My Nail Graffiti

Colorful French Tips

2012-02-29T11:42:00.000-08:00

Hello hello!

Who else is ready for a break? I had a dream that I went on a cruise with my husband and since then it's all I can think about! haha

Well for today's mani my husband wanted to play around with the bright colors paired with nude trend again. I have actually seen similar manis around, though hubby thinks he came up with it himself. haha We used OPI Did You 'ear About Van Gogh as the base. The tips from pointer to pinky are all Color Club Poptastic: Chelsea Girl, Almost Famous, Poptastic, Wahrhol, and Twiggie.

Tip: We used stickers to get the perfect straight edge.

And to top it off with a little stamping, a cute bow from a You Mix XXL plate in Konad white.

Thanks for reading!

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Black and White Shard Topcoat + Zoya Breezi

2012-02-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I have a fun post for you today along with some updates on You Mix Cosmetics. I am giving you a little preview of a few things to come in our shop soon! We plan to carry these irregular cut glitters in black, white, and silver probably with more colors to come in the future.

My husband made a topcoat using the white and black irregular glitters and we layered it over Zoya Breezi. Everything laid flat pretty well and the effect is simple, but eye catching.

And because I don't do it often enough...here it is with matte top coat. Love it!

If you follow You Mix's FB page, you know that we got a huge shipment of all kinds of glitters in yesterday and we are in the process of putting them up on the site over the next few days.

So what do you think of the irregular cut glitter? Are you a fan?

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Father/Daughter Mani

2012-02-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share this cute moment between my husband and little 16 month old from this weekend. He did her nails and she was so serious about it...

Precious.

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Nostalgic Lacquer Duckie

2012-02-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Today's post is a swatch from Nostalgic Lacquer. This is another indie polish, my latest obsession. :) The name is Duckie and it's a sheer mint jelly base with multi size and color glitters. Since this is pretty much my favorite color, I had to have it!

This polish reminded me of Revlon Whimsical in that it's VERY sheer. It took a lot of patience to apply this and I don't really know how many coats I ended up with when it was all said and done. I almost gave up after a while. I used 2 coats of Seche base coat first since it's tinted white to help with the coverage, but I didn't anticipate the glitter to be so sparse in each coat. I know I could have applied a colored base first, but I don't think it would of made a difference because of the nature of the glitter.

This polish was a labor of love to apply, but I think it was worth it in the end because it is so pretty. It just took so much out the bottle just from one application, but since I have 5923723 other polishes in my collection, I don't think I have to worry about it running out! ;)

What are some of your favorite indie polishes out there?

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Neon/Neutral + Nail Art

2012-02-25T10:38:00.000-08:00

Hey! I know I have been a bad blogger this week. I have had no inspiration lately so I didn't want to bore you with the more plain looks I have been sporting. But today I do have something fun to show you finally!

I have some serious spring fever and the gorgeous bright colors for spring are calling to me...I can't wait for sunshine, warmer temperatures, skirts without leggings and fun wedge sandals! So to help with that, I used a color combo that's popular this season: the neon/neutral combo. It's so simple, but why had I never thought of it before? It's become an obsession of mine.

To start, I chose the perfect neutral shade: Did You 'ear About Van Gogh from OPI's 2012 Holland collection.

Using the scotch tape method, Color Club Warhol and Sinful Colors Neon Melon are on the diagonal corner of the nail. And it's finished off with a chain design from one of the You Mix Cosmetics XL stamping plates.

How many of you are just dying for spring like me? And what about your thoughts on the neon/neutral trend?

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Pretty and Polished Party on My Yacht Funky French

2012-02-20T10:21:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! I have been meaning to post this for a while now, but things got busy...so this feels like a long time coming!

As I am sure you are all aware, indie polish (etsy/frankens etc...) is having a huge moment right now. It's pretty amazing because there are some sweet polishes out there! So this is one of those and it comes from an Etsy shop called Pretty and Polished. This is called Party on my Yacht. This polish consists of purple, green, yellow and pink glitters as well as tiny blue bar glitters in a milky white base. I bought the mini version of this but I should have gotten the full size!

For a little something extra, I added OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? to the tips.

