the wishing flower

Hey all! Long time no post! So sorry for that. I have been crazy with work and planning my birthday party, yay!!!!

Anyways just a short post today to show off a little something. Yesterday I got together with my mom and had a chance to do her nails which was so fun for me. 

We decided on a "wishing flower" design. This "flower" is special to us because when I was young I would often pick them for her  on special occasions (mothers day, birthdays etc.). I had no clue they were actually weeds, to me they were beautiful and I loved making wishes.

After seeing the design on pintrest I knew it would be something my mom would enjoy. Please be warned the picture isn't great and,love my mom, she just couldn't sit long enough for me to clean up the edges so its a bit messy.

:0) even though its a bit messy, I like it for the pure sentimental value.

Now for the info: I used China Glaze Exotic Encounters which is an awesome forest green with a slight undertone of an almost blue? Lol obviously these are my descriptions and not those of the polish maker ;0). For the flower I used acrylic paint and nail art brushes, this was my first time using the acrylics and I like it much better than trying to paint with nail polish.

I did my nails as well today while watching football but will have to make you wait till later as I am about to meet up with one of my besties.

Have a great day and as always...keep it polished!
<3 Jess

saran wrap mani with rhinestone cascade

Hey there everyone! How was your Monday? Mine was filled with work and cleaning but I finally took some time to re do my mani. This is technically from the 31 day challenge, though I am not fully committed to doing that anymore. Not because I don't think its an amazing idea, but because when you work full time it is difficult to do a new mani every night ( not to mention the fact that sometimes I just really like what I have on and want to enjoy it for a few days).

So I have decided to use the challenge days as inspiration without a specific time frame :0) which is exactly what I did tonight.

My version of the saran wrap mani. What do you all think?

I have to say I am super happy with how this turned out, it was my first attempt at this type of manicure but it was super easy! The hardest part was trying to cascade the rhinestones ( an idea I copied after seeing it on one of my patients nails)

I used 2 coats of a Sephora color from their tinsel town collection for my base ( sorry I don't know the name, I threw the box out without realizing the mini bottles do not have the color names on them). After waiting for it to dry I painted each nail with a coat of one of my all time favorite colors 'For Audrey' by China Glaze and used pieces of crumpled saran wrap to dab and pick up some of the color. Once that was all dry I gave it a generous top coat of Seche Vite to protect the designs and ensure that my rhinestones will not fall off.

All in all it was a successful first try and I think I will definitely use this technique again. But for now it is freezing and I am off to get all comfy cozy in bed. Happy Monday everyone!

Keep it polished!

<3 Jess

31 day challenge: color family

7 followers!?! I am so excited!!!! Thank you all for taking the time to drop by and check this out :0) You are awesome!

Sorry for not posting yesterday... Had to be responsible and get organized. I now officially have both of my nail racks up and am working on getting a good workstation set up.

I am yet again a day behind on the 31 day challenge, but I am so excited for the mani I have today. Day 6 was a color family. Anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with greenish blue ( or Tiffany blue) and I have been waiting to use my new bottle of China glaze "For Audrey"....I love Audrey Hepburn and Breakfast at Tiffany's, so its only logical I would fall in love with this color. Now before the pics I want to give credit where credit is due. This is not an original design. It is based on a nail post I saw on Pintrest. The picture was not watermarked and did not lead to any page but is titled "modern nails" search for it on Pintrest to see the real deal (it uses different colors and is waaaaaay better than mine). If anyone happens to know who the original artist is please let me know so I can fully credit them.

Now for the nails!!

Again my pictures are not the greatest and don't show the colors as well as I'd hope but I am really enjoying these.

So for these nails I used 3 colors...

I was hoping to get more of a contrast between them but two of them wound up being very similar as you can see ( told you I loved this color family ;0) )

My base was China glaze "For Audrey", I then taped off different sections and layered Sally Hansen's "The Real Teal" and an amazing creamy indie glitter called "Mint Mondition". This was another one of the indies that Jess from love for lacquer sent me, I apologize but I am not sure who is the talented person that developed it ( again if you happen to know, please comment so I can give credit to the polish maker). After letting all of that dry ( for as long as I could handle) I gave some definition to the edges using silver striping tape.

Please let me know what you all think, personally I think its my favorite one that I have posted here so far.

Well, I'm off to bed. Hope you all have a wonderful night!

Keep it polished!

<3 Jess

guest nails

Hey all! Hope you had a fabulous Thursday! I know I did! Had a great day with my love...movies, shopping, visiting with family, and nails! I am one lucky girl who has been blessed with a great man...so great he even let me do his nails to keep up with the 31 day challenge! Such a sweetheart: 0)

I originally was going to do a double post today but time got away with me as it often does! So instead I will post both manis on this one post. Let's get started....

Day 2 if the challenge was silver. This is the one that my love graciously lent me his pretty little digits

Look at those little nubbins! :0) 

The silver challenge day was completed with a base coat of unforgettable moments platinium ( this is a polish that if I remember correctly, I picked up at Payless shoe store). The silver stamping was done using cheeky plates CH33 from their summer collection. The stamping polish was Nicole by opi positive energy.

Few notes about this design. For one thing positive energy is one of my favorite stamping polishes. It really covers well and gives me great pigment, if you enjoy stamping this is a great product to have in your collection. Also I am not the greatest stamper ( but I am hoping that practice will make perfect) but I have noticed what its hard to find plates that work easily, consistently, and where all the designed are deeply etched and give a good picture. However I received these cheeky plates for Christmas and the are amazing!!!! I have yet to find a design that doesn't transfer. Love love love them!

That being said lets move on to challenge day 3...gold.

This was difficult for me because I'm not a big gold girl. So it took a little scrounging and I wasn't very creative with the design. Regardless here it is.

I am working on trying to get some better pictures up. These actually have cute little flowers but they do not show well in the pictures. 

For this I used two coats of China glaze fast track followed by one coat of China glaze I herd that. The flowers were done with Essie penny talk, using a dotting tool and toothpick. Accenting them with rhinestones.

Hope you all enjoyed this long winded post! I am off to bed!!!

Until tomorrow.... Keep it polished!

<3 Jess