nails & whales

A moment of reckless abandon, frustration with an overly-pink Valentine's Day mani, and a pair of nail clippers.

Thus marks the end of my pointy, stabby nails.

Can't say that I don't miss them, but I'm really feeling the more "professional" vibe of a clean-cut square nail shape. It's just tougher to open shrink-wrapped packages! At least I won't accidentally cut myself anymore with my own fingers as often lol. Not sure how long I'm going to keep them square, though... 

Anyhow, here's a simple classic floral accent mani done with my new Zoya colors! I ordered six colors from their annual New Years deal (three full-size selected shades and three mini mystery shades for $15), and they arrived in the middle of February. Super late delivery, but totally worth the wait when I opened the box. I should do a swatch post for that shipment sometime... Absolutely gorgeous colors, for the most part! This mani features a chosen color (Hunter) and a mystery shade (Charlotte) as the bases. 

(Apologies for this lighting! As much as I attempted levels-wrangling in Photoshop, I couldn't quite remove the overly warm yellow tones. Still learning how to use the program.)

In honor of the more classic nail shape, I went with a subdued floral design. I really do love the floral + framed accent combo – effortlessly balanced and elegant. We'll probably be seeing more variations on this theme in the future, so hopefully my rose-painting skills increase with practice!

Polishes used: