Spring Polish Picks!

Happy Spring! Since the first day of Spring was a few days ago, I thought it was time to share my Spring Polish Picks with you all! Spring is one of my favorite times of the year because of the nice weather and pastel polishes ♥ Keep reading to find out what my favorite nail polishes are for this season!

OPI Jelly Sandwich

Hey everyone! Today I have a long awaited jelly sandwich mani that I've been wanting to try for the longest time! I've done jelly sandwiches before, but now that I have OPI's Bubble Bath, I've had the urge to try this technique again. Continue reading for sparkly goodness! (WARNING: This will be a picture heavy post!)

OPI The Iconic Nail Lacquers + Mani Essentials

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a great Wednesday :) I have really been busy with school and homework but I just had to post about the OPI Iconic Nail Lacquers and Mani Essentials! This is a recent purchase for me and I'm so excited about this one. Keep reading for OPI must-haves!

Crisp Striping Tape Mani!

How is everyone doing? Today I am thrilled to share my newest nails with you! I recently saw a design by @Rachell_Rachell and fell in love! I've done something similar before on my sister but her design took it to the next level! I also took this as a great opportunity to use my new striping tape!

(Do you see the holo in that China Glaze polish?!?)

Skimp or Spend? # 1

Welcome to the first post on my new series, Skimp or Spend? In these posts I will compare two polishes in my stash that are similar (not always exact dupes) but have two very different prices. I want to share that inexpensive nail polishes can often have a better quality than an expensive polish, and vice versa. Although I will be explaining my thoughts on the two, it's ultimately your decision. Would you rather skimp, or spend? ❤

Mix & Match Valentines Day Nails!

I am super excited about today's post! These nails are one of my all time favorites that I've ever done! :) Since Valentines Day is in just three more days, I knew that I had to create something for this occasion. I'm usually not one to do holiday themed nails but since V-day is all about hearts, the color pink and just cute things in general, I couldn't help myself ♥ 

Stars and Half Moons

Hello all! Today I have exciting news to share, I finally received my light box in the mail which means I don't have to depend on daylight to be able to take my photos! Many of you on Instagram were curious as to where I purchased this. I bought everything from Amazon, my soft box was $14.95, my lamps for $13.99 each (I bought two, one on each side of the light box), and my daylight bulbs for $10.67. So far I'm pretty impressed, if anything I bought is out of your budget or you're looking for something better, I encourage you to browse Amazon.com, you can find anything!

Onto my nails, the other day I was browsing through Candice's lovely Instagram (@MrCandiiPants) and was completely inspired by her twist on half moons + a french tip! So inspired that I revolved my whole mani around them, adding stars for an extra touch of chic.

NOTD At The Beach

Today's Nails of the Day was actually taken while I was at a school field trip to the beach! The nail blogger in me had to get a cool shot of my nails close by the water, despite the weird looks I got!

I cheered my nubs up with two coats of Strawberry Margarita by OPI. I honestly could've gone with only one coat because this polish is so opaque but for some reason that just wouldn't feel right! This polish looks great on both fingers and toes and lasts a pretty long time with my trusty Seche Vite top coat. I had a great day at the beach and this bright pink polish made it even better! Have a wonderful day!

Sephora By OPI Haul

Recently Sephora by OPI Nail Polish have been announced to be discontinued. As sad as that is, the good news is that they are all on sale for only $4.50! (Instead of their usual price of $9.00.) My mom took advantage of this sale and went to our local Sephora to pick up a few polishes for me. I told her that all I needed was a gold glitter polish but she came back with all of these beauties!

(From L to R) Not Your Average Turquoise, To The Glitter End!, The Golden Age, Hollywood If I Could, I'm So Sari! and Indi-go With The Flow

I'm in love with all of these and I can't wait to use them! I definitely recommend to check out the sale before all of the good colors run out! Have a nice day! 

Matte Watermarble

After seeing @Mucking_Fusser do a watermarble design over a gradient the other day, I knew I had to try it! I'm definitely not as skilled as Corynn when it comes to watermarbling, but that doesn't mean I can't try!

I started off by creating a gradient on all of my nails. I applied Boom Boom Room by Essie (my all time favorite pink cream polish!) to the top of a makeup sponge, followed by Play Date by Essie to go underneath it. I then rolled and dabbed the sponge onto my nail to create this gradient effect! 

Once the gradient dried, I used Superstar! by Pure Ice and Orly's Sec N Dry for the watermarble that I put on top of the pink & purple. Check out Corynn's blog www.MuckingFusser.com for in depth watermarle tutorials! I topped off the design with Seche Vite and cleaned up the excess polish on my fingers with cotton swabs and nail polish remover.

This design looks great when shiny but I did add one coat of OPI's Matte Top Coat to this because it made this easier to photograph because there were no glares! I really do love how this looks when matte and I love this design in general. I do have to admit that this took quite a long time, (about 3 hours for both hands + clean up) but if you tape your fingers, I'm sure the process would go by much faster! 

