Starry Mint

A little bit of a palate-cleanser after all the glitter and bling...

Two coats of Sinful Colors Mint Apple, and stars stamped with a dark blue Color Club jelly polish and BM14

Christmas Nails!

...ooops. Guess who slacked off drastically on posting her recent manis? Yep, that would be me! 

So I've got a few to catch up with...

This one was pretty simple. Just a sponged gradient of Sinful Colors Call You Later over Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl (very frosty, I did two coats and then sponged on a third for a less brushstrokey finish).

Time for a glitter party! I started with two coats of NOPI Best Pink Ever (I have the same settling problem with my bottle as a lot of people, I had to shake it up very well before use) and then one coat of China Glaze Glitter All The Way, which applied like butter. No fuss!

Going for a wintery, frosty effect and something vaguely resembling a pine tree... I did a base of three coats of Sinful Colors Cinderella, and dotted with an unknown grey Color Club with a light silver shimmer.

(sorry for the cat hair, the stuff gets *everywhere*)

I used a forest-green Color Club (name unknown) for the base on this one, followed by one dabbled coat of Wet & Wild Mountain High. The glitters in Mountain High are fun, but the consistency is terrible. It was incredibly difficult to get even glitter coverage, and there was the added difficulty of keeping the milky base even. Do not recommend unless you're prepared to baby it A LOT.

Finished off the look with a cute Santa decal and a gold star from some loose glitter I've got left over from a craft project.

I'll have one more for ya coming up soon, it's too dark now for pictures unfortunately. My actual Christmas-day mani!

Accent Bling

Feeling crummy after getting orthodontic work done, I figured I'd break out some holo and glitter to cheer myself up a little.

Wasn't really feeling like doing too much fancy, so I stuck with a simple two-polish accent nail mani. But then, I did pick fancy-on-their-own polishes... 

For the main color I used Color Club Kismet, which is a slightly yellow-green tinted holo. For the accent I used Maybelline Silver Swank, which in direct light has a yellow-gold glow. 

I was a bit wary of using two blingy polishes at once, I wasn't sure the competing AWESOME would work out so well. But it turned out quite nice I think!

Cranberry Leaves

This is not a Christmas mani. This is a Thanksgiving mani! I have personal rules about respecting holidays by not OD-ing on them before the prior holiday's even happened yet.

So here we go, inspired by cranberry sauce (om nom nom)!

I started with two coats of BB Paris Scarlet (could have done with three, but didn't realize quite how much VNL I had going on til after taking the pictures, oops!) then stamped some fancy leaf accents with Pure Ice Twinkle and the BM01 plate.

Fall Fantasy

I always get kinda bummed out at the end of nice weather and sunny warm lovely perfection. It takes a while to give it up and accept the winter... 

On that kind of theme I did my nails in fall/wintery colors but added a flower accent. 

First I did a gradient with Sinful Colors Supernova and Hot Wired, then topped that with a coat of Sally Hansen Twinkle Toes-ty. For the accents I freehanded leaves with Revlon Mistletoe, then smacked a flower decal on and finished off with topcoat.

I'd like to take a moment to fangirl about Twinkle Toes-ty since it's pretty much awesome and the second best holiday polish I've seen yet this year (the best is being reserved for my Christmas mani, Sally Hansen Midnight Glitz) -- I guess "best" is relative but... MY favorite, at least! But a chunky gold-and-silver holo glitter bomb that doesn't eat top coat or have even a bit of a tacoing issue and doesn't require much fussing to get a good glitter distribution? Yes please!

Lazy nail art with Pure Ice

I was feeling both fancy and lazy at once when I did this one. So... glitter, accent nail, and a decal!

I decided to do a twist on my usual accent style and actually use a completely different polish, rather than just slapping a decal on it and calling it good. 

The main polish I used is Pure Ice Irreplaceable, and for the accent I used Pure Ice Private Show. The decal is from a Kiss set I picked up back when I first got into nail art.

Matte Hearts

Oh man, I LOVED this mani! Another I did super quick, but the polish I used just made me happy in so many ways. 

That super-happy-making polish is Zoya Nidhi (dries shiny, I used a matte topcoat here). Where do I even start with praising this one? I think I've found my go-to for "classic red". It's the perfect red for my skin tone, and complex enough to not bore me. I actually almost wanted to leave it alone and drop all my nail art aspirations, once I got it on my hands! The golden flecks are delicious as can be. Finally though, I decided this would be a good polish friend for some Kiss decals that I wasn't sure I would ever use. I'm just not a huge hearts person, TBH. 

But, I really like how this turned out. I'm glad I decided to use the decals, or I might not have thought of mattifying Nidhi... and matte definitely brings out the best in an already fabulous polish. 

