Rhianna Inspired Ruffian Manicure

I just saw Rhianna's new music video for her song 'Rude Boy' and I loved the vid...it's so funky and colorful, so I decided to do a ruffian inspired manicure w/ the colors in her vid...I'm gonna do a series of these manicures just to play around with color

The first one I did was inspired by the image posted below...
I used: Sephora by OPI - Domestic Goddess
China Glaze - Happy Go Lucky (from the Up&Away collection)

I wore this manicure w/ a cute leather jacket just to keep the whole Rhianna vibe goin...this manicure was harder than I imagined!! It looks cute from far away but if you look closely, you can see the booboos...I shoulda spent more time on it but I was in a hurry to go out and figured i'd be changing this up soon anyway =P

Purple & Black stripes + matte black with CND Jade&Crimson Sparkle

I used Flyin High from China Glaze's Up and Away Collection, as well as CND's Jade Sparkle and Crimson Sparkle...I was in a mood for stripes...I don't really like this manicure though...it just doesn't come together I think...I probably should have just stuck with the purple and black haha

The last pic is how I originally had my left nail...I didn't like how it turned out though so I changed the thumb...I still don't like it but I'm too lazy to change it =P

Pink and Black

I went to check out a new nail supply store in San Gabriel and the owner was nice enough to throw in a pack of black, flatbacked round thingies for free, so I decided to use em in my manicure =)

I picked up 8 bottles of CND nail polish at the store, and decided to try out their matte topcoat...it doesn't make your nail polish truly matte like Essie's Matte about you, but it gives a cool look to your nail polish, esp on black...it's pretty milky looking which i think contributes to the "matte" look...you can see in the closeup how it looks like I painted a milky coat of something over black...I also used Pink 2 from Urban Outfitters which was a bright jelly pink that dried a little matte like a neon polish

Red, Teal, and Glitter Manicure

So after I uploaded these I realized how nasty my cuticles are...so I went out and bought some cuticle oil...I promise my pics will feature nicer cuticles in the future...

Anyway, I used OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui from their new Hong Kong collection which is an AWESOME tealish creme thats my current fave blue. The color is just SO gorgeous and goes with EVERYTHING!! I also used Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore...OMG I couldn't stop staring at my ring finger nail since the different glitters were so pretty!! 3 coats gave my nail full coverage. The red I used was Essie Lolipop from their Winter 2009 collection.

I got a really cute dress and the colors matched my nails perfectly so I figured I'd include some pics with the dress =)

Black and neon splatters

I saw a similar design in a nail design book as well as in Seoul Diva's blog and decided I wanted nails like that too! I couldn't for the life of me "splatter" paint on my nails because it was way too thick, and when I tried to drip the nail polish from high up, it'd either miss my nail or just blob on, so I decided to put dots on my nails and dragged the blobs of pink and orange with the edge of a peice of paper...it didn't take too long and I LOVE how they turned out! They didn't look as nice as Seoul Diva's though haha but I'm happy with the first attempt =)

Water Marbling for the 1st time!!

So I decided to try out water marbeling for the first time for fun...man...i shoulda definitely wrapped tape around my fingers before I did it because clean-up took me about 2 hrs to clean all the nail polish off...my friend had suggested I just wash my hands with soap and water but I figured, what would a guy know?!? Turns out I shoulda listened to him because when i used soap and water, the nail polish fell off in layers haha...anyway here they are:

By the way, click on the pics to enlarge em so you can really see the colors more accurately

Rococo - gold leaf topcoat

I was at bloomingdales and saw this awesome topcoat that has 24ct gold leaf in it and just HAD to buy it...it was a bit pricey at $35, but it was so unique I figured it was worth it

the clear part of it gave my nail polish a really glossy nice topocoat, and the gold flakes look AMAZING! esp on the dark colored base...the next color i'm gonna be trying it on is a nice greyish-creme, i figure it'll look good with the gold flakes

Deborah Lippmann Wicked Game + Don't Call Me Baby

So I'd originally gone to Nordstrom today to pick up Marquee Moon and to check if they'd by any chance gotten Happy Birthday...no luck =( But while I was there, I noticed Wicked Game and Don't Call Me Baby. Actually...my guy friend noticed the two since he thoguht Wicked Game looked unique and mentioned Don't Call Me Baby must be a really nice color since it was almost all used up in the sample bottle.

Anyway...so I tried on Wicked Game and was honestly quite suprised and pleased. I generally like cremes, but this color made my nail look like a pearl! I tried some other colors on my nails and kept looking back at Don't Call Me Baby, and decided to paint the tip of my thumb (which already had Wicked Game painted on it) with Don't Call Me Baby. Since DCMB is so sheer, it went right over Wicked Game and made it look like a gradiation. I've been OBSESSED w/ gradiation, and since the pink in DCMB blended in so perfectly w/ the lilacish pink of Wicked Game, it made my nail look AWESOME!

I apologize for the picture spam but I just wanted to get diff pics of how Wicked Game changes colors under different angles/lighting...its SUCH a gorgeous color! Notice how it changes between green/gold/purplish/pinkish?