Valentine's Day and Anti-Valentine's Day Nail Art

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I'm still recovering from both my surgery and the flu, so I can't stomach any chocolate or other candy. However, that doesn't mean I can't celebrate the holiday with a little sparkle!

When I asked over on the Princess Polish Facebook page what you all wanted to see from my Valentine's Day manicure this year, it seemed lots of you wanted something non-traditional, possibly holographic. So I came up with something that could be both in celebration or opposition of the holiday, depending on how you look at it!

The base color is Colors by Llarowe Dirty Diana with Sinful Colors Black on Black on top.

I thought that the slash of magenta could be something sassy and fierce for a night out with a special someone, but also could be anti-Valentine's Day because it reminds me of a broken heart.

I was really happy to rock this look at least for a day around school and work. Unfortunately, being sick meant I basically was the only one who got to stare at it this week. But oh well! Now you all can see it too!

Would you wear this non-traditional mani?

ANNOUNCING: MAC Box of Chocolates Giveaway!

Hello there, lovelies! 

Myself and 29 other bloggers have gotten together to show our love to our readers with a special giveaway treat. An eyeshadow palette is like a box of chocolates - but this one has 30 different flavors inside each one chosen by a different blogger! 

We've put together a special blogger-curated palette filled with 30 of our favorite MAC shades in a MAC Pro Large/Duo Palette for one of our readers to win! The shades include our favorite neutrals to fun, bold colors and everything in between - but you'll have to win to see what they are! All you have to do is enter via Rafflecopter. 

US only! Giveaway starts February 14 - February 28th! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentine's Day French Manicure

We did it, everyone! We survived Monday. I know it was hard. And I know you probably looked at the clock more times than you'd care to admit. But it's Tuesday, a VERY good Tuesday if you're in New Orleans, but even if you're not, we're still closer to Friday! Woot!

This is Part 2 of my Valentine's Day nail art series and I think this may be the simplest of them all, but it has just as much impact. This requires a little more attention to detail than Part 1, and a bit more dexterity, but I have faith that you can do it.

For my Valentine's Day French, I used Zoya Gei Gei (from the new Lovely Collection) and my favorite Zoya of all-time, Zoya Sarah! I also used Purity and Trixie to get the heart shape with nail art brushes. The heart was a little bigger than I intended, but I didn't mind it at the end. If you can't draw a heart freehand (I'm not counting myself amongst those who can), you can always use a decal or even a stamper.

I freehanded the French tip. Don't feel bad if you can't... honestly, I finally got the hang of it last year after failing miserably for... oh... seven years. But if you can't freehand it, there is no shame in that. You can use striping tape or even regular old scotch tape for a guide.

If you use scotch tape, just make sure that the base color is completely dry and you stick each piece to your palm once so it won't pull off any polish!

I always loved doing non-traditional French manicure colors, so I wore this all weekend. What colors would you use for a Valentine's Day French?

Valentine's Day Lace Nail Art & Tutorial

Hi, everyone! Today, I'm starting my four-part series of Valentine's Day nail art! I'm going to try and bring you some manicures that are fun and funky, along with classic and sweet. For the most part, you'll be able to do all of them at home!

Monday's manicure theme is lace!

This look was accomplished using two coats of OPI You Only Live Twice and and OPI Skull and Glossbones. But obviously, you can replicate this using any shades you like and two different sized dotting tools! (Or a toothpick and a bobby pin. Seriously, that will work too! It's what I used before I knew what dotting tools were.)

This is really easy to replicate!

Step 1: Paint your base color until opaque, as you normally would.

Step 2: Using your second color, paint a French tip. It doesn't have to be perfectly even because you're going to be covering it up anyway!

Step 3: Take your larger dotting tool and dip it in the second color. Make dots along the outline of the French tip, with the top 1/3 of the dot overlapping the tip.

Step 4: Take the smaller dotting tool and dip it in your base color. Place a dot in the center of each of the large dots.

Step 5: Let it dry for about fifteen minutes before applying top coat to avoid dragging.

Step 6: Go rock it and look fabulous!

So what do you all think? Is this something you'd try on your own?

Until tomorrow!

Announcing: Valentine's Day Giveaway

Hello, everyone! I hope you all did well in your Superbowl pools last night! (Mine was completely messed up by the safety.)

I know we all despite Mondays, so I thought I'd help brighten your day with a giveaway! I've teamed up with the lovely ladies behind nine other blogs for a really fun giveaway filled with great prizes!

The Rafflecopter entry widget is at the end of the post!

Check out what's up for grabs:

Prize 1 - Princess Polish