Rainbows and hearts

Since this weekend was Pride I decided I wanted a rainbow-themed manicure for the festival - perhaps my favorite summer festival in the Twin Cities. I thought about doing each nail a different color, but couldn't decide which colors to leave out. I went to Google for some inspiration and decided on rainbow stripes.

I bought a little nail art kit with the intention to use the precision brush to make my stripes but ultimately ended up freehanding it. The stripes aren't perfect, but who is? I thought they turned out pretty darn well. It was a little time consuming but worth the effort and I love how it turned out. I chose these colors because they each have a bit of shimmer and did two coats of each.

Red: Sephora by OPI Sample Sale
Orange: Revlon Top Speed Poppy (1st coat), Sally Hansen HD Three D (2nd coat) - Poppy looked like the best orange on paper, but on the nail it was a little too pink. I think it worked out great because the Three D is a little sheer.
Yellow: Revlon Top Speed Electric - for whatever reason, this was a little goopy on the second coat but it turned out okay.
Green: Sally Hansen Hi-Def
Blue: Sephora by OPI Skinny Jeans
Purple: Maybelline Express Finish Grape Times

I wanted something simple for my toes so I went with all white. However, the nail art kit came with little stencils and even though I'm not a big fan of nail art, I suddenly couldn't go on without having tiny hot pink hearts on my big toe. It looks super cute, but my attempts at a photo failed miserably so you'll just have to use your imaginations!

Finger Paints Tiffany Impostor

I apologize for the fact that my camera sucks*. I think the pictures I took with the flash make the color look a little too bright, but they look more accurate than the ones taken without. I unfortunately have nothing from Tiffany to compare the color to (boo!) but as far as I can tell it is an accurate impostor for the famous Tiffany blue. The color is absolutely gorgeous and I'm sure I'll be wearing it a lot, and I was impressed with the formula. I thought it would be thin and hard to get good coverage, but it wasn't like that at all, and I achieved complete coverage with two coats. Win!

SUMMARY: Beautiful color, great formula
GRADE: A

*and for my gross-looking fingers. Ew.

What's new in Me-Land

I have been a lazy blogger and an even lazier picture taker. My camera sucks and I have a hard time capturing the true look of my nail polishes, so for the time being I have kind of given up trying.

A few weeks ago after I went on a wild goose chase for OPI Black Shatter and Mermaid's Tears I finally gave up and ordered them online, along with Teenage Dream. I'm rocking Teenage Dream on my toes right now and it might just say there the rest of the summer, since removing glitter polishes is a pain in the ass. But it looks adorable so I am okay with that. I think I used three coats (I could have gone with just two) and two coats of top coat to make it feel like my toes were not covered in gravel.

I am in L-O-V-E with Black Shatter. It was worth the wait and I wore it for a week or so over Sally Hansen Barracuda and I want to wear it over every color forever.

Mermaid's Tears is the saddest name ever for a nail polish, but it's such a lovely color that I will be coming back to time and time again, I am sure. Right now I am wearing Essie Coat Azure. This is my first Essie polish, and it looks perfect after two coats (save for a smudge that was completely my own stupid fault) and the color is gorgeous and I'm just smitten. Is every Essie nail polish this perfect a formula? I was blown away and it makes me only want to buy Essie for the rest of my life.

I became a Sally beauty club member yesterday, which I'm sure will be dangerous.