Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Nails

Merry Christmas!

Polishes used:

Orly Nailtrition
Nails: Zoya Blaze x2
Accent nail: Butter London Dodgy Barnett x3
Sinful Colors Red Glitter Striper
Seche Vite

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Holiday Nails v3

When I was younger, my mom and I would spend hours wrapping Christmas gifts in beautiful foil paper, complete with foil ribbons that we curled with scissors. That paper was a complete pain in the ass to work with because it didn't want to stay folded around the edges unless you used a crap ton of tape. But it made for absolutely beautiful wrapped gifts.

Today's nails were inspired by that wrapping paper. A berry base color with silver accents -both very sparkly. I included a picture of paper very similar to one of the ones my mom and I used to have.

Polishes used:
Orly Nailtrition
Orly Miss Conduct x2
Stamped with Color Club Harp on It and Shany SH18
Seche Vite

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Holiday nails, v2

Ya'll, those snowflake nails were hard to take off. No, really, the glitter. ;)

But actually, it was hard to get rid of them - I loved the little snowflakes on my fingers!

I decided I'd do a month of Holiday themed manis like I did in October, so here's the second set.

I don't have very many Christmas stamps, sadly, but I stamped on paper all the plates I thought might remotely look right, if done in the right colors.

Today's were not what I had originally planned on, but I love the final product more than my original idea!

Polishes used:

Orly Nailtrition
Butter London Dodgy Barnett x3
Stamped with Revlon Rainforest and Shany SH05 and Sally Hansen Red Carpet and a no-name plate
Seche Vite

Again, sorry for the crappy picture - daylight savings time is really messing with my sunlight time. :( (and I'm too lazy to set up other lights today.)

Monday, December 2, 2013

December

I can't believe this year is almost over!

Here it is already December and I feel like we should still be somewhere around late October.

I haven't updated in a couple of weeks, either, so there are a couple of recent manis missing from this blog. Oh well. On with the now, eh?

Here in Minnesota, we've only just been brushed with snow, thankfully, but I'm sure it's coming!

I've been wanting to do another jelly stampwich for a bit, so that's the inspiration for today's mani.

(Sorry about the crappy picture)

Polishes used:
Orly Nailtrition
L'Oréal Miss Pixie
Stamped with Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Salon Express SE20
L'Oréal Miss Pixie
Essie Luxeffects Set in Stone
Stamped with Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Shany SH17
L'Oréal Miss Pixie
Seche Vite

I need more snowflake/winter-themed stamps! :)

Monday, November 18, 2013

Nails and Knitting

I'm still on quite a brown kick. I just love the warm shades of almond, coffee, chocolates... Oh wait, those are food. Well, you know what I mean. ;)

Today's mani is a simple one, but I'm happy with the end result. I chose a basic floral silhouette and stamped it in pieces on the bias over my nails.

Orly Nailtrition
OPI DS Illuminate x2
Stamped with Essie Penny Talk and Salon Express SE19
Essie Good to Go

I'm also showing a little bit of knitting I've been doing. A friend of mine asked me to make a hat and mittens set for her mother in law. Hopefully the mittens will speed along like the hat has!

Monday, November 11, 2013

Zoya Dream, you are...

Gorgeous. This polish is GORGEOUS.

This is Zoya Dream, a polish from their Winter Collection. It's amazing.

My photograph does NOT do it justice. We don't have sun here today and my light box isn't strong enough to make all the micro holo glitter rainbow. Well, not enough that my camera will capture it anyway.

It's the most beautiful shade of deep blue. And WOW that sparkle!


Thursday, November 7, 2013

Addiction, er addition

Yep, totally addicted to stamping. After I finished my nails yesterday, my immediate thought was, "hmm... I wonder if they'd look better with something stamped on them?"

I left them alone, figuring I'd wait until today to reassess. But when I got home from my class last night, I decided to go for it. The vision of something with delicate lines stamped in black over the gradient was too strong to not try.

