12 Manis of Christmas: Ornaments!

Hello dolls!

It's that time of year when I decide to personally challenge myself to some Wintery/Christmas-y nail art!  I know that there are quite a few of these challenges floating around, but I've been creating one for myself since I first started blogging... so why stop now?  Lol...

So here is the master list of the looks I will be creating between now and Christmas *crosses fingers*.  I won't be going in any particular order, just sort of when I feel like it haha.  First up for today is ornaments!

 Colors Used: Smitten Polish - Between the Baubles, Acrylic Paint

How gorgeous is this polish!!  This is from Smitten Polish's new  Holiday Collection... I just had to have it!  I applied 2 smooth coats.

Then, using some new acrylic paints my sister-in-law bought me (see here), I free-handed my ornaments with a small detail brush.  Top coat and voila!

If any of you would like to participate in this challenge with me, I'd love the company!  I hope you all have a fantabulous day :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Thanksgiving Gone Flannel!

Hello dolls!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!  I have a quick post to share with you today.  I haven't had a tone of time to spend on my nails this week, so I decided to keep my mani simple...

 Colors Used: OPI - Christmas Gone Plaid, Sally Hansen - White On, Acrylic Paint, OPI - Matte Top Coat

I simultaneously love and hate this mani lol.  I'm obsessed with this nail color right now; it's just perfect.  It applies like butter!

 I started with 2 coats of my base colors, with white for my accent color.  I painted 3 vertical green  stripes (center and both sides) with Christmas Gone Plaid and once it set I then painted 3 horizontal white stripes with acrylic paint.  To get the flannel look, I used a detail brush and went back with my green polish to apply diagonal lines in alternating boxes.  Doing this with nail polish was difficult, not gonna to lie.  I would recommend using acrylic paint for small detail work like this. But, alas.  

I topped my accent nail with OPI's Matte Top Coat and the rest of my nails with a Salon top coat I get from my local nail supply store

A little messy, but I'll take it!

Well, I'm off to go watch some Supernatural with the hubs before we head over to my parents house for family craziness lol.  Have a happy and blessed day :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Dr. Frankenstein's Handiwork

Hello dolls!

I've got a mid-week Halloween mani for you featuring an brand-new favorite polish to my collection...

 Colors Used: China Glaze - But Of Corpse, Acrylic Paint

I am sooooo in love with this polish!  It's a pearly olive green with black micro glitter that dries to a matte and slightly textured finish.  It's amazing!!

 I applied 2 coats of this beauty and thought, "This is exactly the kind of skin Frankenstein's monster would have!".  So I then took some acrylic paint and with a striping brush, I applied some stitches.  No top coat was necessary for this one :)

I think Dr. Fankenstein would be proud :P

Have any of you gotten into the spooky spirit?  Are you sick of my Halloween manis yet??  Muahahahaha....

Until next time!

Stef <3

Framing the Grass

Hello lovelies,

I've been preparing my apartment for a move that the hubby and I are making at the end of the month and I've been too pooped to post!  Thankfully I have a few manis sitting in my unedited folder to get us thru 'til June... all is not lost ;)  For today's post, I have some polka-dot framing nail art with a shade from the China Glaze City Flourish Collection that came out this Spring...

 Colors Used: China Glaze - Grass is Lime Greener, Rimmel - Black Satin

We all know how much I love neons, so when I saw photos of this beauty I knew i had to have it!  I'm pretty sure everyone in my area felt the same way because I could not find it in stores anywhere near me.  I ended up buying it in a destash sale from Indie500Nails (thank you Amy!!).  I will admit the formula on this polish was not ideal; I applied 3 coats for opaqueness.  While It was slightly streaky, I still loved how it looked on :)

I then took a medium sized dotting tool and applied my black polka dots.  I liked it but thatought it needed little somethin' somethin'.  So I pulled out my black striper and framed my nails.  Aaaaaand I loved it!

Pastel neon's... who'd have thunk!

Wishing you all a very happy Thursday and a wonderful weekend :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Watermelon Tribal

Good morning, dolls!

I have a quick post for you today.  This is a mani that I did a couple of weeks ago, because I was in the mood for something bright.  I know it's Fall and the season of dark colors but... it gets so booooring!  Lol I need color in my life!

 Colors Used: Nabi - Pastel Green, Color Club - Flamingo, Sinful Colors Nail Art - Time Off

There is no rhyme or reason to this one.  I just sort of grabbed polishes and painted this was my end result haha.  

