Is it too early for Christmas Nails?

If it is then let's call these Redskins nails! Because that is actually what I initially was thinking about when I did this mani. See, coming from the D.C. area I was raised a die-hard Redskins fan! Trust me, its one of the most depressing teams to be a die-hard fan of! So, to show my Redskins spirit, I wanted to create a burgundy and gold nail look, and when it was done it looked really Christmasy, so I held off showing it to you until now.

I started this look with China Glaze Sugar Plum, which I think was in CG's holiday collection last year.

Then I did some gold glitter sponging on my tips and moons.  I can never decide which look I like better.  The gold glitter I used was a combination of Sinful Colors Paris and Milani Jewel FX in Gold.

So, if it is too early for Christmas nails, pretend these are Redskins nails, and if you aren't Redskins fans, then pretend these are Christmas nails! :D

Happy Thanksgiving to anyone celebrating tomorrow!  Anyone know of any good Black Friday nail deals?  If so, please share! 

Also, don't forget about my two giveaways going on right now:  Free Jewelry Giveaway and China Glaze Let It Snow Giveaway

Gray Sparkly Matte Nails

What is it about Sparkly Matte nails that is just sooo hot? I pin looks like this all the time on Pinterest, so I thought it was about time that I tried it myself. I started with a base coat of Zoya Kelly. I LOVE THIS COLOR! It is srsly one of my favorite Zoyas.

On top of Kelly, I sponged this glitter from NYC called Starry Silver Glitter just on my tips to give it a bit of a gradient look.

And then of course, I took this look to the next level with a matte topcoat. Mine is by hard candy, but any of the others will do just as good.

Want to know why I haven't been posting as much lately?  Its because I fall in love with looks like this and wear them for days on end.  So stinking cute.

Halloween Week: Purple Sparkly Skull Nails!

Starting off a week of Halloween nails with my favorite of the five manicures I've done so far.  For some reason, I think purple is the best color of fall, so I have broken the tradition of typical Halloween colors, and done not one, but two manicures with purple as a base!  LOL!  I'm such a rebel.

Base color for this look is China Glaze Flying Dragon (Neon) The skull was stamped twice on each nail from Bundle Monster 211 stamp with konad white polish, and then I filled in the eyes with my dotting tool using Milani's Purple Gleam. 

Hope you like this fun non-traditional Halloween manicure!  I can't wait to show you what I else I've created!  XOXO

Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon Nails

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month, I wanted to share some pretty special nails I created. This look started with a base coat of Zoya Portia. The pink ribbon was created free-hand using Zoya Areej (one of my favorite polishes of all time!), and then I top coated with Color Club's Starry Temptress.

As you can see, my nails are now nubbins!  You may see some more designs from the vault with longer tips, but sadly, I had some unfortunate breakies so frenchies will have to hold off until they grow.

Nude with Sparkly Tips

On a recent trip to Ulta I finally got my hands on Zoya Shay from the Touch collection! I was a little weary about buying anything from the Touch collection online because I didn't know which color would look best on my skin tone, but when I saw the collection in Ulta, I just knew Shay would be perfect on me! And it was! It is my new favorite nude!

To complete this look I took a new glitter from Forever 21 called Gold and sponged it on the tips.

I love how it came out! This was a great look to wear to work, and feels very fall and on trend to me! I hope you will try it out!

Blast from the Past Accent Nail

Hi lovelies!!!! Sorry I haven't been posting much. Work has just been CRAZY!!!! I have so much I want to post, I just haven't had the time to schedule the posts. I'm hoping to make some time this weekend to get this blog back in gear!

So, new manicure for you today featuring the gorgeous Zoya Tama as my base color:

And then when I was at my mom's recently, I found an old bottle of nail polish from Afterthoughts! Do you remember this store? I think it was like a Claire's. So the bottle must be at least 8 years old, but it is such a pretty chunky glitter! It went great with Tama, so I put it on as an accent nail because I feel like I never do those!

Do you like?  Do you have any dusty polishes that you are holding on to?  Are you a fan of the accent nail? 

Party Nails!

I am IN LOVE with this holo glitter from Claire's! When my future sister in law (Bevy) came home with it from a recent vacation, I very subtly reminded her about the importance of bringing back souvenirs for the family members who didn't get to go on vacation with you, and she promptly ran her little butt to Claire's to pick me up a bottle! LOL! Isn't she just the best? Don't worry, Bev, when I go on vacation in a few weeks, I'll be hitting up Ulta and bringing you home some goodies! :)

So here are some pics of me playing with "Glitter Top Coat" from Claire's. This really is a top coat, and I should have put on a more solid base coat, but I didn't which meant I had to do FOUR COATS to get full coverage!  OUCH!  It was a huge pain to remove, but ugh, how gorgeous is it under the crackle?

These felt like the perfect nails for a party!  On my other hand I mixed things up by just doing my tips with the crackle, which I didn't love as much.  The holo glitteriness of this polish is something I'll have to play with!  Can't wait to try it over other colors!  Crackle is Black Mesh by China Glaze, btw. 

Dolphin Nails

These nails would be perfect for a vacation.  They remind me of all the times I just sat on the beach watching the dolphins jump in the air. 

Base color is Zoya Yummy.  Tips are China Glaze Dorothy Who? Stamping was done with the Hello Kitty plate from Born Pretty using Zoya Ibiza.

