MaD Manis

Pink Wednesday - Wicked Roses

2012-03-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hi girls. Sorry for neglecting you lately. Still trying to get in the swing of this work thing. I swear, I get up at 6am, go to work for 8 hours, come home, have about 4 hours to myself, go to bed, then do it all again. There's not enough hours in the day to do my nails and blog :(

Anywho, I finally found some time to sit down and do my nails last night (yay!). I used China Glaze Wicked Style as my base....which is definitely not this orangey-red. Wicked Style is much more of a berry pink color in real life, but of course it has to be a nuisance and throw off the color balance of my camera. And of course I'm too much of a noob to know how to alter the colors....so just pretend, mmkay?

I wanted to do some sort of quick nail art over top of this so I could still have some time to myself. I decided on Konading, but the design and polish I picked smeared together so I decided to do some freehand roses. I've tried this once before, and they didn't come out too well. This one looked funky at first, but after I painted the leaves on I think it really came together. The roses are made with Revlon Candy, Essie French Affair, and Zoya Erika. The leaves are China Glaze Starboard with China Glaze Entourage for the highlights. I finished with one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (duh) and a coat of Seche Vite and voila!

I'm actually liking the way this came out, considering I was kind of hurrying myself along. And I actually did it on all ten nails...shocking! I can't get away with only doing one now that I have to actually go in public and talk to real live people ;)

Hope you are all having a happy hump day! Only two days til the weekend (it's weird that I have to count down to it again now after being unemployed for so long....ha ha)!!

Brownstone bling!

2012-03-02T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hi guys, happy Friday :)

Today I'm showing you a blingalicious mani that I did over the weekend. I wish I had something newer to post, but my first week at my full time job has been killing me. I'm soooo tired :P

This is two coats of China Glaze Brownstone (I love this color, yadda yadda, you've all heard it before...) and three coats of Sally Hansen Golden Ticket on the ring fingers.

I liked this one! It was so simple but nice and flashy and eye-catching at the same time :) I'm sorry I don't have more to say, I'm kind of brain fried by now. But I hope you all have a great weekend! :)

Leap Day mani

2012-02-29T07:00:00.005-05:00

Happy Leap Day everyone!

I knew I wanted to do some sort of nail art today, but wasn't exactly sure what until I came up with the idea of a frog leaping to a lilly pad. Amanda is the nail art pro in the family, and I have a whole new respect for her after attempting this nail art. Wow - it was hard drawing this tiny design and trying to keep my hands steady. I think in the future I'm gonna leave the nail art to her!

So here is my attempt at nail art. I used Essie Aruba Blue as a base (my b/f's mom got me this for Christmas this year) and the nail art is all done with acrylic paints and a tiny brush. Although I am not a big fan of Essie polishes (they always go on streaky for me), the formula on this one was pretty good. I did have a little staining on removal, so you may want to double up on your base coat. Also, I need to get an ultra fine sharpy marker because obviously my '29' is not so great.

Have a great Hump Day everyone!

Here is Aruba Blue all by herself

Sinful Colors Cinderella faux nad

2012-02-28T08:00:00.003-05:00

Surely by now you've read all the hype surrounding this new polish from Sinful Colors. It's been swatched numerous times on various blogs with differing opinions on whether it's worthy of all the hubbub.

Is it worth it? In my opinion - yes. I LOVED this shade. Originally I was planning Cinderella as the base for a half moon mani, but once I got it on my nails it was so lovely I couldn't bear to cover it up. So I wore it plain for 2 days before I stamped over it right before removal on day 4.

Cinderella is a soft pale springy blue with something special - a slight pink shimmer! It really did remind me of the shimmery gown Cinderelly wore to the ball. I knew it was quite sheer, so I started with white underwear of Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Then I applied 2 coats of this gorgeous shimmery goodness. The formula was actually excellent (Sinful is really hit or miss with me on quality). It went on smooth and even and dried fast. Try as I may I just could not coax that pink shimmer out in my photos - either in sunlight or artificial. You'll have to trust me on this one, the pink is there!

After Cinderella was fully dry, I applied a top coat of Out the Door. Now - this is a new topcoat for me. The sales clerk at Sally's swears she likes it better than SV, because it doesn't thicken up in the bottle. I bought the large jumbo size bottle at 2.5 ounces (73 ml); which is 5x the size of the SV bottle at almost the same price. SV = $8-9, OtD = $10. I am still undecided on the quality of the product and need to do more testing. Here's why...

After I applied the OtD, I waited a half hour or so then applied Color Club Copycoats scented topcoat in Duplicity (this is the turquoise tinted one). Approximately 3 hours later, I reached into my makeup drawer and dented my mani in 3 places. I can't tell you whether this is due to the initial topcoat not drying thoroughly (it's suppoed to be super fast dry) or the Copycoats (which is not a fast dry topcoat). Still - it had been THREE hours. So I will do an independent test on my next mani of SV vs OtD and let you know the results. Incidentally, I did not think the fragrance on Duplicity was as strong as the last one I tried (Mimic) and I think so far I like Mimic better. I could still smell Mimic even after applying a regular fast dry topcoat over it but Duplicity was barely noticeable with nothing over it.

Here's the mani after I stamped over it with plate M64 and Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in Turquoise Chrome. If you haven't tried these pens yet for stamping - what are you waiting for? They are awesome for stamping - easy to control with super pigmented opaque color. I was lucky enough to pick up 6 of them at Dollar Tree for a buck apiece. In hindsight I wish I'd gotten more! Oh, and my fubared pinky finger? That is the result of attempting a plaid stamp with 2 different colors before finally settling on this design instead. I don't know if I have a faulty stamp on that plaid image or what because it was blurry even using 2 different polishes. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't my technique. Anyway- thank God for top coat, although I did bork up a little bit of the cuticle line from removing the 2 botched stamps! If you like the chrome pens for stamping head over to Lyndsey's blog at http://pixiepolish.blogspot.com/ and check out her gorgeous use of this pen!

Patchwork Tape Mani with China Glaze Make Some Noise

2012-02-27T06:00:00.002-05:00

Hello ladies!

Boo Monday. I can finally join the millions of people all over the world that hate Mondays. Waking up at 6am this morning for work was BRUTAL. Especially when you've gotten to sleep in every day for the past 10 months during your job search. :)

So....sleepy....

I had been wanting to do a patchwork/tape mani for a while now. I don't do them all too often as I'm usually too impatient to wait for all the layers to dry. However, last week I had a lot of free time (I had the whole week off to relax before my big girl job started). I decided it was the day!

I picked up four of the Electropop colors a few weeks ago, and decided I wanted to use one of those. I started with a base of China Glaze Make Some Noise which is a red that leans a bit coral. I added a coat of Seche Vite, waited a few hours, then taped off on a diagonal and painted with Color Club Revvvolution. Waited overnight, then added another diagonal of OPI DS Coronation. I don't know what it is with tape manis, but I always find myself failing miserably. Other people make them look so easy, I don't get it? I tried my best to get the tape sealed down, but it kept seeping under areas where it wasn't secure enough. Curse the tape mani! Also, on my right hand (luckily) it peeled up the entire base when I went to remove the tape from the third layer. BOOO!! I ended up having to go in with a small brush to fix the areas where the polish leaked under the tape.

Either way, I do like the colors in this, I just don't think tape manis are for me :( If I could actually execute them perfectly (Erika, I'm looking at you!) they'd probably be worth the time, but it's a long process for something that I can never get to come out looking as crisp as I'd like. Ah well, I guess we all have our weaknesses :)

Just another little note -- I might be MIA for a bit while I try to learn how to juggle this full time job and blogging at the same time. In the mean time, Mama will keep you guys entertained with posts, but I imagine I'll be wiped out the first couple of weeks :)

I hope you guys all have a wonderful Monday!

Orly Passion Fruit fauxnad

2012-02-23T08:00:00.006-05:00

Happy Pink Wednesday everyone (this post was supposed to go up yesterday but Amanda and I had a scheduling conflict! sorry about that!)

I know you're thinking to yourself - that doesn't look pink. But the camera is playing tricks on your eyes. May I introduce Orly Passion Fruit, which is a bright neon coral jelly. It actually looks more pink in the bottle than the nail - once you get it on, it leans a little more orange.

Passion Fruit applied very nicely and dried fast. I didn't have any issues with streaking, dragging or cuticle pooling. I initially was going to do 2 coats, but realized I still had VNL so I went ahead and added a third coat. As I mentioned, Passion Fruit dries with a jelly type finish so I topped it with SV for some shine.

I decided today was the day I wanted to try out my Color Club Copy Coats scented topcoats. I used the pink one - named Mimic - because I have read elsewhere that these topcoats; although only slightly tinted, can cause mimimal color shifts in your base color. I have to say that I really enjoyed the scent of Mimic. I can't comment on what perfume it smells like, because I'm not a perfume connoisseur, but the company information says it contains blackberry, damask rose and sandalwood. I was sniffing my nails all evening. And I love the bottles - little squat square bottles with colored scented goodness in them!

This morning I applied a fauxnad over the base color using plate M72 and a Sally Hansen gold chrome pen. I love these for stamping - great pigmented color!

What do you think of this fauxnad? I've been really uninspired lately but I'm really liking this one!

Sheep Nails

2012-02-22T10:11:00.001-05:00

Hi friends!

Today I have some cute....sheep (?) nail art to show you! I'm not sure what goes through my mind when I'm picking a design to do on my nails... I guess it's something like, *type 'cute' into ShutterStock.* "AHA! Cute sheep picture! Guess that's what I'll do."

Anywho, I started with a base of China Glaze For Audrey. My bottle of this is getting terribly low and difficult to work with. I think it's time to suck it up and buy another one!

The sheep are made with black and white acrylic paint. Pretty simple, really. If you can make blobs with a small paintbrush, you can do this design.

One thing I did notice -- every time I do some kind of nail art that's based around an animal, one of them always looks special! I don't know what it is...maybe my pinky nail is too small to draw much on so they always look slow? I don't know, but it always makes me laugh :D

Also! I have some good news to share with you guys! If you follow me on Twitter, you might've seen me post that.... this blog got me a job! Yeah! It's not anything related to polish, but in the job description they said they wanted people with blogging experience. So during my interview, I talked all about it and what I've learned from it (to two males, so I'm sure they were really interested...haha). My last day at good old Charming Charlie was last night and I start my new digital marketing job on Monday!

Back to the post... I think these sheep came out pretty cute except for the special ones.. haha. Devin's words on this mani were, "Is that cabbage?" Yes. Yes, darling, I painted cabbages on my nails. Really though. I wouldn't put it past me...

I think these nails are... baaahhhaaaaaaaaddd ass. Heh... see what I did there?

Happy hump day!

Junior High Doodles Nails

2012-02-17T07:00:00.002-05:00

Hello!

Goofy title for this one, eh? I'm not quite sure where this idea came from, but I do think I've seen some people in the nail blogosphere do something like this before. However, I don't know WHO so if you know who originated this idea, please let me know and I will give credit where credit is due :)

(edit: here's some of the originals! iiamjelly, Emerald Sparkled, Victoria7)

For this one, I started with a base of Sinful Snow Me White -- the ONE color in my collection that's close to being completely empty. And also one of the worst whites in the history of the world. I added a top coat of Seche Vite and drew on all the details with a fine tip Sharpie. BTW -- thanks to those of you that suggested Sharpies for writing text! It was MUCH easier than painting. I definitely suggest it if you're not as nimble with a nail art brush as you'd like to be. One thing I did notice is to wait until your mani is completely dry. I tried to draw the blue lines on my pinky 5-10 minutes after the SV and it ended up squishing/denting it a little bit. I also had to rotate my nail for the blue lines as opposed to just drawing them by moving my other hand. Do you guys get what I"m trying to say?

Anyway, I think these came out pretty cute. I used to draw doodles like this on my notes all the time during school. Sssh, don't tell my professors that I wasn't paying attention :)

Icing magnetix blue

2012-02-12T08:00:00.002-05:00

I'm sure by now you've seen this color swatched on other blogs so I'll say briefly I really like this color and I love the magnet that comes with these polishes - but my brush was SO wonky it almost made me not want to use this. It was like trying to apply polish with a mop. Horrible.

I've noticed with magnetic polishes that the design seems to muddy or become less defined after a couple days of wear. So on this mani, I actually held the magnet over my nail for a full 60 seconds then immediately popped my nail under a nail dryer to try to set the nice crisp design. And I think it helped!

Incidentally these pics were taken after 3 days so you can see a little bit of tip wear. But it held up pretty well for an inexpensive polish! This was 2 coats of color. No complaints there!

Here is a pic of the brush. Can you see where the bristles actually TWIST at the end?

Hope you enjoyed today's post and have a great day everyone!

Valentine half moons

2012-02-11T08:00:00.001-05:00

I don't know what to call this manicure. It's not really a half moon because it's shaped like a heart. Maybe a heart shaped reverse french? I saw this on Illamasqua's website a long time ago and wanted to recreate it. Sadly, mine did not come out nearly as pretty as that one.

I started with a base of Orly Pure Porcelain. PP is sheer, and I needed multiple coats to get it opaque and it's the only off-white shade I own. Then I used red acrylic paint to draw in the heart shape as a pattern because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get sharp enough lines with polish without some sort of guideline. Then I applied Zoya Carrie Ann over the acrylic paint and decided to top it with OPI Excuse Moi. BTW - Carrie Ann is one of my FAV red polishes - it's a sparkly shimmery red that goes on like a dream. The glitter from Excuse Moi blends in with the base color of CA so it's not terribly noticeable, and I didn't want to put numerous coats on so I settled for one.

