New Years Nails!

Bringing in the New Year with lots of sparkle!  My new years is going to be pretty low key with the family in AZ but my nails of course are not :)  My New Years color is "Afterhours" by Urban Outfitters.  Talk about intense glitter!  Perfect for new years!

I'm obsessed with this color!  It's even more sparkly in person!  I did this with two top coats to make it smoother since it does feel a little sand papery.  I've used this color before and it has great wear and doesn't chip too easy!

Happy New Years Everyone!!

xoxo Lea

It's a Trap-Eze!

Ok, so I am normally I never buy China Glaze but I loved this color and saw a few similar ones on pinterest I was dying to try.  I was in Sally's beauty supply and saw this so I had to pick it up!

I'm going to do this like a typical manicure of mine.  My Essie Protein Base Coat, then a thin coat of "It's a Trap-Eze!" by China Glaze then a thicker coat of the same color, lastly my Sally Hansen Mega Sine top coat.

I'll write a review about this tomorrow or the day after.  Maybe this color will change my mind about China Glaze!

Tribal Details

So I went on a little nail shopping spree today and even though I just did my nails yesterday I had to try something with my new loot!  So today I got "Wheres's My Chauffeur?" by Essie and a few shades of Strip Right (the bottles have very fine bushes so you can draw on your nail).  I've been seeing tribal nails all over pinterest so I thought I'd try something more simple but tribal like.

I started with my normal manicure of Essie Protein Base coat, then a thin layer of my first coat of color and a thicker layer of my second coat of color.  I used "Wheres's My Chauffeur?" on all my nails besides my ring finger and "Absolutely Shore" by Essie on my ring finger.  Then I used black Stripe Right to draw my design on my ring finger.  Trust me when I say this is going to take a steady hand!  My left hand, since I am right handed, was pretty successful!  (My right hand not so much...)

This was also my first time using "Wheres's My Chauffeur?" a new color by Essie this season and I am in love!  One of my new favorites for sure :)

By the way you can follow me on Pinterest, my name is Lea Illum.  You can see my nail board and where all my ideas come from :)

Stipple French Tip

So once again I was pinning like crazy on my nail board on pinterest and came across something I really wanted to try!  A stipple tip that fades into the nails.

So here we go I'm going to start this off like a regular manicure and do my Essie Protein Base Coat, a thin coat of "Smokin' Hot" by Essie, then a thicker coat.  For this manicure you are also going to need needles to create the stipple effect.  I will be using "Sand Tropez" by Essie for my stippling color.

Ok so now that I have both my coats of "Smokin' Hot" on I can begin to stipple.  I am going to dip the tip of my needle into "Sand Tropez" to dot on the color.  Instead of keeping my bottle open and drying out my polish and brush I am going to drop some onto tin foil (so it doesn't absorb) on work from there.  

So as I tried this a tip of needle does basically nothing.  Using the back of needle gives larger dots but actually transfers the color.  Sicking the needle into a pencil eraser makes it a lot easier to work with as well.

I am going to start heavy at the tip of the nails then slowly thin out my dotting the closer I get to the cuticle....

These didn't turn out as I had expected them too but I think they still look cute!  I want to get a dotting tool and try this again!  The tip of a needle was just too thin to transfer the color.

Holiday Hearts

I saw on pinterest what seems like an easy way to draw hearts on your nails so I'm going to try it!  I'm using holiday colors since Christmas Eve is tomorrow!  Happy Holidays everyone :)


So this is the image I saw on how to create a simple heart.  I didn't want to do the heart tip since I have square cut nails but if you how rounded out nails go ahead and try it, shouldn't be too different from what I am trying.

I'm going to start this off the way I always do with my Essie Protein Base Coat, then a thin lay of my first coat and thicker layer of my second coat.  The colors I am using are "She's Pampered" by Essie and "Penny Talk" also by Essie.

Ok so I'm not going to lie this was actually much harder then I had expected it to be.  I redid it once and started over and I'm still not thrilled with the way it had turned out.  The perfectionist in me really wants to redo it again but I'm going to stop myself.  I will perfect this another day!  On pinterest they showed it as two simple dots of polish and dragging them diagonally downward to create a simple heart.  After testing it, it definitely take some more maneuvering!  When I try this again I'm going to use a paint brush instead of the tooth pick.  I think that would lend to much better results as well!

Once again, something I will definitely try to perfect another day.  Took me a couple tries to get this heart which I still think could be better!  Not as easy as I had anticipated!  

xoxo Lea

Leopard Ring Finger in Holiday Colors

First I have to say before I start this I told my family who is out in AZ visiting right now for the holidays that I started this blog.  After a few jokes and making fun I started a little craze with the girls in the house.  My cousin is sitting next to me painting my aunt's nails and my grandmother is asking me for nail advice.

Ok so onto today's nails!  I found this on pinterest and had to try!  Holiday colors plus leopard!

I'm going to attempt this but only do the leopard on my ring finger!  Lets See how it goes!  I'll be using Berry Naughty by Essie for my red, Penny Talk by Essie for my gold, and Wooden Shoe Like to Know? by OPI instead of a black.

So I'm going to skip the boring part, I used my Essie protein base coat, then Berry Naughty on all my finger besides my ring finger.  Penny Talk was put on my ring finger.  I put them on in the same manner that I put on my polish in my Wooden Shoe Like to Know? post.  So this is where I'm at with base coat and two coats of each color.

Next I'm going to apply the center of the leopard print using Berry Naughty again.  I just used the regular brush for this since the pattern itself doesn't have to look perfect.

Then applied Wooden Shoe Like to Know? with a tooth pick so I could put it in the desired areas!  And applied my Sally Hansen Mega Shine.  

I'm pretty happy with the way it came out!  I think if I do this again I would use the black in the original image instead of Wooden Shoe Like to Know?.

Wooden Shoe Like to Know Review

Overall I loved this color I got two days of wear with no chipping!  I broke my own rule and got too close to the cuticle so I started to peel on my ring finger.  But the color is great and has the most adorable name :)  This is definitely a color I am going to use again!

Wooden Shoe Like to Know?

Ok, so I am so excited to about this color!  On one of my many pinterest frenzies I found this color, "Wooden Shoe like to know?" by OPI, not only is the name just fantastic but the color is so great!  So I found this on pinterest and the hunt began to find it!  It took like about a month of searching but I finally found it yesterday so of course it has it be the first color I write about!  I hope you all love it just as much as I do!  It is the most perfect shade of brown with a touch of gold sparkle, nothing too over the top!

Above is all three polishes I used for this manicure. I start with an even coat of Essie Protein Base Coat.  Of all coats of all polish I don't bring it all the way to the cuticle.  The oil from your cuticles will get under the polish and cause it to chip or peel up top I have found so do your best to stay away from them.

Then I apply my first coat of the color coat "Wooden Shoe Like to Know?".  With this coat I apply it fairly thin and once again stay away from my cuticle as best as I can.

Then I apply my second coat fairly thick.  This method I find gives the longest wear of any polish.  Who knows why its just what I've figured out through probably thousands of trials with different brands and colors.

Then I apply a thick layer of Sally Hansen Mega Shine Top Coat.  I do a thick coat because that is what Sally Hansen suggests so depending on your top coat you may want to do this differently.

My finished product of "Wooden Shoe Like to Know?"!  Just as wonderful as I had expected!

This is my first time blogging and I would love feed back!  Anything that you would like know more about or anything just ask!  Comments and suggestions are always welcome!  My plan is to do this about every other day since I do change my polish color that often.

xoxo Lea