Nail Art January 2016: Day 11

Welcome back!

Today's Prompt: Recreation

White: Essie Blanc
Black: Essie Licorice
Dark Purple: Essie Haute Tub
Red: Essie Shall We Chalet?
Light Red: Essie Altitude Attitude
Blue: Essie Virgin Snow
Pink: Essie Peak Show
Silver: Essie Apres-chic
Yellow: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Sizzlin' Saffron

Every year for my birthday, I do some birthday nails for my birthday. Last year for this challenge, I redid those nails for this prompt as my recreation day. I decided to do that again this year! Last year, I used a Nicole by OPI collection so all of the colors went together. This year, I used the entire Essie Winter Collection to recreate the manicure. I love the way it turned out! They all went together, but were so much fun!

Thanks for reading <3

Nail Art January 2016: Day 08

Welcome back!

Today's Prompt: Animal

Black Glitter: OPI Center of the You-niverse
White: Zoya Purity
Black: Zoya Willa
Orange: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pumpkin Queen

These were super simple penguin nails that I did! My favorite animal is a penguin, so I really wanted to do them. If you are worried about work, because you can't wear something like this, you can totally do them without the eyes and beak, and just make it a Ruffian manicure that is inspired by penguins!

Thanks for reading <3

Nail Art January 2016: Day 04

Welcome back!

Today's Prompt: Sparkles

Pink: Essie Peak Show
Blue: Essie Virgin Snow
Glitter: Essie Luxeffects Frilling Me Softly

For this look, I sponged on the glitter on my whole ring finger nail. On the other nails, I used the small end of the sponge and sponged it on at the tip and slightly up. To make the gradient look a little better, I wiped a decent amount off of the brush, and then lightly brushed it toward my cuticle.

This glitter was also another glitter that my friend gave me for Christmas. It was one of the new Essie polishes that they released as part of their Luxeffects line. I loved it!

Thanks for reading <3

Nail Art January 2016: Day 02

Welcome back!

Today's Prompt: Fresh

This starts my second take at Nail Art January, created by Californails. She created this one last year, and I did it then. I decided to try it again, and try to make it a yearly event, kind of like the 31 Day Challenge that I do in September. No one else is really doing it this year, as far as I know. But I like to complete it so I can see how much I improve over a year!

Nude: Essie Brides to Be
White: Essie Blanc
Glitter: Essie Luxeffects A Cut Above

The first prompt, being fresh, made me think that French tips were the best way to go. I ended up doing an accent glitter nail, too, because it makes it more fun.

This glitter is also special to me, because one of my best friends bought it for me for Christmas, so it was the perfect time to use it! I had been considering buying it, and thinking strongly about it, and then she surprised me by getting it for me when I hadn't even told her I thought about it!

Thanks for reading <3

New Year's Day 2016

Happy New Year!

Purple: China Glaze Mix and Mingle

White: China Glaze White on White

Red: China Glaze Wine Down for What?

Glitter: China Glaze Brand Sparkin' New Year

For the past couple of years, I have always done nails like this for the new year. I like to do it to start new for the new year! It also makes my mind have to stop and think and remember what year it is!

I intentionally saved this glitter for this manicure because of the name of it. I love the color combination that I got for this one. It looked great and turned out really well.

Thanks for reading <3

New Year's Eve 2015

Welcome back!

White: Nicole by OPI Yoga-Then-Yogurt
Black: Salon Perfect Oil Slick
Red: Nicole by OPI Please Red-cycle
Shimmery Red: Nicole by OPI Always A Classic Coca-Cola
Blue: Orly Skinny Dip
Green: China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard
Purple: Salon Perfect Electric Grape
Silver: OPI My Signature is DC
Glitter: China Glaze Dancing & Prancing

These nails took a little bit of time, but I loved them! They were fun and festive, but still look cool and not silly. I like doing nail art like this sometimes, but not all the time, just because they are so different and also time consuming.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Red and Green Galaxies

Welcome back!

I wanted to continue my year-long Galaxy nail series with the Christmas edition!

Black: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Black to Black

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Red: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri-Dri Rapid Red

Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri I-Rush Luck

Small Gold Glitter: Avon Gingerbread Scented

Large Glitter: OPI I Reached My Gold

These were so much for me to do! I've always liked galaxy nails, and I made it through a whole year of doing them for every holiday! Well, aside from New Year, or New Year's Eve.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Gingerbread Man and His House

Welcome back!

Another new design that I never did anything like last year was a gingerbread man. I saw so many different designs on Instagram and Pinterest, I was inspired to do more than just the single cooke man on a nail or two. The gingerbread man face and body nails were inspired by @cutepolish on Instagram and YouTube. I got the idea to do the house by @gabbysnailart.

