Step by step, ooh baby, Gonna get to you girl
Step by step, ooh baby, Really want you in my world

That’s right Fanatics, I went to the NKOTBSB concert and I’m not one bit ashamed because it was AH-Mazing! Those boys, well men, sing and dance their asses off for over two hours to throngs of screaming fans and I was so happy to be one of them. It totally makes up for the fact that I never got to see them perform when I was a kid.

For me, the best parts of the concert were seeing my darling Joey McIntyre, who rocked some multi-colored nails the last time they were on tour, sing “Please Don’t Go Girl”, Donnie Wahlberg revealing his rock hard abs and Nick Carter sporting a LeBron James “Choke” t-shirt. Though I couldn’t help but notice that AJ McLean was wearing black crackle on his nails (see here). I went with two of my CLE blogger pals, Suzanne & Allison, and we had a blast dancing and singing the whole night. My ears are still ringing!

While I enjoyed Backstreet Boys, I was really there for New Kids On The Block so I had to do a NKOTB themed manicure which I dedicate to Joey and his stunning baby blues. I chose a pale blue, Color Club Factory Girl, to match his eyes and a darker, grittier hue, Orly Sapphire Silk, to represent his “Hangin Tough” Boston background. I also failed at my attempt at nail art using Milani Nail Art polish in Blue Print.

I’ve been doing quite a few interviews lately for various publications about summer and fall nail trends. Of course we know that crackle is EVERYWHERE, nail art isn’t dying out anytime soon and neutrals have been making a resurgence. But what I find funny is when looks that are pretty much “old hat” in the nail community end up being the “new” hot trend.

I was recently asked by the Style Network’s StyleSpy about the “new” celebrity accent nail trend and the best ways to wear the look. Of course, this isn’t exactly a new look but since so many celebrities have been rocking the accent nail it’s now a thing. My advice has always been to look for contrasting or complementary color combos. Black & white, purple and gold, lime and fuchsia, etc.

For this summer my favorite combination is orange & blue or teal & coral, so I rummaged my untrieds to create a fun accent nail manicure and came up with Deborah Lippmann Lara’s Theme and Orly Frisky.

Dear Glitter Polishes,

Why can’t I quit you? You’re such a pain to remove that the dread sets in before the first stroke of polish hits the nail. Yet, like a magpie, every time I see a bottle I want to snatch it up and take it home to my stash. You’re clearly my crack because when the high wears off, I’m just left with thoughts of the removal process looming overhead. In spite of all that, I love you. And if loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

XOXO, ALU

The glitter craving struck again when I spotted the display for the Orly Pin-up collection at my local CVS. The four piece collection includes two cremes that I barely noticed. My eyes darted straight to Here Comes Trouble (l) and Bubbly Bombshell (r). For today’s untrieds manicure I decided to combine them into one summery sparkle spectacular.

Color-blocking was all over the Spring 2011 runways but being that my own personal style doesn’t really mesh with color-blocking, I translated the trend to nails. As much as I love how bright colors look on others, I tend to stick to neutrals when it comes to my own wardrobe. My nails are my color statement.

Inspired by a dress I saw while online window shopping on Nordstrom.com, I incorporated Orly Ancient Jade from the Precious Spring 2011 Collection to create a color-block manicure.

They say it takes 28 days to create a habit, or break one. Today is Day 28 of my untrieds challenge and one of the reasons I started this project was to get over what I’m calling a “blogpression.” It’s not that I didn’t love polish anymore or talking about it.  It’s just that after four years I was feeling very mixed about blogging.

As much as I love all of you for reading, commenting, emailing, etc I was putting so much pressure on myself.  Wanting to fulfill every request and please everyone all the time made me avoid blogging.  I wanted to swatch and compare every polish that came out to every other polish that ever existed.  It’s simply not possible.

So thank you for the endless support and encouragement.  I’m happy that you enjoy the 365 of Untrieds as much as I do.  It’s made me enjoy blogging more than I have in a long time.  Now let’s move on with Orly Royal Navy.