Manicure Monday - Darling Poppy Inspired Print

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope your day is flying by so that you can run home and relax tonight. My latest Mani Monday tutorial is now up over at the Lulu*s blog and I wanted to share with you guys what I put together! I put together a look inspired by this Darling Poppy print dress and I've hopefully made it easy for you all to recreate it as well :) You can find the tutorial for this here. What do you think of this look?

Happy Polishing! :)

Gradient Nail Tutorial for Lulu*s!

Happy Monday, all! Just a quick post for right now - wanted to share my latest collaboration with the Lulu*s Blog! It's a super simple but fun gradient mani to go with their back-to-school week! Be sure to check out the blog post for the how-to on these :) 

Happy Polishing! :)

A Mattified Monday

Happy (hopefully!) Monday my dears! Today's theme for my Lulu*s tutorial is matte and I wanted to show the versatility of a good matte top coat - so I did 3 looks! They vary in difficulty so there is something for everyone, though the final look is more for show since there's no tutorial for that one. Be sure to check out their blog post for my 2 step how-to's!

Happy Polishing! :)

Limetastic Lulu*s

Hope everyone survived Monday! 

Today I've got my latest collaboration with the Lulu*s Blog to share with you. Lulu*s and Butter London are teaming up and holding a contest to win some Butter polishes so I used two fabulous polishes from the BL Color Clash collection - Cotton Buds and Wellies - to create this look. Be sure to check out the Lulu*s blog post for the tutorial as well as learn how to enter the contest for your chance at 2 polishes from the collection AND a $25 gift card! 

 Happy Polishing! :)

Overindulgence Saturday!

Happy Saturday, all! Today I've got another Overindulgence Saturday post that I put together for Cocktails + Joints! I was still in the mood for lacy nails and did this scalloped base design for them this week. Be sure to check out the tutorial on their website for a step-by-step on this look. What do you think of it? Do you think you could try it? 

Enjoy your Saturday, and Happy Polishing! :)

Collaboration with Cocktails & Joints!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday! The boyfriend, dog and I are having a lazy day and I'm enjoying it...I also got a TON of Zoya nail mail today and oh boy! I am giddy! I can't wait to share some beautiful swatches with you all :) 

Today I have a tutorial post that I put together for a newer site, Cocktailsandjoints.com. I put this together for their Overindulgence Saturday posts and I think it's such a bright and easy look to put together. I love the classic simple dotted flower, but I think I put my own little spin on it as well. Be sure to check out the full tutorial in their article :)

Happy Polishing! :) 

Lulu*s Floral Tutorial

Hello my dears! I've put together another tutorial for the Lulu*s Blog and I love how these turned out! I was inspired by one of their many adorable dresses and these are fairly simple to recreate. I think you could definitely mix and match whatever colors you'd like and these would still be fun. Be sure to check out the blog post about them! :) 

Happy Polishing! :)

Lulu*s Beach Bonfire Tutorial

Happy Monday! How did everyone's day go? I started my first day at my new job today and so far everyone has been really nice and supportive. Aside from accidentally locking my keys in my car right after I got out of my car at 8 am, it was a pretty good day ;) But boy oh boy! It has been such an emotional roller coaster for me the past few weeks. I feel so emotionally drained and I'm so exhausted! 

Today I have my latest tutorial for the Lulu*s Blog! The theme for this week was Beach Bonfire and to me, bonfires mean sunsets on the beach! I did a simple gradient and added some silhouettes of palm trees to pull this look together. Once again, be sure to check out the Lulu*s blog for my quick how to of a gradient nail :) 

Happy Polishing! :)

Pool Party at the Lulu*s Blog

Happy Monday, loves! Today I have another tutorial for the Lulu*s blog! This week their theme was "pool party" and we went a bit literal with it to make it look like a pool! This was actually my first attempt at water marbling and I know I have A LOT of room for improvement, but it was awesome to see that I could actually do it if I put my mind to it! I am in no way an expert, but I put together the tutorial based on my experience with creating this look. Be sure to check it out on their blog :) 

 I actually did this twice and wasn't sure which one I liked more...they are both incredibly similar so you  maybe you wouldn't have noticed if I didn't say anything ;) 

Happy Polishing! :)

4th of July!! :D

Happy July 1st, everyone! Here in the States, that means that the 4th of July is just around the corner! I get to spend the 4th in what I think is one of the most beautiful places on earth, Yosemite National Park! To celebrate, I put together another tutorial for Lulu*s and I really love how they came out. They're simple but still fun. I also couldn't decide how to do my middle finger so I gave you lots of options/ideas ;) Be sure to check out the tutorial to learn how to create this look yourself! 

Happy Polishing! :)

Southwest Inspired Mani Monday Tutorial for Lulu*s!

Happy Monday, Everyone! Wanted to share my latest Manicure Monday tutorial for the Lulu*s Blog! This was a Southwest inspired look and I seriously fell in love with how they turned out. If you have a nail art brush, these will be an easy look to recreate. Be sure to check out the tutorial! :)

Happy Polishing!!! :D

Wondrously Polish X Lulu*s tutorial...a little after the fact ;)

So I'm not sure how I managed to forget to share this here, but I did another tutorial for the Lulu*s Blog! I got to do a matching mani to a SUPER cute purse that I am just so in love with :) You can see the full post and tutorial over on their blog, but here are some teaser photos! 

Southwest Print Pictorial

I was asked by a few people on the website Reddit to show how I created one of my last manicures but I didn't have much time to show the steps in nail polish...so I hand drew something really quick to share with them. And I figured I might as well share with you all here! It's a very crude and somewhat messy pictorial, but I wanted to share it here with you all in case you were wondering and wanted to try it yourself. Let me know what you think! :)

Happy Polishing! :)

Wondrously Polished and Lulu*s Necklace Inspired Tutorial!

