Happy Thanksgiving!

Good evening and happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for :) Starting with my wonderful family and friends, my amazing husband, you, my awesome readers. I'm thankful to have my health and a (mostly) stable job. There are more, I'm sure, but that's what comes to my mind first.

For those of my readers that celebrate it, I hope you have a great day filled with food and family!

Monkey see, monkey do......

Good afternoon!

As I'm typing this post up (that was promised for Friday >.<), I am sitting very high up on a mountain with an amazing view. It's colder than anything I've ever experienced, and I'm loving it!

Ok, so, Friday's mani was inspired by a pic that had been posted to Zoya's fan page. It was fairly simple to recreate and very pretty, very festive. It was just two of Zoya's colors, Claudine and Tomoko. Claudine was the base color, which I used at a single coat followed by Seche.  I wanted cleaner lines than I could create freehand, so I used Scotch tape to create Tomoko tips.

It is my personal belief that both colors made the other appear more gold than they really are, because neither of them alone look this gold.

Getting caught up again.....

Good evening!

This week has been crazy, what with work and getting ready to leave for vacation Saturday :) I'm excited! I've got three manis to show you tonight, and I'll have one tomorrow, as long as I get the time.

Today's mani was simple. I used a long unused, but well loved color, OPI's Light My Sapphire. Two coats of color followed by one coat of Seche and done!

For Tuesday, I did up a stamped mani. My base was two coats of OPI's Lincoln Park at Midnight, followed by Seche. My stamped images came from Mundos de Unas' Handy 32 and L series LO11, stamped in CND Vinylux in Cream Puff. Topped off with Seche. This was, by the way, my first time using LPAM :)

Tuesday's mani was also rather simple, but fiery :P Two coats of Lincoln Park After Dark with a single coat of Max Factor's Fantasy Fire, topped with Seche. I can't say that I've seen Fantasy Fire used over any red before now. I like how it turned out though.

Beware of the dark depths......

Good evening!

I have a new to me indie polish I purchased a few months ago. It's my second Emily de Molly, and I love it. I've pretty much figured that I won't be getting Oceanic Forces, or Dark Forces any time, but Dark Depths kinda makes up for that.

Dark Depths I think is inspired by deep, dark ocean floors; at least that's what I think and that's what it reminds me of. The base is a blue jelly with mixed sizes of blue and green hex glitters and really fine colored glitters. Because it's a jelly, I thought it was best to layer it, since I didn't have much patience to build it up last night lol.

I layered one coat of Dark Depths over one coat of OPI's Yoga-ta Get This Blue. I can't really say why I chose that instead of a blue creme, but I'm really happy I did. It turned out amazing! I know two of my pics are a little blurry, but you can see the glitter a little better =\

I'm in the mood for......

Good evening!

Today's Stamping Sunday challenge called for something you (me) were in the mood for. This literally could be anything, as long as there stamped images in there somewhere. This was a no brainer for me; even though it's the middle of November, the weather here in FL is still very much like September, and I hate it. I am so longing for cooler weather.

My mani started with a base of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls at two coats, topped with Seche. I sponged over that, in three passes, OPI's Into the Night. My stamped image came Sugar Bubbles' Special 02, which is a Christmas themed plate. The snowflakes were stamped in Jindie Nails' Blue Ivy, then topped again with Seche.

A chill in the air......

Good evening!

So, pretty much since the beginning of the month, I've been dying to do my first Christmas themed mani of the season. Today was that day..... And I kept it within Texture Friday!

Last week (week before?), I picked up one of the only other colors of Mariah Carey Holiday Liquid Sands, It's Frosty Outside. I also, finally, found the Miss Universe collection, from which I only wanted This Gown Needs a Crown. I love my silvers :P

Let me just say, I love them both. Both only needed two coats, and wore amazingly well, especially This Gown Needs a Crown. OPI didn't really give any clear on how it's to be worn, but I kinda thought like the Liquid Sands, no base and no topcoat. That's right, no topcoat. According to the label on the cap, it dries to a satin finish, and it does. I hope they make more like this!

A few jewel toned manis

Good evening!

I love this time of year, with the seasons changing, the weather changing, holidays approaching, all of it. I most especially love the colors you see in the fall and winter. My favorites are the jewel tones, I can never get enough of them.

Sadly, between OPI's San Francisco collection and Zoya's Satins and Cashmeres collection, there were only a few I really wanted, but I did get them. The manis I want to show you feature two of them.

First up is the mani I wore today started with 2 coats of Zoya Masons. Zoya describes Mason as a fandango pink, but I'm more inclined to call it magenta. It's gorgeous and sparkly and glowy. I topped it with Seche and stamped over it, using Betina B-16 in Pure Ice Silver Mercedes, topped again with Seche.

Yesterday's mani was kinda fun, at least to me. It started with a base of a single coat of Zoya Claudine, leaving my thumbs and ring fingers without topcoat. The accents were sponged with Candy Lacquer's Candy Dots then two coats of Seche. The others were stamped with images from Nailways NW00014 in Maybelline's Bold Gold, then topped with Seche.

Fan brush art, or just a hot mess?

You be the judge >.<

Good evening!

