Twas The Night Before Christmas

Christmas Eve, Eve and I was working on my manicure like a good little elf. Hoping with last until Christmas.  Wishing all of you a safe holiday full of friends, family, good times and all you wish for.

Santa: Base Three base coats China Glaze Hey Sailor.  Use of China Glaze White On White, Liquid Leather and Orly Luxe.

Bricks and Stockings: Two base coats China Glaze Classic Camel.  Taped off and a two layers of China Glaze Foxy.  Use of colors China Glaze White On White, Classic Camel, Starboard, City Siren, Hey Sailor, Def Defying, Liquid Leather Ulta Envy, Orly Luxe & Au Champagne, OPI Golden Rules!, Zoya Trixie.  Use of Bundle Monster Plate BM11 with Konad Special Stamping Polish in Apple Green.

Chimney and Rudolph: Two base coats of China Glaze Up All Night.  Use of China Glaze Classic Camel, Foxy, Liquid Leather, Orly Au Champagne, OPI Golden Rules! Topped Rudolph's nose with a gemstone.

Seche Vite was my top coat.

Deck The Halls With Double Balls

Ok.  Terrible title of the manicure, but "Double Dots" didn't seem very festive.  I was inspired by some nail appliques I saw at a store for this idea.  Figured it would be easy enough for me to do myself.  It was!

I painted a base two coats of China Glaze Cast A Spell.  Dots were made with the following: China Glaze Hey Sailor, Def Defying, Starboard, Zoya Reva, Trixie, Orly Au Champagne, Ulta Jaded.  Seche Vite was my top coat.

Purple Swish

In an effort to get caught up, I'm posting this manicure quickly and concisely (as well as the rest of my posts).  I got some MAC sample nail polishes for Christmas and this color was a feature.  I really liked the simplicity of this manicure.

I had to paint four coats for this purple to be fully opaque.  It's MAC Dark Angel.  I added a swish of China Glaze Icicle and Ulta Material Girl.  One coat of Seche Vite was used for the finishing touch.

Golden Gild

I made a few sparkle concoctions to mimic current nail polish trends in glitter polishes.  This is a second example (Red + Green = Awesome, being the first).  I like the result, but I'm not sure how festive it is.  I don't know why silver and blue is considered festive, but when I did gold and blue, not really so much.  Either way, the fingers shine and I like the touch of a holo water marble.

Flash:

I painted three coats on all nails of China Glaze Peace On Earth (forgot how much I love this color, very ugly/pretty) and added a mix of LA Splash Cosmetic Glitter in Golden Seahorse, Silver Torpedo and Yofi Cosmetics Skinny Dippin' to all fingers but ring.  My ring fingers were marbled with China Glaze L8R G8R and DV8.  One coat Seche Vite to shine 'em up!

Snowflakes

At first, I wasn't sure I really liked this manicure, but the more I had it on, the more I appreciated it and ultimately was happy with the result.  We barely have any snow here in MN, in fact, you can see more grass than snow at this point.  This makes my snowflakes wistful rather than obnoxious.

Right Hand:

Left Hand:

Trying to capture Shine Of The Times multidimensionality:

I painted three coats of Ulta Alter Ego on all fingers but my ring, and on my ring painted three coats of Orly Au Champagne.  I used the Alter Ego for blue snowflakes and China Glaze White On White for the white snowflakes.  Atop the entire manicure, I painted a coat of Essie Shine Of The Times and finished with one coat of Seche Vite.

Trimming The Tree

I originally took out all my darker, holiday-themed, green polishes and layered them three colors to a nail.  But the look didn't seem quite right.  I added the silver tinsel trimming and then they were true perfection.

Left Hand:

 Right Hand:

With my tree!:

I used the following colors for the green: Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe, Orly It's Not Rocket Science, OPI Glow Up Already, Ulta Envy, Zoya Apple, Zoya Suvi, Zoya Yara, Zoya Edyta, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle, China Glaze Paper Chasing, China Glaze Holly-Day.  The silver detail was hand painted on with China Glaze Icicle.  Manicure was finished with one coat Seche Vite.

Purple/Pink Sparkle

I've needed to find a way to showcase my new Ulta Nail polish, and this was the result. It was pretty and simple. The pictures don't show the multi-sized glitter flecks as well, but click on the link below for better swatches.

Flash:

Lamp:

i painted two coats of China Glaze Below Deck and then added to the tips Ulta Tink-Her-Bell with the finishing touch of one coat of Seche Vite.

It All Ends: Harry Potter VS Voldemort

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and I had to do an honorary manicure for the last theatrical release of the series. I am pressed for time, so am doing a condensed version of materials used in order to the the photos to you on this day! I marbled the house colors of Hogwarts and hand painted my version of Harry and Voldemort. In my opinion, Harry looks like he's been stung with a stinging jinx, but I've never claimed I could really draw very well.....

Right Hand:

Left Hand:

Left Thumb:

Right Thumb:

Griffindor colors: Zoya Paris and China Glaze Passion

Slytherin colors: Ulta Envy and China Glaze Platinum Silver

Hufflepuff colors: Zoya Pippa and China Glaze Liquid Leather

Ravenclaw colors: OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue and China Glaze Ingrid

Harry Potter: From Zoya: Skye, Paris, Dove, Tamsen, Kelly. From Ulta: Envy, Black Diamond. From China Glaze: Below Deck and White On White.

Voldemort: From Zoya: Dove, Kelly, Tamsen, Paris. From Ulta Black Diamond. From China Glaze Liquid Leather and White On White.

