Swatches

 Left to Right: 

The Black Knight

La Moss

Tea with the Queen

 Left to Right:

Tea with the Queen

La Moss

The Black Knight

 OPI Dulce de Leche

Miss Ladyfinger

This is a thanks to Miss Ladyfinger on tumblr. She does these awesome nail designs based on hot runways clothing prints which is an awesome inspiration:) visit her site at http://www.missladyfinger.com/

What I Used:

OPI Meet Me on the Starferry

OPI Black Onyx

Scotch Tape

Striping Brush

Matte Nails Cheetah Print

What I Used:

NYX Matte Navy

OPI Top Coat

Half Moon :)

What I Used:

Essie Loophole

Essie Luxeffects Shine of the Times

OPI Black Onyx

Another Matte & Shiny

What I Used:

OPI Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees Suede

OPI Black Onyx

Matte nails, Shiny tips

Looking for a new thing to do I came across this cool and easy nail design from Kim Kardashian's blog and I thought I'd give it a shot so here it is:)

 I'm not sure why but the two photos are two different colors the one on top^ is blue but the one on the bottom\/ is purple.... the one on top^^^ is more accurate to reality, OPI Ink is like a navy blue/dark wash jeans color no purple what so ever.

What I Used: 

OPI Ink Suede

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Scotch Tape

I recently broke a nail bowling then I broke another nail, I'm not sure how it happened, so I was going crazy and I finally gave in and got acrylics. I had a nice design on it but it started to lift near the cuticle so I decided to cover it so I wouldn't pick at it. Out of sight, out of mind. :)

So for this design I used OPI Ink Suede from OPI's Suede Collection Fall 2009. All the suede colors are matte when dried but unlike a usual matte it is metallic when shiny and has an interesting quality to it when matte. I've had it for a while now and I love this color but I always have a hard time deciding whether or not to apply a top coat, so here's the solution!

1. Unless you are paint over acrylics always use a base coat.
2. Paint 1-2 coats of a matte color of your choice. Let it dry completely.
3. Apply a small strip of scotch tape for the tip. (You can skip this step and free hand it or you can use a french tip sticker guide.) **With scotch tape I like to stick it on my skin first so it won't be too strong and lift the polish**
4. Use the top coat on the tip only.

And you're done! Easy as that!

Now here's the thing about this design, you can totally reverse this and use a matte top coat and any color you want so you aren't restricted to only matte colors. Have fun! :)

PURPLE!!!! ^_^

What I used:

(From Left to Right)

OPI Significant Other Color

OPI Do You Lilac It?

OPI Meet Me On The Star Ferry

OPI Glitzerland

China Glaze For Audrey

Orly Liquid Vinyl

Dotting Tool

Rainbow Shatter

What I used:

OPI Black Shatter

OPI Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot (Pink)

OPI Do You Lilac It? (Purple)

China Glaze White on White (White)

China Glaze For Audrey (Blue)

China Glaze Tree Hugger (Green)

Illamasqua Wayward (Yellow)

Makeup Sponge Chunks

Palette

1. Always use a base coat.
2. Start off with one coat of white. It doesn't need to be solid, just one layer is ok so the other color will show better. Let it dry.

**You can use any colors you want, but it is best to stick to lighter colors. I used pink, purple, blue, green & yellow.

3. Put a couple of drops of your first color onto the palette.
4. Using the makeup chunk, dab it in the color then stipple it onto a small portion of your nail. Let it dry, this is important because if it isn't dry it will blend with the other colors.

**It is a lot easier if you make you sponge chunks smaller and longer and with a semi-pointed edge.

5. Repeat 3 & 4 with the remainder of your colors in a new area of the nail, sometimes overlapping the previous color(s). You can choose to leave a white portion or you can cover it completely.
6. Once you've finished with the colors and it has dried use your one coat of your shatter polish. You can use any color shatter including gold and silver but I think that the black offers the best contrast.

**Hint: a thick layer of shatter will give you bigger chunks while a thin layer will give you thinner and finer lines. Be quick though the shatter gets chunky when exposed for too long.

