A sophisticate manicure

Gradient plus leopard print equals subtle sophistication with a twist. This manicure inspired by Pam Heil of Girly Bit's love of my gradient and leopard print manicure from this post. Did I fan girl a little when she commented on my post? Alrighty I admit I did.

On the same day I did this post I got the mail and found my order of simple but sophisticated layering bracelets had arrived and I love how they look with this:

The manicure itself is a base of Essie Licorice with a gradient of Girly Bit's Shift Happens down with a leopard print accent in the corner using Julep January and outlined in Zoya Ziv.

I love the look of the color shift over the black.

Until next time!

The other thing I did this weekend

I got to go hang out with Liesl from Liesl Loves Pretty Things! We hit up The French Press for amazing coffees in pool sized mugs *dreamy look*, then headed to Ulta in hopes of finding the spring Zoya collections. Sadly they weren't in so we opted for the OPI mini collection which she has been posting over on her blog (go take a peek!). THEN she told me she had to be over at PetSmart at 2 so, naturally curious, I asked her what she needed to be over there for. She graciously donates her time to spend with some feline fur babies playing, feeding, and cleaning their cages. Doesn't she just have the sweetest heart? I got to stay and play with the babies for awhile before heading on my way promising it wouldn't be so long to the next visit.

Natually seeing another blogger brings up the dilemma of nails. So, inspired by my pretty top, I came up with these using both tape and stamping:

Base is Butter London Bluey which is terribly thin and patchy up to three coats and even then it's not fully opaque:

But it's an intensely amazing color and worth the build time.

These were kind of complex but well worth the time. The black accents are done in Essie Licorice. She totally brought it with gorgeous nails done in silver sponged tips! Loved them and my time out and about with her.

I give you manequin hands

I know right! On me of all people. But I bought Rimmel French Manicure Pro in French Rose back when I first started collecting simply because as a newbie you have to have all styles right? Needless to say I never used it until just recently. I can not get over the stunning simplicity.

Application is three coats and it's so gorgeous! I don't understand why I'm so drawn to how simple it is. The accent is messy, sadly, and done in Essie Licorice and an unnamed copper color from Maurice. The tape method is flawed but I'm working on a fix for it.

Weirdly awesome right? What do you think about this style?

Hubby's Picks: Halloween Inspired (HP19)

Hubby picked out his colors this week with the request for a Halloween manicure. Here's what I came up with:

So I'm hoping you can tell but that's bats with a moon. Hubby had a hard time telling because Zoya Trixie, sadly, didn't stamp nearly as well as I had hoped.

I was given Essie Licorice, Rainbow Honey Hoof Wrassle (which is far more fall toned then the promo pictures made it out to be and there fore PERFECT for this time of year), Zoya Trixie, and Dollish Polish Hero of Time.

The whole manicure. Hope you enjoyed!

Glam Polish Spooktacular

Yay so I got this re-swatched on a black much more deserving of such an incredible glitter polish. I give you Glam Polish Spooktacular over Essie Licorice:

At this time she is not openly selling so please do not bombard her with questions. If she does start I'll be letting you know! I just got lucky enough to be her swap <3 I try to avoid posting polishes that are completely unobtainable but this is just so amazing I can't not share it.

Medium small red matte glitters swim with tiny red glitters with a mix of small matte green and shiny square purple glitters. What I love the most? No black! It's a Halloween polish with no black. Not sure why that stood out to me so much but it's just awesome!

Topped off with Butter London Matte Finish - 0.0 many glitters matify gloriously but this one is outrageous! I also just realized there is small purple glitters in there too. Seriously this is sublime and I foresee myself going through my bottle pretty quickly.

I probably haven't mentioned yet how much I love fall...

HITS Air Glow over Licorice for a Yummy Fall Combo

It's Fall!!! I'm sure I've mentioned that a few times by now...my intense love of this season will probably prompt me to mention it on a few more posts. You've been warned! I know I promised Glam Polish and it is coming but I want to redo the swatches as I FINALLY bought myself an awesome black. Essie Licorice. The investment was well worth it. Black is one of those colors that if the tips pull or nick it throws the whole manicure completely off. Cheap blacks do just that sadly.

So, in the meantime, Hits Air Glow over Essie Licorice:

Ok I'm going to be really honest here. I got this in that Halloween swap and was happy to get it but, up to this point, have not gotten the hype over Hits glitter polishes. It's just glitter...right? Ummm look at that shift! That's glitter - pieces of glitter - shifting in an almost fuchsia to bronze to gold with green tinges. It is FALL!!! Glorious, color shifting, fall. I kept thinking it looked like fireworks going off on my fingers. Trust me you need this and the other three from the Glitter Phenomena.

Did I mention fall yet? Oh, oh, oh and look I conveniently cropped this one to show off my new sterling silver spoon ring!!! Isn't it gorgeous? I've wanted one forever and have a very generous friend to thank for that beauty. Happy Fall! Now go curl up with a mug of hot cocoa, a warm blanket and a good book.