New Year's Eve

A super quick post because we've got friends coming over in about 45 minutes, and I have some last minute cleaning to do along with starting to cook dinner!

Since it's New Year's Eve, I needed to bling it up, even if I'm not going out.

I started out with a base of my favorite black, Wet N Wild Black Creme. I really need to buy more of this. It's cheap, goes on in 1 thick coat, dries well, and is good for stamping. What more could you want?
Then I added my new favorite, INM's Northern Lights Hologram Top Coat Silver.

It really is amazing. I used two coats on each finger. My pinkie looks like it has more, but it just applied that way. Over black, this glitter seems like a starry sky.

Well, I couldn't stop there, so I added more sparkles.

First I put on Barry M Limited Edition Effects Silver Glitter. I tried sponging it on, but it turned a bit white (look at the pinkie nail). So I tried a different technique. I place a thick line at the top of my nail, like you would with a french manicure. Then I wiped off the brush in the bottle and pulled the color back towards the cuticle. Tada!

As if that wasn't enough, I added Sally Girl Chunky Silver Glitter over the whole nail. I didn't take a picture before I added the Sally Girl so you the pictures look the same. Buuuutttt....the Sally Girl is big hexgaon/round pieces and some smaller chunks as well.

Hope you all like it!

Happy New Year to those who are already past midnight, and Happy New Year's Eve to those who have yet to celebrate. 2012 can only bring good things.

OPI DS Opulence

I have my first holo!! Granted, it's not a super strong holo or even a rare one, but it's a holo and it's all mine.

Since I can't leave well enough alone, I decided to create a design.

 I cut small strips of tape and put them over the OPI. Then I painted over with Sinful Colors Black on Black.  Finally I added a thick coat of Seche Vite to even things out.

I love this look. It's super fun and sparkly.  It's pretty simple to do, but definately takes some time to put on the tape. And then the tape wouldn't get off my fingers after I took it off!

New storage

The day after Christmas, I hit up a sale at Michael's and got a new storage system for my polish and supplies.  I'm in love.

Most of you have heard of Melmers. Well, this is by the same company, just a different unit. Here's full size image of one: It's the one circled!

I was really debating getting this over a Melmer because it was twice as much, but I really liked that is was on wheels.  On the top is an organizer with 16 little compartments.  All my tools/supplies/cleanup fit on top.

This is awesome.

Here's a picture of one of the drawers. I guess that about 100-110 polishes will fit in each drawer. I have space between mine so you can fit more if you put them closer together.  The drawers are fabric, but with a super study thick cardboard bottom.  There is no track on these drawers either so you can pull them out.

Here's a side shot. Inside of putting ribbon on the holder, I put on paper towel. The lady at Michael's suggested this when I told her that I wanted nail polish storage. So helpful! She was even in the know about polish because I told her I needed something tall enough to store polish and she asked, "What kind? Essie or OPI? Because those are different height bottles." Love it!!

What do you think about this system?

Retro dots

Hey all! Hope you had a great holiday with your families and friends. I know I did, even if it was a bit stressful with cleaning the house and cooking.


While I enjoyed doing the 24 days of Christmas challenge, it was tough! My poor nails were tired after all the acetone and this winter is being unkind to them.

Still, I can't have naked nails, and I didn't want to do a plain color. So I came up with this simple design. Actually, it's inspired by several nail bloggers.

It's only my thumb because my other nails are already chipped so badly! I did this mani on Christmas day actually. My husband worked that day and we celebrated the day before so I had a free day. I took the time to really take care of my nails (pushing back cuticles really well, good clean-up, moisturizing, shaping, etc), and then did this mani.

I used OPI Parlez-vous O.P.I.? for the base. Then I put on the white using Rimmel French White Nail Tip Liner.  Finally, I used O.P.I. Stranger Tides for the dots.

I just got a new storage system and polishes so I'll have a post on those soon!

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 24: Favorite Manicure

This is going to be a super quick post because my husband has to work tomorrow so we're celebrating Christmas today and the family is coming to my place! Tons to do still! Panic!

