I love me some watermarbling!

Hey guys!

I have not done any watermarbling in OVER a year (I know... shame on me) so I decided to give this technique another go just recently but only as an accent finger. I figured it's better to start small and get myself in back into the habit before going for a full mani. Watermarbling is quite messy which can be discouraging for some (ie: me) so make sure to cover up the surface you'll be working on and to have all you supplies close.

The base color is SH Insta-Dri in Snappy Sorbet. I had actually put down a coat of red polish on the accent finger but it got covered up by my design in the end. The watermarble design was created using my base color along with SH Insta-Dri in Lightening and Essie Blanc.

I love this! I'm so happy it wasn't a hot mess and the clean up was a breeze! This is definitely making me want to try again with different color combinations.

So have you ever watermarbled? If so what's your favorite color combo?

Besos,
Vee...xox...

Flowers in Bloom!

Hi guys!

I'm kicking the week off with a stamping manicure that I came up with for the Sunday challenge over at Adventures In Stamping on FB. The theme was spring flowers! I thought that pastels would go great with the girly flower pattern I chose so I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes for the base and stamped my design in Konad White. Feels like spring alright!

Besos
Vee...xox...

Short nails and stamping feat Deborah Lippmann

Hi guys!

Today’s post is a short one! This is a manicure I wore not too long after chopping my claws down. The base color is Ray of Light by Deborah Lippmann. This shade has a jelly consistency and fun flakies running through it. I must admit that I would have preferred for my nails to be a little longer while wearing this one, but that’s just personal preference. 

 I then decided to kick things up a notch with a silver swirling pattern! Which one do you guys prefer? 

 Besos!

Vee…xox…

Rock Star Nails feat Essie Mod Square

Hey guys! Looks like my baby sis' love of skulls has rubs off on me! That little skull image is so darn cute I just had to create another manicure with it. This is another gradient (I just looove those!) but this time I used Essie's Mod Square and SH Lively Lilac. On my accent finger is plain old black polish (forget which brand but any black will do). I added OPI's Teenage Dream to the tip (my very first OPI glitter) and stamped the design using Konad Special polish in white. More stars were added to the thumb and cheetah print everywhere else. Busy nails can be so much fun!

So what do you guys wear on your nails when you want to feel like a rock star? 

Besos,
Vee...xox...

Midnight Glitter ft Color Club Blue-Topia

Hi guys!

I first saw Color Club's Blue-Topia while reading one of my favorite nail blogs called Let Them Have Polish. I fell in love with that deep blue shade as soon as I laid eyes on it. Sadly I'm only now getting around to using it. In order to achieve today's manicure I painted on two thin coats of Blue-Topia and once that had dried I added one coat of Kleancolor's Blue-Eyed Girl.

This glitter is lovely. You do have to be a bit more careful when it comes to the placement of the glitter on your nails but nothing too dramatic. I left the ring finger bare and then stamped on an Asian sign using SH Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep.

I really like how this turned out :)

Besos,
Vee...xox...

Love for nails ft China Glaze Lemon Fizz

Hola!

My last manicure might have been a dark vampy color but I can never stay away from my brights for too long! Today's look starts off with two coats of China Glaze's Lemon Fizz. I would have gone for a third coat had I wanted to wear this color by itself but I knew I wanted to add some embellishments and stamping is very forgiving so I stopped at two. I picked out a cute heart design and stamped it on all my fingers using SH Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue.

I love, love, loooooove this look. this color conbination is great.
So what do you think?

Besos,
Vee...xox...

Love, Lipstick & Glitter feat Color Club's Mrs Robinson

Hey loves!

I’m in love with nail stamping all over again! I own lots of stamping plates but I’ve been neglecting them for some reason (I blame you Gelish!). This adorable manicure was created over the weekend as I was preparing my posts for the week. I took it off right after taking pictures of it but I will definitely be trying this again.

I used one coat of SH Insta-Dri in Presto Pink on the ring finger and two coats of Color Club’s Mrs Robinson on all the others. Using Presto Pink I stamped a full nail kisses and lipstick design and on the thumb and ring finger just some lip prints. On top of those accent fingers is one coat of China Glaze’s Golden Enchantment.

