IT'S OPENING DAY!!! IT'S OPENING DAY!!!

Warning: This post is going to be wordy but amusing (I hope)!

Holy St. Louis! (That's like Holy Toledo for Cardinals fans) I had the greatest idea for an Opening Day manicure. I was so excited! I love the Cardinals probably more than I love nail polish. If I had to choose between the two, sorry nails, the Cardinals would win!

And then Sunday happened. I broke two nails on my left hand shampooing the carpet and then scraped the skin off my middle finger knuckle on my right hand scrubbing my boys' bathroom floor. I'm looking at my hands going, "Great. Which one am I going to photograph now for the blog?!?!?!" I got tired, took a nap, and woke up late so when I sat down to do my nails, it was after 9pm. I set myself up for failure on this one. I realize it, I accept it, and I will not do that again!!

By the time I was finally done, only one nail sort of looked how I wanted it, and it looked like I had garroted and stabbed mice (or something equally small) with striping tape and precision Q-Tips. I had blood red polish all over the table, myself, the Q-Tips, a kitchen towel, some brushes....I was a ridiculous mess!! I took pictures of the Q-Tips for my amusement...

My idea was to color block my index, middle, and pinkie fingers with red and white (Cardinals colors), then use my RLR Creations Cardinals water slide nail decals on my thumbs and ring fingers. When I went to color block my first index finger (and coincidentally the only finger that even got close to being color blocked), I guess I forgot what I was supposed to be doing and instead of leaving two corners white, I painted the whole thing red after putting on the striping tape. Fail!! So what I ended up with on one finger was a sort of brick-like pattern. Which I could live with since the backstop at Busch Stadium is brick. But everything went downhill from there!!! While learning not to set myself up for failure last night I also learned patience is not only a virtue but a MUST when doing nail art!!

So this is what I ended up with--and clean up was a bear and a half with these two polishes! I used OPI Wocka Wocka from their Muppets collection for the red. It is a gorgeous, blood red shimmer. I've had this polish for about a month and have been waiting to use it just for this manicure! I originally bought it because Michael Wacha (pronounced Wocka) is a pitcher for the Cardinals, and the irony did not escape me!!! For the white I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White. 

I will be doing this again at some point over the baseball season. And I WILL do it the way I wanted it for this time!

For now, I'm just kind of dreading taking off this red. It didn't clean up very easily, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to have pink cuticles for a while....

And, gratuitous shot of one of many pieces of Cardinals stuff in my house...blankets, Fat Heads, pictures, baseball cards, magnets, socks, shirts, jerseys, underwear, cups, mugs, travel mugs, salt and pepper shakers....the list goes on and on and on! I love my Cardinals!!!!!

Summer Bubbly!

I know what you're thinking, "a post about champagne on a nail blog??"

Nope :-). Read on. I promise!

When I ordered the Naturel collection from Zoya, my free gift was three more polishes. One was a pretty golden peach cream. After I discovered I really don't care for neutral creams by themselves (which, in hindsight, would have been handy to know before I spent money on a whole neutral cream collection....) I've been putting off using this one.

And then, I had an epiphany!!!

Actually it was really a conversation with Heather from www.ifeelpolished.com and she said she needed the perfect peach cream to use with gold. The lightbulb clicked on...and enter Summer Bubbly!!!

Summer is the name of the golden peach cream from Zoya. And Bubbly? Bubbly is a gold glitter top coat with gold circle glitter of all sizes from ellagee! It is, far and away, my favorite glitter topper, and it ranks in my top 10 polishes ever!!!!! It looks fantastic over peach :-)

Thanks Heather for saving Summer! Hahaha!

P.S. I have like the tiniest hands and fingernails ever, and it took three tries to get pictures holding the bottles that didn't look like a toddler got a hold of nail polish :-)

Spring Dotticure!!

I am so excited for this post! I have had a horrible time learning to use dotting tools effectively...for some reason they have rarely worked for me in the past. Today I decided I was going to tackle it again, and I wasn't quitting until I got a dotticure I felt was good enough for me to post. I don't know if I scared the dotting tools into submission or what but this was my first attempt!!

One thing I did learn is to use a tool about two sizes smaller than you think you need. I attribute that to my success. Onto the dotticure!