Way too many coats on this one. I'm waiting for my mani to just fall off from the sheer amount of product on my nails. It's very Valentine-y and sparkly and I like it; but I'm dreading the day I have to remove it! ;-)

Bee Mine Nails

2012-02-09T12:14:00.001-05:00

Hi ladies! Is anyone getting tired of Valentine's Day manis yet? I know I am... I just want to get back to regular ole manis :P

Quick post today because I have lots to do, but I just wanted to share this one with you!


(Don't mind the randomly placed watermarks... I'm trying to find an unobtrusive way to mark my pictures.)

The base is Essie French Affair (I know I know....I dislike Essie's formula, but I can even get over it for this color because it's just so darn pretty!). I drew the silhouette of the bees first, because I don't have a steady enough hand to draw a black outline last. So, drew the black silhouette first, then added in the white face and wings, and yellow stripes with acrylic paint. I also tried to paint "Bee Mine" on my thumb, but I really need to get some good nail art pens or something because it is REALLY hard to paint text with a nail art brush. Maybe I just need a brush with shorter bristles instead? At any rate, I think it came out pretty cute :)

This one's for my mama, because her name means Honeybee :)

Have a great weekend everybody!

Pink Wednesday: A different take on magnetic polish

2012-02-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hi ladies! Happy hump day! Almost to the weekend, what are your plans? My boyfriend is coming up for the weekend. He is still in school still -- I don't get to see him whenever I want, so I'm pretty excited :)

For this mani, I started with a base of two coats of e.l.f. Fuchsia. Such an original name, man....Fuchsia, for a fuchsia polish. These execs at e.l.f. are so deep and creative. All the other e.l.f. polishes I have are streaky and sheer, so imagine my surprise when this one was opaque in just two coats! The brush was wonky on it, but again... all my e.l.f. polish brushes are wonky and need hair cuts. I don't know why I love this color so much -- it's your regular, run of the mill magenta, fuchsia color. I don't know! I never used to like pinks either... I must be going soft in my old age.

Here are some swatches of Fuchsia by itself:

On day two, I wanted to freshen this mani up. It had gotten dull and I already had tip wear a day later. Mama sent me two Icing magnetics a few days ago that I decided to use on it. When I initially got the package, I played with the magnetics and could NOT get them to work for the life of me. It would only magnetize down the center of my nail. But, when I tried this time, I used thinner coats and it seemed to work a little better. I still need some practice with them though to get a harsher pattern to show up, I think.

Anyway, I just taped down the diagonal of my nails and painted on a coat of this gold magnetic polish from Icing. It has no name. Icing, y u no name awesome polishes?!

Finished up with a black line over top of the diagonals and voila! A simple Pink Wednesday mani that isn't your standard magnetic mani. Mom called it "interesting" ... I guess I can live with that.

Also, just a little note: I've added a requests/submit button on our Tumblr! So if there's any mani ideas, requests, questions, what have you.... send em there! :)

Heart Vines Nails

2012-02-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

This is a mani I did based off of an image I found on ShutterStock. The image was of various hearts hanging off of a sort of branch or tree.

For this mani, I used a base of Orly Pure Porcelain. Pore Porcelain is a great neutral that's opaque in just two coats. It's a good alternative if you don't want to use a stark white background as a base for a nail art design. It's simple, but it's one of my favorite neutral colors in my stash.

The branches, hearts and dots were all made with black and red acrylic paint (what else?). I really like the end result of this mani and it wasn't too terribly hard to reach it! If you have the patience, this is an easy mani to pull off.

Happy Tuesday, hope you're all having a good day so far :)

Anti Valentines Day Mani

2012-02-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

Hi ladies!

Someone on Tumblr suggested that I do some anti-Valentine's Day manis, and I figured I'd oblige because come on, who HASN'T hated Valentine's Day with the fury of 1000 hells at some point in their life? I know I have.

I painted all my nails (except my ring finger) with Wet n Wild Burgundy Frost. On my ring finger, I painted a black base. I then used acrylic paints to draw the lines, "explosion" (I don't know what else to call it?) and broken heart on my ring finger. I also topped all the other nails with OPI Black Shatter.

Now, I've never been into shatter/crackle polishes AT ALL, mind you, but this one seemed to fit. Black Shatter, shattered heart....yeah, my emo side is coming out. But I digress. Anyway, the ONE time I used this bottle of Black Shatter (I got it in a giveaway) and it's goopy and clumpy. So... I don't know if that's the reason you can hardly see any base color or if I applied too much...but I only used one thin coat. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I wish the deep red popped out a bit more underneath the Black Shatter. It did come alive a little more with top coat, you should have seen how dull it was before!

I have the whole week off, so hopefully you guys can expect more posts than usual this week! Gotta keep myself occupied somehow ;)

Sally Hansen Feelin' Saucy fauxnad

2012-02-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

So this color combination was inspired by my calender today. It's a picture of a kitten playing with 4 balls of yarn - magenta, yellow, blue and red. Unusual colors to use together but somehow they just worked!

I started with a base of Sally Hansen CSM in Feelin' Saucy, which is a gorgeous magenta color. I don't know why I don't wear this color more often, when I applied it, I really liked it. My bottle is a tad thin so I had to take care not to flood my cuticles. It levels well, dries fast and is well pigmented. I used 2 coats for opacity.

When my base was dry, I lightly sponged Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening (sic) and Sally Hansen CSM in Right Said Fred and topped with 2 coats of Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond to give it just a touch of a holographic shimmer. Then I stamped with a geometric pattern from Red Angel plate 114 and Konad special blue polish. BTW - does anyone have any suggestions for a well pigmented medium blue stamping polish other than Konad?

This design somehow reminds me of the Autobot and Decepticon symbols from Transformers.

And here's a pic of Feelin' Saucy by herself.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Valentines Cupcakes

2012-02-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Hi all! I have another Valentine's Day Mani for you today. This one is your run of the mill cupcake design, but I jazzed it up a bit for Valentine's! I wasn't feeling just painting plain hearts today so I decided I wanted to do something cute but still festive. I think this fits that :)

The cupcake liners are done with Zoya Sooki and everything else is acrylic paint. Sooki is one of my very favorite polishes ever....but the smearing is so bad when you take it off. Ughhh.... such a mess.

Happy hump day! :)

Simple Valentine Faux nad

2012-01-31T13:41:00.000-05:00

Have you ever just had one of those days? How about one of those weeks? About 2 weeks ago I broke the corner off one of my nails on my picture hand. So since my right hand looked pretty decent, I switched to taking photos of my off hand while the break grew out. Last week I broke the corner off a nail on my off hand. ARGH. So I went back to my left hand (which had had 7-10 days to grow out and was easier to hide the break). And yesterday I broke another corner on my left hand... Someone is definately trying to tell me something. So I bit the bullet and just chopped them all off to be the same length so they can grow out strong and split free. I prefer my nails square, but for the purpose of growing them out I went ahead and tapered them to give them extra strength. It annoys me so much when I break a nail; and I've had a real hard time getting them back into good condition this winter. So here are pics of my super nubs proving that short nails can be pretty too!

Today's post is a super easy Valentine's Day mani combining some simple sponging with stamping.

I started with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Pink Blink which is a light pink, then sponged over it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Presto Pink (which is a darker pink) and Pure Ice Superstar to give it some depth.

After it was fully dry I stamped with Sally Hansen Color Quick Fast Dry pen in Red Chrome and Red Angel plate 114. If you haven't tried these pens for stamping yet, they work really well but dry SUPER fast so you have to work very quickly.

Thanks for reading!

Berry Flakey Goodness

2012-01-27T07:00:00.003-05:00

I received all five of the Finger Paints special effects flakies last week from my mom, and have just now gotten around to using them! I know, I know. Blasphemy at its finest.

For this mani I used a base color of Zoya Jacy. If you've been following Mad Manis for quite some time, you've probably heard me say time and time again how much I love this color. Well, for those of you who haven't: I. LOVE. THIS. COLOR!! I love berry shades, but this ones a bit different. If you look closely in the bottle picture, you can see little teeny tiny particles of a purpley shimmer! The application on this was a little runny for a Zoya polish, but I can handle it because I love this polish so much. Zoya had one of the best berry shades of all time. OF ALL TIME!! (Kanye reference, anyone?)

The flakey polish I used over this is Finger Paints Asylum. Asylum is the prettiest of the bunch -- it has little flakey particles that flash blue and green and orange and yellow and it's just like a shredded flakey rainbow of goodness on my nails! I used two coats of Asylum for these pictures.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Magnetix magnetic polishes

2012-01-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

Look what I spotted in Rite-Aid today. A display of new magnetic nail polishes. I snapped a pic quickly before a sales associate could see me ;-)

There looks to be about 6 colors in the collection. I already had similar colors from Icing so I bypassed all but these two. I can't seem to find names on them, but they are a toffee color and a light plum color. They come with 2 magnets, which I'm a little lukewarm on. It looks pretty flimsy and not very user friendly. Look for swatches coming up next week!

Valentines Love Birds

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's time! Time for the beginning of Valentine's Day manis! Yay! I love love :) :)

I found this adorable little image of a love bird on Shutter Stock and decided I had to recreate it on my nails. The base color is OPI Sparrow Me The Drama and the rest is done with acrylic paints. I really need to get myself a full size bottle of Sparrow Me The Drama... I only have the small one from the POTC mini pack (which sucks to use on my big nails, btw)

Aren't they cute?! I didn't want to take these babies off!

Icing magnetic pink Wednesday!

2012-01-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

This was my first attempt with magnetic polish. I picked up 3 of the 4 colors at Icing Saturday night and decided to start off with the pink one for Pink Wednesday!

I started with a base of Color Club Hot Like Lava, which is a beautiful color in and of itself. I love this Foiled collection - the polishes apply well, dry fast and are very forgiving of brush strokes.

The Icing polish applies nicely as well, it isn't too thick or too thin; but it is in a smaller than average bottle with .33 oz of product rather than the usual .5. The price was much more reasonable than most of the other magnetic polishes that have been marketed to date (but that may soon be changing as more companies jump on the magnetic polish bandwagon). I paid $9 for one bottle, but Icing was having a BOGO half off sale so the second polish rang up at $4.50. That's $6.75 per bottle. (I are a math whiz)

The polish comes with a removable cap containing the magnet, so you dont have to flip your brush upside down to magnetize the design. The magnet also contains little finger ledges to help with holding the magnet the correct distance from your nail without it coming in contact with it. Well -- in theory anyway. I actually had to redo 5 nails because I got a tiny bit too close and bumped the magnet into my wet polish. So there is an initial learning curve.

And here is the lovely Hot Like Lava on it's own

Noobie tips

1) Do only one nail at a time, you want to magnetize the polish while it's still wet.

2) Hold the magnet stationery. I was under the misguided notion that since I have wide nail beds if I kinda slowly pivoted the magnet from one side to the other I'd get a more uniform design. Untrue. Your best design comes from holding the magnet absolutely still.

3) I found that the best way to judge the distance from my nail bed to the magnet was to hold my finger under a bright light and look down from the free edge toward my cuticles rather than a side or lateral view. (see pics for example)

Yes

4) Base color (at least on the polishes I have tried) does not seem to impact your finished product much. I swatched on 4 different base colors and my design came out pretty much identical on all 4 swatches.

This is such a different concept to me and I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I think the phrase I used while I was working on this mani was "freaking awesome"! hehe Also the color variations don't show up as well in bright light (i.e. light box) than in normal ambient lighting so your design is going to be more pronounced than it looks here.

Review: The Body Shop Honey & Beeswax Hand and Foot Butter

2012-01-24T21:47:00.002-05:00

I received this for Christmas from my cousin and thought I'd share a review for it with you guys.

What it claims to do:
Pamper your hard-working hands and feet with rich hydration from an intensive moisturizing treatment with skin softening ximenia oil from Africa that will leave skin feeling soft, supple and subtly scented with our traditional Spa Wisdom™ Africa fragrance. Particularly effective on hardworking hands and feet or any very dry areas such as elbows and knees.

First off, the smell. I wouldn't say that this really smells like honey or beeswax to me... it doesn't smell bad and it doesn't smell particularly awesome, it just smells like a light scent. I'd imagine this would be good for those of you who are sensitive to scents.

The butter does have a bit of a greasy feeling when you first apply it, but I think that comes with the "body butter" territory. Every body or hand butter I've ever used has had that sort of greasy feeling, presumably from the shea butter that they put in these products. It actually proves to be beneficial because the lasting power on this stuff is great. It keeps my hands and feet feeling moisturized until I wash my hands and need to reapply. It works so well on my cuticles that I don't need to apply any of my Burt's Bees lemon butter if I have this on.

I've only used it on my feet a few times (because I honestly just don't really lotion up my tootsies) but when I did it immediately moisturized the dry patches on my heels and the balls of my feet. Put this on with some nice warm socks and you'll have deliciously smooth feet for hours!

I have used this before doing my nails which turned out to be a mistake. I usually lotion up my hands before I do my nails (I've never had any problems with it before) but when this was on my nails it affected the way my polish applied. So I'd definitely wait until after your mani's finished to put this one on.

