The Starry Night

Nothing like a fine gold glitter gradient over navy blue to bring van Gogh to mind-you do have to admit that The Starry Night is pretty iconic! I love doing glitter gradients, they're so simple and quick. All you do is four coats of the glitter topcoat, first the entire nail, then three quarters, then half, and finally the last quarter.

Colors: Julep in Gunta, Sinful Colors All About You

Frame by Frame

I just realized today that I haven't posted in almost two weeks, so I put together a few collages of some of the things I wore this week. I've also had the same mani for almost two weeks and I need to change it, so that post should be coming soon!

Clothing: Patterned tank from Marshall's, dark wash Levi's jeggings, Kimchi Blue lace-back cardigan

Jewelry: DIY hamsa hand and evil eye bracelets, Monet earrings, rings from Forever 21 and Target, Apricot Lane wrap bracelet, AE heart necklace

Sunglasses: Funky Monkey in NOLA 

Purse: Deena & Ozzy

Clothing: American Eagle cardigan, thrifted scarf, Levi's jeggings, Forever 21 tank, Steve Madden moccasins

Jewelry: YSL knockoff ring from eBay, Forever 21 pyramid ring, gifted locket

Clockwise: Urban Decay palette, Target rings, Adidas sneakers, rose sneakers from Urban Outfitters

Half-Mad

Last month, I saw this manicure over at Pshiiit and knew I would have to replicate it, but then I fell down the rabbit hole of Shine of the Times and put it off. Yesterday my mani decided it wanted to chip, so I got my chance! The base is Julep Annette and the rectangles (yay scotch tape!) are Julep Gunta.

It didn't photograph as blue as it is in real life, which is more of a royal, not a navy. I do like it though. It's a little fall-ish and fairly subtle. I almost wish I had done it in black and white for a more mod feel.

Title: Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

"I Can Have It All!"

It's been gloomy all week, and when you add my sinus-murdering allergies into the equation, this means me staying in bed and watching 30 Rock on Netflix for the bazillionth time. JUDGEMENT FREE ZONE. Unfortunately for both myself and Liz Lemon, we can't have it all, as evidenced by Lulu SIMULTANEOUSLY stealing one of my cheese fries and managing to close out the Netflix tab. Now she's just lurking somewhere, waiting for me to move, so she can attack my ankles. Anyways, I realize I am so late to this nail polish party that the polish featured is, in fact, discontinued, but whatever.

It is SO PRETTY. Essie, why on earth would you stop making this?? Fortunately, I was able to score a new bottle on eBay, for a couple of dollars more than retail AND free shipping. The base coat is Sinful Colors in Boogie Nights, and I really like the color, but after three coats it still wasn't opaque so maybe next time I'll use a white base. I did use only one coat of Shine of the Times! And in other news, Jon Hamm's story arc on 30 Rock just started and I really must be off.

Updated: Gratuitous shots of my nails! The flakies themselves are a teeny bit more obvious.

Gunmetal & Glitter

So instead of a true-to-life shot, y'all are getting this lovely Hipstamatic picture instead:

That would be because my nails were extremely uncooperative. There were little spots in the base of my nails that the polish just wouldn't stick to, and what color did was picked up by the top coat...so, blergh. That, and my polish managed to push back from the tips FIVE HOURS after I did them. I literally just did the silver, as a distraction. I doubt this one will stay on through tomorrow, but you never know.

Colors used: Sinful Colors Secret Admirer, OPI Are You Glistenin', Essie all in one base coat (new!)

Baby, There's A Shark In The Water

I actually wasn't going to go with anything this fancy-I cut my nails a little too close to the bed and...it hurt. I was just going to go with my favorite gunmetal, but when I opened the bottle, it was goopy and dried up, and I'm going to buy a new bottle Sunday when I go to Walgreens. I ended up breaking into my last unused Julep color (Annie) and my other Ludurana flakie (Trovão).

The flakies show up so much better in sunlight, but you kind of get the idea. Unfortunately, I think my base coat is on its last legs, because all the polish chipped by the morning and tonight I had the (so horrible for my nails) pleasure of peeling the polish off, A WHOLE FINGERNAIL AT A TIME. I guess this means no more mani until...Sunday. As soon as I get a new base coat. I'm thinking of splurging on Essie this time, but I'm not 100% yet. Guess I'll figure it out!

Title: Shark In The Water, VV Brown

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I Do Believe I'm Bad Luck...

...so no more team-inspired manis from now on. This week, I did Broncos nails and WE LOST. JUST LIKE THE SAINTS LOST LAST WEEK. Maybe I'll start doing the opposing teams colors instead?

But anyways, here it is:

From the base up: Julep in Eileen, Julep in Gunta, and Sinful Colors in Cloud 9. I'm still trying to get the hang of my dotting tool-my right hand is nowhere near as neat as the left, and this one isn't exactly perfect. Whatever, I kind of loved the eventual effect, and that's what counts, right?