A peek into my stash.

I thought I would take another pause and show off to you guys I’m current (growing) stash. I’ve only been growing this stash for the last 2 years — I still have a huge stash in a box somewhere at my parent’s from when I moved a couple years ago, but no one knows where it is. I had to go out recently and pick up bigger storage drawers because the ones I had were just not working for me.

drawer

My five drawer system. None of my drawers have been filled up… yet.

basetopcoat

Drawer #1: My base coats, and top coats. I seem to collect A LOT of base coats (just trying to find the best one for me.) Right now I’m using Nail Envy and Witchcraft hardener, along with Nutra Nail Growth formula (it’s not a base coat–you apply it to your nails and let it soak in.)

minis

Drawer #2: My mini polishes and my nail art stripers.

CG

Drawer #3: China Glaze, Maybelline, Color Institue, and Revlon and some other polishes thrown in there.

OPI

Drawer #4: We’ve got OPI, Nicole by OPI, Quo by Orly, Color Club, LA Girl, Essie, Icing, Sally Hansen, and some Joe Fresh Polishes.

ardene

Drawer #5: My ACO polishes (which, like I said, I have A LOT of), Essence, and Sinful Colors.

Because I basically had to start over I don’t really have a lot of polishes (I had around 200 before)… I counted, and my stash only clocks in at 262 total, which is less than I actually expected. I asked my boyfriend to guess and he guessed around 400, so I guess that just means I have room to buy more!

So how do you keep your polishes organized? By color, or brand, or both?

 

 

 

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 17: Glitter

I went with a simple manicure for today’s prompt. I really, really wanted to try out China Glaze’s Sand Dollar Make You Holla which I picked up a couple weeks back, and haven’t yet had a chance to wear.

glitter

Sand Dollar Make You Holla(isn’t that just the most amazing name ever!) is an off white–almost pale pink–base with teeny tiny rainbow glitters through out. It’s a textured polish, which China Glaze released from their Sea Goddess collection. And it is beautiful. I’ve seen other nail bloggers compare its finish to icing, and I have to agree. Even though the application is quite sheer, it does build quite nicely. This was three  applications, and they went on super flawlessly.

I really love this color. It’s so different from any other texture polish I’ve picked up, and I’m glad I have it in my stash. I’m also thinking it would be perfect to use for a cupcake manicure, as it already looks like icing!

Also you’ll notice I’ve featured the Timmie’s a lot lately. They just came out with a cinnamon bun latte for a limited time, and they’re right up the street so the boyfriend always gets me one in the mornings. I seriously love anything cinnamon, and these latte’s are starting to become an addiction.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 16: Tribal Print.

Aztec and Tribal prints were a big trend last summer in nail art. I seriously dig anything Tribal print. I bought the sweetest aztec print pants that I have a feeling I will be wearing A LOT this summer. So when it came to Day 16, I was super excited to come up with something tribal on my nails. There was no reason to this manicure–I really just started drawing lines and outlines and dots, and came up with this:

tribalprint2

tribalprint

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sinful Colors in Be Happy
  • Essence Color & GO in Let’s get Lost
  • Color Club Art Club in Paisley Paradise.
  • Stripe Rite Striping polish in Black.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in White.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

God I love tribal print. I also love the blues and purples used in this manicure. I really like how it turned out, even though I had no plan going into this. Sometimes the most random manicures turn out to be my favorite!

Also check out this adorable mug that the boyfriend gave me for Easter. My first thought? I totally have to do this as nail art!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 15: Delicate Print

Easter kind of slowed me down on the nail art challenge. But I’m back at it and making sure I keep going, and don’t give up even though I’m finding my nail art skills being a little more tested with each new design.

For Day 15, the prompt was a delicate print. I had to kind of rack my brain on what I was going to do. In the end, I decided on a lace-like print. When I started, I wasn’t sure what to do but I just kept going until my nails resembled something of a lace print, even though I’ve never tried to do a lace print before.

delicateprint

The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Bourjois Paris Nail Polish in 1995 Grains de beauté –pale pink base of my nails.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Brush in white — The design near my nail tips, and the polka dot design.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

I really like how these turned out. They are very girlie. Also the pale pink color is perfect for spring! My mother gave me a collection of these Bourjois polishes for my birthday, all in pink, and the colors are so beautiful.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge — Day 14: Floral.

floralnailart

A few weeks ago, I picked up the new OPI sheer tints minis that have been floating around on nail art blogs. I was super excited when I found them, and so there was no question I needed them. The only thing I wasn’t sure was what I should use them for! After some serious consideration I realized they would be perfect for a water-color floral print for day 14 of the challenge.

floral

floral2

floral3

For this manicure, the polishes that I used were:

  • Revlon Nail Polish in Minted — the mint green polish on my thumb, pointed and middle finger.
  • China Glaze’s White on White — white base color on my ring and pinky finger, and dots on my mint base color on other fingers.
  • OPI Sheer Tints in Be Magentale With Me — pink-ish colored flowers.
  • OPI Sheer Tints in I Can Teal you Like Me — blue-ish colored flowers.
  • OPI Sheer Tints in Don’t Violet Me Down — Purple-ish colored flowers.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Top Coat.

These turned out so perfect. The OPI sheer tints are a little weird to work with, because they dry quickly on the nail art brush. I also found myself having to grab more polish more often than when drawing with regular polish. However the outcome is gorgeous. I’m such a fan of floral print in general, and this manicure just screams spring to me. It makes me want to wear pretty floral dresses, and flats, and not have to worry about freezing to death. Hopefully the weather starts to agree soon. Summer is my favorite season, and I’ve been longing to break out my maxi dresses again. Every time I walk past my closet I see them hanging there… and I just want to wear them SO bad.

So what’s your favorite go-to nail art for Spring?