I can't wait to try this design again with different color combinations and a more uniform watermarble! This mani will look good on almost every nail shape and length so please try it out! I hope you love this and have a fantastic day! 

Tribal City

Wow, a lot of you guys on Instagram really loved this design when I posted it yesterday! I wasn't expecting such a positive response after an entire week of nail fails which was the reason for my 6 day absence. I'm not completely sure what inspired this design but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

I began this mani with two coats of Love by Pure Ice. This is one of my favorite pink nail polishes because it is opaque with 1-2 coats, and it applies very smoothly. I've had this polish for about a year and it hasn't gotten thick or goopy. Not only is it inexpensive, it is also pretty high quality in my opinion. 

When that dried, I grabbed my white nail art striper and created a triangle near my cuticle. Then with the black striper I added details, such as lines, squares and a smaller triangle. I made sure to have a steady hand when creating these fine lines, I needed to stay concentrated in order for the design to look clean in the end. 

So far this mani was just pink, black, and white. It was honestly very plain and I was racking my brain to try and figure out what would make it look better. I then realized that it needed some kind of pop! Orly's Glowstick would definitely do the job. I took a thin nail art brush and filled in the smallest triangle and the stripes. I think that the neon yellow was a great contrast to the rest of the colors.

I honestly think there's something wrong with me at this point. I feel the need to make every design MATTE! But c'mon, everything is better when it's matte, right? Being Sabrina, I slapped on OPI's Matte Top Coat as usual to give this mani a special look. I really love this and I hope you do too!

Thank you to Nicole28_ on Instagram for giving this design a name! Tribal City is a perfect fit because it sort of looks like a skyline, and it also is very tribal! 

Flashy Lilac

My mind is still spinning from a One Direction concert I attended on Sunday, so I decided to have something simple yet cute on my nails. I recently bought my very first OPI nail polishes and I was very eager to try them for the first time today!

I began with four coats of You're Such A Budapest by OPI. This polish was surprisingly thin which was kind of a bummer, but the formula was very smooth which made up for it. You're Such A Budapest is a soft lilac color that is perfect for the spring and summer time. I would definitely wear this alone but I decided to add a touch of sparkle. 

After letting this dry, I added one coat of Which Is Witch by OPI on top. I don't think I've said that I've added only one coat of something in a very long time, it's very refreshing! Which Is Witch is packed with holographic hex and bar glitters. This glitter top coat truly does sparkle like crazy when you're in the sunlight, it's going to bring you much attention!

I hope that you would all know by now that I am an absolute sucker for matte glitter. Not only is it easier to photograph, but it just adds something unexpected to any glitter mani. I finished this off with one coat of OPI's Matte Top Coat. A lot of you have been asking what the best matte top coat is, in my opinion this one by OPI is the best I've tried. It turns your nails matte right before your eyes in about 5 seconds, it's truly amazing! If you're looking for one that's more affordable, I would recommend NYC's Matte Me Crazy. It only costs a single dollar and it achieves similar results. 

I hope I feel in the mood to do some nail art this week, I have some new polishes I want to try out! I hope you love this OPI combination, I know I do!

Neon & Nude Leopard Print

After swatching for many days, I definitely missed having fun nail art on my nails. My dotting tools and brushes were calling my name! With many design ideas floating in my head, I decided to go with a very classic and simple design. When in doubt, go for some leopard print!

I started off with three coats of Porchester Square by Nails Inc. It definitely was fine with two coats but I just wanted to make sure that it was really opaque. The consistency was somewhat thick but a breeze to apply. After having it on my nails, it dried more of a wet cement color than nude, but it still has hints of brown. Although a nude color can seem very dull during the blazing summer time, adding a bright neon polish can definitely fix that problem!

Once Porchester Square was dry, I added the leopard spots with Shocking Pink by China Glaze and Liquid Leather by China Glaze. Shocking Pink is a bright neon that dries matte. I also used it to create high bows on my thumb and ring finger. For a tutorial on my bows click here.

Since I recently purchased OPI's Matte Top Coat, I definitely wanted to try it out! I turned this look matte by first applying my trusty Seche Vite Top Coat which gave this design excellent shine. I only added this top coat to make sure my nails would last. When that dried, I counteracted the shine with the matte top coat that I was extremely impressed by. It made my nails matte within 8 seconds! I love this design even better matte, than I did when it was glossy. 

Overall I think this design was a great choice for a nail art comeback. Neon and nude has been a very popular color scheme lately and it feels good to finally have it on my nails! Try this design yourself sometime and feel free to choose whatever neon color you want! I'd love to see this done with a highlighter yellow or bright blue! If you recreate this or any of my other designs, use the hashtag #inspiredbysabrinasnails on Instagram or send me the picture through Kik or Email and you could be featured on my Your Recreations page, here on my blog!