Tweezers and patience

I was out bright and early this morning doing some last minute Christmas what-nots and found myself at Sally Beauty Supply. I found this cute little China Glaze Christmas set that I hadn't seen and well, Merry Christmas to me! This is China Glaze "Winter Holly". Then I used some gold caviar balls I had to make the "garland" and some square rhinestones for the ornaments. Viola! Christmas tree with ornaments and garland nails! Hope you all have a great holiday!

Candy Cane Nails!

I love the idea of candy cane designs! Let me just say, I tried this with reverse, red polish with white stamping stripes and it was a giant fail! Makes me wonder if zebras are white with black stripes! (I think so) Anyway, fun, festive little design...I used OPI "Kyoto Pearl" for the white base. It was 4 thin coats, but it dried really quickly and I wanted to make sure it was opaque. Also, it was like 1 in the morning, so I didn't have the best lighting, and thought, why not. Then in the morning, I did the stamping. This is the Konad (fauxnad) plate M65 and Konad special polish in red. I think it turned out pretty cute, and I like how the white is kind of silvery shimmer finish under it, kind of like some fancy candy canes. Hope you enjoy!

Christmas Stripe

Today's mani is not so good, but it's still festive. It's China Glaze "Ruby Pumps" and Konad plate S6 with Konad special polish in gold. I overslept today and am a little out of it, so this was the best I could do. Also, it looks better in person than here in this macro photo in the gloom and doom overcast that is the weather!

Mistletoe Matte!

I wanted to make my green nails different. I used Orly "Meet Me Under the Mistletoe" and Butter London Matte top coat. It looks like velvety pine trees to me. I wanted to put ornaments on them, but red didn't show up, gold wasn't bright enough, and then I got ticked off. So, I put silver and gold hearts on it. They looked like sparkley ornaments, but then when I put the matte topcoat on them, they didn't anymore. I still love how this polish looks, but I was frustrated with the art so I'm not happy about any of it. Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Festive!

I had the plain red color on yesterday when a guy at work was like "I like them better all fancied up." So I decided to "fancy them up" :) This is the Holiday OPI "Last Minute Shopper". Then I used Konad special polish in white and Bundle Monster plate BM323. My middle finger nail STILL won't grow. I cut them off relatively even when I broke it, but the other fingers have grown, and the middle is still all stubby! Oh well. Have a great Wednesday!

Who just turned 36?!

Ok, so I think I look pretty good for 36. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, even though I wanted to "review" the eyeshadow I had on here, I'll just tell you about it. My husband bought me the gargantuan e.l.f. 144 color palette thing from Target for my birthday. LOVE IT! I wanted to try their products for a while, but never got around to getting any. Ok, I am a sucker for red eyeshadow. I can rarely find any that don't look pink. Well, these were ok. The darkest one was not much different than Urban Decay's "Gash". I like them though. They didn't turn too pink on me. They were a bit difficult to blend, like a dry yet sticky thing happening. I got them to work, just had to use a little more than usual (I am a HUGE fan of Ulta brand shadows, UD, and Smashbox) so these were just a little different. Maybe it was just the red colors themselves? I will continue to use it because I have 140 more colors to try! Definitely a great buy for $15! Seriously, $15!!! You can also get it through drugstore.com if they ever have it in stock. Thanks for staring at my mug for a second. Also, maybe next time I'll use my Real camera and just do a shot of my eyes :)

