Valentine's Day Nails - Erica's Nails and More February Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am spending the night watching The Vampire Diaries and Glee with my furbabies! Hubby works from 5pm until 3:30am. So there goes all plans out the window. Maybe we will catch a movie this weekend.

Here is my Valentine's Day inspired manicure. It turned out ok.

I used:

Essie Marshmallow

Orly Close Your Eyes

Sally Hansen Black Out

Wet n Wild Metallica 

L to R the plates I used:

BM-317

BM-311

QA6

QA6

Tomorrow I will upload my other Valentine's Day manicure - I missed out on daylight before I could finish my manicure so the lighting just won't show the manicure very well.

P.S. Make sure you enter the Epic giveaway I am involved in. Time is running out and the prizes are pretty amazing!

Peacock Nails

So I like to enter nail giveaways, I love winning polish! I think my poor hubby loves it when I win too! Since he is the one supplying my polish :) I entered one for Kelsie's Nail Files 1 year blogiversary and saw she was also doing a nail art contest! I knew right away that I wanted to do it! You had to take one of the pictures on her nail inspiration board and do a manicure off of that.

Here is what I chose to base my manicure off of.

This design just jumped out at me because I love all of these vibrant colors!

So here my nails are!

I had a lot of fun creating these! I might just rock this style again!

I used:

Orly - Wild Wisteria

Wet n Wild - Buffy the Violet Slayer

Essence - Go Bold!

China Glaze - Blue Sparrow

NYC - Skin Tight Denim

HK Girl - Top Coat

I hope you like it!

Silver - Laid Back Challenge Day 2

Hey everyone! I have tonight a silver manicure for you. This is for Crumpet's Nail Tarts Laid Back Challenge! 

Before I get to the pictures, have you entered my giveaway yet? If not do so here!

So this week I finally got the striping tape I ordered off of Ebay and I decided to give it a shot. I used striping tape to tape off the blue and layer it with silver and add some silver glitter to finish. I like how this manicure turned out and I really liked how easy the striping tape was to use!

I used:

Wet n Wild - Metallica 

China Glaze - Blue Sparrow

Stripe Rite - Silver Glitter

HK Girl Top Coat

Here is what is coming up!

Galaxy Nails - February Challenge

So if you have not read the post below this one. I will clue you in. I decided that I love nail art challenges so much I decided to join not just one challenge but two challenges this month! I have to really say thank you to Erica for hosting this challenge! It was her November challenge that got me really into nail art - so of course I am going to join her February challenge. From my understanding this is the largest amount of participants to date for her challenges so yay! Here is what you can expect to see in the next month! 

I attempted my first Galaxy nails in the last challenge Erica had back in November. I liked how it looked but to me it was too busy! Not bad for my first time. This time I wanted to keep it dark and mysterious! You can still see the colors but I like how subtle the galaxy nails look!

I used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Black Out

Nicole OPI - Prized Possession Purple

Wet n Wild Fast Dry - Grey's Anatomy 

Finger Paints - Sparkle and Snowflake 

Hope you like it!!!! 

China Glaze Tranzitions

So I am thrilled to show you this polish. Well for a few reasons. This is going to be a pretty picture heavy post so you have been warned! I picked 3 of the China Glaze Tranzitions before Christmas and I just got around to really playing around with them last night. I originally picked these polishes up because I have a thing for polka dots and I thought this would be great for it. Well the polish I am going to show you tonight was a big fat fail when it came to polka dots. I felt there was not enough contrast in the colors that you could not even see the dots. I was ready to get rid of it.

 Back to my last post - I said I would be practicing stamping over manicures I am about to remove, well I did that today. Let me post the results below. I had to take a series of pictures so everyone could see what I am getting at.

Here is the polish just 1 coat. I love that it covers after just 1 coat. No top coat. 

Here I am demonstrated what happens when you apply top coat to the polish - it changes. This one changed to purple! I love the colors on their own but since they are both so dark it was hard to see any polka dots.

Here is the stamping I did. I decided to clear coat all my nails and just do purple and silver stamping. I used Wet n Wild Metallica and BM - 313 plate. I love the look of this. 

Here is where I was floored. I decided to put another coat of top coat on and it changed the silver! It made it a light metallic purple! If you look at the picture above with just the silver stamping you can tell a huge difference! I couldn't even believe it. I now am in love with this polish just for that reason. 

I knew I had to blog about it so I removed all polish and started over from square one so I could show you the steps on this polish. I apologize for the dryness around my nails when I was doing quick clean up with acetone. This is why it is important to hydrate after using acetone. I use an amazing cuticle oil called Pure Nail and Cuticle Oil. I will be posting more on this in a few weeks! 

If you are interested in learning about the Pure Nail and Cuticle Oil you can check it out here

She is currently running a special until January 19th, 2013. It's a huge discount! 

Saran Wrap/Stamping Manicure

So learning how to do different techniques with my nails I have to say I have some favorites. Saran wraps manicures are so easy and look really neat. I also am getting into stamping. 

