My 2010 Wedding Season Mani-Pedi Combination
This past weekend the boyfriend and I attended the wedding of one of our favorite people on the planet. She is funny, smart, charming. Just an amazing friend. One of those people that you meet and just know you want in your life. So you can imagine how happy we are that she found a man who realizes how special she is and treats her a queen.
Of course a wedding means planning the right outfit all the way down to your fingers and toes. I immediately knew which dress I wanted to wear but deciding on nail color was a challenge. Do I go trendy because I’m the all knowing nail girl (my friend said that, not me)? Do I play it safe because it’s a wedding? Or do I march to the beat of my own drummer and go with what strikes my fancy? I chose D – All Of The Above. |
Here I am with the beautiful bride. This was towards the end of the night after a lot of drinking and dancing so we are a bit beat down. Plus the humidity on Saturday was unbearably disgusting so it was near impossible to stay shine-free.
Anywho, as you can see I opted for a gray dress with a silver embossed floral overlay so my nail options were pretty vast. I scheduled a pedicure for the day before the wedding so I would have to commit to color family and not be stuck trying to decide the day of. Even though I wasn’t sure about which shoes I would wear I knew they’d either be black or silver so I wanted something that would pop. All the talk of turquoise being hot for 2010 has the color pretty ingrained in my brain so that’s the first color family I thought of. After sifting through my blue-green drawer I settled on China Glaze Flyin High. |
I love Flyin High because it’s vivid but not overly bright. It feels summery but the creme finish keeps it chic. It’s the perfect complement to the silver heels I picked up the day of the wedding during a lightening fast DSW run.
So I had my dress, shoes, jewelry and pedicure all picked out but what should I put on my fingernails? My rule regarding mani/pedi combinations is to coordinate, not match. Since I had such a bright turquoise on my toes I wanted either a lighter version of Flying High or a silver for my fingers. I had pulled Orly Shine but decided there was too much silver/gray going on in my look and ended up with an oldie but goodie, China Glaze For Audrey.
To me For Audrey is the ideal wedding shade. I would love to see every bride make it their “something blue.” It makes me feel feminine and girly but still unique. It’s soft enough to be wedding appropriate yet colorful enough to add an element of fun. FYI this was taken two days after the wedding which is why you see some growth. My nails grow like weeds, I tell you!
I’ve been wearing For Audrey for a few days now. I’m enjoying having ten matching fingers at the moment since it so rarely happens during the week. However, I wanted to switch it up a bit.
I’ve had this bottle of Sally Hansen Sea And Be Seen sitting on my desk staring at me for a couple weeks now. I picked it up on a recent CVS run and came home to discover that it’s pretty sheer. Such a shame considering how gorgeous it looks in the bottle. I guess I’ve left it out waiting for the right time to layer it and my current manicure just happened to be the perfect fit.
Sea And Be Seen turned For Audrey into a sparkly sky blue dream. The base color has a sandwashed look to it while the demin blue micro glitter adds a glitzy punch. This may be one of my fave layering combos ever! It’s so much better in person, you must try.
Like I said above, I chose “D – All Of The Above” in plotting my wedding manicure/pedicure combo. I kept it somewhat conservative on my hands with a pale Tiffany hue. Choosing turquoise was definitely an on trend decision but it’s still very “me” in that I love blues & greens and everything in between. I seriously can’t recommend this color combo enough for any upcoming weddings you may have.
With wedding season officially in gear, what are your favorite nail looks to wear to a wedding? Have you been to any weddings already? What did you wear? Have any of you worn For Audrey to your own wedding? Do you think blue polish is too much for a bride?
Disclosure: Flying High and For Audrey samples were furnished by China Glaze. Sea And Be Seen was purchased by me. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
I’m horrible about remembering names of colors but at the last wedding I attended, I wore a dress that was just CRAZY with colors, so I picked a fuschia-purple OPI shade for my fingers that didn’t exactly match any shade in the dress but definitely went with it. My toes were covered so I don’t remember what was on them. I love bright colors on my nails so much that whenever I do get married, I’ll totally wear one to keep it interesting! When OPI came out with that bridal collection all I could think was YAWN-HOW BORING because they were all such “safe” colors.
The combo looks really really nice!
i just bought for audrey the other day i love it! mine looks a little darker than yours it might be the lighting though.