Christmas Candy

Hi! I've been gone for a while, I know. I am still waiting for my nail to grow back to a managable length for me on my left hand. So, I took a photo of my right hand! It's funny, I had no idea how to hold my hand and clicking the button on my camera was really awkward. Also, it has rained for like a week straight, so it was hard for me to get good lighting. I tried outside in the dreary-ness but I actually had better luck inside. It's so dark and horrible outside that the auto flash kept happening...even outside! It can be sunny any time now! Even if it snows a foot, as long as there is a little sun, I don't care. It was also my birthday on Saturday. I got a great eyeshadow set that I'm really excited about. And it's not cold here...in the 50's (F), so the heat hasn't kicked on and it's kind of humid in the house and polish would NOT dry. Ok, enough explanation and ranting...onto the polish!
This was actually an idea I saw at Colores de Carol...she has great color combos and stamps like a champ! Hers was a white base, but the two-toned stamping design is what I loved. My base is Layla Hologram polish in "Golden Idol". It has a great, awesome color shift with it's linear holo, but with no sunlight, it's hard to capture that. You can see a little of it here, but not like it is in person. Then I used Bundle Monster plate BM306 and dotted alternating red and green Konad special polish along the top and left of the design then swiped the polish diagonally. Viola!

Purple Crown

Well, my nails were busted off in a freak opening a refrigerator door accident! I cut them off and had to start over. The middle finger took the brunt of it. It was totally into the meat of my finger. You all know how that is...painful and you have to wait until it grows back to have any decent looking polish.My other nails are barely over my skin now, so I decided to paint them. To me, it still looks like crap. Anyway, this is one of the Ulta OPI Holiday colors called "Gift Cards for Everyone!" I then put on a sticker decal that I believe is a KISS brand one. It kind of reminds me of Crown Royal. I didn't even get that until someone pointed it out to me. Have a great Monday and send me some nail growing vibes!

Come on winter!!!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I am not the biggest fan of it anymore since I developed an allergy to turkey. (I'm a freak!) But Thanksgiving always brings the unofficial beginning of winter for me. As I am impatient, I wanted winter nails TODAY! So, the green is from the OPI Ulta Christmas set called Stuff My Stocking and the color is "Skip the Giftwrap". At least I think it is. The packaging only gave the names on the back of the carton, so I am assuming the order in which they were in the package left to right is the way they are labeled top to bottom on the box. Again, I could be wrong. Anyway, then I used Shany plate SH207 with Konad special polish in white. I did a sloppy french tip in the same white to make snow drifts around the base of the trees. Also, that's AWESOME because you don't have to be precise about it...SCORE! Then I put a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" to make the snow sparkle. I love the result!

Random thought post

Hi lovelys! I would love to have some sort of give away once I reach my 1000th pageview. I have some extra stamping plates, and I can pour off some hard to find polishes, or whatever. Yet I have no followers. It seems sort of sad to me. I can do a raffle with one of those widget things I guess. I know someone's out there! :) Have a great day...I'll think of something to lure you all in! Mwuahahahaha!

Mermaid Spell

I love the Layla Holographic polishes! I know other brands have just as good of a holo, and not the same price tag, but sometimes you have weird brand loyalty :) I always apply thin coats so they dry more quickly. If you don't let these dry, they tend to remove the coat below. Fortunately, they dry really quickly. You only need about 2 minutes between coats. This is 5 coats...yes I said 5....I like polish to be as opaque as possible, so less coats may work for you. This one is called "Mermaid Spell". I added a pattern from the 2013 Shany set that I just got in the mail! Yay! It's plate SH204 that I used with Konad special black polish.

On a side note, does anyone feel like this angle of photo makes nails look shorter than they actually are? I felt this way about my current nail length, so I took a photo before I stamped them from another angle.

See how wicked long they actually are? It's a shame that their length is marred by the angle. But then you can't see the art done on them, if there is any! Have a wonderful Friday!

Love letter

These are the Sally Hansen strips in "Love Letter". I really don't like them. I think the matte white makes them stiff. These were an unopened package and I've had them on for about 24 hours. They REALLY shrunk a lot at the cuticle area, I mean, look at the gap! Then they chipped, if you can see the tip on my middle finger. The sides are starting to pull up as well. All the conditions were normal, like the temperature and such in the house. The only difference may have been the dryness inside than before, but I have never had luck with designs on the white background. They seem to do this. Maybe it's the white itself. The ones that are the shimmer white wear well, but are too sheer for my liking. Anyway, Hope you all have a great Thursday.

