Happy New Years'!!!!!

Another 12 months have passed since this time of year again! Yaaay!
And of course I have to have nails for the occasion :D

OH NO WHERE DID MY PINKIES GO?!

Fireworks!

And a toast to finish off the new year/welcome in the new one!

In the past three days I have taught three people how to successfully stamp using stamping plates. I'm pretty damn proud of that :) They had beautiful nails :)

To create this look I used Sinful Colors Black on Black, and Snow Me White, Fingerpaints Peacock Portrait, and OPI Nicole Heavenly Angel. 

Thank you guys for sticking around :) This year my goals are to start getting comments outta you guys, get some subscribers, and to finally sit down and work out a schedule. Do you have any goals geared around your hobbies?

Go Go Go Go GO!

In love with Seche Vite? I just grabbed 2 full-size bottles of it for $6.68!!!

LINK HERE!!!

I just ordered mine, my bottle of Seche Vite is about halfway gone, and at THAT price, you just can't NOT buy it.

Christmas nails!

These are the nails I wore to my family Christmases. Everyone had a great time and we all enjoyed each others' company :) My awesomesauce boyfriend got me a bottle of Essie (not my only present), which I'll show off in another post.

The first time I tried stamping my accent nails, I stamped with Mash-50, but I just could NOT get them to come out right, so I gave up and tried something different, which you see below.

I'm getting back into the stamping groove! My mom got me a $100 gift card to Amazon, so I could spoil myself a little for my birthday (my dad gave me a check, which mostly went towards bills. Ugh, adulthood!), and I bought some Winstonia stamping plates (as well as a crapton of other nail art stuff, so stay tuned as it all comes in!).

Finding a green that will stamp on red is REALLY hard. Finally I gave up and stamped red on white and green on textured white. 

For my main nails I stamped Sinful Colors' Under 18 on Sinful Colors' Tokyo Pearl using W120, and Sinful Colors' HD Nails on OPI Liquid Sand Solitaire using BM-205 on my accent nails.

The first time I tried stamping my accent nails (the plaid in the top pic) I stamped with Mash-50, but I just could NOT get them to come out right, so I gave up and tried something different.

The shimmer of both Under 18 and Tokyo Pearl made the nails look kinda like candy canes :) It was very interesting to look at, but I couldn't get it to capture on the camera :(

Christmas Trees! Pictures! Boyfriends!

My boyfriend is the bestest! He fixed my phone! Pictures may now commence!

These were the nails I wore for the BF's family Christmas event.

I used a layer of Sinful Colors' Under 18, and two layers of Hit the Floor by Pure Ice. I then stamped the trees using Maybelline Color Show in Bold Gold using Gals' GA27 stamping plate.

I very much liked these nails! I had intentionally attempted to stamp with a green, but none of the greens I own stamped brightly enough to be seen. Guess they just weren't opaque enough.

Anyone have a suggestion for greens to stamp with?

A picture of my awesomesauce boyfriend for your pleasure. And he's wearing a bow!

When it rains....

...it pours. Work has been so stressful lately that I've actually cried at my desk every shift for the past week. The phone I use to take the pics for my blog died (literally- it won't charge). Christmas stresses. Money stresses.

Oh yeah, the phone that I use to take pics died. It's actually pretty tragic, since my actual camera won't take close-ups even on macros mode and my actual cellphone doesn't take decent pics period.

In other words, I'm probably not going to be able to make a post for a bit. Sorry guys :(

Secret Santa Week 1

We're doing a Secret Santa where I work. For three weeks in December, you get a gift for your SS, the first two presents worth about $3-$5, the second $15-$20. This week, I got three bottles of nail polish, a mani kit, a pedi kit, and a cute little sock purse that I use to keep the new tools in my desk :)

I got two bottles of a jelly nail polish by Color Show, in the Polka Dots line.  Blue Marks the Spot and Pretty in Polka.

My reviews: 

Pretty in Pink: This one has a great formula. In two coats, I lost my free edge, and got a very even coverage of the glitter. It's a very pretty bubblegum pink with small, medium, and large-ish black and white matte glitter. The glitter is very easy to manipulate.

Blue Marks the Spot: This has a very, very sheer formula. What you see on my nails is four coats. The glitter is the same, and it's just as easy to manipulate. The only issue I came across was the sheerness.

Hehehe this is what it looks like taking it off.

