This is my very first attempt at some water spotted nails.  I actually saw a pin for turquoise nails on Pinterest* and I decided to give it a go.  It really wasn't too difficult at all.  I started here with a base of Orly Frisky and then I used cling wrap to smatter on some goldish copper (it was a China Glaze, can't recall the name).  After that was all dry I moved on to the marbling.  A little tip here: TOP COAT first. I mean REALLY top coat. Use a good one and get all the edges and everything.  Here's why: if you screw up you have a few options.  One is to remove the marble GENTLY with a cotton ball and some acetone. If you topcoat and remove gently before the marble effect is dry, it won't mess up the under layers. Two is to dip a brush in acetone and then lightly remove some of the pattern to open it up more.  Again this doesn't affect the under layer if they're top coated properly.   I played around with it a bit because the very first nail I did wasn't really in line with the pattern that happened on the rest of my nails.  I also left the accent nail a bit more open to add some dimension.  I did really love this in the end but the spotted technique isn't super my thing. It works here but I'm not sure I'd use it again.  Have you tried it yet? What are your tips for getting it just right?

*Pinterest pin and design is inspired by CopyCat Claws.

Well it's been just over a month with no internet but FINALLY I've got it all sorted! Now that we're all settled into our new place I can't wait to get back to posting more frequently! Let's face it, this girl NEEDS to polish her nails!  They've been so sad and polish-less for the past month.  Although I must say I snagged the Gwen Stefani for OPI collection a week or so ago and I'm LOVING the colors. The satins are must haves! The metallic is also wicked cool. I also picked up the glitter (like I needed another holo glitter) and the pink (cause I wear SO much pink) so I can't wait to use them in some designs!  Until that's all ready to go though, here are some nails I did back in December which haven't made an official blog appearance yet!  I really love this Argyle glitter and I wanted to use it with a gradient cause for some reason I'm kind of digging the whole glitter/gradient look right now. Also, with a lot of combo's you can do this in like, five minutes with ZERO tools.

 

Of course, with a bulky glitter like this one, that's not really so easy to do! But I enjoyed the final look anyway! Thanks to all of you for sticking with me through the ups and downs lately! And welcome to all of my new followers! :) Don't forget to enter the Digital Dozen Loves You Giveaway by visiting the link on my sidebar. It's an EPIC giveaway with lots of prizes and winners! 

 It's time for another Monkey See Monkey Do Monday!! But before I get onto the art work I want to introduce you to one of my most favorite polishes!  It's Catrice In The Bronx.  In the Bronx is a bronze-y, coppery, shimmery delicious polish which is an absolute dream to work with.  It's a metallic, which is great but it's not flat like some other metallics I have (Barry M Foils, I'm looking at you).  Instead it's laced with endless amounts of shimmer and it's just gorgeous in the sun AND in the shade.  This is two coats of it and you'll notice that there's no streaks, no balding and a wonderful shiny finish.  It's just amazing and it ranks in my top ten polishes in my collection.  Yeah. I love it THAT. much.  So what better a choice for my Monday mani?  For this Monday I wanted to do something subtle (I know, never!) and I wanted to try out a new technique I've seen floating around the blogger world.  Cling wrap manis...you heard that right.  Cling wrap.  This is actually REALLY easy and it looks great but it's a bit tricky the first go round.  Here's my mani:

I used Catrice In the Bronx for my base and then I topped it with Seche Vite (cause I'm super impatient!) and let it dry for roughly 30 minutes (just to be sure!).  Then I added a single coat of Orly Green With Envy.  Then I used a wadded up plasic bag (I didn't have any cling wrap) to press lightly into the polish, thus lifting off parts of the green.  I did one nail at a time and wiped the plastic in between with a paper towel so I could reuse it.  I also only pressed once per nail although I've seen people use smaller pieces to press numerous times.  The only advice I really have is to press gently and to realize that the polish will spread as it dries so even though gaps look pretty big when you initially press, they'll close up some.  My pinkie was the first nail I did and I used a lighter touch with the others but you can see the difference in effect.  It's something I'd definitely like to do more with in the future!!!  Here's the original inspiration: