sacre bleu!

...get it? Cus this is a french manicure, and it's blue? I am so good at making puns in French, guys. So good at it.

This is three coats of Essie Borrowed & Blue with tips freehanded in Essie Lilacism. The formula of Borrowed & Blue was typical of a light pastel, rather streaky, though it did eventually settle nicely. This shade is from Essie's 2010 wedding collection, and I have to say this is definitely going to be the "something blue" when I get married to Ryan Gosling someday.

Not a lot to say about this one since it's so simple, but I hope you're not sick of these all-Essie manicures because I have one more coming up for you tomorrow ;)

neon skittle tips

So...it's finals week. I have about eight bajillion pages to write in way too few days. I am probably going to die. I have absolutely no time to do anything fun or eat or bathe or breathe so naturally, I have been painting my nails instead of, you know, doing homework like a responsible person. (Sorry, Mom.)

Anyway, I really liked this manicure in theory, but next time I will definitely be more patient because as you can see, this turned out really lumpy. This is due in part to using an old bottle of Seche Vite that was super thick and sticky, but also because I was impatient and layered on all the polishes too thickly.

I started with like five coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones. It's such a cool ghostly grey-beige (greige?) but the formula absolutely sucks. I haven't seen any other bloggers complain about it so perhaps I got a screwy bottle, but the formula is very thin and runny and I ended up with a ton of bald patches.

I freehanded the colorful tips because there were so many layers of Skull & Glossbones, I didn't think it would hold up under tape. From left to right, the colors I used for the tips are:

Zoya Kylie 2
Sally Hansen Sunkissed
Zoya Robyn
Confetti Green with Envy
OPI Do You Lilac It?

I really love the combination of neutral + super brights and I guess that's like, totally in this season, or something. What are your favorite obnoxiously bright polish colors? I'm digging anything eye-searing as of late.

I have a few more manicures sitting in my queue but I probably won't get around to them until I'm done with all this damned schoolwork...so stay tuned!

teacup french

This manicure was inspired by this teacup I found somewhere on the Tumblrsphere. I normally can't stand french manicures--they make me think of high school, when every girl got french tip acrylics for every dance, but this color combination makes the french not quite so tacky.

 I used two coats of Essence Sweet as Candy for the base. It's a sheer light pink that's perfect for covering stains. The gold foil is Essence Shiny Godness, which I love because it's slightly more bronze than most golds, and the green is Essence Viva la Fiesta. First, I freehanded the green using the polish brush, and then added the gold with a small paintbrush.

I really have a thing for Essence polishes and I'm so sad they're not available in the US. When I lived in Spain there was a drugstore right around the corner that sold Essence and whenever I was stressed (which was often) I'd go in and snap up a few bottles. Ahh, retail therapy...