Twisty Black and Orange Stamping

Hello, Fireflies!

It's been awhile since I've posted a stamping nailart.. and while I'm working on one today, I figured I'd pull one up from the vault in the meantime. It was meant to be a bright, summer orange mani that I posted in a Facebook group sometime back, but it's giving me October Halloween vibes today!

Fun and Funky 4th with #ColourPop and #Milani

Hello, Fireflies!

I don't know how it got started for me, but last year, I decided to wear a fun red, white, and blue-themed makeup and nails look for my friend's 4th of July party, and this year, I decided to do it again.

Mother's Day Flowers

Hello, Fireflies!

I'm not a mother myself, and this year, my mom is very ill.  I'll be visiting her today.  She is a master at gardening, with a vast knowledge of how to grow almost anything.  She loves flowers and plants, and I remember growing up with huge flower gardens, and the best home-grown tomatoes on the planet.

My Patriotic Play with Makeup - Red, White, and Blue!

OFRA and Cover FX are Press Samples.
All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

I didn't think I'd be doing a makeup look for Independence Day, but we got an invite to a friend's party, so I decided to have a little fun with my makeup and nails.  The pix above was taken as we were getting ready to leave, so I'm a little melted!  It has been so hot here in Florida, I scarcely want to leave the air conditioning!

Sunday Stamping Shamrocks!

Hello, Fireflies!

St. Patrick's Day is coming up, and today's challenge is to put on a little o' the green!

NYE Nude Nails

Hello, Fireflies!

Happy NYE! Whether you're going out and partying, or bringing in the New Year with the TV, you can still have fabulous nails, right?  For me, the trend was nude, with a little (or a lot) of bling!  I reached into the vault to bring up some looks you might want to try to ring in your 2015.

Never Boring Nude NYE Nails

 Hello, Fireflies!

Today's AIS challenge is New Years' Nails.  I didn't have much time to prepare these, since I was traveling all day from visiting my family for Christmas, so I started with what I already had on - Azature Diamond Opal. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Fireflies, to all who celebrate!

And to those who don't, happy Thursday!

I love doing nails for my friends, and I had the opportunity to do some Christmas/Winter-themed ones for them this year:

Tacky Christmas Sweater Nails!

Hello, Fireflies!

It's almost Christmas!  It's too hot here in Florida to actually wear a tacky Christmas sweater, so I did a version on my nails.

Reindeer Games

Hello, Fireflies!

I know, it's supposed to be Stamping Sunday, but I just couldn't.  It was supposed to be about stamping your Christmas List, and I had a brain fart.  Plus, this week has been absolutely crazy, so I decided to forgive myself and show y'all another mani I did that I really liked.

Candy Cane Striping

For fun and simple nail art, you can't beat dots or stripes.  For a festive look, I used a tutorial from Sassy Paints to make candy cane nails! 

Milani White On The Spot is the best white polish I've found for doing a whole nail.  It dries opaque and glossy.

I found this set of holiday mini scented polishes at Claire's and decided to use some of them for candy canes. What better way then to start out with a sweet mint polish?  I love a sparkle over white.

The red glitter from Claire's was cranberry scented, and it actually went well with the sweet mint.  Who knew.

The green glitter in the Claire's set wasn't thick enough to use with a striper, so I substituted Kleancolor metallic green instead.   If you're one who is sensitive to the smell of Kleancolors, try pairing it with a scented polish! mmm.

I used the Milani silver art striper to add a little glitter.  

They almost smelled good enough to eat!

Do you like using scented polish?  I wasn't interested in buying a polish just for the scent, but I have to admit, it's a nice addition.

Painted Polish Poinsettias

I love to see the Poinsettias around the holidays.  We used to get one every year at the university holiday party, and I even got to plant it and have it grow for a while, though I didn't go through the rigamarole you need to do to have it bloom again.  I have a fake white one that I always forget to get out of the garage, though.  

Mani poinsettias are much easier, and you don't have to water them.  I saw this nail art on Dressed Up Nails, and decided to do my version of them.

I started with Rainbow Honey Annual Emotion.

I was totally suckered into buying this one by a blog post.  They played up all the other colors in the silver, and how wonderful it was.  Ok, I will say that in the photo (and even in mine) you can see tinges of other colors.  It is NOT holo, like I thought it was going to be.  In Real Life, you couldn't even see those colors.  It applies like a silver glitter, and it takes two coats to be opaque, because the glitter needs to 'fill in' the spaces, not because it's thin like a polish.  It actually applies like a microglitter, not as a polish, if you can understand my gibberish.

I used Misa Bourbon on the Rocks for the first layer of petals.  It was more brown than I thought it would be, but I loved this color.  The more coats you use, the more red it becomes.

I had received Dazzle Dry Rapid Red in a grab bag.  It's okay - it wouldn't be my goto red polish.  It's a little thin and required 2-3 coats to be opaque, even over the silver.  It also leans a little too cherry-pink for me. 

The leaves are China Glaze Running in Circles from their Cirque du Soleil collection.  Love this bright green, with a nice shimmer.  I added a little bit more of Misa Bourbon on the Rocks for details., and finished off each flower with a rhinestone in the center, topped off with lots of Seche Vite to lock it in.

Are you decorating the house or your nails with poinsettias this holiday? 

Aurora Snowmen!

Zoya Aurora isn't necessarily only a holiday color in my eyes, but it is a gorgeous, bling-ed out red-violet, and it's perfect this holiday.  Love that scattered holo - all the flash of glitter, with a perfect formula, and no-hassle removal.

