Swatch: Secret Peri-wink-le

I have a swatch for you today: China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful  periwinkle creme from the 2008 Operation Colour collection. I don't have anything like it in my army of polishes so it was a great addition. The formula was decent and it dried so shiny! Dried/hardened fast too which is always a huge plus for nail polishes. Here's so swatch pictures:

That Jamie Sullivan sure has style...

Hello everyone, I hope you all had great weekends! A group of my friends and I all went ice skating on Saturday night. We had a great time and it was a nice off-campus break from our usual weekend movie watching and snacking. Of course, it was also educational--I was reminded that I cannot defy gravity. I fell twice. Still though, twice is not bad at all and really they were very graceful (at least I hope so!). 
Today's post is a little late but "better late than never," you know? The fabulous blogger behind LoodieLoodieLoodie tagged me with the Stylish Blogger Award a couple weeks ago and I am so grateful and excited for my *third* award!! Third! I am so tickled pink when I have comments let alone an exciting award from a fellow blogger!  I'm so happy she tagged me and, without further ado, to the award rules: 
          1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
          2. Share 7 things about yourself.
          3. Award 15 recently discovered, great bloggers.
          4. Let the winners know through a comment!
So once again a MONSTER thank you to fellow blogger Loodie for tagging me with this fabulous award! Thank you so much and I enjoy reading your stylish blog a ton!

Now for seven things about myself. Where do I start?!

1. I guess I'll start with food: I LOVE sushi. My sister discovered this amazing half-price sushi deal at a local Japanese restaurant over the summer and since then it has become our "thing" to get sushi together. Sometimes we have other company too but I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go with my sister. There's something so delicious about sushi. I love chopsticks, soy sauce, and popping endless amounts of these little rolls of fantasticness in my mouth. Favorites include spicy salmon, rainbow, broccoli tempura, and cucumber rolls. Seriously, even thinking about it right now makes my mouth water. Yummmm!

2. Going off of number 1....I love food...in general. Just ask my boyfriend. There is nothing better than a tasty meal out and a night spent relaxing on the couch watching food network. Seriously. But the fun fact comes in with this: Although I've logged many hours watching "30 Minute Meals", "At Home with Giada", "Barefoot Contessa", "Chopped", etc. I still can not cook. Eventually I want to learn though and then all the food network watching will come in handy...I hope!
3. I go to college for Psychology but I don't plan on being a therapist. I actually plan to apply to law school at the end of this year. I'm not really sure what area of law to specialize in though so really I'm just going to test what I can out before I have to choose.

4. One thing I wish I could do a ton is travel. I am obsessed with France and have probably already mentioned the trip my sister and I are planning. Other destinations (eventually) include Egypt, Ireland, England, Russia, Hawaii, Turks and Caicos, Malta, Prague, Germany, Barcelona, Italy, anywhere really...I just want to see the world. Maybe I should have studied International Business or something. 

5. To go along with traveling--I think multilingual people are absolutely amazing. I would love to learn a couple different languages. Obviously, my native language is English (yippie) but I took 4 years of French in high school and am minoring in Spanish now at college. Eventually I hope to be able to communicate well in both languages. I'd love to learn German and Russian too!

6. My favorite nail polish brand is China Glaze. Loooove China Glaze. I think the formula is amazing for most of their polishes and they have literally every color I could possibly ever want (I still don't own them all though--hence I am still going broke due to my "polish problem"). My current conquest: DV8.

7. And lastly, I am a movie quote-er. I love movies maybe even more than nail polish (gasp!) and I quote literally any and all times I can. Which brings us full circle to the title of this post. "That Jamie Sullivan sure has style" is a quote from 2002 film: A Walk to Remember.

Ok, so there's seven (albeit a very random 7) things about me. Now, let me break the rules. Instead of tagging people with this award I'm just going to say "anyone who is reading this has been tagged with this award" since I find all the readers of NikkisNailFiles to have style and fabulous blog taste! ;)

Designer Week - Burberry Friday

Aww, sad face! Today is Friday :( and that means the conclusion of Designer Week. I hope everyone enjoyed my little spell of label-madness this past week. For the last designer week post I went with Burberry. An interesting little tidbit about Burberry: Apparently between the 1970s and 1990s the brand had become a staple of the British football cult and the company admitted the brand had become synonymous with thugs and hooligans. Whaaat? How crazy! Anyway, here are the nails: the Burberry signature plaid.
Turns out I was a little off with my choice of background. I used a more gold instead of something more pale. Oops! I used OPI Curry Up Don't Be Late, Orly Liquid Vinyl, Color Club Art Club Red/Black/White.


And the last piece of eye candy: the Burberry Nova Check Roman Numeral watch. I think I'll buy two..it's only $325. Ha! I wish!