Brown: OPI Going My Way or Norway?
White: Salon Perfect Sugar Cube
Black: Salon Perfect Oil Slick
Red: Pure Ice Lady Liberty
Green: Pure Ice Free Spirit

Nail Vinyls: Snail Vinyls
Matte Top Coat: NYC Matte Me Crazy

I liked the way these turned out for the most part. I wasn't going to wear them for long, so I didn't want to spend too much time on them. Because of that, I left out teeny tiny details, which I was torn about how I felt about them. I liked the simplicity of the details, because I had so many different designs, anyway. But, when I saw other people's gingerbread designs on Pinterest, I felt like I saw more details which made it look more put together.

I think the matte top coat definitely helped make the manicure, though, and I'm really happy I added that last minute!

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Santa's Suit

Welcome back!

A couple of years ago, I did an accent nail on my sister of Santa's face (unfortunately, I don't have a picture for that…) Then, last year, I did a Santa face with his suit on the rest of my nails. This year, I wanted to do something different, and add a new design in the mix. I settled on his suit, hat, and face!

Nude: Essie Brides to Be
Red: OPI What's Your Point-setta?

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Black: OPI Black Onyx

Gold: OPI 50 Years of Style

Pink: Orly Color Blast Winter Blush

Underneath the hat, I used the base polish color of the nude, just to make my "naked nail" look better than it actually did. Plus, I'm not one for negative space, so I had to make it look perfect enough it couldn't actually be negative, or naked.

These were really fun and easy to do, and they don't require any top coat layers (which means more time to dry) so even though they are detailed, you can take some time with it! I liked the way they turned out a lot, and I think I'll do them similar next year, too! I also think I want to do the elf the same way, and incorporate his hat into it in a similar style.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Nativity Scene

Welcome back!

These are the nails that I wore on Christmas Day, because they are very important to me. I loved this design when I saw it last year, and knew I wanted to do it this year. I was inspired by @nailstorming on Instagram.

Light Blue: Essie Mint Candy Apple

Medium Blue: Essie I'm Addicted

Dark Blue: Essie Hide & Go Chic

White: Maybelline Color Show Porcelain Party

Black: Maybelline Color Show Onyx Rush

These were fun to do, and I loved doing the gradient for the background of it.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: French Tip + Glitter

Welcome back!

Every year on Christmas Eve, we go out to church, and have a nice dinner and exchange presents with my brother and his family. We always dress up for Christmas Eve, so I wanted something that looked nice and formal, so I thought a nice French manicure with an accent glitter nail would be perfect!

Nude: Essie Brides to Be

White: Essence Colour & Go Wild White Ways

Glitter: Sinful Holiday Rebel

I sponged on the glitter, and used French tip guides from Essence to create the look!

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Dangling Ornaments

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Last year when I got done with Christmas designs, I thought of a couple of things I never did. Ornaments was one of them! I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do them, but then I got my vinyls in the mail, and there were ornaments in the holiday pack I ordered! This design was inspired by @DripDropNails on Instagram.

White: OPI Alpine Snow

Red: OPI Cinnamon Sweet

Green: OPI Christmas Gone Plaid

Gold: OPI 50 Years of Style

Black: OPI Black Onyx

Ornament Vinyls: Snail Vinyls

These turned out pretty cute, and I wish I could have worn them longer! I got sick, though, and had to take them off quickly to get more looks in before Christmas.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Stockings Hung by the Chimney (with care)

Welcome back!

I wanted to do something different than I had been doing. So for these nails, I made it look a little more like a picture than nail art, which is something I used to do a lot more of.

Gray: Essie Cocktail Bling

Brown: OPI Going My Way Or Norway?

Black: Essence Colour & Go Black is Back

Green: OPI Christmas Gone Plaid

Yellow: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hard Hat

Orange: Nicole by OPI Fresh Squeezed

White: Essence Color & Go Wild White Ways
Glitter: China Glaze Loco-motive

Charm: Cina
Stocking Vinyls: Snail Vinyls

I didn't leave these on for very long, and I'm okay with that. I wasn't crazy about these for long term nail art, but they still look pretty fun!

Thanks for reading <3

November Favorites

Welcome back!

I am getting these up earlier than last time, because I need to be ready for December and year-end favorites!

Manicure Favorites

Stamped Leaves and Trees: Unfortunately, this post was supposed to be my first entry in the Themed Thursday November. However, I never finished any other days, because November was so crazy busy for me. Oh well! Maybe I'll finish them before the end of the year and we can all laugh about it and it can be better late than never. Regardless, I loved how these turned out, and they were so much fun to do. I'm also proud because it was my most successful stamping ever (by far)!

Fall Dotticure: I loved these nails so much! I loved the color combination the most, I think. Between that, and the fact that they were fun and festive, but still totally wearable for pretty much anyway made them perfect.

