Nice 'n Natural

Happy Hump Day everyone!!! :) It's once again cloudy and rainy here in Maryland- the perfect weather for nail posting!!! LOL.

Over the weekend, I went to Rehoboth Beach, and chose to have a more natural nail while I was away. I ended up liking the color so much, I added some nail art. So take a look!!

 My first thought was to attempt a dotticure, which you can see on my ring finger. However, after that didn't turn out quite as hoped, I went for the simpler, "abstract" look. :)

 I love these two polishes together though!!! And it's hard to see, but the darker, accent color is actually very pretty, sparkly, and multi-toned.

That's all for today!!! I hope you all are enjoying your summers!!!!

Polishes Used: Ciate Cookies and Cream; Twilight.

:) Trendy T :)

#1 Orioles Fan

Greetings everyone!!!! For the manicure I have to share today, I changed things up a little bit and created a "Skittles" design for you all.

With the summer getting under way, Major League Baseball is in full swing, and my Baltimore Orioles are doing great!  (If you don't already know, I'm obsessed.with them  :). My outfit for the day consisted of jean shorts, an orange cami with white dots, an Orioles v-neck, baseball cap earrings, and a string bracelet in the O's colors. So I of course had to create some nails to match!!! :)

 My idea for this mani was simply to use several different techniques in the Orioles' colors of orange, white, and black. I also wanted a good excuse to break out my black crackle polish. ;)

 This pic shows the water marble that I created on my thumb. I think it turned out pretty well, and only took a couple of minutes!!!! But the results of water marbling are always so neat. :)

 Here's a close-up and front view of my thumb design. For the colors, I used an orange by Ciate, black from Wet n Wild, and Sally Hansen white. All three worked great for the water marbling!!!!

 On my first finger, I made a 3D type of design by dragging slightly dried polish over the orange background. Obviously my middle finger has my black Pure Ice crackle polish that I love so much :). I tried to ombre my ring finger, and it didn't turn out the best, but I think you still get the ombre feel. And then my pinky... Hmmm, not sure what to say other than I ran out of time and ideas and just painted it white. What a cop-out... LOL :)

And another side view, just because I'm sure NONE of you are getting at all tired of my sports obsession ;). Oh well, at least the Orioles are doing well so you don't have to hear me complaining all summer...

Who's your favorite baseball team? And do you like to create sports manicures???

Come back soon, and feel free to leave your thoughts below!!

 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Trendy T  Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ

Minty Funky French Manciure

Good evening, my nail friends :) Two posts in two weeks... Not bad :)

Today I'm sharing with you a design I created a couple days ago using my wonderful Konad Stamping Kit. Take a look:

 The mani looks really cute, but it was pretty simple to create with my handy dandy stamps!!! I also love the color combo... The minty green (Gargantuan Green Grape by OPI) goes very nicely with the white and clean black lines.

 After painting several coats of the green base, I stamped on these white French tips. The nice thing about a manicure like this is that you could even stop here and have a gorgeous French manicure.

 This is a picture of my nails and the Konad plate I used, m 19. This plate is wonderful, and lets anyone create a French design on fingers (or toes) or any size. It's a little challenging at first to make sure and line up everything correctly and not create a slanted tip, but with practice, you can achieve beautiful results!!

 After that, I used m 45 to add on the funky black design. This plate has six cute designs to layer on top of any French manicure. And this is done the same way as the plain French tip above. Just make sure to line up this design with the white tip already on your nails.

And Voila!!!! Here we now have a gorgeous manicure that looks like it came straight from a salon!!!

If you'd like to see a more in-depth tutorial about stamping, check out an older post by me here.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to leave any comments and advice below!! :) Happy Summer!!!

✾ Trendy T ✾

Neon Splash Abstract Design

WOOHOO!!! Summer is here and School is OUT!!!!! (And I haven't posted in 3 months...) Wonderful... But I promise to make it up to you with lots of posts this summer :)

So today's post is inspired by one of the first designs I did, found here. I loved that toe design so much, I decided to change it up for a manicure.

 I love the look of these three polishes together, and it's a perfect mani for summer!!! Unfortunately, the weather here in Maryland is overcast, so the photos don't even quite capture the brilliance of the sparkly pink background.

 This design is so cute, and so simple to emulate!!!! Really, all I did was use some nail art polishes (the green and blue) to add some stripey lines. It took not even fifteen minutes, but turns out really well.

I really loved the way my thumb turned out, and you can somewhat see it blurred above...

 This shows a head-on view of most of the nails. As you can see, there's no real pattern, but that's what makes it unique and one-of-a-kind. :)

 Now this is how my other hand turned out. It's not as great (still learning how to paint with my right hand better :), but still came out nicely. This is one manicure that is really great to practice using your non-dominant hand with. It's very forgiving, and since there's no uniform pattern, you "can't mess up"!!! How great is that?

And here's a final parting shot of my left hand. I tried to get more creative with my poses... What do you think?