Designer Week - Louis Vuitton Thursday

Today's manicure is a continuation of designer week: Louis Vuitton. A fun fact for you about Louis Vuitton is that the monogrammed canvas was created by Louis Vuitton's son George in 1896. Since yesterday's manicure were about the same type of colors I decided to change it up and go with the colorful pattern/white background Louis Vuitton look. Check them out:
Louis Vuitton nails
For these I used Orly White Out and Color Club Art Club in yellow, red, light blue, and green for the pattern.

Mmmm, this eye candy makes me drool.
It's called the Speedy 30. Since I LOOOOVE France and all, my sister and I have this plan of visiting after my college graduation (so about a year and some months away). Our plan gets even crazier because we want to do nothing more than walk into a French LV boutique and purchase two of these beautiful, beautiful, beautiful purses. I'm sad to say I think she might be ditching the plan and buying one this March leaving me the loner who buys one in France :( 

Designer Week - Fendi Wednesday

While I was typing the title of this post I did indeed say "Fendi Wendsey" instead of Fendi Wednesday. Anyway, that little bit of odd-ness aside, I have another designer manicure for today: Fendi. An interesting little factoid for you: Fendi was the first fashion house to stage a fashion show on the Great Wall of China. Since 8 is considered a magical number in China, the show included 88 models (44 from China and 44 from around the world) who walked a catwalk of 88 meters. How about that? To the nails!
I used China Glaze Hybrid as the base and Color 
Club Art Club in black for the double F logo. 

Another factoid: Karl Lagerfeld created the double F logo for Fendi in 1965. Now for some eye candy, a pair of Fendi sunglasses...that probably cost more than my car but still:
Have a great day everybody!

Toetally Tuesday #9 - Designer Week - Juicy Couture

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday! For today's Toetally Tuesday I  did continue with Designer Week! I ended up showing my tootsies some love in the style of Juicy Couture...twice. And what is more Juicy Couture than little hearts and polka dots? I thought so. The couple of inspired Juicy Couture Pedicures are: 
A little blah but...I still think it's pretty cute. I used China Glaze Second-hand Silk and The Icing gold striper (which isn't named of course) or Orly White Out. I think it's kind of funny that my toes don't match, lol.

And of course, the little bits of eye candy. These inspired my toes of today (1) because it made me think of summer, (2) I haven't worn pink in a while, and (3) I thought a little tech accessory could be appreciated by all my blogging readers. It's a very pink polka dot bathing suit and a Juicy Couture mouse and mouse pad set.
  

Have a juicy day everybody!

Designer Week - Chanel Monday

Hey everyone! Sorry about my recent hiatus, shockingly I didn't find the time to post! I did, however, find time to polish and I guess that's the most important part. Anyway, welcome to Designer Week! This is a week I've had in mind for a little while now and I decided after my brief break from posting that this week would be perfect. Now for this week I'll have 4 different manicures based on a designer (Toetally Tuesday will remain toetastic with/without a designer pedicure...haven't decided yet). Up first...a little bit a Chanel for Monday.
I tried to make the polish have that Chanel quilted look so I scraped across it with a needle. It kind of worked but I didn't exactly make the neatest lines....or the neatest "C"s, haha. For these I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and Orly White Out.


And, because who doesn't love little purses? ...some eye candy for you all:  

Swatch: Outta Bounds


Hey everyone! I've been wondering...does anyone else feel so wrong calling it "spring semester" when there is snow on the ground? I do. Anyway, I figured this polish is a perfect polish to swatch for today since it's from the 2007 China Glaze Ski Collection. I've had it for a little bit of a while but I've only worn it a couple of times. Other polishes in the collection were Cross Iron 360, Frostbite, Vertical Rush, Xtreme Thrash, Avalanche, and Black Diamond. Sadly, I only have one other of this collection: Frostbite, which is arguably more fitting for today but eh regardless--Outta Bounds is a metallic emerald-esque shimmer polish that requires 2 coats to be opaque. Of course, I put 3 just because. To the pictures!


And, a bit of news!


Stephanie at BrunetteSuburbanite tagged me with the Versatile Blogger Award a little while ago and I'm finally doing the whole "award duty" that goes along with acceptance! :) Yay, my second award! There are some rules that accompany this award...they are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award. (check!)
2. Answer ten questions. (will do!)
3. Pass it along to 7 blogs you've recently discovered and enjoy. (you got it!)
4. Leave your recipients a note saying they've been tagged. (ok)




1. Why did you create this blog?
My sister gave me the idea since I was doing my nails all the time and would be sad when I had to take the polish off in order to redo them.