A few complaints I have about this product:

The price point. $22 for a 4.3 ounce jar is a little more than I'm used to spending. But at the same time, this really works wonders for moisturizing my dry hands, so it's hard to say if I'd repurchase this or not.

A less deal-breaking complaint: the stupid freaking jar! I realize they were probably trying to make this look cool and hip and chic with the hinge on the jar, but really it's just more annoying than cool. It's hard to open and even more difficult to close when you have butter all over your hands. I wish they would've just kept it simple with a squeeze tube or a regular jar with a lid that screws off. I just don't see the point of this and it annoys me so much I'm considering just buying a cheap bottle to transfer this to. If you don't get the plastic rims of the lid perfectly lined up on the bottom of the jar, the butter will dry out. I've had the lid squish little bits of the butter outside of the jar and it turns hard and crusty and nasty. The jar does look pretty darn cute on my nightstand, though...

I would definitely recommend this if you have the money to fork over for it. It keeps my hands soft and smooth and I don't have to keep reapplying it numerous times throughout the day. The smell is light and doesn't linger on my hands for a long time after applying it. It keeps my cuticles as moisturized as a cuticle butter which sure is handy because it eliminates an extra step in my nail care routine. :) It's especially nice now that it's started to get really cold here in Indy. It protects my hands and cuticles from the harsh winds.

This can be purchased at Body Shop stores or online at www.thebodyshop-usa.com. It retails for $22.

Icing glitters - part 2

2012-01-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

Today's post is the remaining 2 Icing glitter polishes I picked up at Icing prior to Christmas

First up is Birthday Beyotch. Ok the name - love it or hate it? I think I'm kinda liking it. At first glance it's another one of those multi color glitters in a clear base. But check out the bottle shot. It has SO MANY colors in it. It's like a circus exploded in the bottle!

I'm showing it as a jelly sandwich today with Revlon Grapefruit Fizz (which was part of their scented polish LE line last summer), but this would really be spectacular over a black base. Unfortunately I didn't get many good shots of this as my light box really sucks (it's too short and I can't get my tripod into it and end up having to contort into all sorts of unnatural positions to take pics)

Then we have my favorite of the 4 - Glitterati. It boasts small holographic glitter with large fuschia hex glitter. Here I've layered it over Sally Hansen Pat on the Black, which is a dark vampy plum color. I wish the photos accurately depicted the holo sparkle this had! Then just for fun I mattified it with Essie Matte About You. The middle picture is intentionally left blurry to show the holo glitter.

Application was pretty much the same as yesterday's swatches. What do you think of these glitters?

Icing glitters - part 1

2012-01-23T11:18:00.001-05:00

Before Christmas, I found these glitter polishes at Icing and they were so unique I went ahead and picked them up. It's taken me this long to get them swatched for you. I bought 4 and am going to be dividing the swatches up into 2 posts.

Today I have Disco Ball and Party Confetti

Sally Hansen Green Tea and Disco Ball - I would describe Green Tea as a dusky light green color. Like a mint but with a more greyish cast to it. I had high hopes for Green Tea, but sadly - I did have some application issues with it. My bottle was very thin and watery, so I had to be mindful of how much polish I loaded on my brush. Also, as I suspected, the first coat was very streaky - which mostly evened out on the second coat. I did have one nail that required three coats because even with 2, I didn't get opaque coverage. I do however, love Sally Hansen's brush. It is just perfect for the shape of my nails and the tapered or rounded end gives me a cleaner cuticle line.

I've layered Icing Disco Ball over Green Tea in these photos. Disco Ball appears to be a clear base with small and large hex blue glitter particles. As you can see in the photos though, the base color has now taken on a decidedly blue tint so the base must have just a hint of blue in it. As with many glitter polishes, the base on these was very thick and goopy, making it difficult for uniform coverage with the glitter. You may have to resort to placing the large hex glitters individually (like I did) with an orange stick or toothpick.

And here is Green Tea all by itself

Orly Purple Crush and Party Confetti - I think I made a poor choice on the base color with this one. As Purple Crush is a neon (and cameras tend to freak out at trying to photograph neons), the pictures lost a lot of the depth that this color combination really had. You can find Purple Crush swatched under the Orly tag elsewhere on our blog. Party Confetti is a clear base with small and large fuschia hex glitter and a sprinkling of large purple hex glitter. Again - same problem with application - it's difficult to get the glitter to spread evenly and some of the larger hex glitters have to be coaxed from the bottle with an orange stick.

In conclusion here is my unofficial review of these Icing glitters -

Pros

Unique color combinations; if you are a glitter nail polish fan you will like these
Price (I paid $4.50 per bottle)

Cons

Application (difficult to get large glitters out of bottle)
Cleanup - I had glitter everywhere when trying to remove these

Watch for part 2 later in the weekend with the remaining Icing glitter polishes!

Springy Spongey Konad

2012-01-20T07:00:00.001-05:00

Yes...I know it is January 20th. But we got about 3 inches of snow yesterday so I needed a spring pick me up. I am hoping this winter won't last until like May since the first part of it was pretty tame :\

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, then sponged randomly on top of the white with China Glaze Lemon Fizz, China Glaze Peachy Keen, China Glaze Electric Pineapple and Essie French Affair. Add a coat of Fairy Dust (duh) and I stamped with the flowery butterfly plate (RA 102). I really need a better white stamping polish because this Sinful one does NOT show up opaque enough. But I kind of like the subtlety it gives it.

The end result is an overly spring mani that looks way out of place in this dreary wintery Indiana weather, but I don't care because it's pretty and I like it! :D

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tape Mani using China Glaze Sea Spray

2012-01-18T10:33:00.001-05:00

This one's been sitting in my pictures folder for a few weeks... I never got around to posting it. But I am now, because I've had a terrible bout of sinus headaches over the past few days so I don't have anything else to show you guys :( Hard to do your nails when your head pounds every time you move it, huh?

I hadn't done a tape mani in a while and was feeling pretty unmotivated on nail art, so I settled for a simple funky french mani. The base color is China Glaze Sea Spray and the tips are done with China Glaze First Mate and Cult Nails In A Trance.

I promise we'll have some posts up for you soon. Take care :)

Orly Orange Punch leopard

2012-01-14T18:28:00.001-05:00

Any one that knows me knows I'm a big football fan. And since my team unfortunately had a dreadful year, I had to go with a surrogate team for the playoffs. :) I know that the Denver Broncos have been in the news a lot because of Tim Tebow, but I find it refreshing to have a good positive role model for kids; not some gun toting, girlfriend beating thug. So here's my nod to the NFL playoffs with my Denver Broncos leopard print.

The base is Orly Orange Punch, which applied like an absolute dream. Smooth with good opacity for a creme/jelly. One coat gave pretty good coverage, but I am a creature of habit and applied a second. Then i stamped over it with konad plate 57 and special polish in blue, and dotted the spots with white acrylic paint.

As Amanda says... "Rawr"

I'll always be a Colts fan though. You can take the girl out of Indiana, but you can't take Indiana out of the girl :)

Sally Hansen Oxide

2012-01-13T11:50:00.002-05:00

Picked up this little beauty at Rite Aid on clearance for 3.75. It's from the fall Tracy Reese limited edition.

Oxide is a black shimmer (almost bordering a foil or frost) that applied like a dream. The opacity was good - I still had some patchiness after the first coat which was completely covered by the second coat. It leveled well with no pooling and dried fast.

When Oxide was completely dried, I stamped over it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep using Red Angel plate 111. I had some minor issues getting the stamp completely centered - but I like it anyway! I've been having a really hard time finding the motivation to do my nails with them being nubbins, being sick, and all the other life changes I've gone through lately - but I actually enjoyed this one! Maybe I'm getting my nail mojo back.

A Whale of a Nail

2012-01-12T08:49:00.000-05:00

Hi guys, this is just something fun I did a few days ago that I thought I'd share. The pics of it didn't turn out too well, but I was quite amused at the way these whale nails turned out. They're so goofy looking they're almost cute! Hahahah.

They're such happy, chunky whales!!

Pink Wednesday (Holo Goodness Edition!): Sally Hansen - Ruby Diamond

2012-01-11T07:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Hump Day!

Today I am showing you Sally Hansen Ruby Diamond.

Ruby Diamond is a beautiful medium pink holo that was applied almost perfectly albeit a little runny. These pictures are two coats -- you could get away with one if you wanted a more subtle holo effect, but I like the way two looks.

Not much to say about this one, but, it's a pink holo!!!! And by the grace of God it happened to be sunny when I was taking pictures of this puppy. Bam.

Have a great week!

Abstract Dots

2012-01-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hi all! Long time no post! When I wasn't busy I just could NOT for the life of me think of anything exciting to do to my nails. But I think I'm finally back into the swing of things so hopefully that means more regular posts for you guys. It's weird not having a post up every day or every other day!

The base is Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud (sidenote: These SH CSM bottles are ridiculously hard to hold and get a good picture with....off topic) and the big dots are made with: white acrylic paint, China Glaze 108 Degrees, China Glaze Entourage and Essie French Affair. I just used a tiny dotting tool and a small nail art brush to do the detail work. The UBER tiny dots are made with the point of a pushpin! I don't have a dotting tool that small ;-)

This design is based off of a background I saw on ShutterStock. That's a great place to look for inspiration if you can't think of what to do, btw :)

Hope everyone's having a fabulous week!

Finger Paints Flecked

2012-01-09T10:26:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone. I'm happy to be well enough to post again, as the last 2 weeks has been a real challenge for me. The flu has really knocked me on my butt - I was sick in bed for 6 full days. By the time I was beginning to feel a little bit better, I had to prepare for Amanda's visit to Boston. We had only 3 glorious days together before she and her brother returned to Indy.

My nails have taken a beating this winter. Since November they've been in terrible shape - first from all the packing and moving/lifting heavy boxes, coupled with the cold weather and being sick (I broke 2 on my picture hand one night as I stumbled to the bathroom) - I've had to cut them down to nubs again. So until they grow back out you'll have to live with my non picture hand nubbins.

I did manage to score two complete sets of the Finger Paints Special Effects flakies yesterday. The one I'm showcasing today is Flecked - which is a green flakie that flashes blue in some lighting. Here I have layered it over OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow, which is a deep forest green.

I used two coats for my pictures, but the flakies are very dense and one coat will actually cover quite nicely. With the small amount I used (even using 2 coats) I can tell this polish will last me a while. The special effects polishes are meant for layering, and although you can use them over any color, applying over dark colors is where they really shine. I did experience a little bit of tip shrinkage which was most likely caused by the SV top coat.

Amanda's Top 11 Polishes of 2011

2012-01-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

I know everyone is doing these, so I am jumping on the bandwagon!

Keep in mind....during 2011 I was a broke joke for most of the year (actually, I still am a broke joke) so I didn't really get too many new polishes. And there's definitely polishes that would be on this list.... if I had them. But alas, I don't, so you get stuck with a boring top 2011 list! Or exciting because it will be different from everyone putting Glitter Gal and A-England on their lists.... depending on how you look at it ;)

These are in no particular order! Also some of the pictures suck because they were from when I first started blogging....but you get the picture.

1. China Glaze - Sea Spray (Anchors Away collection; Spring 2011)
China Glaze's Anchors Away collection of Spring 2011 was practically made for me. I love pastels, so is it really any surprise that this was one of my favorite colors of the year? And, it was the base for Mad Manis' most popular post ever, my dandelion nails!

2. Zoya - Faye (Sunshine collection; Summer 2011)
I LOVE Zoya polishes, and Faye is one of the most unique polishes in my collection!

3. OPI - Teenage Dream (Katy Perry collection)
Teenage Dream is the most perfect glitter polish in my entire stash. Filled with tiny microglitter and large holographic glitter, what's not to love?!

4. China Glaze - Trendsetter (Metro collection; Fall 2011)
Trendsetter is so ugly it's pretty! I happen to love this color because it's weird and unique, but I do get weird looks when I wear it. Things like "That's uh.....pretty?" I love it!

5. Zoya - Sooki (Summertime collection; Summer 2011)
The most perfect red creme in existence. Nothing else needs to be said.

6. China Glaze - Snowglobe (Let It Snow collection; holiday 2011)
I know this one wasn't released in 2011, but it was re-released as part of China Glaze's holiday collection, and boy is this name accurate! It looks like little chunks of snow all over your nails. So sparkly and pretty, but a PITA to take off.

7. Zoya - Neeka (Smoke and Mirrors collection; fall 2011)
Dusty purple with tiny flecks of glitter in it. Love!

8. Wet n Wild - Rockin Rubies (Ice Baby collection; winter 2011)
My good friend Steph from Imperfectly Painted got this for me for a Secret Santa gift and it shot to the top of my favorites list. Here it's layered over China Glaze Brownstone and WOW. Look at the depth in this one! It's a great red glitter.

9. Color Club - Revvvolution (Femme Fatale)
This isn't a 2011 release either, but I received this one in 2011 so it counts for me. I HAVE to include this...this is probably in my ALL TIME favorite polish list. A charcoal grey holo. WHEE!! I wish the holo was a bit stronger, but I still love it.

10. OPI - I Lily Love You (Nice Stems collection; summer 2011)
I didn't really much care for any of the other polishes in the Nice Stems collection, but this one is just too pretty to pass up. Pink flakies!

11. China Glaze - Brownstone (Metro collection, Fall 2011)
China Glaze's Metro collection was one of my favorite ever. I liked almost all of the colors in it, but only picked up a few. Brownstone is a reddish brown burgundy color that applies like a dream.