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave thoughts and ideas below in the comments!! :)

Polishes Used:

• Color Fever Petites: Raspberry Ice (this was a couple dollars at the local pharmacy, but is such a gorgeous color!!!)
• Sinful Colors Nail Art: Sour Apple and Hey Dear! (these brushes are wonderful for freehand designs)

:) Trendy T :)

Snowflakes in March

Greetings everybody!!! I'm ba-ack (for now :), and I have some great nails to share with you! My inspiration was snow, considering the reason I had free time yesterday was a snow day from school (yes, it is March, and yes, it was snowing, although it was a pathetic amount :). Take a look:

 These snowflakes were done freehand along with a dotting tool. Some of you may remember my New Year's poll (thanks to everyone who voted!), and the general consensus was that you all would like to see more freehand, so here you are. :)

 It was also suggested to me that I include more pictures in each post, so I tried to give lots of shots, including steps along the way. First up, we have a base coat (yes, this is boring and blah, but it is essential to any great mani :)

 Next, I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen Salon in Honeydew. It's such a gorgeous polish, I absolutely love it!!!! The pictures below also show the color better- it isn't quite that dark and teal-y.

For the snowflakes, I really just painted the big ones on, and added little dots for tinier snowflakes. I actually had a lot of fun doing this, trying to come up with different snowflake designs. :) LOL!

 This manicure is really adorable for winter, and is so simple to do! I would love to try this again sometime, but maybe with different background colors like silver and blue. What do you all think would look good behind the snowy design?

 These last two picks I'm actually really proud of; I don't normally take my nails from angles like this, but I think they turned out pretty well!! I am definitely going to try to do this more often so that you guys can get an even better view of my nails.

Thanks to everyone who is reading, and I hope you'll follow me if you aren't already!!! My commenting has gone up quite a bit recently, and I'm so happy!!! It seriously means a lot, as I read EVERY single comment!!! So if you have any advice, suggestions, or things that you like/don't like, feel free to share!!!

Until next time!!!
xoxo Trendy T xoxo

Hiatus- and Apology

Well hello there everyone!!! (No, I have not died, in case you were wondering) I know I've been absent for forever, and yes, it's terrible. And unfortunately, the "news" I have to share with you today isn't all that great... :/ Anyway, I've been extremely busy at school (as I'm sure you guessed by now) and have not had the energy or the time to do some nail painting.

For this reason, I am announcing an official hiatus for another couple weeks (give or take). Hopefully though, things should be winding down on my schedule in the next week, and then I hope to get back to regular posting about 1x a week.

Until then, feel free to look back through my older posts and take a look at what you like. And be sure to leave comments!!! Even though I'm busy, I still read every single one, and I really appreciate hearing what you guys have to say!

UPDATE: 2/25/13 Hey guys!!! In the meantime, check out this awesome giveaway hosted by Plump and Polished!!! She has a fabulous blog and is giving away some fabulous prizes to celebrate reaching 1,000 followers. Be sure to check it out, enter, and follower her blog!!! Here's the link: http://plumpandpolished.blogspot.com/2013/02/plump-and-polisheds-1000-follower.html

UPDATE: 3/2/13 Hello, again!!! I have yet another giveaway to share with you all!!! It can be found on The Nail Junkie at this link: http://the-nail-junkie.blogspot.com/2013/02/official-release-and-giveaway-my-new-st.html. The prize is awesome too; three handmade polishes which are absolutely perfect for St. Patrick's day!!! Be sure to check it out and enter, as well as follow the blog!!!!

TTYL!!
:) Trendy Tips :)

French Glitter Tips

Hello my nail friends!!! I hope the New Year has been a good one so far!! I know I've been busy, especially with exams rapidly approaching this week...

So first off, if you haven't already, please vote in my New Year's poll!! I promise it'll only take a second :)
Click here to take the poll

Now, for today's post!

 I finally decided to try out my French Glitter Tip kit (see my Christmas post for more details :). And I have to say, I LOVE IT!!!!! Just take a look at that blue glitter on my tips!!! It's super gorgeous, and comes in 4 other glitter colors (multi, magenta, white, and silver).

The kit itself was really easy to use too which was nice. After applying my base color (and letting it dry THOROUGHLY) I put on the "stickers" included in the kit; then you paint clear polish on the tip and dip it in glitter. Once that has dried, I added a few top coats to keep the glitter on.

A word of warning though, the glitter GETS. EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I found sparkles on the opposite end of the table where I had been working; I hadn't even brought my stuff to that side. And even though I did this mani yesterday, I still found sparkles at dinner tonight. Not that glitter is such a bad thing. LOL :)

Just look at that sparkle on the pinky!!!! Gah, I can't get enough!!!!

Finally, I wanted to share with you all a great giveaway I just found on Set in Lacquer which is a fabulous blog!!! Be sure to follow her and check out the giveaway. Here's the link: http://www.setinlacquer.com/2013/01/barielle-giveaway-four-winners.html

Thanks for reading!!!!