Have you guys been loving the indie polish craze or are you not so into it?

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Orly Oh Cabana Boy + Nail-venturous Nail Lacquers A Dash of Princess

2012-02-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

TGIF!

I am getting my hair colored today and I'm kinda nervous because it's gonna be different, but hopefully good different!

So today I am showing you a polish that Dustin got me for Valentine's Day. This is Orly Oh Cabana Boy. This is an almost neon pink with a soft blue-ish shimmer. Very pretty! Below is 3 coats.

And the perfect topper for this is A Dash of Princess for Nail-venturous Nail Lacquers aka Amy from I'm Feeling Nail-venturous! This is a clear base full of white glitters in different sizes, purple, pink, and super fine purple glitter! So girly, I love it!

Also, for a quick You Mix update: We have a TON of new glitters (including square!) on the way to us! We also plan on restocking plates ASAP. If you want to stay up to date on these things, like the You Mix Cosmetics facebook page *here*!

I hope you guys have a fabulous weekend! :)

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Nubar Reclaim

2012-02-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Today's post is a quick swatch of a polish that I have been eyeing for a really long time! I had some ebay bucks to use so I figured why not? Nubar Reclaim is what I am talking about...a gorgeous grass green holo. This first pic is without flash. I love the glowy look it takes on.

But we all know a holo looks best in direct sunlight/with flash...so here is some of that too!

My husband pointed out that this is probably one of the cheapest linear holos out there (someone correct me if I am wrong). You can pay up to $60 for a bottle of OMG on eBay, but Reclaim is still available at $6-$7! Definitely get this if you don't already have it...it's soo worth it! :)

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OPI Love is a Racket + Lacquistry Valentine Shards

2012-02-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

Hi there!

This mani turned out to be more Valentine's themed than was intentional, but how can it not when the polishes have Love and Valentine in the name? haha Must be a subconscious thing.

I started with OPI's Love is a Racket. A sparkle, flecky, strawberry red. This is 2 coats.

Then I used Lacquistry's Valentine Shards in 2 coats. This is a holo pink irregular cut glitter. I am loving these right now! Well, I am just loving Lacquistry's shop period...I just received 3 more of her fabulous polishes the other day! :)

The only thing that bothered me about this mani is that this layering combo looks just like Color Club Fame and Fortune, which I own. So I will defnitely be trying this out with other colors and see what I can come up with. I always try to find unexpected layering combos that turn out working well together. Have any of you come up with some lately?

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Belated 1000 Follower Giveaway Winners!

2012-02-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats and thanks to all those that entered! :)

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Happy Valentine's Day Nail Art!

2012-02-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are all having a special day. ;) My husband is off at his internship most of the day so it's just me and my other little Valentine (my 15 month old daughter) today.

I finally got to collaborate with Dustin and have him help out with my nails...he is so busy that it's been a while! So he gets pretty much all the credit for today's mani. He chose China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic and layered one coat of China Glaze Ring in the Red on top of that.

Then we picked OPI Pink Friday to stamp the fishnet design from a Konad plate and Konad White and an image from a You Mix XXL plate to create the heart French tip. I love how it came out!

Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day?

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Valentine Kisses Nail Art

2012-02-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I hope yall had a great weekend. I took a break from blogging and got to see my parents and sister in Utah. It was a much needed break that was way too short!

So in the spirit of Valentine's Day tomorrow, I have another themed nail art look for you today. I have seen TONS of super cute ideas out there for Vday manis...I wish I had more time to replicate them all! ;)

The base for this is China Glaze Sweet Hook, part of the spring Electropop collection. This may not be the most original color out there, but the formula on this is fabulous! I did 2 coats and everything covered and evened out perfectly.

The stamping design comes from the first set of Bundle Monster stamps and I chose various Sally Hansen Chrome pens to stamp with. I can't get enough of stamping with chromes and metallics!

Thank you for reading and see you next time! :)

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Sinful Colors Cinderella + Nail-venturous Nail Lacquers Southern Belle

2012-02-09T16:40:00.000-08:00

Hi readers!

