Rockstar Cheetah Print

Cara's nails

I have a pretty rock'n manicure today. I wanted something fun and loud and I got exactly that!! I used a base coat of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. I love this beautiful spring blue. Overtop I stamped a cheetah print pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-221. I then used a small dotting tool to dab in some Sally Hansen Rock Star. This is an awesome glitter polish consisting of mainly pinkish-purple glitter and flecks of teal blue and silver. It took 3 coats for full coverage but looks amazing in the end!! I used this color also for accent nails. 

Obviously I am a big fan of cheetah and any other animal print. If you have a fun, out of the ordinary animal print manicures feel free to share. We would love to see them! 

Metallic Galaxy

Cara's Nails

I have not been very good about my posting lately. It may be a lack of inspiration or a lack of time. Or it may be my inability to decide between all the new polishes I have recently acquired. Either way I am making more of an effort to get back to posting regularly again. Here I have manicure featuring OPI Live and Let Die. This is a polish that I looked over when the Bond collection first came out. I picked it up super cheap and decided to give it a go. I do love the gold flecks scattered in the dark green polish. In most lights this green looks almost black and the flecks are hard to admire. I sponged a gradient of High Roller overtop. I also used High Roller on my galaxy accent nail along with Orly Lunar Eclipse and China Glaze White Cap. 

Minty Fresh

Kate's Nails 

Even though it's still February, I'm finding myself drawn to spring and summer colors lately!  I dug this green out of my collection the other day, and fell in love with it again.  I'll be wearing it a lot in the next few months, for sure!  I don't know where the idea for the accent nail came from.  I originally did it in black, but I like the white much better.  

What are your go-to colors going to be this spring?

Polishes Used:

China Glaze Re-fresh Mint

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Blue and Green Fish Tail Nails

Kate's Nails 

I love my new polish from this month's Birchbox, and I also wanted to try my new blue from the OPI Euro Centrale collection, so I decided to combine them into a fish tail accent nail.  I love the fish tail design!  I use THIS TUTORIAL every time I do this design, and it's really helpful!

Polishes Used:

OPI Eurso Euro

Color Club Wild Cactus

Essie No Place Like Chrome

February Birchbox

This month, I got my best Birchbox yet!! I am loving the products I got this time, and I finally got some nail polish!  If you're wondering what a Birchbox is, or if you want to see previous Birchbox posts, click HERE.

Ghirardelli Milk and Caramel Square:  

Delicious.  That's really it.  I ate this within two minutes of opening my Birchbox, and I wish that there were 10 more of them.  Yum.

(Full size - $4.25)

SKIN&Co Roma Cleansing Body Gel with Olive & Sicilian Orange Extracts:

This shower gel did a nice job of cleansing without drying out.  My sensitive skin felt good after using it.  The only issue I had was the scent.   It was a bit too masculine for my tastes.  But, scent aside, this is a quality product.

(Full Size - $17.50)

Dr. Jart+ Black Label Detox BB Beauty Balm:

So I have to confess that I had no clue what a BB Cream was before I got this sample.  I had heard of BB Creams, but had no clue what they were.  After a bit of research, I found that they are basically all your face products combined into one - moisturizer, sun screen, foundation, etc.  I LOVE this stuff.  It evened out my skin tone, concealed imperfections, and gave my skin a nice glow (without being shiny).  In another month I should have enough Birchbox points to get a full sized version of this for free!

(Full Size - $36)

Twistband Thick Headband:

I've used the twistband hair ties before, and liked them, so I was glad to get this headband.  You could easily wear it to the gym, or dress it up with a nice outfit.  The black color is very versatile.  This headband stayed in place very well, and didn't give me the dreaded headband headache.  Love it!

(Full Size - $19/set of 6)

Color Club Nail Polish in Wild Cactus:

I was so excited to get some nail polish in this months box!!  Emerald (the Pantone color of the year) is very trendy right now, and this polish is a gorgeous shade.  The picture below is two coats without topcoat.  My only issue with this polish is that it stains like crazy (as greens are known to do).  Clean-up was difficult, but the color is totally worth the hassle. 

(Full Size - $8)

If you're interested in signing up for Birchbox (or giving a subscription as a gift!) you can use my referral link here: https://www.birchbox.com?raf=xdgbr

Skittle Hearts for Valentine's Day

Cara's Nails

 Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!!Today I have for you a skittles mani of hearts. I enjoyed the look of my last Valentine's Day manicure with the single Rosie Lee heart and decided to go with a variation of that design! I used a two coats of Zoya Kelly for my base. The heart colors, from left to right, are China Glaze Shower Together, Zoya Dana, Julep Nina, Sinful Colors Dream On, and Julep Nikki. I created a heart template using scotch tape for all my nails except for my pinky which I had to free hand due to its ridiculous tiny-ness. 