Barbie Pearl

This was a quickie manicure I did, I mostly just wanted hot pink, but I feel weird wearing no nail art anymore... so I blinged it up a little.

The polish I used was Sinful Colors Creme Pink, which is super bright and Barbie-ish, with a subtle gold shimmer. It dries semi-matte, but I used a shiny top coat this time. 

The bling is a Kiss decal from a set I picked up ages ago. The pearls are HUGE but surprisingly enough stayed on through a full day of work -- and when work is bartending, well... I just generally expect my nails to get ruined, especially when they've got fancy bits sticking out. Lucky me! 

I ended up taking this mani off after a day and a half though, the bumpy pearls were starting to really bother me and it was too much mental effort to stop myself from picking at them.

Featured Polish: Finger Paints Art You Blue?

Alright, it's been a while in the works but here it is, Featured Polish #2: Finger Paints Art You Blue?

This is a shimmery denim blue with a nice and easy two-coat formula. 

Like before, I've put together several nail art looks incorporating this polish. 

First, as undies for glitter. I decided to do a two-finger accent for this one, using Revlon Hearts of Gold FX on my pinky and index (yes, a little fishing for the hearts was necessary), and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear In The Spotlight for the rest.

Next up, I wanted to give texture another shot, and thought it might be interesting to do some nail art over a textured polish, so I brought out AYB for accent-nail polka dots over Milani Texture Purple Streak. 

Apparently I was on a bit of a purple streak myself, since this was the next thing to come to mind. AYB under China Glaze Fault Line, with stamped accent flowers done with BB Paris Cupcake and RA-121.

AYB does work well for stamping, as well: 

I used an L.A. Colors nude polish for the base, one that I bought in a set with no names... it's NOT Mega Watt, I couldn't find it in a google search. :/ But it's kind of a dupe or similar to OPI Sand in my Swimsuit, a light nude with a white shimmer... let me know if you know the name of it? 

I stamped with Art You Blue? and RA-108, then added a coat of Milani Diamond Dazzle for bling. 

Spring Flowers

I was feeling in a very spring mood and desperately needed some major bling on my hands. What's the result? A freehand flowers accent nail over holo glitter!

The base is Color Club - Sugarplum Fairy, which despite being from a holiday collection is super appropriate for spring. Or summer. What the heck, I'd wear it all year! 

The flowers were freehanded with Kiss stripers and a toothpick dipped in Color Club - Almost Famous for the centers.

(I broke down and ordered the Color Club Halo Hues off Amazon. More on that later, for now I'll just say THEY. ARE. AMAZING!!!)

Butterfly Reloaded

Something a little rocker-y today, again with the pinky accent...

For this mani I started with a base of Essence Chic Reloaded, sponged on a gradient from the cuticle with Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Aisle Be There, and added a Kiss decal for an accent. 

Girly but badass, my favorite sort of style! :D

As always, I'm a sucker for duochromes. The second I saw Chic Reloaded I had to have it, even though I'm pretty sure it's a close mimic if not a dead-on dupe for Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Black Tie, which I've had for quite a while and just never really got around to using... nothing wrong with having a backup bottle of an awesome shade, after all!

I've really gotta pare down my polish purchasing, though. It's feeling a bit out of control lately. :/ 

Simply Odd

I got a bit of a bug up my butt to do something really odd but simple with my nails. Here's what happened:

Now, I know a lot of ladies consider sheer polishes and full visible nail line like this a no-go, but I actually really like it on occasion. Gotta be a super-sheer polish, one that makes no pretense of ever being able to hide VNL, and it works for me. It's kinda like lace lingerie for nails. Not quite naked, but the point's not to be properly covered either. Feels so vixenish! ;)

For this mani I started with Sinful Colors Purple Diamond, and freehanded the accent pinky with an orange L.A. Colors striper. 

This definitely got noticed! Most people weren't sure how to react to it, and that's exactly what I was going for, so I'm super happy with how it turned out. 

Would you ever wear a sheer polish on its own, letting your nail line hang out for the world to see? Or is that on your personal DON'T list?

31 Day Challenge Day 23 - Inspired by a Movie

This took much longer to pick inspiration for than song day! I'm not super into movies, and I was having a really hard time coming up with ideas for any of the ones I do really like, that haven't already been done (like this, for instance, which is amazing and fabulous but I really didn't want to just copy something I've already seen).

Finally I settled on a blood splatter accent inspired by Repo! The Genetic Opera and/or Sweeney Todd, two fantastic and bloody musicals (and yes, Repo Men totally ripped off the idea behind TGO and I will forever be annoyed with them for it).

I know, I know, Halloween's not til next month... 

My stash of gray polishes is severely limited, I used the only two I have in this mani... Sinful Colors - Secret Admirer for the main color, and Sinful Colors - Slate for the accent nail base. The 'blood' is actually Finger Paints - Signed In Wine.