I hope you are all doing well! Today's first polish is Sinful Colors Cinderella. This has been getting quite the buzz in the polish world lately. Probably because it's an affordable brand and a really pretty polish! Cinderella is a sheer baby blue with a pink sparkle. Think of this as the blue version of NOPI Kim-pletely in love, but with a better formula. Below is 3 coats.

I topped this off with a franken made by Amy from I'm Feeling Nail-venturous. She has an awesome blog, and amazing talent, so definitely check her out!

So this franken's name is Southern Belle. So cute. It's blue, silver, and silver holo glitter as well as some irregular shape glitters in blue and silver. I think this fits in so well with the Cinderella theme...it definitely reminds me of her pretty dress and glass slippers. :)

Have you guys been eyeing Cinderella?

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Valentine's Ombre Nails

2012-02-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

So you can probably tell I had to cut my nails down quite a bit. I had a break on my pinky nail, and there was no saving it. Even though I prefer to have my nails longer, it feels good to start fresh.

This is my first mani for Valentine's Day this year...a pink ombre! Unfortunately, I didn't get my thumb in any of these photos, but I think you get the idea. Colors used from left to right: Color Club Warhol, Color Club Poptastic, Color Club Yum Gum, OPI Pink Friday.

I topped this off with Jem from Nostalgic Lacquer. Unfortunately, the shop seems to be completely sold out right now, but she is promising a new collection in the near future. :) Etsy and franken polish in general are having a total moment right now and I am loving it! I have lots more of these polishes to show you that I have recently acquired so get excited. ;)

Anyway, Jem is made up of magenta, rose gold, and white hex glitters in multiple sizes, as well as white bar glitters (yay!). I fell in love as soon as I saw this...so original and fun!

And finally, I stamped on some hearts from one of You Mix Cosmetics XXL plates. Super cute!

Have you done any Vday manicures yet?

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Zoya Charla + Gradient Nail Art

2012-02-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

My manicure for today, I pretty much outright copied from a fellow blogger. But I liked it so much I couldn't help myself! And I will go ahead and say that I love her version many times more than mine! My inspiration for this comes from Jacki at Adventures in Acetone. She has fabulous ideas, and if you aren't following her yet, ya should be!! :)

I loved the idea she had to do a blue/purple gradient...especially with these Zoya colors in matching finishes it really spoke to me...so I used Charla for my base. This is one of my very first Zoyas and this baby is still sparkly and pretty as ever!

I love the greenish shimmer it has!

Next, I sponged Zoya Julianne at the tips into a gradient. I like that sponging allows for mistakes because it still looks good even when imperfect (like mine!). After the gradient was finished, I topped it off with Ozotic 528, a pink/blue/green color shift glitter topcoat. Again, I have to give credit to Jacki for this genius combo! It may not look like much here, but it adds just the right amount of sparkle to these colors that is just perfect.

And finally, I used Wet n Wild Silvivor to stamp in this marbly type design. I was happy with how this all turned out and loved the overall look.

Jacki, if you are reading this I hope you don't mind I used some of your ideas! Thanks for having such a great blog to get inspiration from! :)

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China Glaze Life Preserver + Icing After Party

2012-02-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I wish I had better lighting for you in my pictures today. One of my lamps busted and there is no daylight after 4pm in the winter where I live, so they aren't the best. Luckily, I got another lamp so better pictures are on the way! :)

Today's mani starts with China Glaze Life Preserver, a medium burnt orange creme. This is 3 coats, as the formula was on the thin side.

Then I added a coat of Icing After Party. I LOVE this polish! It has multi colored shards of glitter in a clear base. But this isn't the typical rainbow colors, it's a mix of purple, orange, gold, and aqua. It's a little tricky to get good placement and some of the pieces don't want to lay flat on the nail, but since I have nothing like it in my collection (for now, I have some more of this type of polish on the way), it's a keeper!

What do you guys think of this type of flake/glitter?

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Pure Ice Polish Swatches

2012-02-03T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hey readers!

Today's post is swatches from Pure Ice. I have had these polishes to review for a really long time and am just now getting around the sharing them with you guys. :/

The first is Wild Thing. This is a lime green creme. I did 2 coats, but it took a little work to make sure it wasn't streaky and uneven.

