Manicure Diary

Nailtopia Be More Pacific & So Fresh, So Clean

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 23:15:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

Hope you had a nice weekend. We started looking at houses the last two weekends, which is totally exhausting and honestly not fun especially in this market. Hoping things get less crazy in the next few months!

I recently received two polishes from Nailtopia as a part of their Nailtopia Maven program. Their polishes retail for $10 and you can find them at Ulta.

Be More Pacific is a light ocean blue creme and So Fresh, So Clean is a classic white creme. I used them both do so some nail art, which I haven't done in a looong time. Usually I'm so busy I just try to get my nails done as quickly as possible! I'm a little bit rusty, but the design is cute and the formula on both polishes were nice to work with. So Fresh, So Clean was especially impressive because usually white is tricky to work with but this one was an easy two-coater.

Have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

Orly Day Trippin' - Spring 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 23:36:00 +0000

Hey everyone! It's been a minute. My nails have been in rough shape and constantly breaking because of all the hand washing. Ugh. With a lot of cuticle oil and hand cream I've managed to grow them back out so I'm back to share a great collection for spring!

About a month ago I saw the spring 2021 Day Trippin' collection Orly released and I loved every single shade. It's a really unique group of colors and unlike any collection I've seen a brand put out for spring.

This six-shade collection is filled with 70's inspired saffron, terracotta, and turquoise cremes and has a vintage vibe. The set retails for $57, linked here, or you can buy the polishes individually for $9.50 a piece. The colors in the collection are:

Can You Dig It? - terracotta creme
Kitsch You Later - warm orange creme
Here Comes the Sun - saffron yellow creme
Happy Camper - pastel turquoise creme
Let the Good Times Roll - teal grey creme
Feeling Foxy - deep plum creme

I couldn't pick just one of these to try, so I tried the first five shades for a skittles mani. I used two coats for each and thought the formula was great.

Which color is your favorite? I love them all, but Here Comes the Sun is my top pick. Hope you have a great weekend!

xoxo,

Brooke

Nailtopia Think Pink

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 17:28:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a nice weekend. We took a fun little trip to the mall on Saturday so I could visit the Louis Vuitton store. I've been eyeing the Neverfull MM in Damier Ebene for years but have never actually tried it on. I recently turned 30 and decided it's a good time to treat myself, especially since the price of this bag will just keep going up. I was a bit intimidated to go in the store, but I had the best experience! The SA I worked with was super nice and didn't rush me at all. They didn't have the exact bag I wanted, so I made an appointment to go back and get it next weekend.

Anyway, today's post is not about luxury bags! I do have a beautiful nail polish to share with you that I recently received from Nailtopia Beauty as a member of their Nailtopia Maven program. Think Pink is a bubblegum pink creme with a really nice formula that applied easily in two coats. Sometimes I find with this shade of pink it dries down a bit matte, but this stayed pretty shiny. Of course I always use a top coat, but I thought it was worth noting. You can find this fun pink polish at Ulta for $10.

Have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

ILNP Pool Party

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:44:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a nice weekend. It was kinda rainy and cloudy here so we mostly stayed in, but I'm excited to see in the forecast that it's going to start warming up a bit.

Since tomorrow is the first day of March I thought I'd grab a bright, pretty polish that I haven't worn yet from an ILNP order I placed a few months ago. Pool Party is described as a vivid blue jelly with an intense pink center. It has some gorgeous holo color shifting sparkle and an iridescent shimmer - seriously stunning in the sun! I can't wait to wear this in the summer.

That's all for this short and sweet post. Hope you have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

Cool Toned Skittle Mani

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Sun, 21 Feb 2021 21:42:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a nice weekend. It was a bit warmer on Saturday (in the 40s) so we took a walk and it felt really good to get some sun and fresh air. I've enjoyed the snow but I'm definitely getting ready for warmer weather.

I just wanted to share a quick skittle mani with you. This has become my favorite go to look when I'm feeling indecisive, which is pretty much always haha. I love that I get to use a bunch of colors and it always looks cute. Today I grabbed a few cool toned OPI creme polishes.

