Sunday Stamping - Blue Glitter and a Bonus!

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Sunday Stamping challenge is to stamp over a blue glitter.  I had a mani over a blue holo, but decided it wasn't truly glittery enough, so I did another one.. and then decided to include both in today's post!  Bonus mani! Woot!

Shimmery KBShimmer

Hello, Fireflies!

In a Facebook group I'm in, we were showing off our KB Shimmers this week, and I thought I would share a couple of mine with you.  They are gorgeous on their own, but then I added a little touch to each of them to change it up a bit.

A Leopard Can Change His Spots If They're Made Of Nail Polish

Hello, Fireflies!

It's almost the end of the month, and I haven't done all 4 of my NCC posts yet!   Today is #3 in the 'animal' challenge.  I haven't really played around with animal prints too much, but today I make a leopard print two ways.

Sunday Stamping - Hearts and Bars

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Adventures In Stamping challenge is to celebrate Valentines' Day.  I like flowers and chocolates as much (or more) than most, but I like them better the day after Valentines' Day, when they're cheaper.  I do like breaking out all the hearts and flowers nail art, though!

Sunday Stamping - Broken Heart

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Adventures in Stamping challenge was to use pink and black.  I've been gearing up to do some Valentines' Day manis, and thought this might be a great opportunity to do a 'broken heart' one with these colors.

Glitterati with the Beauty Bloggers of Central Florida

Hello, Fireflies!

This month's BBCFL roundup is all about makin' it rain! Yes, glitter!  I've rounded up a bunch of different looks I've created with different kinds of glitter used in different ways.  Hopefully, you'll find a look that inspires you to wear glitter your own way.

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:

Dotty McDotterson Dress

Hello, Fireflies!

I've been remiss in the Dots theme of this month's Nail Challenge Collaborative.  To make up for it, my nails today are VERY.LARGE.DOTS.

MMMM... Pie! #ChallengeYourNailArt #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Challenge Your Nail Art prompt is for Fall Food.  Nothing says Fall to me more than baking!  It's too hot here in Florida to do a lot of baking in the summer, anyway, but the really good apples don't get ripe until the Fall.

So when I saw this nail art (original author unknown) for cherry pie, I thought, well, I'd rather have apple.

I started off with Revlon Orient Express, but it was too red, so I put a layer of OPI Glints Of Glinda over it, which gave it a milky, softened look that was more like what I wanted.

I used a short brush to daub Zoya Flynn in a cross-hatch pattern, like a lattice-top pie.  To give it more dimension (and golden-brown deliciousness,) I added little spots of Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn, a dark brown holo.

Yeah, it still looks like a cherry pie, I guess.  Which is okay.  It's still pie, after all.

Bottle shot:  Revlon Orient Express, OPI Glints of Glinda, Zoya Flynn, and Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn.

Will you be indulging in a little pie this week?  What's your fave?  It's so hard to decide, but a good peach pie is hard to beat!

My Nail Art is getting...Thinner

Hello, Fireflies!

When I was in high school, I LOVED everything Stephen King.  Read all of his books, multiple times.  I still have this paperback from when I was a kid:

I patterned my very simple nail art after the cover.  I used Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, and then free-handed a hand print on my thumb with OPI Over and Over A-Gwen.

I'm pretty proud of how the handprint came out.  It was my first one.

What do you think?  Does it look like the cover to you?

Do you still read books from the same authors that you read when you were a kid?  I don't really read Stephen King anymore, but I loved Richard Peck as a kid, and I still go back and read his stuff.

Lady In (Cherry Smoke) Red

Hello, Fireflies!

I have a red, vampy look today, from my nails, to my makeup!

Let's start with the nails, shall we?  This blackened red is the kind of glowing color I fall for every time. I love how the shimmer makes Revlon Divine look like glowing embers!

I paired Revlon Divine with OPI Today I Accomplished Zero to punch up the glowing aspect.  These two polishes are peas in a pod. Polishes in a pod?

Bottle shot:  Revlon Divine, and OPI Today I Accomplished Zero.

I wore those nails with a red and black dress, so I decided to carry the red and black theme to my makeup.

I really love the Smashbox Cherry Smoke palette I used to create this look.  The reds are completely wearable, and don't make me look like I've been crying.

 Boys totally make passes at women who wear glasses.

What I used:  Hourglass Ambient Lighting blush and powder palettes, Smashbox Cherry Smoke palette, Ageless Derma Powder Foundation in Cool Beige, Cover FX Mattifying Primer with Anti-Acne Treatment, Cover FX Anti-Age Smoothing Eye Primer, and Cover FX Blemish Treatment Primer,  Cover FX Powder in Medium (used as bronzer), Physicians Formula 2 in 1 Lash Boosting Eyeliner and Serum in Ultra Black, Rimmel Scandal Eyes Retro Glam mascara, Stila Brighten & Correct concealer, Ellis Faas lipstick in Ellis Red, and Too Faced Bulletproof Brows in Brunette.

How do you wear red?

One Fish, Two Fish, White Fish, Three Blues..

 Hello, Fireflies!

I'm picking back up with the 52 Week Pick 'n Mix challenge this week, and combining the 3-blues prompt with the domestic animal prompt.  Let's see.. shall I make a blue dog, a la Blue's Clues?