Nail/blog resolutions for 2012?

2012-01-01T17:59:00.000-05:00

Take better care of my cuticles by using my Lemon Butter more than just, "whenever my cuticles get super dry and flaky" and more than right before I take pictures for the blog
Use as little acetone as I can because it dries out my nails and cuticles!
Be more patient with filing and shaping my nails. I hate filing and feel like I can never get them shaped as square as I want them so I just give up
Blog about more than just NOTDs. Tips, tutorials, conversation topics!
Get on a more structured schedule for posting instead of whenever the hell I feel like it!
Meet more people in the nail community :)

What are your resolutions for this year? They don't have to be just nail/blog resolutions! :)

A quick update

2011-12-30T14:52:00.000-05:00

I had intended to post a couple New Years manicures this week but have been slammed by the flu. I've been sick in bed for 3 days and Amanda is working so much in the post holiday shopping rush that she's been too tired to do her nails. Bear with us and we'll be back soon!!

New Years Eve Mani - Gradient Stars

2011-12-27T13:25:00.000-05:00

Hi all. I know I know, it's been a bit since one of us has posted. But the holidays are crazy busy and I just couldn't find time to do my nails or get any posts up! Sorry about that :)

Since Christmas is over, I have to start on my new holiday to create nail art for -- New Years! Even though I'll probably only get two designs in ;)

I started with a base of China Glaze Cheers To You. Then I sponged on China Glaze Skyscraper on the tips. A coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust (duh) and some hand painted and Konad stamped stars complete this look! Pretty easy really.

Did you all have a lovely Christmas? What was your favorite gift? I got the Naked palette! From my dad! That was a shocker! Hope you're all having a fabulous week. We had our first snow of the year here in Indy! First snow of the year.... on December 27. Crazy!

Christmas Eve mani featuring Milani Gold

2011-12-23T09:32:00.001-05:00

I have been feeling really uninspired lately regarding my manicures. After a couple days pondering it, I finally decided on this as my holiday manicure for Christmas Eve. I'm still undecided as to whether I'll remove it and do something different for Christmas Day or if I'll be too tired after all the festivities.

I wanted a yellow gold base instead of a white gold. Does that make sense? More of a true gold color. I only have a couple gold foils in my collection so that limits my choices. So for the base, I used one coat of Orly Glitz. It went on very smoothly and one coat was pigmented enough for the base I needed.

I wanted just a hint of holographic flash to poke out from underneath the glitter, so next I applied one coat of China Glaze Cleopatra. This is a clear base with gold and holographic microglitter. It's very sheer and the glitter is surprisingly sparse considering how saturated it looks in the bottle. If you were using this alone you'd need to build it with several coats.

The crowning glory was Milani Gold and I used 2 coats. This is from their Rock Star Heavy Glitter line and is a clear base just packed with large gold hex glitter. Very blingy. The formula is a little thick and I find I have glitter glob buildup around the neck of the jar if I'm not careful. You'll also need to use the 'push it around your nail' technique to distribute the glitter evenly. Be sure to wait for your base coat to dry before applying a second coat or you'll just end up moving around the glitter from your first coat!

And thank you to Amanda at Fashion Footing for awarding us the "Glitter in Their Veins" award for mastering the art of glitter nail polish. I definately am a glitter lover, but I'm not sure about my Amanda. She's a work in progress :) Btw have you noticed how many nail bloggers are named Amanda or Mandy?

Matte Party Hearty Glittery Goodness

2011-12-19T21:49:00.000-05:00

Hi ladies. It's been a while since I've posted it seems -- I've been completely swamped with work. Working in retail around Christmas season is hell, I've learned. I have gained so much respect for people who like working retail because I clearly am just not cut out for it. I've been working pretty long shifts the past few times I've worked, and when I get home I'm so exhausted and irritated that the last thing I want to do is do my nails. The couch beckons.

On top of that, I had the stomach flu today. I woke up Sunday night/Monday morning with stomach cramps so bad I thought my appendix was rupturing! Bah, not fun. But don't worry, I am feeling better and have prepared a post for you girls. Yes, I will stop rambling :)

I wasn't really feeling up to doing any nail art tonight, but I still wanted to be festive. Sadly though, I don't have many greens and I've been doing reds all month it seems! So I settled on China Glaze Watermelon Rind. It's not exactly a Christmas green as it has kind of a blue undertone, but I actually think it turned out really nicely in this mani.

I had to use three coats of WR -- the formula was really watery and it kept flooding my cuticles. Drat! Then of course, I had to be festive and put on a coat of China Glaze Party Hearty. I sealed with a coat of Seche Vite....but something more needed to be added. But what!?

I decided to channel my inner Polished Perfectionist and mattify the glitter. Oh how I love this!! I have always liked matte nails but for some reason I always forget about my Matte Magic so I don't wear them nearly as often as I would like. I just can never think to use it!

I did notice that using a coat of SV before the MM seemed to make the matte look much better. Every other time I've used MM it looks a little streaky, but I think the Seche Vite did the trick.

This is so simple and easy, but I am digging it! Festive and cheery, don't you think?!

Hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas week with friends and family, and remember, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

Color Club Holiday Splendor

2011-12-17T13:11:00.001-05:00

I think Amanda and I swatched this holiday line way back when in late October or early November but I haven't had a chance to wear it as a full mani until now. And I was really missing out because this is truly a spectacular color.

I used one coat of Color Club Perfect Molten as a base - it is a light green foil and you can find it under the Color Club tag on our blog. Then.. over the top I applied Holiday Splendor. It's pretty in the bottle but on the nail is where it really shines. My bottle is a little thick so I had to be careful with application (I left my thinner behind in the move, gotta pick up a new bottle)- but look at the holo goodness in this poilsh - oh my gosh! I have a feeling I'll be holding my hands up to the sunlight today to drink in the beauty of this one.

Some of the pictures are left intentionally blurry to show off the holographic glitter.

Wow. I love this one. I'm glad I wore it before the holidays were over. It reminds me of a Christmas wreath!

It just wouldn't be the holidays..

2011-12-15T08:00:00.003-05:00

without Elle's Spell.

We swatched this lovely earlier in the year but I had to share it again now that the holidays have rolled around.

I started with a base coat of Revlon Devil's Lure, which is one of my favorite dark vampy red (almost black) polishes. You can find it swatched on our blog.

Then I applied one coat of Barielle Elle's Spell, which is a gorgeous flakey in a sheer red base. You can use it on it's own without layering, but you'll need multiple coats to build the opacity. Behold - instant holiday cheer!

In sunlight..

And in shade..

Eyegasm: Holiday Glitterbomb

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hi guys! Today I have an AWESOME layering combo to show you guys!

I received Wet n Wild Rockin Rubies from Steph the other day as a Secret Santa present! Rockin Rubies is part of Wet n Wild's Ice Baby collection. She also sent me the pinkish purple one and the teal one as well as some other fun goodies which I will be showing you throughout this week!

I started with two coats of China Glaze Brownstone which is one of my most favorite colors from this entire year. It's a brownish reddish burgundy creme and I LOVE it. Then I used one coat of Rockin Rubies on top and....omg. It's pretty much awesomesauce. I recommend big-ulating these pics to see the sparkly goodness!

Rockin Rubies is a red microglitter with holographic particles in a sheer-ish red base. I LOVE how RR over Brownstone looks. If you look at swatches of RR on it's own, it looks a little.....dull, but here it just looks so amazing!

In the shade!

I stared at this ALL day at work on Sunday. The only bad thing about this is that it's a top coat sucker upper... I used two coats of Seche Vite and while it's pretty much smooth, it still dried to a duller finish than I'd anticipated. It looked AWESOME when the SV was still shiny but, ah well, it's still so shiny and sparkly and glitter-tastic!!

I can't wait to use the other two polishes I received! Hopefully I can come up with some equally awesome glitterbombs :)

Have a great day ladies! Happy Tuesday!

Christmas Present Mani

2011-12-11T09:57:00.000-05:00

Hi all. It would not be Christmas without a Christmas present mani so that's what I'm showing you today!

The base colors from L to R are: China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses, Wet n Wild Burgundy Frost, China Glaze Starboard and China Glaze Stroll. The bows were just made by mixing different acrylic paints and using a striper brush.

CURSE THIS MANI!! It chipped like none other and I have no idea why. I used Seche Vite on it. Burgundy Frost always chips on me in less than a day, but this entire thing went crazy after like one single day. Behold:

Oh well. It looked cute for the day that it lasted :)

Hope you all are doing well! See you later :)

Simple snowman nailart

2011-12-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

Admittedly, my nail art skills pale in comparison to Amanda's. These old(er) hands can't hold the paintbrush as steady as a 20something. ;-) But here is a cute design I saw on some holiday plates that I wanted to recreate on my nails.

I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow matte. As usual with white polish, I had some minor issues with streakiness and patchiness necessitating 3-4 coats.

Then after the base was completely dry, I painted a stripe of black acrylic paint at the base of my nails for the hat then used a dotting tool for the eyes and a thin striper for the smile. The carrot nose is made with orange acrylic paint and a small nail art brush.

I first attempted this nail art with actual black polish, but found that it was too streaky and didn't cover well so I switched to acrylic paint.

The ring finger snowman's smile has turned into a grimace. It looks like he has something to say...

Mad Manis in Scratch Magazine

2011-12-09T09:29:00.001-05:00

Hi girls! We just have something exciting to tell you -- we were featured in December's issue of Scratch Magazine! They got our names backward, but oh, well :)

The article is below if you're interested :)

Wintery Penguins Tutorial

2011-12-08T17:03:00.000-05:00

Hey all! Here is a tutorial for my penguin nail art for those of you who are interested.

Ta-da! If you recreate this I would LOVE to see your version!

Wintery Penguins

2011-12-08T07:00:00.003-05:00

What would winter be without adorable penguins! That's what I decided to do for today's post.

I started with a base of Zoya Jo and freehanded the penguins with acrylic paint. I like that they are peeking out from the side! I think it gives them a cool perspective.

Not much to say about this one, but I love em! I also took pictures for a tutorial, so let me know below if you want to see that. What do you think of my little peng'inns? Have a great day!

A return to blogging and Christmas present nails

2011-12-07T08:00:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! I'm back! Thanks to Amanda for completely carrying the blog for almost the entire month of November while I was packing and making arrangements to move cross country from Indianapolis to Boston. I'm now (mostly) settled into my new place and can once again start paying attention to my nails.

My nails - ug. Any of you who have moved know how stressful it is on your nails. Packing and unpacking boxes not to mention lifting them. I think I've broken the corner off nearly every one of my nails in the last month, so I was forced to cut them down to Super Nubs and hope that they will grow back out by Christmas. My cuticles are weeping.

The drive was horrendous. Who would have thought that the blizzard we had to drive through would be in Indiana not Mass? We intended to drive 7 hours the first day and 9 the second, but the weather was so bad that we were over an hour behind schedule and had to stop an hour early just to get out of the storm. That made for a very long 12.5 hour drive on day 2 (counting some additional weather slow downs). Remember that scene in Star Wars where they make the drive to hyperspace? Try driving in that kind of weather for 6 straight hours. Case in point -

Yes, that is literally what our windshield looked like as we were pounded by a snow storm.

So 2 days later we arrived Boston. Most of my stuff arrived intact, minus the plate glass from my china cabinet that came broken in 2 pieces and my poor, poor light box.

So anyway, on to the mani..

I started with China Glaze Midnight Kiss, which is a sparkly gold foil. Then I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Rapid Red. I was really hoping for more of a contrast, but I'm happy with the more subtle way it turned out. It kinda looks like wrapping paper.

I actually prefer stamping my nails when they are shorter because the full nail designs fit better. Incidentally - I'm apparently out of practice with konad after taking a month off because I had to redo nearly all of the nails on my picture hand at least twice with the index finger taking 4 tries to get the stamp straight. ug. And then I guess I bumped it with an acetone soaked cotton square where the design is missing. Too much time off!

Christmas Mani -- Cute Santa

2011-12-02T11:27:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I'm so excited to start Christmas manis EEE!! I played around with my nail wheels last night and came up with some cute ideas so I sat down and did this one for today. It's an adorable chunky Santa!

I started with two coats of China Glaze Starboard. This is an awesome Christmas green in my opinion. Maybe a little light, but it worked for this mani :) Here is a swatch of Starboard in case you've yet to see one....unlikely.

Then I painted all nails except for my middle fingers with China Glaze Party Hearty. I told you I was going to make up for lost time by using this all the time! I love it. It's just so festive!

Chunky Santa was made with acrylic paints and that's it. Pretty simple really. Voila!

Day 31: Recreate your favorite challenge

2011-12-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Day 31 -- the LAST day of the challenge! Holy smokes, I can't believe I finished this and did 31 manis in a month. That is CRAZY!! I'm kind of glad this is the last day though because I'm wiped out and my poor cuticles are a MESS from all the nail polish remover I've used in the last month. I'm looking forward to getting back to a regular posting every few days and am excited for the return of Mama on the blog! For those of you wondering, she has been busy this past month packing for her big move to Boston (which was why I decided to do the challenge during said month) and now she is there so she will have more time to post for you guys! :)

For this challenge, I wanted to recreate this mani that Chalkboard Nails did that SHE recreated from Cindy Blogs Nails. My owls aren't as fun colors as Sarah's, but I think they still turned out pretty cute! (Except for the one on my pointer finger that looks a little uh....special.)

