Something is missing...oh right my boyfriend.

Did you know: In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang are used to describe how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent and give rise to each other? 

Well, wikipedia it and you will see I'm right! Now why did yin and yang from Polish and Pearls inspire the current mani on my digits?? To get back to the title of the post....it's because I'm missing something: my boyfriend. Yeah, he's not quite missing yet but he'll be missing starting NEXT WEEK. As I blogged about before, Andrew dearest is moving to Colorado for SIX months(!). No joke.. I mean don't get me wrong, moving temporarily for work is awesome and will be quite the adventure but...six months to somewhere that's a four hour plane ride away??? My eyes just watered typing this. Good grief, I have to pull myself together. He'll be back in no time! I thought the yin and yang would be a good design because although we are seemingly opposites (he's brainy and quiet and awesome) and I'm whatever the heck I am (crazy, kooky, and a little odd) but we are so perfect together. Needless to say, I'll miss him. 

Mani Monday: Fighting Phils!

Pardon me while I bust out some serious American "take me out to the ballgame" but...I went to a Phillies game yesterday with some folks from work! Naturally, a nail design was order! I had to keep it semi-work profesh because otherwise I probably would have gotten a few looks from the senior partners (and CEO!) and I wouldn't want that. I went with red but then a baseball on my ring finger. You guys may remember that I'm not a huge sports fan (I like odd sports like gymnastics....and nascar, lol) but I really did enjoy watching the game and chatting with my work people outside of the office. It was nice to see everyone relax a little bit.

Because it was a work event we had one of the "private boxes" that allowed us to have our own food, drinks, seating, and bathroom. It was so enjoyable to not have to wait in long lines for either food or the bathroom. I really had a great time and it turned out my sister and her fiance were at the game too! Matt earned Salesman of the Month (yay!) at his job and so they were in a box too! We ended up not being on the same level but we met up after the game. Overall it was a really LONG game but a really GOOD night :)

In case you watched the game (or care)...the Phillies lost :(

Last post babies, this post baby trees.

Hello all,
As you already know from my last post, there are three new babies in people's lives around me. To keep with this trend of little things I have something else to show you! While Andrew and I were at Longwood Gardens (google it) last weekend we saw the most adorable little bonsai trees. Seriously...some were older then my grandparents (like the one from 1909!). Anyway, Andrew knew I liked the bonsai trees and when we saw them for sale in the store he bought me one! Yep, proud owner of a "Mini Jade Tree" which, if you don't know, is a South African tree (I knew nothing about it) that might flower in autumn. By sheer luck we found out it's one of the easiest bonsais to care for. Andrew even made sure to equip me with the appropriate bonsai trimmers. So sweet! Check out my little bonsai:

Yes yes I know this wasn't nail related.

Holy Babies!

Finally, a second to sit down, paint some nails, and catch up with the blog world! Hi everyone, I hope you're all doing well and keeping your nails painted. I've been putting this design off because there were two people I knew who were expecting their first child and I had to wait until the second kid was born in order to do this manicure and celebrate both of them (edit: there are three people now because my best law school buddy's sister just announced she's preggo too). The first little bundle of joy was my sister's future sister-in-law's (and her husband's) adorable little baby boy named Jaxon (born on May 6th). The second bundle of joy is my boyfriend's brother's (and his sister-in-law's) little princess named Lily who was due June 19th but hasn't quite made her grand entrance into the world yet. In any event, I just couldn't wait any longer to do this design! Andrew and I went to pick up some "Welcome to the world baby Lily" presents today so my mind was thinking babies and I decided to get the design out of the way while I had some time.

Fun tip about Nikki: Babies freak me out. Buying little clothes that wouldn't even fit around my knee was odd and Andrew wasn't making it any better as he stood in the store's aisle looking around visibly thinking "ew babies." Clearly the two of us are destined to be a set of fantastic parents right?? Haha. That's a world away! Anyway, some of the items we got were so cute! Cute little whale shorts, a turquoise onesie with some shorts, and a few Burt's Bees organic cotton clothes because Andrew's brother and sister-in-law are particular about Lily's stuff. I may not be anticipating having a kid any time soon but is it bad that I'm super excited for when my sister has one? Babies freak me out but I will totally spoil my little niece or nephew when I have one!! Oh yeah, I almost forgot Andrew is going to be "Uncle Andrew" to someone....how odd! Here are the designs. I was celebrating both a little boy and a little girl so I needed to do pink AND blue with baby feet.

Andrew also bought Lily/Lilly her namesake flower. I thought that was adorable.

....ick babies.

Beach time!

