Romper Inspired Dry Brush Mani

This past weekend, I celebrated my husband's 29th birthday with a big pool party. I wanted to find something cute to wear to the party, so I took to the mall to hunt.

I've been on the look out for a romper. It's all I wanted in my summer wardrobe. All the ones I had found were unflattering, ugly, or ill-fitting (something that happens a lot when your top is a size small and your ass is a size large). 

Finally, I found one at Charlotte Russe, of all places, for $15. 

When I took a look at the pattern on the dress, I was hit with inspiration for nail art. 

For this design, I started with a white base coat. Then, I sponged Maybelline Bleached Neon polishes in "Day Glow Teal", "Lime Accent", and "Pink Punch" over top. When that dried, I dry brushed Zoya's "Ryan" on top. 

Dry brushing is a technique where you brush almost all the polish off your brush before dragging it across your nails in different directions. With this technique, I was able to replicate the look of neons peeking through the navy palm branches that was on my romper. 

I had so much fun with this manicure. It was quick, easy, and was a great example of pure inspiration. Usually I have a hard time thinking of original designs, but I really loved this. 

I've Been Drinkin', Watermelon

Hey all! Yesterday I was MIA because I was spending the day in Atlantic City for my husband's birthday. We spent the whole weekend celebrating. 

As some of you may know, we have spent the past two months making improvements to our backyard in preparation for the very party that happened this past weekend. We've pulled up chicken wire, laid down grass seed, painted both decks, made a horseshoe pit, and (sort of) opened the pool. It was a ton of work, but it also made it that much more gratifying to see all of our friends over enjoying what we had done. 

We had roughly 30 of our friends and family over to celebrate with an awesome BBQ and pool party. The pool water may not yet be clear, but it was still swim-able and fun. 

For the occasion, I asked my sister to sew me a watermelon dress. I found a picture of me as a pre-schooler wearing a watermelon dress recently and decided I needed an adult version. 

Watermelon dress, circa 1994

Watermelon dress, 2014

And, of course, to match a watermelon dress, I did watermelon nails. 

My nails and my dress

A huge thanks to everybody who came out to celebrate with us! We had so much fun. And to those who couldn't make it, you were missed. 

This upcoming weekend, I'll be out on the ocean for trawl, which isn't the best time to do funky things on my nails. Next week expect to see some swatches or product reviews. I have posts ready for the Zoya Magical Pixie Summer collection, my Ipsy bag review, and my new Lush products :)