Polka Dots & Dance in the Rain

Happy 2015, everyone! After an extended hiatus, I am officially back in action and excited to get my blogging groove back! As I'm sure you'll notice immediately, the holidays, my crazy semester at school, and lack of sleep due to hours spent on my thesis have taken a serious toll on my talons. I am reduced to the shortest nubs I've had in over a year! But this is all part of being a polish head--breaks happen. I'm going to work on a series celebrating nubs and maybe even some tutorials (!!!) with ideas for ladies that rock shorter nails all the time.

I thought it would be best to re-enter the blogosphere with a simple, colorful look that complements my new shorter style. I started with two coats of OPI - You're So Vain-illa on my index and middle fingers, then used a small Bundlemonster dotting tool to add polka dots in OPI - Hey Baby (pink) and China Glaze - Wait N' Sea. For my ring finger and pinky, I started with a base of OPI - Love.Angel.Music.Baby, and dabbed three-ish coats of Lumina Lacquer - Dance in the Rain on my ring finger.

All of the Gwen Stefani shades for OPI have become serious staples in my regular manicures and nail art. Most of the few manis I did during my hiatus involved at least one of them, and I picked up the gold flakie from her holiday line as well. Something about knowing that Gwen was involved in developing the color on my nails just makes me fell so badass. This is actually the first time I've top coated Love.Angel.Music.Baby, as I am such a fan of the natural satin finish, but I love how a glossy topcoat makes the beautiful shimmer really pop!

As I mentioned above, this is three dabbed coats of this epic Lumina Lacquer glitter bomb over a base of L.A.M.B. sealed with two generous coats of HK Girl Topcoat. Some people (most people) argue that big chunky glitter mixes aren't for short nails, but I beg to differ. As a certified glitter addict, I will put chunk glitter on whatever I please, and I happen to think this bling-tastic accent fits within the whole look very nicely.

So as much as I am trying to embrace my nubs, I'm also working my hardest to get them back into fighting shape. Heres a sneak peek at the products in my arsenal that I'm trusting for the task, which may or may not find their way into an updated nail care page in the very near future. The products below are some of my "holy grail" nail growth tools. Do you have any faves I should try?

Hope you all are having a great 2015 so far, and thanks for sticking around during my extended break! BTW: you will likely notice that my blog has gotten a little facelift. This is still a work in progress, so you might see some things changing if you hang around here over the next few weeks. Methinks a big re-launch and giveaway will celebrate it's completion, so stay tuned! Looking forward to lots more nails and silliness this year, what about you?!