Pinspiration Thursday - Turquoise and Coral

I don't know about all of you, but I am obsessed with Pinterest. Those of you who have never heard of it need to visit the site immediately. It is amazing! I spend more time browsing pins nowadays than I do on Facebook (THAT is a big deal). There is always more to see and it is such a great way to get ideas for everything from fashion to crafting and party throwing. A friend of mine pinned this great Polyvore creation a while back and I just love the colors! 

So, in a burst of what I am now referring to as "Pinspiration", I set to work creating a mani inspired by this outfit. The colors are not quite identical, but I really like the way that it turned out.

A really popular trend in polish lately has been the half moon manicure. Where you essentially use hole-punch reinforcers to recreate the natural coloring of a nail bed with your polish, let Lauren Conrad teach you how here. I simply do not have the patience to recreate this look. In order to apply the sticker to your nail, and have it not damage the polish when you remove it, you have to wait for your first color to dry completely - we all know how long this takes without a topcoat.. FOREVER. So, using the Half-moon manicure as part of my inspiration, I went for a bit of a different layering effect that can be achieved without the use of stickers.

For this look I used Essie's Haute as Hello, a bright orangy coral that is actually a bit neon (it turned out to be very difficult to capture the true color, it is much brighter than it appears here), as the base color. I painted two coats paying particular attention to making sure there was no brush drag near the bottom of the nail, as this is the area that is actually going to show, and trying to get good coverage without laying it on too thick. The thicker your polish, the more easily it will chip and with layering it is very easy to end up with VERY thick  nails.

I then layered on 2 coats of China Glaze's For Audrey, starting slightly above the beginning of Haute as Hello. This can be a bit tricky, especially if you haven't mastered the art of not getting polish all over your cuticles, but if you sit at a table and have a surface to prop and steady your painting hand, you can get a very smooth round edge. It has taken me a lot of practice, but I think I have gotten it down pretty well now.

I love this combo and today is actually my 3rd consecutive day sporting this mani, which, if you know me, means that it is a HUGE hit. I might actually try to stretch it until tomorrow (!!!), if the slight tip wear doesn't drive me over the edge before then.

I am getting very fond of these creative manis, so I am sure that this is the first of many Pinspiration posts to come! If you'd like to follow my Pinboards, click here.

Happy Pinning and Painting!

China Glaze - For Audrey: Everyone's Fav Polish

To kick this off, I would like to share with you one of my, and many other nail polish enthusiasts', absolute favorite polishes: China Glaze's For Audrey. Channeling that iconic Tiffany blue, For Audrey, is a gorgeous creme turquoise blue. It looks amazing on many skin types and is one of those eye-catching, comment-garnering colors that you will want to wear over and over.

I believe this is my third bottle of this polish, in the less than 2 years, and I sincerely hope that CG continues to make this brilliant color for years and years to come!

The formula on this can be a little tricky as it is a bit thick and can be streaky. The secret is to use very thin coats. I always use 3 coats with For Audrey and my fav top coat, Seche Vite. I love love love love this polish and think that it is a must have in every collection and a staple in mine.

Happy painting!