Konad Special White and one of my newest stamping plates, m85.  As I was looking at the golden bottle cap I couldn't help but thinking this color looked really pretty with gold, and I added a top coat of Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow, and topped it off with Seche Vite!

Outdoors, natural light

  A very elegant manicure for my short little nubs!

My Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...

  Ever since a fabulous karaoke rendition of this glorious song by yours truly, thanks to some Wii game or another (I can't even remember which one now, haha), the "Milkshake" song has been a bit of an inside joke between my family and I.  So of course, when she found the Deborah Lippmann Fashionista trio contained a polish named Milkshake, my big sis knew I had to have it!

Outdoors, natural light

  Deborah Lippmann Milkshake is a sheer neutral beige creme, and it is simply gorgeous.  I can't help but feel like my short little nubs I was sporting with this mani don't hardly do it justice - so expect to see it again when they grow out a bit!  Application was perfectly smooth and it evened out beautifully.  This is three coats.  I added the design using Konad Special White and plate m74, and added the dots using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Raspberry Race and Blue-Away with a dotting tool.  Although I didn't get a picture of Milkshake by itself (not so smart), here it is with the white only.

Outdoors, natural light

  Such a fresh and clean color, perfect for spring - or any time really.  And totally work appropriate!  I can't wait to see how this will look over longer nails as well - now I just have to stop ramming my nails into things at the lab so they can finally have a chance to grow out.  Thanks for the gorgeous polish, Christy!  :)

Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream

  Awhile back, I saw some promo pictures for Deborah Lippmann's spring collection, and immediately this beauty caught my eye.  I was super excited to find it last weekend while out shopping, and of course had to snatch it up to add to my small-but-growing collection of Lippmann polishes!

Outdoors, shade

  This is three thin coats of Deborah Lippmann Mermaid's Dream, a gorgeous seafoam green shimmery beauty with gold microglitter and medium bright blue glitter throughout.  This polish is just really amazing and sparkly, and has so much depth.  It was really difficult to capture all of its glory on camera, haha.

Outdoors, shade

  This applied really well, not too thin or too thick, and was very smooth and easy to control - which I would expect from a Lippmann!  Probably was fine with two coats but I felt like adding a third thin coat on top just to be sure.  It dries very quickly and a bit gritty, but a nice thick coat of Lippmann topcoat made it super-smooth!  I am sure it will be somewhat a pain to remove (I will edit this if wrong, haha) but totally worth it.

Close-up view

Outdoors, sun

   I have a hard time justifying buying some of the more expensive brands sometimes, but so far I love every single Lippmann in my collection, and this gorgeous polish is no exception - definitely worth the extra cost, in my opinion!  :)

Elegant Neutral

  Here are some simple and elegant neutral nails that I wore to my Papa's funeral last month.  I still have a hard time believing he is gone, and I dream about him often.  It is difficult, never having lost anyone close before, to experience for the first time.  When I get really sad about it I just try to reflect on all of my happy memories and remember how lucky I am that I got to have all four of my grandparents with me for 25 years!

Outdoors, shade

  Sorry for the slight green tinge to the cuticles, that is leftover from Viridian Vinyl.  This is two coats of Deborah Lippmann Waking Up In Vegas, followed by a simple white design using Konad Special White polish and BM-213.  Simple and elegant, which is what I wanted to go for for the occasion.  This is such a gorgeous color, I really love it!  And Lippmann's apply beautifully.  I think I may need to get me some more.  :)

Back again - and my all-time favorite polish

  I gave my seminar this morning!  I always get so nervous for these things.  Anyway, now that I am done fretting about that I should have more time for my poor little neglected blog, yay!  Sorry for being so absent lately, I will make it up to you!  Also, plan for giveaway winner announcement this Saturday.

  Now I wanted to share with you what is probably my favorite polish.  I don't usually have favorites of just about anything (this drives my husband crazy - he has a favorite everything), but I think if I had to choose one polish this would be it.

Outdoors, shade

Indoors, artificial light

  This is three coats of OPI Absolutely Alice, a completely gorgeous blue and gold glitter bomb.  While I credit OPI Movin' Out with starting my nail polish obsession, I credit this beauty for taking it to the next level.  After my sister Becky called this one to my attention last year, I ordered two on eBay (one for her and one for me), and loved it so much I wore it for about three weeks straight, nails and toes.  Then I started checking OPI's site for new collection release information... and then one day when I was curious about an upcoming collection on their site, I googled it - and stumbled upon this wonderful world of nail blogging, and all of the other fabulous polish brands!  So this polish is to blame for my ~400 polish stash (small compared to some, I know, but it seems huge to me)!  I have since bought a backup of this one just in case.  Love it.

