Jewel Tones

Hi Lacquer Lovers!

Today I've got another manicure to show you with a few of the Glam Polish beauties from the Coven collection which will be released tomorrow! The three of them, red to plum to purple, made such a lovely gradient that I felt the need to combine them in a manicure. I finally even found the time to play around with making decals. Although making ten of them was more time consuming than I remembered, it was definitely worth it in the end...

Delicate Stamping

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday! Today I would like to show you a manicure that I wore for a solid week after swatching the Glam Polish beauties which I posted about earlier this week. If the manicure hadn't started growing out and driving me nuts, I would have happily continued to wear it. It is rather 'simple' as far as some of my manicures go, but somehow it didn't seem to call for added embellishments. Sweet and delicate was just what I needed...

Peppermint Twist!

Every year I get drawn to all the beautiful looking candy canes out there and I end up buying a box (or three) and then eating one and sometimes none of those candy canes. No joke, I've thrown out more unopened boxes of then I care to admit, month after they have expired. This year I decided to resist temptation and enjoy the classic color twist on my nails instead...

Whimsical Winter Scene!

Almost three weeks ago Marta of Chit Chat Nails announced a nail art contest that she is hosting with a stamping plate maker Pueen. I was instantly intrigued because it features two of my favorite things, stamping and holiday nail art. I rarely enter contests, partly for lack of time, but largely because I disagree with the 'judging' process. Marta's contest, however, has actual judges which makes the process about talent rather than popularity. For me that makes the contest a challenge and I love challenges...

I've been thinking about what I want to create for the contest for the past couple of weeks and have been coming up blank. I knew I wouldn't be entering the contest unless it was something I was really proud of, so that I wouldn't kick myself later and think "I could have done better". That way loosing would mean someone created nail art that is better or more creative than mine, not because I didn't give it my best shot. Also, win or loose, I had a blast creating this manicure and at the end of the day that is what really matters to me...

In a Snow Flurry

Hi Lovelies! The Glam Polish Mid-Winter's Dream collection is launching today and I wanted to show you some nail art that I created with one of the shades from the collection. Inspired by the icy blue beauty itself and fighting the strong urge to stamp snowflakes, I decided to attempt a snowy tree scene instead...

Snowflake Lumières

Hi Lovelies! It snowed in Seattle over the weekend and has actually been cold enough for bits to stick around. Nothing dramatic by any means and probably not even worth a mention given what has been happening in other parts of the country (I'm looking at you Buffalo with your 8 feet of snow! Just insane!), but in any case our little snow fall makes me feel justified to dive right into Winter manicures. I actually created and wore this snowflake manicure in September, but held off on posting to avoid frightening you all. It is not that I was ready for Winter a few months back, it is just that I have a weakness for snowflakes. I would wear them in July if no one would question my sanity...

Smoky Egyptian

Hi everyone! I wanted to show you a manicure that I created while playing around with the Dance Legend Smoky collection shades not too long ago. My first thought was to try and create a turquoise stone manicure using the water spotting technique, but since I still haven't mastered getting polish to behave as I would like, I ended up going in a slightly different direction...

Foiled Snake!

Last week Nail It! Magazine posted a nail art contest with the challenge to create a manicure inspired by their mood board. I thought I would take a stab at it. It seemed like fun and what have I got to loose, right? For the manicure I was inspired by a metallic snake/lizzard print outfit that is part of that mood bard...

Tempting Half Moons...

I had a really bad dream last night, I dreamt that I was filing my nails and I went too far. I'm talking all the way down to nubs on my index... of my swatching hand. Oh I know, the horror! I don't know how long I spent trying to figure out ways to remedy the situation with all sorts of crazy ways to fix it. I finally woke up and realized it was just bad dream. Now I sit here wondering if my subconscious is trying to tell me something. Have I lost my mind? Inhaled too many polish fumes? Have you had any crazy nail dreams?