Man with the Golden Gun

I had lack of inspiration for art today, so I went with extravagance over artistic ability. :) This is OPI "Danke-Shiny Red" with 2 coats of  OPI "Man with the Golden Gun" real 18K gold top coat. This is not my normal angle of photo, as you may have noticed, but I like the way the gold kind of floats above the red. Hope you all have a great day!

Remember Remember the 5th of November

If you have no idea what this is all in reference to, I'll give you a little info. November 5th is Guy Fawkes day in Britain. I live in the US and I am not British, but that's ok. (Who celebrates Cinco de Mayo and is not Mexican? Same thing) If you've seen the movie "V for Vendetta" then you know what it's all about. In a nutshell, equalities for lower classes than the rich. Is this why election day in the US is close to this date? I don't remember history well, so I really don't know, but it seems like it lines up well :) I fully accept my ignorance. Anyway, this is my Guy Fawkes day mani. (He's the person who led this movement) This is not my best work, but whatever. I had used the base of my Halloween polish, 3 coats of China Glaze "Liquid Leather". I had gotten a bottle of Zoya "Storm" in the mail on Thursday...OMG...drool, swoon, dead. So I tried it on top of the black. Then it chipped a little and I put another coat on to cover. I had not put on a top coat because I was "playing around" with the polish and didn't think I'd keep it on. Anyway, here we are about 8 coats of polish later and I used my Chez-Delaney plate D25 with Konad Special polish in White. Then, viola! Guy Fawkes manicure! Hope you enjoy your Monday!

Tom and Jerry

I have always loved Tom and Jerry. I mean love the cartoon to the point that I have what I know to be a complete DVD collection of the cartoon. Anyway, I got these online. I used OPI Designer Series "Classic". Those are not all bumpy how the photos make them appear. It was weird lighting and rainy and yucky. (This was just before hurricane Sandy hit, and, although I am MILES away in Kentucky, we still had crazy rain and wind that far inland. Not that I am minimizing what happened to the coast, I am just illustrating how far the effects of it reached). Hope everyone is ok out there!

Spiders! (Not scary though)

I bought this color because I saw it on someone else's blog. It is so NOT me, yet I was drawn to it. It's Orly "Nite Owl". (Also, don't look at the abundance of top coat that are in my cuticle area) I used Konad special polish in black and BM13 plate by Bundle Monster. I think it's cute and simple.

Skulls!

So I went and got a manicure. I hated the way they filed my nails. Also, why so much paint on the cuticles? Before I took this photo, I re-shaped and cleaned up the paint edges and it looks much better. The major reason I get a mani is for the cuticles to get done on my opposite hand. Really. I get them done maybe a few times a year. Anyway, onto the nails! This is OPI DS (Designer Series) "Extravagance". I used Konad special polish in white and Bundle Monster plate BM225.

Jack O' Lantern

I bought Essence nail polish for the first time the other day. This is the color "Black is Back" and it's one of the Color n Go types. I bought it to use with my Konad/Fauxnad plates since I've had a lot of streaking problems with my Konad black Special polish. I decided to try it as a full polish, not just for stamping. The coverage was nice, only needed to coats to get full coverage, but the wear was absolutely horrible. It was barely 2 days when it cracked right off....I don't mean a chip, I mean half of my thumbnail polish was gone when a hit my thumb on the counter top. My stamping left something to be desired too. I have been working a lot and have had a minimal amount of time to do my nails at all, so I apologize for my lack of flair and minimal posts, but that's how it works sometimes. This was a Halloween plate D03 that I got from Chez-Delaney. I used Konad special polish in yellow. Nice to know that the yellow is opaque enough to use over black!

Wired

I totally cheated and used my Sally Hansen strips today. These were from last year's (2011) Halloween collection that they came out with. My packages were unopened and still worked like new, so I guess these have a really good shelf life. These are called "Wired". I know it is barbed wire pattern, but it still reminds me of Frankenstein's Monster stitches.

Going batty!