Okay, calming down enough to post this. The favorite mani I did for this challenge was the snowman face, but I decided I didn't want to repeat what I had done so I decided to replicate Lexi's at Finger Painted.


I used acrylic paint. I have super cheap stuff and it doesn't dry very fast on my nails so I didn't wait long enough to put on top coat. It smeared. So now it looks like Mr. Snowman has orange snot. Sigh.

Whew! We're at the end of the challenge! I loved doing this so much. It really stretched my nail art abilities, and I've expanded what I can do. I think I'm neater at polishing now, but I've also incorporated stamping and acrylic paint.

I'm off for this next whole week so I'm sure plenty more designs will be posted!

Don't forget to check out these ladies designs, and Happy Holidays!!!!

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 23: Santa

I had a great time doing today's mani. I even did it on my right hand to go all out since there's only 1 more day left!!!

I did Santa skittles on my hands since I had so many ideas I wanted to use and couldn't choose just one!

Here's a closeup of each individual nail. I apologize for what looks like poor cuticles--it's actually top coat that I didn't see for cleanup (it's so hard to see since it's clear!)

On my thumb, I did a base of China Glaze Sea Spray with Sally Hansen Glass Slipper on top so it looks like snow. I love this top coat. Such gorgeous sliver flakies.

Santa's hat on my pointer

Santa's face on my middle finger (again stupid bad cleanup of the top coat)

Santa's suit on my ringer finger

Santa going down the chimney (my poor pinky, the cuticles are not happy, plus there's top coat on them :( 

Here's some others who are also participating in the challenge:

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 22: Rudolph

So here's the Rudolph mani that I was supposed to do yesterday. Oops.  I was again inspired by Rina at Simply Rins and used her tutorial to do the reindeer face.

I just added the reindeer onto my middle finger because the elf is too darned cute!

I actually did the design all the way down to my tip so what you're actually seeing is Seche pull.  I also added some Essie Shine of the Times on the other fingers. Isn't it gorgeous?

I mean, just look at all those beautiful flakies. Even better is that it was finally sunny so I could take a proper photo of them to show you all.

Here's some others who are also participating in the challenge:

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 21: Elf

So I goofed! I found this awesome tutorial by Rina at Simply Rins on how to do elves. I was so excited about finding and wanting to try that I had completed the mani before I realized that elf today is tomorrow. Sigh. I wasn't going to take it off, so here it is today!

The base is Revlon Blue Lagoon, and the elf was done with all acrylic paint. It's my first time using them, and I really really like it. I was able to get much finer detail this way.

Isn't he adorable?!  Thanks for the great tutorial Rina!

Here's some others who are also participating in the challenge:

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 20: Sleigh or Sled

I come a new pretty in the mail yesterday, Orly Androgynie,  so I had to use in today's manicure!

First I used Androgynie as the base.  Look how pretty!

I mean, just look at all the glittery goodness!! This is two coats of Androgynie. It's a thinner black so it definitely needs it.

Inspired by this idea from Posh for Polish, I stamped on a sleigh and reindeer. I took forever to get the reindeer to work. Finally, I figured out I was scraping off too much polish and pushed down lighter, it worked! Doh, user error!

Finally, I added in some color details on the sled. In retrospect, I wish I would have left the actual sleigh part white because it looked better.

Here's some others who are also participating in the challenge:

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails

24 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 19: Santa Hats

I got the inspiration for this mani from Posh for Polish.

After my base coat, I added a thick-ish layer of Finger Paints Sparkle Top Coat.

Next, I mixed together some Savvy Ruby Pumps and Pure Ice Siren to get the red I wanted.  I painted on a rough triangle.  Finally, I dotted on Finger Paints Paper Mache.

Here's some others who are also participating in the challenge:

Paint That Nail

Obsessed With Glitter

Nails and Stuff

Red Hair and Black Nail Polish

Base Coat Top Coat

KK Nails

Me, Myself, and Nail Polish

My Polish Stash

Finger Painted

Polish, and Makeup, and Cars, Oh my!

My Wet Nails