I love how they turned out! Exactly what I was hoping for!

I used Shany SH21 and Milani Black Magic, topped with another layer of Seche Vite.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Vampy gradient

I'm an absolute sucker for Vampy nails and holo sparkles. Combine them together and YES.
This was a suggestion from someone on a nail forum, and what a great suggestion it was!

Polishes used:

Orly Nailtrition
Orly Miss Conduct x1
Sponge gradient with Orly Miss Conduct, Zoya Blaze and Zoya Payton
Seche Vite

First two pictures lit with my old photography light box, last picture in full sun to show the holo sparkle. Also, it matches the headband a friend gave me perfectly!

Saturday, November 2, 2013

November?

How did that happen? How is it already November?!

Last month was so fun with Halloween themed manis, that I decided to do something that felt very Autumnal, very... November.

A few weeks ago I saw an interesting brown polish: Sinful Colors Leather Loose. I guess it's technically a texture polish, but I don't know if I agree with that. I'd go with matte, or suede. Two coats by itself leaves a gorgeous chocolate brown matte that looks like soft, well-worn leather. (See photo of index finger before stamping.) Beautiful, but when you put top coat over it something amazing happens. This gorgeous shimmer just explodes throughout the color!

The finished product of these two polishes together with the stamp is exactly what I was hoping for. :)

Polishes used:

Orly Nailtrition
Sinful Colors Leather Loose x2
Stamped with Essie Penny Talk and Shany SH17 plate
Seche Vite

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Halloween Nails, final version

What a fun month of manis it's been!

This one wasn't quite what I had in mind, but I got a late start and was in a hurry. Do whatcha can, right?

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Nails: Milani Black Magic Stamped with Color Club Harp on It and Vivid Lacquer VL013, small red detail on spider with Sinful Colors red glitter striper
Accent nail: jelly sandwich of L'Oréal Mango Mama dotted with Sinful Colors Snow Me White and pumpkin face painted with Salon Perfect Black Ink Striper
Seche Vite

I've had so much fun celebrating Halloween all month on my nails!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Monsters Inc nails

I threw a Halloween party in my Zumba class tonight and dressed up as a raver monster. A super cute costume that my friend Jen lent to me, which definitely needed monster nails! Since the colors were the same colors as Sully, I decided to go with Monsters Inc for inspiration.

Polishes used:

Orly Nailtrition
Essie Beach Bum Blu x2
Butter London Fishwife x1
Nails: dotted with Sally Hansen Black and Blue, Sinful Colors Let's Talk and Color Club Harp on It
Accent nail: Sinful Colors Innocent, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Sally Hansen Black and Blue, Milani Black Magic and Salon Perfect Black Ink Striper
Gelous
Seche Vite

Monday, October 28, 2013

Zombie Frankenstitches

I am having so much fun with Halloween nails!

Today's are kind of a cross between Frankenstein and Zombies. I love Zombies and Frankenstein is kind of a forgotten Halloween icon in our house. Sad!

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Butter London Trustafarian x3
Essie Wicked
Sinful Colors Snow Me White
Salon Perfect Black Ink Striper
Gelous
Seche Vite

Pictures taken in both sun and shade to show the holo shimmer of Trustafarian.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Drive By Posting, v2

A quick mani from yesterday! I couldn't resist that new silver holo - I wanted to see what it looked like on my nails!

Polishes used:
NailTek Foundation II
Color Club Holographic Harp on It x2
Accent nail stamped with Layla Holographic Ocean Rush and Mash-39 plate
Seche Vite

This photo was taken using my old photography light box, as there's no sun outside to make the holo show up.

More Halloween nails coming!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Yesterday's mani, Stamped

After I posted my nails yesterday, I got nail mail! I didn't want to take the blue off so I decided to stamp on it with my new polish.

This is Color Club Holographic Harp on It, a beautiful silver linear holographic polish that added just a subtle touch of sparkle. I can't wait to use this as a full base color!