From left to right: Things I've Seen in Abet-green, Kanpai OPI!, Don't Bossa Nova Me Around, Good Girls Gone Plaid

Have a great week and stay warm!

xoxo,

Brooke

Nails Inc. Relationship Status: Blushing Nail Polish Set

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 18:09:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Long time no see. I took a bit of a break from blogging, but I'm back and finally on a new MacBook Air! My 10+ year old MacBook Pro was barely hanging on and it made it difficult to blog. Hoping to get back to posting more often.

Today I'm sharing a set of nail polish I recently ordered from Sephora. Valentine's Day is coming up and although I don't really care much about it, I do love the colors. Give me pinks and reds any day. I saw this pretty set from Nails Inc. and the price was so good I couldn't pass it up!

The Relationship Status: Blushing Nail Polish Set retails for $22 and comes with four full size polishes.

Victoria Embankment - light pink

Dover Street - rouge pink

St. Christopher's Place - neon pink

The Strand - berry

I used two coats of each polish to achieve full opacity. My favorite thing about Nails Inc. polishes, aside from the amazing formula, is the wide brush. It hugs my nail perfectly and I only need a couple of quick strokes to cover the whole nail. These colors work together perfectly to create an ombré look, but I know I'll be wearing each color individually as well.

Have a great week and stay safe during the winter storm!

xoxo,

Brooke

Nailtopia Blue-tiful Daze Holiday Kit

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 21:36:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a safe and nice Thanksgiving. We stayed home and had a little Thanksgiving for the two of us. I made a mini charcuterie board for lunch (yum!) and then for dinner we had sweet potato casserole, cornbread stuffing, and chicken marsala since we don't like turkey. I've definitely enjoyed having the four day weekend to recover from a super busy couple weeks at work.

Today I'm sharing with you a cute little holiday nail polish kit from Nailtopia, which would make a great gift this season. There are two kits available in red and blue, and you can find them both at Ulta for $14.99 ($25 value!) I received the Blue-tiful Daze Holiday Kit from Nailtopia Beauty as a member of their Nailtopia Maven Program.

The Blue-tiful Daze Holiday Kit includes three 0.17 oz mini nail polishes:

Hula Girl - sky blue creme
Blue-tiful Daze - blue and silver glitter
Ride the Wave - royal blue shimmer

The kit itself is encased in a BIODEGRADABLE, reusable bag made 100% from recycled materials! Perfect for storing lip balm, gloss, concealer, and other little items for on the go. The new white caps on the bottle are also recyclable. These polishes are 100% vegan, cruelty free, non-toxic, and all free.

Another really cool thing I want to note is that Blue-tiful Daze is the first ever biodegradable, bio-sourced glitter, which is derived from cotton. These glitter particles dissipate naturally back into nature to reduce waste, whereas most nail lacquer glitters contain tiny bits of plastic that never fully break down. This glitter also requires NO extra soaking to remove!

All three polishes were easy to apply - even the glitter was opaque in two coats! It's nice to see a company come out with a nail polish set that those of us who celebrate Hanukkah can use :)

Hope you have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

Nailtopia Smokey Road Glow

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Tue, 03 Nov 2020 01:13:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a fun and safe Halloween weekend. We're not really into Halloween, but we grabbed some BOGO candy at CVS and then watched the most recent Purge movie (pretty good!)

Today I'm sharing a Nailtopia duo called Smokey Road Glow. I received this product from Nailtopia Beauty as a member of their Nailtopia Maven Program. This duo retails for $10 and you can find it at Ulta or on Nailtopia's website.

Smokey Road Glow is a "2 Bottles, 3 Looks" kit, which means you can create 3 looks with the two polishes. Smokey Road is a beautiful grayish purple creme and Hampton Glow is a sparkly champagne - I used two coats of each. When you apply Hampton Glow on top of Smokey Road, it creates this gorgeous sparkly silvery purple color. I think the combo of both is my favorite, but the colors each look nice on their own!

