Happy Blogiversary to me! And two Halloween manis

Hello, everyone!

Today marks two years of me being a nail blogger. I can't believe it's been only two years...it really feels like it's been more than that to me. My pictures have definitely come a long way since I first started, and I've become more confident in nail art; I especially love the MJ-themed nails I did this year. 

Unfortunately, I've been way too busy with work (I haven't even one day off this week) to think of something special to do for today, like giveaways and such, so I just decided to show you two looks perfect for Halloween today. Check out the pictures below of these super cute looks! 

These super cute nail wraps from Scratch were designed for Dia de Los Muertos (day of the dead), with Jenni of I Spy DIY blog. I thought it would be a good idea to add some glitter to these so I dabbed on "Comet in the Sky" from OPI's holiday collection with Gwen Stefani. This glitter has some very unique color combinations to it! Check out how cool it looks in the bottle  ;) 

This amazing matte nail polish is "Humilty" from Virtuous Polish. I stumbled upon this brand new indie maker on Instagram, and immediately liked what I saw. I believe they specialize in matte polishes, and they offer really bold colors as in bright orange, yellow, and hot pink (which I also ordered from them). They are also super affordable ($8 for regular size) and offer mini bottles. I am for sure a fan of Virtuous Polish! I added a mattified Sally Hansen Salon Effects strip in "Numbskull" as an accent. This was my first time applying matte top coat to a nail polish strip, and it worked out great. I should probably try to do this more often. I really love how matte looks on the nail. 

So, I just want to say thanks for following my nail blogging journey so far! I might still be in the newbie phase and have just a small following, but I do appreciate it. Thanks so much and have a safe Halloween weekend! 

- Tiff 

Scratch Nail Wraps in "Witchy Woman"

Hello, everyone!

I'm at work trying to get this post up for you, so it looks like this will be a quick one! A few days ago, I wore these awesome Scratch nail wraps to a concert, and decided to take some pics of me wearing them for my blog. The sun was not cooperating that day because it was rainy, so unfortunately you will not see the cool hologram effect of the nude holo polish (Jade "Irresistivel") I layered the wraps over in the pics below. Hopefully you'll still find the design to be as unique and cool as I did! 

I just love the symbols on each nail, and the glitter that is actually built in to the nail wraps. I believe this might be the second set of nail wraps Scratch has created that have the spaced out glitter in them. 

I wish the sun was out the day I took these pics. To me, nothing shows the hologram effect of holographic nail polish light some good 'ol sunlight. I didn't want to wait for the sun to come out any longer, because what you see above is a manicure that is two days old! Yikes! Lol ;) 

So, how do you feel about these? This might be one of my favorite designs from Scratch so far. See ya next time! 

- Tiff 

Incoco nail polish strips in "Bone Rattling"

Hello, everyone!

Today I have a quick post showing some super cute Halloween nail polish strips from Incoco. Their nail polish strips are some of my favorite because they always work so well on me, and the print you'll see in the pics below are perfect for this week. They also glow in the dark! Take a look at "Bone Rattling" :) 

This is my first time putting anything that glows in the dark on my nails, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I was applying these polish strips. I was very pleased to see how strong the glow is, even after topcoat. I "charged" my nail strips with the flashlight on my iPhone to get the glow that you see in the picture above. Now that the sun is back in miami (we had some very rainy and cloudy days last week), it does some very good charging up of these as well. My nails glowed for quite a while after stepping back inside after being exposed to the sunlight. I say this turned out to be quite a successful manicure! ;) 

This particular design might be discontinued, but Incoco releases new Halloween designs every year, and they might include at least one that glows in the dark. That reminds me... The anniversary of my blog is this week! I'll have to see what I should do for that! Stay tuned. 

- Tiff 

SpaRitual "Kindness" with "Wicked Bamboo" accent

Hello, everyone!

The weather in Miami is just fantastic today! There is just the perfect breeze going outside, and it is sunny without it being blazing, like the norm here. I am loving it, and can't wait to go for a long jog this weekend!

To match the amazing mood outside, I have a color to show you that just screams Fall to me, even though it is from a Summer collection. In the bottle (which I picked up at a local Marshall's store), SpaRitual's "Kindness" looks like a bright sparkly orange. That kept me from wanting to use it right away because it definitely looked more sunny to me, and here we are in October, needing more rustic colors than summery. When I painted the polish on a nail wheel, I realized that it actually comes out more pumpkin-colored, and I ended up really loving it against my skin tone after I painted the mani you'll see in the pics below. I added an accent using some leftover nail polish strips from Sally Hansen (in "Wicked Bamboo") to add a nice little touch. I hope you like it as much as I do!

 

Like I said above, I absolutely ended up loving this nail polish! I will consider this SpaRitual polish another great Marshall's find! This brand normally retails for $10 a bottle, but I found mine at Marshalls for $3.99. I would definitely check out a Marshall's or TJ Maxx first if you're wanting to try these.

