10 Day Nail Art Challenge Day 10: New Year's Eve!

Happy New Year!   I had a wonderful 2012, and I hope 2013 is good to all of you.  Have a wonderful time celebrating tonight!

 Cobalt blue, color-changing shimmer, holographic tips and stars, does it get any more festive?

10 Day Nail Art Challenge Days 8 and 9: Holiday Watercolor and a Red and Green Manicure

First up, we've got a watercolor manicure.  I used the tutorial here from Nail Art 101: Watercolor Nails Tutorial to create a soft and sweet red, green and gold watercolor.  I do think this turned out a little more springtime than holiday, but hey, that just means I can use the same colors in a few months!

Next, a good ol' green and red manicure (it was supposed to be red, green and white, but I totally forgot to add white! Whoops!).  I stamped some radiant pointsettias onto a nice kelly green background; I wish my camera could accurately capture how lovely the raspberry red of the Kleancolor Red Metallic is for this manicure, it's just gorgeous!

10 Day Nail Art Challenge Day 7: Holiday Marble

Today's holiday marble was supposed to be a water marble, but I'm sick and don't have the patience for a water marble, so I did a drag marble instead!  I made little sugarplums on my nails, and even created a little video tutorial to go along with it.

I'm going to have to figure out why the recording is choppy, but it's a start!

10 Day Nail Art Challenge Day 6: Holiday Movie; The Santa Clause

I love The Santa Clause; a Christmas movie about doubt and belief, magic, generosity, good fun, family, falling off the roof, burnt turkey, ugly sweaters, snow globes and more? What's not to like!?

My little Santa suit nails are actually pretty easy to do, as evidenced by this video tutorial!

10 Day Holiday Nail Art Challenge Days 4 and 5: Holiday Treat and Holiday Song!

This one is a two-fer!  Mostly because I'm behind on the challenge and need to catch up!

For my Holiday Treat manicure, I was going to do Russian Tea Cakes.  My mom made these buttery, walnutty, pale green balls of deliciousness for years, and so I thought a reminiscent manicure made a lot of sense.  I had layered all of these polishes, using shimmers, nutty little brown glitters, pale green sheers, and voila! The worlds most boring manicure.

I had to improvise; my manicure looked practically white, booooo-ring!  So I busted out my handy striping brush and got to candy-caneing my nails!

I like how the uneven strokes on my nails match the uneven stripes in the cane; let's call it "on purpose", shall we?


Next, holiday song.  My maternal grandfathter liked Jimmy Durante a lot, so every time I hear his version of Frosty the Snowman (you can hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2joERYGHEo)  I think of him, and of my family, which is an association I really enjoy.  So, with my trusty stamper and Kleancolor Metallic Navy over Pretty n' Polished Sno'mans Land, I have Frosty nails!

My pinky would not cooperate; I couldn't get it in a good position in any photos, so you'll have to imagine it looks decent and not all crumpled and blurry.

Artsy Wednesday: New Years Eve!

PARTY TIME! EXCELLENT!

I have two Hot Mess polishes, Concussion and Yankee Star, that both SCREAM New Years Eve; stars, iridescent glitter, packed with sparkle, a confetti mix of glitter shapes?  Yes please!

I popped a layer of Concussion and Yankee Star both over Julep's Morgan, a great grapey royal purple, and I'm ready for a night out on the town!

 EXTREEEEEME CLOSEUP!

As an aside, I'm pretty pleased that I'm getting closer to a lighting scheme that doesn't make me look dead.  Woo hoo, photographic proof I'm not a zombie!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin

Maria's Nail Art

Valiantly Varnished

Unnaked Nails

Nail & Polish

Beauty Gnome

Lacquered Lunatic

10 Day Holiday Nail Art Challenge Day 3: Gift Wrap

I don't actually own any gift wrap at the moment; I tend to use gift bags because they're so much faster.  So, I drew my inspiration from thin air and decided a nice gilted red would be a lovely giftwrap.

Using the Llarowe LeaLC stamping plate B and Kleancolor Metallic Gold, I stamped a whole bunch of gift-wrappey patterns onto Butter London's Knees Up.  Knees Up is SO gorgeous, and the Kleancolor metallics stamp like a dream!