Have a great week and stay safe!

xoxo,

Brooke

Nailtopia Blank Slate

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 23:17:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a nice weekend. We really enjoyed the cooler weather, and I’m getting excited for fall.

I have the perfect nail color to share for the transition into this season! I recently received the color Blank Slate from Nailtopia Beauty as a member of their Nailtopia Maven program. This color is described as a blue-toned grey creme, but I really feel it’s a true grey. The self-leveling formula was very easy to work with, and I really liked the brush. I'm definitely looking forward to trying more colors from this brand.

Have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

Negative Space Chevron Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:00:00 +0000

Hey everyone! How was your weekend?

I've been wanting to try some negative space nail art, so to make it easy I used some single chevron nail vinyls. Mine are pretty old, but here's a link to similar vinyls.

I started with my clear base coat, and once that dried I firmly pressed the vinyls onto the lower half of my nails. I used two Olive & June colors from their summer collection for this look. I have a blog post with swatches of the whole collection, and I do think a lot of the colors go nicely together for a design like this.

On the bottom half, I used two coats of Fierce & Loving, described as a fresh lilac. On the top half I used three coats of Honest & True, a pale blue creme. I gave my nails a couple minutes to dry and then carefully peeled the vinyls off, leaving behind the negative space in between the two colors. After a couple more minutes I applied the Olive & June top coat. I love how these came out! I'd really like to try this look with a curved vinyl as well. What colors would you pick?

Have a greet week!

xoxo,
Brooke

Nailtopia Nails are Nourished Kit Review

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 17:00:00 +0000

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? We had a ton of laundry and clean up to do around the apartment, so that took up most of our Saturday. We needed Sunday just to relax. The weekend ended way too fast!

Today I'm sharing a review of the Nailtopia Nails are Nourished Kit. I was gifted these products from Nailtopia Beauty as a part of their Nailtopia Maven Group. The kit retails for $10, and you can purchase it from Ulta.

I had only recently heard of Nailtopia Beauty, but I was really excited to partner with them after learning more about their products. Nailtopia's sustainable formulations are made with bio-sourced, plant based fruit & vegetables. Their biotechnology is a greener process that considerably reduces environmental footprint.

The Nails are Nourished Kit includes:

Raspberry Nail Nourishment (0.17 oz) to restore & rejuvenate nails.
Raspberry Cuticle Hydration (0.17 oz) to replenish and re-hydrate cuticles.

Raspberry provides alpha-linolenic and Vitamin E to help nails and cuticles become hydrated and promotes regeneration of cells. Plant-based AHA/PHA helps to absorb the vitamins and strengthens, hardens, and conditions nails and cuticles.

The claims:
Nails are nourished after 2 weeks
Nails are improved after 2 weeks
Cuticles are softened after 2 weeks
Cuticles improved quality after 2 weeks

How to use:
1. Apply 2 coats of the Raspberry Nail Nourishment to bare nails. Let dry.
2. Apply 1 coat of the Raspberry Cuticle Hydration to cuticles. Massage in to achieve a better absorption.

My final thoughts:

I have to mention the scent of these products. They both have a very natural and pleasant raspberry scent upon application, which was such a welcome change from the usual chemical scent of nail products. The scent doesn't linger, which I also appreciate.

I had the Raspberry Nail Nourishment on for a week and have noticed that my nails, which are very prone to peeling, have been peeling less. Last night I removed it and re-applied, so we'll see if the improvement continues during week two. I'll also note that this product gives a really nice, healthy shine to the nails.

As for the Raspberry Cuticle Hydration, I love that it's applied with a brush to make for a less messy experience. I didn't find it to be greasy, and it dried fairly quickly. My cuticles have been noticeably more hydrated, something I'm desperately needing with all of the hand washing.

Overall, I'm really happy to have these non-toxic products that I feel good about using. I will definitely be putting together an order soon from Ulta to try some of their polishes!

