Inspired by: Indian Wedding?

I didn't set out to do these nails on purpose when I took a break from case reading today but this is what I ended up with. They remind me of a wedding in India for some reason. Do they have that effect on anyone else?? Maybe it's the really pigmented, rich red base, or perhaps it's a silver details, maybe it's the swirls? I don't know. Either way I kind of really like it. The design itself doesn't jump out at you from far away (it's barely noticeable unless you're pretty close to the nails) so it's a more subtle design (as compared to my juggling balls design which couldn't have been more attention grabbing unless I had it tattooed on my face). I googled photos of indian weddings and got the picture to the left from this blog post. Can you understand my inspiration now?

And when I tried to capture it with a flash this really cool contrast happened with the colors that made the design reallllly stand out. I liked the picture so much that I wanted to add it in and share it with you guys. If I had a do over I might consider doing this design with white stamping instead.

For this look I used Color Club Style Icon, BundleMonster Plate 2-201, and China Glaze Recycle.

Don't forget about my 100 Follower Giveaway that I'm doing! I'm accepting entries until February 13th at midnight and then I'm announcing the winner at some point on February 14th =) Check here for the giveaway details!

IT'S OFFICIAL: 100 Follower Giveaway!!!

Everybody put your party hats on because it's time to celebrate a landmark here at The Files...100 Followers! Although my total at the moment is 100 AND ONE follower (welcome 101st follower and thank you for subscribing!), I haven't yet officially posted the giveaway so I'm still celebrating the 100 landmark. I've been talking about it for a while and I'm going to go ahead and do it as planned. To celebrate all my fellow polish-addicted, manicure-loving blog readers, I am going to select ONE lucky winner to receive all of the following six Color Club Holographic Hues polishes: Beyond, Eternal Beauty, Cosmic Fate, Kismet, Miss Bliss, and Over the Moon. They are absolutely gorgeous and I bought a second set after deciding I just couldn't part with the one I originally ordered. I'm doing this old school where I use excel because I don't even want to try and figure out how to use that crazy Rafflecopter service. No no, excel is where it's at! As with all good things, there are rules.

To earn EXTRA entries:

• include in your comment or email one thing you'd like to see more on this blog (one extra entry)
• ask me a question or tell me any suggestion you can think of for my blog (one extra entry) (two if I decide to do a post about it)
• comment on any post from now until February 10th (one extra entry for each post comment)
• blog about my giveaway (include a link in your comment or email so I can find it!) (five extra entries)

I will stop adding entries on February 13th at midnight so I have time to make sure I get all the entries into my excel sheet!

That's it guys! I'm so excited for this! Be sure to spread the word and let our fellow polish-hoarders know that there's an awesome (if I do say so myself) giveaway going on here at Nikki's Nail Files!! Wow, do I sound like a game show host? I feel like I sound like a game show host. "Contestant Number One come on down to collect your BRAND NEW CARRRRR!!" Just kidding.

Good luck dears!
And thank you so much for making my blog what is it!!

Toetally Tuesday - Princess Sparkles

For today's Toetally Tuesday post I have a polish that can only be described as "Princess Sparkles" because of how sweet and sparkly it is. I used China Glaze Tarty for the Party as a base and then Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond on top to add some sparkle. Love it!

 I also did it on my nails. This is what kills me about photos though...I can never get consistent lighting. My toes look very pink and my hands look very olive-y.

And going off the fact that my dinner recently stole the show in my gradient post and the polka dot cup from above is in this photo too, please enjoy another dinner photo with the polka dot cup. My sweets (boyfriend) came over this weekend and we made delicious lasagna. Oh yes, I'm a chef!! Just kidding. We cheated by using oven-ready lasagna sheets (rather than boiling them ourselves) and by using canned tomato gravy instead of making our own from scratch. My poor Italian mother must be mashing her keyboard at reading this and hearing that I used canned sauce. I know mom, but I only did it because nothing can rival your gravy! 

Also, one last thing, some serious shout out blog love to one of my newest "followers" Dujour Whitespawn. Her blog is Nails Noob (although she has other blogs too) and you need to check it out right now!! She was my 100th follower so she triggered my 100 Follower Giveaway which will be posted TOMORROWWWWW!!

Yet ANOTHER attempt at gradient

I am hard core determined to get this manicure style right at least once in my life. I have tried it before but I haven't had any luck getting it to look as amazing as the gradients I see on so many other blogs. Why is this so elusive to me?!