Other Favorites

• Dotticures. I always use dots as my go-to when I don't know how else to accent a manicure. But out of the only five manicures I did in November, three of them had dots in them! Apparently it was a good month for my dotting tools….when they got used.
• Fall. One thing that all of my manicures had in common was that they were all fall related. Either the polishes came from a fall collection, or they were directly fall related (leaves, turkeys, and pilgrims). It makes sense, because I spend all of October on Halloween, so I need to catch up on my fall nails in November!

New Tries in November

• Watermarble with painting on top. Does this count? I've done water marbles before, but I never added things on top. I just let the water marble sort of "speak for itself" and let it be the accent. But this time, it was the background for the turkeys!

Okay, so I didn't do so good with nail art this month. I was bad about about painting my nails in general, but on top of that I didn't do anything exciting or new, really. December will be better, though, and I will have a TON of Christmas designs!

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Packages and Bows

Welcome back!

I wanted to sort of recreate my present nails from last year. My favorite thing about them was the 3D aspect when I incorporated a bow stud on some of the presents. I did more this year, and did presents on every nail.

White: Essence Colour & Go Wild White Ways

Gold: Wet 'n Wild Megalast Pot of Gold

Blue: Pure Ice I Pledge Naillegiance

Red: Pure Ice Lady Liberty

Green: Spoiled by Wet 'n Wild Green to be Heard

Black: Essence Colour & Go Black is Back

Silver: Wet 'n Wild Megalast Strobe Light Stunner

Black Bow: KISS Nail Art 3D Stud kit
Silver Bows: Sally Beauty (discontinued item)

The black bow comes off very easily, because of how large it is, and it isn't touching the nail at all points. The silver ones stay on longer, because they are flatter against the nail, and touch in more places, because they have a slight curve, like the nail.

These definitely aren't practical in every situation, but they are fun for maybe a party, or somewhere you won't be using your hands a lot.

One great thing about these particular polishes are that no polish cost more than $2.00! I like using cheaper polishes sometimes, because then it is easier to duplicate, because you can more easily purchase the polishes.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Pink-ified Christmas Cheer

Welcome back!

I love red and green together, don't get me wrong. And I especially love them together at Christmas time. But after doing my nails nearly every day and with the same colors every time, I felt like I was running out of polishes to use, and I wanted to do something different. Then when I was looking around on Instagram and Pinterest, I saw several options for pink Christmas nails! These were inspired by @gabbysnailart on Instagram.

White: Essence Wild White Ways

Light Pink: Orly Color Blast Winter Blush

Dark Pink: Orly Color Blast Magical Voice

Silver Glitter: Pure Ice Pure Icicles

The glitter was actually painted on like regular polish here. The tree was done using a tape to create the shape, and then a fan brush and both pinks. The thumb has a snowflake over a gradient, which I did using a sponge. I used nail vinyls to create the lines for the candy cane stripes.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Candy Canes

Welcome back!

I loved these so much when I did them last year, I decided to do them again!

White: OPI Alpine Snow
Red: China Glaze Peppermint to Be
Silver: Essie No Place Like Chrome

I used nail vinyls to create the stripes and chevrons. This year, I did smaller chevrons than last year, and I think I like this look better. I also used a shimmery red, instead of just a cream red. I was really happy with how these turned out! It makes me want to redo them again next year, but I also want to experiment with more candy cane looks.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Elf Nails

Welcome back!

For this look, I wanted to do something fun instead of all elf faces and elf suits. I decided dots matched well with the elf and suit, so I put those on a couple of nails.

White: OPI Alpine Snow
Black: Zoya Willa
Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri I-rush Luck
Red: OPI Amore At The Grand Canal
Gold: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear Golden-I
Yellow: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
Nude: Essie Brides to Be
Pink: Orly Color Blast Princess Ping

For the red dots, I went with the sort of more scattered and random look to add to it. I made some changes to the elf face nail, and the changes were inspired by @PrincessLexiii on Instagram.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Holly and Splatter

Welcome back!

I wanted to do something a little different for this nail art look. I decided the accent of a splatter nail or two complemented the holly and bell nails well.

White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost

Red: OPI Ro-man-ce On the Moon

Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri I-rush Luck

Gold: Essie Good As Gold

To do the splatter nails, I used coffee stirrer straws, because I heard from someone they work better, and they definitely do! The rest was freehanded.

Thanks for reading <3

Christmas 2015: Rudolph and Clarice

Welcome back!

I knew I wanted to do reindeer nails again, but I didn't want to do exactly what I did last year. So, what I did was base these reindeer more off of the movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I put Clarice on my index finger, Rudolph on my ring finger, and just a regular reindeer on my thumb.

Tan: Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear Bare It All
Light Brown: OPI San Tan-tonio
Dark Brown: Essie Little Brown Dress
White: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri OMGhost
Black: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Night Fright
Pink: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Straw-ready
Red: Revlon Revlon Red
Glitter: Sinful Colors Decadent

Thanks for reading! <3