Yesterday I asked the hubby to pick out some of my untrieds to do a saran wrap manicure. He of course chose the bright blues. I really like how the saran wrap turned out. 

Today I decided to recycle my manicure and  practice stamping over the manicure and I am really pleased with the results. Here are my manicures for the weekend. 

I used:

China Glaze Blue Sparrow

China Glaze Turned up Turquoise 

Wet n Wild Metallica 

BM - 322

HK Girl Top Coat

I would also like to add if you are interested in stamping one great way to practice stamping is do it on a manicure that you have had on for a few days and are planning on removing soon. I will probably do this to majority of my manicures just so I can really get the hang of stamping.

Skittle Manicure

I have for you tonight a skittle manicure. This is my first one. I had a blast doing it. At first I was unsure how I would like the look of a skittle manicure on me but I have to say I am pleasantly surprised and I have a feeling I will be rocking more of these in the future.  I got my inspiration from Chit Chat Nails. If you have never been to her blog you should check it out! Her photos are amazing!

With this skittle manicure I also tried out my new Bundle Monster plates well just one design but I was very pleased!

From Left to Right I used:

Wet n Wild Wild Shine - Metallica

Essie - Marshmallow BM Plate 317 with Pure Ice - Black Rage

Zoya - Aria

Pure Ice - Black Rage

Sinful Colors - Hot Wired 

Top Coat - HK Girl 

Do you like skittle manicures? Why or why not?

Happy 2013!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. I was planning on updating my blog during the time frame but hubby had a lot of time off during this time so we took advantage of it and spent a lot of time together. I am sad that he had to go back to work today. Oh well! 

We had a wonderful Holiday filled with family. We also spent a few days ice fishing with my father in law. It was really nice spending time with him and Daniel. 

So did everyone make New Year's Resolutions? I have a huge list and hope to accomplish all that is on my list. Our main goals this year are to - buy a second car, get a job for me finally, and move into a place of our own. I don't mind living with the in laws but I really want my own space again! We are currently trying to save up for a down payment on a house but we might be renting for a few more years - which is ok. 

For 2013 I would also like to blog more. I know I have just started out in the blogging world but I would like to build good habits and update the blog a few times a week. I have a few exciting things coming in the future so stay tuned for that! 

I have officially started my first 2013 No buy as of the 1st. A couple of ladies from the Show Me Your Top Coats are doing it with me and it will go until Feb 15th! I have a very sweet hubby who purchased 15 polishes for me this past weekend before the no buy started. So I am anxiously awaiting those polishes in the mail! I am hoping to use all of my untrieds. So I can finally put them with the rest of my polish stash. 

I have two manicures to show you today. The first one was my New Year's Eve mani. I used China Glaze Dorthy Who? and Orly Halo. It was very very sparkly. I was inspired by the mani over at Lydia's Nails. 

I don't think it turned out too bad. I am still trying to perfect the gradient nails. I guess practice shall make perfect.

The next manicure I have which is also my current manicure I am wearing is my very first Jelly Sandwich!!! I have been keeping my eye out for Essie Marshmallow but had no luck finding it in stores. Well when we were down fishing with Daniel's dad we had to stop at Walgreens and lo and behind it was the last one there. I did a happy dance and Daniel bought it for me - my last polish before the no buy started! 

I used Essie Marshmallow and Wet n Wild  Party of Five Glitters. I had a lot of fun and see many different jelly sandwich combos in my future! I apologize for my beat up skin. I took this picture after the weekend of ice fishing and the weather really tore my skin up. 

So there you have it! 

Night Before Christmas - SMYTC Holiday Challenge Day 12

It's Christmas Eve! I wanted to post this tonight so it could really be the Night before Christmas but we are going to Daniel's dad's for Christmas Eve and I have no idea when we will be home.

I was kind of stumped for awhile on what I could do but I made up my own version and it's taking pieces of things I have done in this challenge.

My thought process was - Rudolph brings Santa to houses to deliver the presents under the tree every night before Christmas! 

I used :

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps

Sinful Colors - Nirvana

Sally Hansen - White On

Pure Ice - Black Rage

Wet n Wild - Scarlet Red

China Glaze - For Audrey

Wet n Wild - SaGreena the Teenage Witch

Sinful Colors - Let's Meet

China Glaze - Creative Fantasy 

HK Girl - Top Coat

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Holidays! I am so glad I participated in this challenge it was so much fun!

Check out the other night before Christmas nails down below!

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Santa - SMYTC Holiday Challenge Day 11

Happy Holidays everyone! We are almost to Christmas and I feel all giddy :) I love Christmas! Tonight I have my Santa nails for you. I was inspired by a pin I found here - it does not link to the original source but back to a pinterest profile. Anyway here is my version! 

I apologize for the hangnail on the pinky. I need to use moisturizer more often knowing it's winter and I am in Minnesota!