I used Orly Ole, China Glaze Tart-y for the Party, Zoya Robyn and China Glaze White On White.

Toetally Tuesday - Summer Stripes

Using many of the same colors as my last post, I wanted to do a summery striped look for my Toetally Tuesday post this week. It makes me want warm weather soooo badly! As fate would have it though, the forecast for today is 6"-12" of snow (go figure!) and I've been watching snowflakes fall all day. Perhaps I should have done a snowflake pedicure instead!

I used Zoya Snow White, Kleancolor Nail to Toe in Hot Red, Color Club Art Club in Light Blue and Color Club Art Club in Yellow.

Also, I'm officially at 99 followers! Only ONE more before I host my Color Club Holographic Hues giveaway!!!

Wacky Skittlette Nails

So something is funky with this post because I had posted it earlier and then it wasn't showing up as posted (it was only saved and it didn't even include everything I wrote). It's annoying to have to re-write the post again and I can't really remember what I said. Anyway, this weekend was spent mostly doing schoolwork so I wanted a manicure that was happy, fun and made me think of summer. Enter, skittlette nails! I've never done "skittlelette" nails before I don't think and I'm excited for these :)

I love these nails. They make me happy :)

Toetally Tuesday: Nexus Nails

Hi all! As many of you know I am a student, particularly a law student, and therefore it can be expected that I have to lug around bags that are roughly 3/4 my weight full of my laptop, textbooks, notebooks, planners, pencil cases, chargers, wallet, water bottle, umbrella, keys, etc. Well, I am so thrilled that tomorrow my bag will be lightened by at least 4 pounds...my keyboard and case for my Nexus 10 finally arrived!! The Nexus 10 was a gift from my pops because he knew that I wanted something small, light, and transportable to take notes in during class and to replace my clunky computer. I'm ecstatic that I'll be able to bring my nexus to class rather than my giant laptop (even though I absolutely love my laptop too--I just bought it if you remember!).  In honor of my new note-taking system....I give you Nexus Nails:

Hahaha, I kept doing the x design on the smaller toes on my right foot but not my left...oops!

 I thought this was a cute design so I added it to my fingernails too!

 And the case/keyboard I've been waiting for! Not sure how I feel about navy blue but it'll grow on me.

What do you think? Ever paint your nails "tech" inspired?

Zoya....Miley?

Ok all, this is NOT a serious post. It's just something I found...interesting.

I was looking on the Zoya website for three colors that I simply HAD TO HAVE (because they're doing their 3 Free promo) and one color in particular made my eyebrows raise. Now, I'm a Miley Cyrus fan all around (don't hold it against me if you're not). Old Miley, New Miley, doesn't matter to me. And I know there are other girls named Miley in the world, too, but when I saw the shade that Zoya picked to name "Miley" I sort of just laughed. I mean, pastel purple? Really?

I mean, what about the Miley (on the left) has you thinking hmmm, pastels, yes? I would expect a more vibrant red or gold or even something with like shimmer, glitter, hex glitter, or something like that in it. Where's the WOW factor? I know Zoya didn't make this polish specifically for Miley Cyrus or even with Miley Cyrus in mind but, because Miley Cyrus is the only Miley I know of, she's the one I thought of when I saw it and the color just doesn't fit. I have both Zoya polishes named Nicole and Nikki (my names, obviously) and they are pretty fitting shades for me and my personality.

Either way, you go Miley. Keep doing your thing!

Now, the serious part of this post: Turns out I probably won't be purchasing Zoya polishes this time around. The shipping is super expensive ($12, although they also raised their polish prices to $9-$10 each so I guess it's still a good deal after all) and I just can't seem to find any polishes that simply MUST be added to my collection (did I just say that?!).

Quandary: Which 3 polishes for the Zoya 3Free* Promo?

I'm in need of assistance choosing three of these pretty shades for the Zoya 3 Free promo they're doing right now. Usually I stock up on Zoyas during their pick 3 sales, but this time I'm having a hard time finding ones I even want. I settled on these 10 as my choices. So now I have to narrow it down to 3. Any suggestions?

Which 3 would you choose?