10 Day Holiday Nail Art Challenge Day 2: Snow/Snowflakes

Snow at dusk, is there anything better?

Julep's Viola made the perfect base for HITS Mari Moon Artsy, to create a dusky, multicolored sky look.

OPI Pirouette my Whistle, the real inspiration for this manicure, gave the perfect glittery depth to my snowscape, and OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Julep Emma for snow on the ground and the moon in the sky finished off this glittery winter wonderland.

Check out the other Day 2 entries!

Artsy Wednesday: Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner; wasn't it July just recently?

This manicure isn't going to make any kind of sense without a backstory, so here it is: Bees.  My manicure is a tribute to a very large Secret Santa exchange that happens over the internet, wherein the Secret Santas and Santees regularly make jokes about sending and receiving bees (can you imagine receiving a box full of bees in the mail? Terrifying!).

I was lucky enough to get a Santa who sent me a fabulous gift, including 4 Julep polishes I didn't own (a feat in itself, since I own something like 30!), some fabulous nail art glitters, and a nice black polish (for bee striping, of course!)  I set out to make a bee-like manicure with the bee colored portions of their gift, and made a honeycomb/stripey design for my Christmas manicure.

I've participated in this Secret Santa exchange for 2 years now, and it's so much fun to send gifts to people across the country (or the world!), get thoughtful and fun gifts from a relative stranger, and basically add even more excitement to the holidays.  So, I have a bee manicure, because it wouldn't be Christmas with out bees!

Bzz!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

10 Day Holiday Nail Art Challenge Day 1: Silver and Gold!

Silver and gold, silver and gold

Ev'ryone wishes for silver and gold

How do you measure its worth?

Just by the pleasure it gives here on Earth.

Silver and gold, silver and gold

Mean so much more when I see

Silver and gold decorations

On ev'ry Christmas tree.

I've had that song stuck in my head since I signed on for this nail art challenge.  I tried to do striping tape trees in gold, with Zoya's Luna as the background, for the silver element of the nail art.  I added little iridescent stars on top of each tree, to create a super shimmery, gorgeous manicure!  I'm in love with this one, and the tape trees are SO easy to do!

Photographing them, on the other hand, is NOT easy, especially when they're this glittery!  My lighting was shining off of it so brightly that I barely got any usable photos.  However, moving my hands around creates this gorgeously distracting glitter

Artsy Wednesday: Glitter gradient dotticure!

I just got a dotting tool, so I thought a snowy, tinselly glitter gradient was in order.  With Zoya's Luna and Trixie, I got a pretty nice (if not subtle, but sometimes subtle is nice!) glitter gradient dotticure:

I'm going to be putting more effort into blogging in the coming days, including the possibility of recording video each time I do an Artsy Wednesday manicure, or other nail art, and then posting it along with pictures.

I love Luna so, so much.  It's such an unusual, one-of-a-kind polish!  I'm pretty sure I bought it on a whim, probably during a promo of some sort, just a cart filler or what have you, but it's in my top 10 polishes, without a doubt.  The milky white silvery shimmery goodness is just so pretty!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

Influenster Cosmo VoxBox review: Gillette Venus Embrace and Venus & Olay razors

Hello all!

Today's post is Not Polish Related (NPR), but I thought some of you might still be interested.  I got sent an Influenster Cosmo VoxBox for review.  Here's what I got for review:

I'm breaking up the box into a few, more in-depth reviews; today, I compared the Venus Embrace razor cartridge to the Venus & Olay razor cartridge.  My thoughts are as follows:

Artsy Wednesday: Tape Manicure

Striping tape, that is!  I made a plaid-icure using striping tape and my new Mari Moon multichromes; these pictures aren't perfect, but they captured the color shift best, and that's something I am really really loving about these polishes!

To get this plaid-ish, wrapped-present-ish look, paint a layer of black, and then a layer of your multichrome (because multichromes can be kind of thin, and these bottles are pretty small so I wanted to make sure I didn't waste time on a lot of layers).  Let everything dry (I waited probably 20 minutes), then add your striping tape in a plaid pattern. 

