NYE Nails!

New Years Eve is finally here! It seems like the year just flew by. It was an amazing 2011 for me, I started dating the most amazing man, got rid of my debt, started this blog, quit smoking, and became truly happy with who I am :) I can't wait for what 2012 has in store!

These are my NYE nails, designed to match the dress I'll wear which I will post pictures of later. I used one coat of OPI Nail Envy and one coat of CND-Stickey Base Coat. The black is 2 coats of CND-Blackjack and the pink is 2 coats of Ulta-Fuschimania. The glitter is 1 coat of Ulta-Pinata Yada Yada followed by one coat of Essie-Matte About You.

What are your New Year's Resolutions, and what are you most looking forward to this year?!

Take Me To Your Chateau

This is 2 coats of Color Club-Take Me To Your Chateau. I love this shade, the formula is very easy to work with and I could have probably gotten away with one thick, careful coat. I only have a few Color Club polishes, but after working with this one I may have to add to my collection!

Pictued with a clear, textured vase that I re-finished with spray paint.

What Color Club polishes are your favorites?!



I'm alive!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, things have been so crazy around here! Here's a quick swatch post just to let you know I'm still alive. I took this picture on my new Canon PowerShot SX150 IS that my amazing boyfriend got me for Christmas! I love the camera, it has much better lighting for my nail photos and I can take macros anywhere now, instead of just sunlight. It will also let me use flash with my macro shots.

This is 2 coats of OPI- I'm Not Really a Waitress. A nice red for the holidays. Can't wait to show you more pictures from the new camera!

I will also take some pics of all the other amazing stuff I got for Christmas this year (including a hand-knit Owl hat, a crock pot, a steam mop, and a coach purse!)

What did everyone get for the holidays??



Matte with gloss tips

I saw this idea on Chloe's Nails back when I first started looking at nail blogs and was dying to try it. Now it's been floating around Pinterest and teasing me even more until I finally got my hands on Essie-Matte About You. I love the way this turned out and will definitely try this mani again, maybe even experiment with some different base polishes.

I applied 1 coat of OPI-Nail Envy, 2 coats of CND-Blackjack and one coat of Essie-Matte About You. Then I freehanded the tips with CND-Blackjack, super simple and so cute!

What do you think of this look? Any other colors you would love to try this with?

Skittles!

Today I have a skittles mani!

This picture has one coat of Shine of the Times, no top coat.

Added Matte About You :) Pinky to Thumb: Ulta Tutu Cute, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, China Glaze-Peachy Keen, Ulta Mint Condition, China Glaze High Hopes.



Matte About You

I FINALLY have Essence-Matte About You!! I have been wanting this top coat for as long as I can remember, and came across it when I went to a new store for hair color this morning. Needless to say, I was thrilled :) Can't wait to try this over anything and everything! As I mentioned in a previous post, I already own a matte top coat (CND-Super Matte), but it turned out to be a satin finish that I was disappointed with. Today's post is the same Shine of the Times mani I was wearing a few days ago, complete with a coat of Matte About You. They were made for each other! I apologize for the tipwear/dry cuticles!!



What do you guys like to layer a matte top coat over???

Shine of the Times!

Well, it's official. I'm IN LOVE with Shine of the Times. I've drooled at all the swatches online and caught the Luxe Collection out of the corner of my eye while buying hair color earlier today. Of course I snatched it up, and at only 4.50, more than worth every penny. I will definitely use this bottle up!! I'm also thinking about buying the rest of the Luxe Effects, they're all just so gorgeous! That being said, onto pictures! For my first EVER flakies mani, I had to layer over black. I just love the effect that comes out, it reminds me of a beetle-so cool!

I used one coat nail envy, 1 coat Stickey base coat, 2 coats CND-Blackjack and 2 coats Essie-Shine of the Times followed by a thick coat of SV



Just amazing, right?! 3 pictures is not nearly enough to show off these beauties so look forward to Shine of the Times part II, complete with sun photos from every angle imaginable. What else have you guys layered this over and liked???

Tinsel Town

I have been so busy lately.. Work, Christmas shopping, laundry, you name it.. So instead of more holiday nail art, which I wish I had to show you, today's post is just a boring swatch :(

This is 2 coats of China Glaze Tinsel Town, with one coat of SV. I was taken completely by surprise with this shade!! I wasn't a huge fan of it in the bottle, or with the swatches I had on my nail wheel, but as soon as it had dried on my nails I fell in love! I will definitely wear this shade again, probably with some stamping next time. What are your thoughts on this polish?