This is my first use of the Julep colors. These came in my January Julep Maven box. I had not yet worn them because they are neons and I am not fond of the neon craze. They were surprisingly not as flashy as I thought they would be. It did however take multiple coats to get these colors opaque. Dream On is a color I have had in my stash for a long time but also have never used. It is a vibrant purple that I can only describe as a "comic book super hero" color. It also dries a funny matte finish. I used a top coat of Essie Good to Go to fix that. 

natural lighting

indoor lighting

Valentine's Day Mash-Up Nails

Kate's Nails 

Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope everyone has a wonderful day and that you get to spend time with people you love :)  I had a few different ideas for my nails today, so I decided to do a mash-up of ideas.  It's kind of a weird look, but I like it!

Products Used:

Zoya Mia

China Glaze Traffic Jam

Butter London Rosie Lee

Plate BM-14 

Jewels from Michael's

Coral Reef Hearts and Dots

Kate's Nails 

Some more Valentine's Day nails for you today!  The pink is Sally Hansen's Coral Reef.  The dots and heart were done in China Glaze's Liquid Leather and Sinful Color's Snow Me White.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Lavender and Hearts

Kate's Nails 

I figured that it was time I started with some Valentine's Day nails! I picked up a few new polishes at Ulta the other day, and was really excited to try out this lavender polish.  It's You're Such A Budapest from the new OPI Euro Centrale collection.  I really love the color of this polish.  It has a super subtle shimmer to it, which makes it look extra pretty (and not tacky, like so many shimmer polishes tend to be).  It did need three coats to get it fully opaque.  On my ring finger, I painted half the nail with Revlon's Enamor. Then I stamped on the hearts using plate SH17, and Essie's No Place Like Chrome.  The stamp just had outlines of the hearts, so I filled them in using a small dotting tool.  

Whirled Away Nails

Kate's Nails 

It feels weird to be doing a non-Ravens-themed manicure!! I was lacking nail inspiration in the last week, but a trip to Ulta cured that!  Cara and I stopped in yesterday, and I walked out with three new polishes.  Two from OPI's new Euro Centrale collections (I'll be sharing those soon), and this awesome glitter top coat from China Glaze.  Whirled Away is a great mix of black bar, small black hex, and large white hex glitters in a clear base.  This polish wasn't the easiest to work with - I had to fish out the large white pieces, and I had to move the glitter around a lot with a dotting tool - but the result is worth it!  I've layered it over China Glaze's Mediterranean Charm.  I'm looking forward to trying this with other color combinations!

Rosie Lee Heart

Cara's Nails

Misc. Manis is finally jumping on the Valentine's Day bandwagon! Here is my first Valentine's Day inspired manicure. I used a base coat of OPI...Eurso Euro from the Euro Centrale collection. I love this dark blue with its subtle hint of purple. A color Kate has name "Blurple". The pink glitter is Butter London Rosie Lee, an ideal color for the holiday.

February Julep Maven Box

I love coming home and finding my Julep Maven box sitting on my front doorstep! I love it even more when the box contains some amazing polishes! My style profile is "It Girl" and this month's theme was inspired by celebrity It Girls. 

Marion is described as a "smokey blue with a sliver shimmer". In the bottle I was really drawn to this fresh looking blue but on my nails I was not as impressed. Here I used two coats. It is a pretty color but I did not see a lot of the silver shine through once on my nails.

Rebel was a wonderful surprise holo silver. At first sight I was disappointed thinking this was just a basic silver polish. I didn't not think the color matched it's namesake, actress Rebel Wilson, accurately. Under a better light however I realized that this was in fact a beautiful holo. As far as holos go I thought this was pretty great. I am usually a big fan of Butter London's Dodgy Barnett and this is a close second. Here I used two coats.

Joan is my favorite from this month's box. This is a beautiful rich raspberry color with flecks of bronze shimmer. I thought this was very unique. The only downside to this color is the rough application. I needed two coats to show the beauty of this polish however their is not a smooth application possibly due to the shimmer. But I do love this color and you will be seeing much more of it in future posts!!

Baltimore Ravens Nails - SUPERBOWL!!!!!

Kate's Nails 

Well guys, this is it - my last Ravens nails for the season! I have had a lot of fun doing a different Ravens manicure for each game.  Thanks to everyone that read the posts each week, and a big thanks to those that shared my designs on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter!

I am beyond excited for the game tonight.  I became a Ravens fan pre-Flacco/Harbaugh, when the team was struggling, and I never thought back then that I would see the Ravens in the Superbowl.  This season has been a roller coaster (this post sums it up perfectly), but I think the Ravens will bring the Lombardi Trophy home to Baltimore!!

If you have done any Ravens nails, please e-mail a picture to miscmanis@gmail.com.  I'd like to do a post of nails done by our readers :)

Polishes Used:

China Glaze Liquid Leather

Essie No Place Like Chrome

Sonia Kashuk Chocoholic

Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober

Milani White on the Spot