I love Halloween. I also love bats! I have 6 bat tattoos on my arm. I am in the fall/Halloween spirit so I decided to do a themed mani! This is OPI "French Quarter for Your Thoughts" and Bundle Monster plates 305  and 213 with Konad black special polish. I love how they turned out except for the few streaks. Have a great few more hours of your weekend!

Under da Sea!

Although I originally wanted to use the Breast Cancer Awareness OPI color "I Think in Pink", I kept gauging it and it never dried quite right. So, I used the OPI Nicki Minaj color "Pink Friday" instead, and that seemed appropriate today :) Again, loving my water decals, I got a ton of Disney Princesses. This is Ariel (of course in the scenes where she has no voice after she signed it away to Ursula). I thought the bubbles seemed nice with the theme of "The Little Mermaid". I used Konad special polish in white with the Konad plate 16. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Playing around

I was looking for water decals and found some awesome ones online. I was playing around with Betty Boop. I love Betty Boop. The funny thing is that I wasn't sure what to do with the other nails. I didn't want to use up all of the Bettys, so I had to think up SOMETHING. :) The problem I found with the colors I chose is red is very "bleed-y" (no pun intended) and the white had pink iridescent action, which just exacerbated the bleed-y effect. Ok, so I started with a base of OPI "Alpine Snow" then a coat of OPI "Fit for a Queensland" (the one with the pink shimmer). Then the Betty Boop decal on the ring finger. I did the dots with Konad special polish in red, and used the same polish for the bows on Bundle Monster plate 317. It turned out cute, but a bit smeary. I may do this one again, but try to do it a bit cleaner. Thanks for checking in!

Hello Kitteh!

Hello Kitty is one of those things that I love, yet shouldn't. I'm not really that "girlie"... except for my nails, and shoes, and makeup. But other than that! :) I had wanted something simple yet cute for this mani. This is OPI "Oh Waiter!" (also known as "Skull and Glossbones"). Target sells lots of Hello Kitty stuff for children in the makeup department. These stickers are part of a set, and there are 30 or so on the sheet, and it comes with a nail polish (which really sucks, but that's another story) and a little Hello Kitty key chain, and it's only $1.99! The stickers are very thick. This is 3 coats of Seche Vite over them, and they still stick out some. Again, my nails are very curved and things have a tendency to not cooperate with that, but it works out! Hope you all had a good weekend!

It's just.....ok

Dear readers,
I have been slacking on my polish posts! I hope I am forgiven. I still have no members on my blog, so I don't know if anyone takes offense :) At any rate, today's polish is not my favorite, but I thought it was ok enough to post. I believe I have an issue when using my black stamping polish. No matter how thin or thick I put it on, no matter how long I wait or how quickly I stamp, and no matter how lightly or firmly I press the design, it never really turns out as well as I hope for. I had originally wanted to put a purple stamp on top of this pink, but it wasn't enough of a contrast, but not a tone on tone sort of effect either. So I carefully removed the purple and did this black one. I always get streaks when I apply top coat on the black. I let it dry for at least 15 minutes. Maybe I just need a new bottle of black stamping polish! :) On to the items...the pink base is OPI "Strawberry Margarita", Konad special polish in black, and Fab Ur Nails image plate Fun 2. Thanks for stopping by!

Sorry for my absence

My life has been upside down. I won't get into specifics, but let's just say things have really stunk. ANYWAY, I wanted to do a weird color combo and wanted to use orange. Orange is my second favorite color, green is the first. I kept looking for a nice orange stamping polish, but the Konad shades were just...meh. So, I had heard about success with Sally Hansen Intsa-Dri polish as a stamping polish and decided to give it a try. The orange color is called "Snappy Sorbet". It's more peach/coral than I would have liked, but it turned out well over this blue. The blue/gray is Zoya "Skylar". I used Fab Ur Nails plate Fun 2. Thanks for stopping by!