Polishes used:
Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Orly Royal Navy x1
Butter London Scouse x2
Seche Vite
Color Club Holographic Harp on It stamped with Shany SH16
Seche Vite



Monday, October 21, 2013

Blue/Purple Duochrome

Blue! I have a thing for blue nail polish. And this one is special - it's a duochrome that flashes between a deep royal blue to purple.

I've had this color for months but haven't tried it before today. Shame, because this beauty definitely deserves wear time.

I was going to stamp over it, but I just love how it looks on its own!

By itself it's a but sheer and would take probably three+ coats to look like the bottle, so I decided to put it over Orly Royal Navy (also an untried. Seriously, for as much as I love blue polishes, I'm surprised I had two shades as gorgeous as these two that I hadn't used yet.)

Polishes used:
Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Orly Royal Navy x1
Butter London Scouse x2
Sexhe Vite

My pictures don't capture the full shift between blue to purple - it's truly better in person!

Friday, October 18, 2013

Sparkling Webs

More Halloween nails!

It's sunny today, which makes a holographic mani just SHINE!

These are an idea I've had kicking around in my head for a couple of weeks and since my friend, my husband and I are doing a Halloween themed BUTI/Hip Hop dance party at a local night club, I definitely needed cool Halloween nails!

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Color Club Holographic Cherubic x2
Stamped with Milani Black Magic and Vivid Lacquer VL013 plate
Seche Vite

I'd love to see if you're doing Halloween manis! :D



Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Leopard Nails

How fun! I'm personally more of a giraffe print girl, but seeing how I don't have a giraffe stamp and I didn't feel like freehanding that, leopard it is. ;)

This is the second time I've tried these. Yesterday's attempt was an absolute fail. I used a shimmery gold polish as the base color and it just looked AWFUL with my skin tone. Yuck.

For this, I decided to Google leopard skin to find some inspiration for colors. I found a beautiful photo that showed a multi-colored base of white and tan - perfect.

To create the look on my nails, I started by painting them white. I then sponged on a glittery/holographic brown in random spots, leaving generous portions of the White showing through. I then stamped on the black spots and yay! Little leopards on my nails.

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Sinful Colors Snow Me White
OPI DS Illuminate
Milani Black Magic
Seche Vite

RAWR!

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Wicked Vespa Walker Bait

Woo, that's a mouthful!

Several weeks ago when Dollish Polish announced a Limited Edition polish called "Walker Bait" to be released in time for the season 4 premier of The Walking Dead, I knew I had to have it! The fact that it's an awesome green holo with a duochrome shift was a bonus! 

So today's mani is my yay-Walking-Dead-is-back-omgwtfbbq-zombie-brainzzzzz tribute to this awesome show!

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
Nails: Dollish Polish Walker Bait x2
Accent nail: Zoya Vespa x2
Stamped with Essie Wicked and Shany SH23 plate
Seche Vite on all nails except accent.

So excited for the show tonight!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Halloween Nails, v1

October is my favorite month of the year for many reasons! Autumn, beautiful crisp weather and gorgeous colors everywhere, Halloween and spooky themed parties and movies, and birthdays!

And since this is the beginning of my Birthday Week celebration, I thought I'd do the first of probably a few Halloween themed manis!

Today's is a Halloween Skittle mani full of fun, spooky stamps. :)

Colors used:
Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
L'Oreal Mango Mamma, Jolly Lolly, Berry Nice, Miss Pixie
Milani Black Magic
Sinful Colors Snow Me White
Color Club Halo-graphic
Seche Vite

Stamps used:
Shany SH02, SH09
Vivid Lacquer VL013

My birthday is Friday and I'm already planning what a Halloween/birthday mani will look like. :D

I stamped out all of my Halloween stamps on paper so I can plan ahead for the next designs!

Oh! AND I have a special polish coming any day that will HAVE to be worn Sunday for the season premiere of The Walking Dead!