I decided that it would make a great base for some snowmen.  I like the snowmen that A Love Tart did on her blog, and decided to use them for my inspiration.  

Milani White on the Spot makes a nice, smooth, opaque snowman.  I used a black striper for the hat and details, China Glaze Roguish Red for the nose, Revlon Silver Screen for the hat stripe, and Zoya Logan for the scarf.

I decided to wear this to a get together with friends, so I did both hands with snowmen!  It was so hard to paint these guys with my left hand, but I loved the effect.

Even though there's no snow in Florida, I can still take a White Christmas with me!  Are you making any snowmen this holiday?

Green Season with holos

I have a lot of green holos now, and it seems that no two are exactly the same! 

Urban Outfitters Green Holo, a stunning rainbow over pale sage green:

Piper Polish Lime Green Dream, a subtle scattered holo over an icy jade green:

Enkelini, The Grass is Greener, a bright grass green with linear holo:

Above The Curve It's Because I'm Green, Isn't it, a forest green with a subtle linear holo:

Piper Polish Peace, Love & Rainbows, a darker forest, mossy green with a stronger linear rainbow.

 All together now, in the same order as above, from thumb to pinkie.  (UO, Piper LGD, Enkelini TGIG, ATC, and Piper PL&R)

Even indoors, you can see some strong linear rainbows, and some deep colors.

I decided to do some reverse art by leaving the holo and painting a shape around it in black.  I used China Glaze Angel Wings as a gold holo detail.  I like the ornament the best.

I also did a little striping nail art.  This is all 5 colors striped next to each other on each nail.  I really liked this, and it just took a striping brush, and a somewhat steady hand.

Are you celebrating the season with holos?  

Sweet Silver Bells seem to say, "Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas!"

To all my readers who celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a Merry one. 

I tried making some silver bells nail art.. not my best, but what better day to ask for Nail Fail Forgiveness than on Christmas?

My base color was a gorgeous deep blue - not quite navy, but close - Revlon Colorstay Midnight.  Look at that shine - no topcoat!  I love Revlon Colorstay polishes.

I took an LA Colors striper in silver and outlined bell shapes and filled them in, and then went over them with a Milani Nail Art Striper Art of Silver, for the glitter.

I tried to add some black to define the bells a bit..

And added some larger glitters from BornPrettyStore to make the handle and clapper of the bells.  I liked that little touch, and they were easy to apply with a little topcoat and the end of a dotting tool.

This is my favorite Christmas Carol, and this a capella version is my fave of all time.  Carol of the Bells by Pentatonix:

Have a peaceful season!

All the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names..

Are you ready for Santa?  He'll be making his rounds tomorrow!  Before we see Santa, let's see who is pulling the sleigh!

In hindsight, I should have used a nude polish first instead of painting the reindeer on my bare nails.  I didn't have much free edge showing, though, so it wasn't too bad.  The body of the deer is done with Revlon Colorstay Fall Mood, a sparkly golden-brown polish.  It's actually maybe a *little* too light for this, but it is photographing lighter than it was in Real Life.

China Glaze Call of the Wild with a small nail art brush for the antlers, and I smudged a little to make the inside of their ears, too.

Milani White on the Spot and LVX Livid for the eyes... what are they looking at?!

Oh, it's Rudolph!  His nose is China Glaze Adventure Red-y.  The other reindeer have noses painted with Call of the Wild.

Even Rudolph is looking at his own nose, and he is proud of it!  Embrace differences - life would be boring if we were all the same!

Christmas Lights!

Have you seen this mani from Galactic Lacquer with her Christmas lights?  It's amazing!  I wanted to do my version, but of course I didn't have any teardrop rhinestones!  So, I took it a slightly different direction.

I started off with a black background, because I love how the lights look at night.  This gorgeous black holo is Midnights Rainbow by Enkelini.

Even inside under regular lights, you can see the rainbow, and the color also stays true.  That's my fave kind of holo.

I used nail foil glue to stick on the nail art accessories.  I saw that some bloggers were using string, and I thought about the laser strands I got from Dollar Nail Art, and decided to use that.  I love how the strands looked like they were imbued with light already... but oh, were they hard to use.  The strands don't want to stay bent, so I had to be very patient with the curves and hold each strand until the glue dried.  Patience is not my specialty.

I love how the colored rhinestones looked like Christmas lights, though.  If I decide to do something like this again, I will probably paint the string on! 

Are you putting lights up this year?  Are you putting them on?

Happy Hanukkah!

As I prepare for the Christmas season, I want to take a moment to wish my readers a happy Hanukkah!

I have to admit, I've always been drawn to the Jewish faith.  I find the Hebrew language amazing and beautiful, and the food and culture interesting.  I took my inspiration for this mani from this page that had a collection of Hanukkah nail art.

I wanted to start with the prettiest type of polish I know of - the holo.  Seduce, the blue holo, is from the Mentality Precious Holo collection.  Holo is from their topcoat collection.  I just used 3 layers to give it a whitish, silvery look on the nail.

This is my first time trying to paint a menorah and Star of David, so I figured I'd tell you what they are in case you couldn't tell.....

I used a black nail art striper, and then the Silver Nail Art striper from Milani over top of that to make the stars, and the lights on the menorah.  It's really hard to photograph such sparkly!  

Happy Festival of Lights!