2. What kind of blogs do you follow?
Mostly they're nail polish blogs but I also read some blogs of people who live in countries I've never been and really want to go (like France!).

3. Favorite Make-Up Brand?
Don't wear too much makeup, almay has never failed me.

4. Favorite Clothing Brand?
I like New York and Company but only some of their clothes come home with me. The rest will wait until I'm a lawyer. American Eagle for jeans!

5. Indispensable Make-Up Product?
My Sephora Sun Disk

6. Favorite Color?
Blueeee.....or red.

7. Favorite Perfume?
Viva La Juicy by Juicy Couture


8. Favorite Film?
NO IDEA


  
9. What country would you like to visit and why?
France! I learned French in high school and would love to see the country. Definitely the country I will visit as soon as I can!

10. Would you rather forget to put on mascara on one eye or forget blush on one side of your face?
No one would notice forgotten mascara but everyone would notice a clown looking blush face.



Alright and finally the passing on of the award. I'm only going to choose 3 blogs....
1. Anastacia of Nail Story...
3. Deniz of Emerald Sparkled


Congratulations ladies!

Toetally Tuesday #8 - Wintry Mix

Ok, maybe the title has nothing to do with the pedicure of today but it does have something to do with the weather and who doesn't do pedicures based on the weather?! Just kidding. Anyway, the weathermen forecasted a "wintry mix" for today and so I thought a mix of some colors would be perfect. On my toes are Zoya Nicole (I'm still waiting on my polishes!!) on top and Orly Blue Suede as a base. It was perfect because Zoya Nicole is a little bit sheer so you can still see the blue from Orly Blue Suede peeking through. Take a look:


 *CAUTION* TOES BELOW :)
My feet look so...icky in this picture. I hope everyone is doing well and having great weeks!

Don't swipe my stripes!

Hey everyone! This is my last weekend at home before I head back to college on Monday. Only 2 more semesters after this--how insane! Anyway, today's manicure is just a fun summer manicure. I get that there's still snow on the ground when I look at my window but seriously I'm tired of all the dark colors and I wanted a break from them. Jordana Boy Oh Boy was the perfect candidate, it's so bright and fun. 
Jordana Boy Oh Boy was my base coat and then I just freehanded some stripes in Color Club Art Club Black and White and Essence Silver Surfer polishes. Finished off with Seche Vite (2 coats so it became all smooth).

Swatch: Boy Oh Boy

Brand: Jordana
Color: Boy Oh Boy


This polish is a VERY reasonably priced polish (like under 2 dollars) with a great formula that dries really fast. I bought it as part of my last before-school-hoorah haul of polishes and decided that now, in the dead of winter, a bright color was just what I needed on my nails. The first coat was opaque but streaky so I followed up with a second coat. The pictures are 2 coats with Seche Vite Top Coat. How do you like?


Oh yes, the pictures are a tiny tiny tiny bit blue-er than real life. This polish is a teal-green NOT a blue and I really worked my droid until I got it right.
 

To fauxnad or not to fauxnad?

Yesterday, Oh.So.Cuticle asked how I liked the BundleMonster plates so this post is an answer of sorts for you (and anyone else wondering the same thing). My opinion on konad v fauxnad is simple: why not? I'm a college kid on a *very* tight budget so $6.50 per image plate is a little steep. When I found BundleMonster's incredible deal on amazon.com I was thrilled, 21 image plates for only $17.99?! 21 image plates! 21 konad image plates would have cost me $136.50 plus shipping. I was excited to say the least.


Now of course I have to admit something: before I bought my BM plates I read reviews like it was my job. Of course there were good and bad reviews. Some concerns people had were the sharp edges of the plates (which I haven't had a problem with) or that some "full nail" designs weren't big enough to cover some nails (which I have only had a problem with on my thumbs). My nails are usually pretty short (partially by choice/partially because I'm a waitress and always break my nails) so I haven't had a problem with covering the length of my nails. My problem is the width of my thumb nails. They tend to need to aligned stamps (which isn't really that tough to get right) 


I did buy the Konad brand scraper and double-ended stamper off amazon though but my scraper is metal so it scratches up the image plates. Of course they're only scratches and have no effect of the stamping capability but still, if you're looking to buy one I'd go with a plastic one. Here's the stamper and scraper (linked to amazon BTW because it's their picture):
Overall, I'm happy with my BundleMonster purchase, especially under the circumstances right now. There are of course some designs only featured by Konad (like plate M56 which I bought for my sister S as part of her Christmas presents). She loves bows so I thought it was appropriate. I have a list of actual Konad plates I'll be chipping away at that slowly over time. I liked BundleMonster so much because it let me dive right in to stamping and gave me so many options without me feeling like I was going broke over little silver discs. Wow, I totally sound like a salesperson for BundleMonster, lol, but seriously everything I'm saying is legit my opinion. Of course, as with any purchase, research and do what you'd like. If there's that one single Konad plate you can't live without--Konad it up! If you want options immediately for cheap (like I did)-- BM it up! Close-ups of the BM plates can be found here if you'd like to check them out further. Oh and of course feel free to check out any of my BM tagged posts to see examples of what you can do with the plates once you've got them!