Sensory Overload

This manicure was the result of a vague idea of a sort of patchwork manicure. I just started to paint freely random patches of colors and this is what the result was. Of course, then I took it one step further and added the loose glitter and on top of that added a glitter top coat. Needless to say, it was a very bright manicure but I'm not sure I loved the results--but that's what happens when you experience sensory overload.

As I said, I randomly painted small sections on my nail with the following colors: Zoya Breezi, Mira, Pippa and China Glaze Heli-Yum. I then added LA Splash Cosmetics Nail Glitter in Dry Ice to each nail and then one coat of Ulta Pinata-Yada-Yada. One coat of Seche Vite was used for my top coat.

Patriotic

It's memorial day here and it's time to celebrate those who fight for our country. Something I, personally, could never do. In honor, it's a red, white and blue water marble for you!!!

Left Hand:

Right Hand

I first painted two coats of China Glaze Cheers To You as a base, then marbled with OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue!, Zoya Tamsen Ulta Angel Baby. I coated the final manicure with Seche Vite.

Random Rainbow

Again, it's a Sunday night whirlwind of polish postings. I don't know what has been up with me lately and being lazy in posting. I'm really sorry, but I hope you all are assured that posts will come.... Don't worry, my nails aren't naked!!! This is the last color I have to try in the Zoya Intimate Collection. I actually think it's pretty awesome. Gray is apparently "hot" right now, and I am a victim of the trend. I love it. I got this glitter polish at Ulta from a rewards coupon. I like it. The glitter is different shapes and sizes and comes out so randomly.

I painted three coats of Zoya Dove and added a coat of Ulta Salon Formula polish in Pinata-Yada-Yada. I added gemstones to my ring finger and coated with CND Super Shiney.

Pot O' Gold!

I owe you more manicures than this one, but since it is St. Patrick's Day and this manicure is good only for this one day, I need to post. Not sure how much I like the final result, but I think it's growing on me. The influence is obviously the lucky gold guarded by the sneaky leprechauns. Hope luck finds you today in whatever way possible!

I painted three coats of Ulta Black Diamond. I added NYX Glitter on the Go in Glam Gold for the tips; used Bundle Monster plate BM03 with China Glaze In The Lime Light for the clovers. I used CND Super Shiney as my top coat.

Christmas Cookies!!!

I'm going to be baking Christmas cookies with some friends in a matter of hours and thought it would be fitting to decorate my nails as tasty treats.  Instead of making cookie shapes, I decided to just make my nails the cookies.  Mmmmm, cookies!

Left Hand:

Right Hand:

I made the cookie color with two coats of China Glaze Classic Camel and one coat of Heaven.  The various "frostings" were with the following colors: Four Leaf Clover, Cheers To You, Heli-Yum, Emerald Sparkle and Ulta Angel Baby.  I used one coat of Seche Vite to finish the manicure.

Let's Talk Turkey

It's Thanksgiving day here in the U.S. and a turkey theme is in order for this yearly celebration.  I only got one decent picture of this manicure, but I'm okay with that.  Not in love with the final look, but I like it and I do like the idea of turkey feathers.  Today I am thankful for many things, but posting this, I'm thankful to you who look kindly at my little blog and for the leisure time to paint my nails on a regular basis!!!

I coated three times with China Glaze Ingrid.  I then painted the arches of the feathers with Free Love and Ulta Angel Baby.  I added the feather lines with China Glaze Evening Seduction and coated with two coats of Seche Vite.  

Double The Marble, Double The Pleasure!

I'm going out to a birthday party tonight and have had this manicure planned for weeks.  The party got postponed last Saturday due to tons and tons of snow here in Minnesota--which is now half melted, but now it finally gets to see the light.  I am so excited about this manicure and it's result!  It's a double water marble and it's super awesome, true?  I'll admit that water marbling is a lot of work, but the payoff can be very satisfying.  I really do hope to do more tutorials, but the reality is that although I have a live-in filmmaker, he is very busy.  This means I'll have to learn all the lighting, camera usage and video editing info myself and I'm not sure how much energy I have to do that.  But I really should figure it out!  If you haven't checked out my basic water marbling tutorial, you can watch it here.  I am also more than willing to answer any questions via email you might have about tips and techniques.

Right Hand:

Left Hand with holo effect:

Uber Flash:

For the manicure, I first painted two coats of Zoya Sarah on my nail.  I then marbled Sarah and Ulta Black Diamond.  After that marble dried and the water was dry off the nail bed, I marbled with China Glaze OMG (silver holo) and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Flawless (clear) over the previous marble.  I used one coat of Seche Vite to seal the manicure and add lots of shine!

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

Of course, I have my tickets to the midnight show of this movie.  It really is an awesome series and I am proud to say I have converted (or at least have coerced) my last two friends who haven't read the series to read it.  I needed something simple for this manicure, so I went with Gryffindor colors--gold and maroon and the symbol of the Deathly Hallows.


 

First I painted two coats of China Glaze Lemon Fizz.  I then marbled (again, without swirling, just letting the concentric circles create lines) with Twenty-Four K and Foxy.  The Deathly Hallow symbol was painted on with Ulta Black Diamond.  I coated once with Seche Vite.

Water Marbled Lollipops

You probably saw my Halloween lollipops for my Katy Perry costume (if not, click here). I wore it again last night for a Halloween party and wanted to remix that manicure. Since I love water marbling, I tried my own technique to get a lollipop look, and I think it turned out great!

To highlight the sparkle:

I first coated with Ulta Angel Baby. I used that polish as well as China Glaze Breakin' and Grape Juice for the marble. I then used Fairy Dust for a sparkle finish and Seche Vite for my top coat.