Next is Splash. This is a frosty, pale blue shimmer. The formula on this was a little watery, so it took a very careful 3 coats. I do think this color is pretty though.

This is Jaguar. This one reminds me a little of China Glaze Champagne Bubbles. This is 3 coats, again the formula was watery so application takes some patience.

Next is Cheatin'. This is fine blue and purple glitter in a clear base. The is one of my favorites of the bunch. I really like how small the glitter is. This is one coat over Orly Frisky.

This is Not Now. A slightly frosty emerald shimmer. I believe this is 3 coats.

And finally, here is Lightening Strikes, a metallic silver crackle. The crackle effect worked really well, no issues there. But that doesn't change the fact that I am so over crackle polish! I wonder if we will be saying that about flakies and magnetics by the end of the year. haha

Do any of you own any Pure Ice polish?

You can purchase Pure Ice at Walmart or online at Bari Cosmetics.

Happy Friday! :)

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*Polish was sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

A Few Things From Born Pretty Store

2012-02-02T12:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I have a few straggling items from Born Pretty Store that I still haven't shown you.

The first is a glitter polish. This has predominantly light gold glitter with some hot pink glitters as well. Below is 3 coats, but this could work as a layering polish using just one coat. I do think that if you are going for full coverage, you will want to use some underwear first. I didn't do that here but wish I had. I think this glitter is very pretty...I don't have anything else like it!

Next is something that I really like. This is the equivalent of Zoya Color Spoons all in one place! There are 120 spots on this and it's only around $5. So far I have been using mine to swatch new colors before I actually wear them. I am always so excited when I get new polish that I have to swatch it right away (please tell me I am not the only one)!

One day though, I really want to have enough of these to swatch my whole collection and have it more organized by color. Another detail I really loved about this plate is the little holes on the side that makes it easy to store in a 3 ring binder!

What do you think about these Born Pretty items? As always, you can use my coupon code to get 10% off your order: AJ10W21.

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already! :)

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*Items were sent for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

You Mix News: We have flakies!

2012-02-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! The week is halfway over...it can't come fast enough!

I just wanted to let you know that iridescent flakies have been added to the site as of yesterday! They are not as intense as some flakies out there, but you can still create some neat polish with these. As an experiment, we added some to a clear polish with some pigment and the effect was gorgeous!

Keep reading to see swatches of these over black.

Rainbow

Blue

Gold

Green

Purple

Red

It has been a number one request from our customers to see larger quantities available for purchase, and we are happy to offer that option with these flakies. You can get a 3 gram jar for $2, or 1 ounce for $15.

I have also added this note to our About page: Please keep in mind that we run this site on the side while balancing a one year old, and Dustin's final semester in school. Once he graduates in April, we will be devoted to this site full time. We plan to expand with more products, and larger quantities to buy at a time over the coming weeks. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

You can visit You Mix Cosmetics *here*.

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China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic + Nail Art

2012-01-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Today's polish is another one of my picks from the China Glaze Electropop Collection. This is Fuchsia Fanatic. I can honestly say I don't have a berry pink like this in my collection! haha You can get good coverage in 2 coats, but for no VNL, you will want 3.

I recently got my hands on Color Club Fame and Fortune from the Backstage Pass collection. It was my only must have of the group. Fuchsia Fanatic is the perfect underwear for this polish! Although you lose some of Fame and Fortune's jelly effect, it still helps cut down on unnecessary coats of glitter that can be a pain to remove. So I used that as an accent nail, while the rest of my nails have the stars from the old set of Bundle Monster plates stamped with Color Club Foil Me Once. It ended up very subtle in person though.

I also wanted to mention that we added a new category of iridescent flakies to You Mix Cosmetics this morning! They are available in a 3 gram size, or you can get 1 ounce. You can check them out *here*.

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Misa Touch the Rainbow + Fingerpaints Flecked

2012-01-30T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! It's Monday again...blah. haha I started it off good by working out...hopefully the trend continues for the rest of the week! :)

Today's polish is a first for me. This is my first Misa polish! This is Touch the Rainbow from the Spring 2011 collection called Wishes, I believe. I LOVE the name of this polish! I happened to come across swatches and knew I needed this! Touch the Rainbow is a super pale sky blue with gorgeous shimmer. I didn't capture that very well here though. :( This polish looks like a greyed out white from a distance. Below is 3 coats.