Sweet!

http://www.spellbindingnails.com/2012/09/my-2000-give-away.html

Hampstead Gardens

I'm always in search of a yellow polish that I can pull off with my skin tone. So far I've had no luck. While shopping online, I noticed that Sephora had this Nails Inc color on clearance, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

By itself, it reminded me of all those great 70's kitchen appliances. Also, in indoor lighting, it almost looked nude on me...Am I mustard color? I decided to jazz it up a little, make it more "Autumn" and used a brown gradient effect. This is actually in outdoor, natural lighting. Looks kind of weak, I know, but the weather is not cooperative as the remnants of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaac close in. The color is called "Hampstead Gardens" and I used Konad Princess polish in Brown for the gradient. This is actually a plate by Bundle Monster and not the sponging technique. I like that plate, and actually was the reason I bought the set in the first place. I don't know how I feel about the polish overall, but it's a unique color to have around. I only needed 2 coats and it dried to a smooth shiny finish, top coat not really needed.

I'm handicapped! (for nails for now)

Here is what I have to deal with. I am actually right handed. But I have enough dexterity with my left hand, that I actually do stuff with it. So, I'm slicing fimo sticks (you know, for nail art) and whoops, there goes my thumb.

Here it is....gross, bloodstained, since it can't be scrubbed off, a huge chunk just gone. So I had to do something pretty simple. Also, totally broke off my pinky nail, so the others had to go.

This is China Glaze "Watermelon Rind", Bundle Monster BM16 plate with white Konad special polish, and yellow Konad special polish with a dotting tool. Considering I can barely use my thumb, I don't think it turned out too bad.

Layla Hologram...round 2

I was eye-balling this color. I have been more on a lilac color kick when purchasing colors lately. This is Layla Hologram in "Ultra Violet". I really love the color and of course the holo effect is spectacular!

Here's a side view of the hologram. So pretty :)

I like this fall theme....

Magnetic polishes are not new. I have used this one and have posted it before even. It's Nails Inc "Spitalfields". I was liking the effect of the last post that the magnet created. It's funny how the same polish can look so different with a different magnet pattern.

Feeling a bit like fall

I am in the mood for fall. Seriously, bring on the hoodies! Who's with me?! So, I got this on clearance the other day at Sally Beauty Supply. I was like, why is this on clearance for $2? It is one of the Finger Paint ones called "Cop an Attitude". I used my China Glaze magnet with it though. (Why does it seem like all of the brands like that weird wavy chevron pattern? And then puts them on all the caps) Anyway, this color puts me in the mood for fall :)

Don't throw away unused Sally Hansen Salon Effects Strips!

I have a tip for you all today. As we know, I am a Sally Hansen Salon Effects strips whore. I'm not ashamed :) But what happens when you have those few extra leftover? Sometimes, I am able to use one package at a time out of the two. This usually means that I have broken a nail and have to start over with stubbies, but I still have that unopened package of 8! I am usually able to cut a few in half and use one strip for two fingers. However, I am usually rocking longer nails, so I can only use one strip for one nail. So then you have 5-6 strips left over, right? Do you wanna toss them? I just spent an average of $10 for this box and only get to wear it once? No ladies....NO! I store and save the extra strips. I thought about it and came up with a few ideas. Firstly, you need a fairly airtight container. I chose an empty prescription bottle. These are designed to keep pills dry and fresh, right? Secondly, you don't want them to fade from sunlight. I wrapped the bottle in black paper, blocking the sun completely. (Don't keep them in direct sunlight just like regular polish, because they still get hot and can dry out from that) That's it. If they do dry out a bit from being in there for like 6 months (which some of mine have been) OPI has a dropper bottle of polish thinner. Let a drop or two fall on the paper backing, and let that soak in for a minute. They are nice and pliable again. Is this method just as good as opening a fresh package? Not by any means, and I'm not claiming it as such, but you can at least do a little something with those extra ones! Use them on your toes the same day, use them as french tips, or do random nail art as I have done above. I used OPI "Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok Fine!" as the base. I wanted a little something extra, so I had some of the SHSE strips left in "Stud-io Time", cut them into small strips following the lines in the pattern, and viola! Studded Gunmetal!