I love this!

Besos,

Vee…xox…

If doesn’t scream Love, Lipstick & Glitter then I don’t know what does!

Roses and fishnets feat Sally Hansen's Lively Lilac

Hey loves!

I’ve been having a lot of fun playing around with my collection of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes and with my stamping plates of course!

Today’s manicure was created using SH Insta-Dri in Lively Lilac on the index middle and pinky fingers and Essence’s Black is Black on the accent fingers. A fishnet pattern was added to the index and pinky using Wet n Wild’s Ebony Hates Chris and roses were stamped on the ring finger and thumb with SH Lively Lilac. The middle finger was purposely left plain. I sealed everything with some top coat and voilà!

Besos,

Vee…xox…

Brown and Blue feat Nicole by OPI's Hart-Kourt Fashionista

Hey everyone!

I’m going hard with this stamping thing! It just makes me feel better about my little nubs. This manicure was done using two colors that I had been wanting to use together for a while. The base for this manicure is 2 coats of SH Insta-Dri in Blue-Away on the index and 2 coats of of Nicole by OPI’s Hart-Kourt Fashionista on all the others. 

I added brown dots to the index finger using a small dotting tool and stamped  a swirly design on all the other fingers. I just love brown and baby blue together!

What do you think?

Enjoy!

Vee…xox… 

Going Tribal with Essie's Turquoise & Caicos

Hey guys!

Oh how I miss my long nails! Even my sisters and my girls have noticed. I’ve been getting hit with one liners like “What the hell happened to your nails!?!” left and right lol It’s okay though, I’ll survive. The fun thing about short nails is that they make me want to use my stamping plates, which have been collecting dust for the past few months.

This manicure is very subtle but I really enjoyed wearing it even if it was only for a day. I started with 2 coats of SH Insta-Dri in Mint Sprint on the thumb and ring finger and 2 coats of Essie’s Turquoise  & Caicos on the other fingers. I added 1 coat of Essie’s Shine of the Times on the thumb and index and stamped a tribal pattern over the other fingers using Mint Sprint as my stamping polish.

  

I took these pics while out on break from work.

Enjoy!

Vee…xox… 

Delicate but far from boring!

Pink Gradient feat. China Glaze Something Sweet

Hey loves!

The boys and I are still settling into our new spot so the blog posts might be a little shorter than usual but I’m going to try my best to keep ‘em coming. I’ve been feeling a little deflated these days and so getting back to doing things I love is important to me right now.

My nails have been completely naked since I took off my last manicure but I finally got around to doing something about it today. I decided to try a pink gradient.

The base is two coats of China Glaze’s Something Sweet and I created the gradient effect with two more China Glaze polishes: Pink Underground and Sexy Lady. I then stamped some flowers with SH Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White on the thumb and ring finger and again in SH Insta-Dri Flashy Fuchsia on the other fingers.

Enjoy!

Vee…xox…

An update & nails feat. Essie's Pretty Edgy

Hi guys,

I know I’ve been gone for a little over a week now… I’ve been under a lot of stress the past few months and I just needed some time to slow down and take care of myself. I was really run down. I wasn’t doing my nails and wasn’t in a blogging kind of mood but I’m feeling a little better now. My neglectful ways caused my nails to get all raggedy and broken so I ended up having to big chop everything. I’m really not a fan of my nails at this length but sometimes you have to start fresh right?

I also wanted to share some good news; your girl got a new job! Finally! It’s not in the insurance field like my old gig but I welcome the change and the people I’ve met through the interviewing process all seem very nice so far. Today will be my first day so I’ll let you guys know how that goes. I feel like the new kid in school all over again!

Talk to you guys soon!

Vee…xox…

Base color: Essie’s Pretty Edgy

I Can Transform Ya! feat OPI's The "It" Color

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Hey guys!

I finally got around to working on a Transformers manicure! I had purchased a stamping plate with Transformers images a while ago and never got around to using it but I had some time to kill last night so I decided to give it a go. I have two boys and they LOVE all things Transformers so you can only imagine my oldest son’s eyes bugging out when he saw the stamping plate!

