Cute and Girly

Once in a while, I feel like doing something very girly. 

It makes me feel so young and free. Whether it's a spa day, shopping, or buying something insanely pink I just love that cute and girly feeling I get. It's refreshing. 

While being girly is not a huge stretch for me, it still rejuvenates me and makes me feel special. A spa day or a hot pink Chanel are not exactly in the budget right now, so I opted for pink, glittery nails.

Please Santa?

I got a text from my BFF Paige last week suggesting that I do a post on Sally Hansen's Salon Effect Nail Strips. I've used them several times and they've lasted for a few days and looked nice so I was pleased with the product. She is way more artistic than me so of course her nails turned our beautifully! She painted the yellow polish and used the nails strips for the floral nail. Too cute Paige!

 Not being one to be outdone, I went to Target this week to copy Paige's look!

I decided on a pink glitter and pink polka dot strips. I think I got too carried away with unleashing the 6 year old girly girl inside of me. 

It was a LOT of pink for me. While the strips go on easily and look ten million times better than when I paint my own nails, they just don't last long enough. I put them on at 4 pm, went to the Rebels on the Road party at 5:30 and they were coming off before I got home at 9. 

Soooooo, I picked them off before I went to sleep.

I woke up this morning and thought of Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere and her glittery nails. 

I. love. her. nails.

 So i'm going to copy them!

Here's what I used:

I started by painting a coat of my Essie polish on every nail except for my index fingernails on each hand. I let those nails dry before moving on. So glad I did this because the glitter was messy! 

Next, I painted a coat of my polish onto my index fingernails. 

Then, I poured about 2 teaspoons of glitter onto a sheet of paper. I folded the paper into a spout and gently tapped the glitter onto my index fingernails. This step got very messy, very quickly. 

I ended up with more glitter on my index fingernails that I imagined but I'm still happy with the look I got. 

I painted one more coat of my Essie polish onto all of my other nails and let them dry.

I finished my glittery manicure off with Essie Top Coat. I tested my glittery nails to see if this glitter had dried to the polish first. After determining that they were dry, I painted a top coat on those nails too.

Like I said, they aren't perfect & pretty like the Sally Hansen strips but I don't really care because they will last way longer!