The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 9 - Night Snow

This is a variation of some nails I did a while ago, for the first snow.

Night Snow: China Glaze Up All Night with Nubar White Polka Dot

I liked it so much over grey that I had to try White Polka Dot over a navy blue. China Glaze Up All Night is one of my FAVORITE dark blue polishes because it always looks blue and not black, but it's nice and deep and dark. This reminded me of when it snows at night and you can see all the snowflakes against the dark night sky. I prefer it with only one coat of glitter (shown), but two looks nice as well.

I know a lot of nail bloggers are obsessed with black glitter, and I wanted to be too (as it turns out, I don't really like it much... but I love the new charcoal grey glitter from Deborah Lippmann... i think that's what I always WANT black glitter to look like). Instead, I'm so in love with white glitter. All of the white glitter I've seen is a silvery pearl white, and it's SO pretty. This one and Lynnderella's Snow Angel are perfect examples of awesome white glitters!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 7 - Golden Snow

I really wanted to do some type of snowflake nails, and here they are!  I was going to do silver snowflakes right up until the last minute when I switched it to gold.  And I'm glad I did.

Golden Snowflakes - Essie Marshmallow stamped with China Glaze 2030

Heehee, the name is supposed to be somewhat funny - just remember, seriously, to never eat golden (yellow) snow!! Now, I'm not very good at stamping, but I don't even care if the snowflakes didn't come out perfect. I call this a success. It just makes me smile and think of a beautiful winter.

For good measure, here is a picture of Essie Marshmallow on it's own, because this is how I wore it for two days before stamping it (it was taken in low lighting so it's a tiny bit blurry):

Essie - Marshmallow

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 2 - Frosty Night

This is my second holiday manicure for the 12 Days of Christmas Nails (check out all of Sammy's designs so far here)!

I think this one looks like a snowy winter night.

Snowy Winter Night - Misa Dance Fever sponged over China Glaze Little Drummer Boy

I've never been too successful with sponging, but I think it all depends on what kind of polish you use for it. This glitter, Misa Dance Fever, was the perfect density for the sponging and it was actually pretty quick and easy! Also, I've heard that this type of gradient has a killer cleanup, so I put Liquid Palisade around my cuticles. I basically had NO cleaup at all! It worked so well! I've never been able to create neat design using Palisade, but it does seem perfect for avoiding cuticle cleanup from messy types of manicures (if I ever try water marbling or splattering, I will SURELY use this again!).

I topped it all off with China Glaze Fast Foward top coat, which has some shrinkage issues like Seche Vite, so that's why the blue shows around the cuticle edge and there's a bit of shrinkage at the tips.

I love this and want to try in in different colors now! I think a glossy black base with gold glitter would look really classy!

Orly Au Champagne and Little Bird

This was really the only one from Orly's winter collection that I really wanted. I love white polish that looks like snow, and from swatches I could tell this one fit perfectly. Here it is at three thin coats with not top coat. Notice how it dries to a satin-matte finish. Beautiful!

Orly - Au Champagne

I loved how it looked with the satin finish, but because I had stuff to get done, I needed it to dry quickly so I put a coat of Seche Vite on top of it. Here is how it looks shiny:

I really don't know which way I prefer. It's gorgeous both ways! In a day or two I'll probably end up putting China Glaze Snow Globe over it.

And here is a bonus picture of another pet: my little feather-baby named simply Little Bird or LB for short. I took this picture because I thought it was a hoot that Neiman Marcus sent one little bottle of nail polish (Nars Purple Rain) in this big ol' box.  LB is extremely curious (doesn't he look like he's reading the label?  haha) and destructive, so most likely he tore right into the box shortly after this picture.

Little Bird (white-bellied Caique)

Lyderella Swatches!

I just received my order from Lynnderella's latest sale yesterday and I just couldn't wait to try them! She sure does make some doozies! Just look at these beauties! If you love glitter, you NEED to keep watch for her next sale (she only opens shop for a small bit of time every few weeks - this last time she was only open for some 15 minutes before she was swamped with orders!).

Lynnderella - Cauldron Drippings over Essence - Get the Fever

This is Cauldron Drippings over Essence Get the Fever. So many pieces of pretty copper/orange glitter with some random bits and pieces thrown in (whatever is in the cauldron, she says). It's just a perfect Halloween polish. I did like it over orange, but I decided I'd try it over black and it's EVEN BETTER!  I will definitely be wearing this on Halloween, no question.

Lynnderella - Cauldron Drippings over China Glaze - Liquid Leather

Lynnderella - The Glittering Crowd over China Glaze - Liquid Leather

So most glitters have a couple colors and may contain a couple different shapes. But not this one. According to Lynnderella, this polish contains over ONE HUNDRED different types of glitter, and because of this, every finger comes out different. Also, all of the Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday dupes (I don't have the original) look dull in color compared to this one. The colors are so vibrant and varied that it's the biggest rainbow in a bottle I've ever seen. This is THE BEST rainbow glitter EVER. I'm wearing this for my mom's birthday this Sunday!

Lynnderella - Very Pretty Vampire over Essie - Bordeaux

Very Pretty Vampire is not as "blingy" as the others, but it's just as gorgeous. It's a mix of all different shades and hues of red and burgundy (and even black I believe). I layered this over Essie Bordeaux, but it appears that the base itself is tinted. I may have to try it on its own sometime.

Lynnderella - Connect the Dots over China Glaze - High Hopes

Connect the Dots is one of those truly unique but kind of simple ideas. It's just black and white glitter, but in all different shapes and sizes, including string or bar glitter. It's totally awesome, but I had trouble getting the glitter to look any kind of "even" between all the fingers. Nevertheless, it turned out amazing anyway, and I love the shimmer in the base. Also, I like how a smaller black hex ended up right in the middle of a white one on my ring finger - so cool! I SHOULD have layered it over orange for more Halloween vibe, but I didn't think of it until just now.

Lynnderella - Snow Angel

Last is Snow Angel. I may have mentioned before that I was obsessed with finding a white glitter polish. Well, this one takes the cake. It's been mentioned that it is hard to work with, and after the first perfectly even coat I thought "no way!" However, the second coat was a little rougher, and you can see it doesn't come out quite even. Maybe letting each coat dry in between or even putting Seche Vite in between each coat would help, I dunno. I wish I would have gotten a picture at one coat because it was so dainty and delicate and I liked it better. I'd also like to try it over some greys and a white like Essie Marshmallow.

I'm so incredibly excited that I was able to get an order in this last sale, and I can't wait to see what she has to offer in her next sale!

First Snow! (Orly Pixie Dust and Nubar White Polka Dot)

I can't believe it! It actually was SNOWING here in Pine, AZ on October 7th! Only briefly, and it didn't stick, but still... FIRST SNOW OF THE SEASON! I had on Orly Pixie Dust because it was rainy and stormy, so I just added a coat each of Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot over it. Check out my snow nails - I love them!!

Orly Pixie Dust w/ Confetti Tiara and Nubar White Polka Dot

I've seen a few swatches of Nubar White Polka Dot (which, by the way, is the same formula as the Painted Nail Moon drops) over dark colors, and it looks awesome. But I'm really in love with it over a stormy grey! It has the most beautiful pearly, silvery white glitter hexagons as well as smaller while pearl and iridescent glitters. Honestly, one of my favorite glitters that I own (and I have a LOT).

And for good measure, here is Orly Pixie Dust by itself: