One Last Halloween Nail Design

I know this is last minute, but I love this design so much I had to share it. I wanted to do sort of a take on candy corn but with a twist. This bright beauty is what I came up with, and I am absolutely in love with it!

This one isn't difficult to do, but it is fiddly. First I painted the nail with pink, orange, and yellow. I went with vibrant, almost neon colors because I wanted a strong, graphic look to them. I also didn't worry about a neat line, since I wanted that sort of candy corn feel to it.

Once that layer was dry, I very precisely laid out stripes using three pieces of striping tape next to each other, then skipping around that much space and adding another three pieces side-by-side. This gave me much thicker lines than I would have had just using the single pieces of striping tape. However, you could use whatever size tape you like.

I then painted the entire nail with a black creme polish. I pulled the tape pieces off while the polish was still wet, being careful not to smear the still-wet black. I let this dry for several minutes before adding a coat of quick-dry topcoat. That sealed the colors together and let them look glassy and seamless.

Can I just say how much this design makes me smile?? Seriously, I want to do all my nails like this! The bright colors look all the more bright next to the black, and I think thinner lines of color contrasted with thicker lines of black could be a fun spin on this idea. Clearly, I have some experimenting to do!

Speaking of, I may have some nail sets up for sale soon, so if you're looking for some sparkly nails for the holidays I just might be able to help you out! Keep an eye on this space... :D

Some polishes were provided by the brand for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

I'm Seeing Stars

I've got another Halloween nail design for you! I wanted to do something with a bit sparkle to it for this design, but at the same time I didn't want it to be too complex. I think I hit just the right balance with this one!

Instead of trying to paint stars and keep the glitter in the spots I want it, I went the opposite direction. I started this nail out with a bright, deep orange. Once that was opaque I topped it with a golden-coppery glitter and added a coat of quick-dry topcoat.

I then let things dry for half an hour or so. Once things were dry, I took a piece of masking tape and punched little star holes from it. Those stars are the key to this manicure!

A quick tip: Make sure the sticky side of the tape is facing the opening of the punch instead of toward the die-cutting part. This way you can use tweezers or a dotting tool to remove the star cutouts.

While I was punching my stars, I stuck them to the edge of an Altoids tin to keep them organized and sticky. Once I had them punched, I applied them to the nail in a simple pattern. I tried to leave enough space between them to make sure they would show up as stars in a black background. It also helps with removal to have a piece of the star hanging off your nail.

Once my stars were in place, I topped things with a coat of black nail polish. I used an opaque black so I would only need one coat. Before the polish dried, I peeled the stars off leaving the bright orange sparkly stars behind. I let this dry for a minute or two, but I should have waited longer because I did smear the edges of my stars on one side.

Once your top coat is on, you're done! You could do this with any shapes you want- even round dots from a traditional hole punch would look adorable!

Leave me a comment if you like this one. I'm really enjoying it right now!

Some polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Another Halloween Nail Art Design

Today's halloween look is super simple and super easy. Again, instead of being an obvious nod to the holiday, this design uses halloween colors to get you in the holiday mood.

I started with a bright orange polish. You can use whatever orange you have, which means you can go with a pumpkin tone or a neon orange, a pastel orange or anything else that makes you smile. I went with a very saturated orange, but not quite neon.

Once that was totally dry I added a beautiful water transfer from the WDBLE981 set that's available at KKCenterHK. I absolutely love these decals! I love that there are many choices in one style, so that your nails don't look so obviously done with decals.

I'm also very glad to share that these decals acted much more like the decals I'm familiar with than the last set I used. Thankfully, these slid right off the backing once it was wet. Then I was able to slide them onto my nail and position it the way I wanted.

Keep in mind that these water decals will continue to slide around whenever they get wet, so you definitely need to top them with topcoat. The clear topcoat helps meld them with your nail polish so that they aren't going anywhere.

Once again, after I got the decal in place I wanted to add a rhinestone to give it a bit of flair. What can I say, I love shiny things! This stone came from the Fing'rs Nail & Body Jewels kit. I really like this kit because the stones are tiny and you get such a great selection of shapes and colors.

Once everything's on and mostly dry I added a coat of ProFX to protect everything. I really like the end result. This could be a beautiful accent nail or you could do all your nails with these decals. Whatever you do, they'll be pretty.

So go ahead, play with your nail art stuff. You may end up with a design you love!

Some polishes were provided by the brands for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Halloween Nail Art

Halloween is coming, and I wanted to share some nail art designs with everyone! I've been experimenting with some nail tips, and I've come up with a variety of designs. I'll be sharing these designs over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully these will give people some more ideas for Halloween.