I wanted something that said Spring is FINALLY here! Pastel colors always say Spring to me so I chose a light pink and a lavender cream for this. First I painted two coats of Cover Girl Outlast Stay Brilliant #145 (why do they not name their polishes I ponder), a lavender cream, on the pinky, ring finger, and thumb of my right hand and my index and middle finger of my left hand. Then I painted two coats of ellagee Forgetful Lucy, a light pink cream, on the index and middle finger of my right hand and the pinky, ring finger, and thumb of my left hand. After that dried completely, I dotted #145 over Lucy and vice versa.

I love how these turned out and hopefully my skill with the dotting tools continues to improve!

Holy Magenta!

I was wandering around Walgreen's the other day killing some time when I stumbled upon this polish...and I had to buy it! It's called Dream On by Sinful Colors and it is the perfect magenta color! I decided to break up the monotony with an accent nail of Land Lia Blue Wizard and I think the combination is simply amazing!

Dream On is a matte finish polish, which I didn't realize until I saw it written on the bottom, after I couldn't figure out why it was drying funky haha!!! But with ellagee Glass top coat it shines so beautifully! Blue Wizard is a glitter crelly and I had a few problems with the glitter wanting to stick off the end of my nail but I got it figured out! I love this combo so much!!

Ellagee Delphinium

I am excited! I got my polishing table back!! Ok, well, it's not exactly a polishing table, it's my kitchen table, but still! It sits right under the best light source for polishing that I have. I loaned it to a family in May last year and now they're moving and gave it back. I didn't realize how badly I missed it until I was polishing my nails with all of my things scattered around and I could actually SEE what I was doing!!

I don't know about you all, but I am way past ready for spring to be here! And because of that I am currently loving springy hues, especially blues and peaches. Today I have ellagee Delphinium, part of the White Lace and Promises collection. It looks like an icy light to medium blue in the pictures, but it actually looks a little more electric in person. There's also a slight shimmer to it which makes it so pretty! I think this shade is perfect for year round use! I did notice that if you get a little crazy with the top coat it shows around the edges with this polish, hehehe!

As with all ellagee polishes, you can find this one by clicking the link above or by visiting the shop at www.ellagee.com! Trust me when I say they can become an addiction! :-)

Froggy St. Patrick's Day!!

I have two sets of St. Patrick's Day nails for you today! I don't know about you, but sometimes if I just like a polish, the name will send me into purchase land! And that's what happened with the polish I have featured in both my manicures today...I'm a 90's kid who didn't have cable growing up, and we watched mostly sitcoms on ABC, CBS, and NBC. One of the shows we watched was The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. When I saw this, I HAD to have it. The name just made me giggle, and immediately "Iiiiiinnnn West Philadelphia born and raised..." started through my head hehehe!

So, here is my first manicure, two coats of Zoya Angella under two coats of OPI The Fresh Frog of Bel Air from their Muppets collection! Hehehe just typing the name makes me giggle! With this one, I wanted a shimmery base for Fresh Frog because it is a sheer green glitter topper. Zoya Angella is a very ethereal shimmer that worked perfect for this!

I loved how these turned out. But in my haste to get them done I didn't allow for proper drying time and I smudged two nails clean off with a visit to the lady's room. Which is why I have two manicures today!

For my second manicure I decided not to go so green! I bought SinfulShine Mardi Gras just today and it's an awesome orange coral I really wanted to use. So, I did two coats of Mardi Gras then when it was dry I striped with metallic green striping tape on my pinky, middle, and index fingers, then used Fresh Frog on my thumb and ring fingers. I actually really love this look, so maybe the fail on the first one was meant to be!!

Which is your fave?

Rainbow Syrup to the Rescue!

So, funny story...

I saw a review of this polish, Zoya Rue, on ifeelpolished.com. I absolutely LOVED this color, and while perusing Zoya's website, decided I needed the whole Naturel collection, which cracked Heather up when I told her!

I couldn't wait to try this shade and in my weird way had to wait because I always save the best ones for last. I was taking my mom to the doctor on Wednesday so Tuesday night I decided what the heck! I'll use Rue, it'll be nice and demure for a doctor's appointment.

And then I used it.

I was disappointed! What looked like a pinkish-lilac on Heather looked like cafe au lait on me! Then I resigned myself to the fact that nude creams are just not me. I have to bling 'em up. It's just who I am, haha! But, this works out awesome for me because I have about 15 toppers I'm always searching for bases for.

Bring in Rainbow Syrup from ellagee ;-)

Instant love! It put just enough shimmer there to break up the monotony of the nude cream without making it super blingy! Plus there's the holographic aspect that makes me happy! For an almost fail, I ended up wearing these for three days!