In direct sunlight, look at that shine!

I also included a picture for any of you out there who enjoy baking, or just eating awesome stuff! My boss hired me to make cake balls for her birthday, these are strawberry with cream cheese and double chocolate, both dipped in white chocolate. I didn't end up trying them but she says I need to open up my own shop, so I think they were good :)



China Glaze-Santa's Little Helpers

Today's post is more Christmas-related nail art. The 4 polishes I used as the base were from China Glaze-Santa's Little Helper collection, a bottle of 4 minis that I got for $6.50.

I started with one coat of OPI-Nail Envy and one coat of CND-Stickey Base Coat. The 2 coats of Velvet Bow, and 2 coats of Holly Day on the ring fingers. Then one coat of Ring in the Red on top of Velvet Bow and one coat of Twinkle Lights on Holly Day. I used Sally Hansen-Whirlwind White for the stamp then topped it all of with a coat of SV.

What are your favorite holiday shades and glitters?!



Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees

Today's post is a mani I wore for Thanksgiving, I wanted something dark but with a little festive shimmer. Here's what I came up with:



Sorry, it's not totally color-accurate, but the best I can do with the lighting in the laundry room!
I used 3 coats of OPI-Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees, and 1 coat of CND-Gold Sparkle.

Just keep those sleigh bells jinglin'..

Although Thanksgiving isn't even here yet, today's post is a Christmas art nail wheel! I love Christmas and this was my first nail wheel ever so I am really excited about this whole entire post. I found the nail wheel at Aerial for $.99, there were only 3 so I bought them all and plan to do different themes on the other 2 sometime soon.

Here is a pic of the first half of polish/glitter combos, just thought it was pretty.

I did all the designs freehand with acrylic paint and added a few decals.

What are all of you most excited to do for holiday manis?

More Haul Swatches

I will post a haul swatch later of the 25 new pretties I acquired this week but for now here are 2 random manis to show some of them to you.

1st is 2 coats of China Glaze-Velvet Bow and 1 coat of China Glaze-Ring in the Red on the thumb and ring finger.

Next is another Nailside mummy mani. I used 2 coats of OPI-Planks a Lot and taped off and used 1 thick coat of DS Temptation, then removed the tape. What do you think?



Snow Globe!

Today I did some major retail therapy, got several mini-sets and samplers from OPI and China Glaze, which I will post some pics for later.

This is 2 coats of China Glaze Blue Year's Eve and 2 coats of China Glaze Snow Globe. (2 coats of CND Air Dry for top coat, OPI Nail Envy for base) I ended up taking this off after about an hour, I liked the color combo but blue doesn't go too well with my skin tone. I can't wait to try snow globe over white and black! What have you guys layered it over, what is your favorite polish for Snow Globe to layer over??



Snowflakes/First Haul Post

First on today's post I'd like to show you my first snowflake mani for the year! I live in Kansas where the weather is known for being completely unpredictable. It can be beautiful 70 degree weather one day and freezing snow the next. I've even seen snow in April! Anyway, I've been dying to do a snowflake mani since I first bought my stamping plates, and since we had a little snow last week I think I'm allowed :)

I used 2 coats of OPI-No Room For the Blues as the base. Then Sally Hansen Whirlwind white for the snowflake stamps. I used a dotting tool with WW for the white dots, then did one coat of OPI-Serving up Sparkle finished with a top coat of SV.

The next part of today's post is my first haul! (Not MY first haul, but the first one I've documented on my blog!) Thanks to Marta @ChitChatNails for the suggestion :) These are the all the polishes I mentioned in my previous post that I bought from Aerial at their 12 items for $10.00 sale!

First are the Color Club polishes: Take Me to Your Chateau, Object of Envy, and Recycle This!

Next is CND. From L to R: Brilliant White, Super Matter Top Coat, Gold Sparkle, Gold Shimmer, Jade Sparkle, Creamy Cameo, Muddy Rose, Just Red!, and Red Sparkle.

The only one I can complain about is the matte top coat,  it definitely didn't give the matte finish I was looking for. Here's an old mani I did where I used it, you can see it has more of a satin finish:



I also have a swatch of Creamy Cameo, which is my favorite of all these. It's a beautiful color!

Hope you enjoyed this!