Coming Up Roses!

I love Pinterest!  I have a board where I pin all of the fantastic mani's I admire called "Must-Do Mani's", and I hoard tons of ideas there...sometimes I even do a mani based on one.  Like last night!

I really have a hard time doing my nails for work.  I have to be professional, but I can't stand just plain nails.  Thus my dilemma.  So, THIS MANI by Pshiiit! seemed to be just the answer.  Plain pink, but with a cute and artsy rose accent nail.  Loved it!

Here's my version:

I used Zoya "Lara" for the main pink, and "Sweet" and "Purity" for accents on the rose over a background of "Raven".  The leaves were NOPI "Lime Light" and Sinful Colors "Innocent".  All topped with Seche Vite.

I need to invest in some nail art brushes.  I currently use some cheapo ones I got at Walmart, and it's really hard to control where the polish goes.  Plus, the bristles get hard and don't brush the polish on nicely.  But I think this came out pretty cute anyway!!! :-)

Scales on NOPI "Mer-maid For Each Other"

I read a review of Nicole by OPI's limited-edition, only-available-at-Target duochrome polish called "Mer-maid For Each Other" on Nailblog.net.  And after seeing the pretty pictures, I ran out to the local Target and snagged the very last one they had!

I didn't leave it on alone very long, and only snapped a few camera phone pics:

At the beach (oh, so appropriate!)

 With Pumpkin Spice Latte:

If you look closely, you can see the duo-chrome effect from green to aqua blue.  It's much cooler in real life.  This is 2 coats of MFOE with a top coat.

So what to do to spice up a mermaid manicure?  Add scales, of course!  

With flash (you can see a little of the aqua blue here):

And it goes perfectly with the yarn of the scarf I'm currently knitting:

 With flash:

 

Look at how different the MFOE looks here than it does in the first pics!!  Awesome color shift!

I used Sinful Colors "Hot Spot" to stamp on the scale pattern from Mash plate #39.  It stamped wonderfully, but the design wasn't wide enough for my thumb, which is why it looks a little wonky on the edge.  I absolutely could not capture any of the color shift with this lighting set up, so you'll just have to take my word that when the MFOE shifts to the aqua blue, it also goes really well with Hot Spot too.  This manicure makes me happy! ;-)