I just bought For Audrey as well, and it also looks a lot darker on my nails..weird!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that layering combination!!! I’m going out to buy those two shades today! So pretty, fun and chic, without being over the top. Thanks!
I wore For Audrey yesterday, and it did nothing for my skintone, but it looks so good on you! It is a perfect wedding season color, though!
I love the combo on the fingernails it looks like a sea blue color. Love it:)
Sea and Be Seen looks really pretty over For Audrey. Good idea!
Your wedding mani/padi combo is too cute and I love the layered combo of For Audrey and Sea and Be Seen! Very pretty!
I wore For Audrey on my toes on my wedding day last year in May. I loved it. It was my something blue. On my nails I had a regular french manicure.
It’s fun how the idea of “conservative” may be different in different countries.
Here the only colors considered conservative (ouch what a terrible choice of words, sorry) are sheer nudes/french shades, and maybe some reds for elder women.
And yes, I still see a lot of women wearing that sheer milky white look from the ’90s.
A little color has spread in the last couple years among younger girls (say up to mid-twenties) but it’s still a little percentage of the women I see around.
I actually once went to work wearing china glaze shower together and everybody was literally staring at my nails. Somebody asked me if it was meant to support our local football team, lol. And that’s nowhere even close to their shirt color..
Loving Sea and Be Seen over For Audrey! Who knew it would alter the color like that?! How is the application of For Audrey? I love China Glaze, but I find I get very frustrated with applying lighter colors.
My bottle of For Audrey is old. I got it right when it launched in 2007 so I may not be the best person to ask. Mine applied well but was a little thin so I needed three coats. I think it could use a decent amount of rolling to mix it all up again as some of the pigment has settled out.
I went to a wedding two weeks ago and was wearing a black and white floral print dress. Decided to wear OPI’s On Collins Ave. on my nails. It is a perfect bright red/orange and I love it!
For my wedding I went a classic route with a French mani and pedi.
On the day, brides should go with what they feel comfortable with, or know they look good in. For my wedding in April (still buzzing over the great day!), my dress was white with black sequinned rose detail, so I went with Black Onyx. I had covered shoes but on my toes was Absolutely Alice (my sneaky something blue!)
I TOTALLY agree with you on the For Audrey. It’s been one of my favorite colors for a while now and seeing it gaining popularity with nailpolish makes me so excited, haha. Definitely going to be my something blue!
Love it! This post reminded me of one time when I was in a wedding 5 years ago and I had red nails… A friend told me that it was inappropriate for a bridesmaid. Of course when I told the bride a few weeks later, she thought it was ridiculous.
The last wedding I went to was in the fall and I did essie sexy divide on my toes and st. lucia lilac on my fingers. I love doing a dark or bright color on my toes, with a lighter version of it on my nails. I got so many compliments on both.
I thought about doing tiffany blue toes for my wedding, but there was absolutely no blue in my color scheme, so I decided not to. I should have though! I did silver instead. Unfortunately, Orly Shine (my fave silver) wasn’t out yet, so I layered a couple different polishes. I had essie’s princess pink on my nails which was the prettiest pale pink ever. It had a bit of an irridescent sparkle in it. They have since changed the color to hot pink – so weird that they kept the same name for a totally different shade. I never understand that.
Btw, nice article on the nail trends! I have SpaRitual Emerald City on my toes right now, which I ordered after your post back in December.
Ha! That’s funny considering I’ve got Flyin’ High on my fingers and For Audrey on my toes.
Hi!
I was just curious if you had ever done french tips with For Audrey as the main color and white tips? I haven’t tried it yet with For Audrey, but I did it with Chanel’s Nouvelle Vagueue for vacation on my toes and I LOVED it. Looks like a little blue Tiffany box with a white ribbon
I went with For Audrey for my wedding pedicure!
I wore light pink peep-toe flats (so comfortable, so cute) and the combination was so pretty, especially for our spring wedding. Your description of For Audrey is spot on – it really is a wonderfully girly color!
I bought For Audrey a few weeks ago, and it’s received the most compliments out of any color I own! It’s classy and spunky all at the same time, a well rounded color!
The colour of that Sally Hansen is so beautiful I would use 5 coats if that would make it opaque!
The combination with For Audrey is brilliant though! Very good idea
What a pretty and feminine combination! I will definitely try Sea and Be Seen over my For Audrey – great suggestion and you get two for one manicures in one week!
