Merry Christmas!

I know I am posting this on Christmas Eve, but I will be rocking these nails for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. With all the stuff I am doing with mine and my boyfriend's family, I will have no time to do my nails! I went pretty festive this year:

Christmas Trees and Candy Canes

I thought I had a pretty good idea with the Christmas Tree on my two middle fingers, but it really didn't turn out the way I wanted :( I started off with two coats of China Glaze- Running In Circles (Cirque Du Soleil Collection Winter 2013). Seriously the most amazing glass fleck green polish ever! Then I topped it off with a coat of Lush Lacquer- Tree-Mendous, now the brand is Polish Me Silly due to legal issues... I will probably always call them Lush Lacquer since they were my first love of an indie brand, and they even featured some of my pictures on their etsy, but they have discontinued A LOT of their polishes since then. Fortunately they have re promoted this one this year, and you can get it on their Etsy. You can see my opinion on this polish on my blog post from last year.

For the string of lights, I first made the black line using my Orly Instant Artist Striper- Jet Black. Then using a variety of colors, I just used a small nail art brush to make weirdly shaped light bulbs. Here is a list of the colors I used:
China Glaze- Adventure Red-Y (On Safari Collection Fall 2012)
OPI- On the Same Paige (Brights Collection 2009)
China Glaze- Flyin' High (Up and Away Collection Spring 2010)
China Glaze- Happy Go Lucky
China Glaze- Man Hunt (On Safari Collection Fall 2012)

The red I used on my index and pinky is Butter London- Chancer. Again, I love this red actually. Luckily I got this for free at ULTA :P. I used two coats. The gold for the gradient on my index is OPI- Golden Eye (James Bond Collection Winter 2012). Another amazing glass fleck polish, it really looks like liquid gold. Lastly, the stripes for the candy cane was accomplished by using my Orly Instant Artist Striper- Crisp White

Here is a picture of all 5 of my fingers:

Hope you have a happy and safe Holiday!

South Park Nails!

I mentioned earlier in the month that I would be recreating my South Park nails from last year. I still think this is my all time favorite, original, nail art design that I have done. I recreate a lot of designs that others have made up, but this was made up by me! There are definitely South Park nail art photos out there, but they all involve their face, I took the easy route :P I did it slightly different this year, but it is the same as last year for the most part:

Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny!

Stan: He is the only boy I used different colors for this year. Last year I had only one red, and it had shimmers in it, so this year he is a little more cohesive with the others! The red is China Glaze- Adventure Red-y (On Safari Collection Fall 2012). I applied that first, and then put the blue on top which is China Glaze- Man Hunt (On Safari Collection Fall 2012). It is a true blue, but came up much darker since I layered it over the red. I used the brush from the bottle for both colors, except I used a dotting tool for his little ball on his hat.

Kyle: I applied the lighter green with the brush from the bottle which is China Glaze- Gaga For Green (Electropop Collection Spring 2012). Then using the brush from the bottle again, I applied China Glaze- Starboard (Anchors Away Collection Spring 2011) to make the darker bill of his hat.

Cartman: Using the brush from the bottle again, I used China Glaze- Flyin' High (Up and Away Collection Spring 2012) for the blue part of his hat. Then I used China Glaze- Happy Go Lucky for the yellow parts, using the brush for the bottom part of his hat, and a dotting tool for the top part.

Kenny: Also using the brush from the bottle, I used OPI- On The Same Paige (Brights Collection 2009) for the orange part of his hat. Then using a tiny nail art brush for the brown on his hat, I used OPI- A-Taupe The Space Needle (Touring America Collection Fall 2011). I only got this brown specifically for this nail art! Probably the only time I will use it...

Lastly, the main difference with this is I applied a base color! I used Color Club- Take Me To Your Chateau (Pardon My French Collection Spring 2010). I used two coats. I thought this would be a good base since it is the perfect sky blue color, and they are always outside doing something...

Hope you enjoyed these!

Glitter Gradient + Dotted Christmas Tree

I can't believe I am saying this, but I love this red! I have never been a fan of the color red, therefore don't really own many red polishes. I got this in a swap, and I am in love, although this time of year will probably be the only time I wear it.

A little bit of a fail on the Christmas tree....

The red I used is Essie- Leading Lady (Winter Collection 2012). I used two coats. It is for the most part a dark red jelly base with a bunch of red glitter in it, so pretty! My bottle was a little on the thick side, but some nail polish thinner can help that.

