Happy New Year!

I don't have anything special going on this year for New Year's Eve. We're not really party people (like going out), and with a one year old it's not so easy to have people over that late or to go to someone else's house. My husband is working until 9pm today as well. I think when he gets home, I'll make a ginormous batch of stove top popcorn and we'll watch some Doctor Who (I'm all caught up; he's on Series 5 still).

Anyway! I still did some simple New Year's Eve nails just for fun :)

Colors used: Barry M Gold Foil and Pure Ice Black Crackle

Merry Christmas!!

Hey all! Tomorrow is going to be super busy since the family is coming to our place. I'll be working on last minute cleaning plus cooking.

As much as I loved my last mani, it chipped super fast on me :(

So I had to redo it and I didn't have too much time. I also filed my nails down short since winter is taking quite a toll on them.

The base is 3 coats of Essie Marshmallow topped with China Glaze Twinkle Lights.

used the DIY Gel method on these to get longer wear. So I painted in this order: Gelous, Marshmallow, Gelous, Marshmallow, Gelous, Marshmallow, Twinkle Lights, Seche Vite.

I would not recommend the DIY Gel method with a polish that takes so many coats. It worked out fine; just took a while  to do.

Holographic Christmas Dotticure

I wanted to do a water marble Christmas mani, but time is tight these days and I'm not very good with water marbles so it will take forever!

So I did a simple Christmas dotticure.

The base is Gosh Holographic Hero. I believe it's the new version. I used two colors here. The top photo shows the holographic effect nicely.

For the dots I used Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby (red), OPI Don't Mess With OPI (green), Wet N a Wild Black Creme, and Wet n Wild French White Creme.

Snowflake Gradient

Base: Zoya Seraphina (two coats)

Sponged on OPI Russian Navy Suede

Stamped using Konad White and Bundle Monster 300 series plates

Sinful Colors Treasure Chest

Thanks to a super awesome person, I finally managed to get my hands on Sinful Colors Treasure Chest. I love it!

I used two colors here: one thicker coat and one thin coat the next day to fill in patchy areas. The formula is a bit harder to work with than other texture polishes and wants to drag if you put on a second coat. That's why I waited until the next day for my second coat.

Nail Polish Canada 2013 Holiday Nail Art Challenge Week 2: Decorations

This week's theme is decorations. I LOVE Christmas lights. I love them on trees and houses. They have to be one of my favorite things about Christmas too.

Soooo, I put lights on my nails!

I did a free hand French manicure and then added the lights.

Please vote for me here!

Base: Zoya Loretta to smooth out nails and add hint of peachy nude color

Tips: Rimmel French White Nail Tip

Bulbs: black acrylic paint, Zoya Breezi (blue), Zoya Sooki (red), Zoya Pippa (yellow), OPI Don't Mess With OPI (green)

Christmas Leopard Print

I've had this idea in my head for ages so I knew I had to do it as soon as the holiday season came around. It turned out pretty great, if I do say so myself :)

I used two coats each of Zoya Sooki (red) and OPI Don't Mess With OPI (green) for my base. I alternated the polish across all 10 fingers.

I don't have a leopard print stamping image so I freehanded this using Wet n Wild Black Creme and the pointy end of an orange stick. Then I added a thick layer of Seche Vite over the top.

Whimsical Ideas by Pam Just Add Milk

3 coats Whimsical Ideas by Pam Just Add Milk

Base of Wet n Wild French White Creme

Art done using Migi nail art pens

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

Polish-Aholics Anonymous Winter 2013 Challenge

Over at Polish-Aholics Anonymous, we're doing a Winter 2013 Challenge. It's not an every day one, so it should be easier to do. Feel free to join us! We'll be on Instagram too with #PAAwinter2013

Berry & Silver Skittle

Sinful Colors Berry Charm

Wet n Wild Sprinkled with Love

Nail Craze NC02 stamped with Barry M Silver Foil

Phallic Flowers

Not quite as dirty as the title sounds ;)

Base: Illamasqua Phallic and Barry M Gold Foil

Details: Wet n Wild French White Creme, and studs from Born Pretty Store

Zoya Claudine

Base: 2 coats Zoya Claudine

Water decals from Born Pretty Store

Barry M Ridley Road

Base: Barry M Ridley Road (3 coats)

MoYou London plate & Konad Special Polish Black

Happy Birthday, Tristan!

Today is my son's first birthday party! We picked a monster theme, and I did a mani to match.

The base is A-England Tristam since my son's name is Tristan. The glitter is Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday. I added monsters for an accent.

Enjoy the mani! I've got cleaning and decorating to do ;)

Go Bears!!!

Today is the big Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers game. Even though we live in Wisconsin now, hubby and I both grew up in Illinois so GO BEARS!

I used one coat of Zoya Sunshine and two coats of Julie G Tangerine Dream.

Barry M Blueberry

My mother-in-law went to visit my sister-in-law (her daughter) in Ireland in September. She picked up 3 Barry M polishes for me, one being a back up Gold Foil. Another was Barry M Blueberry, part of the Gelly line (I also have Pomegrante that I got in swap).

Blueberry is a sorta cornflower blue with hints of purple in it. To me, it reads more purple in the bottle than it does ok the nail. I needed two coats for this mani.

I finished it off with some rhinestones, and layered O.P.I. Crown Me Already with Barry M Silver Glitter.

Bloody Splatter

Base: Wet n Wild Black Creme followed by Seche Vite to dry. Added Essie Matte About You on top.

Splatter: Zoya Isla and Zoya Sookie

Spiderwebs and Raindrops

I used a base of 2 coats of Rimmel Grey Matter and followed it up with one thick coat of Illamasqua Raindrops. I like the sorta stormy/glistening effect this created.

Then I freehanded spiderwebs using Barry M Silver Foil. The spider was done with Wet n Wild Black Creme and Zoya Isla for the eyes.

OPI Peru-B-Ruby

Today's mani is OPI Peru-B-Ruby. I'm not normally a big red fan, but this color has a ton of meaning to me which is why I wanted it.

Ruby is my birth stone since I was born in July. I use rubytadpole as my name for a lot of places (including Instagram, follow me!). That's where the Ruby in Ruby's Nails comes from.

Peru also has meaning for me and I spent 6 wonderful weeks studying there in 2010. I ate tons of new foods: ceviche, cuy (guinea pig), fresh rainbow trout, anticucho (marinated, skewered, and grilled beef heart), real sugar Coke, choclo (a corn with giant kernels), quinoa, sooo many potatoes, different teas, Cusqueña beer, picarones (sweet potato donuts), alpaca, llama, and granadilla (a fruit with hard seeds in gelatinous pulp, tastes much better than it sounds and looks!).

I lived in Cusco for the six weeks but traveled to the Sacred Valley and fed alpacas and llamas, hiked in Machu Picchu, sailed to the Uros Islands (islands made of reeds in Lake Titicaca), spent the night with a traditional family on Amantaní who dressed us up in traditional clothing and took us to a village dance, and saw countless other Inca ruins.

So that was long....but I wanted to really express to WHY this color is sooo important to me.

Pumpkin Skittles

Base: China Glaze Riveting

Art: Wet n Wild Black Creme

Matte Graveyard

I did some simple graveyard nails using all matte polishes.

Base China Glaze Stone Cold

Gravestone ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly

Trees Sinful Colors Leather Loose

Grass Sinful Colors Rise and Shine

Roses Layla Fire It Up

Details Sinful Colors Cold Leather

Apple Mani and the Orchard

We had a family trip to the apple orchard today so I did some nails to match! I used Glitter Gal Light As A Feather as the base.

And here's a photo collage of my little guy there!

Ghostly Storm

Today's Nail Art October theme for the Instagram challenge I'm doing (#nailartoct) is Trick or Treat. However, I'm going to an apple orchard on Sunday, and my idea for that theme fits much better for the orchard so I switched. Instead I'm doing Sunday's theme: Ghosts.