I really enjoyed wearing these, even though they felt very busy for the first few hours. Once I got used to it I really liked them :)

My Secret Santa went waaaay over budget for the first week, but lemme tell ya, I'm VERY pleased!!! Thank you (if you read this!)

O.P.I. Solitaire Snowmen

I FINALLY got my hands on some O.P.I.! My Walmart has a hair salon that sells OPI, and they occasionally have their wares Buy One Get 2 Free when they're on clearance. So I picked up Solitaire, Vesper, and Honey Rider. I've been wanting Honey Rider for forever, because it looks like sand. But then I saw Solitaire, and realized it looks like snow!

Next I know, I'm making snowmen and snow drifts :)

Christmas Lights

Nails are did, tree is up! Happy holidays, everyone!

I grunged with all of my greens, painted a white squiggle, and then used Glow-In-The-Dark paint to paste the bulbs on to get a "glow-ey" look. I got the bulbs at the Dollar Tree a while ago in a jewel wheel. 

I also got the garland at the Dollar Tree. Aren't they the best?

And finally, a picture of my tree, which is currently uncompleted... Needs a tree skirt and a topper, but those'll show up eventually.

Car Doors and I Do Not Get Along

So after my trip to Black Friday (I refused to step foot in a store on Thursday... Even though mom forgot potatoes for the dinner) I was finally at home, and gathering my things to go inside. I reached up to close the back hatch of my car and then the worst happened: the door suddenly stopped and my hand didn't.

What happened:

Not the best picture, sorry.

In this picture you can't really tell, but my nail is cracked pretty far. There's a slice of skin hanging on by some Liquid Skin (basically clear nail polish that smells like bananas to me) just underneath my nail, and the bruising hasn't started yet.

It hurts like a sonuvab*tch, even 24 hours later. 

And that's how I lost THAT nail... 

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Turkey Day here in the 'States, which means a lot of people are either going to be stuffing their faces with stuffing here soon.

I'm going to be stuffing my face with my family and then going to work (I'm getting paid double, who am I to complain?). My son's gonna have a blast with his Grandie while I man the phone lines. If you have DishNET Wireline as your ISP, call in to threaten to cancel and say hi :)

This Grunge look has been really popular lately, if you've been watching Pinterest. I liked it, but then i got bored of the one-direction and threw in some side-slashes. Now I love it. Honestly, I'm not a huuuuge fan of browns and oranges and gold so I'm not 100% sold on it, but it is pretty.

After struggling with my camera for a few hundred pics, I just went with my old cell phone... It seriously has a better camera on it than my Nikon, which I can NOT for the life of me get to take pics that are up-close. So frustrating! I honestly think it's broken. *sigh*

ANYWAYS I hope you Americans enjoy your holiday! Eat, drink, and be merry!

*SEMI-POLITICAL RANT, PLEASE IGNORE*

I feel that Thanksgiving is a time to be together as a family. Retailers should NOT be forcing their employees to work today. Me working today is totally voluntary, I requested it, as did my coworkers. I will NOT be shopping until after Thanksgiving is over, even if I have to pay full price for the items I'm keeping my eye on (I'll probably go nuts at Cyber Monday too). It's called Black FRIDAY, and in my opinion, that means it STAYS ON FRIDAY. 

I also feel Christmas should stay out of November, but I think that's because I'm a December baby.

Oops

The Dollar Tree has some new scissors! Zigzags! So I thought I'd do some chevrons.

...yeah.

Hall of Shame today!

The zig-zag was too big, except for on my thumb. AND THEN I brushed my hair back and destroyed my pointer and middle fingers :/

My right hand was much, much worse...

Welcoming Winter

I'm cold. We actually hit below-freezing recently, and that was horrible. I really need to get ready and buy myself a coat.

But I'm excited. Snow soon! And then I got this polish from OPI, Heavenly Angel, and it made me think of snow.

The base color is Essie's Bikini So Teeny. On my thumb and middle finger, I sponged two coats of Heavenly Angel. On my ring and pinkie fingers, I added a coat of Pure Ice's Oh Baby!, and on my pointers, I freehanded snowflakes using Sinful Colors Tokyo Pearl. 

My review of Bikini So Teeny: Two-to-three coater. It's difficult to work with, because the second coat streaks the first, lifting it off the nail.

My review of Heavenly Angel: Definitely needs to be sponged on. The flakies aren't thick enough in the base to brush on. 

