Fun Friday – Nail Polish Addicts Unite

Hi.  I’m Shelley.  and I’m Addicted to Nail Polish.

(crowd in unison) **Hi Shelley**

Seriously – THIS is only Part of my collection… I need a bigger spice rack to hold them all…

And yes, this is hanging in my bedroom.  but aren’t they pretty???  And yet, there are those days when I STILL don’t have the exact right color… and other times when I go to the store for something completely unrelated and I end up picking up a “new shade” only to discover that I already have it.  That’s when I know I REALLY love it…. but not the point of this post…

So, I love pretty nails.  I used to have acrylics but (a) they were costly and (b) they destroyed my nails so now I just grow my own out and while I do not hesitate in the LEAST when it comes to paying for a pedicure, I like to change my nails so much that paying for a mani seems as ridiculous as using $20 dollar bills as kindling to start the fire…

So out of necessity, I’ve been doing my own nails lately… and changing them… a LOT… I used to HATE to do them… just when you think they are FINALLY dry you go to bed only to wake up with sheet marks in your nails… Or, you use a “fast dry” top coat and wake up with bubbles on your nails.  UNTIL of course I found THIS:

Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat.  and I L.O.V.E. it.  It drys SUPER-FLY fast.  and I know that after about 10-15 minutes of finishing my manicure, I can head to bed or take a shower or WHATEVER.  L.O.V.E.  Yes, it thickens up a bit about 1/2 through the bottle but a little thinner goes a LONG way and wa-la I’m back in business.

(by the way – this is NOT a sponsored post.  I just seriously love this stuff)

I’ve also been playing around with some interesting new designs inspired by Chloe’s Nails that involve scotch tape!  Who knew how helpful that stuff could be!

So, on this FABULOUS Friday, I thought I’d share some of my latest mani’s… most done this week…

A few notes first:

** I’m typing this at work so do not have the names of the colors I used.  If you want to know about any of them, leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

** My Mani’s are NOT perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  I slop on my cuticles and know that with hand washing and showering, it will eventually flake off…if I don’t change it first.  My Manis are definitely more enjoyed from afar.

** pics are taken with my iPhone camera so quality leaves a lot to be desired… oh well.

If you REALLY want to see some amazing pics and colors and designs, check out Chloe’s nails.  She hasn’t posted in a while but I still love seeing what she’s done.  ALSO, you can check out my Pinterest boards for some other snazzy ideas…

So here’s where I started:

Ok I loved this one – Started with a brown (I think it was Finger Paints “Hue are You”), layered with sparkly pink and finished with black tips 🙂  Felt very fall-ish and perhaps even a good choice for New Years Eve.  Ya’ know if I were actually going to a party instead of hanging with the family.

The picture does NOT really indicate how absolutely gorgeous this deep, rich green is.  It’s GORGEOUS.  The downside?  When I took it off to change my mani, not only were parts of my fingernails still green, but my fingers too.  Note to self, use a base coat with this one (and probably ANY deep, dark, rich color)

But before I took the green off, I had a bit of fun with Scotch Tape…

This Green and Red Combo will be PERFECT for Christmas… but there were a few smudges since I did this in a hurry… so I needed a re-do and thus came up with one of my other FAVORITE looks:

Again, pic doesn’t do the color the justice it deserves… I REALLY should use a real camera for these pictures.  This is the only color I remember – China Glaze Velvet Bow (again, NOT a sponsored post) and I love the rich, burgandy color.  I probably could have gone with one more coat – did 2 in the picture above – but I love it.  It’s deep and rich and lovely.  In fact, it was lovely on it’s own but where’s the fun in that so I used a white glittery China Glaze polish – I **THINK** is called Snow Globe on the tips like a French Manicure… It’s fun and festive and might just last on my nails for a bit… After all, the tree is sparkly why shouldn’t my nails be 🙂

Do you do have a favorite way to do your nails or some other way to pamper yourself?