I'm fairly excited to share this manicure with you. I'm my first every half-moon mani!

It's two coats of Illamasqua Milf with two coats of Shades by Barielle Blossom.

I have to thank my awesome coworker, Jaysen, for the idea on this one. You rock! Maybe a week or so ago he suggested I do a Make Up For Ever Spring 2011 inspired half-moon manicure. They have two new star powders in a soft lime and peach. You can see them here. I have them both and they are absolutely gorgeous!

In any case, I intended to do this using reinforcement stickers but encountered many snafus along the way. Long boring story. I got impatient and decided to freehand them.

They aren't as perfect as I would have liked, but for my first time and all I think I did pretty good. :) I also had planned to put a coat of a shimmery peach Lancome polish over Blossom, but by the time I got done with my second coat of Blossom (which was thick and a bit tricky), I thought, good grief, let's be done with this.

It's a good thing, too, because it took forEVER to dry completely!!

I would like to try more half-moon manis in the future, but I don't know how motivated I will be to actually do it. Maybe I'll keep it tucked away for special occasions or just if I get bored with the same ol' same ol'.

I like that it's just really interesting, visually.

Have you tried it? What did you think?

The whole process really makes you think about what polishes you have that have amazing coverage in just one coat!

As a last thought, I tried layering Palladio Fuse first, then a coat of Gelous, and then all the polishes. Didn't work out too well over all. I ended up removing it earlier tonight after only one day of wear. I bumped two corners of my thumbs at work and they chipped pretty badly. :( I may eventually decided to just use the Fuse by itself and resign myself to wicked staining.

Good news is that I put on Orly Royal Velvet and I really love it! :D

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I wasn't sure if I was even going to post these pictures, but figured, why not? I started with three coats of Shades by Barielle Jess' Champagne Toast and then did two coats of Wet 'N Wild Prancer.

Jess' Champagne Toast is a frosty lilac that looks silvery gray in some lights. It also has an almost duochrome quality in the bottle, looking pink, purple, blue, and silver all at once. There is lots of pink micro glitter in it which is very pretty.

The problem is that Jess' Champagne Toast looks a little lumpy on. It's also very frosty, which I knew it would be, yet I still imagined it could be more spectacular on the nail, if that makes sense. Wet 'N Wild Prancer is awesome, but I had some difficulty with glitter placement using two rather thick coats. I could have placed the larger pieces with a toothpick, but it would have been a lot of work that I was trying to avoid! I still think it's really fun, I just wish it had a higher ratio of glitter bits to clear base. Also, the bottle is itty bitty tiny.

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This mani started with Shades by Barielle Myrza's Meadow. I did two coats and then followed with Konad plate m69, using China Glaze LOL.

Myrza's Meadow was thick, like most Barielles I've used so far. I added thinner several times to make it easier to work with.

Also, I had a little bit of trouble with my stamping. I couldn't get the LOL to transfer as cleanly as I wanted. It turned out really cute, though!

My next Konadicure is with Sephora by OPI Rumba Romance. I did three coats and then used plate m57 with Konad Princess Gold Black for the stamping.

Tiger nails!! RAWRR!! This one was super fun. I got tons of compliments on it. :)

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I have some fabulous, out of the ordinary grays for you! First is Shades by Barielle, U-Concrete-Me. This is a mere two coats of gloriousness! I adore this color, much more than I originally anticipated. It has a hint of cool blueness, just barely, which keeps me interested and makes it more than just gray. Unfortunately, I only captured one decent picture!

Savina Black Pearl. Three coats.

I found this gem in a Nordstrom outlet store. It is so superb.

The pictures do not do it justice. It is much more flashy, vivid and duo-chromey in real life!!

It has a really nice, strong, teal/purple flash. There is also some green and pink going on. I know this would be even more stunning over black (I tried it that way initially, but had some bubble issues and had to scrap it).

I am getting ready to leave for a business trip very soon (in about 90 minutes!). I'll be going to San Francisco for 10 days. I am taking polish, my camera, and my laptop, but I just wanted to put it out there for you because I don't know how hectic my days will be and cannot promise that I'll be able to post regularly. Wish me luck! :)

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I debated whether or not to post the next picture.  Remember how I had these awful tears in the sides of my nails?  Well, the Orly rescue product helped for a while but the tears were just too severe for me to leave them alone.  My poor two wittle nails cannot get any shorter.

Don't cry for me, nail polish lovers.  I'll be okay.  You'll probably just be seeing more of my right hand for the next few weeks.  ;)  

Today's nails feature the faboo Shades by Barielle Falling Star.  The first time I saw this polish I knew I had to have it.  I am mesmerized by the marriage of the copper glittahs and the dreamy calm of the blue.  

I'm reviving my Konad skills, as well.  This is design plate m41 with China Glaze Poetic.

Don't laugh, but I have the entire Romantiques collection and have never before used a single one.  I know, I know!  And what everyone says is true, because they are perfect for Konading!  I was skeptical, I'm not gonna lie.  I'm fully converted and be sure that you will be seeing plenty of Romantique Konads in the future.  Gorg!

If I had it to do over again I think I would place the daisies a little further up the tips so that more blue shows.  

I do love this design.  It's clean, pretty, and interesting.

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