Ellagee Like A Sleepy Blue Ocean

Ok, today I have another ellagee polish. You'll be seeing a lot of these on my blog because, well, I freaking LOVE ellagee polish!!! Plus about a month ago I got a large order of them and I still haven't worn them all! It's sad, I know, but when I do my nails I do wear it at least 24 hours unless something happens (like with Neutral Dots and Scallops where I didn't let it dry enough and one whole nail smudged off). And sometimes I get busy or lazy or both and decide not to change my polish.

Or, as will be in this case, I love the polish I'm wearing so much I don't want to change it! So you can see how it can take a while to wear new polishes!

I absolutely love this polish! Like A Sleepy Blue Ocean is a holographic polish that just dazzles me! I do have to admit I have a tendency towards blue polishes, especially if they're in the ocean blue family like this one...I could totally paint an entire room this color!! I took photos in the sun and out, and I just can't stop staring! 

This polish as well as all of Laura's awesome polishes are available at www.ellagee.com!

Ellagee Ember

Today I have my very first swatch for you guys! Hard to believe but about six months ago I didn't even know indie polish makers existed! I guess I lived under a rock or something, I had no idea people made their own polish, or that it could become an addiction!!

Through my friend Heather's blog, I discovered indie polish. And I discovered ellagee!!! I have a few other Indies and I have to admit I haven't tried a lot, but ellagee is my absolute favorite!

The polish I have today is Ember, a texture polish from ellagee's Bejeweled collection. Like I said in my Brown and Bling post, pictures really don't do these polishes justice...they are like Las Vegas bling for nails!

Ember so beautiful, so glittery, and looks like a dying fire kissed your fingertips! Best of all, I love that with top coat it smoothes right out so if you don't like the texture, you can have just the glitter! Also I love that one thin coat can be used as a glitter topper or two coats can make the most glittery manicure ever!!!

Neutral Dots and Scallops

So...this manicure didn't quite turn out how it looked in my head...first because I don't have much experience with dotting tools and second because I don't have a lot of experience with nail art. So bear with me, these first few months might be painful for all of us!

For this manicure I did two coats of Zoya Odette. Then, using a large dotting tool, I made dots across the top third of my nails with Zoya Chantal. I filled in the space between the dots and the tip of my nails using the dotting tool as well. Then, using Odette, I made smaller dots across Chantal.

It was supposed to resemble scalloped tips, but it kind of looks like ice cream with sprinkles to me!

Frosty Flamingos and the verdict on Brown and Bling

Today I did a really simple manicure that I named sort of as a joke...I wanted something very bright and summery because well, let's face it, it sleeted here most of the day and in my pessimism, I don't think spring is ever coming to the great Show Me State, let alone summer!

I started off with a base coat of ellagee Grip, then polished two coats of Orly Fabulous Flamingos. It's a hot pink shimmer that immediately makes me think of flip flops, which I'm dying to wear right now! Then over the top I polished one coat of ellagee A Kiss For Luck from the White Lace and Promises collection. It makes me think of how frost looks with the sun shining through it and I love how it makes the hot pink look! I topped it off with ellagee Glass for the amazing shine!

What do you think? Are you over winter too??

If you saw my post yesterday, you saw my Brown and Bling manicure. I absolutely love the color combo of that mani, but I will tell you, it's a special occasion or work mani only...the striping tape couldn't hold up to cleaning and laundry today! I will definitely do something like it again, just not the night before I have a day full of house chores planned!!

Brown and Bling

Welcome to the Unprofessional Polisher! Today is my first blog post even though I've been delving into the world of polish and nail art for a while now!

The first manicure I have is one of the best I think I've ever done, and the first one I've ever used striping tape on!

To do this manicure, I first used base coat, ellagee Grip being my current choice, then I painted two coats of ellagee Ocean Jewels on my ring finger and two coats of Zoya Codie on my other nails. Ocean Jewels is a texture glitter polish from ellagee's Bejeweled collection. Seriously, pictures do not do these polishes justice...they are the most gorgeous, sparkly polishes I've seen! Codie looks almost black in the photos but it's actually a very creamy chocolate syrup brown.

After the polish dried I used metallic blue striping tape to tape across all my nails except my accent nail of course, then I topped them with ellagee Glass, my favorite top coat of all time! I think they turned out beautiful and the blue really jazzed up the brown!

What do you think??