I used

 Wet n Wild - Scarlet Red

 Sally Hansen - White On 

Pure Ice - Black Rage

  Pure Ice -Beeware

HK Girl - Top Coat

I will have the "Night Before Christmas" nails up tonight or tomorrow for you. I am going to go work on them now. It will also be my last day of the Holiday challenge! Time flew and I had so much fun!

Check out the other Santa nails here

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Holly - SMYTC Holiday Challenge Day 9

Real quick here is day 9. Had a busy day of holiday baking and only made a small dent in my to do list. 

 I tried to do stamping but I don't think I have a good green stamping polish and I didn't want to make black holly leaves so I free handed it.

 Here it is

Sorry about the awkwardness of this photo-the hubs took these pictures because I had a bunch of lotion on!

 I used Sally Hansen White On - Wet n Wild SaGreena the Teenage Witch - China Glaze Ruby Pumps and lastly Finger Paints Sparkle and Snowflake.

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Snowman - SMYTC Holiday Challenge Day 7

Hey everyone!

Does anyone do holiday baking? I love doing holiday baking but I really took a lot on this year. We have an island and it is completely full of baking and candy making supplies. I feel so overwhelmed! I spent 5 hours today dipping pretzels and making cookies. The sad thing is I still have lots more dipping, candy making, and cookie making to do. Christmas is coming way too fast!

So I did my snowman manicure yesterday just in case I would have to redo it. I am proud to say that I think I nailed it. I have to say I think this has probably been my favorite holiday manicure to date. 

Isn't he cute? 

I am not done.... I was searching online for snowman inspiration and I ran across a snowman manicure I just fell in love with over at The Nailasaurus. I just had to attempt it for myself....

Wait for it....

Bam! I nailed it! I am really proud of this manicure! 

I used Sinful Colors - Rain Storm for the base color 

Stamped on snowflakes with China Glaze - For Audrey

Sally Hansen - White On (For Mr. Snowman)

Sally Hansen - Grass Slipper (For the scarf and color on the hat)

Wet n Wild - 9.0.2.1.Orange (For the nose)

Pure Ice - Black Rage (For the buttons, hat, arms, eyes, mouth, and scarf)

HK Girl - Top coat

Here is what is left of the Challenge

Check out the other snowman designs by the ladies of Show Me Your Top Coats

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Christmas Tree - SMYTC Holiday Challenge Day 6

Hey everyone!

I have my day 6 entry for the holiday challenge. I cannot believe we are already half way though! Today was Christmas Tree. I went back and forth on if I wanted to do tree's on all nails or just the accent and I went with just the accent. I had fun doing this one and the hubby picked out all the colors.

Here is a picture of all that I used

Butter London - West End Wonderland, China Glaze - For Audrey, Sinful Colors - Nirvana, Wet N Wild - SaGreena the Teenage Witch, Sally Hansen - White On, Wet N Wild - Scarlet Red, China Glaze - Dorthy Who? and last but not least Sinful Colors - Let's Meet

So here are my tree nails!

Here are the remaining days left

Check out what the other ladies have done!

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Bells - SMYTC Holiday Challenge Day 4

So I have for you day 4 of the Show Me Your Top Coats Holiday Challenge. Day 4 was bells. I was not thrilled about this one because I don't have any plates that have bells on them so I knew I was going to have to freehand it. There really is not a whole lot of inspiration online so I was stumped. I almost skipped today but talked myself out of it. I think it turned out pretty nice for freehand. I only did one bell and that's good enough for me!

Here they are

I used China Glaze Long Kiss for the base color. Then I used Butter London West End Wonderland for the tips and the bell (Which is a gorgeous glittery gold btw). Lastly I did the green bow in Wet n Wild Fast Dry SaGreena the Teenage Witch. I topped it off with HK Girl shiny fast drying top coat! I am really glad I purchased the big bottle of that stuff! 

I hope you like it!

Here is a reminder of the upcoming challenge days we have left!

Also check out what the other ladies have done for day 4!!!

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Red and Green - SMYTC Holiday Challenge

Happy December everyone!! I can't believe it's already December and Christmas is right around the corner. I still have to do my Christmas shopping for everyone! 

So I decided to try and squeeze this challenge in this month along with all the other busy things in December. I decided to join because I had so much fun in the last challenge and I wanted to try my hand at holiday nail art. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays so this just made sense to me.

Today's theme is Red and Green. I decided to do semi half moons on my nails because I didn't want to cover all the beauty China Glaze's Ruby Pumps produced on my nails. I can't believe this is my first time using it! I usually don't like red on my nails but I fell in LOVE!

So here is day 1

I think it looks a little funny over green because the accent nail is so much deeper red then the other nails but oh well! I still really like it!

I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps and Wet n Wild Fast Dry SaGreena The Teenage Witch. Top coat was HK Girl fast dry shiny top coat! Which I love by the way!

Here is a preview of the rest of the challenge days!

Have a great weekend everyone! 

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