Happy New Year: Top 11 of 2011

Happy New Year everyone! Last year I did a post of my top favorite polishes for the year. I decided to go ahead and continue something similar for 2011: Top 11 Designs of 2011. Enjoy my post of reflections :)

Starting the list off with #11: "Inspired By: Victoria's Secret" manicure from August

#10:  My "Lost Your Marbles" water marbling manicure of February

#9: "100 Cherries on My Nails" mani from February.

#8: "Patchwork Perfect" pedicure from February

#7: "Anything Goes" manicure from June

#6: "TGIS weekend" zebra mani from May

#5: "Manic Monday" manicure from February

#4: "Black Flowered French" manicure from January.

#3: "Designer Week - Burberry Friday" manicure from January

#2: "Animal mania: I love zebra" manicure from November :) We all know my obsession with animal print!

#1: "Colorful Leopard" manicure from July

Totally Tuesday - Awesome Argyle

Hey polished pretties! Finally, a new To(e)tally Tuesday coming your way! I know it's been a long while since I showed my pedis some love but I have a new design that I wanted to share. My mom used to love argyle socks and yes, I would make fun of her. I can't really say my feelings have changed too much but I have found out argyle does make a nice nail design. It's a tad messy but it was my first attempt so..I think it's alright.

Animal Mania: I love zebra.

I am totally unique just like my fellow 20somethings when it comes to obsessing over animal print. In particular, my favorite animal print 100% has to be zebra. I know people love leopard, cheetah, giraffe, etc. as well but I love the monochromatic-ness of the zebra pattern. The black and white is clean and simple yet still fun and unique. I mean, they do say "no zebra shares the same stripes" right? So, anyway, I am so excited to share this manicure with you all. I think it's one of my absolute favorites of all my designs and I really think they came out well! Check them out:

I used Orly White Out for the base (quite a few coats, too) and then Orly Liquid Vinyl for the stripes. As my boyfriend said when I sent him a picture, "They looked spot - er, stripe on." :)


And now to convince you all how zebra obsessed I am. My roommate always jokes with me when she sees a girl with anything zebra. An umbrella, rain boots, you name it, she says I would go steal it if that would be acceptable. Sad thing is, I would totally consider taking down someone wearing really cute zebra rain boots or rocking a zebra book bag. Let's take a look at the evidence.


Exhibit A: My really fantastic (and completely useful!) zebra duct duck tape. I even used this duct tape to give a little pizzazz to my apartment light switch.

Exhibit B: My super duper Nicole Miller zebra print wallet. Yes, this excited me for TWO reasons:  (1) it was zebra and (2) the designer and I share the name "Nicole". See? No question, I HAD to have it! 

And last but not least, Exhibit C: my entire bed. From pillows to sheets (including a body pillow), everything is zebra.

See? So yeah, wayyy obsessive over zebra right now. What are your thoughts on animal print? Anyone else into animal as much as me?

Stripes for Audrey

Hello everyone,

Today's post is a real simple nail design with one of my favorite polishes. I LOVE China Glaze polishes in general but I especially love their For Audrey polish. It's just a gorgeous color and, up until this past year, I hadn't seen very many polishes similar to it. I added a few stripes to add a bit of pizzazz to the manicure. Take a look!

As I said I used China Glaze For Audrey as the base on all the nails. Then, I added stripes in either Kiss Brush-On Nail Art Paint (in black) or Color Club Art Club (in white). And of course I topped everything off with Seche Vite!

Also, a little bit of personal news: today I am celebrating my 1.5 year "anniversary" with my fabulous boyfriend. He visited me at school this weekend and surprised me 18 roses!! It was perfect, 18 roses for the 18 months we've been together. Aww *tear* :D

Swatch: Sassy Satchel

This semester has been absolute chaos so far. Between the independent (and required) research for my B.A. in Psych degree (one of two I have to complete), law school applications, and all my other classes AND trying to find time to eat, I am totally wiped out and it's only October. Ugh! Luckily, my applications are on their way to a close and I will be applying November 15th to all my law schools. I am so proud. As for classes, I guess I have to stick them out until December. I know you are all concerned but yes, I have been keeping my digits done throughout all this. I just haven't had a spare moment to actually sit down, take pictures, upload them on my computer, and create a witty post for all of you :( Hopefully I am back, at least a little bit, to posting. I've missed it. I haven't even had time to read my favorite nailblogs!! Ugh! Ok, well for today we're going to start off simple: Essie Sassy Satchel.


Sassy Satchel is a gorgeous (and very stubborn) color to capture. The website says it's a "shimmery dark chocolate" but I definitely think it's more burgundy. Application was average (I put 2-3 coats on usually). The color MIGHT be similar to something I already have but we'll see when I use that polish. Drying/Hardening was a tad slow but I did put 3 thick coats on. Seche Vite helped quicken it right up. Wear was also average. Overall, this polish gets an 8.3.


To the swatch pics!

Does anybody own this color? How do you like it?

Inspired by: Victoria's Secret

Hey everyone! I'm in a serious shopping mood right now and this past weekend I went out with the boyfriend and found a whole bunch of great stuff. I'm really in the clothes mood but there are a couple of amazing stores I think of every time I'm thinking of going shopping. This post was inspired by one of them: Victoria's Secret! Everyone knows the two-toned VS shopping bags that you get when you drop some money into the hands of VS sales associates. They look a little (or a lot) like this:

One of my favorite totes, bought by the bf :)

And the VS-inspired digits:

I used Finger Paints I Pink I Can for the lighter pink and Zoya Dawn for the darker. How do you like?

Hey sweetHEART!

Aw, these nails make me think of my boyfriend :) Who needs to come home from school so I can see him! Anyway, I used Zoya Robyn for the base and then kiss brush-on nail art paint in black (only it didn't really stamp well so it came out...grayish-blue instead) in Bundle Monster plate 202. 