Hey all! Today's post is coming to you from the beach! You know...the place of hotels, sand, miniature golf, all you can eat crab, boardwalk, boardwalk fries, etc. Yay! The nail design is a take on the popular lifeguard logo (if I were not posting from the actual beach I would link to an example....until then Google Ocean City sweatshirts and you'll sed what I mean). I'll update this post when I'm back near a computer but until then....sandy toes and salty kisses is all I need!!

Swatch: Ciate Dangerous Affair

Finally after a bit of a hiatus, I have a new post! Today is my little brother's birthday (17!) but I couldn't seem to come up with a design for a birthday manicure so...today is a swatch post for Ciate Paint Pot Dangerous Affair, a gorgeous burgundy that is perfect for...well...not spring or summer weather. However, because I'm me I tend to rock whatever color fits my mood at the moment (seasons be damned!) so I will work this polish even though it's springtime here. I think the formula is a little thinner than a normal polish but it dries quickly and it's still really opaque so it's not really a big deal. Just slap some Seche Vite Top Coat on there and it looks great. The burgundy that is on the nail is definitely the same as what shines in the bottle so that's awesome. I hate when I choose a color but then when it gets on my nails it's something totally different. The cost for Ciate full size polishes is about $15 USD but mine is a mini that was part of the Christmas Advent Calendar that Bloomingdales sold (so I have a ton of really amazing Ciate polishes in mini). I'd say this polish would get a 9 on a scale from 0-10. Check out the amazing shade of this polish:

Also, some exciting news! My sweetheart and I will be spending a few days at the ocean tomorrow! I have to do a beach appropriate manicure!

Advice needed: Wedding Wears

So, any thoughts on what I should put with this plain black dress to give it a festive flair?? If you have any other ideas let me know!

Toetally Tuesday - Holographic Dots

Brief post today because I'm at my parent's house and don't have much of my polish stuff with me! I loved the colors from my anniversary post in April so much that I wanted to use them in another way....voila, on a Toetally Tuesday. I did a dottie, holographic pedicure. Where are my sandals? These tootsies need to be seen!

For this look, I used Color Club Kismet and China Glaze Highlight of My Summer. 

They say it's my birthdayyy!

...we're gonna have a good time! Hello nail friends, today is indeed my birthday. Woot woot! I'm a strict subscriber to the whole birthdays-are-a-big-deal belief. I don't care whose birthday it is. I don't care how old the person is. If there's a birthday for someone who means something to me I am right there celebrating it. Seriously, I have been known to celebrate "birthday weekend" for my boyfriend when we can only see each other on the weekend and not on the actual day. I tend to text people "Happy Birthday" consistently throughout their birthday just because I can (at one point I tried to text a buddy of mine 21 times for her 21st birthday...I'm serious). Get the picture? I love celebrating people I guess -- hopefully that's not weird. Anyway, this year it's doubly special today because (A) we're celebrating MEEEEE (*cue conceited moment*) and (B) I get to share my birthday with celebrating my mom (because Mother's Day is today!). Ok, now that that's out of the way...Last year I celebrated my birthday with this design and you know I love me some color so I came up with this design...

I'm kinda sorta really completely obsessed with this manicure to be honest. (It's not bad to really like your own manicure right?). For this birthday look, I used Essie Be Right Bag as the base and then dotted ROY G. BIV (the rainbow) across the nail in Zoya Kristi, OPI Flit A Bit, Sinful Colors Pull Over, China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada, China Glaze Moody Blue, Orly Blue Suede, and Zoya Mira.

And I just realized right now that I did NOT include my age on this one! I always put the person's age on the thumb! Dagnabbit!

Review: Born Pretty Store Green Heart Studs

Today is my last product review for the Born Pretty Store for the moment. If you're interested in my previous three reviews you can always check those out! The product for today's review is the 90 piece Mini Colored Heart Shaped Metallic Stuff Rhinestone UV Gel Nail Art Decoration. These are adorable 4 mm alloy hearts that come in your choice of six colors. The colors available are pink, orange, light green, green, purple, and blue. They were really easy to apply (just use a top coat or nail glue) and were really secure so they should stay on my nails for a while. I think there's a lot you could do with them (you can use them on your nail or decorate stuff with them) and you can reuse them if you're careful. They retail for $2.63 and the product ID number is #12151. They come in two plastic baggies so you might want to find a way to store them (or you could just leave them in the baggies if wanted to). The design I came up with to showcase these adorable little heart studs is:

See? Really simple to use but they look so great! If you're interested in these or any other Born Pretty product, you can use my coupon code BWB10 at checkout to save 10% on your order! Also, if the code is used 10 times Born Pretty will sponsor a giveaway on my blog!