This more traditional design uses black, orange, and gold in a nod toward the holiday. It's simple to do: paint the nail with a shimmery orange, then add stripes in black and gold. I finished with some black hexagon glitter pieces as an accent.

I've got a doctor's appointment today, so I'm going to cut this short and try and sleep a bit. Wheee!

Halloween is my favorite holiday!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Pomegranate Nail Lacquer - Curator

This is Pomegranate Nail Lacquer
in Cardigan.

Hi again! Today I have another review for you, and this time it's sort of a mixed bag. I struggled with this for a while, trying to decide how to present this (or if I should present it at all). I decided that I need to be honest with you guys, no matter what. So, take this in the spirit in which it's intended- this was my experience, and I'm sharing the pros and cons with you as I see them.

Recently I was sent two bottles of polish from a new-to-me brand called Pomegranate Nail Lacquer. I was able to choose which colors from their fall collection I wanted to try. I had a hard time choosing, but I finally settled on Cardigan and Curator. Today I'm sharing my experience with Curator.

I found Curator really interesting in the bottle. Pomegranate describes this as a "luxurious black polish ... packed with gold and silver glitter." I think this is a fantastic description, because as you can tell it does look absolutely packed with glitter!

As you can see in this bottle shot, Curator is packed with tiny gold glitter and larger silver glitter. On the nail it's harder (for me, at least) to distinguish between the gold and silver. Instead, it ends up being a homogenous mass of luxurious velvety sparkle. This polish is seriously sparkly, and takes black from what could be dull and flat into something that's perfect for a night out. I can see wearing this for New Year's Eve... it's flashy and extravagant enough for the occasion while still being simple and quick to apply.

Unfortunately, I had a strange issue with this polish that I've never had before. This could be a problem with this particular bottle, or this batch. When I applied this color, though, it behaved very strangely- the polish was stretchy, almost like trying to polish my nails with Silly Putty, or maybe warm taffy.

This was so incredibly frustrating for me. I would brush on the polish only to have it stretch out in peaks from the tip of my nail. Then the polish would clump up and be hard to distribute across my nail. It was downright bizarre to me!

I'm not sure if it's a reaction between the polish and my base coat or just a weird bottle of polish. It might need thinning to loosen up the formula, or it might be something else entirely. All I know is by the time I got my nails finished, I never wanted to use this polish again!

Of course, once everything had dried and I'd smoothed the tips of my nails with an emery board to get rid of the pointy bits I absolutely fell in love with Curator. It really is a velvety-looking polish, and I keep finding myself drawn to it. I love how the glitter peeks up through the sheer black polish, giving it a sense of depth and mystery. I also love that even though the black is sheer, it gives complete coverage in two coats.

And let's not forget wear. This polish has been wearing like a trouper. I've seen no flaking, chipping or peeling, so maybe the weird application issues could be overlooked. Ask me the next time I wear this.

So, overall? I have to give this polish a thumbs-up, even with the weird consistency. It's absolutely gorgeous, even if it did cause me to say quite a few curse words while I was applying it.

Pomegranate Nail Lacquers are available for $9 each on the Pomegranate website. Bottles contain 16.5 milliliters/0.56 fluid ounces. For reference, a bottle of OPI contains 15 milliliters/0.5 fluid ounces.

Polish was provided by Pomegranate for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

China Glaze Electropops Nail Art Revisited

I have to be honest. When I posted my nail art designs using the new China Glaze Electropops polishes, I wasn't really happy with this design. The lines were wobbly, the dots were horribly misshapen, and for some reason the design just didn't really do it for me.

Being the type of person that I am, I kept thinking about this nail, wondering what I could do to make it pop more. Then once I got out my nail art goodies I saw these flat-back pearls and realized this was exactly what I needed to perk the design up!

So, I'm sharing this nail again, only updated. What do you think- do the pearls make it better, or is this a design better left in the "oh well, better luck next time" pile?

China Glaze Electropop polishes were  provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

More Valentine's Nail Designs

Hi again! This is a quick update without much to say, but I wanted to share some more Valentine's Day nail designs with you! These would be good for an accent nail or for all your nails...

So what do you think? I'm really digging the black set at the bottom...

Some polishes were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

China Glaze Eye Candy Collection- Winter 2011

Nothing excites me like glitter. I don't know why... maybe I was glitter-deprived as a child. Whatever the reason, I now find myself drawn to glitter like a magpie, clucking to myself over the pretty sparklies as I fight the urge to hoard them.

Unfortunately for me (or is that fortunately?), the Winter 2011 China Glaze collection Eye Candy has my inner magpie in a tizzy! These six shades of multiple-sized glitters will have you covered for almost any holiday event you could have. Ranging from a deep graphite with holographic glitter to vibrant red, this bunch is for those who love the bling!