Oktoberfest...Wunderbar!

This is the OPI German collection "Every Month is Oktoberfest". The color is so much prettier in person. I used 3 coats, only because I don't like to hold my hand to the light and see through the tips of my nails. So, after almost 2 days, the wear is ok, but because I wear gloves all day at work, and I put it on thick, I tend to have a lot of tip wear no matter how good the polish. Even when I do a gel manicure, the tips wear in a few days. Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Shark Week!!!

In honor of shark week, I decided to do....you guessed it, SHARKS!! This is "Who Let the Dorks Out?" of the Sephora OPI Glee Collection. I used Konad special polish in white and Konad plate M27.

Polish only for nails?

I love the idea of using polish for things other than nails. This is Kleancolor "Chunky Black Holo".

I love the way the holo works. I have decided to sell these. If anyone would like them, based on the design they would like, they are $5-$10 plus shipping. I will take any requests as well, color combos, glitters, anything! Just email me at maryann76@hotmail.com and put "polish ring" in the subject line!

Follow the turquoise fairy...?

I wasn't sure what to do with this color. In all honesty, I got this polish at the dollar store. I really like the color, however, it doesn't seem much different than Sephora by OPI "Mermaid to Order". I wanted to do this fairy design, but I didn't want it on a dark background. I think it looks a little odd in black though. I don't know. The polish is Cutie Girl brand. I don't know the color (it was on the package, but not the bottle, and the packaging is long in the trash) I want to say it's Ocean something. Then I used Konad special polish in black and Konad plate M35. Finished with a coat of China Glaze "Fairy Dust" which seemed appropriate :)

I love a pink nude color!

I am becoming more and more comfortable with pastel creme colors. As I had said before, I was resistant to them as I had always opted for a shimmer color. This is from the new OPI Germany collection. The color is called "My Very First Knockwurst" and I find that hilarious. So as the name can implement a "naughty" connotation, I decided to do an equally "naughty" design. I used Konad special polish in black with Konad plate M79 to create that fishnet pattern. I free-handed the black french tip. I kind of see this pattern as black thigh-high stockings...hence "naughty". Have a great Thursday!

Backyard Inspiration

This is a "Rose of Sharon" plant in my backyard. From what I understand, these are a type of hibiscus.

So I decided to do a hibiscus mani.

I used Essie "Play Date", Konad special polish in white, and Bundle Monster plate BM318. Happy Wednesday!

Black and gold

Happy Monday! You ever need a weekend to recover from your weekend? Anyway, I keep using this Sally Girl "Poser" (the black) and end up hating it. It's really nice by itself, but when a top coat is put over it, it gets weird. It's like putting water on a dried out sponge, like it doubles its thickness or something. It thickens so much, it almost looks like I have a gel polish manicure, or acrylics. Also it tends to shrink after about an hour. See where the tips look worn? This is only 12 hours later and 8 of those hours were sleeping, so not like scrubbing a toilet or anything! At any rate, I used my Konad plate M76 and Konad Special polish in gold for this design.I like it, but....meh.

La la la la la la, la la la la laaaaa

The color on this is so skewed as it is cloudy here today. This is actually China Glaze "Frostbite". Seems not as royal blue in this photo, but it was the best my camera would allow. We have a new coworker in our department (who just switched departments, so we know him) and he is lovingly referred to as "Papa Smurf". Let me tell you, I have some of the best male coworkers! They totally listen to my ramblings about nail polish and seem genuinely interested....most of the time :) Anyway, I noticed that my Fan Ur Nails Fun 1 plate had a Smurf design, so I had to play up the nickname. And anytime to theme your nails for something is always fun :) I used pastel blue Konad Special polish for the stamping. Seems like most of my designs lately are blue, or blue on blue, or at least have something blue to do with them. Funny how you can get into a pattern and not even realize it.Also, my skin is really foul right now. I am in and out of gloves all day in the hospital and my hands sometimes pay the price. This is even after cuticle butter! Ugh. Happy Friday!

