365 Days of Color: Mint Chip

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a bunch of awesome goodies from 365 Days of Color.  One of the polishes that I ordered was Mint Chip.  It is a light green polish with black square glitter in it and it looks exactly like Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, so much so there were times I contemplated licking my nails!  Mint Chocolate Chip is always my go to flavor of ice cream and this nail polish is a great reminder of it without all of the calories!  Below I have included coat by coat swatches of this delicious color!

One Coat:

The first coat of polish applied nicely.  Also the distribution of the black glitter was great.  I didn't feel like I had to fish them out of the bottle. 

Two Coats:

The second coat really brings out the mint color of the polish.  I also like how you can still see the black glitters from the first coat through the second coat of polish.

Three Coats:

After three coats the polish is completely opaque and it is beautiful!  It really looks like ice cream!

I absolutely love this polish! In fact it is making me want to go out and buy some ice cream!  If you are interested in buying this polish check out 365 Days of  Color on Facebook, on her blog, or on her store page.  Mint Chip is $8 for a full size bottle and $4.50 for a mini bottle.

Do you own any polished from 365 Days of Color?  Which ones are your favorite? Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or tweet me @Polish_Paradise! 

Tutorial: Roses

I have been in a real nail art mood lately, so I decided it would be fun to try out a design that I have had brewing in my head for a while... a play on a floral denim pattern.  I really love using flowers for nail art.  They are so feminine and dainty

For this design I used OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdamn!, Color Club Poker Face, Ulta Noel, China Glaze Holly-Day, and Kiss Nail Art Paint in White.  I also used a large pointed and small pointed dotting tool to create the roses.

I did the tutorial on a nail wheel so that it would be easier for me to photograph step by step.  

Step 1:

I started out with two coats of OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdamn!

Step 2:

Using the small dotting tool and Kiss Nail Art Paint in White I created a polka dot background.

Step 3:

Using the large dotting tool and Color Club Poker Face I painted 3 large red dots on the nail.

Step 4:

After wiping the large dotting tool clean; I then used it and Ulta Noel to add 3 large light pink dots to the nail.

Step 5:

Using the small dotting tool swirl all the pink and red dots together.  Try and swirl the colors inwards so that it looks like a rose bud when you are finished.  Make sure that you do this quickly after you make the dots.  You will not be able to swirl the dots if they have already dried.

Step 6:

Using the small dotting tools and China Glaze Holly-Day I added two smalls leaves, one on each side of the rose.

Step 7:

Finally I added one coat of Hong Kong Girl top coat which smoothed things and made the flower blend together nicely.

I really love how this came out!  It is just how I imagined it!  Also I can't believe how simple it was to create.  I think this is one of my all time favorite manicures that I have ever done on myself!  I also really love how the color I chose for the background looks very similar to the color of denim to give it that similar look.

Have you ever done a flower manicure?  Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or tweet me @Polish_Paradise!

Marina and the Diamonds Nail Art!

Hello friends!  I know it has been a while since I last updated but that will all be changing soon as the summer starts to slow down.  I have been a very busy bee with work for the past few weeks but things are finally starting to wrap up be for September when I start my first semester of Graduate school.

Anyway... I am a huge fan of the band Marina and the Diamonds!  She is a Welsh singer who is quite awesome.  Recently she came out with her second album called Electra Heart and was touring.  I got lucky and I am able to see her twice during this time period.  Yesterday was the first of two!  I got to see her YouTube Presents performance live in the studio with around 200 other fans!  She was so close I could almost reach out and touch her!  She played a really awesome acoustic set that featured 5 songs off her new album.  Tonight I am going to see her at a larger venue in NYC which I am extremely excited about!  In honor of all this excitement I decided to paint my nails in a Marina and the Diamonds theme!

I started out with two coats of Zoya Kimber on all my fingers except my ring finger where I used 3 coats of Barielle Starchild.  Marina is all about being a pop icon that is why I chose pink and the glittery accent nail kind of looks like diamonds from the distance.  The Diamonds are not actually Marinas backing band; Marina considers The Diamonds to be her fans,  that is why I decided to use it as my accent nail concept.  Then using a Bundle Monster stamping plate that had a small heart design on it and Essence Black is Back, I stamped two hearts on each nail.  Then I added Nails Inc. Electric Lane holographic top coat on top of each of the hearts to give them an electric look making them Electra Hearts!

Here are some pictures from the show:

And if you are interested in hearing what Marina sounds like I have included a link to a YouTube video of her doing an acoustic performance of one of my favorite songs off her new album called Lies.

Have you ever done nail art based off of music?  Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or tweet me @Polish_Paradise!

Olympic Fever!

I don't know about you guys, but I have been totally obsessed with the Summer Olympics the past few days.  I love watching swimming and  gymnastics and I have been so happy to see so many talented American athletes take home metals.  It is so excited to watch someones dreams come true right before your eyes! Seeing the America girls gymnastics team take home gold the other night inspired my manicure today.

For this manicure I decided to focus on themes of the Olympics not just the USA.  I painted my pointer, middle and ring finger on each hand with gold, silver and bronze to represent the Olympic metals and on my thumb and pinky I painted the 5 Olympic rings using large and small dotting tools on a white base.

For the gold, silver and bronze fingers I used Julep Oscar, Zoya Trixie, and OPI Take The Stage; and for the rings I used Wet n' Wild French White Creme, Essence Walking on Air, Wet n' Wild Black Creme, China Glaze Poinsettia, China Glaze Solar Power, China Glaze Holly-Day.

To create the ring design I used the large side of a dotting tool to make 5 dots, one of each color featured in the ring design then I used the smallest size dotting tool that I had to add white dots inside the color dots to create the illusion that they are rings.

I am really excited with how this design came out and I have been getting complements on it all week! I also love how simple it was to get the olympic ring look.  Also on a side note this is probably the most bottles of nail polish I have used in one manicure!

What are you wearing for your Olympic mani?  Leave a comment here, on Facebook, or tweet me @Polish_Paradise!