More October Nails

I know, GREAT title right? lol have anything better, leave it in the comments ;)

These were fun :D I'm starting to perfect the striping technique.... The trick is to make sure everything underneath is 100% dry, and peel the tape off when the polish on top is still wet. I was not doing that before, and either whole chunks of the top color would peel off, or polish from under the tape would come up. It was a mess! Not this time, though!

Dem Bones, Dem Bones!

I decided to try and replicate a post from pinterest, instead of adding my own little twist, just to practice and to see where I really am. Lol okay that's a bunch of bullcrap. Sorry. I just REALLY liked this design!

Original post is here.

This actually turned out better than I expected it to! ... On my left hand, at least. My left hand still isn't down for the finesse it takes to make the tiny bones, but it didn't do too bad.

These took me a loooong time. I wish I had a more opaque orange, I had to do several coats on top of a white, and you can still kinda see where the white isn't even.

For these nails, I used Sinful Colors Black on Black, Pure Ice Kiss me Here, Revlon's Spirit, and Flower's Eye of the Tiger Lily. Top coat is Matte Me Crazy by NYC.

Halloween Finale prep

No nail art today, sorry! I just had a question for everyone :)

What monsters would you like to see on my nails? If I get enough participation, I'll pick the ten I think I can do best and wear them for the Halloween Finale nails.

Please leave your answer in the comments!!

Blood Drips

It's 46° here. It's the middle of October and it's like we've forgotten about Autumn already :( 

Oh. Right. I live in the midwest now.. 46° is Autumn. 46° is winter temps in Las Vegas...

Whatever, I'm cold.

ANYWAYS, nails! I did blood drips, they seemed simple enough... and they were, but they didn't turn out great. I need practice. 

You can sort of see the wear on my nails after a day. I'm NOT in love with Seche Vite!

Despite my misgivings, they were pretty popular. I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and an unnamed LAC red. Keep in mind that if you're going to do blood, that it has a blue base. You don't want it looking pink!

Minimalist Frankenstein

My best friend REALLY LIKES Frankenstein's Monster. So, in the spirit of the season, I give you: minimalism?

Hahaha wasn't expecting that, were you?

I REALLY wanted to do Watermarble Mummy nails tonight, but then I realized that I can't be spending that kind of time on them because tomorrow night I have to take them off and do something for a couple of weddings that the boyfriend-thingy (it's complicated in the most adult sense) and I are attending this weekend. So, I K.I.S.S.ed it tonight.

The smudging was intentional. Monsters!

To get the color I got (not pictured very well), I used my Rue Beaute Mint, and the did a coat of Sinful Colors Irish Green. I got the studs at The Dollar Tree! You can't really see, but I also have a layer of Pure Ice's Oh Baby! where my nail beds show through, and then on my tips, I have a Franken (apropos, right?) of Oh Baby!, Petite's Daze, and NYC's Matte Me Crazy. 

Pumpkins!

Ahhh I love fall! The colors (which is funny, I'm a cool-color person), the weather (the temperature! the rain! the lack of humidity!), the food (squash soup!), the clothes (finally can wear jeans without dying. also, sweaters.), the holidays (Halloween! Thanksgiving!) and my electric bill (seriously!)! I love EVERYTHING ABOUT FALL. Okay, the whole pumpkin spice obsession is a bit out of hand, but EVERYTHING ELSE I LOVE.

This list should also include pumpkins. I really, really like pumpkins, and finding the perfect pumpkin always stresses me out because when I find my "perfect" pumpkin, I psyche myself out because someone else could probably not destroy it like I am preparing my kitchen with newspaper to do.

So, I made my own pumpkins!

Cleanup was really hard for me with this orange because it's so sheer, I had a hard time seeing it (there are a few other reasons, like I have a hard time differentiating certain shades of oranges and pinks (which actually did not help while I was building up the orange... couldn't tell where I'd put the first layers...), and I was watching True Blood in really low lighting. Sorry!), so please excuse the mess.

I still love how these turned out! These just scream "Fall is HEERE!" to me.

Please meet Flower. Apparently it's a brand you can buy at Walmart now? I'd never heard of it before. The orange, Eye of the Tiger Lilly, really caught my eye, perfect for pumpkins, right?? ...Not so much. This polish is very sheer, and I'd actually like to call it a Jelly. I layered it with Sinful Colors Cloud 9  to get some opaque-ness and it gave it a very, very subtle glitter. 