Have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

Essie Pastel Smoosh Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 23:51:00 +0000

Hey everyone! So sorry for the long absence, I'm still trying to figure out how to work painting my nails into my new routine. A lot of the time I have been painting them - I just don't have the opportunity to take photos and share! If you follow me on IG, @manicurediaryblog, I tend to post there if I don't have the time for a full blog post.

I felt like doing smoosh nails again, but with a pastel twist. I grabbed a few of my favorite Essie shades: Baguette Me Not, Go Ginza, Bikini So Teeny, Blossom Dandy, and Hay There.

I used one coat of Baguette Me Not as a base for each nail. The rest is super easy to do if you have a nail stamping tool and some sort of surface you can place drops of polish on. I actually have a nail stamping mat that I love, but you could easily use a piece of wax paper, saran wrap, or foil. I put a couple of drops of each color in one spot and then press the stamper down a few times, then gently press the design over my nail. Repeat for each finger, clean up any excess on your nails, add a top coat, and you're done! Sometimes I even like to jazz up my smoosh nails with some glitter or nail foil.

Hope you have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

ILNP Pink Ombre

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 00:01:00 +0000

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? It was so HOT here! We tried to get outside a little but got sweaty immediately, which was gross, so most of the time we enjoyed our AC in the apartment.

Today I'm sharing a quick pink ombre look using three gorgeous holos from ILNP. I love using holos to create ombre looks because they're so forgiving and easy to use. I didn't even bother sponging these on! I just applied the three colors with the polish brush and went back to overlap them a little to create that more seamless ombre look.

First, I started with ILNP Paige at the bottom of the nail. Paige is described as a berry pink holo and it's one of my favorite ILNP polishes of all time. The bottle is actually about half empty, which never happens with my polishes! I then went slightly over that and further up with ILNP Citrus Punch, an orange coral holo with a gorgeous golden shift. This one is new to my collection and I think I love it just as much as Paige! The last color I used was Pink Mimosa, a beautiful rosy pink holo. Once I had one coat of each I went back and repeated the process. Easy, right?

Hope you have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

Olive & June x Zeba Summer Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 17:34:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. We braved IKEA Saturday morning because the cabinet that I store my nail polish in broke, so I wanted to replace it. After some online searching I found one from IKEA that I liked. We were able to get in and out of the store pretty quickly and it's now assembled and all of my polish and makeup has a nice new home.

I finally have all of those nail polishes from the Olive & June x Zeba summer collection swatched and ready to share. It took forever to get this done because I had a whole issue with my order and then on top of that I work full time, so it's challenging to figure out when to paint my nails. But it's finally done and I'm so excited to show you all of these fun colors!

Let me tell you about what happened with my order. I've been following Olive & June for a while but none of their colors really interested me until the summer collection was announced. It looked unique with bright, fun colors and the special ombre box was super cute. I purchased the "Into You Box," which comes in a limited edition ombre box with an ombre pouch and includes the following products:

7 new summer shades (each polish individually costs $8)
Limited edition Poppy polish bottle handle in purple
The Top Coat
Cuticle Serum with Cactus Flower
Clean-Up Brush
Polish Remover Pot
Flat-Edge Clippers
Dual-Grit File
Nail Buffer Bar

When my order arrived, I was disappointed to see that everything was their usual packaging colors and not the ombre like I ordered. The pouch and the Poppy inside were also not the limited colors. The polishes were supposed to have a special sticker on the top, and only one of the bottle caps had it. This was such a disappointing first impression to the brand, so I reached out to their customer service. To their credit, they were extremely responsive and shipped out another box right away, though I would have been perfectly happy just to get the items that were missing. A week later my new box came and the SAME thing happened AGAIN. I couldn't believe it! I reached out to customer service again and this time the person I spoke with personally checked in with the warehouse to make sure my order would be correct when they shipped it out a THIRD time. Another week went by and when the third box arrived everything was correct. There were no special stickers on the bottles, which still bugged me but I was just happy to have the other items.

