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!

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day was yesterday, so I did some American flag-inspired nails to wear to Applebee's (where I work). We give out free meals to Veteran's and active duty military to honor their service, and the restaraunt stays packed all day! I love working Veteran's Day, but it gets a little crazy.

So here is one pic of the mani I did.. this is after 2 days of wear and with bad lighting, so I was a little limited.



I used the red base from my previous mani (2 coats of CND-Just Red! and 2 coats of CND Effects-Gold Sparkle), then stamped with Sally Hansen Whirlwind White on the thumb and middle finger. For the stripes I freehanded diagonally with Sally Hansen Whirlwind White and then OPI-Ogre The Top Blue. Then a coat of SV, and 2 stripes of glitter done with a nail art striper from Sallys. Finally some blue rhinestones and another top coat of SV, which I am getting a little tired of lately because it's always shrinking my polish! Has anyone else dealt with this? Any tips for a similar fast-dry top coat that won't shrink? I also use CND Air-Dry but I don't really love the formula..

Gold Flakies

For today's mani I used some of the CND polishes I got at an amazing sale at Aerial. There was a big table of polishes and hair products on sale, 12 items for only $10.00. I scooped up 9 CND polishes and 3 Color Clubs for only 10 bucks, what a steal!

Base Coat of OPI Nail Envy followed by 2 coats of CND-Just Red! and 2 coats of CND Effects-Gold Sparkle, a gorgeous clear base with tiny gold flakies and shimmer. I loved the effect and still haven't removed this mani. I also tried layering the gold over white and it turned out great, will definitely be using it for a snowy/wintery mani soon. Can't wait to try this over black!

Pictured with a trial size of Victoria's Secret Gorgeous, which smells amazing in case you were wondering :)



Blackjack

Today's post is nothing special, it's been storming like crazy so I haven't had great sunlight to take pictures in. This mani is from a few days ago, and it's just a swatch of the black polish I use for stamping.. CND-Blackjack. I am a huge fan of CND, their polishes have a great formula and I don't see as many chips as I do with other brands after a few days.

I always use 1 coat of OPI-Nail Envy as my base.. this is 1 coat of Blackjack and 1 coat of SV on top.



I added some OPI-Servin up Sparkle on the tips. The beauty store I buy from had a BOGOfree sale on the Serena Williams sets so I got 4 OPI polishes for only $8! (Servin' up Sparkle, Really Pretty Pink, Grape..Set..Match, and Red Shatter) I got some other things too and am thinking I will make a haul post later!

What do you guys use prefer most for stamping?? My favorites are CND-Blackjack and Sally Hansen-Whirlwind White.

Basketcase Remix

Today's post was based on the basketcase design from Wah Nails. I used the design on my index finger and did some variations on the others, I wanted the overall look to match a dress I'm wearing tomorrow. I have very unsteady hands so straight lines are a challenge for me, as you can tell. I used a small paintbrush for the designs.

The base is 2 coats of OPI-Skull and Glossbones, the designs are done with black acrylic paint, and the top coat is SV.

Blue Cupcakes

I've been wanting to try the cupcake idea that's been floating around forever, and finally had the reason. We're celebrating my nephew's baptism and 3rd birthday on Sunday, so I did some cute blue cupcakes.

I used OPI-Skull and Glossbones for the base, then 2 coats of Ulta-Pinata Yada Yada and SV. For the cupcakes I used acrylic paints and a small brush, some Yada Yada, and attactched the heart 'sprinkle' with topcoat. I love the way they turned out but you can see some mess-ups because I went to work right after I applied the base coat and accidentally smudged them :(



More Polka Dots

Boring post today, just some more polka dots because I'm trying to improve on my full-nail and double stamping, and polka dots are one of the easier designs to fix mistakes on. Sorry for the crappy lighting, it was rainy and cloudy all day so I couldn't rely on my usual sunshine.


I used Ulta-Vintage Violet for the base and Sally Hansen-Whirlwind White for stamping.