What are your vacation plans this year?  I know I can't wait to hit the beach in August.  Have you done any great beach themed manicures lately?  I'd love to see them!  Just share the link in the comments!

Gloomy Nails

I know it's summer and I should be posting bright and cute nails, but lately I've been in a MOOD and I just felt like taking my nails into an unseasonably dark direction. One day I was in the mood for black, so I painted my nails this really hot sparkly black from Forever 21's Love and Polish brand.

Then I added a little funky french action to it with Zoya's uber sparkly silver, Luna. This would make such a great going out manicure, wouldn't it?

The next day I wasn't over my MOOD, so I painted my nails gray - Zoya Dove to be exact, and played with different images from the new Bundle Monster collection.

BM 216 as a half moon instead of a french.  This reminds me of Charlie Brown's famous t-shirt.

BM 218 as a cute scrolly french.

Hope you like these gloomy nails.  The good news is that I've got some fun manicures coming up soon, looks like like my gloomy mood has passed! :D

Rainbow Gradient Nails + Tutorial

I really should've just declared this week Rainbow Week!  Can you tell that I am indecisive, and that instead of picking one color, I just pick multiples! :P  Today I not only have an adorable manicure for you, but a tutorial for how to do it!

Let me know what you think about the tutorial, and if you give it a try.  Any other tutorials you'd like to see from me?  Let me know in the comments! :)

It's a Pink Sparkle Crackle Wednesday! :)

I'm continuing to work my way through the stunning Color Club Starry Temptress collection today!  When I first saw Space Case and Ultra Astral together, I knew they would make a fantastic Pink Wednesday manicure!  Here's my starting line up for today's mani:

Left to Right: Color Club Starry Temptress Topcoat, China Glaze Black Mesh, Color Club Ultra Astral, Color Club Space Case.  Here is a swatch of Ultra Astral and Space Case:

These are such cute pinks!  I think they look really cute together.  And they were the perfect base for my CG Black Mesh Crackle.

This is my first time using black crackle, but I think I did pretty good.  I love the pink nail the best.  It looks like a stick finger shape on there!  The key to lots of crackle is definitely a super thin coat.  The picture above is with no top coat, so it is a bit matte, but once I added the Starry Temptress Topcoat and a coat of SV, this mani just shined!

Pretty cute, huh?  Hope you are having a fantastic pink Wednesday, lovelies!

Rainbow Sparkle Nails

Simple manicure for you lovelies today. I did a rainbow sparkle skittle with some of my favorite Zoyas: Apple, Ivanka, Charla, Mimi, and Reva

Then I stamped the rainbow image from the new Bundle Monster plates BM201 on each nail.  I LOVE Zoya's sparkle polishes!  They go on so smooth and easy, plus they compliment each other so well! 

Wink Wink Twinkle

Guess what I found at Ross this week?

Hello Beautiful! I have been wanting the Color Club Starry Temptress collection ever since it was announced.  It just screamed perfect summer color to me!  I snatched up the last pack from Ross on Tuesday for only $8!!  I definitely think all my summer pedicures will be from this collection.  Who doesn't love sparkly neon toes?  But this collection isn't just great for the toesies, I am not afraid of a little neon on my nails!  So, my first manicure with the Starry Temptress collection is using the purple in the middle.  I *think* it is called Wink Wink Twinkle, but Color Club doesn't label their bottles, so this is just going off the back of the bottle.

Here is a swatch of Wink Wink Twinkle with the Sparkle top coat and Seche Vite on top.

I stamped a design from BM206 using Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and added a rhinestone in the center.  I really love the final outcome of this.  This collection was totally worth all the swooning and hunting down!

A couple of tips with this collection that I've found:

• These are neons, so they dry matte, and you'll want a top coat to make it shine
• If you plan on stamping, do so BEFORE adding the sparkle top coat.  I did not do this, and I think my designs came out a little messy because they didn't go down on a smooth base. 

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!  Here in the states we have a holiday on Monday, so I'm REALLY looking forward to the three day weekend.

Yazmeen + Faye = BFFs

Not sure how I feel about the final outcome of this manicure, which is a shame because I love the color combination.  I started out with Zoya Yasmeen:

Then I added Faye to the tips.

 

Then, I added stars trailing down using Faye.  This manicure shined so beautifully in the sun, I had to post that as the final shot.

 

What do you think? I'm wishing I would've stopped at the french, and maybe done a different angle on the french.  Oh well, I can always try again!  That's the fun with polish, right? :)

Green Week - Day Four Happy St. Patrick's Day

Man, I wish I had something cuter to show you than this, but that was what was such a great challenge of green week, I had to work with what I had.  So, I call this one pot of gold!  I started with Zoya Verushka as my base:

This is the only matte color and I have, but I love the effect of mattes!  It's soooooo velvety!  But, of course I went and ruined it with a shiny top coat and my sparkly gold striper polish.

Oye!  Please forgive me!  I think I just went a little too sparkle happy and ruined the gorgeous matte!  Oh well, there is always tomorrow! 

As a side note, does anyone know why blogger is rotating my images when I upload them?  that last one needs to go counter clockwise 90 degrees, but I don't know how to change it and why it just didn't upload the way it looks on my computer.  *sigh*