New Year's Nails

I got this idea from Jenny Fox over at polishandpearls.com - I switched it up just slightly.

For the base: The white is Purity by Zoya and the black is Raven by Zoya.

Pinky and Middle Fingers: I used various nail stripers from Shany Cosmetics to create a firework look (numbers 02[neon green], 03[yellow], 06[magenta], 10[black], 12[gold glitter], 18[blue], 23[orange]).

Ring Fingers: Using the black nail striper, I drew a half circle in the middle of the nail. Using penny talk from Essie and a nail striper brush, I drew a line above the black. Then using the gold glitter nail striper, I traced over penny talk to add some sparkle. I used a black nail art pen from Sally Hansen to draw a "12" on the clock and an arrow for the clock hand. With a dotting tool, I drew dots on the clock with the magenta striper color and the black.

Pointer Fingers: With a dotting tool, I drew dots around the edges of the nail with penny talk and raven. I wrote "2014" with the black nail art pen.

Thumbs: Using a white nail art pen from Sally Hansen, I drew two champagne glasses "clinking" together and a few various sized circles above them. I used Essie's mojito madness and big spender with a dotting tool to give the dots some color. I made the "champagne" with penny talk and the gold glitter striper.

I finished the manicure with a top coat of seche vite. What are your New Year's Resolutions this year??

Snowflakes, Reindeer, and Polar Bears

I saw this mani on the internet the other day and wanted to try my hand at recreating it!

For the base I used: Zoya's Raven on the thumb and ring finger, Zoya's PixieDust on the pointer and pinky, and Zoya's Purity on the middle finger.

On the thumb, I made a large half-circle using the polish brush and two smaller circles above it with  Purity using a dotting tool. I added a smaller circle in the ears with Rimmel's Gray Matter and a dotting tool. Using the same dotting tool, I made eyes and a nose in the half-circle.

On the middle finger, I drew a snowflake using a black Sally Hansen nail art pen, and on the ring finger I used a white Sally Hansen nail art pen to draw a reindeer and polka dots.

On the pinky I used Winstonia nail stamp W112 and Purity. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite--my favorite top coat! Which nail is your favorite?

Hot Chocolate!

Ever since I bought Zoya's Louise, it has reminded me of hot chocolate. I saw this mani online the other day and had to recreate it! 

I started with a base coat of Louise by Zoya. Using a large dotting tool I made rows of large white dots (Purity by Zoya), then used a small dotting tool and made rows of small white dots between the large ones. Then using the same small dotting tool, I made brown dots inside the large white dots. 

On the ring fingers, I used a Sally Hansen nail art pen and started by drawing an outline of a heart. Right above that, I drew an outline of an oval. I finished by making a mug shape and filling it in. I topped it all off with my favorite top coat--Seche Vite.

What's your favorite winter drink? 

 

Snowflake Gradient Nails

I found the cutest nails by Jenny Fox over at polishandpearls.com and here are the nails I recreated! 

I used Zoya nail polish in Cho as a base. Then I used two dotting tools and made the dots by the cuticles using the same polishes listed above. I added a coat of China Glaze's Fairy Dust to give it a little sparkle before adding the top coat. 

For the two nails with the gradient I used Cho and also Essie's go overboard. Then I used a white Sally Hansen nail art pen to draw the snowflakes, and covered it with a topcoat to make the nails look very smooth. 

Removing Glitter Polish the Easy Way!

I LOVE glitter polish, but I basically quit wearing it for a long time because I absolutely H-A-T-E-D trying to get it off. I would go through pretty much a whole paper towel sheet for each nail (like 10 paper towels to take off a mani!!). And forget cotton balls--there went the whole bag! One day, I was browsing through Pinterest and I found this method for taking off glitter polish (pinned from honeylushy.blogspot.com). I pinned it thinking it was worth a try...if it worked *aaaaaaaa* cue the heavenly chorus! If it didn't, no harm done. 

Let me just say, it works SO well! I was ecstatic because I could now wear my beloved glitter polish without bringing out the nuclear bombs to get the stuff back off! 

I'll quit blabbering now and show you how to do it--hopefully you find it as helpful as I did! 

First, you'll need one of the flat cotton rounds you can find in the beauty section of any drugstore. 

You'll need to cut them into as many pieces as you have nails with glitter (I only had 6 with glitter for this example).

Next pour your nail polish remover into its own cap. I like to use acetone based polish remover formulated for natural nails. I just think it takes off the polish much easier.

Dip the first section in the polish remover and squeeze the excess. Place the remover-soaked section on your nail.

Take a small section of aluminum foil and wrap up your nail.

Repeat these steps with each nail that has glitter polish. Let them sit in the foil for 4-5 minutes. 

Now, you just twist the foil as if you're rubbing the polish off any other nail. 

You may have a couple of small pieces of glitter left, but they can be easily removed! ^^I showed examples of the glitters I removed from the last manicure I posted in the picture above ^^

I hope this post was helpful for you! I know I was so excited to finally wear glitter polish again without the headache of trying to take it back off! :)

Christmas Sparkles, Snowflakes, and Trees!