Now that we have the backstory, let's move on and get to the swatches. These are all creme formulas and I generally needed 3 coats for full opacity, but I was able to get away with 2 coats for a couple of them. I also want to note that if you're a fan of a wide brush, then you will love the brushes on Olive & June polishes. I used the Poppy as well and could see someone who is new to painting their nails at home really enjoying it.

The first color I swatched from the collection was Sweet & Gracious, described as an energized orange. I used 3 coats here with their top coat. I LOVE this color. It's totally unique to my collection and super fun for summer.

Next we have Honest & True, described as a serene blue that's calm and centering. This is 3 coats with their top coat. I love this shade of blue for summer.

Bold & Unshaken, described as a bold purple, is another favorite from this collection. I used 3 coats with their top coat. It's a true purple that is bright and gorgeous.

Next we have Grateful & Kind, a true bright pink. I used 2 coats with their top coat. I love pink polish, and this is definitely a new favorite.

Fierce & Loving is described as a fresh lilac. I used two coats and their top coat. I absolutely love this color as well and I think it would be perfect during spring!

The next color is Wild & Free, described as a fierce coral. I used 3 coats and their top coat. I was the least excited about this color when I placed my order and I still feel just meh about it after swatching it. I wouldn't really agree with describing this shade of coral as "fierce," though it is pretty.

The last color in the collection is Bright & Focused, described as a beaming yellow. I used 3 coats and their top coat. I'm very picky about my yellow polishes and this one passes the test for sure. It's a very flattering shade of yellow that isn't too neon but also isn't really pastel. It's right in the middle.

Let's talk about how these wore, since I had each polish on for a few days with a base coat and Olive & June's top coat. I had no issues with chipping at all, even for those that required 3 coats. The true test was how the polish held up after building that IKEA cabinet because I was wearing Bright & Focused at the time. It didn't chip at all! I was very pleasantly surprised and feel confident that I could wear any of these colors on a trip and not worry about my nail polish chipping.

Despite the issues I had with my order, I think I would give Olive & June another chance based on the great quality of the polishes. The stand out colors for me are Sweet & Gracious and Bold & Unshaken, but I do think they did a great job with the colors for this summer collection and as far as formula goes I'd recommend them all. Which color is your favorite?

Have a great week!

xoxo,

Brooke

Essie Flying Solo

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 14:44:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. The weather here was absolutely beautiful so we spent plenty of time outside enjoying it. We also made our own pizza on Sunday using DeLallo's pizza kit and pizza sauce and it came out amazing! Definitely recommend if you ever want to make pizza t home.

Before I get into today's nails, I just wanted to update you on my Olive & June order. I received it last week and unfortunately some of the items were incorrect, so I wanted to hold off on my swatches and review. I reached out to their customer service and they reshipped my order, which I really appreciated. It should be here today and I'm hoping to get a review up next weekend.

Moving on, today I have two more colors from Essie's Flying Solo collection. The color on my index and ring finger nails is the namesake of the collection, flying solo. It's a mid-tone, creamy pink creme that applied perfectly in two coats. I have this one on my toes as well! The color on my ring and pinky nails is one way for one, a blue based pink polish with gold frosted pearl and again I used two coats. The formula of this one reminded me of you do blue, which I shared last week.

Have a great week and stay safe!

xoxo,

Brooke

Essie you do blue

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 18:29:00 +0000

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? The weather was beautiful so we made sure to get outside and take advantage of it.

Since I'm finally getting paychecks again (yay!) I'm catching up on a few nail polishes I've been wanting to add to my collection. I have the Olive & June x Zeba summer collection coming tomorrow so I'll probably do a swatch post for that. Today I'm trying out one of the three colors I purchased from Essie's Flying Solo collection. Can I just first say how much I LOVE the wider brushes Essie uses now? They seem to fit my nail shape perfectly and it makes polishing go super quick.

Anyway, the color I'm wearing today is you do blue, a periwinkle blue with violet iridescence. This is one of those color shifts that's more obvious in the bottle, but still looks lovely on the nails. The formula was great and I needed two coats for full opacity.