That wraps up the challenge! Holy cow! Now I'll be able to focus on Christmas designs for you guys :)

Have a good day!

Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

2011-11-30T14:31:00.000-05:00

Hello all! I've wanted to try this for a long time now and figured now's a better time than any!

They're cute little pandas! This tutorial is one that CutePolish made. Watch the video here!

What's a better for me to do than pandas?! Get it? Amanda Panda?? :D

I used a base of China Glaze Innocence to make a nice canvas for my little pandas......and to cover up my horrible stained nails. Then I just drew the white panda face with a white polish and used acrylic paints and dotting tools for the eyes, ears and pupils. One of the simplest nail art designs I've ever done!

Voila! Tomorrow's the end of the challenge.... kinda bittersweet! Ok...not really. I am tired and my cuticles are crying for some rest.

See ya tomorrow! :)

Day 29: Inspired by the supernatural (Adorable aliens!)

2011-11-29T07:00:00.001-05:00

Day 29! AHHH!!! Only two days left! What ever will my manis be? Guess you'll have to stay tuned ;)

For supernatural day, I was originally going to do angels and devils. But my dear friend Jen (hi Jen!) told me she thought aliens would be a good idea for supernatural. I agreed! Plus I didn't know how to execute angels/devils and didn't want to risk possibly offending anyone by insinuating that either of those 2 are not real so I decided to go with aliens :)

I started with two coats of Zoya Kelly. In retrospect I should've used a lighter color. I started the aliembs with a black outline but it was too hard to see over Kelly so I ended up painting over most of it. Plus I needed to make the little dudes a little plumper!

Lol I always have the goofiest drawings on my pinky. Maybe because it's the smallest so I can't fit an image the same size on it? He kind of looks like Mike Wazowski with two eyes...And I just realized the alien on my pointer finger looks like Plankton!

The aliens are made with acrylic paint and an itty bitty teeny weeny paintbrush. Boy was this tedious! I can't imagine how long it would've taken had I added shadows, but I like the cartoony effect these have :) Maybe I've redeemed myself from my weak, easy-way-out posts the last couple days? Haha

I think these little aliens are so cute, and they were pretty easy to do actually! All you need is patience :)

WE COME IN PEACE!!

Day 28: Inspired by a flag

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

For Day 28, I decided to do the country flag of the Netherlands!

This mani was very simple -- two coats of Sally Hansen All Fired Up as the base. AFU is a perfect red creme -- opaque in just two coats. I didn't even mind the super wide chunky brush with this one!

The stripes are made from a white striper and the blue polish is Sinful Midnight Blue. The stripes could've been much neater, but let's face it -- I don't have the patience for taping right now. Mom's getting ready for a big move so it's been chaotic around here!

See you tomorrow for supernatural day! :)

Day 27: Inspired by artwork

2011-11-27T07:00:00.008-05:00

Only 4 more days in the challenge! Thank goodness because I am getting wiped out! Today's theme is inspired by artwork. I didn't have the patience to do something extreme like Starry Night, so I did this love sculpture by Robert Indiana.

The base color for this is China Glaze Caribbean Blue and the green is Finger Paints Scenery Greenery. I freehanded the letters with red acrylic paint. I think it turned out pretty well, just wish I had gotten a better picture of it!

There is a copy of Indiana's Love sculpture at the Indiana Museum of Art here. So much Indiana!

Happy Sunday!

Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

2011-11-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

I don't even know what this means....so I just went with a simple Konad-icure. I had to work Black Friday yesterday and was quite tired when I sat down to do this mani so I kept it easy.

The base is China Glaze Strawberry Fields with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust over top. Then I just stamped this image using Konad special polish in Black (which is a great deal more difficult to clean up than regular black polish...but that's a whole other post) and topped with a coat of Poshe.

Sorry for the quick post today (er, last night as I am writing this on Friday) but I am wiped out!

Day 25: Inspired by fashion

2011-11-25T07:00:00.006-05:00

Nobody ever said this prompt meant "inspired by good fashion" ... and that's exactly where I took this one!

I was inspired by tacky Christmas sweaters! (Thanks to Steph for suggesting this idea) They are totally not fashionable in the slightest, but I think this mani turned out SO CUTE!

I used a base of Sinful GoGo Girl and drew the little snowmen with acrylic paint. The snowflakes were done using a small Konad stamp and white Sinful polish.

Here's my inspiration for this mani:

What do you think of these tacky snowmen nails? Appropriate for the holidays?

Day 24: Inspired by a movie

2011-11-24T07:00:00.005-05:00

Hello ladies! For my inspired by a movie day I decided to do Wizard of Oz nails!

On my pointer finger, I have the wicked witch of the west. I know that this is technically an image from Wicked, but I still thought it was appropriate and I didn't know how else to draw an evil witch :) Base color for this is China Glaze Entourage.

My middle finger is the yellow brick road! The grass is made with a base coat of China Glaze Starboard and sponged with China Glaze Cha Cha Cha. The yellow is acrylic paint.

The ring finger is none other than Dorothy's dress! I realize in the movie her dress was actually checkered....but I'm a rebel and don't like to play by the rules. Base color is Sinful White on White and the blue stripes are acrylic paint.

Lastly, the pinky is Dorothy's slippers! Base color is Zoya Sooki with two coats of Sally Hansen Downtown Rubies -- the perfect Dorothy shoes color!

We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz!!

Day 23: Inspired by a book

2011-11-23T07:00:00.004-05:00

I do not like green eggs and ham!

I decided to go with a children's book for Inspired by a book day. And you guessed it -- I picked none other than Green Eggs & Ham by good ole Dr. Seuss. I loved this book when I was a wee little lass :)

My pointer and pinky fingers have the green eggs and ham on them! The middle finger is the line "I would not eat them in a boat..." and the ring finger is "I would not eat them in the rain..."

I wish I could've done images that rhymed but I simply just don't have enough fingers to :P

Short post for today, hope you all have a good one!

Day 22: Inspired by a song

2011-11-22T07:00:00.002-05:00

Hello ladies. Today's nail theme is Inspired by a song.

That is so vague! There are so many songs I could choose from and I just had no idea where to start! I knew I wanted to represent different lyrics on different nails....but which song? Originally I thought of doing Last Friday Night because there's lots of fun lyrics that are paint-able, but then I thought that everybody is probably tired of that song (along with me). So, I settled on a song that I loved back in High School -- Konstantine by Something Corporate. I heard this my freshman year when my guard instructor taught us a rifle routine using it, and ever since it's been one of my most favorite songs by the talented Andrew McMahon.

Nails/Corresponding lyrics:
Thumb: "I always catch the clock, it's 11:11, and now you want to talk"
Pointer: "It's always you and my big dreams"
Middle: "This is because I can spell confusion with a K and I can like it"
Ring: "I'm not your star, isn't that what you said"
Pinky: "Wake up lying in a patch of four leaf clovers"

Here's the song for reference:

These inspired by posts are hard! It's difficult to decide what to do/what would be too hard/what would look good!

Have a great day!

Day 21: Inspired by a Color

2011-11-21T07:00:00.001-05:00

Only 10 days left in the challenge! EEEEK!

Today's theme is "Inspired by a color." I took this to mean inspired by a polish name....so that's what I ran with!

I started with two coats of Orly Sweet Peacock for the base. (Sidenote: This is one of those weird polishes that chipped on me after less than 12 hours but was HARD to get off. Maybe because it's a foil?)

I knew I wanted to do peacock feathers to represent this polish/color name. To draw the peacock feathers, I used a striper nail art brush and China Glaze Trendsetter and Cha Cha Cha. The middle portion is made with Wet n Wild Rustic (brown), China Glaze For Audrey (teal) and China Glaze First Mate (center dot). They turned out better than I was expecting!

I was channeling my inner Katy Perry while doing this mani!

Magical, colorful, Mr. Mystery!

Day 20: Water Marble (the most epic fail in Mad Manis history)

2011-11-20T07:00:00.004-05:00

I'm warning you. Turn....back.....before it's too late!!! GO!! Save yourself!!

Ok, a bit melodramatic. But seriously. This might possibly be the worst manicure that's been on the blog....ever. This one is definitely being filed under the "fail" tags! :P

Watermarbling is not my thing (obviously). I just can't do it -- I've tried before and it was just as dismal as this one is. Maybe a little worse ;)

I especially love the bubble on my ring finger...

I did everything I read that I was supposed to do. Room temperature water - check. Base coat of white on my nails - check. Opaque polishes that spread easily - check. And it still looks like a hot mess!! I don't know what I'm doing wrong!

I'm embarrassed to even post this on here, and I almost just skipped out on this day completely because I was so frustrated. But I said I'd do all the prompts, and I am. This one just doesn't look good...at all ;) Maybe someone can relate? Haha.

Suffice it to say I will not be trying marbling again anytime soon. Probably anytime EVER AGAIN. Have you guys had any problems with water marbling? Give me some tips if you know any! :)

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-11-19T21:12:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Sarah from The Giveaway Lifestyle for awarding us the Versatile Blogger Award!

There are two simple rules in accepting this award:

List 7 things about yourself.
Pass this along to 15 other bloggers that deserve this award.

Melissa's response..

1. Although my name literally translates from Greek as "honeybee" I'm absolutely terrified of bees.
2. I think I have an obsessive personality. I have a stash of over 200 polishes that I keep on a specially made shelf so I can see them every day (instead of keeping them in a Helmer. 10 years ago I was a scrapbooker and stashed scrapbooking supplies, paper and tools.
3. I'm an animal lover. I love all furries, big and small.
4. I collect fairies.
5. I'm a gamer chick nerd. I have played online role playing games for years.
6. I used to be an aspiring body builder, but I lacked the discipline to follow the rigorous diet.
7. My daughter is the light of my life.

Amanda's response...

1. In high school, I was part of my school's color guard (the people who spin flags etc for those of you who don't know ;] ). I spun flag, rifle AND sabre! Rifle was my favorite, and I hated sabre with a passion.
2. Ever since I was little, I've collected cow stuffed animals and figurines. No idea why -- one day my friend and I decided we'd like cows I guess. :)
3. The person responsible for my obsession with nail polish and nail art is the girl that runs Fuck Yeah Pretty Nails. One day I randomly stumbled upon that Tumblr and from then on I was hooked. I think I had about 5 polishes (all old, crappy ones of course) and my beginning nail art was atrocious.
4. I still have my brother and I's old n64 and yes, I DO still play on it. I play childish platformer games on it like Donkey Kong and Banjo Kazooie. Takes me back to when I was 12 :) I also race a MEAN Mario Kart, if you must know. ;)
5. I've lived in the same house, in the same city in the same state since I was 3. I'm 22 now!
6. I do my nails multiple times a week, but only paint my toenails once every month or 6 weeks. Also I suck at it; it looks like a 5 year old painted my toenails!
7. My dream job would be to do marketing and promotions for some kind of polish or cosmetic company. I majored in advertising and marketing in college. I graduated in May and am still looking for full-time employment!

15 Blogs that we think deserve this award...

Nail Stories
Omgnoodles
Pixie Polish
Kayla Shevonne
Copy That, Copy Cat
Imperfectly Painted
Mandy's Secrets
The Nail Polish Enthusiast
My Polish Stash
Nails and Noms
Nails in Nippon
Sonoma Nail Art
Chalkboard Nails
Adventures in Acetone
Rins

Ready....go!

ALSO: As you can see, we added the Disqus commenting system. Hopefully this will make it easier for us to respond to your comments since Blogger's sucks for that! Let us know if you like this or not -- if you don't we will certainly change it back to Blogger's!

Day 19: Galaxy Nails

2011-11-19T07:00:00.006-05:00

Galaxy nails! I've wanted to do these for a LONG time and now I had my chance! Yay!!

I started with a base of two coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather. Then I sponged on Orly Sweet Peacock, Sally Hansen Barracuda, Sally Hansen Pink Blink and a yellowy green Wet 'n Wild (can't remember the name right now).

After that, I made dots using Zoya Purity then used one coat of Orly Shine On, Crazy Diamond (obviously named by a hippie). Seal with a topcoat and you're good to go!

I am loving these galaxy nails and I am loving even more how EASY they were to do! Just a little bit of sponging, some tiny microglitter and you're done! I'll definitely have to try this again with some different colors because I looooove the way this turned out. I don't want to take this one off! :(

Do you guys like galaxy nails? Or are they too "out of this world" for you? BAZINGA!! I slay me :)

Zoya Cody fauxnad-icure

2011-11-18T19:00:00.004-05:00

Tonight's post was just a quicky faux nadicure. haha. nadicure. Maybe that should be fauxnad icure.

This is a base of Zoya Cody (which I love!) Cody's a deep dusky brown creme and applies like a dream.

Then I just stamped with my gold Sally Hansen foil pen over the top.

Day 18: Half Moons

2011-11-18T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hello ladies!

At this point in the challenge, I am starting to feel a bit tired. Tired, uninspired....you name it. I sat down to do half moons with literally NO idea of where I wanted to go with the mani -- let me just tell you about my nightmare with half moons.

First, I wanted to do white moons with Zoya Phoebe. So I applied the white, put a coat of SV over and waited about half hours to use the reinforcement holes. Apparently it wasn't long enough because it pulled all the polish off. So, I removed it. Then I tried gold moons and attempted at freehanding the black over it. THAT didn't work either because they were so uneven (I obviously have a problem with patience). FINALLY, I was at my wit's end. I decided I'd just do a base color and wait until the next day to add the top color over the moons. And finally, success!