I decided to go with a Bumblebee themed look. What you see is 2 coats of Sally Hansen’s Xtreme Wear in Black Out on the ring finger and 3 coats of OPI’s The “It” Color on all the others.  I dusted off a bottle of black Shatter to use on my index and pinky and stamped the Autobot logo on the ring finger with Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Silver Sweep. Lastly I hand painted some black lines on the thumb and middle finger (with acrylic paint) to mimic the detailing of the Camaro. I think this manicure is so much fun!

I just might try a Decepticon theme next time…

Besos!

Vee…xox…

 Source: http://www.sportscarzone.com

Source: http://funnyfunnypictures.net 

 

Calling all nurses! feat. Sally Hansen's Lively Lilac

Hey guys,

I haven’t done much swatching or nail art over the past week and a half or so. Not for lack of ideas but because I’ve been preoccupied with other aspects of my life and busy holding things down at home.  So much so that I have not worn any polish in 4 days. I know right? I saw my friend Miche Friday and she took one look at my hands and said “You’re not wearing polish?!? Oh no Vam, I don’t like it!” Only good friends can say things like this to you and not hurt your feelings, ha!

Life is pretty stressful right now and my body is not handling the pressure very well. Two weeks ago I ended up with eczema on my face, which had never happened before. NO BUENO. I needed to get this taken care of ASAP and I didn’t want to have to use any harsh creams so I called on two of my friends who are nursing students (hey Miche & Glav!). They were super sweet and helpful, giving me tips on how to take care of my flare up and I’m glad to say that it cleared up very quickly. So today’s mani is dedicated to my personal nursing staff  (doesn’t that make me sound like a boss?), thank you girls for letting me be a cranky patient and for helping me get my sexy back!

I give you EKG nails! The basecoat is Sally Hansen’s Insta Dri in Lively Lilac. I then painted on the lines with black acrylic paint and added a fimo heart for cuteness.

Besos!

Vee...xox…

Essie Mint Candy Apple & Animal Print!

Hey guys!

Today’s manicure is pretty flashy but since this is my last week at my job (I’m leaving  to protect what’s left of my sanity lol) I am feeling very free and therefore, very creative.

I started with 3 coats of Essie Mint Candy Apple. This shade is hot, especially on darker skin tones but the formula is a bit of a pain in the ass. Expect mucho bald spots and dragging. I hadn’t done anything with animal print in so long that I decided to dust off my Konad plates for this one. Using Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Lively Lilac I added prints to all the fingers and the outlined them with silver striping tape. Lastly I added a purple rhinestone to my ring fingers and surrounded them with silver bullion beads. I really like this look. Perfect for hitting the clubs or dinner with your girls. Click on the images for a closer look.

Besos!

Vee…xox…

What are you guys wearing on your nails today?

OPI's Cuckoo For This Color = Memories!

Hi loves!

Okay so I’m gonna take you guys back into time with this one. Today’s polish is THE polish that started it all for me. I’ve led a pretty fast paced life over the past 7 and a half years… With kids, a house, going back to school and trying to support Jon with his business I kinda got lost in the shuffle. I had stopped taking care of myself. I wasn’t doing anything for myself anymore. Everything was for my boys. I was a girlfriend and a mother but somewhere along the way I had stopped being ME. I didn’t even have any hobbies anymore! So after having my second child I started getting into YouTube beauty channels which totally sparked back up my love of makeup (your girl is a TOTAL junky). I also started watching videos about nail polish and that’s where it all began! lol Before that, OPI was a brand that I only wore when I went to the salon (which was rarely) and so after seeing so many pretty nails online I went out and purchased my very first OPI nail polish.

Queue the lights and angels singing

Cuckoo For This Color is the very first OPI polish I have ever owned. It is gorgeous and the formula is super easy to work with. Sadly I only got to wear it once because my interest for polish (not to say obsession) took off very quickly after that! With now almost 400 polishes in my collection it’s very difficult for me to wear the same polish twice (too many untried) but I had to pull this baby back out and take that trip down memory lane with you guys.

Besos!

Vee…xox…

This is 2 easy coats

 Stamping with SH Silver Sweep and clear rhinestones at the center