:) Trendy Tips :)

Best of 2012

Well this year has been a great one, considering it's the first year of my blog!!! I think things have gone well so far, and a big thank you to all my followers and new nail buddies!! You guys are great!!

So to commemorate, I've put together a Best of post. There are various "Best _" awards which I have given to different posts. But enough talking, and on with the nails!!!

UPDATE- 1/3/13: I know that the poll has not been working right, but I got it fixed, so please vote!!! (see the bottom of this post)

Best- Toes:

These adorable ladybug toes were definitely my favorite pedicure design of 2012!!!  To get an easy tutorial for these toes (or you could even make it into a manicure for summer!!) check out the post here.

Best- Stamping:

I actually haven't done too much stamping on this blog yet, but these orange nails were one of my best designs yet!! For a stamping tutorial, click here.

Best- New Technique:

Now I must say, while I did LOVE these icy ombre nails, I don't think they were my absolute favorite new technique. However, my first choice is actually my favorite mani for the year, so I decided to honor these (I mean, they were in 2nd place anyway :). Keep reading to see my favorite design of all!! Instructions for creating an ombre manicure can be found here.

Best- Halloween Design:

I REALLY loved these Frankenstein nails!! I just thought they were so cute, and the bright green and black were such a great color combo!! And not to brag, but these were definitely a favorite at my school! :)

Best- Swatch:

Do you recognize these?? LOL :) (And if you don't, just take a look at my previous post). I think this is one of my favorite polishes ever!!! Can you tell I like glitter? This also commemorates a very important moment in Polished history: my 1st GLITTER BOMB!!!! Okay, enough now... :)

Best- Simple Design:

I loved these Chanel nails so much!!! It was so easy to create as well, but it's a really classy and elegant design. The pearl strings were made with a dotting tool, and I freehanded the logo. My mom says that this is one of her favorite designs too. :)

Best- Tape Manicure:

We all know I love tape, but it wasn't hard to pick my favorite design!!!! While these nails remind me a lot of Ancient Greece, they looked great with my Robin Hood Halloween costume!! Check out this link for the tutorial.

Best- 3D Nails:

I thought this design was so pretty, but it's sad as it was created for the terrible tragedy in Newtown, CT. The white is to promote peace and nonviolence. I chose my white, 3D nail art flowers which are so cute and iridescent. I definitely adored this design, although the reason for it was so terrible.

Best- Cute Manicure:

The pastel colors did not show up the greatest in pictures, but I thought these little cupcakes were just too cute!!! My favorite part- the cherries and sprinkles (I used Bedazzled for the sprinkles :)!!!!

Best- Freehanding:

Now this manicure is definitely a close second for my favorite manicure of all!!! This Apollo 11 design was part of the Time Warp Challenge I did earlier in the year; the daily theme was a historical event, so I chose the moon landing. On my nails I painted: "1 small step for man, 1 giant leap for mankind", the Apollo spacecraft, an "11", the earth, and the American flag on the moon. Now I know the last photo doesn't show too much freehanding; it's predominately sponging with some freehanded stars; I just wanted you to get the whole look because I love it so much. :)

FAVORITE Mani of the Year:

Drumroll please...

Yes, I did make this photo extra large on purpose. :) And that's because it's my favorite!! If you hadn't seen this yet, I did this water marble for Labor Day (the post and tutorial can be found here). I just thought that the color combo was perfect, especially for a Patriotic holiday, and it was a major shock to have my first water marble turn out so well (in my opinion, that is :). My pictures turned out nicely as well (which does not always happen), and I love the sidewalk background. In short I LOVE THIS MANICURE!!!!!!

I think that's a wrap of 2012, now bring on the New Year!!!

Thanks so much!!
:) Trendy Tips :)

And finally, I have a poll for you all to see what you'd like me to do more of on this blog in the New Year. Please vote, I plan to listen to the results!!!
Click here to take survey

New Year's Nails

Take a look at these nails I wore last night for a New Year's Eve dinner at my friends' house...

 Can you say GLITTER BOMB? Good, because that's pretty much all that you need to know about Claire's "Bedazzled." It even has a great name too... :)

 Hahahaha, did you really think I would leave it at that? Of course not!!! :) The glitter colors are a little hard to see in the pictures, but it's really such a gorgeous polish!! There are bright pink, red, silver, green, and orange glitter bits. There are primarily circle glitters, ranging in different sizes.

And for being a less expensive polish, Bedazzled went on really well too!! Above I have two coats; one is doable, but I just had to layer it up to its full glittery goodness. I did spread the glitter a little bit to make it even, but overall, this polish is great!!!

Oh, and the base color is a gorgeous blue from my Ciate calendar, and it's called "Headliner."

Still planning my Best of post... But have a Happy 2013!!!!

ღ Trendy Tips ღ