Collab post with Nails Noob: April Showers Bring May Flowers

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed my anniversary post from yesterday (technically today because I posted it today but dated it yesterday!). Anyway, next up is something I've been planning for a while. I'm super excited that Ghila over on Nails Noob enjoyed our collab post so much that she wanted to do another idea! Hence, the "April showers brings May flowers" manicure :)

Be sure to check out her post on April showers bring May flowers! I'm glad to see we both went with blue! Does that just show how much we're on the same page? I think yes!

Happy 4 years!

WARNING: THIS POST IS GOING TO BE LONG AND ALL LOVEY-DOVEY MUSHY.

So four years ago today I was perched on an overlook with my not-quite-yet boyfriend's arm around me looking over a river when he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes (because he's amazing), haven't looked back since, and have enjoyed every moment that I have spent with him by my side. Ever since 2010, he has surprised me with roses on April 24th in the most thoughtful way: matching the amount to the months we've been together. I've watched the amount go from six for our six months, to twelve for our one year, to twenty-four for our two years, to thirty-six for our three years, and now I've received forty-eight (I'm not kidding when I say I had to ask him to carry two of the bouquets because I could only manage two) beautifully colored red, pink, and baby pink roses for our four years. They are absolutely gorgeous and will be a wonderful cheery reminder during the dreadful and impending finals. I can't believe I only started celebrating my anniversary with posts on this blog last year! I guess I wanted to make sure I reallllly liked him, lol.

My anniversary nails were relatively low-key but, as usual, perfect for the occasion. We couldn't go out to dinner this year because tonight was the law review banquet but at least he was able to join me as my "plus one" and we still got to spend time together on our actual anniversary. A while ago I noticed that when big things happen for me I'm usually wearing green nails so I wanted to use a summery green in the design. Also, you all know how much I love me some holo so I spiced the manicure up with some holographic goodness. I totally forgot to snap a photo of us at the banquet for the blog (I know Ghila has been itching for a photo and I love him in a suit looking and just generally when we look all fancy) but I forgot! No worries though Ghila, we have a wedding May 17th and I will be sure to snap a photo or two.

Finally, as tradition goes (also mentioned in my anniversary post last year)....I always pick my favorite rose and snap a photo. This time I included my manicure. I chose this rose because this was the first time I was given colors other than red roses. The pinks were both SO GORGEOUS that when Andrew asked me which I liked better I couldn't even give him an answer. I chose this, the deeper of the pinks, because I think the deeper pink roses are bigger than both the red and light pink. I can't wait to see how much room they take up when they're completely bloomed! I'm just worried I'll shorten their lifespan by keeping them all in the same container. I don't want to smoosh the pretty roses!

Anyway, until next year, 

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you

For all my life
When you're with me, baby the skies'll be blue
For all my life

Toetally Tuesday Easter Toes

Continuing with the Easter Egg pastels from yesterday's design I went for a continued Easter Egg pedicure. I'm loving this mint green color from the Icing. It's absolutely gorgeous and it's perfect for Spring and Easter. Big fan. I should have bough two bottles all those months ago because I feel like I'm going to be wearing this one a LOT over the coming months. Perhaps it'll be my go-to polish for the spring and summer?!

For this look I used the Icing Ming 2 Be and Kiss Brush On Nail Art in White and Silver. 

Easter 2014 - Peachy Keen Jelly Bean

Alright ladies, here we go with a design for Easter 2014 that makes me proud! I hope everyone had a Happy Easter spent with the ones they love. One of my favorite parts of the fun Easter celebrations are the Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs (aka "Reester Eggs!") that I get in my Easter basket (yes I still get an Easter basket...). Thanks Mom! Anyway, here for the Easter design I decided to do Easter eggs and pastels.

EDIT! And because I never include my right hand in a design....holding my camera in my left hand is awkward!

For this post I used: China Glaze Peachy Keen, Icing Mint 2 Be, Zoya Julie, Zoya Nikki, Ink Nail Art in Hot Pink, and Kiss Brush-On Nail Art Paint in Black, White and Silver. Peachy Keen reminds me of the saying "peachy keen jelly bean!" Also, here is a tiny sneak peak of something exciting (and blog-related) hidden among the chocolate and Easter eggs in my Easter basket.... Expect more details in a post coming soon!

Thanks for looking and Happy Easter!

Happy Easter?

Hello everyone! I hope you are able to spend the Easter holiday with some family. This post is one "from the vault" (i.e. I'm-not-wearing-it-right-now) but I'm posting it up before I forget it. I went bowling with my family and Andrew last night and the bowling ball may have broken my thumb nail a little (*sad face*). Now it's time to relax, blog a bit, work on some schoolwork, have the annual Easter Egg Hunt and then I have to return to school. Bleh. I'm not a fan of this design. I guess my idea was to make it look like grass? I don't know.

For this look I used Sally Hansen Green With Envy and China Glaze Watermelon Rind.

Nail News: Zoya's Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange

For anyone who is interested, Zoya is celebrating Earth Day by bringing back their Earth Day Nail Polish Exchange! If you don't know what that means, it's super simple and is a great way to swap out any polish that you may not want anymore. Here's what you do: You go to Zoya's website and choose 6-24 bottles of polish, when you check out use promo code ZDAY2014, and then when you receive your polishes you send back the same number of non-Zoya polishes.  It's that simple. I know you have some polishes in your collection that you really don't want....so why not take advantage of this amazing opportunity! If you're interested, place your orders between April 21st and April 28th!

