OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui

I bought the Hong Kong Tiny Takeouts as part of my last nail polish giveaway, and OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui caught my eye. The color was so pretty that I decided to buy a full bottle of it for myself! The color is so soothing... I can't really explain it! The formula is great, this is a one-coater (shown here with only one coat, as I've gotten really lazy).

Next up, I have a special set of guest nails! My roommate and I had a nail date, so I did her nails! Excuse some of the parts where the nail isn't fully covered or I made some mistakes - I'm still learning how to do other people's nails better! I've improved so much with doing my own nails since the summer, but I only do other people's nails on occasion. If you do nails, you know it's different because you're at different angles!

I call this sweet confection Cotton Candy. I used China Glaze Light as Air as the base, with various different nail polishes for the designs! I got the cupcake idea and the stripes from another blog (http://emeraldsparkled.blogspot.com/); I love her designs! Thanks for letting me *attempt* to duplicate the designs!

All my pictures have been not as good, because I never have time when the sun is out to take pictures of nails. Flash/indoor lighting makes for not as pretty pictures!

Beachy Ocean

Happy weekend to everyone! I've had a very lovely long weekend so far with my boyfriend at his house. Between doing some work for the sorority and playing massive amounts of StarCraft II and Warcraft III, I did my nails. For this weekend, I did a beachy-ocean look using China Glaze Custom Kicks, China Glaze 2030, Etude House Gold, and Cover Girl Gold Rush.

I started with gold French tips. I could have stopped here as the tips look very good against the blue, but I did them a little messy and decided not to go back and fix.

Using the bottom of the nail brush, I dabbed gold onto the nails. I used two coats in a gradient-style manner.

Picture using natural light. I feel like Custom Kicks is very difficult to photograph because it always looks more light blue (like For Audrey) than it is in real life. Actually, I feel like Custom Kicks is a very green teal.

Completed manicure with some Cover Girl Gold Rush (clear polish with gold glitter) on it.

Nail Palettes - Blues

Blue polishes are among my absolute favorite, as blue is my favorite color! I really love any shade of blue polish, even though they tend to stain a bit.

(From left to right: China Glaze For Audrey, China Glaze Atlantis, N.Y.C. Skin-Tight Denim Creme, China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic, China Glaze Custom Kicks)

China Glaze For Audrey: What can I even say about this polish? Almost every nail-obsessed person probably owns this polish. I really can't get enough of this sky blue polish. It isn't actually a dupe for Tiffany's blue (which is impossible, because Tiffany's owns the color apparently), but it comes very close. Regardless, this color looks amazing, whether you care about Tiffany's jewelry or not (which I don't because it is ridiculously expensive). I do however, own two bottles of For Audrey, just in case!

China Glaze Atlantis: I'm not quite sure why, but I did not like this polish on me at all the last time I tried it. It is a very gorgeous color; perhaps I was just not in the mood. As you can see in the first picture, Atlantis is very glitter-packed in a jelly base. I think the reason I am not a huge fan of wearing glitters alone (like Sour Apple), is because I don't like the jelly base look around the edges of my nails (all the glitter seems to concentrate in the center). Maybe some practice at applying said glitters will make me like them more.

NYC Skin-Tight Denim Creme: As the name implies, Skin-Tight Denim Creme is a creme. It is not as shimmery as it looks in the first photo; the finish is a little dull. That being said, it is still a very versatile and gorgeous blue color. Before I discovered base coats, this one always stained my nails; I haven't tried wearing it in a while, but I'm sure having a base coat helps.

China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic: I reviewed this color a week or two ago, and although in that post I said I was not wowed, it is still a very gorgeous color. I think I wanted it to be more of the duochrome that appeared in the bottle, even though it is not supposed to be a duochrome.

China Glaze Custom Kicks: This is one of my new polishes. Custom Kicks is a very pretty teal color, with gold shimmer. I think the gold shimmer really makes this polish stand out among other teal polishes; it makes it look and feel very summery and luxurious at the same time.

China Glaze Calypso Blue (not pictured): Calypso Blue is a deep, midnight blue. It's very deep, almost black when you first look at it. A closer look reveals a gorgeous midnight blue creme. I really love this color!

China Glaze Custom Kicks

China Glaze Custom Kicks is a gorgeous teal blue with a gold shimmer. I love, love, LOVE this color! It reminds me of the sea in the summer. The color is really special with the gold shimmer. These next photographs show the color as more of a sky blue, but it's a lot darker (like the photo without flash). The only thing I don't like about this polish, is the extreme smurf fingers I get after taking it off; everything is stained!

The actual color is not as bright as these (taken with flash).

P.S. I swear, I'm going to try to improve my photography skills! It's really hard because even though I love my darling little point-and-shoot camera to death, it's also reaching 8-9 years of age (and had an unfortunate accident last semester when a friend dropped my little baby face down while it was on).

China Glaze Atlantis

China Glaze Atlantis is a glitter polish of green-blue color. This was one of my first China Glaze polishes. I read and saw gorgeous reviews of this and decided to take the plunge. However, when I first tried it on a month ago, I really didn't like it. I can't exactly put my finger on why. Maybe it was that my nails were longer. Anyways, I really like it now that my nails are short. It's very glittery, and depending on the light, can look greener or bluer. I'd say that it generally leans more towards green (although in my kitchen, it looks blue).

Starry Sky

Today was my first time working with rhinestones - I had bought a small packet of 2 1/2 mm and 2 mm rhinestones from A.C. Moore the other week. It was a bit pricey from there, but I wasn't ready to order the 1000+ packs that are much cheaper online yet. I used two 2 mm and one 2 1/2 mm on each ring finger. I thought the 2 1/2 mm was a little too big for this particular manicure, but I could see a really cool completely blinged-out nail using that size. I really liked working with rhinestones so I may buy one of the bigger rhinestone wheels!

I used one coat of CND Stickey Base Coat, two coats of China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic, one coat of China Glaze Techno, then applied rhinestones to the ring finger nails only, two coats of China Glaze Wireless Holographic Top Coat, and finished with one coat Seche Vite.

(Indoors, without flash)

(Indoors, with flash)

(Outdoors, no flash)
The color and overall manicure looks amazing outdoors!

Check out my blog tomorrow for the blinged-out manicure I did on my friend S, who was visiting me!

China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic

China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic is part of China Glaze's Fall 2008 Rodeo Diva Collection. Rodeo Fanatic is a dark blue with a bit of purple duochrome effect. The duochrome is more obvious in the bottle; I was a little disappointed when I saw it on my nails.

(Without flash)

Blurry picture, but shows more of the purple duochrome

I did some nail art on top of Rodeo Fanatic, but I'll save that for tomorrow's post! Overall, Rodeo Fanatic didn't wow me as much as I thought it would when I saw it in the bottle.

China Glaze For Audrey

 My very first China Glaze polish was For Audrey, the famous (almost) Tiffany Blue color. It is, by far, my favorite polish color so far! Whether or not you are a fan of Tiffany's ridiculously expensive jewelry, the color works for most skin tones/all seasons.

(Yes, these are my nails!)

I ordered my China Glaze For Audrey from Amazon.com - fast shipping and for a relatively good price.