Okay, so it's actually been a while since I've done my nails.  Shocking, I know.  Even more shocking is that I did such a simple design for my first REAL blog entry!  Well, I decided to do a gradient because I wanted to see how these colors blended together, I didn't have much time, and it was easy.  Gradients are actually really easy to do, you just have to learn that less is more.  I'll show how to do a gradient in the tutorial section soon.

Fun Fact: This manicure is 4 days old in the picture and both are actually just my pinky finger because all my other nails were already pretty chipped.

Polishes Used:
1st coat (purple/black) - Sally Hansen Diamond Strength #470 Black Tie
2nd Coat (teal shimmer) - Essie #744 Trophy Wife
3rd coat (teal glitter) - Orly #40081 Halley's Comet

These colors actually blended together much nicer than I thought they would because the dark base actually has just a hint of green shimmer.

My site is finally up and running.  Bad news, I can't do everything I wanted to.  Last weekend I attempted my first video tutorial, and needless to say, things did not go too smoothly.  I have my lovely setup at my desk, with my polishes, camera & tripod, but unfortunately, my digital camera is shit when it comes to doing video and focusing close-up at the same time.  It came out blurry, shaky, 8.5 minutes long, and it had a nice yellow tint to it that completely turned all the colors to...well, yellow!  But it did give me good experience at making and editing videos which I will certainly do more of once I buy a decent camera.  But for now, the only tutorials you are going to see here are going to be step by step still shots and composed in Photoshop.  But don't worry, I'll make them pretty and easy to follow.  

I'm not too sure what to put in this blog other than my current nail designs and combos I've been playing with (which I haven't done much of in the last week or so because I've been pretty busy), so I figured what better way to start out than with a picture of my polish collection.  So here it is!

Isn't it pretty?  There are 72 bottles of polish! 

Here are all of my tools that I use for a wide variety of techniques that I will go over with you as I do the tutorials.

And we mustn't forget about the acrylic paints that make complicated designs so much easier.

This beauty is the box that my paints have lived in for many years.  It was expertly decoupaged with comic books by yours truly when I was in middle school.  Behold it in all its glory!

So there you have it!  This is what I use to do everything you have seen on my nails and the collection is ever growing.  If you are ever in Ulta, Sally's, or Target and hear someone yell "POLISH SPREE!"....that's me ;) 
I might have a problem.

Stayed tuned for more designs, tutorials, and techniques!