The only thing I'm not so sure about is the bar glitter. Yes, once again those hairy little things are infesting glitter polishes everywhere. Hopefully since they're mixed into other forms of glitter it won't be quite so... hairy-looking this time? We'll see...

Check out what the folks at China Glaze have to say about this collection.

Forget diamonds!  This winter China Glaze introduces a nail industry first: utilizing 3-D glitters in its new “Eye Candy” collection.  Inspired by Marilyn Monroe and her timeless allure, this innovative new glitter technology provides a knock-your-eyes-out, super sparkly effect to your manicure.   Multi-sized and differently shaped glitter particles are cleverly combined to create a sexy, super decadent, 3-D finish in six bright, eye-popping shades.  Whether you prefer gleaming gold or glamorous smoky grey, China Glaze’s “Eye Candy” collection adds a dazzling finish to your holiday look with a glimmer that is sure to catch everyone’s eye!  Colors in this collection include:

·        Love Marilyn: Vivacious Red with Shimmering Silver Particles
·        Blonde Bombshell: Glistening Multidimensional Gold Flecks
·        Lorelei’s Tiara: Sterling Silver Infused with Blue Sprinkles
·        Material Girl: Posh pink with Holographic Bubblegum Glitter
·        Some Like It Haute: Graphite Gray with Holographic Glitter
·        Marry A Millionaire: Alluring Amethyst with Multi-tonal Fibers

The China Glaze “Eye Candy” collection will be available in an amazing 3-D 12-piece counter display and as open stock colors.  China Glaze is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze

Do you think you'll be picking up this collection? I have to admit, I'm strongly tempted... Leave me a comment and let me know!

Images and information were provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

My Halloween 2011 Nails

Sometimes I think it's weird to make graphics like this.
Then I think about the rest of my life and think this
is about as normal as I get. :D

A VIDEO!! OMG, I cannot even begin to explain how far I've come in video editing-land, and how far I have yet to go. Still, I'm so happy to have this finished and ready to move on! I'm hoping to keep moving forward with this, because I do like being able to have video with my posts. Let's be honest, I'm a total ham and I love being able to talk to you!

This process, though? So confusing. Who knew it'd be so hard to do a voiceover for video? (Ok, I know... I've done it, so I know, but still!) I ended up having to script half of it, play the soundless video while I recorded my audio into my video camera, then move that video to the computer, download the latest version of Audacity so I could strip the sound from the video, then cut it up into chunks I could then place in the video timeline. Oh, and I had to download FFsomething or other libraries too, and install them.

Sound confusing? Yea, that's because it was! But it's DONE, and now I sort of understand what I'm doing, so I'm going to start editing the next video tomorrow! Maybe it won't take me three years to get finished... :D

So, on to the pretty stuff... the nails! Oddly enough, I wasn't interested in doing anything too flashy or anything, partly because I was running out of time and partly because I was really wanting to try the gorgeous polishes Melissa from the Daily Nail surprised me with. She'd noticed I've been down and not posting as much lately, so once day I checked the mail to find the cutest package all bundled up in orange paper waiting for me!

I'd be lying if I said I kept my cool. I alternated between squealing in joy and wiping tears away because it was such a touching gift. She filled it with all sorts of goodies, and I've kept them all in their box for now, to decide what to do with them. But Halloween was the perfect time to try two of them... Sally Hanson Salon Black Orchid and NYX Pink Avenue.

Black Orchid is a fairly basic polish, a deep charcoal grey shimmer that is lovely on its own. It's not totally black because the shimmer plays with the light a bit, but I like this. I also like that it's a cool-toned charcoal without any warmth to it. It's a typical Sally Hansen Salon polish- good coverage, good wear.

Pink Avenue was the star of this show, though. NYX definitely made a winner with this one, a mix of glitters in a clear base. It's a combination of lime green and orange flake glitters paired with microglitter in the same colors. I think some of the glitter changed colors in the light, depending on the angle, but it was hard to tell.

Regardless, this was a stunning polish, and I couldn't resist adding three coats of it, just to build the sparkle to insane levels. What can I say, subtlety is not one of my strengths!

The end result was almost impossible to photograph! Even the video didn't quite capture the way the light played with the glitter. It was hypnotic, and I was in absolute love! My niece loved it too, and wanted me to do her nails... shame I didn't have it with me, or I would have!

Since it's 5:30am and I haven't been to sleep yet, I'll let the rest of the photos speak for themselves. Click' em for larger pics. They're worth it!

