Color of the Month: Garnet

This is it, folks! My last ever color of the month post. January's was actually pretty fun to do. 

Before I get started, I just wanted to let all my readers know that commenting on this page is now enabled. It was recently brought to my attention that people could not comment on my blog, so I fixed it! I'd love to chat with you guys so leave your messages below! 

For those who don't know, the birthstone for January is garnet. Most of you probably have seen this in it's deep red form, but while doing my research I learned that garnet exists in other colors as well, including green, yellow, and orange! 

My wheels started turning as I considered how to incorporate these colors together into one mani. And I realized that red, yellow, and green would make a sweet gradient manicure. 

I got so many compliments on this manicure and so many strangers asked me how I achieved this look. 

For this look, I used Zoya in "Sooki", "Darcy", and "Tilda" as well as a makeup sponge. 

First, I painted two coats of yellow over a base coat and let it dry completely. Next, I painted one stripe each of red, then yellow, then green onto a makeup sponge, overlapping the colors slightly. Finally, I rolled/dabbed the makeup sponge onto my yellow base to create the gradient you see. A top coat helps smooth out the final look! 

I loved this gradient. When I went to Antigua on my honeymoon, I had a tropical layered daiquiri drink that looked just like this. Every glance at my fingers this week had me dreaming of warmer weather. My husband also loved it because it was, as he said, "very Bob Marley". 

What are some of your favorite gradient color combos? 

Color of the Month: The Great December Debate

December's birthstone does not take one true form. While researching what December's birthstone was, I found that most gemstone websites cited Tanzanite, Zircon, and Turquoise as acceptable birthstones for December babies. However, if you log on to any jewelry store website and search December birthstones, they will usually show you blue topaz pieces of jewelry. I look at this as an advantage for December babies; you can get a birthstone at a variety of price points!

For my December nails I decided to try Chalkboard Nail's "Precious Gems" nail tutorial. 

It was a bit of a nail fail. 

Both my detail brush and my black polish were too thick, which resulted in sloppy line work. Maybe one day I'll try these again with a finer brush and a newer black polish! But it was a tedious process for sure. 

Here is the result:

Color of the Month: Topaz

November's birthstone is topaz, which is often confused with its other birthstone, citrine. Topaz comes in a huge array of colors, but November's topaz is a yellow-orange shade. 

This month, I didn't want to be so literal with the given color, so I decided to do a glitter gradient of a topaz color over a more neutral color. 

I used Nail Vinyls to make a sort of sun ray design over OPI's "How Great is Your Dane?". I then sponged Julep's "Tatiana" on the tips. 

Please excuse the tip wear on my index finger, it wore down a bit before I had the chance to take photos!

Only one more Color of the Month until the new year! Happy birthday, November babies :)

Color of the Month: Opal + Pier 1 Inspired Halloween Mani

Hey all!

When I sat down to do my October manicure, I realized that the birthstone is Opal, and that I have already done an Opal manicure, which you can see HERE. But for those of you who like the historical/geological aspect of COTM, I did discover that Opal is a formation of non-crystalline silica gel that seeps into crevices in the sedimentary strata. It then hardens to make the opals you know from the jewelry store! 

October babies also can claim tourmaline as their birthstone, a gem known for its color-shifting properties. 

Since I didn't have any new ideas for Opal, I decided to just link to my old mani and do a halloween themed manicure this week. My inspiration was a tea towel that we got in at Pier 1. 

I'm hoping to get a couple more halloween manicures done before the holiday. I have a couple cute designs in mind, so keep your eyes peeled!

Color of the Month: Sapphire

September's birthstone is yet another precious gemstone: Sapphire! 

Sapphire is a variety of the gem species corundum, which occurs in a huge array of colors. If you've been to a jewelry store recently, you've no doubt seen pink sapphire, yellow sapphire, etc. Ruby is actually the red variety of sapphire. However, for this color of the month, I decided to stick with sapphire in its traditional blue form. 

I also decided to use silver (Zoya's "Trixie") for this look. I thought it helped the blue pop. And of course, my beloved Nail Vinyls make an appearance. 