I chose Fingerpaints Flecked to layer on top. Although you can't see the true color shift of the flakies, they add an amazing shimmer and sparkle that really compliments the polish.

So I was going to add stamping on top, but in between painting the flakies on and that, I went to cook dinner. Which was a stupid idea because I got tons of dents in the mani and I had to take it off. :( Oh well though, I put on another untried polish...which I have a lot of...so that was a good thing right? haha

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China Glaze Make Some Noise + Gradient

2012-01-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hi polish lovers!

Tonight I am posting the first of my picks from China Glaze's new spring collection, Electropop. This is Make Some Noise, a nice melon/coral shade. Below is 2 coats and the finish is a cross between a creme and jelly. I love coral shades a lot...I'm currently eyeing the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear coral I have seen at Walgreens..can't remember it's name though. :(

Next, I layered OPI Servin' Up Sparkle on top. I haven't seen any comparisons, but this seems really similar to Electropop. The larger glitters were a little harder to place, which was kind of annoying.

After that, I layered one coat of OPI Guy Meets Galveston on top, and it looked good for about 30 minutes, but the glitter ate through GMG eventually...which was weird. So it pretty much went back to looking like I hadn't done anything at all. :P

And finally, I sponged Wet n Wild Silvivor in a gradient starting from the tips.

This whole mani was quite the layering experiment, but I think it sort of came together in the end! Pin It

Girly Nautical Nail Art

2012-01-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

TGIF! Have any fun plans for the weekend?

I feel like it's been FOREVER since I posted nail art...so I am excited for today's mani. Girly skittles manis are probably my favorite to do. I got inspiration for this idea on Pinterest (you can follow me *here*).

I used an assortment of old Bundle Monster plates, our You Mix plates, and a Born Pretty plate for this design. Colors used: Dr.'s Remedy Noble Navy, Orly Au Chanpagne, Orly Luxe, and Color Club Poptastic.

What are your thoughts in skittles manis? Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already! :)

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My Nail Graffiti's Belated 1000 Follower Giveaway!

2012-01-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hey lovely followers!

This giveaway has been a long time coming since I reached 1000 followers quite a while ago. But with the holidays and moving, this is the first chance I have had to make it happen.

Thank you all for being the best readers ever...this blog would be super boring without all of you! Your comments make my day, and I am happy to have been able to get to know some of you better and call you my "blogging friends"! ;)

So you can enter this giveaway via Rafflecopter below. Also, as a note, the Jordana polishes are brand new, I was sent another set by accident by their PR company, so I am passing it on to you! I swatched my set *here* if you would like to see. And the credits towards our store, You Mix Cosmetics are good towards anything you want! We have a lot of things out of stock at the moment, but I'm pretty sure by the time this giveaway ends, things will be back up and we should have some new things also!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Born Pretty Shimmer Polish Swatches

2012-01-25T14:44:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

Today's post features some polishes from Born Pretty Store. I have shown you a lot of these polishes in the past, so I am also going to include those swatches today. Here are the polishes all together...the ones I haven't shown here are the mint green, and light orange.

You can tell I trimmed my nails down a lot huh? I can't decide how I like them better...

Anyway...this is described on Born Pretty's site as Aqua Green...I see it as more of a mint/seafoam green, but either way it's very pretty! This is 3 coats.

And this is described as Orange Shimmer on the site, which seems pretty accurate to me! I think orange is one of the colors I have the least of in my collection mainly because it's hard to find flattering shades, but I like this one. It sort of has a burnt orange quality to it. This is 2 coats.

Now, these are the ones I have shown you before...I will just list the names Born Pretty uses to describe them so you can find them easily on the site.

Glitter Blue Shimmer

Shiny Violet Shimmer

Peach Pink Shimmer

Emerald Green Shimmer

I really like this line that Born Pretty carries (obviously, because I keep getting more!). Next time you visit Born Pretty, you can get an extra 10% off your order by using code: AJ10W21.