The Nail Files: Shelby

I feel like I say this every single time I get my nails but this time, this time I truly mean that I have found my favorite summer pink polish. 

To be 100% honest I never would have thought I would have liked this pink to save my life.

Normally I am not a pink kind of girl, so I usually pay little mind to anything bright pink, but I seriously love this color. 

Happy Friday & have a great weekend :)

The Nail Files: Wednesday & Paris

Linking up with Tara for The Nail Files, and this one is going to be short and sweet.

Thanks to the Zoya Earth Day exchange I had some new colors I wanted to try out and I did just that.

Like most of the population I am really loving the color mint right now so I knew I'd love Wednesday, and surprise, I really, really do!
Anymore I don't really feel right not having some kind of glitter going on and I'd recently gotten Paris through an add-on deal for my Julep Maven box so I figured what the heck, I'll try it out.

  {Buy them here: Paris by Julep & Wednesday by Zoya}

 

I don't think this combo is one of my favorites, but I really like the colors separately.
What do you guys think?

Happy Friday & have a good weekend!

The Nail Files & Backing it up...

The Nail Files / #backthatazzup

Let's just get right to the good stuff shall we...

Nails & music!

I absolutely LOVE this combo.

 

I received the pink: Eva in my first Julep Maven box.

I've come to realize that this is probably my favorite shade of pink to wear.
I love this one and I've worn similar shades before so it must be!

And the glitter: Lovely Jubbly...

I really have no words because I love it so much!

I have a feeling it will be used quite a bit this summer.

It's fun, bright, and covers really well.

You don't need to worry about a base color underneath.

I finally feel like I found the perfect song to start linking up with Whitney for #backthatazzup Friday's!
I heard this bad boy yesterday for throw back Thursday on the radio.
It had me dancing around and on this nice Friday what could be better than a little desk dancing :)

Happy Friday!

The Nail Files: Eternal Optimist

After a couple months of darker colors I knew I wanted to do something a little lighter with my nails this time around.

Something more springy (as if you didn't see that one coming?!)

I recruited the help of Danielle and Kevin and they choose the color, but I also found it appropriate since I am trying to remain optimistic that Spring and the warmer weather will soon be here to stay!

Anyways, I've had this color for awhile and finally got the chance to use it and I really like it.

I feel as if it's the perfect color from the transition from winter to spring.

Per usual though I wanted to give it a little sparkly so I pulled out the Pure Pearlfection.

If you need a good top coat sparkly this is it! It's so subtle but gives you that nice shiny and little sumpin sumpin to fancy it up.

Happy Good Friday and have a great Easter weekend :)

The Nail Files: Russian Navy!

Linking up with Tara for Nail Files today.

I've been eyeing Russian Navy for awhile and being the lucky girl that I am ended up getting it for Christmas from my sister. 

And I.am.in.love.

Blue is my jam, I love it and really all shades and this shade is perfect!

I intended to just get the navy, but I ended up finding the glitter at the salon and decided to give it a try.
It's cute, and adds a touch of spring to it, but next round I think I'll just go without the accent, or use gold!

ps - the navy, looks purple in the bottle. I promise it is not!

Happy Friday!

The Nail Files: Caviar!

Good morning and happy Friday!

Whew, this week has kind of kicked my butt.
The weather in Ohio has literally been all over the place...66 on Wednesday, down to 27 yesterday, and now 12 this morning.
Needless to say I've been having some pretty thumping headaches and been a little sluggish.

 Despite crazy Ohio weather, I will not get down because today I'm linking up with Tara to show off my fun new mani.

Remember last week I told you I was going to take on a new nail endeavor for me? Well I did, and it ended up being new for my nail tech too!

My sister got me the Caviar Mini Bar by Ciate at Sephora for Christmas!

 I chose to use the pink polish and the blue, red, and gold caviar!
It is gold, it looks silver, but if you look closely...it's gold.

I wasn't sure if my nail girl would be up for this task since it seems a little bit messy but she was all about it!
She'd watched a YouTube video on how to do it and had been wanting to try.
 I just love being a guinea pig :)

Anyways, we tried it out and I think it turned out great, and it's something new and fun to do!

It's a little strange at first, but you get use to it.

My only word of caution is that the caviar's will fall off, mine have started to around the edges of the nail.
Nothing major, you can't really tell but it won't remain perfect, especially if you are rough on your hands like me.

I'm excited to try the other colors and beads and I'm interesting in seeing what kind of designs you could come up with.

After this round I'll determine if it's something better to do on my own in between manicures or just have them to it.
I have a feeling it will be the first option, but we will see!

What do you guys think?
Do you like it, or is it too weird?

Happy Friday :)

Nail Files: Lil' Boa Peep

For Christmas Kev got me a few nail polishes from Essie's Repstyle collection.

Of course, they were camo color themed, but he was excited for me to try them out so I asked him to pick out the first one for me to try!

Here is what he picked...

It's a pretty cool color, I like it.
I like because it's different.

In the bottle it looks pretty silver-ish, but once you put it on it changes a bit.

Even when it was been applied it went from silver to gold to a greenish hue, guess it just depends on the light and other colors around you.
Right now, they are a gray silver!