For this look, i featured Zoya in "Dream". This rich, holographic beauty is like a sapphire in a bottle!

So sparkle. Much wow. 

I am also very excited for the mail to come today because my HIMYM box set will be arriving, as well as the last Zoya order I placed before my no-buy. And with new polishes, come new swatches, which mean new blog posts for you!

Color of the Month: Peridot

Quick blog post today! The birthstone for August babies is peridot, which is said to "host magical powers and healing properties to protect against nightmares and to bring the wearer power, influence, and a wonderful year", according to American Gem Society. 

I also found it interesting that most of the world's supply of peridot is found right here in our own country, specifically in Arizona. Cool!

To capture that perfect peridot green, I used Zoya in "Tilda" as my base color. Then I created the lightning bolts using Nail Vinyls and Zoya's "Stassi". 

Happy birthday to all you August babies this month!

Color of the Month: Ruby

For this month's gemstone feature, I was inspired by the Ruby, July's official birthstone. Rubies are one of the four precious gemstones, and "are said to guarantee health, wisdom, wealth and success in love", according to the American Gem Society. 

It doesn't hurt that they're also gorgeous ;)

I couldn't think of rubies without thinking of Dorothy's ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, and luckily I had a beautiful Julep polish from their Wizard of Oz collection called "Ruby Slippers" that I was able to incorporate into the look. So here it is!

I painstakingly placed all those red rhinestones individually on my ring finger for this look. 

I really enjoyed this look; it was time consuming but I thought it would be really pretty to do again around Christmas time :)

Color of the Month: Alexandrite

June's gemstone challenge really screwed me over, big time. 

Apparently, June decided it wanted to be all fancy and have TWO gemstones to represent it's month. And neither of them were easy to translate onto nails. 

One of June's gemstones is the pearl, which is hard to pull off on nails without using a pearly white polish or else pearl studs. Overall, both looks would have been boring and not at all blog-worthy. 

The second of June's gemstones is Alexandrite. This little pain in the ass stone is unique in that it changes colors depending on what kind of light you're in. Sort of like the mood ring of gemstones. In natural light, it appears a lovely green shade. In incandescent light, a purple-pink. 

Alexandrite was discovered in Russia in the 1800's, during the reign of Czar Alrxander II, from which the gem's name is derived. It's chameleon-like properties make it a unique and beautiful gem. 

But still, what the hell was I supposed to do with that?? 

My first thought was to buy an ILNP Ultra Chrome polish that had all the Alexandrite colors in it. Then I decided to settle on a Saran Wrap mani using Zoya's "Giovanna" and Orly's "Hot Tropics". 

This is the finished product:

I hated it and took it off immediately. 

It's not like it's a terrible manicure or even color combination. It's just not what I wanted to see on my nails and the end of June. It also reminded me a bit of Barney the dinosaur. 

Needless to say, I am looking forward to the ease of July's gemstone: Ruby! But this week, I need to focus on my 4th of July nails for you. I promised patriotic, and patriotic you shall receive. 

Color of the Month: Emerald

So I know this post technically comes a couple days late, but it is time to put the spotlight on May's birthstone - Emerald. 

Emeralds are one of the four precious gemstones (diamonds, rubies, and sapphire are the other three). According to earthsky.org, emeralds were "once believed to prevent epilepsy, stop bleeding, cure dysentery and fever, and protect the wearer from panic". 

The American Gem Society notes that emeralds are a symbol of rebirth, and, in mythology, were believed to grant the owner foresight, good fortune, and youth.

 Emeralds come in several shades of green, but since it is summer, I wanted to go with the brighter end of the spectrum. For my emerald manicure, I decided to try a jelly sandwich. 

Some of you are probably wondering what sandwiches have to do with nail polish. Let me clear up the confusion. Nail polishes come in different formulas or finishes. Your basic polishes with no glitter or special effects are called "cremes". Then you have holographics, metallics, mattes, textures, etc. A "jelly" polish is just a type of formula in which the polish looks sheer on the nail, but can be built up to full opacity in 3+ coats. 

So then, what's a jelly sandwich?

