Halloween Nails: ERMAHGERD Happy Candy Corn

Okay so there's totally a reason for the silly title!

Smitten Polish ERMAHGERD CANDY CORMS is my annual Halloween/fall polish. I save it for this time each year. I don't have any other holiday polishes so it's sorta special. 

I think this is my 3rd year using this polish and suprisingly, I've never paired it with candy corns! So I decided to this year.

The purple base color I used here is Sinful Colors Amethyst while the candy corn is entirely acrylic paint.

This little cutie was inspired by the talented @lacquer_daze on Instagram.

Sinful Colors Fig line work

Hello everyone! Sorry for totally forgetting to post yesterday!

So after I took after my gel nails, I noticed my middle finger on my blogging hand looked pretty rough. I had to file it down a bit, but they was a side year pretty far down. I tee bag patched it and put a gel top coat on this mani to make it last longer. We'll see.

I've been trying to use some of the polishes I have that don't get much love. I still like them and want them in my collection; I just don't use them much.

Sinful Colors Fig is one. It's a berry purple color with a very light shimmer that doesn't come out on the nail very well.

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, so I grabbed some black acrylic paint and a nail art brush I had trimmed down and went to town. It was really fun to play around with lines and see how well I could do. I'm pretty impressed with myself and think I'm getting better at my nail art skills.

June Nail Art Challenge, Day 6: Fav Movie

This was a tough one for me, not because of the design, but because of the decisions!

I have a bunch of movies that I love, but it's hard to pick a favorite. So I went with one I that I've been dying to rewatch lately: BBC's North and South. It's based upon a book by Elizabeth Gaskell, which I actually haven't read yet.

Yellow roses play a good part in the movie seen here being held by Richard Armitage who's lately been in The Hobbit trilogy.

For my roses, I went a bit different than how I normally do them.

I was inspired by wondrouslypolished.com. 

I used Nicole by OPI Khloe Had A Lam-Lam for the base (which is reading really dark here, but is actually a brighter dark teal) and acrylic paint. It didnt come out quite how I wanted, but I still love it.

June Nail Art Challenge, Day 4: Disney

Gah! Almost forgot to post today so just a quickie. I did these 101 Dalmation nails today for today's Disney theme. They are inspired by @everylittlepolish.

Base coat is Wet n Wild French White Creme, and I used acrylic paint for the rest to make it super fast.

Purple Plaid

I've been meaning to post this since Monday, but time has really gotten away from me.

I joined a group a few weeks ago where the focus is on becoming a minimalist. The general idea is to simplify your life so that you can better enjoy it. That can mean getting rid of belongings so you can find what you need more easily or so you don't spend so much time cleaning. It can mean cutting back on social media or television or whatever so you have more quality time with your family. It can mean cutting out those toxic people in your life so your thoughts aren't cluttered and wasted on them. It's about living life. I've been mostly focused on getting rid of  items in our home as well as decluttering those time wasters. A lot of this for me has been cutting back TV to those shows that I really like (which is still a lot to be honest).

Another project of mine/hobby is meal planning. I love cooking, but it's hard to when you've got a cranky toddler at your feet (bless those of you who do it with multiples!). It's a bit easier though as T had gotten older so I'm trying to find simple healthy recipes for me to cook.

So onto today's mani!!! Lol

It's simple and classy, yet fun. My colors are OPI Parlez-vous OPI? and L'Oreal Tea and Crumpets (which has a crappy stiff brush but I love the color). I used black and white acrylic paint as well.

China Glaze floral skittle mani

Hello! Anyone have any fun plans for the weekend? Tomorrow we're heading to our state capitol in Madison. They do a wonderful farmer's market right around the Capitol Square. Then we'll hit up the free zoo there. The weather is looking to be nice so I can't wait to go! Sunday we're going to do lunch somewhere and then maybe a little shopping at a children's resale shop. Our little guy could use some more summery clothes.

I did this mani as part of a hashtag on Instagram called mani swap. The premise is that you and another Instagram-er pick a mani of the other person's and recreate it. Then you post a collage of all 4 manis. Be sure to check out my Instagram for my inspiration as well as the recreated mani.

I used all China Glaze polishes to create this look. The colors are For Audrey, Exotic Encounters, and White on White. The roses themselves are acrylic paint while the leaves are polish. 

Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal

Blah blah blah excuse why I haven't posted blah blah blah.

Sorry everyone, but life gets in the way.

Anyway I did these gel nails last Friday and they lasted well for me with no chipping. When I gave my son a bath tonight though, they all started peeling off. No idea why :/

Base: Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal (I need three coats and it was sorta runny so I had a hard time keeping it from flooding).

Details were done using white acrylic paint.

Double Challenge Day featuring Snow Man Nail Art

Today's challenge for the Polish-Aholics Anonymous Winter 2013 Challenge is Inspired by a Holiday Movie. I'm also participating in the Nail Polish Canada 2013 Holiday Nail Art Challenge. The first week's theme is Snow. I decided to combine the two ideas and did Frosty the Snowman nails.

I was inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest and created this.

Base: Wet N Wild French White Creme and Sally Hansen Glass Slipper
Details: black acrylic paint, Zoya Arizona (orange), Barry M Pomegrante

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 27, Inspired by Artwork

I decided to continue the Valentine's Day theme and was excited when I found this piece of art by Robert Indiana called "Classic Sky Love." I've seen this artwork before and thought it would fun to do as a mani!

Source: Art.com

I started with a base of Essie Mojito Madness.

The rest of the mani was done with acrylic paint. I should have done a second coat on the red, but I really do love the way this turned out!! I stayed turn to the artwork, and I love the pop effect.

Check out other manis inspired by artwork below.

31 Day Challenge, Part 2!: Day 26, Inspired by a Pattern

For today's challenge, I really wanted to do something with heart since Valentine's Day is coming up soon. So off to Google Images I went!  I found this pattern with pink hearts on a grey back ground and loved it!

Source: Dreamstime

I started with a base coat of Rimmel Grey Matter. I really like this polish because I love the color, the Rimmel brush, and its fast dry time.  I added the hearts using acrylic paint.

Check out other manis inspired by patterns below.

(Ugly) Christmas sweater

Merry Christmas!! We had family over yesterday to celebrate so today it's just our small family :-)
I made egg nog french toast for breakfast today!

I was inspired for this mani by this pin & tutorial.  Unfortunately, my mani didn't turn out as neatly so I would probably call this ugly sweater nails rather than regular sweater nails. I followed a good portion of the design but copy it exactly.

My base is Zoya Sooki, my go to red. I used 2 coats for this mani. The rest is done with acrylic paint.

Pizza Fail

For Day 4 of my food nail art series, I decided to do Pizza.  I haven't used my acrylic paints in a while so I decided to use those. Folks, my paint is too thin and I rushed this. So what you have is a blobbed on mess that topcoat couldn't even save. Here I share with you my fail, and plead with you to get quality paint and to be patient.

Monday Mani: Retro

At Polish-aholics Anonymous this week's Monday Mani theme is Retro. I haven't really done much nail art lately and that's why I got into polish in the first place, so I decided to have tons of fun with this one!

Pacman! I wanted to do Super Mario, but my husband said that wasn't retro. :P What does he know?

The base color is Sinful Color Black on Black. Everything else is done with acrylic paint or Migi nail art pens.

I made sure to paint white first, then color over it with the details so they would pop. I've heard some complain that the Migi nail art pens are watery--yes, they are when you first use them but just keep squeezing and the watery stuff will come out and they will work better.