Also, for this first time around using this polish I didn't really understand how the reptile pattern part worked, and had searched on the Essie site for some explanation before going in, but I didn't find it.
Side note - don't you think the instructions on how this works should be on their site? I do!

However, after I got my nails done I did find how it works and felt a little dumb after the fact because I wondered why the top of the bottles has this square on the top.
Duh, Megan!

*Notice the magnet on the top of the bottle*

{via}

This is what they would have looked like had I used the magnet:

Source: beautyjunkiesunite.com via Megan on Pinterest

If you'd like to get this reptile look follow these simple instructions:

1) Apply one coat of the polish and let dry.

2) Working one nail at a time apply another thin layer of the polish and immediately position the magnet over your nail for a few seconds. This should create the pattern.

3) Once the patterned layer is dry apply a base coat if desired.

The person that gave these directions explained she found it works better with thin layers.

That all being said, next round I'll be trying out the magnet.

Have you guys used this Repstyle polish before? 

And with the magnet?

How did your nails look?

Happy Friday!

Secret Santa Swap & Holiday Nails

What better way to end the week with a Secret Santa Swap & freshly manicured nails?

I signed up to be part of a Secret Santa hop hosted by Shannon, Syndal, and Kaity.

I had never done a blog secret santa swap so I thought it'd be something fun to try and I am so glad I did.

One of the lovely hosts, Syndal was paired to me!

Syndal's blog, Synfully Delicious, is adorable, and she is so creative. 

If you have the chance please go check out her space :)

You won't regret it. 

Anyways, the other day I came home to find a package on my porch.

The package being there itself wasn't weird, it was that I had no idea who it was from, and then it dawned on me!
Secret Santa blog swap time!!

I am not sure I've opened up a present that quickly with excitement in a long time!

I opened the package to find this amazing card!

I love the color of the glitter!
I can't stop looking at it.
It may or may not have to sit out on the counter longer than the Christmas season.

 Sweet note from Syndal ♥

All of my goodies :) 

Does she know me or what?

I got a really pretty blue bangle, and some stationary stuff.

Perfect for the girl who can't remember to get some things accomplished without writing them down. 

We have some Christmas cookie cutters, which I don't have and every baker should! 

Fail on my part as a baker, and super applause for Syndal :) 

A new Christmas ornament, and my guess is that Syndal made it!

A tea light candle holder.

 It's hard to see in the picture but there is a Christmas tree on it too.

Finally a little baby Santa spatula, it's too cute!

Christmas napkins :)

How cute are those, and they go perfectly with my yellow kitchen! 

Finally a new scarf.
I do not have one this color or pattern, and blue is my favorite!

Everything I received from Syndal is perfect for me!
Thank you so much Syndal for the great stuff!
I appreciate the time, effort, and dollars you put into this and I can't wait to get to know you and your blog more!

Nexxtttt...

Since I got my nails done yesterday I had to show off the new holiday look.

So I'm linking up with Tara for some Nail Files fun :)

I couldn't wait to get this red glitter on my nails when I bought it, and I think it's absolutely perfect for the holidays. 

However, what I didn't realize is that I would absolutely LOVE "Head Mistress" by itself, and get a little sad when the "Leading Lady" glitter had a tint to the polish and dulled down the red underneath. I thought "Leading Lady" would be a little more sheer.

I am not disappointed, but you will be seeing "Head Mistress" again, all by herself.

PS - has anyone else noticed I tend to use color that reference being the boss lady?  

Coincidence? 

Hell no! 

Even my subconscious knows who's in charge around here ;P 

 

Happy Friday!

Everyone has a safe and happy Holidays!

Polish Swap & Nail Files show off

This last month I participated in a nail polish swap ever so lovingly thrown by several wonderful bloggers. 

I got paired with Ms. Amy over at Love & Hot Chocolate. 

If you haven't seen Amy's blog go check it out.
It's super cute and she's got some great things to talk about and share with all of you!

I am also going to show off the new polish because I got my nails did the other day!

What better way to show off a swap than to literally wear what you got!?

For the swap we were asked what kind of polish colors we were interested in. 

I know I put purples because they are some of my favorites but I honestly don't remember exact what else I put down! 

Amy hit the nail on the head!
I know wrong kind of nail, but it's still punny.

To make things slightly sweeter she included some chocolates.
It's like she really knows my heart - nail polish and chocolate - in the same package?!
Let's just say I was one very happy, sugar buzzed, lady :)

 Aren't her cards cute?

 She's very sweet :)

My two new polishes!

{over the edge}   {nothing else metals}

 
I won't lie when I saw the dark one I got a little nervous, it looks a little black.

This is no offense to Amy what-so-ever because this she did exactly what I would have wanted her to do...

First, she got me two options that I don't have already.
Second, she picked colors I probably wouldn't have picked on my own.

However, I got over that nervousness and ended up getting my nails done in the "Over the Edge" color this week, and I LOVE IT!

What do you think?

It comes out this gorgeous, chic, gun metal grey color. Depending on the kind of light you are in it can look purple/grey, it can look black/grey, blue/grey, and sometimes just plain ole grey.

The accent nail is done with: 

{platinum record}


Thank you Amy for the gorgeous nail polish & the chocolate!

Also a big thanks to the swap co-hosts :)
Now go check out what everyone else got!

Happy Friday and have a good weekend!