Nail Art Wednesday: Birthday Nails with a Jelly Sandwich, Black Roses, and a Mix of Blue and Purple

Yep, I was right. Today's a bit rougher to deal with than usual, what with the late night and that pretty hectic weekend, so we'll keep this particular post short and sweet, if that's all right.

I sported a couple nail looks for the weekend that I'll be showing you today. I started off with a red jelly sandwich that I stamped over with black roses, then went with a blue and purple mani for my actual birthday.

Just because I adore this mug so much.

The red jelly sandwich is OPI Vodka and Caviar, a gorgeous red jelly that's amazingly opaque for a jelly, with a layer of Deborah Lippmann Today Was A Fairytale, a ridiculously dense silver fine and hex glitter that I had absolutely no problem getting to translate on the nail, in between.

Sorry about the tip wear; I didn't get a chance to photograph this till 2 days after I first put it on.

Red seemed appropriate since it's the color to wear on birthdays, especially in Chinese culture. I felt it still needed a little something something so I added the roses using Wet N Wild Ebony Hates Chris (thanks again for the tip, Marta!) and Red Angel plate 116. A word on those Red Angel plates: the edges on those are sharp! I actually cut myself in a few places while struggling to get the blue film off when I first got them. Otherwise, I have no complaints as the designs are so pretty! Just be extra careful with them and don't say I didn't warn you. :P

 Detail of the stamping. 

(I'm surprised how dull it looks after only two days. I've been using an OPI topcoat lately and I'm definitely not impressed.)

 Couldn't resist a bit of posing!

After sporting the red mani for a good three days, I decided I was due for a change and went with the two finger accent (ring and pinky) style that Nail Taxi used with Cult Nails polishes sometime ago. Maria, the visionary behind the brand, had been sporting some awesome looking combinations that really appealed to the minimalist in me (the one she did using Feel Me Up and Devious Nature really caught my eye!) seeing how just the contrast between the two colors created enough visual interest even without further embellishment. Of course, you can still opt to add more to the table but as it were, it was a great way to add a pop of color, besides giving me the excuse to wear both blue AND purple at the same time.

I went with Cult Nails Manipulative (from the recently released Divas and Drama collection), a gorgeous pale blue shot with shimmer, and for the accent nails I went with Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid. I was debating whether to layer Cult Nails Seduction over both but decided the shimmer was enough bling.

 Time Traveler is still my absolute favorite Cult Nails color but these two are a close second!

I thought it was funny that I got this gift bag after I had painted my nails and look at the colors in the argyle-patterned martini glass!

Hammie wonders: What's your idea of a birthday mani? Do you like to match your nail polish to your outfit and/or makeup? Which color always says "special" to you?