Application is pretty good, not very streaky. It is a little thin, but not too bad! Even with two topcoats, there's shrinkage and wear happening after only two days :( 

You can see my cuticle butter in my cuticles... oops. Lush's Lemony Flutter, if anyone's asking.
You can also see where I couldn't figure out where the orange and the pink were lol

I really like these, despite all of my flaws (I'm still learning freehand...), and the issues I had with the polish.

October is Here!

...Someone wake up that guy from Green Day. (I know, overused joke...)

I'm so friggin' excited for October, but at the same time, I'm in total disbelief that it's actually October. 2012 was just last month, right??

I'd been so excited to do my nails tonight... All of my nails I had perfectly shaped and they were all even and the same great length... and then I broke my right middle. So frustrating! I'm sure I'll get over it... Nails do grow back, after all!

If you're arachnophobic, heads-up. I'm wearing spiders and their webs!

Step one: Sponge the tips of your nails with your base. I chose Orly's Charged Up.

I sponged Sinful Colors' Let Me Go on top and just under the Charged Up. In hindsight, this was a little too much, but had I just left the whole thing like this, it would've been perfect.

Next, I added the spider webs. Using a thin striping brush, start at the gathering point and draw out in black. Repeat a couple more times. Draw little U's between the lines. I went over mine with glitters. Born Pretty's Holographic #7 is shown here.

I stamped spiders onto my accent nails using Pure Ice Black Rage and Mash-38 stamping plate.

Little closer....

A couple of the spiders on my right hand got squished. 

I LOVE this mani, and I've only been wearing it all of five minutes now! This was inspired by this post that I found on Pinterest. I'm working on improving my freehanding, and drawing straight lines will probably improve with time. I'm still very impressed with myself on how these turned out though!

Waterfall Nails

I saw this post in quite a few places, and fell in love with the waterfall look. I started reading through her blog, www.thenailasaurus.com, to find out she's in love with waterfalls too, and even made this tutorial. I didn't follow it to the tee (I didn't use the right brush), but I just had to use my new China Glaze Cosmic Dust today and I thought grey/black/white tones would be GORGEOUS over it. And I was right. But it did need a pop of color, so I added purple (based on my ABF's preference). And man oh man I'm in love! (with the mani...)

Obviously, I need some practice, but I loooove this!!! The way the holo is grey until the light hits it, it works perfectly! When the holo, y'know, holos, it's just brilliant. In certain lights the purple looks like another grey, and it all is just perfect :)

Comparison: China Glaze Cosmic Dust vs Born Pretty Hologram Effect #7

So Sally's was having another sale, and OF COURSE I had to get in on it. This purchase was my first bottle of China Glaze! I got Cosmic Dust, which is a medium grey holo.

And I decided to compare it to Born Pretty's Hologram Effect #7:

Coat 1

Hologram Effect #7                                                  Cosmic Dust          

  

Coat 2 

Hologram Effect #7                                                  Cosmic Dust        

Cosmic Dust is very opaque, only needs 1-2 coats. As you can see, after two coats, you can't see the difference between the black bottom coat and the no bottom coat. Hologram Effect #7 is very sheer, and could maybe be a topcoat glitter for a mani. 

Hologram Effect #7 is a little more of a vivid holo, and a little chunkier. It also has a bit of a sage green color in it after it dries, whereas Cosmic Dust is just a straight dark silver.  

Both of these will have its use, and they are definitely nothing alike. I was just curious what the difference would be. Turns out it's like night and day and I'm okay with that :)

Sinful Colors Cinderella

I found a princess! Cinderella is a wonderful baby blue with pink and silver microshimmer. It's a bit thin and took me four coats. I considered doing it over another pale blue, but I'd already done two coats by the time I thought about it... I love it, though. It dries fast, it isn't streaky, and it's just really great to work with :)

OH! I hit 5000k views today! Thank you guys! It's so great to see that I'm getting somewhere... I've been told it's unhealthy to talk to yourself hahaha

So I've decided to switch up the shape of my nails, a la Christina at Let Them Have Polish. My reason is different though. My nails just keep chipping at the corners, so to prevent that this is what's happening, the corners come off. I'm sure I'll get used to it... eventually.

So I have swatches tonight! I remembered to do those! Holy cow!

I could NOT capture the pink shimmer, this was as close as I was getting.

I chose to stamp with Sinful Colors Fusion Neon because when you DO see the pink shimmer, they match. Also, it's opaque. I really like it. Also, this is the first time I've done these fingers for the accents instead of the middle and ring fingers. Still getting used to it :) 

How are you lovelies?