I’ve been using China Glaze – Something Sweet with Sally Hansen – Hidden Treasure layered over it as my go to wedding color. It’s demure looking enough that I was able to wear it as a bridesmaid but Hidden Treasure spices it up enough for me to not be bored with it!
One of my dearest and oldest friends got married last year. I wore Sally Hanse Honeymoon red, a really bright red shimmer to go with my black and white dress and that polish matched my glossy red shoes. It was perfect.
I just got for audrey and after I painted my nails I was like hmmmmmm this would be great for when I get married as my something blue! haha!
Cute shoes!
I’m in a wedding this July and my dress is African violet. I’m going with Grape Pop on my toes, but I think this might work for my manicure. I’m lucky that the bride doesn’t expect me to wear so-called safe colors. In fact before she saw this post, she told me that I should green because it looks so good on me. Now she thinks I should go with this.
I bet that Sally would look great over Essie Greenport!
‘My 2010 Wedding…’
You almost gave me heart failure! Looking good, dancing, drinking and humidity not withstanding.
I’ve been compiling a list of pale blue polishes for months trying to find *the* perfect shade for my wedding! I love the idea of blue nails!
The layering is really pretty! Not sure if anything blue or green will ever be considered “conservative”, but who wants to be conservative?
I always end up wearing gold polish to weddings, because I keep wearing the same champagne-ish shoes. The only wedding I’m attending this year won’t be until October, though.
I love layering nail polish. Deborah Lippmann’s Whatever Lola Wants is perfect for layering over pinks and purples. Now, if only I could convince myself that the nail polish is worth $16. Le sigh.
Love it! Great color combination. At weddings I like to play it safe to an extent…I won’t do neons, but everything else is pretty much fair game. You look beautiful, by the way!
And HOW do your nails grow that quickly??! Do you do anything special?
This is a good opportunity to ask: I will be attending a wedding in August and I plan on wearing a 3/4 sleeve red-toned plum shirt and long black skirt (it is not a very fancy wedding)with strappy black shoes. I’ve been thinking of getting a French manicure and then painting China Glaze Coconut Kiss on my toes to keep up the purple theme. I am definite on purple toes to keep things fun, but do you guys agree on the nails? Is a Frenchy too blah? Any responses are welcome.
Love this post. I just went to a wedding last weekend and I also spent a lot of time thinking about my mani/pedi colors. I wore a bright Liberty Print dress, so I was more conservative with my colors. My fingers were just a basic OPI light pink, don’t remember the color. But I went with OPI Flower to Flower (b/c of your earlier post) on my toes. Still have it on, and I love it. Great summer color. But I have been wearing the China Glaze For Audrey a lot also. Thanks for all the great color recs!
China Glaze For Audrey topped with Sally Hansen Sea but not be seen looks so lovely! I’m also a huge fan of all blues and almost all greens. I especially love Turquoises, so I’m not angry that a lot of brands showed new Turqouises for this summer.
It’s just a shame that so many brands are available only in America and many companies don’t ship internationally, so it’s sometimes really hard, seeing all those beautiful colors on blogs and messageboards and websites and not being able to get them.*sigh*
The last wedding I went to was quite a while ago and I wore a whitish mother of pearl shade. OPI Kyoto Pearl or something similar. Normally I’m much more into blues and purples, but I wanted to wear a subtle color to the wedding.
Umm, lol, I misspelled the name … of course it’s “Sally Hansens Sea and be seen” ;))
Love those together. For Audrey is one of my all time favorites and probably will be on my toes if I ever get married.
I was in a wedding in February and had been told by the maid of honor that we were all to have sheer shades/french or nothing. At the rehearsal dinner, I knew she was eyeing OPI Siberian Nights on my fingers. I told her that sheer did not go with this outfit and I would change it for the wedding!
The dresses were champagne and ivory. I think I ended up with OPI Up Close and Personal on my toes and OPI My Daddy’s the King on my fingers.
I use Sea and Be Seen over other colors and also the Silver Lining from the same collection. It’s great to be able to do a little coat to change the look without having to re-do the whole manicure. Your wedding color choices were very nice. I’m just now getting into frequent pedicures due to the summertime and I’m wondering if there was a method in your choice of a slightly lighter but similar color on your hands and darker on the feet?