I love these nails - they're just so festive! On my pinkies, I used Zoya PixieDust in Tomoko. On my ring finger and thumb, I used a base coat of Nailtini in Bloody Mary, then used Winstonia nail plate in number W120. On the middle fingers, I used China Glaze in Fairy Dust as a base coat, then topped it with NYX nail polish in NPS209 Ice Glitter. On the pointer finger I used KBShimmer Nail Polish in You Autumn Know. Which nail is your favorite?

Blue Lace

This oldie-but-goodie reminds me of winter because of the two different  shades of blue I used. I started with a nude base - ELF nail polish in Nude. I then swooped OPIs What's With the Cattitude from one side of the nail down to the tip of the middle of the nail, then did the same thing on the other side. Then I took OPIs Suzi Says Feng Shui and repeated the last step, leaving a small border of the lighter blue. Using a dotting tool and the lighter blue, I made dots around the edge of the dark blue. Using a white and a dotting tool, I made dots around the edge of the light blue. I finished with a top coat! Simple yet elegant! :) 

 

Ugly Sweater Nails

I painted my nails for the ugly sweater party I'm going to tomorrow. I thought it would be fun to go with ugly sweater nails! They didn't turn out as good as I hoped because my white stripe on the thumb and ring fingers was kind of awkward, but overall I really like them. I used Grey Matter by Rimmel London as a base, Essie blanc for the white, and Nailtini Bloody Mary for the red. I used Shany nail stamp #SH13 for the reindeer, and Winstonia nail stamp #W120 for the rest. I used dotting tools and Sally Hansen's nail art pen in white for the zig zags. Who loves going to ugly sweater parties, and what kind of games do you play at yours??

Snowflakes and Plaid

This has been one of my favorite winter nail art designs. I think it is just so cheery for some reason! I used OPI Nail Lacquer in What's With the Catitude? for the base. I stamped a white plaid design using Mash #39, and stamped a silver snowflake using Shany nail plate #SH17.

Plaid + Snowman

Here's another Christmas-y nail art post for you! I used ELF nail polish in Red Hot, OPI nail lacquer in Green-wich village. The snowman is a nail stamp from Shany #SH01; the plaid is a nail stamp from Mash #50. Only 2 weeks left til Chtistmas! Who's excited? :)

Snowmen Faces and Snowflakes

Here's another request made by my sister-in-law. She sent a link with the snowmen faces, and I just like doing at least one nail different from the others, so I decided on snowflakes! I used Essie's blanc, licorice, and lilacism. I also used a Sally Hansen nail art pen in black for tracing the borders and a Shany nail striper #23 for their noses. I used dotting tools for the eyes and mouth. The snowflakes are from a Winstonia stamp plate set, #W120. 

Snowmen in a Flurry

These nails were inspired by Jenny Fox  over at polishandpearls.com. I used Zoya Nail Polish in Posh - a matte red shade - for the base on 8 of the nails, Essie's blanc for the snowmen and the base on the ring finger, Shanys black nail striper in #10 for the snowmens arms and hats. Then on my ring fingers, I layered two of the Formula X by Sephora polishes to create a sort of snow storm effect. They're the effects top coats in Chaotic and Turbulent. Because the red color is matte, you don't want to put on a top coat or you'll lose the effect! Stay cool lil snowmen!!

 

Houndstooth Christmas Colors

These are another nail design I did last year. I used Mash stamp plate #47, OPI nail lacquer in Green-wich Village, and ELF nail polish in Smokin Hot. I thought it was a fun twist on the traditional black-and-white houndstooth look :)

Christmas Plaid

These are some plaid Christmas-y nails I did last year. I used a Mash nail stamping plate #39 for the plaid and #28 for the bow. The red is ELFs nail polish in Smokin Hot. I'm not sure what the green was; I do, however, know it was crappy because I had to stamp white first to get it to show up! Any QUALITY green will do for this design ;)

Penguins!

My sister-in-law sent me a link for penguin nails (the watermark on them is Painting Outside the Lines), and they were too cute--I had to try them out! I used Zoya's Dream for the ring finger, then layered Formula X from Sephora in Hyperactive over that; I used Shany's nail stamp SH17 & Essie blanc for the snowflake. The penguins are in Essie licorice & Essie blanc; I did their beaks and feet using Shany nail striper #23 and made their eyes with dotting tools. These just make me happy when I look at them throughout the day :)

Holiday Nails

Hey All! So this marks the first post in my blog! I thought it would be fun to start a blog like this, since I post a million pictures on Facebook/Instagram/Pinterest of my nails.

The holidays are upon us, so this month I will be posting nails with a winter/Christmas theme. Enjoy!

These are Christmas nails I did last year--Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, of course Rudolph, and the fat man himself--Santa!

I'm not sure what specific colors I used on these guys, but you can use a basic red, green, brown, black, and white. I used dotting tools to create all the details.