With DL Boom Boom Pow

  After wearing this for a few days, I decided to spice it up for extended wear and added two coats of Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow.  I love the combo.  Unfortunately, I never got around to taking pictures with my good camera of the combo, so you will have to survive off of the iPhone shot.  But it was very pretty.

  What is your all-time favorite polish?  If you can pick... haha.  I'd love to hear! :)

Across the Universe... and a sad setback

  So sorry for missing the last couple of post dates... I am finding it really hard to shake this sinus infection, and am still a bit sick.  Things have been really busy, but I will try not to miss any more posts!

  Unfortunately, I also have some very sad news.  Last Friday I was so stressed out, because I have been waiting an entire year to get this particular cell line I need for my research and after finally getting the people to agree to send it... well lets not get too complicated, and simply say there were some possibly devastating consequences of the timing it was sent.  Anyways, super stressed + one of my nails totally broke off.  I chewed them all off.  Down past the nail bed, painful, super short.  I am so dissapointed in myself!  I am going to give them a few more days to grow out just a bit, and then I will share my new tiny ugly nubbins with you all, because I created this blog to be accountable to YOU for these nails and I have to make myself share.  Despite this setback, I will go on!

  For now, enjoy some gorgeous nails from pre-chewing disaster!

  This beauty is Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe, a fabulous sheer navy jelly base with green and blue large hex glitter, plus light blue small round glitter.  I am so in love with Lippmann glitters!  I do find it hard to keep my eyes off my nails when I am wearing them, haha.

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  This was three coats, which gives fabulous coverage.  There was a tiny bit of dragging issues, but I did not wait at all, which is always important with glitters - so be sure to give this one a minute in between coats so the glitter sets.  The wear on this was very nice as well, only a small amount of tipwear after a few days.  Removal of course is a bit of a pain, as with all glitters... but I have had worse.  Overall a really great polish!

  If you have not yet, be sure to enter my giveaway!  It ends on Friday.  :)

Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers

  Quick post today - I have been sick the past week, and have fallen behind on posting, but I will catch up within the next few days!  Here is a gorgeous polish from Deborah Lippmann, Ruby Red Slippers.

Outdoors, shade

  This is one of the stunning glitters Lippmann offers.  Deep black jelly base full of small round and large hex crimson glitter.  I wore this to my cousin's wedding, went very nicely with my black dress.  Three coats for full opacity, fabulous application.  I just love her glitters!  I need to get my hands on Candy Shop.  To win this polish, as well as several others, be sure to enter my giveaway!

Glitter in the Air

  My mom and sister were out shopping the other day, and they were so sweet to pick me out a polish I had been wanting for a long time - Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air!  While I am excited to try wearing it on its own too, as a super sheer look, I knew I first wanted to wear it layered over a light blue.

Outdoors, shade

  For this look, I started out with three coats of OPI I Vant to Be a Lone Star, a gorgeous pale blue with a subtle shimmer that was almost a dead on match for the bottle color in GITA.  I then applied three coats of Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air, which contains blue and pink large hex and small round glitter, in addition to tiny blue shimmer particles, suspended in a milky light blue base.  Pretty close match to what it looks like in the bottle, in my opinion.  :)

Outdoors, sunlight

  I know that this is a polish a lot of people have felt let down by this year - everyone was super excited, and then a lot of people ended up not liking it at all, for its sheer color and low glitter payoff.  I agree that the glitter density could have been a bit higher, but personally I don't mind adding extra coats to make up for it.  I love this look - it is so cute and dainty and fresh feeling.  While there was a slight tendency of the glitter to clump a bit, this was easily fixed with one extra swipe of the brush.  I am excited to try layering it over other colors, as well as trying it out by itself.  I continue to never have been let down by a Lippmann!

  And just for fun, have a picture of a bee on my purple cone flowers that I took while I was taking pictures of nails.  :)

Valentine's Day 2011 Nails

  These are the nails I actually wore on Valentine's Day.  This manicure was inspired by the second design on this post by Ashley of Polish and Konad - thanks for the inspiration!

Outdoors, full sun

  For these nails, I started off with three coats of Deborah Lippmann It's Raining Men, a bright cherry red creme.  Application was lovely on this, could have gotten away with two coats except for a smidge of VNL.  For the design I used Konad Special White with Bundle Monster BM11 and Konad Special Black with BM17.  I think I used three coats of top coat on this (one after color, one after the first design and one after the second), using Deborah Lippmann Addicted to Speed.  Let me tell you, I think this would have stayed on forever without any wear - after two days it was flawless and it was really tough to get off!  A great polish and a fun mani for Valentine's day!