Bikini So Teeny

I was on nail hiatus for the past few days. Not to say that I didn't DO my nails, because....well, that's not true. :) I had scoured town looking for a bottle of Essie "Bikini So Teeny" and everywhere was out. I looked at places online and they were sold out. I think I spent twice as much in gas as I ended up spending on the actual bottle. I ordered it off of Amazon and paid $10 for it. I know I should've just bought it when I saw it and that it was considered a limited edition and all that good stuff. Live and learn, right? So, I had on just crap polish for the past few days, let it chip even....GASP! I was just not in the mood and was in the mind set that I would just be happier when my bottle finally came in. I didn't build myself up, I actually was really happy when it came in and this is the mani I did on the first try! (Usually I get too excited and mess it up and have to do it 12 times to get it right) Well, this is what I came up with :) I used Konad blue stamping polish and Konad plate M56. It looks very Indian to me...like Henna tattoo designs. I'm loving it! (Not a shout out to McDonald's either) Have a great Wednesday!

Germany!

Ok, I am first generation American, and my mother is from Germany. I am totally psyched about this collection. Set to be available August 8th. Who will be out approx $108 when this comes out? Oh yeah!

Royal Inspiration

Happy Tuesday! This purple is from the Sephora OPI India inspired collection. I love it! It's called "Seriously, It's a Naan-Issue". As of today, I don't have a good gold stamping polish.So, I opted for a silver. It's Konad special polish in silver, and Bundle Monster plate 318. I think it looks regal or something, but that's just me :)

Southern belle?

Hi guys! I hadn't done my nails for a few days since I was really enjoying those alien heads I had posted last week. I have this Sally Girl color that I love and wasn't sure exactly what to do with it. I used it as the base color for this design. It's called "Epic" and it is like a neon blue. The photos I tried to take didn't really capture the loudness of this color, so this is the best I could do. What I love about it is even though it is kind of a neon (seriously, it made my eyes hurt when it was plain), it's NOT a matte finish. I like a matte finish, but I don't want to be trapped with it, you know. And even if I wanted it matte, that's what matte topcoat is for, right? :) Anyway, I have been jones-ing for blue...in search of a bottle of Essie's "Bikini so Teeny" which is sold out everywhere I have looked...so I settled for this right now. I used Konad special polish in pastel blue with a Konad plate M56 for the bow motif, and a dotting tool for the polka dots. Even with the tool, I hate my polka dotting skills. I always want to add too many. I think this came out cute though. It reminds me of a southern belle, or Blue Bonnet margarine. Have a great Monday!

The truth is out there!

Hi everyone! I was feeling a bit nostalgic for some great TV shows. Also, I have been swatching all of my polishes, which has caused me to do my nails LESS...It's shocking! And it's also caused me to think, wow, I have a LOT of polish. I'm almost at 500 bottles. It seems ridiculous, but it's my other weakness...eye shadow is my first. Anyhoo.... I bought Orly "Androgynie" and hadn't used it yet. It's somewhere in between a regular polish and a jelly and has tiny and hex glitter. For this particular application, I wanted just a little more sparkle so I added I coat of  China Glaze "Fairy Dust". This is a glitter I always go to. It helps give a little more Umph to a polish...like a day or two later when you want a different look, but not to change your polish completely. Who am I kidding, I'm lucky if I wear any for more then three days! Then I saw where it looked kind of "spacey" together and thought, hmmm, aliens. So, my Fab Ur Nails Fun 2 plate came into play. They are actually a very pale/pastel green, and not white. Would be awesome if they glowed in the dark :) Maybe I could double stamp them with glow polish, or they could be extra ghosty looking ones in the background...So many ideas, only 10 fingers! Not fair! Ha! I can't believe how many coats of polish I sometimes have on at one time! This is 2 coats of base (wasn't sure about staining), 4 coats of "Androgynie", 1 coat of Seche, 1 coat of "Fairy Dust", Konad spacial polish for the alien heads, and 2 more coats of Seche. What?! Hope you all enjoy :)