Christmas Mani

Yay christmas!  I know pretty much everyone was doing candy cane style manis for christmas, but it's just so cute, I had to do it!

How cute!  This is 3 coats Sally Hansen White On topped with China Glaze Salsa.  I used a BM plate to do the stripes, but they didn't cover the whole nail, so I had to use a small brush to extend the lines.  When I added the first coat of top coat, the red smeared, so I went over the white again a bit.  I also added a coat of CND Crimson Sparkle on top.  I love that it's very subtle, but makes it look like a sugary candy cane.

On the thumb, I skipped the stripes and used a BM plate to add some holly leaves with China Glaze Emerald Fitzgerald.  I used little red balls for the berries.  Unfortunately, they bled when I added the top coat also.  So I had to add some more white.  I used the CND effect on the thumb as well.

I love this one and of course, got lots of compliments.  Sorry to post this late, but I was having some computer troubles.  Merry Christmas all!!

Wet 'n Wild Night Prowl

I was really falling for the China Glaze Halloween previews (which weren't out at the time) when I saw this Wet 'n Wild Night Prowl and thought it looked a lot like China Glaze Mummy May I.  I was a little disappointed, but it's still a great color.

This is 3 coats Wet 'n Wild Night Prowl which is a black base with magenta glitter.  Hard to tell in this photo, I know.  Application was fairly good.  I didn't really have much trouble, but the wear on this wasn't great.

There we go!  I put a kiss print off a bundle monster plate on with Art Deco Intense Pink.  It turned out more sheer than I'd hoped.  But still cool!  This is very dark and vampy, haha.  I liked this mani, but I didn't love it.  Oh well.  Thank goodness China Glaze came out!  ;)

Going Batty

I picked this color because it was close to orange, but far enough on the peach side to still be subtle.  I liked this mani, but it really didn't scream Halloween.  I guess it was a little too subtle for me, lol.

This is 2 coats of Models Own Peach Sherbet.  I used Sally Hansen Black Out to stamp on the bats, spider and web from my Bundle Monster plate.  I added a coat of glitter to make it less boring, haha.  The thumb looks the best in my opinion.  But I think that's because I have a hard time seeing the bats since they're small.

I absolutely love Models Own polish.  It applies like a dream and covers beautifully.  I loved this color.  I will admit it's probably better suited for spring, but I loved it anyway.  And from far away it just looks cute, not scary and batty, lol.

Ocean Flowers

I thought this looked nice and summery.  This is 4 coats Essie Turquoise & Caicos on all but the ring finger.  On the ring finger is 3 coats Essie Blanc.  I stamped the white onto the teal fingers and attempted to stamp the teal onto the white finger... but failed, lol.  I added the flower shaped goodies on top on the white finger only.  I love the color of Turquoise & Caicos, but it's so sheer!  I hate putting on 4 coats of anything, it feels wasteful.  I was disappointed in the pigmentation of that one.  The Blanc isn't all that opaque either, but at least it's a regular 3-coater.  And I can see where I stamped it!  Lol.  It kinda gave a tonal effect to the stamping that I didn't anticipate.

I liked this mani, but I didn't love it.  I think it could have been done with similar colors in my collection that are a lot more opaque and less annoying.  Sorry, Essie, this one didn't win me over.  Add more pigment and you'd have a winner!

American Apparel: Office

I have to say, I really like the American Apparel polishes.  This is only the second one I've tried, but I love them both!  This is such a pretty shade of green.  Kinda dusty mint.  This is 3 coats of American Apparel Office.  Application was standard, not too bad, but not amazing.  I didn't have any cuticle drag issues.  I did NOT take this photo on day one.  I forget how long I'd worn this mani before I took the photo, but it was at least a couple days into it.  So wear was really good.  I used Milani Fresh Teal to stamp the crown on.  I topped it all with 2 coats Seche Vite.  I'm not sure where I thought I was going with the stamping, but I know I was originally going to add some gold.  But then I stopped because I liked the tonal look of this.  I think it came out cute.

Party Nails!!

I actually wore this mani for my birthday (July 13th).  It's easier to see in shadow than in bright sun because of all that glitter, haha.  This is 2 thick coats of OPI Mad As a Hatter.  Then I used BM05 with Color Club Wild at Heart to add the star on top.  I knew I was going to lose all the holo from the CC polish, but it's the most opaque purple I have and I wanted it to show up.  This mani got a lot of compliments, hehe.  It's like a disco ball on your nails!

Close up of the nails.  Talk about messy application!  Haha.  It was hard to get the glitter to go where I wanted without getting everywhere else too.  I wound up with a huge gap near the cuticle... oh well.  But for the most part, this polish is so wonderfully dense that coverage was pretty easy.  And how cute are the stars?  I like them.  I wore this mani out on the town with my girls.  Woohoo!!

Lilac and flowers

I am going through some stuff.  Some pretty major stuff.  I really don't know what to do or how to feel or when it's going to end.  Some days are better than others.  And I guess I know it will eventually get better because it always does.  But at the moment, I don't see a light at the end of this tunnel and frankly I don't know if I want to.  I'm depressed and numb at the same time.  But I have to distract myself and keep going.  So I'm trying to keep going.  Sorry in advance...

Anyway, I went to Ulta this past weekend because I had to get out of the house and I had a coupon for two free "salon" polishes... basically the Essie, OPI, China Glaze, etc... So I picked up two of those and a few other things.  I got the new Essie minis for their new collection.  They look super cute, so look out for them.  I also picked up the Essence stampy set because I am wanting Konad, but haven't gotten it yet.

This is 3 coats of Essence No More Drama from the Colour & Go collection.  Then I stamped with OPI Dim Sum Plum on just the ring and thumb.  You can tell I started with this ring finger.  Fail-ish... but not too terrible.  I really like this one actually.  I think it's nice and spring-like.  Something to look at to brighten my mood a little.