Louis Vuitton Damier Check

Last fall during Paris Fashion Week, Louis Vuitton debuted its spring/summer 2013 collection with a show that featured four escalators installed on the runway (genius idea, Marc Jacobs). This is the first runway collection to not feature the signature LV logo, but instead put the spotlight on the Damier check.

The whole show was very graphically inspired and I loved the simple silhouettes and mod vibe. For this manicure, I wanted to capture the feeling of the show on my nails.

It's very simple nail art (maybe too simple?), but very clean. For my base coat, I used three coats of OPI Funny Bunny. I've been using this polish so much lately that I'll spare everyone the details.

Image courtesy of Trendwire

I layered it with a check pattern using two coats of Sinful Colors Firefly, a shimmery canary yellow. I started out by cutting pieces of tape and laying them in a lattice pattern, but it just wasn't coming out quite right. I ended up starting over again and freehanding the stripes. It's a little messier than tape would be, but because my nails are so small it gave me more freedom to put the checks where I wanted them.

For my accent nail, I swapped out the yellow for a brown with a subtle shimmer, OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know from the Holland Collection last year.

I have a beloved Speedy bag that I bought a few years ago as a "congratulations you have a big girl job" gift to myself, but at the moment Louis Vuitton is out of my price range (at least until my hubby finishes school). A girl can dream though ...

Ben & Jerry's Nails

I am a girl, so therefore I can eat disgusting amounts of ice cream and blame it on hormones. Or boys. Or both. Ben & Jerry's has been my unhealthy treat of choice lately, and it is oh so delicious. Earlier this week I polished off my pint of strawberry cheesecake while lying in bed and bawling as Brooke Davis and Julian Baker tied the knot on "One Tree Hill."

When I was able to put down my spoon for a few minutes, I decided to pay homage to two men in my life who never let me down: Ben & Jerry.

For the sky blue background, I used two coats of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook. It's not quite a perfect match for Ben & Jerry's blue, but it's very close! The hills were done using a dotting tool and a small brush—the light green is OPI Gargantuan Green Grape and the darker is OPI Green-Wich Village. For the clouds, I used my dotting tool and OPI Alpine Snow.

I can't draw cows to save my life, so I opted to feature a black and white cow print on my accent nail. The base is two coats of Alpine Snow and the black is from new bottle of Sinful Colors Black on Black (my Sally Hansen bottle is running low!).

Time to crack open my pint of Everything But The...

Star Wars Nails

"Big Bang Theory" has really put me in a comic book/superhero/sci-fi funk lately (in a good way?). My husband and I are huge Star Wars fans -- yes, I'm totally revealing my inner geek here -- and even have Yoda and Darth Vader Christmas stockings. So of course, the logical progression from comic book nails is to rock some awesome Star Wars-inspired nail art.

These took me FOREVER. Plus, when I was getting ready to photograph them, my thumb mysteriously got smudged and I had to start the painstaking process all over again (thanks, hubby -- didn't want to sleep or anything last night).

I've tried Stormtrooper nails before, but adding some of the other characters and logos was tricky ... and so worth it.

Check out the nail designs, clockwise from top left: Stormtrooper, R2-D2, Rebel Alliance logo, a poorly-drawn Darth Vader and the  Wars Logo.

Breakfast at Tiffany's-Inspired Nails

The first thing that pops into my head when I see robin's egg blue, black and diamonds is Audrey Hepburn and "Breakfast at Tiffany's." I saw these nails over at Prettyfulz and fell in love. I can't find the original link, but they looked really cute on her shorter nails. My nails are getting monstrously long, so the proportions were a little off, but I still love the color combination.

For the base color, I used two coats of China Glaze For Audrey. I seriously can't get enough of this color — it's one of those shades that just makes me feel happy looking at it. Next, I freehanded two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls on half of each nail. That one is becoming my go-to white shade, though I've discovered that although I'm only used about a quarter of the bottle and had it for a couple months, the formula is getting a little clumpy.

The dots were made with my dotting tool and China Glaze Smoke and Ashes for a metallic black shimmer. I used a striper brush from It's So Easy Nails for the vertical line. For the accent nail, I used tweezers to place a row of small silver rhinestones. Overall, I liked it -- and with a few coats of Seche Vite, none of those rhinestones fell off! 

 

AriZona Iced Tea Nail Art

Recently a friend of mine posted this photo onto my Facebook wall, and of course, I accepted it as a challenge to try it out.  I actually recalled that my favorite YouTube nail artist had done a similar look, so I followed her tutorial to replicate the look. The colors I used were Orly Gumdrop for the base color, Art Deco in Black (which has the skinny brush), OPI Strawberry Margarita and OPI Pinking of You for the blossoms.  Finished it off with a bit of top coat, and all the tools I needed was the dotting tool.  It is actually a simpler look than it looks, and I received tons of compliments on the design and the nail polish color. Teal polish is really in, so definitely give ORLY's Gumdrop a look, it think it's my favorite shade of this season!

Happy Hunger Games!

Hunger Games comes out tonight and we are so excited! Just wanted to show off the mani I'm wearing to tonight's premiere, inspired by Katniss's own manicure when she entered the arena (Cinna, you are the best for making our kickass hero stylish as well!).  I recall when I read the the book, that Katniss's polish chipped during the games.  Girl needed a better topcoat!  Anywho, Allison also did a Girl On Fire inspired nail look, which you can check out here! Here's my rendition:

China Glaze Smoke and Ashes, China Glaze Electrify, OPI Big Red Apple

I thought it would be fitting to use some of the colors from the China Glaze Capitol Colors collection for this look. I started off with China Glaze's Strong Adhesion Base Coat (please don't skip this step! Dark polishes will stain your nails!).  Then I put on one coat of China Glaze's Smoke and Ashes on all of my nails, one of my favorites from this collection.  Using OPI's Big Red Apple, I put one one thin swipe at the tip of each nail. It is a sheer layer, and I use it as a guide for the next step, which is putting on the glitter.  For the hardest part of this mani, I put on random vertical swipes of Electrify to make the flames.  Electrify is absolutely perfect for this look,the gold and red glitters make it way easier to emulate the fiery look.  Next I went back over the red region, and put another light coat of Big Red Apple  over it to seal together the look.  Finish off with Top Coat, and you're ready to let the games begin!

Abstract Girl on Fire Mani

So, after doing a Valentine's Day mani, I felt really inspired by the black and red color palette. As a base, I used OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous, a great black shimmer that reminds me of coal in the sunlight. I frosted my fingertips with a red glitter, OPI's Gettin' Miss Piggy With It from the Muppet's Collection...and the result looked so similar to a flame that my Hunger Games-obsessed mind  immediately knew I had to do a mani inspired by Katniss' 74th Games tribute costume, designed by Cinna.

For those of you who haven't read the Hunger Games, the main character Katniss Everdeen donned a black bodysuit and a cape that was set ablaze by her stylist as she rode into the arena. She literally (and figuratively) became The Girl On Fire. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I topped my original "bleeding black heart" Valentine's mani with a "pa" nail polish I picked up from a Japanese market. It's a gold glitter that looks like it changes opacity in different lights. This is the first time I've used it, and I'm pleasantly surprised.

The result was a subtle gold shimmer atop the black and red, like an abstract flame. I could never rock a bold red and yellow flame on my nails (just not my style), but the glittery flames suit me perfectly...plus, every time I look at my nails I'm reminded that there's just a little more than a month until the Hunger Games movie comes out—AND that the China Glaze Capitol Colors will be out soon too!