Born Pretty Summer Nail Art Contest - My Entry #1

Hi there everyone :) Today I forced myself to have some blogging time (and do my nails) because I was informed of the Born Pretty Summer Nail Art Contest. I don't usually enter nail art contests because many of the entries are truly incredible and reach levels that I could only dream of. However, for this summer-themed contest I just had to try my hand at a design. You're allowed to enter two different manicures so this is manicure entry #1 for me and I used the oversized plastic-y nail decoration fruits that a lot of people love for inspiration. For me, summer is 100% about color and fun so I did a colorful summer time fruit manicure that, in my opinion, is absoFRUITly gorgeous.

For this design I used: China Glaze Tart-y For the Party, Zoya Mira, China Glaze Solar Power, Orly Hook Up, Icing Mint 2 Be, China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada, Finger Paints I Pink I Can, China Glaze Peachy Keen, and China Glaze OPI Flit A Bit.

If you're interested please click the banner that I added (upper left below my International Nail Polish Day banner) and enter! The rules are listed on that page but really all you have to do is follow 2+ options (Born Pretty twitter, facebook, blog, pinterest, etc), do a summer-themed manicure, and comment with a link. See? It's really easy! 

I'm seeing spots!

Cow spots that is...just call my nails ol' Elsie. I wanted to use a color that popped (rather than black and white) so I chose China Glaze Solar Power (I also wanted to compare this yellow to the Sinful Colors Pull Over yellow that I just featured). The spots are stamped (BundleMonster plates) in Orly Viridian  Vinyl...which did not come out as blue as the actual color is. I apologize for being a bit behind right now with blog posting, blog reading, emailing, and just general blogging! It's been a crazy two-ish weeks over here and as we approach the end of the semester it's going to get a bit worse. You can be sure my nails remain polished though (even if I can't craft a post to feature them on this here blog)! I need some serious devoted-to-blogging time this week!

Swatch: Sinful Colors Pull Over

Over the weekend I spent some quality time with my little broski....who is learning to drive. In my family, the driving situation is this: my mom and dad both drive large vehicles (a truck for my dad and an SUV for my mom) whereas my sister and I both drive smaller cars (a sedan for Steph and a sports coup for me). Anyway, back to the point: My brother recently got his learner's permit, which means he can now learn to drive. And because I'm older than 21, I'm allowed to drive with him! I had promised that I would let him drive my car, seeing as my car--in my (and his) opinion--is the coolest of them all. Let me just ask, have any of you taught someone to drive? I should have gotten my parents a fruit basket or a bottle of wine or a week at the spa when they let me learn to drive. That stuff is nerve wracking! I hope I didn't get any gray hairs (just kidding)! I mean, handing my keys over to another driver is one thing but being in a car with someone who has never driven before and the speed of 15 feels like you're going 35 miles per hour is just a tad more stressful. I will say this though, my little bro can parallel park like a champ even on his first try. I'm pretty sure I told him "pull over" a few times and that leads me to my post of today. I was rummaging through my polish and found this gorgeous springtime yellow by the name of Pull Over. How perfect is that? #Winning!

Toetally Tuesday - I love Inversion!

As I mentioned not too long ago, I'm in a serious polka dot frenzy over here. It's such a simple design and you can have sooo much fun with it. Between changing up the colors, the location and size of the dots, how many you put on one nail...the possibilities are literally endless. I sometimes think I should have named this blog Nikki's Dotted Tips and Toes. I decided to stick with black and white today because I'm so chic and sophisticated. Also, a Toetally Tuesday bonus: I painted my toes and then thought it would look really cool on my fingers too. Too bad it's not nicer weather so people could see my tips AND toes. My piggies are safe in their flats, with the pedicure hidden from view :( but my fingernails are out in the open. I usually don't include a manicure with Toetally Tuesday but with these two designs how could I not?!

My skin seems way too shiny in this photo. Dislike. I swear I'm not a grungeball.

Hey everybody, come see how good I look!

Bonus points to you if you can identify the movie quoted in my post title. But seriously, I don't think I've ever in the however many years I've been blogging taken a better photo of my nails. There's no almost no glare from the light and it's almost entirely in focus. I'm a little impressed seeing as I have no photography knowledge. Today's manicure is another simple polka dot manicure (I love polka dots...as you can probably remember from my first post ever, this post, this post, this post, and this post, among others).

I used China Glaze Tart-y for the Party and Orly Liquid Vinyl.

I inverted the colors for my ring finger accent nail and I think they look pretty sharp.

Happy Birthday S!!

Today's manicure is to celebrate a certain best college friend of mine who is turning 24 today and is wayyy too far away for me to buy her a drink or celebrate with her in person. Yes, I'm talking about you S. Happy birthday! I decided to do a mani that is inspired by one of our favorite quotes by one of our favorite movies....Bridesmaids:

Hahaha, I can't look at that without cracking up! So many quotable lines in that movie!

Totally not typical birthday nails but....whatevs. It's perfect.

Toetally Tuesday - Color Smash

Yesterday, I featured this design on my fingernails and told you all how I thought they didn't go together. I guess I needed a second example to make up my mind so I added them on my toes. I think the colors look fine together but instead of China Glaze Tart-y for the Party (the light purple) I probably could have used a pink or something. Who knows. It's Toetally Tuesday so on to the toes!

Thanks for looking!

P.S. It's April Fools Day today and I find myself in the unfortunate predicament of not having any prank ideas to pull. I guess that's a good thing though, law school probably frowns on April Fools Day pranks...