Aggies Do It Better

Hey guys! Here's my round up post for the second part of the nail art challenge going on right now! I don't have time to blog every single mani so this is how I'm doing it to document my mani's! I'll keep my intro short since there's so many pics. If you missed my first section round up you can see it here! One last thing...I've noticed several new followers to my blog this week....if you just started following my blog let me know in the comments where you found me! :)  31DC2015 part two

Hey guys! Today I have a little roundup of all the mani's I did for the first part of this year's 31 day challenge! This is a fun little challenge that goes around in the  nail world each September and this is my 3rd year participating! Maybe I will actually complete it this year :( I always get stuck and burned out on the last part! My goal for this year is to try to use as much untried/unblogged polishes as I can, I have a little system of marking each one as it gets blogged about, it helps me when I want to get rid of some! This post has a lot pics and I will just get right into it! I have chosen not to blog for each  mani because I just don't have time!!! So I will have one post for each part (10 mani's). I will list each polish I used for each mani. If there's any other info yall want just let me know in the comments! At the end I have links for my manis from years past, its fun to see the improvement each year!   31DC2015 part one!

Hey guys! Its the last day of June-whoa! I haven't been blogging much this month, I've mostly been just enjoying trying out and wearing some of my newer polishes! Most of these have been posted on Instagram but I need to document them here so I can mark them with my little sticker system! I thought I would type up a couple thoughts on each before we head to the pool- I'll keep it short because my keyboard is being super wonky! This is Loaded Lacquer "Double Shot of Sriracha". Let's be honest, I bought this for the name! I'm not as super in to holos as a lot of people, but this is gorgeous! It photographs a little darker than it is. It's pretty sheer on the first coat, but surprisingly opaque on the 2nd! I'll probably do 3 coats the next time I wear it though. Loaded Lacquer Sriracha Loaded Lacquer Sriracha This is Polish My Life "Birthday Suit", a really pretty creamy nude that almost glows against my super tan-at-the-momen...

Hey guys! Just like I did with the Island Fun collection, I wanted to post a quick little round up of the nail art looks I did with the Paradise Sun collection with all the names of the polishes I used (all Zoya haha!) If you missed my review of the Paradise Sun collection you can see it And be sure to follow me on Instagram @aggiesdoitbetter  for video tutorials for all these looks! This is Genesis "blobbed" with the rest of the collection! It took me foreverrrrrrrr to get the hang of this technique and now I'm a little obsessed.  Zoya Genesis This is Mae with a gold accent of Tomoko and chevrons on Purity with Tomoko and Mae. I friggen love pink and gold together!  Zoya Mae Since Aphrodite is the goddess of Love I thought I'd use my little Fingrs decals (purchased at walmart) for a cute love themed mani!  Zoya Aprhodite Oceane means cute little starfish with Destiny (my last untried Pixiedust) and dots of Taylor  Zoya Oceane I u...

Hey guys! I just wanted to post here a  little round up of all the nail art I did to show off the Island Fun collection from Zoya, for Summer 2015! Be sure to check out my Instagram profile @aggiesdoitbetter  for quick videos of the process! If you missed my review of this collection you can check it out HERE! I used all Zoya polishes (some pr samples, some bought by me) for these looks! Jace with chevron accent of Jace, Purity and Nana  Zoya Jace Cecilia with watermarble of Cecilia, Talia, Taylor, and Purity  Zoya Cecilia Talia with dots of Lillian  Zoya Talia Demetria with decals from Fingrs (purchased at Walmart)  Zoya Demetria Nana with zebra stripes of Cassedy and a Winstonia striping brush  Zoya Nana Serentity with blobs of Isa  Zoya Serenity

Hey guys! Today I have a little recap of the meetup from yesterday PLUS the mani I did plus a little video! Click Read More after the pic for lots moreeeeeeeeeeeeee   indirect sunlight

Hey guys! Today's maroon is OPI Scores  a Goal! from this past spring's Brazil Collection (which I'm still madly in love with. The whole thing was just perfection. This polish is a bit darker, kind of a raisiny maroon with out being too vampy. The formula sets is apart because like all the other polishes in that collection, is just amazing. Smooth, buttery, 2 effortless coats. ahhhhhhh  indirect sun I chose one of my favorite looks, chevron, for the accent here! As with all these looks this week, you could easily do these on all your nails, but I wanted to showcase the maroon polishes so I only did one! And guess what, I have a bonus tutorial for you! There are lots of ways to achieve the chevron look. The most simple is free handing with a thin or striper brush, but ummmmm I'm pretty terrible at that so I don't do it. Ever. When I starting doing chevrons, this is how I did them-I made them my self! There's lots of other options out there, including ...

Hey guys! For Day 3, I have one of my fav Essies, Angora Cardi. It's not as bright as the last 2, its more subtle and muted, and probably more work appropriate if you shy away from bright colors! The formula is good, not awesome , and it's super thick. Mine could actually stand to be thinned down a little. But it such a gorgeous color! For the accent, I used a base of Essie Sand Tropez, which was one of the first nude-type colored polishes I ever owned, and I still love it! The white is just a Kiss brand White striper I picked up at a store! I've seen them everywhere by now. Check out the video for the tutorial...and try not to laugh too  much at my freehand skills!  indirect sunlight click here for the video tutorial ! Its longer! For some reason I'm not able to upload it here like before, it's not coming up on my list of videos to choose from. Grrr. Still learning! But it's a longer version at least! Dusty shades like this plus such a fall print l...