Crazy dreams aside, I'd like to show you a manicure that I created with Glam Polish Temptation. I love the purple and gold combo (and not just because those are the colors of my alma mater), so I had to play them up with a little bit of stamping...

Polished by KPT Do You Wanna Fanta?

Yesterday I showed you swatches of the pretty new summer thermal from Polished by KPT named Do You Wanna Fanta?. With a name like that, is it any surprise that I just couldn't resist throwing a few citrus slices into the mix?

Snow woman...

I wanted to show you some nail art that I created while swatching the Elf-tastic Christmas collection by 365 Days of Color. I thought it would be fun to play off the snowflake glitter embedded in this beautiful gray polish by adding a few stamped snowflakes. Of course once there was snow, a snow woman decided that she would fit right in with her bright red hat, scarf and buttons...

Welcoming My Baby Nephew...

Yesterday evening my brother and his wife welcomed into this world a little baby boy. I am beyond excited to go meet him today so I can cover him in hugs and kisses. Of course I had to have a manicure for the occasion (even though in hindsight it probably would have been wiser not to be doing this at 3am). I would have preferred to create something a bit more colorful, but I opted to go with a subtle manicure since I'll be going to work later in the afternoon....

The Graveyard After All This Time...

Today I would like to show you a fun Halloween themed manicure. I got this beautiful gray polish for review along with the 365 Days of Color Horcrux collection last month. I set it aside at the time because it was not part of the collection and it somehow managed to hide from me until now. I'm so glad that I finally saw this little one hiding among all the big polish bottles which clutter my table. It is appropriately named 'After All This Time?' as though to mock me in the fact that I took so long to play with it. It is absolutely perfect for a spooky graveyard manicure that even glows in the dark...

Sunday Stamping Over Black Base

I've been in a bit of a nail art funk lately after burning out halfway through the 31 Day Nail Challenge. I'm still determined to finish it, but for today I decided to take part in a different challenge. It has been way too long since I participated in Sunday Stamping with the group Adventures in Stamping. Somehow these challenges always get my creative juices flowing and today's theme of stamping over black turned to this...

31DC2013 Day 5 - Blue

It is already day 5 of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge. The theme for today is blue and I couldn't resit doing some nautical nails. This has been on my to do list for a while and like most things on that list, it is hard for me to find the time to do it. This challenge has been a great motivation so far to actually make time and attempt the ideas floating around in my head...

Messy Mansion Ladybugs...

Today I have a fun ladybug manicure to share with you. This design comes from another beautiful Messy Mansion stamping plate, the bugs plate. I decided to go with some tradition ladybug colors, but I would definitely love to recreate this with yellow or orange. I think it would look pretty cute with colorful ladybugs as well... hmm...

Running Wild...

I'm not sure what has gotten into me, but something certainly has since this is my second tiger manicure this month. I got some fun neon nail studs for review from the Born Pretty Store and they really brought out my wild side. I wanted to pair them with an equally bright and matching color.

Dotty Trees with Messy Mansion...

Yesterday I showed you a fun dotted manicure and promised to show you how I took it a step further. I wanted to pair the dots of the manicure with the dotty trees on the Messy Mansion "in the forest" plate. I imagine that if there was a cotton candy tree, this is how it would look at night...

The Case of the Disappearing Stamping...

I showed you the color changing Ruby Wing Poppy lacquer on Monday and even though it was April 1st, it was no joke, Poppy really changes color from a bright raspberry red to a deep burgundy wine color. I wanted to play with the effect a bit and one of my ideas was to have disappearing or rather appearing stamping...

Sunday Stamping: St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

This week's theme in Sunday Stamping is quite appropriately a manicure to celebrate the occasion or just create something with an Irish theme. I didn't have anything specific in mind when I started on this manicure, but somehow ended up using everything and the kitchen sink for it. The end result turned out being sweet and subtle and matches my mood perfectly...