One Year of Nikki's Nail Files

Hello everyone! Nikki's Nail Files is officially 1 YEAR OLD today!! August 10th, 2010 I sat down at my computer and put together my first post (a polka dot tip mani you can check out here). I'm so happy with what this blog has become and all the interest it has gotten from all you fabulous bloggers and polish-aholics! Thank you so much for visiting and commenting and sharing my obsession with me! Here's to many more posts!

Swatch: Simmer & Shimmer

If you remember reading this blog when the movie Burlesque came out, then you probably remember the obsession I had with going to see it and the nail polish collection OPI did for it. Well, here's yet another nail polish from that collection: Simmer & Shimmer. It's a GORGEOUS blue based glitter extravaganza for your nails. Usually I'd stay away from doing an eye-catching glitter like this on every nail but, you know what, today I wanted some eye-catching digits! Here are some pictures of OPI Simmer & Shimmer.

A few glitter shots:

   

See? Eye-catching, no? They kind of remind me of these shoes:

Swatch: It's Up to Blue

Blue is my favorite color (next to red and silver) and I'm always on the hunt for the perfect blue. Does anyone else feel like there aren't many different blues out there? Anyway, this long-time part of my collection caught my eye and I just had to use it. It is so perfect for summer and, while summer is winding down (ew) I want to use as many summer colors for as long as I can! Here's Orly's It's Up to Blue.

I love a French Accent

So I was going to do a simple, all black manicure for today but then when I saw them I changed my mind to add a little color and an accent nail. A french manicure with a black base and red tips and then an accent nail of the reverse? Sounds good to me!

For this digits I used China Glaze Cherry Pie and Orly Liquid Vinyl.

Swatch: OPI Mermaid's Tears

Hey everyone! Today's post is a Swatch post of OPI's Mermaid's Tears. It's raining outside hard enough that I can hear it bashing on my roof and I saw the bottle of Mermaid's Tears and went hmmm, perfect! This polish is from the new(ish) collection OPI did for the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides). It's a really beautiful sea-foam green color and, though the application was a little annoying, it dries fast and leaves you with a great manicure. 

Application: I needed 3 coats (which I usually do anyway) and on some of the nails you could see the different layer lines (I guess I didn't really apply it as well as I thought!)

Color: Beautiful! I didn't have anything exactly like it in my collection. It was a worthy addition.

Drying/Hardening: Pretty quick but not as quick as Zoya polishes. Does anyone else feel like Zoya polishes are little fast-drying freaks of nature??

Wear: Surprisingly it lasted through a night at the diner (I'm a server) without major chips and that was WITHOUT a top coat. I'd say at the very least I'm very impressed!

Here are the pictures!! Does anyone else own this polish/ones from this collection?

29 Again?? Lookin' Fab!

Today is my Mom's *ahem* birthday! We bought her cake and presents and the whole family (+3 others) went midnight bowling to celebrate. One of my mom's favorite things is Hello Kitty and I thought that would make a perfect birthday design:

I got my inspiration from here. I used Orly White Out for the French Tip and then Color Club Art Club in black for the eyes and whiskers, Color Club Art Club in Yellow for the nose, and Orly Ole for the bow.

Anybody else out there love Hello Kitty??

Colorful Leopard

Hey everyone! Finally I'm taking the time to update the blog here with a new post. I was flipping through the channels the other day and came upon Style network. Has anyone heard of the show Jerseylicious? I hadn't seen it before but noticed they were sporting a ton of animal prints and my mind just went "AHA!" There was my inspiration: animal print. I went with lots of color because it's summertime and then a leopard stamp. Here my nails!

I used China Glaze Conga to My Cabana, China Glaze Solar Power, China Glaze Tree Hugger, and China Glaze Towel Boy Toy. Also I used Kleancolor True Purple and in Kiss Brush On Nail Art Paint in black with BundleMonster 221.

Father's Day 2011

Hey everyone! If by any chance I have any dads reading my blog (I doubt it though): Happy Father's Day! When I was younger I remember everyday my Dad going to work dressed in nice black pants, a button up collared shirt, and a tie. I figured that would make a good manicure to celebrate the day. Here are today's nails: a Father's Day Tie manicure. It's simple but...I thought it worked!

I used Zoya Shawn and Color Club Art Club in white.

Anything goes

Tonight I am filling in at the diner and I feel like it is going to be a slow, uneventful night. In order to combat my impending boredom I painted my nails with a bunch of fun colors. These nails are just some fun because I have to be working and be up all through the night!

Shake your BON BONS!

So how many of you used to have little Bon Bons nail polish when you were younger?

While walking through Wal-mart the other day with my sister (she was hunting for a silver crackle polish she knew they had) we saw a couple bins of these teeny tiny nail polish bottles. At only 98 cents I couldn't help but buy one. It's a "blue string glitter" according to Lacquerized.

I know a lot of my fellow nail bloggers have done a lot with glitter polishes and layering so I wanted to give it a try. I put the blue string glitter (it doesn't have a name!) over China Glaze White on White.

And a close up of the string glitter action: 

Review: Sally Hansen Color Quick

Hey everyone!


Today's post is a review of this really neat product my mom bought me: Sally Hansen Color Quick, a fast dry nail color pen. You push in the top to release some polish and then you just swipe it on just like you're holding a pen. The one I have is silver but there's so many options to choose from. The nails dried so quickly and I was really impressed with how they ended up looking. They did chip pretty easily though so I would definitely suggest a top coat if you're using these. You can buy them at Ulta in all different colors: hot pink, beige, white, black, clear, etc. And for under $4? Awesome! 

If you'd like to know more about these neat little nail polish pens check it out here.