A jelly sandwich is when you layer glitter between coats of a jelly polish. The resulting effect causes the glitter to look like it's floating within the polish, and gives your manicure depth. 

I actually topped my mani with the glitter instead of the jelly polish, since my jelly wasn't as sheer as I hoped! 

Here it is...

For this mani I used Essie's "Shake Your $$ Maker" as my jelly, and then layered on OPI's "Fresh Frog of Bel Air" and Sinful Color's "Green Ocean" for the glitters. 

Color of the Month: Diamond

"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend"-Carol Channing

When I was a little kid, my mom had me trained to say this phrase whenever we passed by a jewelry store window in the mall. Diamonds are the most valued gemstone of them all. Why? Let's dive into the history first. 

According to about-birthstones.com:

"No more notable it its uncut state than a plain pebble upon the beach, the true beauty of the Diamond was not revealed until the 16th century, when gemstone cutting and polishing techniques were perfected.  Prior to this time, it was considered taboo to modify the original state of a Diamond.  Today, the value and appeal of this stone depends largely upon how skillfully it is cut and faceted."

DeBeers was the first diamond company in existence to drive the concept of an "engagement ring", which significantly increased the demand on an already valuable gem; however, the first known recipient of a diamond ring happened in 1477, well before the DeBeers company took off. 

But what do most people care about diamonds? They're valuable, and they're pretty. They also happen to be April's gemstone (lucky April babies!). 

I sort of came up with this manicure idea last minute. Since diamonds are clear, I had to get creative with my polish choices.

L to R: OPI "Solitaire", Zoya "Purity", Essie "Set in Stones", Julep "Coretta"

Luckily, I went to some polish names for inspiration. "Solitaire" and "Set in Stones"... See what I did there? Eh?? 

Here's what I came up with. 

I used nail tape to make diamond designs at the bottom of my two middle fingers before painting "Solitaire", a white textured polish with micro silver shimmer, on top. I then did a glitter gradient on the rest of my nails using "Purity" for the base  and layering on Julep's April Birthstone color, "Coretta", and topped it off with "Set in Stones". 

Looking at it, I probably should have used "Purity" as a base so that "Solitaire" would pop more on top of it, but now I know better for next time. Homegurl didn't have the patience to re-do that ish tonight. 

Had to feature my beautiful diamond ;) the camera could NOT focus on all the sparkle at once, though. 

Keep an eye out for some brand features and new color swatches that I'll be posting in the next couple weeks!

Color of the Month: Aquamarine

I found time to do the Color of the Month feature! This month is actually my birthstone: aquamarine. 

Aquamarine is a gemstone in the same family as emeralds. The color of aquamarine can range from a very light, almost clear blue to deeper richer blues, as well as blue-greens. As a result I had a lot of options to play with for this manicure ;)

A little history from gemselect.com:

"According to saga, aquamarine originated in the treasure chest of fabulous mermaids, and has, since ancient times, been regarded as 'the sailors' lucky stone'. Aquamarine derives its name from the Latin term for seawater and has a long tradition of being a stone for those who spend much of their time at sea. The Greeks and the Romans knew aquamarine as the sailor's gem too, ensuring the safe and prosperous passage across many stormy seas. Legend has it that aquamarines were the prized possessions of many mermaids and would thus protect sailors from the dangers of sea, including warding off sea-sickness."

I thought that bit of mythology was really cool, especially related to myself, as I love spending time on the ocean. Also, the "fabulous mermaids" bit made me giggle. 

For this mani I used Zoya in "Blu" and my new color, "Rebel", as well as Julep's March gemstone color "Aretha". 

Ohhh, Ahhh!

Aaaand this is what I came up with...

I'm really very pleased with the turnout. I was especially surprised with how easily I was able to paint a straight line of "Rebel" over "Blue" to get the half-and-half effect. I wish my rhinestone placement was as straight, but that'll come with more practice!

I also found it Julep's March color interesting in that it reminds me a bit of a blue based "Monet" from Zoya's "Awaken" collection. Just me? Here's some macros. 

I think it is just the rainbow iridescence that reminds me of "Monet". Either way, it is a beautiful topper and a perfect color to feature for this Aquamarine mani :)