I have to say my SC striper is my new favorite nail arting tool.  I've had it for years and only just now am I realizing how fabulous it is!  It's super pigmented and so easy to work with.  I don't know if they're still sold in stores but if you find it, snatch it up ;)

I started with 2 coats of Nabi's Pastel Green.  I am not familiar with this brand at all, but I saw it in a bowl of polishes at this clothing store I frequent and thought it looked so much like pics I've seen of Lime Crime's Pastelchio (a long time lemming).  The formula is ok but the color... I just can't get enough!

I then applied a large stripe of Flamingo using the bottles brush.  After that I just went to town with the black triper.  I used a small dotting tool for my dots.  It was all topped with Color Club Clear.

Watermelon goodness ;)

Alright loves I have to skidaddle!  I have a date with The Doctor and musn't be late :D

Until next time!

Stef <3

Kaboom!

Hello, lovelies!

I'm wishing you all a very happy Friday!  I have another vault mani to share with you today :)  This is one that I did over a month ago I think?  I used some new-to-me polishes from Color Club's Fiesta Collection and a polish from Salon Perfect's Neon Collision Collection that came out over the summer...

 Colors Used: Color Club - Wild Cactus and Sunrise Canyon, Salon Perfect - Kaboom, Daisy Nail Lacquer - White Diamond

A little bit of this and a little bit of that in this skittle mani.  Kaboom is actually a perfect dupe for the ever coveted "Floam", an indie polish that has been discontinued.  Did you ever play with Floam as a child?  I loved the stuff lol.

It's been a while since I did this, so I can't remember how many coats all of this was.  I know that Sunrise Canyon (middle finger) was 3 coats.  I remeber being concerned about streakiness at first, but by the third coat it was golden.  I also remember putting Kaboom over a base of Wild Cactus, but I'm not sure how many coats I used.  Maybe 2?  The tribal print was free-handed using a striping brush.

All in all i like the color combo and it was 3 more polishes to get out of my un-used pile lol.

Slowly but surely my nails are growing.  I'm hoping that their will be a noticeable difference when I start sharing more current nail art with you.  Then again maybe you'll think, "She made a big fuss over this??".  Hahaha we shall see ;)

Until next time!

Stef <3

This & That

Good morning, dolls!

Today's mani is a mixture of colors and textures.  I'm trying really really hard to get thru the untried polishes I've managed to pile up.  A lot of them are Julep's, which is a little bit surprising.  I didn't realize I had been neglecting them so :\  Anywhosy, onto the mani!

 Colors Used:  Julep Dianna, China Glaze - Of Coarse!, Orly - Dazzle, OPI - Save Me

I was hesitant when I put the bottles of polish next to eachother.  I wasn't sure if what I envisioned in my head as the color scheme would really work out well.  I'm glad I was wrong :)

 

 Dianna and Of Coarse! were 2 coaters each.  For my middle finger I did one coat of Dazzle as the base and then 2 coats of Save Me (From OPI's Niki Minaj Collection).  I still don't know if I'm sold on this glitter polish.  Stripe glitters just aren't that apealing to me.  I like them just fine if they are mixed with round/hex glitters like Hard Candy's Black Tie Optional.  But by itself... yuck!  *sigh*

I bought the stinkin' polish so I'm determined to make it work lol.

I alomost forgot to mention the stud!  This square stud is one that I got in a wheel from Claire's.  I just pressed it on immediately after applying my stripe with a striping brush.

Well, that's all I've got for you today!  I hope you all have a wonderful and happy Friday :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

Monsieur, Natasha & Korin!

Good morning, lovelies!

It's that time again...

The "normal" polish I'll be wearing to church this morning is...

 Crystal International - Monsieur

Have I mentioned that I love love love nude polishes?  I went thru a bit of an obsession a few months back and have been refraining from wearing them all the dang time haha.  When I saw that this came in the box of 6 Crystal polishes I recieved, I was stoked!  As with any nude polish I've ever tried, Monsieur is a bit streaky.  This is shown with 3 coats and top coat.

Reatil: N/A

 Julep - Natasha

Natasha is described by Julep as an "intense orange crème".  Now here is where I disagree with them.  Intense... yes!  Crème... absolutely not!!  I was a little disappointed when this polish came in the mail because it was not at all what I was expecting.  It is much more of a jelly/crelly than a Crème.  It is very streaky and required 3 coats.  I still had a visible nail line after 3 coats, altho you cannot see it here and that was a little irritating.  On the plus side... I really like the color lol.

Retail: $14.00 ($11.20 Maven Price)

Julep - Korin

Korin is described by Julep as a "spring green crème".  I'm in total agreement this time!  Very creamy and also very gloopy. And streaky.  It's just been that kind of day haha.  I've had to add a few drop of nail polish thinner to make it manageable.  But I really love the color of this polish, so it was worth the extra effort.  At the time of me writing this, Korin is not available for purchase by itself on Julep's site.  It is paired with Drew in a "Watermelon Wedge" set for $19.99.  This is 3 coats with a top coat.

