Leopard Print!

It's been like a week since I've posted! I'm sorry. I've just been so into the nail art lately, that I've been wearing it longer than usual.

Day 13 of the 31 Day Challenge is animal print. I chose leopard print. I can't even put into words how much I love leopard print. I love wearing a leopard print blouse with a pencil skirt. I have a leopard print fleece blanket that I love snuggling up with in the winter. If it has leopard print on it, I want it. But, I've never done a leopard print mani before. I was always so intimidated by them. As it turns out, they're much faster, and much easier then I expected. The nice thing is, even if you don't have a steady hand, it can still turn out nicely.

The base color I used is Barefoot by Bonita. This is a really lovely nude color. The first coat is pretty transparent, but it evens out really nicely with the second. It's also really shiny - it reminded me of a jelly because of the shine. Maybe it's one of those creme-jellies. At any rate, it applies really smoothly, and I loved this color against my skintone.

You guys, I'm so happy with how these turned out! For the spots, I used Cappuchino by Santee and NYC's Black Lace Creme. Basically I just painted random blobs, and outlined those blobs in black. Like I said, I was so pleased with how easy it was. My BFF said they looked like printed nail polish strips, not something hand painted, so that made me happy. I'm more into natural leopard print colors, but I can't wait to play around with other colors on my nails. What's your favorite color combo for leopard print?

Recently, I ordered a plethora of things online to send to Nicole in an upcoming swap. I also got a few things for myself, because I have no self control.

I ordered a bunch of mini candles from B&BW. 3 for $5!

Sorry for the blurry photo. New B&BW scent, Kleencolor Winter Wonderland, NYX Carnical, Kleancolor Chunky Black Holo.

Hope your week is going well!

Bonita Turquoise

Have you guys ever heard of Bonita Nail Enamel? I found it in Francesca's, that little boutique in malls. They were a buck a piece, and there was a pretty wide variety of colors. I couldn't find any information on the brand online, and I'm curious as to whether this is a Francesca's only brand, or if they're sold at other stores.

At the store, they were all stuck in this glass vase, so it was annoying to try and shove around glass bottles in a bigger glass bottle. I saw Turquoise and dug around until I had it in my hands. Another nail polish must have broke on it, because the bottle has dried polish on it, but it was the only one, so I didn't care.

 I don't know how appropriately named this is. It's definitely too green to be a turquoise. To me, it's like a forest green with a bit of blue in it. It's different from any of the other teal/turquoise colors I own. I really love this color, and am glad I dug through everything to find it. However, the application left something to be desired. It was really thick, messy, and hard to work with. Clean up was even hard - the acetone just seemed to push the green around, not actually clean any of it up. Maybe some thinner will solve the problem.

In the bottle it seemed like a creme, but it's actually more of a jelly. Very shiny and squishy. I used two coats, and there's no visible nail line! You can see by the tip shrinkage Seche Vite doesn't get along too well with this lacquer. These photos are taken in natural lighting.

Despite the application issues, this is something I'll continue to use because the color is so lovely.

I hope everyone's weekends are getting off to a good start!