Hi everyone! I am so sorry for being MIA! I have been really busy this week. I'm up visiting the parental units and I'm having to be social instead of spending hours doing my nails ;) I forgot to share the latest tutorial I put together for Lulu*s! Relaxing makes me scattered brained!! 

My inspiration for this mani was a really funky and cool necklace from Lulu*s. Honestly, I struggled with this one! It may not seem it, but this is a fairly simple design and I stressed like crazy about whether or not it worked with the necklace. Anywho! I'm hoping to have some more stuff for you all soon! I've been slacking D:

Wondrously Polished x Lulu*s Geometric Tribal Tutorial

Happy Monday, all! Hope you made it through the day with no hiccups! I've got another Lulu*s Manicure Monday Tutorial to share with you all! This was inspired by one of their adorable dresses and it's relatively easy to replicate. Be sure to check out the tutorial for it on their blog :)

Here's a little sneak peak at the mani! 

Happy Polishing! :)

Wondrously Polished x Lulu*s Lace Tutorial

Happy Monday, Everyone! I've got another tutorial collaboration with the Lulu*s Blog this week. I was inspired by their latest lookbook, Sunnyside. I really loved one of the lace rompers they had and I couldn't resist recreating it. Be sure to check out the tutorial on the Lulu*s Blog! :)

I think we should also discuss just how amazing this base color is. It's Julep's Robin and it's perfect. 

Is this a look you'd want to try? What sort of tutorials would you like to see?

Happy Polishing! :)

Wondrously Polished X Lulu*s Tutorial

Happy Monday, all! 

I got to work with Lulu*s again this week to create another Manicure Monday look! Since it's Spring time I wanted to create a pretty floral look...and I was actually inspired by my new blog background. I'm only slightly obsessed with the new bright colors and the background so I figured, why not recreate it on my fingers?! 

Here's the manicure I did and be sure to check out my guest blog post on the Lulu*s for the how to tutorial for this look :) 

Happy Polishing! 

Wondrously Polished X Lulu*s Tutorial

Hi all! I'm so excited to share that I will be doing some collaborative tutorials with the Lulus.com blog! They have some adorable clothing and I was especially inspired by one of their chevron print dresses.

Here's a little teaser of the look, but be sure to check out the blog post to read up on how to recreate this :)

Happy Polishing my dears! :)

Spanish (Majolica) Inspired Flower Tutorial

Happy early morning! I really should be in bed but instead I decided to fix the chip in my most recent mani...and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to make a pictorial to share with you all! 

I recently found out that the style of art I was inspired by is actually called Majolica. I love this style so much so I'm glad to know what it's actually called ;) 

Anyway, on to the pictorial! For this mani, you'll need a detail brush and a small dotting tool or toothpick, as well as several different polishes. I think you could easily do this with 2 colors, alternating for each step, but I like the bright colors all together. 

1. Paint your base color and let it dry completely. I always use a top coat between my base color and my nail art, but this is personal preference.

2. With your detail brush, paint a plus sign in the middle of your nail. 

3. Create another plus sign, but rotated at 45°. This should create 8 different "petals."

4. Using your detail brush, fill out each petal using the lines from steps 2 & 3 as your template. Try to create 8 tiny ovals. 

5. Repeat steps 2 & 3 on a smaller scale with a new color. 

6.  Create the first inner petals by making tiny triangles, again using the line work from step 5 as your template. 

7. Using your dotting tool and a new color, create the inner flower with either a simple dot or 8 tiny dots in each triangle (as I have shown). 

8. Repeat Step 7 with your final polish color. 

9. I added some darker orange and red to the outer petals to add some dimension and then added some top coat after waiting a bit for your polish to dry. 

I used a total of 7 polishes for this one, my smallest dotting tool, and my new detail brush :)

I always struggle with figuring out how to explain each of the steps I take. It's a lot harder than it seems and I never feel like I do a very good job of it. I was getting frustrated with it tonight so I brought my boyfriend over to tell me how he would explain each of the steps based only on looking at the photo. Here is his very simplified version of this pictorial as he said them to me: 

1. White coat

2. Add cross

3. Uh...rotate the crosses 

4. Parabolas 

5. Little baby crosses (red)

6. Make em' triangles

7. Easy...spinach!

8. Blue spot

9. Top coat 

I guess I'll keep him around ;)

Let me know if you have questions and happy polishing!!

Water Color Nails Tutorial!

I quickly threw together a tutorial on the water color nails method in case anyone was curious how I did them. This technique is great to add some texture or marbled effects with minimal effort and time. Below is the general idea of what we will be creating! 

To create this look, you'll need at least two polishes (I use 3 per nail in this look) and squares of cut up sandwich bags.

1. To begin, paint your nails a base color. I chose white, but you can use anything you'd like. Wait for it to dry completely. 

2. Add large drops of polish to your finger. You will want to use your base color as one of the colors, and as many others as you'd like, though be conscious of the fact that adding too many might muddle the water color marbled effect.

3. Using a cut piece of sandwich bag, place the plastic over your entire nail and push down. This will smear/blend the polish together. You can choose to use crumpled up saran wrap to dab the wet polish during this step to create a slightly different texture. Play around with what you like!

4. Remove the plastic and repeat step 3 if you don't like the look you've created. 

5. Using q-tips and acetone, clean up around your nail and add your favorite top coat. 

And that's it! It's really quick and you have so much freedom with colors, patterns, textures, you name it. You will create a truly unique design each time. 

Happy Polishing! :)