Hope you have a great week and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

Purple Smoosh Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 25 May 2020 20:31:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long absence, but I have exciting news! I've been searching for a new job for the past year after leaving teaching and last week I accepted an offer to work on the development team at a local food bank. I went in last week to pick up my computer then I started on-boarding remotely. It was a crazy week meeting everyone via video conferencing and getting familiar with the role, but it was all very exciting!

I finally had some time to paint my nails this weekend, so I did some fun nail art too. I started with two coats of Zoya Abby, a beautiful pale purple creme. I then dotted a few other colors on my stamping mat and pressed a nail stamper into the colors to mix them together. This is where the "smoosh" part comes in. I pressed the stamper a few times on the nail to create swirls of color. I also added some gold foil to make it extra pretty!

Have a great week and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

Twinkled T Holo Lightning

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Fri, 08 May 2020 20:41:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good week.

I recently ordered the Nailify Mani Box ($32) from Twinkled T, a small business owned by two sisters and located in LA selling nail polish, nail tools, and nail art supplies. Each box comes with nail nippers, a 10 pack of wood sticks, and a rose gold brush to clean up the cuticles. You then get to choose from several nail polish colors or a holo top coat, a glass nail file, and a sticker sheet. I ended up choosing the Holo Lightning top coat, sprinkle file, and star sticker sheet. They're also selling a Nailify Stamping Box ($32), which comes with liquid latex, a mini holo stamper and scraper, and your choice of stamping plate and 2 stamping polishes.

I was very excited to try the Holo Lightning top coat and decided to apply it over Smith & Cult Suburban Warrior, a hot pink creme. Holo Lightning is filled with different sizes of holographic flakies, ranging from large pieces to tiny flecks. They add so much gorgeous dimension to your nails and I bet this top coat would look awesome on top of other holos. My absolute favorite thing about it is that the flakies are smooth on the nail and don't have any texture.

Have a good weekend and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

Milk Bath Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 04 May 2020 14:57:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend and had a chance to get outside to enjoy the warm weather. We took a long walk each day and it was so nice just to be out in the sun.

I was scrolling through Instagram the other day (like how I do every day haha) and came across something called milk bath nails. This nail art trend is meant to look like a beauty treatment called a milk bath, which is a mixture of milk and water with colorful flowers suspended throughout. To recreate this on the nails, you'll want a milky, sheer nail color and some dried flowers. My flowers from Born Pretty Store are no longer available, but here's a link to something similar.

Generally I've seen these done with acrylic nails and I'm sure you'll get a nice smooth finish over the flowers this way. Since I've done mine on my natural nails with regular polish, my flowers feel a little textured on top. I don't mind this, but just something to think about before you get started.

I thought OPI Bubble Bath would be the perfect color for this look, and I ended up using 3 thin coats to get my desired opacity. Once this was dry I used my top coat as a sort of glue with the flowers and placed the different colors throughout each nail. I also added a bit of gold foil just for an extra pretty touch. Top coat sealed all of the flowers in and they've stayed on really well. These nails came out gorgeous and I would absolutely wear this look again!

Hope you have a good week and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

Floral Nail Art

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 20:43:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. We got outside for a bit on Saturday which was nice since it's been rainy the last two days. I also have a new mission to obtain a coral Nintendo Switch Lite because I tried the Animal Crossing app and now I'm addicted and want the real thing haha. I was able to place an order for curbside pick up from Best Buy so we'll see if that actually goes through since I heard a lot of orders get cancelled. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, I was scrolling through my nail pics and realized how little I use my green polishes. It's just not my go to color but I have so many pretty ones. I decided to use a few from Zoya - Ness, Neely, and Merida. I hadn't used Merida yet and I've had it for a while so I was excited to try it. This is one of their holographic formulas and it's absolutely stunning! I also topped my ring finger nail with some floral nail art using my tiny detail brush. Floral designs are always fun since you can use any colors you want and they really don't have to be perfect to look good.