I start with this really nice, bright, opaque blue from CoverGirl, called Out Of The Blue.  This is ONE coat.  Easy, breezy, beautifu-  wait.  Wow, that's good marketing. You were thinking it, too, weren'tcha.

I started to do a chevron French tip with OPI Keeping Suzi At Bay, a medium blue jelly, but then when I added Sally Hansen Insta Dri Teal-y Fast, I just kept adding stripes.  It's not a fishtail, but along those lines.

I really liked how this turned out.  These colors look good together.  I took a few pictures in case adding the animal part to the mani completely failed!

When I had all the blues picked, I thought of fish! And these cute goldfish from Cici & Sisi 11 fit the bill.  I stamped with Milani White On The Spot.

Up close, you can see all the lines of the blues, but from a reasonable distance, it just looks like light and shadows in the water.

Everybody, now, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"

I've never owned any kind of fish before, but I do like watching them sometimes.  Have you ever owned fish before?  What's the attraction?

Leftover Halloween Candy? Or Fall Pumpkins?

Hello, Fireflies!

Have you recovered from the festivities of yesterday?  Whether you indulged in black cocktails, or chocolate candies, there's always a Halloween Hangover.

The best part? Bags of candy go on sale!

One of my fave Halloween candies is the mallowcreme pumpkin.  This mani is an homage to that pumpkin, but it's also a sign of fall in general. The mani I was inspired by was a Fall Pumpkin mani by Plump & Polished.

I used OPI Glints of Glinda for the whole nail, then painted the pumpkin with Urban Decay Bang, and made the stripes with China Glaze Metro Pollin-tin.  The stems are painted with a metallic green striper.

I remember, as a kid, sitting with my brother and emptying out our bags of candy and trading.  Mom would always come in and take the candy she wanted.  Mostly, I didn't mind, because she liked all the coconut ones I didn't like as a kid.  But, she never traded for anything!

Hey, mitts off my candy!

Are you going to buy discounted Halloween candy favorites, or are you happy to put all the sugar aside until Christmastime?

Ghosts In The Mist

Hello, Fireflies! 

Today, I have a boo-tiful no-water-marble-turned swirly ghosts mani to show you!  This is straight up a Robin Moses design.  I just did it in polish instead of acrylic, and with much less talent than she has.

Still, this is the first even remotely successful needle drag marble I've ever done, so let's celebrate!

I painted the nail with OPI Glints of Glinda, and then, while the second coat was still wet, dropped little bits of Revlon Sequin (silver), Sally Hansen Raisin The Bar (metallic pink), and Finger Paints Black Expressionism (black) and Paper Mache (white) on one nail at a time.  I ran a small nail art brush through the drops of polish to create the swirls, then pulled the excess polish off my finger the way Robin Moses taught me to.

Using a little more Paper Mache, thinned a little with polish thinner, I added the ghosties and outlined them with the black striper and added the faces.  Then, I added in some of the pink glitter.

Bottle shot:  OPI Glints of Glinda, Sally Hansen Raisin The Bar, Revlon Sequin, Finger Paints Black Expressionism and Paper Mache, and nail art stripers in pink glitter and black.

I think these may be the prettiest ghost nails I've ever done! Brava to Robin Moses for their conception and great tutorial.  Are you more of a fan of the gory Halloween, or the pretty costumes?

Pick A Pink Gradient

Hello, Fireflies!

I rarely wear pink polish, but 'tis the BCA Season! The prompt for this week's Pick 'n Mix Challenge was pink, and a three-color gradient, so I did a gradient with three pinks.. and a black with pink glitter!

I started with Koco I'll Pink To That, a soft pink with a subtle gold shimmer.  The shimmers.  They always get me.  Annoys me to no end, though, when they are gorgeous in the bottle, and then nada on the nail.

...and then, we're done! I guess I got involved in the art and forgot to take pictures along the way.  Oops.  I just did a simple brushstroke gradient using the polish brush to build the gradient with darker pinks.

The next pink, Koco Strike a Posey, is a little brighter, and also has a little bit of shimmer.  Koco Punch-Drunk is more of a hot pink creme.  I finished off the tips with OPI Today I Accomplished Zero, a black jelly with dark pink to red glitter.

And then I added a pink heart rhinestone because I'm cutesy like that.  Hello Kitty, eat your heart out.

Bottle shot:  Koco I'll Pink To That, Strike a Posey, Punch-Drunk, and OPI Today I Accomplished Zero

Are you sporting some pink manis this month, or are you more about the ghouls and goblins in October?

Pink and Ribbons - must be Breast Cancer Awareness!

 Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Adventures In Stamping challenge was to use pink and BCA stamps.  I just bought the 2013 OPI BCA polish set from a friend, so I thought it would be perfect for this challenge! The pink creme is Pink-ing of You, and the glitter is More Than A Glimmer.  Frankly, I should have just kept it this way, because I really like this, and I totally messed up the stamping.

On my ring finger, I used BM 321 plate.  On the other fingers, I used the French tip stamp from BM 324.

I used Wet 'n Wild Black Creme to stamp.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  This was a doesn't time.

If this wasn't a Stamping Sunday challenge, I wouldn't have even shown you.  Sad Trombone mani.

Bottle shot:  OPI More Than A Glimmer and Pink-ing of You, and Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

You can see I even tried stamping with white first on my thumb, and that didn't work out.  I had no stamping ju-ju on that day.  None.  Have you ever gone to do something you've done hundreds of times before, and you just couldn't do it?