Sunday Stamping - For Mom

 Hello, Fireflies!

I'm combining two challenges today - Adventures in Stamping is over a pink base.  Check! Too Cute-icle Bikini is a bright pink scattered holo.

Challenge Your Nail Art's week-long challenge is all about celebrations! Today, we're celebrating moms. So, my first stamp (done with Finger Paints Black Expressionism and Anna's Nail Art W228) is a tattoo-style heart-mom!

My mom loves hummingbirds and flowers, so that's the theme for the rest of the mani.  Plate W202 from Winstonia has this cute hummingbird that I had the *worst* time getting to work.  I originally wanted metallic hummingbirds.  Nope, none would work! Finally, I got the black to work, and dabbed a little Dollish Polish It's Bigger On The Inside on it for a little blue glitter.

My mom also loves jewelry, so I got out my Profound Glassworks crushed synthetic opal topcoat.  It's subtle, but you can see the bits of red and green opal over the black!

My mom has always loved gardening.  When my folks moved to Florida, she left behind a ton of flowers and trees, and a thriving tomato garden back in Virginia.  I think of all the things she left behind, that was the hardest for her.  Now, she's starting over again, and already the flowers are blooming all around their new house. 

Hers are much prettier and smell better than the pseudo-acrylic flowers I attached to my nails!

I bought these flowers from Winstonia, but you can get similar ones on Ebay and the like.  They're kinda rubbery, actually, not true acrylic flowers.

Bottle shot: Too Cute-icle Bikini, Profound Glassworks crushed synthetic opal topcoat. Finger Paints Black Expressionism, and Dollish Polish It's Bigger On The Inside.

Flowers, hearts, and hummingbirds are my homage to Mommy! What would be a part of your Mommy Mani?

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday Stamping - Happy Chinese New Year!

Hello, Fireflies!

Friday was the celebration of the Chinese New Year, and that's the challenge for today.  I admit, there are many, many times when I am ignorant of other cultures.  So, I got myself on the interwebs and did a little research on the Chinese New Year.

Ok, you got me.  I went to Wikipedia.  I'm not writing a research paper, here. 

I learned that red is a very important color for this celebration! It made sense to start this mani with a sparkling red - Too Cute-icle Lifeguard.  Lovely bright red jelly with a subtle scattered holo. 

What's more celebratory than gold confetti?  REAL18k gold confetti, that's what! Sephora by OPI It's Real top coat, for the win!

This is the year of the horse, so I had to use this horse stamp from Mash - 42, along with Maybelline Bold Gold.  I have trouble with little images - the horse on the plate is running and free.  Mine looks shackled, lame, and sad.  Poor old horse.

Dragons are important to the celebration, too.  There is always a dragon dance.  Who wouldn't want to pretend to be a dragon for a little while?  This is also Maybelline Bold Gold and plate DRK - C.

I also read that people wrote letters on red paper during the New Year, so I used Finger Paints Black Expressionism and the same DRK - C plate to make, what I assume is, Chinese letters.  It could be drivel, it could say, "Eat At Joe's."  I really don't know.  Maybe it says, "Hi, Mom!"

Here's the whole thing all together.  Lots of red and gold!

Bottle shot:  Too Cute-icle Lifeguard, SOPI It's Real 18k topcoat, Finger Paints Black Expressionism, and Maybelline Bold Gold.

Did you celebrate the Chinese New Year? 

Falling for Nail Art - Great Pumpkin

Hi, Fireflies!

For my Great Pumpkin nail art, I was inspired by Robin Moses!  I never thought I would do pumpkins like these before.

I started with a holo - Enchanted Polish Congratulations.  I love orange-y/gold/bronz-y type shifters.

For the pumpkins, I made the shapes with Too-Cute-icle Hot Shades.  Bright orange pumpkins!

Maybe I should have gone darker with the outlines and used Hot Shades for the main color.  I thought that Above the Curve Let's Tan-go would be pumpkin-y.  I used a small nail brush to paint in the curves of the pumpkin.

I used Zoya Hunter for the stems of the pumpkins, and a mix of Hunter and Sinful Colors Pistache for the vines.

Maybe there wasn't enough contrast between EP Congratulations and the pumpkins, but I love that orange glow and that holo.  Such a gorgeous polish!

Bottle shot:  Enchanted Polish Congratulations, Too Cute-icle Hot Shades, Above the Curve Let's Tan-go, Zoya Hunter, and Sinful Colors Pistache.

Are you ready for the Great Pumpkin to rise out of the pumpkin patch on Halloween?

These bold stripes are Too Cute-icle!

Hello, Fireflies!

These polishes from Too Cute-icle are ...too cute!  I love bright colors with holo added for texture.  Of course, for me, the more holo the better!  These are a little more subtle with the holo, but POW on the color.

This is Too Cute-icle Gorgeous, an orange holo jelly.  Even with three coats, I had some VNL, though of course it's less noticeable in Real Life.  I am so attracted to orange polish lately, I love it.

Sexy is just that - Sexy.  I love blue, and a bright cobalt blue is perfection, especially when you add a little holo. 

This purple holo should be called Amazing, but it's called Beautiful, which is close enough.  I love purple holos so much, and this is a great bright purple.

For my nail art, I was inspired by this La paillette frondeuse mani.  She has a cool gif tutorial if you're interested in the steps.  I started with a base of the orange.  I found it easier to do the center stripe first, so I could take as much room as I needed with the polish brush.

Then, I added the side stripes in the alternating colors.  I used a black striper to outline, and a little orange if I needed to.

I think this is bold and fun and summery!

It also reminds me of Finding Nemo...

The bottle shot:  Too Cute-icle Gorgeous, Beautiful, and Sexy.

Would this mani make you feel gorgeous, beautiful, and sexy?  Maybe a little fun and exciting?

For more information, you can find Too-Cuticle on Facebook, and her BigCartel shop.