Friday Favorites: January

New year, new installment of a post idea. I love to keep bringing new things and ideas to my blog here because I never want it to get boring or predictable (one of the reasons I don't do swatches only). Welcome to the first installment of Friday Favorites! On a Friday of each month I will post a few polishes or something from my collection that I'm obsessed with at the moment and/or designs that I'm loving at the moment. If the pictures aren't mine (like if I saw a design on someone else's blog that I totally loved the way they did it) I will give credit. If no credit is given, then it's all mine! I hope you enjoy a new installment here on NikkisNailFiles!

Without further adieu, here are a few of my January 2014 Favorites:

My favorite nail-related thing right now would have to be this tonnage (gallon) of Beauty Secrets Professional Acetone nail polish remover that my dear Mops (my mom) gave me as a gift for Christmas last month. I have dreamed about this ginorm bottle (er, bucket?) of nail polish remover because I go through nail polish remover like a doctor goes through bandaids and now I think I'm set until at least...next Christmas? Anyway, using nail polish remover has a horrid effect on my nails so I loved when I started using the Beauty Secrets Professional Acetone because, for whatever reason, it didn't dry my cuticles out as badly as the generic brand of acetone at Target did. The only problem is I threw out my last normal bottle (which looked like this) so now I have to use two cotton balls at once or risk flooding the place!

I'm also loving the line of Color Club holo polishes I bought from Amazon a few weeks ago. Seriously, I hope this trend never dies because I finally have my hands on some puuurty holo polishes. Now, if only I had a silvery one. Nfu anyone?

Lastly, my favorite design this month would have to be the Pantone Color of the Year Radiant Orchid orchid manicure done over on Chalkboard Nails. Is this not the most flawless design you've ever seen? All of her designs are incredible but this one in particular is like....impossibly perfect. Kudos to Pantone for picking such a great color for 2014! And kudos to Chalkboard Nails for having such great mani skills. Totes jealous.

(Photo from Chalkboard Nails. It is NOT my image.)

Inspired by: Juggling Balls

This is one of my more silly manicures that I've done. It's inspired by one of my Christmas presents from two(?) years ago. When I met my boyfriend he knew how to juggle and I didn't...so naturally I wanted to learn because juggling is supahh cool. As you can expect, a part of one of my presents was then a set a colorful juggling balls. I don't know where to store them so I keep them on my desk and today I was going a bit stir crazy (I've been working on my note for law review all day--I'm almost finished!) and realized they could inspire a fun and colorful design. Feast your eyes:

And the inspiration...

For this manicure I used China Glaze Frostbite, Wet'n'Wild 423B, Zoya Kristi, and China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada.

Also, check out About a Nail's very first ever blog giveaway! Her blog is full of really cute and colorful designs that I'm sure you'll love. Now, go show another nail blogger some support! She will choose a winner in 6 days and is giving away the following three Barry M polishes:

(Photo is from her blog)

Finally, DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE 3 FREE PROMO FROM ZOYA. GET YOUR 3 FREE* POLISHES (*for the cost of shiping--$12)! THE DEAL IS OVER ON 1/13 AND THE PROMO CODE IS "COLOR2014". I can't make my mind up if I'm going to be picking three up...I miss when their shipping was only $6.95.

Toetally Tuesday: Over the Moon

If you've been reading my blog for a while you will remember back to when I introduced my Toetally Tuesday pedicure posts (see some of them here, here, here, here and here, or just check out the label "Toetally Tuesday"). Before I started painting my nails consistently I always always always (need I say it again?) always had my toenails painted. Partly it was because unpainted toes freak me out more than unpolished fingernail and partly it was because I lacked ambidexterity and so it was always easier to paint design on my piggytoes. Regardless, they still are always painted but I forget to post them on my blog. Toes don't get any love now do they?! As the first post in my reinstated Toetally Tuesday posts, I wanted to share yet another gorgeous Color Club holo I recently bought: Over the Moon. The polish is perfectly named because I am over the moon with the holo effect. Looove :)

Caution: TOES BELOW!

Nail News: Pick 3 from Zoya!

Hi all! I just had to post this real quick because I like to share amazing deals on nail polish! Zoya is doing their pick three, pay shipping deal! 

Swatch: Color Club Cosmic Fate

Hi all, it's time for my first legit post of 2014. I'm going to start this year's posts with a swatch post of Color Club Cosmic Fate, an absolutely INCREDIBLE and GORGEOUS holographic with a peach-pink base. I only have one other holographic polish, China Glaze DV8, so I was so excited to add more holos to my collection. Yes, I say more holoS (plural) because...well you'll know at the end of this post. Every time I catch this nail polish in the light I think of the Skittle commercials "Skittles, taste the rainbow."