So, what do you think about this look? I'm glad I was able to put the last of my very old SH nail strips to good use here! See ya next time!

- Tiff

Floral Water Decals Mani #2

Hello, there!

After watching more tutorial videos on how to apply full coverage water decals, I decided to give the look another try. Even though I feel they're much harder to apply than nail polish appliqués, I did learn a little trick this time around to make it easier. I then drew on some linear art with a nail art pen from Sally Hansen, because I love the print on floral idea from Nina (of Nina Nailed It). Check out the pics below! 

The number one thing that gave me trouble the last time I used these were how they kept sliding off before the water dried. I learned from watching the videos I found yesterday that what really helps with that is painting on topcoat right away, so that it melts the decal to your nail. That made a huge difference. 

I found these at Daily Charme, but there's lots of places where you can find something like this, including the Born Pretty Store. I like how these turned out, but I'm honestly not in a hurry to do something like this again. I'm just so used to nail polish strips and how much quicker they are to apply. We'll see... Maybe I'll give them another go in the future. So, what do you think? Have you used water slide decals for a full mani before? See ya next time!

- Tiff 

Ciate Paint Pots Nail Polish in "Pinkalilly"

Hello, everyone! 

Today I have a quick post featuring a Ciate nail polish that I picked up at a Marshall's the other day. "Pinkalilly" is a super cute pink shade with gold shimmer. It looks great in person, but it was a bit hard to capture the shimmer in photos. Hopefully you can see it at least a little in the pics below. I also added some pink ribbon nail art for breast cancer awareness month, using my handy Sally Hansen nail art pens. Enjoy!

I initially painted two coats of "Pinkalilly", then thought about it for a bit and added a third for full effect. Ciate Paint Pots (cute name, right?) is a brand from the UK, which can normally be found here in the states at Sephora stores for about $16. I found the ones that I have from Marshall's for only $4 each, so if I were you, I'd check your nearest Marshall's and TJ Maxx stores first! ;)

- Tiff 

NCLA Nail Wraps in "Caddyshack Cleopatra "

Hello!

I normally don't post on a Sunday, but given that I'm going to a concert today and did my nails for the occasion, I thought it'd be just fine if I did! 

Some of you might know that I like One Direction (no, I'm not ashamed of that) and that I showed their nail polish collection with Office Depot here on my blog last year. I honestly wasn't planning on going to this show, mainly because thousands of little girls screaming their heads off throughout the show can be annoying at times. Since one of my supervisors who works at the stadium where 1D is performing got me access to a great seat, I couldn't resist! I decided to do my nails using my leftover "Caddy Shack Cleopatra" nail wraps from NCLA, and create a look using two 1D polishes and a Ciate white jelly-ish polish I picked up at Marshall's the other day. I hope you like it! 

I absolutely love the design of the wraps, but hate how they don't wrap tightly around the nail. If you look really close, I have some wrinkles on the sides of each nail, despite trying desperately to flatten them out. Putting on some Seche Vite top coat helped a bit, as that top coat smoothes out most mani mistakes, but they're still a bit visible to me. As I mentioned at the top, these wraps were leftovers, so I did use these before, but not as successfully as I did this time. The wraps are just too thick (like stickers), and don't wrap around the nail like ones made from nail laqcuer. Still, they're ok to wear for a day or two, and the beautiful design definitely makes up for the lack of pliability. 

If you want to give these a try, and wear them over nail polish as I did, make sure you wait a few hours before applying the wraps. Unlike nail laqcuer wraps, wraps that are more like stickers can pull nail polish that isn't completely-completely  dry, hence the fail I had when I first used them. I painted my nails before I went to bed, then applied the wraps sometime in the morning the next day this time around; just to be safe! 

So, what do you think? I really like this look overall, and can't wait to see what other people think when I'm at the show, or out and about. I'm planning on wearing these for a couple of days. Let's see how they hold up! See ya next time :)))) 

-Tiff 

Scratch Nail Wraps in "Gilded Serpents"

Hello, everyone!

First off, I'm super sorry for not having posted in what seems to be forever (my last post was on September 22nd). It's been very hectic at work lately, and believe or not, I was actually too tired to even think about doing my nails during that time. I just couldn't dig out the energy or creativity needed for something interesting enough. My nails had something on them, but they just seemed too plain for me. Anyways, I'm glad to be showing you this mani I have up tonight, using some more Scratch nail wraps from their collaboration with Good Girl Jewelry. I hope you like snakes! ;) 

I painted one coat of Essie's "No More Film", followed by the flaky goodness that is SpaRitual "Intuition". I thought the purple would look great with the gold snake print over the mostly clear wraps. 

I like how this look came out overall, but I wish I had more time to get more artsy with it. I should be getting back to posting more regularly in the next few days, and I'll even get on my next mani tomorrow. See ya again next week! Thanks for sticking around! :) 

- Tiff