I started with two coats of Orly Star Spangled. Can you say LOVE?? I can! Love! It's no different than Ruby Pumps or Ruby Slippers...but I don't have either of those so I was like a kid on Christmas when I put this on. EEEE! Here's some pics of it alone. Because I'm sure you've NEVER seen a red glitter before. /sarcasm


Seriously though. Just enlarge that sucker!

I left it on overnight, and applied the reinforcement holes over top the next day. (I was so sad to cover up this beauty). I found that it is MUCH more hassle-free to wait until the polish has completely dried and cured before you put the reinforcements on. Just a little tip courtesy of your friendly nail neighbor ;)

Oh, the black is Ulta's Little Black Dress. Love!

I think this combo is so sexy and fierce. Makes me think of Dita von Teese a little. :) What do you guys think? Are you a fan of half moons?

Day 17: Glitter (China Glaze Party Hearty vs. Snowman Christmas glitter) [pic heavy]

2011-11-17T07:00:00.013-05:00

Hi guys! Today I have something fun for you for glitter day -- CHRISTMAS GLITTER!!!

And no, it is NOT too soon to start using Christmas glitter...they are starting Christmas sales and playing Christmas music at the mall I work at so :P

So...funny story. Mom picked up Party Hearty for me LAST year when the 2010 China Glaze holiday collection was out. So I had it with me at school, but didn't want to use it until closer to Christmas. So I go home for the holidays and lo and behold, I forget PH in my apartment at school. Sadness ensued since I never got to use it (it was unused until today!) and now I guess I'm making up for lost time. But I thought it would also be good to show you these two glitters in case you decide you want them for Christmas season :)

The snowman polish is one Mom's boyfriend picked up for me at a Rite-Aid in Boston (thanks Scott!). It it also quite festive and looks a bit similar to Party Hearty so I thought it'd be nice to show you guys a comparison :) Both of these polishes are layered over two coats of Zoya Purity.

Party hearty is red hex glitter, small green glitter and gold microglitter in a clear base. You have to kind of place it on the nail -- it doesn't spread out very evenly. Wait a bit between coats too or else you'll just move everything you put down with the first coat.

The snowman glitter (it has no name) is small round red and green glitter. It's much simpler than Party Hearty, but still pretty and festive :) Snowman polishes are made by the same company that made the Pumpkin polishes for Halloween. I know you can get them at Rite-Aid, and they might carry them at Meijer since they had the pumpkin polishes there, but I'm not sure. Let us know in the comments if you've seen them anywhere else!

Do you ladies have either of these polishes? Which do you prefer -- Party Hearty or the adorable snowman glitter? I think the snowman is so cute... but Party Hearty just makes me squee! It's Christmas in a bottle! I will be using this so much through December that I'm about 99% sure it will replace Fairy Dust for the time being. I'm sorry I abandoned you last year, Party Hearty...

...don't ever leave me. 'Cause I'd find you!!!

China Glaze Snow Globe over Orly Androgynie

2011-11-16T19:00:00.002-05:00

Hello readers. I haven't been posting much lately since Amanda is in the midst of the 31 day challenge and I don't want to screw up her schedule. Also I've been so busy preparing and packing for my move in 2 weeks - which is the reason for my nubbins. Packing is hell on your nails, lemmetellya. I hope you enjoy tonight's swatch.

I saw this combo over at Neverland Nail Blog and liked it so much I have recreated it here for you.

I started with 2 coats of Orly Androgynie (does anyone else read that andro gynie like hiney?). Androgynie is a black creme filled with what looks to be gold microglitter and larger hex glitter in yellow, orange, green and blue and is from the new Holiday Soiree limited edition. I did have some minor application issues with this one. It's thin - but gloopy at the same time. The first coat left some patchiness which the second coat cleared up; but I experienced some cuticle flooding and the finish dried rather gritty on some nails. The color reminds me of deep space. I was a little disappointed in this one. It's absolutely gorgeous in the bottle, but the base color seems to swallow up a lot of the pretty glitter on the nail. Also the glitter in my bottle seemed to sink to the bottom of the bottle and didn't want to disperse - even after shaking the bottle (which you all know, makes air bubbles in your polish!).

After Androgynie was dry, I applied 2 coats of China Glaze Snow Globe. Snow Globe is a multi colored irridescent glitter in a clear base and is intended to be layered. Be sure to let each coat dry thoroughly or you end up with the majority of the glitter at the tips like I did.

This combo is pretty much awesomesauce and actually reminds me a little of the halloween pumpkin multi colored glitter that I layered over black last month. This seems to be a popular layering combo this holiday season, as I have now seen several blogs do Snow Globe over black. Sadly, I did have some chipping on Days 3 and 4 which is unusual for Orly. Normally all I would experience would be tip wear. And speaking of tips, look how the SV shrunk the tips.

Day 16: Tribal Print

2011-11-16T07:00:00.002-05:00

Tribal print....one of the two manis of this challenge that I've been dreading since Day 1. And let me tell you.... I was completely right to dread this one!!

That's not to say that it didn't come out well.... it did, especially for my very first tribal mani... it was just the execution that sucked. This took FOR-EV-ER to do and I only did 4 nails! (Is that cheating??) Also, I didn't really have any sort of idea how to even begin. I found several tribal print manis and merged aspects of them into one that was a little more within the realms of my skill level.

The base color is Zoya Jancyn (Zoya, is that even a real name or are you just makin s#!* up now?), though you can't really tell because there's only a teeny weeny bit of it that ended up showing! The rest of the details were done with acrylic paint, a tiny paintbrush, and a LOT of patience.

Maybe I didn't like doing this one because I don't really dig tribal nails to begin with? I can appreciate the hard work that went into them but...eh, just not really my kind of style. But I can check tribal nails off of my nail to-do list, right? :)

Thanks for reading! Have a lovely Wednesday :)

Day 15: Delicate Print

2011-11-15T07:00:00.001-05:00

Hello ladies! Today's theme is delicate print. I feel like the term "delicate" is very up to interpretation, so I did another flower mani for today.

I started with two coats of OPI Play The Peonies then stamped over with this Konad flower image!

I think it definitely represents "delicate," how about you? I originally thought of doing snowflakes for today's theme, but.... I am very anti-snow and I don't want it to think it's welcome yet. Because it's not. I know, I know... I live in central Indiana. I should be used to snow by now. I am....but that doesn't mean I like it or want it anytime soon! :P

See you tomorrow for Tribal Print!

Day 14: Flowers

2011-11-14T07:00:00.003-05:00

Flowers! Yay I love doing flower manis. There are just so many options!

For today, I decided to do an abstract flower design. I started with a base of OPI DS Coronation. The colors I used for the flowers are Zoya Codie, Sinful White on White and OPI Sparrow Me The Drama.

Funky!

Day 13: Animal Print

2011-11-13T07:00:00.003-05:00

Hello ladies!

I struggled with what to do for animal print for a long time. I didn't really want to do one of your traditional animal prints (zebra, leopard, giraffe etc) but I couldn't find any inspiration for anything else. So today's post won't be as exciting as some ;)

I started with a base of Sinful Mint Apple which is a beautiful ... mint color. You guys should know by now that I suck at describing colors. Just trust me. ANYWAY, color is beautiful, but if you guys have seen my first post about it (I won't link it because it was one of my very first posts and it's horrible), my bottle of this has a HORRIBLY wonky brush on it. I took out the brush of a Sinful top coat I have and used that instead, but it made the consistency kind of weird on the first couple coats of color. Oh well, I got it evened out eventually :) My rant on this color chipping on me after 12 hours is a whole 'nother post.

Then I sponged on Essie French Affair lightly to give it some KAPOW! Stamped with Sinful White on White and plate m78. Then.....yes, I added some China Glaze Fairy Dust. (Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm addicted to Fairy Dust.)

Ta-da!

Day 12: Stripes (Fruit Stripe Gum!)

2011-11-12T07:00:00.002-05:00

Where are my ~~90's kids~~ any kid that remembers this? This one's for you!

Fruit Stripe Gum! Do you guys remember it? The flavor in it lasted all of about three minutes, but it was still so exciting. What can beat fruit colored gum that comes with TATTOOS?! I think nothing. I loved this stuff as a kid and thought it would be fun to do my stripe mani to look like the sticks of gum.

The base colors I used are (from L to R): China Glaze Entourage, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, China Glaze Solar Power, and Revlon Sheer Rose. I used acrylic paint for the stripes (polish was too hard to use).

It's funny -- the stripes didn't turn out very neat but I almost think that makes it look more realistic! They just look so yummy :)

Ahh...the good old days. I still listen to my 90's music and I'm not ashamed :)

Day 11: Polka Dots (Constellations!)

2011-11-11T07:00:00.012-05:00

Hi all! I'm excited to show you guys today's mani!

The theme for today is Polka Dots. Upon looking for inspiration, I started thinking about doing something a little out of the ordinary. When you hear the prompt "Polka Dots," I'm sure you think of something like this, right?

That's what I think of too...but the purpose of this challenge is for me to do things that I wouldn't normally think of!

Originally I thought of doing a sort of connect the dots mani and doing something like you'd see in a children's workbook with the dots and the corresponding numbers. But I didn't think I'd have enough room on each nail to do something like that... so I thought of something similar...

Constellations! I could still do dots that were supposed to represent something, but didn't have to draw parts of the image!

I used a base of Zoya Indigo for the night sky. Indigo is a beautiful navy blue with teeny tiny holographic glitter. The glitter wasn't noticeable enough to represent a night sky though, so what do I do? What else but add some Fairy Dust on top of it! I love Fairy Dust way more than I should...

Here are some pictures of Fairy Dust over Indigo:

Then I used the point of a needle (yes, a needle) to dot on the various constellations. Can you figure out what any of the constellations pictured below are? They are all actual formations!

Constellations from L to R: Orion's Belt, Hercules, Perseus, & Bootes (even though I admit it looks like The Big/Little Dipper

I am loving this constellation mani! And it was so so simple to do! Does this fall under Polka Dots or did I stray too much from the theme? ;)

Day 10: Gradient Nails featuring Teenage Dream

2011-11-10T07:00:00.004-05:00

I struggled for a while thinking about what to do for gradient nails. I wasn't feeling up to doing a full color gradient, so I decided to do a glitter gradient a la The Polished Perfectionist.

I started with three coats of Revlon Top Speed Candy. It's your regular old medium pink creme polish. One thing I find about these Top Speed polishes is that they seem to be pretty streaky -- I have another light colored Top Speed polish that is hard to get opaque because it is so streaky. Anyone else have that problem?

Anyway, then I sponged on OPI Teenage Dream at the base of my nails. I really like the way this looks as opposed to glitter fading down from the tips! Plus this mani is simple and that's what I need after a few busy manis in a row. ;)

Do you prefer glitter gradients from the tip down or the base up, like this one?

Day 9: Rainbow Nails

2011-11-09T07:00:00.005-05:00

Day 9: Rainbow Nails!!

I am so excited about these puppies! I tried a rainbow mani a week or so ago when I sat down and tried to swatch several days, but it did not turn out well at ALL. I'm MUCH happier with this one!

This was actually so simple to do! I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud. I dabbed each rainbow color onto a piece of paper and used a small paintbrush to draw lines about 3/4 up my nail. I did all of one color first so that my polish didn't get too dry while I was working.

Then I sponged a little more white over the top to obscure the tips of the lines a little bit. I used a white striper for the "rays of light" and a dotting tool for the stars. Finish with a coat of none other than China Glaze Fairy Dust and you're done!

Here are ALLLL the colors I used to make the rainbow gradient:

Sadly, stupid Seche shrunk this mani and it made me so sad. I tried to file down some of the shrinkage to make it less noticeable, and I think that helped... but SV, I am not pleased with you. Revlon is getting more attention now because you suck and ruin my hard work. >:[

So pleased with this one! I had hoped that would be the case -- I'm excited for this challenge because I will be doing things I don't normally do and expanding my horizons...yay!

Day 8 - Metallic Nails (Industrial Nails!)

2011-11-08T07:00:00.004-05:00

Hello ladies! The theme for today is Metallic Nails.

I struggled back and forth on what constituted a "metallic" nail polish. All I have in my stash are foils...but alas, are foils and metallics the same thing? Is a foil a sub-category of metallic? I don't know either! So I figured this day was up for personal preference/interpretation.

Upon rummaging through mother's stash, I found some of the old Sally Hansen Chrome polishes. The silver one was the epitome of a "metallic nail polish" in my opinion, so that's what I settled on! The color is called Black Pearl Chrome and it looks lovely on me if I do say so myself! But I decided that this challenge was to improve my art skills, so naturally I had to add to it. Upon searching images under "metallic" on ShutterStock, I found lots of pictures of various metals and industrial themes.

I decided on a sort of corrugated metal type pattern (I don't know what to call it?)

This was my inspiration:

I used plate BM-209 for the fence-like pattern, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in Lightening and a black striper for the .... striped part. That was redundant. Haha

There's my metallic nails for ya! What do you all think of these?

Color Club Sugar Plum Yum

2011-11-07T20:14:00.000-05:00

When I saw this polish at Sally's, I knew I had to have it. It's one of my all time favorite color combinations - purple and green. This is from their Scent-suous holiday collection and - as the name implies - they are scented polishes.