So... thoughts? Too glittery? Not enough? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Polishes were provided by Melissa at The Daily Nail because she's AWESOME!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Seeing Spots- some nail doodling to tide us over...

Hi y'all! I'm still coughing my fool head off and feeling gross, so I dipped into my photo archives to share something I did not too long ago while I was doodling. Sometimes I enjoy just putting various polishes together to see what I can come up with.

I'd love to tell you what polishes I used for this design, but I can't. Most of those colors I mixed myself from various polishes in my collection, and I honestly don't remember how I achieved them. However, this is a very simple look to achieve.

First, I imagined a V going down the center of my nail. I painted the three base colors, one in each triangle. After that dried, I began adding dots with whatever color I thought would mesh well with the backgrounds. I started with the large silver center dots on the turquoise bit, then added smaller pink dots on top of the silver ones. Finally I filled in the blank spaces with the sparkly blue dots. The side triangles are more simple. Finally I added black stripes to better separate the three sections. A quick coat of topcoat finished things off!

Hopefully I'll be feeling enough better to get a post up soon. If not, I'll dig into the archives again! Til next time!

The robots are coming to take me away!! :D

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Franken Fun- My Magic Bus

I had the strangest night. I finally seem to be getting over the cold I've had for the past three weeks, so my family and I went out to the bookstore to get out of the house for a bit. We got home around 9pm and I immediately hopped onto my computer to update the blog.

But as I was opening images to crop, I saw the art doll I've been working on lately. I realized she needed more trimming and shaping, so I pulled out my supplies and got going on that. Once she was a little more to my liking, I took photos of her so I could keep track of things. But then I realized I had more things to photo for the blog, and figured I might as well shoot them at the same time since I had the camera out.

Fast forward to 7am, when I realize I've revamped the art doll twice, started not only a head for her but a new doll as well, started two paper mache candlesticks, redone a necklace to better suit my tastes, cleaned out my purse, photo'd lots of nail art, shot two or three videos for the blog, reorganized my nail art brush box and my paper mache supplies box, torn new paper strips for the new paper mache goodies, transferred my new bottle of acetone into the bottle I prefer, cut down that bottle into more storage for tall thin things...

... and I looked at the clock and shouted, "Holy CRAP, when did it become 7am??"

My husband, ever the smartass, replied, "About 2 minutes ago." He's so helpful. :D

And so here it is, almost 11am and I'm just now getting to the blog update I started 14 hours ago. I haven't slept, I've barely eaten, but oh how satisfied I feel right now!

However, since I didn't do anything new I'll show you a franken I made several weeks back. I've been admiring OPI's My Private Jet for quite some time, but I am much too frugal to consider buying it. Even if I had the spare cash to spend on it, I'd much prefer to throw that toward something else. So, enter a splash of black, a lot of clear, and some Gosh Holographic.

I love the photo of the bottle. The color is a touch off, for some odd reason, but the sparkles are GORGEOUS! Then again, I do have quite a thing for rainbows. Just in case you don't want to zoom in on it, let me show you a bit of that gorgeous holo sparkle...

Is that delicious or what? The best part? These photos were taken after midnight in my poor bedroom... I can't wait to put this on and take it for a ride outside. This baby is going to sing in the sunlight, I think!

If you're interested in mixing up your own version of this stunner, it's fairly simple as long as you have the right base. You'll need a very holographic polish- something like China Glaze OMG or Gosh Holographic works beautifully. I wish I could tell you a ratio, but it really depends what polishes you're using. My suggestion would be to put about half a bottle of clear, a healthy dollop of holo polish, and then add your black one drop at a time. It really doesn't take much black to completely mask the holographic glitter/shimmer, so it's easier to add it bit by bit than to end up wasting your holo polish in plain old black!

So, if you're anything like me, you're wondering what this looks like on. In a word? YUMMY! It's hard to see the pretty rainbow in this unless you click the picture to enlarge it. Good thing I'm nice enough to do a zoomed-in shot of it! Just look...

Keep in mind, that pic on the right there? Yep... shot after midnight with ambient room lighting. Can you imagine what this would do in the sun? I'm almost hyperventilating thinking about it!! Don't worry, eventually I'll get a shot or three of this in bright daylight, full sunlight so we can all appreciate just how gorgeous a charcoal holo can be. :D

But for now? I'm looking at the clock and it's almost 11:30 and I am finally starting to get a bit sleepy. YAY SLEEPS!!

... who am I kidding, I'll be up before 2. Still, even naps are better than nothing! Keep your chins up, kids, and I'll catch ya on the flip side!

Til next time!

It may not be a private jet, but I'm not complaining...

See my disclosure statement for more information.