Base: Zoya Storm (2 coats)

Stamps: Bundle Monster BM223 (ghosts) & BM305 (house)

Stamped with Rimmel French White Nail Tip Liner (a less opaque white to give a ghostly feel) and Barry M Gold Foil

Fall flowers

I've seen tons of fall manis with leaves on them, but I love flowers so I decided to do some fall colored flowers.

I used a base of Zoya Pepper. I added flowers using O.P.I. Chop-sticking to My Story (orange) and O.P.I. The "It" Color (yellow). I dotted the center of the flowers using Barry M Gold Foil.

CANDY CORMS!!!

PLol, today's title is just the shortened name of today's polish: Smitten Polish ERMAHGERD CANDY CORMS. I've worn this before, but it's such a great fall polish that I think I'll bring it out every year :)

I used two coats below and took the photo with some beautiful flowers that we saw when we visited a vineyard yesterday.

Dollish Polish Zombie Flesh with gold leaves

I'm participating in a nail art challenge on Instagram and today's theme is gold. I used a base of Dollish Polish Zombie Flesh and stamped some leaves using Barry M Gold Foil.

Zoya Breezi and Hit Polish Gemtastic!

I'm on vacation so just a quick post while the little guy and my husband take a nap :) We're gone this whole week, but I'll still be posting.

Today's mani features a base of Zoya Breezi, a wonderful blue that I was missing from my collection. I layered Hit Polish Gemtastic! on top as a reverse accent nail. Breezi was the perfect base for this.

Midwest Beauty Bloggers Giveaway!

Several of the Midwestern Beauty Bloggers have joined together to bring you a fall giveaway (including me!)! There are six different prize packs for you to win! The only mandatory entry is an e-mail address. You can get additional entries after you provide your e-mail address. Six blogs with the Midwestern Beauty Bloggers Facebook group are participating in this giveaway.

One entry per person. Duplicate entries will be deleted. Winner must provide a shipping address (no PO Boxes, please), so that your winnings can be mailed to you. We will contact the winners and he/she must reply to my e-mail within 48 hours or we will draw another winner. ***US ONLY PLEASE DUE TO SHIPPING REGULATIONS***

Entries will be accepted until 12 a.m. on October 10, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Whimsical Ideas by Pam Peanut Butter and Jelly

Sorry this post is sooo late going up today. Things are auper crazy around here: teething/clingy baby, leaving for a week's vacation on Saturday(!), and dealing with medical issues with our kitty (she didn't eat for 5 days, and had surgery. I was syringe feeding her and injecting her with fluids per the vet, yikes!)

Luckily I got some packing partially done today with my husband's help, and our kitty is finally eating on her own :)

Today's polish is Whimsical Ideas by Pam Peanut Butter and Jelly. I used two coats here. The glitter came out great, and I didn't need to dig or place it.

Neon blue skittlette

Here's a mani I did earlier this summer, but didn't get around to posting yet.

The base is Wet n Wild Teal Slowly and See (not really a teal at all) topped with one super thick coat of Lynnderella Bird Brain Blue. I had to do some digging for glitter in this one. I also added some studs for an accent.

Sinful Colors Cold Leather

Sinful Colors Cold Leather needed two coats. The first went on sorta sheer and dried quickly. The second took longer to dry. It has more of that latex/leather look than Leather Loose which was much more of a matte finish.

Sinful Colors Leather Loose

Sinful Colors Leather Loose from the new collection. This is 2 coats with no base or top coat.

Stitch n Bitch Crochet Nails

Yesterday I went to a Stitch n Bitch at a friend's where we had pumpkin everything! It was just 4 of us, but we watched girly movies (Mermaids, Steel Magnolia, You've Got Mail), stitched (crochet, knitting, and cross-stitching), and ate yummy stuff. My wonderful husband watched the baby the whole day while this mommy got a much needed break!

I had to do my nails for the occasion (though I was too busy having fun, that I didn't show them off, whoops!).