Is that not insane? Look at all the colors you can see in that picture. It is the rainbow. Seriously. There's greens, blues, silvers, purples, oranges, yellows, etc.

Color Club as a brand might be moving up in my rankings of favorites after this polish. 

Also, because I'm so close to getting 100 followers (*Yay!*) I'm deciding on what I should giveaway to celebrate. I saw the Holo Hues collection from Color Club on Amazon and I decided to buy these six. From left to right they are: Kismet, Cosmic Fate, Eternal Beauty, Miss Bliss, Over the Moon, and Beyond. I think they are gorgeous and holos were a huge trend this year so I'm purchasing a second set for my giveaway. I'm either going to have one winner that gets them all, six winners that get one polish each, or two winners that get three polishes each. We'll have to see when I hit 100 followers! If you can, tell a buddy of yours who is interested in polishes about my blog and then I can get this giveaway rolling!! I'm so excited to finally be doing a giveaway...it only took 3 years, haha.

I only need four more followers!

14 Things for 2014

Apparently I missed this last January! I always put a list of things I want to do, try, or eliminate in the new year but, for whatever reason, I didn't do a new version for January 2013!! Lame. Eh, no matter, I'll just use my "12 from 2012" list to evaluate how I've done and then create a new list for 2014. I promise to review them in 2015!

12 Things for 2012

1. Go on a vacation. I'm talking about an actual vacation: a few days down the shore, a trip to Maine, camping, etc. I went to Ocean City Maryland with my dad, brother and extended Ohio family in August right before school started! It was so nice to see my grandparents, aunts, and cousins :) I blogged about it here and here. No camping and no trip to Maine though.

2. Use each of my polishes. Ha! No way. This will probably never be done. I'm not going to carry this one over again.

3. Swatch each of my polishes. Ha! Same. Not going to carry this over.

4. Move out of my parents house (if possible and practical to do so). Currently I live in an apartment near my law school's campus. Can't say I miss being home, except for the constant company and home-cooked meals of course! It is nice to have my own space though.

5. Finish that cross-stitch project. No, and I've started a new one. I'm going to carry this over but extend it to either one.

6. Graduate from undergrad! (and start law school!!) Completed like a boss. And I'm now halfway through law school!

7. Run more. I started going for runs during the semester and I'd like to do that more. Maybe even run my first race (outside of my track days). A 5K perhaps? I ran a 5K (The Color Run - Philadelphia) with my sister this past July. Blogged about it here.

8. Stretch more and become more flexible. Ehhhh, sort of?

9. Complete some nifty crafts (for example: photo coasters like these). I completed a lego project with my best law school buddy and her kid last fall...does that count? I think yes.

10. Fix my radio in my car. Nope, but I've decided I won't bother.

11. Buy a Nook Tablet or iPad or something similar. Nope. But I DID buy a laptop so I think that counts.  

And the last and biggest thing I'd want to do: #12. RELAX. I get so worked up sometimes about things and I'd like to just chill out and roll with the punches more. Sometimes I can be really uptight. Let's work on that. I'm good.

Alright, so all in all I didn't do that badly. I still haven't swatched or used all my polishes (recently I was just talking about how I had found polishes I didn't even know I had...) but I don't think I'll include that anymore. There's no point when I know I will not complete it going into it and I don't have enough time to actually try and complete it. Anyway, here are my 2013 Blog Goals.

14 Things for 2014

1. Post at least 8 times each month. No "I'm busy" excuses!
2. Complete 18 swatches of new polishes.
3. Wear the same color (but not specific polish) for a whole month and blog it. Ex: "Mauves all May" or "Maroons all March"...although that's way to specific so I'll have to do a more general "blues" or "purples" for a month instead.
4. Restart my Toetally Tuesdays posts.
5. Complete a First Friday Favorites post every month.
6. Try a new design technique.
7. Bake more. What can I say? I like cookies...
8. Reach 100 amazing followers and do a giveaway to celebrate.
9. Complete a nail design for every major holiday in the US.
10. Complete a cross-stitch project.
11. Watermark all my blog photos.
12. Buy a nail polish from the CoverGirl Hunger Games collection.
13. Visit Maine (to see my best college buddy!) this summer.
14. Last but not least, review this list January 1, 2015 and create 15 things for 2015.