I'm really loving this Sunday swatching thing!  I hope you all are finding it helpful/useful/entertaining/not boring lol.  I've been tossing around the idea of doing a monthly round up of my favorite products I've used each month.  I know a lot of ladies do it, but there are lots of products I'd love to share :)   Any thoughts?

Until next time!

Stef <3

Luck Schmuck!

Hiya dolls!

I'm feeling like a bit of a Grinch today.  I'm very glad that it's Friday and I'm very very glad that I get to take the day off of work.  But it's work that has made me slightly cranky.  Not just my school job but my music jobs as well.  Bah-humbug!

 Colors Used: Revlon - Posh, Sally Hansen - Green With Envy, Color Club - Gingerbread

They say that green is the color of luck (who are "they" anyway??).  I haven't felt very lucky while wearing this mani but it did last about 4 days, chip-free. Ok...I was a little lucky....

It's 2 coats for each color except Gingerbread, which was 3.  I applied the crystal while the polish was still wet and then topcotaed all of my nails with OPI RapiDry.

 Sometimes simple is nice right?

Happy Friday to you all!  I hope you have a fantabulous weekend :)

Until next time!

Stef <3

A Green-Wish

Hello all!

It's Summer.  Wanna know how I know that?  Because is so ridiculously hot and humid!!  I've never understood this "looking forward to Summer" mentality.  Summer stinks and it makes me cranky.  It also makes me very lethargic.  At this point I'm just ranting... my apologies.  Moving on!  :D

Today's mani is focused around a polish that I was given for free during a recent haul at my fave nail supply store, A Green-Wish...

Colors Used: Daisy Nail Lacquer - A Green-Wish. Love & Beauty - Purple, Orly - Dazzle, Love & Beauty - Highlighter Glitter, China Glaze - Fairy Dust

A Green-Wish photographed turquoise but in person leans more towards kelly green.  If kelly green and turquoise had a baby... this would be their offspring lol.  It's a beautiful 2 coater that dries with a satin finish...

This mani was just an excuse for me to use one of my "untried" polishes and to practice my striping.  It's good to brush up on techniques from time to time ;)

I'd expound some more but I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking...

Until next time!

Stef <3

In the Fashion

Hey, lovelies!

Today's post features a mani that I did to match one of my favorite dresses.  I really love the challenge of creating a design that mimics/matches an outfit I'm wearing...

 Colors Used: Zoya - Yara, OPI - "It" Color, Julep - Denver, Sally Hansen - White On

If I was smart, I'd take a pic of the dress to go along with this post.  Alas, I am not that smart (translate that into "I'm lazy").  Just trust that it matched my outfit well lol. I started with 2 coats of Yara as my base, an olive-green creme with gold glitter bits...

 

 I then took a medium sized dotting tool and did 2 rows at a time, first dotting then flipping it around to the pointy-end and dragging.  It was actually a pretty quick and easy design :)  I topped it with OPI RapiDry.

 Yay fashion!

Has anyone else attempted recreating the textile of their outfit on their nails?  Love it, hate it??

Until next time!

Stef <3

Almost Presentable Ombre

Helloooooo dahlings!

I didn't schedule a post today because life has been eventful.  I have some down time before work, so I thought I'd share a mani I did last week that's... well, it's alright.  It was really late when I did it and the cleanup was horrible :\  I do like the colors tho...

 Colors Used: Sally Hansen - White On, Love&Beauty - Light Green, Wet n Wild  - Nerd Alert Screech

Soooo yea... I used a makeup sponger to get a smother blend of colors.  I need more practice lol.  I know perfection is pretty much impossible to obtain, but it is something that I strive for.

I guess that's all for now hahaha...

Until next time!

Stef <3

Tri Polish Challenge - Day 4

Happy Thursday!

It's the final day of the March Tri Polish Challenge and as fun as these colors are, I'm glad to see them go hahaha.  For this last mani I attempted something... prehistoric?

 Colors Used: Spoiled - Let's Get Sushi, Sally Hansen - Green With Envy, Jesse's Girl - Spring Break

He's fat.  A fat chubby dino. *sigh*

I imagined something much more detailed with different shades of green and such.  But with my limited color palette, I went with something more sticker like.  He ended up just looking plump lol. 

I shall call him Bob.  Hi Bob!

Don't forget to check out the other wonderful manis :)

Until next time!

Stef <3