I used two colors for the gradient. I started off with China Glaze- Twinkle Lights (Let it Snow Collection Winter 2011). It has gold, silver, red, and green micro glitters in a clear base, very Christmas appropriate! The very tips has a thicker coat of Orly- Halo (Naughty or Nice Collection Winter 2012). This polish is just a mix of very tiny champagne micro glitters and medium silver hexagonal glitters. I believe this polish is now part of their permanent line.

Lastly, the dotted Christmas tree was made with two China Glaze polishes. The gold being China Glaze- Midnight Kiss, and the sliver being China Glaze- Cheers to You. Both are from the Tis The Season to be Naughty or Nice Collection from 2010.

Hope you enjoyed! Only a few more Holiday themed nails left!

French Tips Using Zoya

I am going to keep this short and sweet. Zoya has some of the coolest holographic polishes. They aren't the awesome linear type, but you don't really see any polishes in this type of finish!

Yum!

The blue is Zoya- Dream (Zenith Collection Winter 2013). This is the only polish I got from their holiday collection this year. I have two coats shown here.

The purple is Zoya- Aurora (Ornate Collection Winter 2012), two coats shown here.

Lastly, the black used for the french tips is Zoya- Storm (Ornate Collection Winter 2012), one thick coat.

I am in love with these polishes! I really hope they keep making these polishes every winter, if not, every other collection they have!

Christmas Glitta!

I am finally almost caught up with my blog posts and editing my photos! Today is finally the start of my Christmas nails. I tried doing the same last year, too, and I think I was pretty successful. You can only really pull of red and green glitter around one time of year, and I am of course showcasing the number one red and green glitter of all time today:

Again, another very difficult manicure to photograph. I am wondering if I try to just use one coat of top coat instead of using Gelous first, if the less shinyness will photograph better with these glitters...

Here are some photos more in the shade:

I used mostly China Glaze for this. China Glaze does glitters the best!! More reason they are my favorite brand.

The colors from my thumb to pinky are:  
China Glaze- Ray-diant (Prismatics Collection Spring 2013)
China Glaze- Mistletoe Kisses (Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection Winter 2010)
China Glaze- This is Tree-Mendous (Holiglaze Collection Winter 2013)
China Glaze- Winter Holly (Holiday Joy Collection Winter 2012)
Zoya- Chita (Pixiedust Collection Fall 2013)

And last but not least, the glitter used for the gradient is China Glaze- Party Hearty (Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection Winter 2010). Unfortunately this polish is kind of hard to get now :(. I used mine a ton, but my nail supply store all of a sudden had like 20 on their shelves and I bought my first ever back up polish! Everyone needs this polish, but fortunately Sinful Colors came out with one this year that looks a lot like it. Theirs is just green and red, but Party Hearty is green, red, and silver in all sizes of hexagonal glitters!

I did a pretty similar look to this last year, I even have a macro shot in there!

Rainbow Skittles Using Only Indies

I just got two of these polishes recently and knew I was going to pair them together, but then I had a revelation and realized I haven't done a rainbow manicure using just indies. All of these paired quite nicely together:

Starting from the thumb to the pinky: Pop Culture Cosmetics- Mrs. Claus Hearts Pink (Holiday Collection 2013), Glam Polish- BA-NA-NA! (Mayhem and Madness Collection 2013), Jindie Nails- Don't Get It Citrus Twisted (Summer Chic Collection 2013), Pop Culture Cosmetics- Jellybean, and Glam Polish- Planet Purple (Intergalactic Collection 2013).

All polishes were two coats. I chose these because they all have circle glitters, but I could not get any circles on my thumb or pinky! Either way I love how they look together. I will never get sick of these glitters in a crelly base!

More Textured Half Moons

I have said it once, and I will say it again: Textured polishes are the best for half moon nail art! They are for the most part really thick which is what you need in a polish for doing half moons, plus the different textures make them look that much more awesome! This one isn't very winter-esque, but I don't care!

This is also the first time I have used a holo as the base color! Me likey.