7. Finish with a top coat.

Red & White Dot Tips

What I used:

OPI The Thrill of Brazil (red)

China Glaze White on White (white)

Finger Paint Easel Come, Easel Go (silver)

Essie Sugar Daddy (light pink)

Striping Brush

Dotting Tool

Scotch Tape

**DISCLAIMER: I found this on youtube then added my own little spin. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXd_nxlEuKA thank you cutepolish!! :)

1. Always use a base coat.
2. I used one coat of Essie Sugar Daddy. Let it dry completely.
3. Take a strip of scotch tape and stick it on your palm once so it's not too sticky, then apply it onto your nail diagonally. (**hint: press down only half of the tape onto the nail then pop up the edge not stuck to your nail so it would be less likely to lift up. Make sure you press it down at the sides too.)
4. Use 2 coats of your base color. I used OPI The Thrill of Brazil. Let it dry.
5. Using your biggest dotting tool and your dots color, randomly dot the painted area. I used China Glaze White on White.
6. With the striping tool and and your stipe color draw the stripe under the painted area. Let everything dry. I used Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go.
7. Finish with a top coat.

OPI Pink Swatch

Today is I'm doing a swatch of OPI's Feelin' Hot-Hot-Hot and OPI's Sparrow Me The Drama.

Feeling Hot-Hot-Hot is a punchy just a smidge away from florescent pink. It's a super cute summer color. If you don't like punchy colors like this you can use it in a project like I did in my Leopard Print project

Sparrow Me The Drama is a part of the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. It's a cute, flirty, light pink.

Mini Haul & Favorite Swatches

Sally Beauty Supply Mini Haul

A couple of new little additions to my collection includes:

A.S.P. Nail Art 4 Pack Brush Set. There are 3 brushes made for striping and 1 small flat brush.

China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara. It's a cute little concoction. The base is a gilted silver with blue glitter in it.

Art Club Nail Art Gold Hologram Stars. This is a little jar of open gold stars and small whole gold stars. You paint your nails with either your favorite color of just a clear coat, before it dries you apply the stars with tweezers then finish with a top coat.

Last is Ikonna Select-a-Style. The one I bought is a set of 12 flowers. You apply this just like you do with the stars.

Swatches

These are 4 of my favorite colors and on my thumb is a swatch of my new color.

My new color is China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara. Sorry for the typo on the picture. It is a dense silver glitter with blue glitter flecks.

Next is China Glaze For Audrey. Its a cute light robin's egg/teal color.

OPI Meet Me on the Star Ferry is an interesting color. I wanna call it a port wine kinda color but more purple. It also has a nice shimmer to it.

OPI Significant Other Color. In the bottle it is a light purple with a gold/green shimmer. On the nail it comes out sheer.

OPI My Private Jet. This is my favorite color. It is a dark grey color with a gold/red shimmer and small flecks of holographic glitter. It's super simple and cute.

Base Coats & Top Coats

When ever you paint your nails you should always use a base coat to protect your nails and a top coat to seal the polish. plus with the right top coat you'll have a super shiny surface when you are done:)

These are some of my favorite base coats.

These are my favorite top coats.

On the left from left to right is OPI's Natural Nail Base Coat. Then OPI's Nail Envy Nail Strengthener. Third is Seche Clear Crystal Clear Base Coat. Fourth is Essie's All in One Base. Last is Orly's Bonder Rubberized Basecoat. 

OPI's Nail Envy is a better choice if you have brittle or weak nails because it has a strengthening formula.

Orly's Bonder is an interesting base. Due to its formula, it dries with a sticky rubber feel to it. It claims to cling onto the color and nail better. 

On the right from left to right is OPI's Top Coat. Second is Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. Last is Orly's Won't Chip Protective Polymer Shield.

In my opinion I love Seche Vite because it dries relatively fast and it is a very shiny top coat.

This last polish in the black bottle is Seche's Ultra-V UV Activated Top Coat. With this top coat you have to have a UV nail lamp to cure the top coat, it also has a distinct stink to it but in the end it is super shiny.

My Polish Collection:)

This is my ridiculously large collection of nail polish, I haven't yet decided if this is a good or bad addiction yet... Slowly I'll do swatches or a little project with all of them:)