For this I used a base of Weird Indeed Troy and Abed. This indie company isn't around anymore, but the color is just a pale blue with small amounts of glitter. Then I freehanded the yarn and crochet hook.

The first photo I'm posing with a crochet critter I made! My son's first birthday is monster themed so I'm crocheting a bunch of these guys to give out as favors.

Tea and Crumpets and Neon Studs

I ordered some neon studs not too long ago. When I was deciding what base to put them on, I thought L'Oreal Tea and Crumpets would be a good neutral base to show off the studs. I used either two or three coats of Tea and Crumpets.

I really like it because it's a nude-y/tan color with a touch of grey that makes it a bit unique.

Julie G Tangerine Dream

This is Julie G Tangerine Dream. Needed two coats for coverage. Dry time and wear time was good.

Lime Crime Peaches Cream

I saw two of my nail friends where this color recently and decided I needed to have it. So glad I bought it!

I also decided to wear it right away since summer is coming to a close. We're having strange up and down weather here in Wisconsin. See? (That's my town name I so carefully scribbled out.)

Anyway, I used 3 coats to get full coverage. I might try it over a white next time to conserve the polish.  I freehanded a black tribal design and stuck on some metal studs too. 

Rainbow Clouds

We had some awesome summer storms here so I was inspired to do this nail art. I used Zoya Dove topped with Candeo Colors Sprouse for the main nails. The accent nail with clouds used various colors.

Zoya Carter

Today I have the last of the new PixieDusts that I bought. This one is Zoya Carter. I loved all the blogger swatches I saw of it, but it didn't behave as nicely for me as Sunshine and Chita.

Carter was much thinner. One coat barely did anything. In the end, I did two thin coats and one super thick coat. I topped with Seche Vite to make it dry faster. It looked gorgeous top coated! Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pictures because it chipped the next day :(

I added one more coat on top to make it a texture again and took these photos.

My Carter also seems to have silver bits that aren't really well blended into the polish itself and look a bit weird as a texture. 

Zoya Chita

Here's another of Zoya's Fall Pixie polishes, Zoya Chita. Like Sunshine, Chita is practically a one coater. Formula was good (no clean-up needed!), and dry time was nice!

Zoya Sunshine

I think the best texture polishes come from Zoya, and their new fall Pixie line is no exception.

Today I have Zoya Sunshine. I used two coats for perfect coverage. I tend to use thinner coats though so you might just need one.

Disney Belle French Tip

Today's challenge theme in one of my FB groups is Disney Princesses. I thought about doing Ariel since she's my favorite princess, but I've seen a lot of Ariel manis.  Instead, I chose to recreate a mani from Polish Art Addiction.

I used Fresh Paint Alex's Lemonade (it smells vaguely like lemonade plus the funds go towards a children's cancer charity) for the tip. I added a gold accent using Barry M Gold Foil. Finally I stamped on a white rose (I thought it would look better than a red one) using Konad White Stamping Polish and Bundle Monster BM14.

Zoya Pepper

For today's mani, I used a base of Zoya Pepper. It's almost a one coater, but I used 2 to make sure. On my accent nails, I painted a base of Barry M Gold Foil and topped it with China Glaze Blonde Bombshell. I stamped using Barry M Gold Foil and Bundle Monster BM315.

Funky Fingers Partly Cloudy

PI had my mom pick this up for me at 5 Below since they're aren't any of those stores in Wisconsin. Funky Fingers Partly Cloudy is a color changing polish that goes from teal to grey. I never did find any sun when I wore this so I don't have any shots of the color change for you. Still, I love the black skittle I came up with.

Glam Polish Neon Nubs

The last Glam Polish is the one featured in today's mani. It's called Neon Nubs and is from the Instaglam collection. Great application just like the others. This is two coats here.

Glam Polish Unicorn Sparkles

I have another Glam Polish from the lovely Rachel for you today.

This one is Glam Polish Unicorn Sparkles. This mani is two coats. I didn't have to do any fishing for glitter and application was wonderful. I took the photos in sunlight so you can see the beautiful sparkles.