Favorite Manicures 2011

This post is a little late- but better late than never. Here are my top 5 favorite manicures from 2011 :-)

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Navy & Pink

This is my previous manicure of Orly Purple Crush with added navy stripes. I taped of my chipped Purple Crush and added Sally Hansen Deep Blue Sea on top. I am not crazy in love with how this turned out, but it solved the tip wear on my previous mani.

Pink & Gold

I wanted to spruce up my China Glaze Strawberry Fields manicure so I added tape and China Glaze Magical on top. The results were actually pretty sloppy. I think this would look pretty if all of the tape pieces had been uniform. I will definitely try the hot pink and gold combination again.. perhaps with water marbling.

Zoya Kiki & Magical Stripes

I wanted to show a Zoya polish since their polish exchange promotion is going on right now. For this manicure I used China Glaze Magical as a base. I then used thin strips of tape and painted Zoya Kiki on top. Kiki is one of my favorite Zoya polishes and I think it looks even prettier with the China Glaze Magical stripes.

Raspberry Festival & Squiggly Scissors

Raspberry Festival is a beautiful red with shimmer from the Summer Days collection 2009. I have seen photos of the polishes from this collection and I think they are stunning. Strawberry Fields is next on my wishlist. This is two coats, no top coat.

I wanted to use squiggle scissors today but I wanted the red to be dominant. This is what I came up with, but I think I like Raspberry Festival better on its own. I think I need to buy a new black polish, the one I have been using is too thick for layering.

Oh Cabana Boy & Turned Up Turquoise

For this mani I began with two coats of Orly Oh Cabana Boy. I then used four skinny pieces of tape to create the cross marks. I used China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise on top and removed the tape. After one coat of Seche Vite this was the result. I think it is a fun mani that is especially pretty from far away. I need to find a stamping plate with this design, using the tape one each finger was very time consuming.

Orly: Razzle with Silver

Orly Razzle is a deep fuscha/berry with tons of micro-glitter. The glitter is very subtle but really stands out in the sunlight. Like Orly Monroe's Red I think you can get away with one coat. The pigmentation on these polishes was great, I was happy they were on clearance for $1.99, but I would have paid full price for them. I decided to do a laser mani with tape and Sally Hansen Celeb City. The laser mani would be pretty on every nail but I like the way the silver polish stands out on my ring finger.

This is Razzle with two coats, no topcoat.

Re-Fresh Mint, Caribbean Temptation, Squiggle Scissors

I played around with my mom's squiggle scissors again. This time I used China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint as a base, and used China Glaze Caribbean Temptation on top. I love both of these polishes, and this combination.

Untamed Luxury, Tape, Scissors

I tried again to use craft scissors and tape to make a fun mani. You can see my other scissors mani here. I am not in love with this, I think it looks best from far away. I used Color Club Untamed Luxury as a base, and used a black Wet n Wild polish on top.

Squiggly Scissors Mani

I was playing with my mom's scrap booking scissors after seeing a post by Chloe's Nails and this is what I came up with. I used China Glaze Secondhand Silk and Essie Splash of Grenadine.

It would look better if my top taped layer was thinner, but I think it is a fun idea and I will definitely try it again.

Scotch Tape & Rimmel

I purchased Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Grey at Target a few months ago. The brush on the Rimmel polishes is large and wide and I love it. It makes application very easy. The formula is very shiny even without a top coat. This is Steel Grey on its own with two coats, no topcoat.

For the tape pattern I used Essie French Affair. I got the idea from the many tape manicures at Chloe's Nails. If you have not seen her blog you should check it out:)

I simply cut the tape

Placed it on my finger, and painted Essie French Affair on top

Ta-da pretty nails! I used Seche Vite as a topcoat which is amazing!!