New Year's!

Shocking! I didn't even post what holiday manicures I had done before I went out of town. Oh well! Onto this week's challenge that is about an hour away from being late.

The theme is New Year's and in my typical "wait til the last minute" fashion, I realized I didn't have a champagne glass stamp. I had to improvise with bubbles instead.

I fancied up my index and pinky finger with a smattering of glequins for good measure. The polish I used here was Champagne Kisses by China Glaze (which was super appropriate) with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep for the stamp.

China Glaze - Champagne Kisses

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

NYC - Grand Central Station

Mash-50

Holiday Blues

This holiday season, I couldn't miss out on a blue and silver combo. It may not be traditional, but it's still gorgeous! I still have more holiday to cram in before it's too late!

This is Orly Witch's Blue with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep stamped on top.

The index finger is a snowflake from Fing'rs Flirt B17. The middle finger is what I assume is a reindeer from Shany SH13. The ring finger is from Shany SH03 which seems to be my favorite filler image.

Orly - Witch's Blue

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

NYC - Grand Central Station

Fing'rs Flirt - B17

Shany - SH13

Shany - SH03

Holly over Red

Today's challenge is "Over Red". Perfect opportunity to get in some holiday manicures that I've been slacking about. I'll be out of town over Christmas without my camera and nail stuff so I only have a couple of days to do some marathon holiday nail art.

I started off with Elmer's glue and a base of e.l.f. Smokin' Hot. China Glaze Pure Joy could be applied alone but didn't give clean edges. After several coats of NYC Grand Central Station to make the surface smooth, I stamped the holly with Wet n Wild French White Creme and painted green over the top with acrylic paint. The holly berries are glequins from the Born Pretty Store.

China Glaze - Pure Joy

e.l.f. - Smokin' Hot

Wet n Wild - French White Creme

NYC - Grand Central Station

Bundle Monster - BM14

Challenge: Winter

I know I need a better method of photographing my nails during the winter. Well that or not being so lazy about doing my nails and posting challenges at the last minute.

This week is a winter challenge. I think this color combo turned out great. I'll admit it looks a little sub par in this lighting though. Both of the images are from the new Shany set. I think the snow covered trees with snow was the perfect image for this week. 

I need to pick up the pace and get started on holiday manicures before it's too late!

Pure Ice - Platinum

Wet n Wild - French White Creme

NYC - Extra Shiny Top Coat

Shany - SH202

Shany - SH207

Blue Dandelions

Another Sunday another challenge. This week was a simple theme "Over Blue". I really appreciated the freedom this time around with all the new stuff I've gotten recently. I went for a couple of weeks of not buying anything and now I'm just trying to cram it all in. 

I used Mash M-30 over a blue gradient. I've seen some elaborate designs with this image, but those people have about twice the surface area on their nails that I do!

I used a new to me set of Kleancolor called Blue Maniacs. As with all my Kleancolors, I get them in sets at Ross for $3.99. I even got the green set. I'm not that big of a fan of green, but I couldn't stop staring at the box while standing in line.

After sponging on the gradient, I used a topcoat to smooth the finish. Once I was done stamping, I topped everything off with a matte topcoat to give it a nice soft finish to simulate the sky.

Kleancolor - Lake Mist

Kleancolor - Kawaii Stuff

Kleancolor - Cobalt

Sally Hansen - Hard to Get

NYC - Matte Me Crazy

Mash - M30

Sinful Colors Winter Wonder

With Christmas coming up, I've been trying to avoid nail purchases due to people asking for wishlists. I made the mistake of going into Rite Aid the other day. There were a few holiday polish displays and I couldn't risk adding them to my wishlist and possibly not getting them!

One of my must haves was this one - Sinful Colors Winter Wonder. I loved the million little sparkles in the bottle and even more on my nails. I've read that it's a near match to OPI Her Majesty's Secret service from the holiday Skyfall collection. Judging from the swatches online, they're very similar.

Even though I had a nail plate extravaganza for my birthday, I went low key with just an accent finger on this one to avoid overpowering this amazing polish.

Sinful Colors - Winter Wonder

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Silver Sweep

Bundle Monster - BM12

NYC - Extra Shiny Top Coat

Matte Snakeskin

I haven't posted in a while due to a combination of illness, birthday, and really just a creative block. I have been painting my nails of course, and I even had a really elaborate design for my birthday, but it just wasn't up to par for posting. I think I've just about kicked this sinus infection and just in time because my wonderful sister, who also loves nail polish, had given me TONS of new plates for my birthday! I also had an order come in yesterday from Born Pretty and I have new plates everywhere. I feel really overwhelmed.

I tried to hurry and get back on the horse for this Sunday's challenge because it's Some Aspect of Matte and I've been trying to use any Kleancolor Metallic for a while and this was the perfect opportunity.

Using my new Shany set, I used 2 different snakeskin patterns. I think the middle finger was the better choice, but I had already done the other pattern and as usual, running late for the challenge so I wasn't going to go back and do the whole thing over again.

Sinful Colors - Nirvana

Kleancolor - Metallic Orange

NYC - Matte Me Crazy

Shany - SH213

Shany - SH225