Hope this helps at least a little bit!

Swatch: Hybrid

Since I used it in my Funky Flowered French post I figured I'd do a swatch post of the color too. Of course if I had been thinking I would have posted the swatch then the design but eh whatever, we break the rules here! Hybrid is one of China Glaze's 6 Ecollection polishes from Spring, 2008 and to my surprise I realized I actually own all six: Unplugged, Shower Together, Solar Power, Tree Hugger, Recycle, and of course Hybrid. Swatches may be coming soon of the other polishes but for now it's just Hybrid.


This is a beige polish with a very faint pinkish tint and a bit of gold shimmer. I'll admit it's not a color I would normally be drawn to since I tend to favor the in-your-face attention-grabbing colors but I do think this a beautiful color in it's own muted, classy way. It was a welcomed addition to my collection a long time ago and I'm glad to have finally put it on my nails!
 

Black Flowered French

Happy Hump Day everyone! Today's manicure is a Nikki's Nail Files twist on a French manicure with design. I saw China Glaze Hybrid sitting in my arsenal of polishes and realized I hadn't used it yet--like seriously never before since I bought it. Here's my take on black, flowered French  manicure:
China Glaze Hybrid served as my base with Orly Liquid Vinyl added for a black tip. The flower design was made with Orly Liquid Vinyl and BundleMonster Plate 12. 

So what do you think? Do you prefer the original and classic French Manicure or do you favor a funky and creative French?

Patchwork Accent

I was thinking about the color collection from American Eagle and I decided to use a couple of them in the same design. After finding inspiration in the form of Chloe's (of Chloe's Nails) patchwork manicures I wanted to give it a shot. For these I used AE Saturday Night Special, Ready Aim Fire!, and Orly Liquid Vinyl. Sadly, I realized I didn't have any tape too late in this mani so I went ahead free handing the diagonals. I did one patchwork nail as an accent because seriously I love Saturday Night Special.

Toetally Tuesday #7 - Whi-whi-white out!

(instead of wipe out...which is defined on urban dictionary as: to trip and fall while running. Usually this is caused by tripping over one's own feet, or tripping over an object on the ground, such as a tree branch. See this blog is both fun AND educational!) Ok, ok, just kidding. It's just educational ;) Anyway, voila:
Happy Tuesday everyone! This is the *7th* Toetally Tuesday post and I won't lie I am a huge fan of white nails. So what if you can't wear white shirts and stuff right now? I'm a rule breaker, baby, so just hand over that white polish! ;) This is Orly White Out with Color Club Art Club stripers in black and red and Kiss Brush-On Nail Art paint in silver and silver glitter as the intersecting lines design. 

Swatch: AE Color Collection 1

Today's swatches are of an American Eagle Color Collection given to me for Christmas. I know what you're thinking: Who knew AE even sold nail polishes??
I'm not sure how many "color collections" American Eagle sells but I have *two* of them :D  Each collection contains four .17 oz polishes and, while the total collection doesn't have a name, each polish does. Shown above in the packaging are (from L to R) "It's a Disco Ball!", "Ready, Aim, Fire!", "Saturday Night Special", and "In Vino Veritas". They all dried really fast and had surprisingly great formulas. My favorite is definitely Saturday Night Special but enough gabbing...to the polish!

First up is It's a Disco Ball!, a thick silver/white glitter polish. Shockingly I don't have anything like it in my collection so I'm pleased to have this addition. This is 3 coats.

 

Next is Ready, Aim, Fire!, a very pigmented red creme polish. I did three coats but two coats would have been fine for this polish. My pictures turned out a lot more pink than how it really comes off but eh I guess that's what I get for using my Droid as a camera ;)

 

Third in the set is Saturday Night Special. I'm not really sure how to describe this polish. It looks so exciting in these pictures with the flash but it's really subtle in real life. I guess I'd say it's a black/gray/brown base with gold/brown micro glitter? Sure that sounds good :) 






And this last one with no flash:


Last up is In Vino Veritas, which has a jelly (I think) finish. It's a deep red polish that was seriously opaque in 1 coat. Who doesn't love that? But because I'm me and I always do 3 coats the pictures have 3.




Here they all are sharing my hand: In Vino Veritas, Ready, Aim, Fire!, Saturday Night Special, and It's a Disco Ball!
Pretty :)
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