OPI Not Like The Movies vs. Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game

  When I first put on OPI Not Like The Movies, I thought that it looked fairly similar to another polish I have, but hadn't gotten the chance to wear yet - Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game.  Both are a silvery purple polish with green duochrome, but just how similar are they?

Bottle Picture

  You can already see a difference in the bottle - Wicked Game is a bit more purple, while Not Like the Movies is a bit more silver in color.

Outdoors, sunlight

Outdoors, sunlight

Outdoors, shade

Outdoors, shade

  One clear difference is that Not Like the Movies has tiny bits of silver glitter throughout.  You can see on the nail, as in the bottles, that the OPI is a bit lighter and more silver, while the Lippmann has a stronger purple coloration to it.  There is also a difference in formula - this is three coats of Wicked Game and four coats of Not Like the Movies.  I also feel like the duochrome effect is just a tad stronger in the Lippmann polish, however the OPI does have a nice duochrome as well.

Indoors, no flash

  Overall, these polishes are similar but I would definitely not call them dupes.  If you have always wanted Wicked Game but have found it to be a bit too pricey, I would definitely look into Not Like the Movies.  However, if you already have one you might want to consider whether you really need the other or not.  Both are really nice polishes though, and I am happy to have them!

Caught in a Bad Romance

  Okay every time I see this polish that song gets stuck in my head.  Which is fine with me because (a) the polish is beautiful and (b) I am a big fan of the song.  Although I am not sure how Dan feels about it, since he is the one that has to put up with me walking around the house singing it at the top of my lungs, haha.

Indoors, natural light, no flash

  Deborah Lippman Bad Romance is another of her gorgeous glitters from 2010, with small and large hex purple glitter in a black jelly base.  This polish is seriously amazing, the jelly base gives it a lot of depth and I love the color combo!  I am fairly sure this was three coats (I should really write this down from now on...) and application was very easy; as with most chunky glitters, just give each coat a minute to dry so you do not push the hex glitter around too much.  Wear was very nice, just a bit of tip wear and removal was not nearly as bad as other glitters (most likely because of the jelly base).  Overall I just really loved this one!

  Also, a quick update - all items for the giveaway have been purchased and are on their way, so it should be up sometime in the next week! :)

Waking Up In Vegas

  For Christmas, my sister Christy totally spoiled me.. again.  Some of you may remember that she bought me an early Christmas present of six amazing Deborah Lippmann shades (I have worn 4 of the six and can't wait to try the other two).  However on Christmas Day she got me even more Lippmann!  An awesome set with two colors, base and top coat, polish remover called their "Get Nailed" set, as well as the polish featured here!

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  I went all out Lippmann with these nails - I started with their ridge filling base coat, which I really liked a lot!  I then added two coats of Waking Up In Vegas, which is a "greige" (as I have seen it called, gray/beige), or a kind of taupe creme.  When I first saw this one I wasn't sure if I would like it on me - these neutrals really have to look right with your skin tone!  But I loved it.  Absolutely loved pretty much everthing about the polish, actually.  I really think this is a fabulous color, very trendy and wearable for professional situations.  The application was fairly flawless and was almost a one coater, totally smooth and this held up really with with basically no chipping!  I then added a design with Konad plate m60 for the design in Konad Special White.  I topped it all off with a coat of Deborah Lippmann Addicted To Speed, which is a really nice top coat - just as speedy and glossy as Seche Vite but I felt like there was less tip shrinkage.  Maybe I have a new favorite top coat?

Outdoors, shade - not color accurate

  I wanted to include a picture of the polish alone, to show how perfect and smooth it was!  Unfortunately, I was still figuring out how to use my new digital camera I got for Christmas, so the color balance was a little off because I had it on the wrong setting.  Oops.  The color is much more accurate in the first shot.  I finally think I have gotten the hang of the new camera now and hope it will make some of the pictures on my blog even better!

Some Enchanted Berries...

  This is another manicure I wore before Christmas, using one of my fabulous Deborah Lippmann polishes!

Indoors, artificial light, no flash

  For these nails I started off with two coats of OPI Ate Berries in the Canaries, one of my favorite pinks.  It is a bright berry creme, with really nice application.  On top of this, I added two coats of Deborah Lippmann Some Enchanted Evening, which contains both large hex and small pink glitters.  It is a much more dispersed glitter, which I think would be very hard to achieve opacity with.  However it works great as a topcoat!  These were very fun (and very pink) nails - I am loving all of these chunky glitters!  I have now worn all of the polishes in All That Jazz trio by Lippmann and they were all great - definitely worth getting if you haven't yet!