So many manis this month!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Sparkling Almonds

I seem to have a theme this week - titles about food and shades of brown polish. I blame the food part on my Zumba schedule, and the brown polish on Autumn. ;)

After I did my chocolate mani yesterday, this lovely gem showed up from ebay. It's another attempt to have a polish that looks like the discontinued and very hard to find OPI Holiday Glow that I posted about yesterday. I think I might like this even more than Holiday Glow!

This is OPI DS Illuminate, a discontinued but gorgeous scattered holographic polish with a duochrome shift. There's so much awesomeness going on in this one!

I couldn't resist and actually did this last night after I got home from my class. I just had to see what it looked like on my nails! I loved the chocolate mani from yesterday, but THIS is just beautiful and might be my go-to color for Fall!

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know x1
OPI DS Illuminate x1
Seche Vite

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Salted Chocolate

Drive by posting today!

I have a busy afternoon and evening but I squeezed in a mani - fresh nails always make me feel better!

There's a discontinued OPI polish from a couple of Winters ago called "Holiday Glow" that I desperately want, but I can only find it as a part of a mini set. Today's mani is kind of a "close as I can get for now" homage to it. ;)

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know x2
Essie As Good As Gold x1
Gelous
Seche Vite

They kind of remind me of delicious Salted Chocolate candies! Very Autumnal = ❤

Monday, September 23, 2013

Monday Mani

I think I'm addicted to jelly nail polish. I love its squishy look, high gloss finish and most of all the unending possibilities with layering.

Today's mani is a simple "Stampwich", but its end result just glows on the nails so much it makes me happy!

I think I'm also addicted to stamping, but that's a post for another day. ;)

Several weeks ago, I bought almost all of the L'Oreal jellies from the Miss Candy collection. I've used a few of them so far, but Jolly Lolly was an untried just waiting for something fun. In the bottle it's a bright red, but with only two thin coats, it's kind of a deep strawberry color that I just love!

I decided to do a stamped layer in between the Jolly Lolly coats and for this I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White and Shany's plate SH21. Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat underneath and Seche Vite top coat.

Totally love how this turned out!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Wednesday Water Marble

I've been wanting to try water marbling for a long time! It's such a gorgeous finished look! Each nail is like a Snowflake - all slightly different.

It took a few tries to find polishes that would work together. I nearly gave up, but finally decided to try something different. It worked and I couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out.

Polishes used:

Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat
OPI Bubble Bath
Water marble with OPI Peace Love & OPI and Bubble Bath
Gelous
Essie Good to Go

Monday, September 16, 2013

Hey there!

Like me on facebook!

My leaf mani is still going strong, but I'm swatching ideas for my next mani! :)

Saturday, September 14, 2013

New adventure!

So I'm new! I'm Angela - by day I'm a Zumba instructor but in my spare time I LOVE to do nails! I really enjoy trying to come up with fun new looks.

Recently I did a stamped jelly sandwich mani (one person called it a "Stampwich" - love it!) that was featured on Vivid Lacquer's Facebook page. That was thrilling all on its own, but the response was amazing!

It was suggested that I start a nail blog to show my manicures, so here I am!

A little background - when Vivid Lacquer opened the preorders for these stamping plates earlier this summer, being a huge Halloween fan of course I gravitated to this plate, but what came to mind instantly was the idea to do a stamped jelly sandwich that would look like a pile of fallen Autumn leaves. When my plate came, I was so excited to try my idea!

This is my Fall Leaves Stampwich.

I used:
- Orly Nailtrition base coat
- L'Oreal Mango Mamma
- Milani Brown-a-licious, Wet n Wild I Red a Good Book and Sally Hansen Lightening stamped in between the layers of orange jelly polish with Vivid Lacquer's VL013 stamping plate
- Seche Vite
- Essie Good to Go

Even more exciting was when Anni asked me if I would do a photo tutorial! That should be ready soon and posted on Vivid Lacquer's Facebook page and I'll post it here, too!

If you do a mani like this, I'd love to see it!