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday as promised but I was super busy and blogging is not at the top of my priority list most days! In fact for the next week I'm taking a little break. There are some things around here that need my attention and the past few weeks have been very nail-time-hogging! Just lots of things came down at once and lots of other nail-related things have taken a back seat so it's time to get caught up! :) Anyhoo, below is a really cool snapshot from Iconosquare.com, a website where you can get all kinds of cool stats about your Instagram account! I love it! wow! I wanted to share a little about how I got started. I'll try  not to be too wordy! Two years ago the Mr. was traveling overseas and I found my self with some free time after the kids were in bed! I was decorating for Halloween at the time and had decided I like the candy-corn theme and colors the best. I was googling up "candy corn Halloween decorations" and Lo...

Hey Guys! I have another mani swap today! I am really loving these lately....they are so fun :) Today I swapped with my friend Tracy in Australia (hence the late in the day post!) It was really hard to choose but these are what I chose. I even had all the same polishes she used except one! She chose my Neon Colorblock  I did back in April and did them better than I did! For more pics and polishes used click Read More! sun Please excuse the dry hands, my digits have been quite busy this month. Some days they show the effects of it more than others! clouds The polished used were: Base: OPI Alpine Snow First white: OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls Light gray: Zoya Dove Darker gray: China Glaze Recycle Black: OPI Black Onyx (this was the only non duplicate polish!) I'm super happy with the way these came out. I'm really getting along with the striping tape lately! sun

Hey guy! Today is a fun post-these were a "mani swap" with my friend Marcella. The concept is you choose one of each other's mani's and recreate them the best you can! This is the one I chose from her. I didn't have the same polishes she did but I think I did a pretty good job matching them. Y'all know me, if they don't match exactly then I'm not satisfied...these came pretty close. Click Read more for polishes used and more pics!  sun 

Hi! Happy Friday! Today I have another new-to-me technique using homemade polish decals. I did these for a music prompt on Instagram, click Read More to see more pics and why!  clouds

Hey guys! So..... I bought 5 out of the 6 red/white/blue glitters Salon Perfect put out for July 4th....then I got so busy and went out of town and didn't get a chance to use them! So now it's my mission to find ways to use them year round...because isn't there a rule about kitchen gadgets that you shouldn't buy something that has only one use? Well...I don't exactly follow that rule ;) but I'm applying the same principal here!! More pics after the jump! sun The base color is Salon Perfect Baby Blues, which I've had for a while but have never used! For shame! The circle glitter is called Save Me a Spot, it was limited edition so it's probably  not available anymore...sorry! You could do the same with loose glitter though. sun sun This was super easy guys! I just painted 2 coats of blue and then blobbed some of the glitter on an envelope, then used a dotting tool to pick up the ones I wanted. Topcoat then done! I kind of did this as ...

Hey guys! Here is the other Emma Jean scented polish my friend Gianna sent me. You can read about the blue one here.   The name of this one is Mint Chocolate Chip and after it initially starts drying it TOTALLY does smell like it! So cool and so weird at the same time! The formula on this polish was excellent, as was the blue. 2 coats plus topcoat!  sun More pics and polishes used after the jump!

Hey guys! I wore yesterdays nails of Zoya Blaze for several days before I decided to add to it. The Zoya Pixiedusts are some of my favorite polishes to use for sparkly accents! I haven't used my craft scissors for nails in forever it seems so I figured it was about time! I love using them because I can create unique, one of a kind looks! I took a couple of quick pics for a short tutorial at the end! Be sure to click "Read More" after this!  shade

Hey guys! I have another tape mani for you. I don't totally love how this came out, sometimes it just looks better in your head! But I'm continuing my project of trying to catalogue my polishes here and use them! This is is OPI You Only Live Twice from the 2012 James Bond Skyfall collection, another Publix find for me! This is my first time using it and MAN isn't it pretty!! The gold is OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby from this years Gwen Stefani Collection....old news, I use it all the time haha!  late in day sun

Hey guys! A little nail art today. My kids go back to school this Friday, although only a half-day, so I thought I'd try this! When I first discovered the world of "nail art" it was in the fall 2 years ago and this type of thing was circulating a lot. Notebook paper nails have been on my to do list for 2 years! Can you believe that!! I'm finally forcing my self to tackle all these things I've been meaning to do. Not all turn out great but at least I'm doing it!  indirect sun

Hey guys! Some simple dots today... kind of! These are inspired by my friend Kristin of @ermahgerdperlish  (how hilar is that name). I did these for an extra entry into a little contest she is having!  I didn't have the exact same polishes as she did but I did my best :) Wish me luck! shade

Hey guys! I'm just still working through 2 projects....using all of my polishes I have and documenting them here on the blog (I have many that were used before I relaunched here but they don't count for these purposes) and tackling my long list of different art themes/techniques to try! Feathers have been on my list for a while but I have been quite intimidated to try them. One of the current prompts for the Nail It! Magazine is Feathers, so I thought I'd give it a go. I used all the polishes listed below and some fine detailing brushes sent to me by Winstonia Store . For the final look I used a matte topcoat, which wound up looking much better. I don't totally love these, but I don't hate them either? Meh.   sun

I say inspired, I should say, replicated! Hey guys! Another fun post today :) One of my first nail buddies and friend Margaret of @m_a_tom is having a contest celebrating a milestone for her account! The rules are it's not a giveaway, its a contest. You have to do an inspired by (or replicate) mani of hers for your entry. She is my tape-spiration FOR SURE and the one who encouraged me to stop being afraid of striping tape and go for it. The rest is history! Who knew it would become my favorite technique! And she's Australian so obvious bonus points for that ;) I peeped her feed and narrowed it down to 3, then this one. Again, grateful for  a design not to be on all fingers!!! I also had the 3 same polishes she used...lucky me.  sun