Nail Polish Bonanza

Salaam.

Pinterest has opened my eyes to something I never realized existed - nail polish blogs.  THERE ARE SO MANY!!!  (Check out the blogs I follow for a couple of my favorites.)

I have loved nail polish since I was in elementary school.  I wasn't that traditionally "girly," but my mum had a few, all reds, and I used to have so much fun with them.  These days I practically avoid reds like the plague!  But my love for polish has only grown over the years, as I have.  My collection is small, but slowly growing.  Last week I bought nine new polishes.  Nine!  I try to be practical by choosing only colors I absolutely love, or something daring to see if it'll look good against my skin, or something I'm sure I'll wear.  I swear I do.  But sometimes I just love them all!!  ( :

Since discovering these blogs, I've seen some really cool colors, patterns, designs, and best of all tutorials!  I thought I'd share some of my nail polish adventures, amidst the rest of the posts (I swear I'll go back to the Freak Whirlwind story one day soon!).  I might try some here and there, but mostly I just want to share something I love.

This is "balloons."  It started as a random polka dot design I saw online, and then just became.  The base is is Essie Topless & Barefoot.  The dots are Essie Plumberry (pink), Revlon Top Speed Electric (yellow), OPI Who The Shrek Are You? (green), OPI Dating A Royal (blue), and Essie Bahama Mama (purple).

This is my version of blue ombre (I learned that it's pronounced ohm-bray or ahm-bray!).  I love this style, and honestly I had so much just picking the colors.  From the thumb: Loreal After Hours, OPI Dating A Royal, Revlon Surf, Essie Turquoise & Caicos, and OPI Peace, Baby.  I want to try it in pinks and greys.

This is a fun french manicure twist.  It started as a shredded funky french (Chloe's Nails), but I got frustrated, so I used Essie In Stitches to make extra girly french tips.

I love the contrast ring finger look.  This is Revlon Surf and Revlon Posh as the contrast.  I love these colors.  I believe this it with three coats each.

I call this Pop of Color.  Essie Steel-ing The Scene and Essie Action as the contrast.  It's three coats each.  Hindsight being what it is, I realize I should have used a base under the orange; you can see the edge of the nail bed.  Sidenote:  I use Revlon Extra Life No Chip Top Coat.  I know people swear by Seche Vite, but I rather like this one.

xoxo