Sugar Plum Yum is a small green glitter with medium sized purple hex glitter. It's very thick and clumpy and can be a little difficult to apply. Instead of stroking it on your nails you have to kind of spread it out over the nail bed to get even coverage of the glitter and it works best if you layer it over a solid color. The color I chose in these swatches is China Glaze Midnight Kiss - a gold foil from last year's holiday collection. I did not apply a top coat because I did not want to mask or obscure the fragrance.

The fragrance reminds me a lot of Sweet Tarts and lasts for a couple days if you do not apply a top coat. I actually quite enjoyed the scent and look of this one - it's very festive! I'm just not looking forward to chiseling this off my nails! :)

Have a great day everyone!

Day 7: Black and White Nails (Tuxedos!)

2011-11-07T07:00:00.002-05:00

Today's theme is Black and White nails! I'm pretty proud of these puppies.

I wanted to do a black and white mani that wasn't your traditional pattern -- no checkerboards, zebra stripes, etc. So guess what I did? Yep. Googled "things that are black and white." I'm like a child. The options that immediately peaked my interest were penguins, yin yans, dominoes, bar codes, and tuxedos. I'd seen tuxedo nails before and thought they would be the cutest! Although... I don't know who originated this idea so if any of you do let me know! I want to give credit where credit is due.

I just used Pure Ice's Super Star for my base and created a V-french with a simple black Kiss striper. I made the bow ties with a dotting tool and teeny tiny paintbrush (couldn't get my lines as sharp as I wanted) and finally added on the buttons with a small dotting tool and black polish. Pretty simple!

I love these cute tuxedos. I left this on for three days! That's a long time for me. And I got SO many compliments on it from total strangers! That always makes me feel good :)

Have a lovely day everybody!

Day 6: Violet Nails

2011-11-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today's 31-Day Challenge theme is violet nails!

I started with two coats of an unnames mini Funky Fingers lavender polish and topped it with the best purple topper -- Jesse's Girl Confetti! Confetti turns everything into an amazeballs magical blueish purple color! I love it.

Tomorrow starts the actual nail art of the 31 Day Challenge! Who's excited? *Raises hand* Me, me, me!!

Day 5: Blue Nails!

2011-11-05T07:00:00.001-04:00

Today's theme is blue nails! And what better color to use than For Audrey?? I knew I wanted to add something over top of this, but alas, what? I decided on the most obvious choice -- jewelry from Tiffany & Co.! The pinky is a heart chain. Ring finger is the traditional white bow on the small teal box. Middle finger is a diamond engagement ring, and the pointer finger is a strand of pearls! They didn't quite turn out as well as I'd hoped, but they're still pretty cute... and color-appropriate :)

Day 4: Green Nails

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today is green nails! For this mani I used a base of Zoya Ivanka (which applies perfectly like all freakin' Zoya polishes). I then topped it with a Love & Beauty polish with green and silver hex glitter.

Sometimes I just need to leave a good thing alone. I like Ivanka with the glitter on top, but I like it better without. Plus, this glitter isn't my favorite. I didn't add a top coat to this mani because I knew I'd just be taking it off the next day and didn't want to make the glitter removal any harder for myself. But, the glitter kept snagging on everything because I had to place it in blobs, instead. And since I didn't have any SV on, it made the snagging worse. Ugh, it was miserable. I took this off the same night after I got my pictures. Hate it when that happens!

I can't wait to get to the exciting nail art days of this challenge! I've got some cute ideas up my sleeve. And there's not much to say about these single color posts... but I've got a Black & White mani that I'm pretty excited to show you guys!

Day 3 - Yellow Nails (Rubber Duckies!)

2011-11-03T08:00:00.002-04:00

Hello ladies! The theme for today is Yellow Nails!

Since I don't have a lot of yellow polishes (and I don't really like the way yellow even looks on me), I decided to add some art to my mani for today!

I started with three coats of China Glaze Solar Power. Solar Power is a medium toned shimmery yellow polish. A little sheer and difficult to build up, but that's to be expected from a trouble maker color like yellow.

On the accent finger, I used a base of Sally Hansen Blue Me Away! and freehanded the little ducky with acrylic paint. The bubbles on the other fingers are BMA as well.

Day 2 - Orange Nails

2011-11-02T08:00:00.003-04:00

Today's theme for the 31-Day Challenge is Orange Nails!

I started with three coats of ELF's Mango Madness. MM was sheer and took a while to build up. I haven't good luck with the few ELF polishes I have but I have heard other people say they are very pleased with theirs. Maybe it's like Essie -- I hate Essie but everyone else seems to love them. Maybe my standards are different :)

I then layered Orly's Winter Wonderland over the three coats of Mango Madness. And no, it is most definitely not too early to layer a polish called Winter Wonderland, especially when Boston just got snow last weekend.....so there!

Have a great day and be sure to check out Mandy's orange manicure!

Day 1 - Red Nails

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Hello! Today I have my very first post for the 31-Day Challenge! I'm a little nervous for this big task of completing all the days but I think I can do it without getting too frustrated. :)

Today's theme is: Red Nails! The red I used for this mani is Wet 'n Wild's Everybody Loves Redmond. The accent finger has two coats of Sally Hansen Downtown Rubies on it. Figured I'd start with something simple since I'll be working my butt off for the art portion of the challenge!

Have a wonderful day!

You say you want a revolution, well, you know.....

2011-10-31T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hello my pretties!

Enlarge for sparkly goodness

Today I have a polish that is old - I'm well aware, but it is new to my collection! You see, as some of you may or may not know, Mama is moving to Boston. So, she went through her stash and picked out some of her pretties that she thought I'd like so she had to take less with her on her cross-country adventure. And she gave me none other than Color Club Revvvolution! YES, the holographic one! *SQUEE!!*

On top of being the awesomesauce that it in in terms of color, this puppy applies like a DREAM! Pictured is two coats, but I definitely could've gotten away with one. Two is just a habit, I guess.

Shade:

Revvvolution is a charcoal grey with teeny tiny holographic glitter in it. I'm aware that Color Club rereleased this but just as a shimmer? That's a bummer because this one is SO gorgeous!! Can you even get the holographic versions anymore? If not, I feel super duper lucky to have this one and think Mom is crazy for giving it to me...even if she does say she doesn't like it. :)

Revvvolution shot its way up into my top polish list just about instantly. I know I'm so so late to the party on this one but I thought I'd share it anyway just in case you haven't seen it... or wanted to again. :)

What's that, you ask? Why yes... I did take this picture in my car

Speaking of top polishes, Amanda from The Nail Polish Enthusiast and I were discussing doing a week of favorites -- favorite reds, favorite glitters, etc sometime in December. I also want to do a top polish list at the end of December. Would you guys be interested in seeing those or would you just pass them over? Be honest!!

Have a fabulous day!

Studio M Nouveau Vintage

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

I picked this bottle up at a recent trip to Meijer. I've seen some people swatching it and liked the uniqueness of the color. As you may (or may not) know, Studio M is marketed by the same company that produces Color Club polishes, hence the identical name and color.

So, anyway - I thought it looked unique. But as you'll see in the comparison shots below - it's not really that unique at all! :)

You can't really tell by looking at the bottle or nail pictures, but Nouveau Vintage is actually gold and greenish glitter in a RED base. Check out the neck of the bottle while you're applying it, you will see the hint of red. You can't see the red base once it dries. I think I applied 2 coats and coverage was good. It's a nice antique brass-y looking shimmer and a good fall color.

Now, on to the comparison photos. I compared this color with others from my stash.

Left to Right Studio M Nouveau Vintage, Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches, Revlon Insta Dri Bronze Ablaze and Butter London Wallis. The closest match is the Sally Hansen Bronze Ablaze. Mossy Britches and Wallis have a lot more olive in them with Wallis being more shimmery than the other swatches. Can you see the hint of red in this comparison shot?

Nouveau Vintage, Mossy Britches

Bronze Ablaze, Wallis

So my final verdict is that if you already have one of the other shades pictured, you can pass on this color. They are not dupes, but close enough that only another nail blogger could see any difference in color among them.

Cheers!

Nutra Nail Gel Perfect UV-Free Gel Color How to & Review

2011-10-27T08:00:00.002-04:00

Today I have something a little different to show you guys -- The Nutra Nail gel kits.

These kits come with three products -- an activator, the gel color, and a brush cleaner. The color I am going to show you today is Lily Pink.

How do you use them, you ask? Well you're in luck because I am going to tell you!

(WARNING: These pictures are not neat! Do not be alarmed :)

How To:

First of all, make sure all the caps are off on the bottles. You need to work quickly with these and unscrewing everything is going to cause your everything to dry before you are finished.

Next, what you want to do is apply the activator so it looks as if your nails are wet. The instructions specifically state to only do one hand at a time.

Next, you want to apply the gel color in thin coats while the activator is still wet. It's very important to not let the activator dry. The gel color will go wherever you painted the activator, so take caution not to get any of it on your cuticles and be careful not to flood your nails (I speak from experience). The instructions say the first coat will be streaky....but ALL of my coats were streakier than all get out.

I know, they are a mess. It was hard to use okay?! :P

You want to put the gel color in the cleaner polish once you finish one hand. First remove the excess gel color polish on a paper towel. Then, place the gel color top in the cleaner and cleaner cap in the gel color (to be used as your brush for the next hand). Then repeat on the other hand (activator, color, cleaner).

Repeat as many times as necessary to make the color opaque.

Now, onto the review of this...

I won't even beat around the bush. I was really disappointed in this product. It smells FOUL -- it has a very chemically smell and it actually gave me a headache by the time I was done (i.e.: gave up). If regular nail polish smells strong to you, this could very well be unbearable! I'd recommend doing them outside or somewhere with good air flow because the smell of this product is overwhelming.

The instructions state that the first coat of color will be streaky, but my entire mani was streaky. You have to have a VERY steady hand when doing this because it's easy for brush strokes to show through, as you can see in my pictures (I warned you!)

Also, like I said, make sure to be really careful when applying both the activator and the color. I flooded my cuticles on more than one nail and it was disastrous. Because the activator/color dry so quickly, it's tough to clean up with acetone and a brush. Imagine trying to remove dried concrete from your nails with a little eyeliner brush - that's how hard it was to clean up.

As for the wear, I can't tell you how long they last because I removed mine immediately after taking pictures. The product packaging reads, "Perfectly strong. Perfectly beautiful. And out the door in 5 minutes!" Upon researching a little though, I found that the product is getting some flack for not holding up like real gel nails should. People are experiencing cracking and chipping within a day, which defeats the purpose of a gel manicure in my opinion. Isn't the point of gel manicures that they're long lasting? Well, this product isn't.

The color of this isn't even anything extraordinary -- it's your regular ole run of the mill Barbie pink. I'd prefer to just paint my nails with a regular Barbie pink polish than waste my time (and money!) on this product.

Final Verdict:

These just aren't for me, but I can see where someone who doesn't change their polish every other day (like me) would benefit from this product. With practice, they might look better. However for me, the entire process as well as the final outcome was just not worth it. I might be able to get over the hassle of the application process if it looked good in the end, but it didn't. The polish was all streaky and the texture of my nails weren't smooth-as-glass like I like them to be (SV, I'm looking at you!) Plus, for the price of these (~ $12) you might as well just get them done at a salon where you know they'll look good instead of like a 5-year-old did them.

Also, if you are someone who kind of slops polish on when you're doing your nails then cleans up afterwards (like me), these might not be for you. The activator is very unforgiving so if you get any polish on your cuticles or have any flooding it's going to be a nightmare to clean up. I found that if you DO get any activator or polish on your cuticles or on the skin next to your nails, clean it up with acetone and a brush RIGHT AWAY. Don't wait until you have the whole hand done, because it will have dried to concrete by then. Luckily, you can use the foil method to remove the full mani and they come off pretty easily.

Will I use this again? Definitely not on my fingernails. I might try it on my toenails since I hardly change the color on my toes.

Nutra Nail UV-Free Gel Color Kits are available at drugstores or at http://nutranail.com for around $12. They're available in 12 shades on the website, but I only saw a few of them at my local Walgreens.

Have you guys tried this product? What are your thoughts on it?

This product was given to us for review purposes. Please see our Disclosure Policy for more information.

OPI Nicki Minaj Press Release

2011-10-26T17:58:00.000-04:00

Pink Everyday!

OPI Partners with Platinum Recording Artist Nicki Minaj to Launch Limited Edition Lacquers

OPI announces the launch of six new limited edition shades inspired by hip hop sensation Nicki Minaj, including a purple Shatter! Inspired by Minaj’s unique style, love of bright colors, and her debut album Pink Friday, the Nicki Minaj by OPI promotion will feature an array of bold hues, from neon lime green to pink.

“OPI is so excited to work with Nicki in releasing these six new nail lacquers,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “Nicki has taken the hip hop world by storm, but her music is only part of the equation. She’s also become a fashion inspiration, noted for her daring costumes and hair color both on and off the stage.”

Nicki’s eclectic look made including a new hue in OPI’s bestselling Shatter coat a must for this collaboration. The purple Super Bass Shatter (a record-setting purple that “shatters” before your eyes) is inspired by graffiti art and works when painted over any dry OPI hue. Adding top coat takes Super Bass Shatter from matte to glossy in seconds.