 Paint over your striping tape with one layer of a contrasting color, wait for it to dry, then peel off the tape.
You really do have to be careful with the tape, as I ended up peeling a big chunk of polish off of my ring finger when I pulled it off!  I was able to fill it in with a polish brush, but it wasn't quite as neatly done as a tape manicure should be.

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

Indie Spotlight: Pretty & Polished Pretty as a Peacock

This swatcheroo has been a long time coming; I've had this polish to review for a while, and have actually done a very nice manicure with it before, but didn't photograph it at the time.  So, apologies for the delay, as this is a particularly neat polish that I'm pretty enthused about the layering and combination possibilities for it!

Pretty as a Peacock is a dense forest green glitter polish, small purple glitter, medium teal hexes, medium purple hexes and slightly larger hexes in a true peacock blue.  The minute I unwapped the bottle, I thought "Mardi Gras!"  This really is a gorgeous polish, although I do wish there was more purple; I'm a sucker for purple.

I didn't use any underwear on this manicure, and only needed 2 coats for full coverage, which is pretty darn impressive.  One coat of Poshe topcoat and there was nary a gritty feeling to be had.  I did use the PVA glue as a basecoat, because I'm sure trying to remove this with conventional remover would be a pain.

As I look at the polish more on my nails, I think it's kind of an understated glitter, if that's even possible.  It doesn't blow your mind with immediate glitterbomb explosions, but the subtle differences in the teals and blues with little pops of purple cumulate into a really neat effect.


This polish, and many other awesome polishes, can be purchased at the Pretty & Polished Etsy store.

Disclaimer: I purchased these items with my own money, at a discounted price for use in a review on my blog.  My opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way by Pretty & Polished.

Artsy Wednesday: Movember (better late than never!)

I'm so sorry this post is late, but between holiday travels and being sick, I couldn't get my act together and Movember it up until after work today.

Movember is a moustache-growing movement that is geared toward raising awareness for prostate and testicular cancer.  You can learn more about Movember and its goals here: http://us.movember.com/  Being knowledgeable about cancers you and your loved ones are susceptible to, how to detect them, and what to do if you do think you've found something, is critical, so any time I can promote health initiatives I'm happy to do it, even in a small way like a Movember manicure!

I busted out my prized holos for this one; Layla Coffee Lover and Gosh Holographic Hero.  A nice, aged, distinguished silver moustache makes this Movember mani complete!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

Artsy Wednesday: Jelly Sammiches!

Jelly sandwiches are pretty simple; jelly polish, glitter, jelly polish, done.  Jellies are arguably a new way to classify sheer polishes, but they do tend to come in more interesting colors than a sheer polish.

For today's Jelly Sammich, I used Essence's White Secret, a white jelly, and Ulta's Pinyata-yada-yada for the glitter.  2 coats of White Secret, 1 coat of Pinyata-yada-yada, and one more coat of White secret, and you've got a charming little party on your nails!

I probably could've added a fourth coat of White Secret, but I wanted a little of the reflectivity of the glitter to remain visible.

The nice thing about a Jelly Sammich is you totally change the look of the two polishes you use; your glitter is transformed by the color of the jelly, and your jelly gets some more depth and life with the addition of glitter. Quite the manicure style!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

Artsy Wednesday: Drag Marble

You guys are going to have to excuse the slightly crummy pictures today; it's been raining like crazy, and my old junky Nikon doesn't like my lightbox, so my lighting options have been limited.  On that note, what kind of camera do you like to use for close-up photos?  I could use some recommendations!

Anyway, back on track, today's Artsy Wednesday is a drag marble.  A drag marble involves slathering a thickish layer of a base polish on, then dabbing a bit of another color and dragging a needle through it to make designs.

I had Pretty & Polished Pretty as a Peacock on, and didn't want to take it off because it's so pretty, but didn't want to cover it up either.  Jelly polish to the rescue!  Zoya's Frida was a perfect base for my drag marble, and Julep's Sienna (the perfect gold polish), was a nice accent to the teal base.  My technique could use refining, as I basically just made little sunshiny splats, but it was a pretty neat process.