Have a good week and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

OPI Suzi Without a Paddle

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 18:13:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. The weather was gorgeous Sunday, but when we went out for a walk by the water the boardwalk was PACKED and we didn't really feel safe walking there. The parks being closed means everyone is basically going outside to the same area. We just bought masks from someone making them locally so at least we have some protection.

When I painted my nails yesterday I knew I wanted to use OPI Suzi Without a Paddle, a light minty blue creme that went on nicely with two coats. For some glitter I used ILNP Juliette, which you totally need in your collection if you don't have it yet. I also used my small detail brush and some white and yellow polish to create half of a daisy on my middle nail. These nails are so cute for spring!

Hope you have a good start to the week and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

Butter London x Barbie

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 18:06:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good week. I feel like I spent way too much time trying to get a Fresh Direct time slot (I did, btw) but I also painted my nails a lot which was nice.

I was looking through my collection and found the Butter London x Barbie set that I purchased a few months back. Totally forgot I had it! The two colors included in the set are Diamond Geezer, a metallic silver with shimmer and Coming Up Roses, a rosy pink creme. Something interesting I noticed was that Coming Up Roses had a nice wide brush, while Diamond Geezer did not. Maybe because the pink shade is from the Patent Shine line? I'm not really sure, but the formula was great on both polishes. I may need to get more of the Patent Shine colors because I love the wide brush and I was very impressed with the formula for a creme.

Since I wanted to wear both colors I used 2 coats of Coming Up Roses on my thumb, index, and half of my middle nail. I then used 2 coats of Diamond Geezer on my pinky, ring, and the other half of my middle nail. I don't think Coming Up Roses is truly a "Barbie" pink, but it is pretty and looks nice with Diamond Geezer.

Have a good weekend and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

Colorful Wavy Nails

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 18:01:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope your week is going well so far. Right now I find myself forgetting what day of the week it is because of the quarantine. Just trying to find things to do and keep busy! Of course one of my favorite ways to kill time is paint my nails. Sometimes I'll change them up to three times a week! If I haven't posted them on my blog, they'll usually be on my social media pages.

I remember seeing a lot of "wavy" nail looks a while back that basically have a neutral base with different colors of wavy lines next to each other. I decided to experiment with that and started with 3 coats of Essie Marshmallow, a creamy white that is pretty sheer and needs to be built up to achieve full opacity. You can also apply less coats if you prefer the more sheer look. You could even create your lines on top of just a clear base coat if you want to go for a negative space design.

Once my 3 coats dried I went in with Bachelorette Bash to create a wavy line on each nail. I then went in with Bikini So Teeny to create a line right next to the first color, following the curve of the line. I did the same with Hay There. I like how it looks with 3 colors, though I think it would look good with more colors but thinner lines as well. I'm definitely going to keep experimenting with more colors!

Have a good rest of the week and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke

Zoya Fern

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 14:53:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you've been having a good weekend. We got through season two of Ozark and got started on the third. What have you been binge watching?

This weekend I painted my nails with Zoya Fern, a cool sage green with a hint of shimmer. I love this color for spring! I also used one of my stamping plates from https://www.bornprettystore.com with Zoya Willa, a black creme, to make the leaves. You could also create this design with a small nail art brush and a steady hand.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xoxo,
Brooke

Butter London Molly Coddled

noreply@blogger.com (Brooke Sunshine) — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 19:59:00 +0000

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. We started watching Ozark on Netflix and have one episode left in the first season that we plan on finishing tonight. It's really good! We've been looking for some new things to watch since we can't really go anywhere for the time being.

I had bare nails all weekend, which I hated, but I just never got around to painting them. I went straight for the polish this morning to make up for it! One of my favorite colors in my collection is Butter London Molly Coddled. It's described as a bright orchid creme and I find this color to be super flattering on so many skin tones. The formula is also perfect, which is especially impressive considering how many years I've had it in my collection. This color goes on in two easy coats. I decided to pair it with ILNP Paige for a pink holo accent. This is a combo I've done before and they look so pretty together.

Hope you have a good week and stay safe!

xoxo,
Brooke