Gorgeous! And thank you for going with complimentary colors and not going all matchy-matchy! So many people feel the need to do that (especially at weddings!) and I just don’t understand why…
Complimentary, yes! Matchy-matchy, no!
Always fabulous, ALU.
Gosh, going on 8 years after the fact, I have no idea what color I had on my nails on my wedding day. I was more worried about the wind blowing my hair. lol
My opinion is that a bride should be careful of her nail color choice, just because she wants the attention on her entire look. Not just her fingernails.
S&BS and FA; wonderful, beautiful combo. Noted so in my nail diary for future reference.
Great layering combo!
I agree about the “complimenting” colors for hands and nails when going to an event! Two Thumbs up!
Your beautifully created fingertip shade harmonizes particularly well the toenail color you selected. Brava!
Flyin’ High looks really nice on your toes… I’ve passed this one up at Ulta several times thinking it was nothing special, but now I want it. Your blog makes me want to buy stuff.
I am dying to get my hands on Sea and be seen. i went to my CVS and they did not have it. Does anybody know if I can purchase it online? Thanks….
I love both colors, I wear them often! I wore hot pink polish on my fingernails when I got married, and I wore blue on my toes, all my bridesmaids did too!
I love the Sea And Be Seen! I picked it up on a whim at CVS, just like you. I’m finding it goes great over so many things. Try it over Black Out!
For Audrey is a winner, that is for sure!
I attended a wedding a couple of weeks ago. I had a caramel-coloured silk taffeta skirt and pale pink silk chiffon top. Since the outfit itself was relatively girly, I wanted to have more striking nail polish. Also, I wanted my mani/pedi to be in complimentary colours. So, I had China Glaze Heirloom Organza (cocoa brown) on my fingers and Orly Country Club Khaki (cool khaki brown) on my toes.
I’m a big fan of the green and blue polishes, but not sure about using them at mine or anyone’s wedding.
Love it with Sea And Be Seen on top!
Oooh I LOVE this combo! I have For Audrey on it’s way to me and I can’t wait to try it out!
For my sister’s wedding, we painted our toenails with Fingerpaints Blissfully Blue. I almost had my nails done with Essie’s Mint Candy Apple, but ran out of time to get to a salon and put on pink sparkly fake nails the morning of (they matched my dress and made me feel like how a cat with softpaws has to fee!).
I just love that combination! Fantastic! Now… is there an existing polish that comes to mind that is close to your combo?
All of those colors are existing polishes. For Audrey is a permanent shade in the China Glaze lineup and Flyin High is from the spring collection and is still available online.
this combination is perfect..unfortunately i cannot find sea and be seen anywhere
I even tried online and nothing…ugh why can’t i find anything that i really like??? Do you know where I can find it please? 
zayra giselle:
I grabbed the last bottle of ‘Sea and be seen’ (based solely on these photos, I might add) at my local Rite Aid (not sure if they’re nationwide, but they’re basically a drug store along the lines of CVS or Walgreens). I’d go out on a hunt anywhere that carries Sally Hansen products, if I were you, it seems to be one of the more popular shades. Good luck!
It’s funny because I don’t have any turquoise polish in my stash, or at least I don’t think I do, but I really like the Sally Hansen sparkly color. Lately, I’ve been wearing pinks and reds. I think it’s about time I switch it up.
Love the turqs and I have them in my collection…but looking for a suggestion for a 4th of July Uncle Sam theme wedding! I am wearing a red dress, pewter platforms but don’t know what to do with my hands and toes! Any suggestions. I’m young at heart and love being current so I’m not afraid of color. But nudes are okay too, but I think will make me feel old ladyish…
What topcoat did you use with Flyin’ High? I ask that because everyone one I’ve tried has added a yellowish tint to Flyin’ High in about a day, making it look green.
I seem to always wear pink. Light or dark, but usually in the pink or rose family. But, I love the color your chose for your nails. Maybe one of these days I’ll branch out!
Love those shoes! What brand are they and/or can you post a link? Thanks!
I tried to find them online but they aren’t for sale anywhere that I could link to. I got them at DSW. The brand is Bandolino and they come in a couple of colors.
what topcoat do you use? you’re swatches are soooo shiny!
It depends. For this post I think it was Prolana Quick & Slick but I also use Out The Door and CND Super Shiney and others when I’m testing new things
OMG!!! i wore for audrey for my wedding this past September 2011!!! I wore it on my toes for my “something blue”