You do end up with a lot of polish on your nail; even after a 30 minute dry time and a fast-dry top coat, I wrecked both my thumbs :(  So, set aside a lot of time for a drag marble!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic

Indie Spotlight: Pretty & Polished Holiday Polishes

One of my favorite things about indie polishes is that when you buy a bottle from a reputable indie maker, and get to see it in person and on the nail, there's always a little something special, a little extra, a surprise about the polish that makes it seem all the more fantastic to own.

When I was given the opportunity to purchase some of Pretty & Polished's holiday polishes, I chose polishes that I knew I didn't have in my collection, so I expected them to feel pretty unique to me.  But I really was surprised at how fantastic and unique these polishes were!

S'no Mans Land is a pearlescent white with satiny white hexes and tiny iridescent glitter.

I chose it because I only own creme whites, and wanted a pearly white to add to my collection.  Little did I know that this polish had these fabulous larger hexes that look like pearls on your nails, and that the iridescent glitter would really evoke the fresh-snow-in-the-sun look.

As for application, I did put the bottle on its side while I put on my basecoat, just to make sure the larger hexes were available to the brush when I polished.  I do this with pretty much all of my polishes with larger glitter, and it's a technique that has served me well.

The polish is thickish, to suspend the glitter, but not gloppy.  It isn't brushstrokey or too frosty either.  It really is more of a pearl finish than a frost, and is a nice soft white, instead of being stark or harsh.

Next, I chose Love Always, Candy Cain (what a fabulously sassy name!).  This polish contains white, red and silver glitters of various sizes in a clear base, obviously invoking the imagery of candy cane colors.  I don't have any larger red glitters, and have wanted one for a long time, so I figured it'd be a good choice.  Here, I layered it over S'no Mans Land:

When it arrived, I was thrilled by the mix of glitters; big white matte hexes, red hearts, white hearts, big, medium AND little red hexes, red and silver microglitter etc.  It's fabulous, but it's also a very thoughtful mix; it doesn't look like a glitter pinata broke over a bottle, it looks like a really appealing glitter topper.

The consistency of the polish isn't globby like some glitterbombs, but the thinner polish meant I ended up doing my "bottle on the side during basecoating" trick just to make sure I'd get a good blend of glitters.  Application was easy, and I found one coat sufficient, although going to town with 2 or 3 would be a lot of fun.

Overall, I was really impressed with these two polishes.  The colors fit the holiday theme, but they don't scream CHRISTMAS at you.  I know for a fact I can wear these other times of the year and not feel unseasonably elfish.  Application was pretty easy, especially for polishes with such large glitter, and the glitter itself is obviously well chosen and well thought out.  Dry time was surprisingly quick; I expected it to take longer, but with a good coat of Poshe I was all set!

The Pretty & Polished holiday collection is launching tomorrow, and can be purchased at the Pretty & Polished Etsy store.

Disclaimer: I purchased these items with my own money, at a discounted price for use in a review on my blog.  My opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way by Pretty & Polished.

Artsy Wednesday: Creative with Crackle

I have never owned a crackle polish, until yesterday.  I never actually liked them, but the whole point of my wanting to participate with Artsy Wednesday was to try new things, right?  Right??

I ran out to Sally's to snag one of the China Glaze crackles that are practically always on clearance there, and picked up Haute Metal, a rosy metallic crackle.  I figured "creative" required more than just crackling the whole nail, so I did oblique stripes per nail, over Orly Ingenue.  Thus, a fairly pretty, candylike manicure was born!

Upon staring at my nails and trying to think of other ways I could use crackle, it occurred to me that it looked like a similar texture to a lipstick print.  I may try using this on valentines, to make little lip prints on my nails.  We'll see!

I'm really honored to be able to participate in Artsy Wednesday, and you should all DEFINITELY check out these other, very talented Artsy Wednesday participants.  

Pretty Purple Polish

Lab Muffin
Maria's Nail Art
Polished Genius
Valiantly Varnished
Unnaked Nails
Nail & Polish
Beauty Gnome
Lacquered Lunatic