Let's start off with the green nails: The holo is Color Club- Kismet (Halo Hues Collection 2013). Probably my favorite of the color club holographics, since it is green obviously. I used two coats, but you can get away with one thick coat if you want. The green textured polish is Kiko- Spring Green 643 (Sugar Mat Collection 2013). The first time I saw this polish was on My Polish Stash. I died. Kiko released a lot of amazing textured polish, but of course we American's can't get them that easily. Luckily my nail mail buddy had connections in Europe, and I got this beauty! It is amazing. I wish there were more green textures out there

The purple and pink nails: The holo base is Emily de Molly- Peer Pressure, I used two coats. I first show cased this polish here. Seriously the best pink out there! The textured purple is a polish I am really surprised I haven't heard much about. I don't even think I have seen it on any main stream blogger's blogs. The polish is OPI- My Current Crush (The Texture Effect LE Duo). This polish also came with a OPI base coat. I first saw this at ULTA and I am sure my jaw literally dropped. I wanted to get it since there were only 3 on the shelf, but I stopped myself and luckily when my boyfriend took me on my nail polish shopping spree, this was at my nail supply store! I actually didn't get that good of a deal since it is $10, and my shop had it for $9. Oh well

I hope you enjoyed these! And you will probably be seeing some more of these in the future :P

Tape Nail Art Using A England Holographics

I will probably never enjoy doing tape manicures, but the outcome really is awesome. It just takes too much time! I don't know what made me decide to do one, I think I just wanted to use all my A England's all at once. I think this brand was one of my first indies I ever owned. I got these way back when Llarowe was small and only carried Glitter Gal, A England, and a few other brands. I died when I saw Scrangie's swatches of these, she does these polishes much more justice than I ever will.

As you can see, I have been really into color blocking lately

The colors I used on my index and pinky are Ascalon (light purple), and Tristam (dark blue). Ascalon is the only one out of all of these that isn't a one coater, but a duchrome holo polish? MINE.

The light green used on my middle and ring finger is Dragon, and the dark green is Saint George. I think Saint George is the most popular of all there shades. It is pretty much never in stock unless there is a restock. But oh my gosh, I just looked on Llarowe, and all of these colors are in stock! Go get you some!

My Thanksgiving Day Nails

I really had no time to do something fun on my nails for thanksgiving, what's new. Plus, I had class the day before Thanksgiving, what's up with that?! So, I finally got around to using this polish I have had a for a really long time since it is very Thanksgiving appropriate. Paired with one of the new China Glaze Halloween shades from this year.

The black shade is China Glaze- Bat My Eyes (Monster's Ball Collection Halloween 2013). I used two coats. It is a black base packed with small and micro gold glitters, and there are also orange bar glitters in it too. Those don't show up on the nail too much, but I am okay with that since I am not the biggest fan of bar glitters! You can probably still get your hands on this in ULTA or Sally's!

The beautiful brown shade (never did I think I would say "beautiful brown shade"), is China Glaze- Mahoganie (Specialty Glitters Collection). My nail supply store has pretty much all of the specialty glitters, and this one really stood out to me because of the unique shade, and the awesome holographic glitters in it! This is also two coats, and unfortunately hard to find.

Long time no see...AGAIN

I really just have the same excuse for not posting, school.....I am wrapping up finals this week, then I am going to try and do as many Christmas nails as possible! I am definitely going to recreate my South park nails too! I will actually have some more time to do my nails next quarter anyways since this quarter of my program is the "lightest" one. We will see...

Anyways, here are two manicures I did a long time ago. I have more photos to edit, so the next posts won't be too Christmasy, but the ones to follow will be! I am already rocking some awesome Christmas glitters as we speak.

Nubar- Lime Green Glitter

Yes, that is actually the name. I have been eying this polish for so long, but since my nail supply always had it, I just kept putting it off. My boyfriend took me to my nail shop to go shopping for my birthday, so I took that as an opportunity to get all the polishes I have been wanting for while. This polish is so freakin amazing! It is two coats of just straight up lime green glitter. I got it to be super shiny by using Gelous base coat first, then adding my Poshe fast drying top coat. My only complaint is that it is a pain in the but to photograph. I really need to invest in a tripod so my pictures don't come out so blurry, or my camera just can't handle awesome glitters like this....

Onto the next:

Total opposite from the pictures I just showed you.

I got two of these polishes from my nail mail buddy on Instagram, and she hooked it up with the entire China Glaze Halloween collection, plus this amazing nude! The nude shade on my two middle fingers is Zoya- Kennedy (Feel Collection Winter 2011). I used two coats, seriously a flawless polish. Zoya does cremes like no other. The grey color on my index and pinky is OPI- Berlin There Done That (Germany Collection Fall 2012). Two coats of another amazing creme.

Then I added China Glaze- Boo-gie Down (Monster's Ball Collection Halloween 2013). Another indie-esque polish from a mainstream brand! They made up for that one black and white polish they released with their Cirque de Soilel Collection....This is one coat of awesome glitter bomb heaven!

That is all I have for today...I will probably edit my photos and post on Friday since that is my last final!