Artificial light

Lady Sings The Blues

  Today I want to share with you another gorgeous Lippmann polish!  This is another polish from the All That Jazz trio.

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  Deborah Lippmann Lady Sings The Blues is a dark navy base packed with silver chunky hex and microglitter.  I absolutely love the way this one looks!  This was two coats, which was plenty for decent coverage.  Dry time is very nice as well - just be sure to give it enough time that you don't accidentally push the chunky glitter around on the nail!  Each coat gives you a nice distribution of both types of glitter.

Outdoors, Sunlight

  I really love this polish.  I have read that some people have issues with this one chipping easily.  I wore it for two days and had one minor chip, but a chip nonetheless.  I didn't really even think anything of it until I started reading other reviews, so I wouldn't really classify that as a negative in my book.  I liked everything about it!  So far, the is three for three Lippmann polishes that I am in love with! :D

Thanksgiving Day Nails

  I had really meant to get these posted yesterday, but my day was crazy!  In a good way, though. :)  We started off by visiting my paternal grandparents for a morning brunch, and after visiting with them went to my aunt's for a huge family get-together of my mom's side of the family, with Thanksgiving lunch.  Then we drove over to Dan's parent's house for dinner with his family.  That is three Thanksgiving dinners.  I think perhaps I am still stuffed?  It was a really great day though, I love that I got to visit with everyone!

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  For my Thanksgiving nails, I decided to go with a beautiful fall orange and gold.  I started off with two coats of OPI Take The Stage, which is a polish I originally had not picked up from Burlesque, but looking at it the other day at Ulta I decided it was a really great fall orange and needed it in my collection - up until this point I only had two oranges, and they were both neon bright, medium-toned oranges.  This gorgeous burnt orange with sparkly foil-like finish had great application as well.

Indoors, artificial light

  On top of this, I used one of my new Christmas presents, Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow.  This is a really gorgeous gold glitter in a super-sheer gold shimmery base, with both large hex and smaller gold glitter.  I used a gradient effect on these, with one coat on the whole nail, a second coat on about half, and then a final coat on just the tips.  I think it gave these nails a really nice look.  I got several compliments from family members, including one from my two-year-old cousin, which was really sweet.

  Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving (if you are here in the USA, of course), and are having a great holiday season!  Expect my holiday giveaway up sometime tomorrow... ;)

Deborah Lippmann! And The Cutest Baby... :)

  Last weekend I was visiting Christy - and her adorable baby Evie!  I just love my niece so much, I swear she is the cutest baby in the world.  Anyway, we went to the mall for awhile and wandered into Nordstrom.. and Christy shocked me by getting me my Christmas present early there - Deborah Lippmann polishes! :D

 

  I got the All That Jazz trio (Some Enchanted Evening, Razzle Dazzle, and Lady Sings the Blues), as well as Bad Romance, Boom Boom Pow and Wicked Game.  I was so excited - these are polishes that I have really wanted to have, but haven't been able to justify buying for myself.  The perfect kind of Christmas present, in my opinion!  Thank you again, Kitty!! :D

 

  There was much internal debate about which to try first, but I finally settled on Razzle Dazzle.  Be advised, I do have nubbins in these pictures. :(  My pinkie nail broke all the way down, and since I was already patching up another break and had recently lost the length of a thumbnail... I decided they just all needed to be short.  But this polish makes even my nubbins looks good!

Outdoors, shade, no flash

  This is three coats of Razzle Dazzle, which is a gorgeous dark berry jelly packed with glitter.  It is really a stunning polish, and I have gotten many compliments on it during the last few days!  Formula, application, and dry time were all great.  I probably could have done two coats if I had used slightly thicker coats, but mine were rather thin.

Indoors, artificial light, no flash

  This one can look really dark or fairly bright, depending on the lighting.  And that glitter really sparkles.  Overall, a very nice polish that I am definitely glad to own!  I am really excited to try out the rest of these!  Here is another picture of my nails:

  You see the nails in there, right?  Haha, okay so this is not really so much a picture of my nails, but tell me that is not like, the cutest baby ever.  She is three months old now, and starting to really develop her personality rather than just be the cute newborn that she was last time I saw her.  I can't wait to see her in a month for Christmas!

  Just because you can never have too many cute baby pictures.  ;)  I also did Christy's nails while I was down there, which I will be posting soon... along with my Thanksgiving manicure (using another Lippmann!) tomorrow and a Holiday Giveaway coming up this weekend!