So, a group I'm in on Face Book does something every month called the Monthly Palette Project. In short, there's a group of colors you pick from and follow the rules. I don't normally take part of them, but I sort of "challenged" into it lol. 

This is the palette for November:

The rules called for picking two colors and also using brush art of some kind. Mind you, I only really have the blues on this palette, but I remembered I have OPI's The "It" Color, which kinda satisfied the golden yellow.

I used that as my base color at 3 coats followed by a coat of Seche. I pulled out my fan brush and proceeded to create a hot mess with Zoya Natty and China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out, topped off with Seche.

Dream a little dream....

Good evening!

For Halloween, Zoya ran a BOGO free polish/shipping for just about everyone with an account; you just had to click the link, sit through a little animated thing, and log into your account to get the code. It was an awesome deal, and I managed to get in on it. For my deal, I picked Dream and Mosheen, and I certainly don't regret it :)

I knew I wanted Dream when I first her. Blue jelly base loaded with holo glitter? Yes, please! Dream is just like last year's holiday trio, Blaze, Aurora, and Storm. Yes, I have blue holos, but not like Dream. She is unique.

My mani was done with done 2 coats with a coat of the Qtica Extending Topcoat, followed by OPI's Drip Dry Drops. I know the last pic is blurry, but you can really see the glitter like that.

Ripples and bubbles

Good evening!!

I want to get this cranked out, since I need to get to bed, like, now, lol. Got a long day tomorrow that starts too early x.x

Ok, today's Stamping Sunday theme was "inspired by water". This took a little thinking, but I finally decided on a stamped water marble. No problem! All colors used, except for the stamping color, are from Zoya. Base was 2 coats of Purity, no topcoat. Water marble colors were Purity, Wednesday, and Rocky. I created what looked to me ripples in the colors, which is what I was after. Yay me! I added a coat of Mosheen to give it a sparkly effect, like light reflecting off of water, then topped with Seche.

My stamped image came Winstonia Nature Series W-01, stamped in Sinful Colors Ardoise, then topped again with Seche. Overall, I'm quite happy with how this mani came out, even though I've been leaning more towards fall colors and themes lol.

Getting caught up!

Good evening!!

So, yeah, this week has been hectic. Between not working, because my Jeep broke down last week (>.<), then working and trying to get stuff done, and adjusting to my husband's new work schedule still, things are quite unsettled here. I've been pretty exhausted at night, so hadn't felt up to posting, even though I have four manis to share :) Tonight was the first evening all week that I'm still cognizant enough at this point to do so.

Let's jump right in!

Yesterday was Texture Friday, and for that I did an entire mani with Zoya Liberty. I'm not sure I have before; I know that I have used her as an accent, but I'm just too lazy to look and see if I had for an entire or not :P Let it be known, I am nicknaming Liberty the Great Blue Stainer, because that's what she is. Holy hell! I love this color, but wow, the staining I had around and on my nails was horrible. I love my blues, and this is price I pay for the more green toned blues.

My mani was two coats over bare nails.

For Thursday's mani, I wanted something dark and vampy, but still a little fun. I actually had to redo this mani, because the first time, not only did it just not look right, but my SV was giving me fits. I'm guessing it didn't like my filed back length much, since it kept shrinking up on the free edge. Perfect opportunity for me to try out a different topcoat.

My final mani was Zoya Raven with accents of Zoya Suri on my thumbs and ring fingers, each at two coats. With my last Zoya order, I received a free bottle of the Qtica Extending Topcoat. It's nowhere near as thick as SV, but it is nice and shiny, and I didn't have any chips at the end of the day. I do recommend you use some kind of drying drops, because it takes a long time to dry, even with a rapid dry spray.

Wednesday's  mani was none too complicated either. Two coats of OPI's Eurso Euro, one coat of Finger Paints Motley, one coat of Seche.

And Tuesday's mani. This was when I first noticed SV giving me fits, although this one wasn't as bad as Wed. and Thurs's manis. Thank goodness for photo editting, since I didn't have time to change Wednesday's!

This mani started with a base of 2 coats of Zoya Blaze followed by Seche. Dry, dry, dry, then time to stamp. I got some plates in last week from Nailways. They have some amazing plates; I picked up the Darker Period set, and used NW00013 for this mani, stamped in Pure Ice Silver Mercedes. Topped it off with Seche and done.

Can you tell I've been really feeling the darker, fall colors this week? :)

Jeweled butterflies

Good evening!

Per usual, today is Stamping Sunday, and the challenge called for using a plate that ended in 1. Pretty easy, the first one I came across was my MoYou Kitty collection 01 plate. A plateful full of butterflies :D Yes, I bought it for that reason alone lol.

Since I had some moderate success with my last water marble, I decided that I wanted to do another, this time with nothing but Zoya colors. Specifically, 3 of the jewel tones from the Satins collection, Mason, Neve, and Giovanna. I water marbled those three over two coats of Zoya Purity, then topped with Seche. I managed to snap a pic before I stamped, but it's a little blurry. You get the idea though :P

Mason didn't marble as well as the other two colors, but really, I'm very happy with how the marbling came out. I stamped different butterflies on each finger, using Zoya Claudine, also from the Satins collection. Let me tell you, Claudine stamps amazingly well. Topped it all with Seche.