The line features five nail lacquers in addition to Super Bass Shatter, ranging from fantastic pink, rainbow confetti glitter and charcoal sparkle hues to two green shades in lime and teal:

Pink Friday
Kick off the weekend with this pop! of bubblegum pink.

Metallic 4 Life
This charcoal sparkle flies with the stars in the skies.

Save Me
I drove for miles just to find this silver-rainbow glitter.

Fly
I came to win, to fight…and to wear this aqua.

Did It On ‘Em
A lusty little lacquer that loves the “lime”-light.

Super Bass Shatter

I am so excited for these! They look fun :)

Orly Orange Punch

2011-10-26T08:00:00.002-04:00

I saw this Halloween design over on another blog - omgnoodles - and loved it so much I've recreated it here. So head on over there and check Pauline's cute manis!

This is a base of 3 coats of Orly Orange Punch stamped with Bundlemonster plate 213 and Konad special polish in Black. Then the whole thing is topped with a couple coats of China Glaze Magic Matte. I wore this mani almost a whole week, which is simply unheard of for me!

Hope you like it, and thank you to Pauline for the cute idea!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects - Ghoulie Girl

2011-10-25T10:27:00.000-04:00

Hi all. Today I am showing you the Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips in Ghoulie Girl.

I had never tried these strips until last night. I picked these up a few weeks ago at Walgreens and wanted to wait until closer to Halloween to use them. I have heard such good things about these strips -- unfortunately I can't agree with all the positive feedback.

The Ghoulie Girl strips are comprised of little orange and white ghosts on a black background. You get 16 strips in varying sizes in one pack. I've heard of people being able to get two nails done with one strip, but I am not so talented as to be able to do that.

Let's start with the positive -- the design is REALLY cute! And definitely not something I'd be able to recreate on my own, so the strips are good for that. They let people who aren't as good as nail art still have cute designs on their nails with minimal (kind of..) effort.

So what didn't I like about these? Well, first of all, I ripped one of them down the middle trying to get it off the backing. My nails are almost ALL between sizes so I got pieces of the strips on my skin and had no decent way to remove them besides scraping the excess off with an orange stick. Which made the sides all rough and jaggedy. Also, when I tried to file the excess off of the tip of my nail, it wouldn't make a clean cut. The tips of my nails are still all sharp and jaggedy and I feel like I messed up the shape of my nails trying to just get the extra strip off the ends.

They took FOREVER for me to put on (which I'll admit is probably because it was my first time using them) and I feel like I could've done three manis in the time it took me to apply ten nail decals.

I DO think these are cute, and they're a good alternative to doing your own nail art... I just don't think I'll be repurchasing. Especially for ten bucks a box. When I only got one mani out of it. And I don't think I'll be wearing these any longer than I would a normal mani. In fact, they probably won't stay on a day because I can't stand how there's little pieces of nail decal floating around on the tips of my nails and stuck to my skin.

At least they look cute?

What do you guys think of the Salon Effects strips? Do you like them? I think I'm probably the only person ever that has hated these :(

My first stripe mani ever!

2011-10-24T11:26:00.000-04:00

Ever since the 30 day challenge began, I've been wanting to do a stripe mani. I've seen so many cute ones and thought it would be pretty simple to execute. Today, I finally took that plunge into the land of the stripe mani!

I started with a base of Zoya Veruschuka (which is AWESOME OMG). Then I placed a large stripe of Zoya Jem down all the nails in varying places on each. The other stripe colors I used are just Kiss nail art stripers in white and silver.

I am very happy with this look! It was really easy and did not take me long to do at ALL. Next time, hopefully I can get the lines at my cuticles a little bit straighter. I was in no mood for precision when I did this.

Do you girls like stripe manis? What do you think of my easy peasy stripes?

Have a wonderful day! :)

Another BCA Mani

2011-10-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

Hi all! Today I'm deviating from my Halloween nail art mode and showing you a Breast Cancer Awareness mani I did last night.

I know this is late in the month, but I at least wanted to get one in before October is over. I especially wanted to do this mani to pay tribute to my boyfriend's mother -- she beat breast cancer about 5 years ago. :)

I used Sinful Beautiful Girl and Wet 'n Wild How I Met Your Magenta for the base colors. I topped my ring finger with OPI I Lilly Love You and my pointer finger with OPI Teenage Dream (which I will never get tired of, EVER). On my other fingers I drew little ribbons. My dumb self wasn't thinking before I did my nails and I forgot that the BCA ribbon is pink... so I was forced to do it in a darker pink and it's kind of hard to see, but I still like it.

That's all for today ladies. Happy Friday!

Simple Halloween Gravestones

2011-10-20T08:00:00.006-04:00

Hi all! Today I have a Halloween design I've been wanting to do for a while -- little Halloween gravestones!

I started with a base of Ulta Little Black Dress to represent a spooky night sky. LBD is a black polish with small silver glitter in it. Here is a swatch:

Next I painted the gravestones with OPI French Quarter For Your Thoughts (the PERFECT gravestone color!). I just painted the gravestones straight with the polish brush. Paint like you would if you were doing a ruffian mani.

To make the gravestones look old and aged, I sponged a tiny bit of Sinful Colors Secret Admirer. I really like the way it made the gravestones look!

I used a small brush and black acrylic paint to draw on "RIP" on all of my nails.

Finish with some grass at the bottom (I used a green Sinful striper). Seal it with Seche Vite and voila! You're done :)

What do you ladies think of these simple gravestone nails? They were one of my most simple Halloween designs and they're at the top of my list! I guess intricate doesn't always mean better :)

Oh also, if you're arachnophobic, might want to turn away in 3...

2.......

1.....

I present to you, the rare Hoosier man-eating spider!

Happy almost weekend!

I always feel like... somebody's watching me..

2011-10-19T07:48:00.001-04:00

Here is my attempt at jumping on the free hand Halloween nail art band wagon. It's a simple mani done with China Glaze Liquid Leather and white, red and black acrylic paint. Ooh very scary! ;-)

Happy Hump Day!

Zoya Neeka...

2011-10-17T08:00:00.001-04:00

...is actually worthy of a full mani!

I know you guys have seen this one a dozen and one times... but I'm sharing mine too. I sat down to do my nails the other day, and didn't want to do ANY sort of nail art. Sometimes I just get in those moods. So I looked at my stash for a color that I haven't worn much, and Neeka jumped out at me. I swatched it with a couple other Zoyas that I received in one of their promotions, but I've never actually worn it!

Zoya is a greyish purple with little gold glass flecks. And it. Is. Awesome. This is only two coats here! The one thing I don't like about Zoyas though is that they always chip and wear on me SO fast. I don't know if it's because I don't use their base coat and stuff but it bums me out.

That's all, have a wonderful day!

BCA - Color Club Hot Like Lava & Fame and Fortune

2011-10-14T08:08:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday everyone

Today's post consists of 2 of Color Club's new line - Hot Like Lava from the Foiled Collection and Fame & Fortune from the Backstage pass collection.

Hot like lava is a vivid bright pink foil that applies like a dream. The formula is great, it covers and levels extremely well and is similar to a creme in consistency. You could use one coat if you so desired - I have used 2 here just to even out thin spots and for density of color. Pretteh!

Layered over the top is Fame & Fortune from their Backstage Pass collection. Fame & Fortune is a mylar holographic flakie in a clear pink base. The holographic particles really shine when they catch the light. Typical of a mylar, there are issues with the little flakies poking up in spots and catching on hair, clothing, etc. I actually ended up picking off the ones that were sticking up because it annoyed me so much. But overall it's worth it because this polish is so pretty :) I used 2 coats of Fame & Fortune - be sure to let it dry between coats so you're not just moving the particles around on your nail. These pics are taken in my light box because it was early in the morning and the sun wasn't up yet so you can't see the full holographic effect of sunlight bouncing off the flakies! :(

Here is a stamping test for Hot Like Lava, applied over a white and black creme. Coverage is a bit better over light colors.

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day!

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Swatches

2011-10-13T08:00:00.007-04:00

Hello ladies! Today we are showing you swatches of Color Club's Holiday 2011 collection -- Beyond the Mistletoe. These are all THICK glitters and are all fully capable of being worn opaque. These are layered over Color Club's Foiled collection, but most of the glitters are so thick you can't even tell they're worn over a base anyway. To see swatches of Color Club's Foiled collection, go here or here.

Enlarge pictures to see holographic, sparkly goodness.

Sugarplum Fairy. Holographic lilac glitter. Swatched over Foil Me Once. This is IDENTICAL to Funky Fingers Sand & Stilettos. They're made by the same company -- just different names. But it's the exact same polish with the same formula. Very thick.

Beyond the Mistletoe. Holographic aqua glitter. Swatched over Lumin-icecent. The same as Funky Fingers Baby Baby Baby.

Holiday Splendor. Holographic green glitter. Swatched over Perfectly Molten. This one looks very similar to Untamed Luxury, but it's not a dupe. Here's a comparison between the two; the left is Untamed Luxury and the right is Holiday Splendor.

Jingle Jangle. Holographic blue glitter. Swatched over Cold Metal. This one was SO thick I had to add about 9 drops of thinner to it to even make it manageable. I'm not sure if this was a bad bottle or if they're all like this, but even after thinning it was STILL ridiculously difficult to work with. It was also missing a lot of product from the top of the bottle, like it'd evaporated up or something.

Candy Cane. Holographic pink glitter. Swatched over Hot Like Lava.

Gingerbread. Holographic gold glitter. Swatched over Antiquated. I thought this was similar to China Glaze Cleopatra, but upon further inspection I see that this has tons more holographic glitter than Cleopatra.

Overall, this collection contains a lot of good holographic glitters, but they are a PAIN to remove and it's a little disappointing that two of the six colors are existing Funky Fingers colors. And the Funky Fingers ones have been out for a while, so they're not even shades that are new to both lines.

Jingle Jangle's application was SO difficult that it will probably never get used again, and we already have Sand & Stilettos and Baby Baby Baby, the dupes for two of the colors in the collection. The polishes are all VERY thick with a consistency like glue, but since they ARE so thick you probably wouldn't need many layers to get an opaque color.

What do you think of these glitters? Will you be picking any up?

Creepy Halloween Skittles Nails

2011-10-12T08:00:00.003-04:00

Hello all! Today I have some creepy skittles nails to show you!

I was trying to think of what I wanted to do for today's mani. I knew I wanted to do something festive for Halloween but I couldn't narrow down my choices. So what better way than to use ALL of my ideas in one mani!

I really like how this one turned out.

On my pinky, I did a creepy eye. The base color is Wet 'n' Wild Burgundy Frost and the eyeball is made with black, white and red acrylic paint. On my ring finger is a bloody handprint. The base color is Sinful Snow Me White and the bloody handprint is made with red acrylic paint. The middle finger is a Scream mask -- base color Sinful Black on Black and white acrylic paint. My pointer finger is a voodoo doll. Made with, you guessed it, acrylic paint. My thumb nail, a creepy clown, (my favorite!) was also made with a white base and all acrylic paint.

I am surprisingly pleased with how this turned out! I think I'm most excited about the creepy clown nail and it was the hardest to do!

Here is another picture where you can see all the nails more clearly. I should've made the design on my thumb nail upside down because when I took pictures they weren't all facing the same way so you'll just have to cock your head to see them. Haha

What do you think of these creeptastic skittles nails? Hope you all have a fabulous Wednesday!

Sally Hansen Pat on the Black Window

2011-10-11T08:00:00.005-04:00

The 'window' mani is supposedly a hot, new trend in the nail world. It consists of leaving a clear square or rectangle shape on your nail like a window (duh). I'm not sure I like this trend and this manicure was harder than I anticipated it being. I had difficulty trimming and placing the squares of tape. I doubt I will wear this style again.

Here is my attempt at the 'window' mani. i taped off squares on my nails then used Sally Hansen CSM Pat on the Black as my base color. For the border, I used a dotting tool and Sally Hansen Silver Sweep to outline the window.

Frankenstein & His Bride nails

2011-10-10T08:00:00.002-04:00

Good morning all! Today I have some fun Frankenstein Halloween nails for you.

This design is one I've seen all over the place. I did these last year based on a tutorial I saw on YouTube. If anyone knows who originated this design, let me know! I want to give credit where credit is due.

I used a base of Sally Hansen Grass Slipper as Frankenstein's skin. This is a great green....but it stains like nobody's business! I made little patches on my pinky and pointer fingers. For Frankenstein's bride I just used a good nude polish for her skin tone. I finished up all the details (hair, eyes, etc) with acrylic paint and little paintbrushes/dotting tools. I think it turned out pretty well! I've never seen anyone else do Frankenstein's BRIDE.. ;)

That's all! Have a wonderful day :)

Mexican Sugar Skulls

2011-10-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

I was perusing through Halloween pictures on ShutterStock (a website I use to look for ideas a lot) and found some sugar skull images. I thought it would be a fun nail art project to do that was a little out of the ordinary!

I used a base of Zoya Purity and several different colors to decorate the skulls. In retrospect, I should've placed the eyes of the skulls up higher because I think it's a little hard to tell they're skulls since you can't see the teeth. I'm not sure if people would know what they were if I hadn't mentioned it, but I thought I'd post it anyway! And my cuticles have taken a beating lately so nothing I've been doing has been looking too good... poor cuticles :( I'm trying to nurse them back to health after our swatch-a-thon this week.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! It's Homecoming weekend at my alma mater so I'll be shenanigating there for the weekend! :)