Swan Song

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's the last round of this month's 'Animal' challenge from the Nail Challenge Collaborative!  I decided to base this nail art on some Swan charms I found online and just loved, and I found the perfect glitter to go with them.

Dottin' Love Is In The Air!

Hello, Fireflies!

It's time for another Challenge Your Nail Art challenge. This one runs through 2/15, and is all about love, love, love.

Well, today, I want to share with you one of the nail art techniques that I love, not only for how pretty it looks, and the many variations you can create, but also because anybody can do it:  The Dotticure.

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.

Blue Jungle Wallpaper

 Hello, Fireflies!

For the last installment of this month's wallpaper challenge, I went all out with this gradient, glittered, stamped mani.

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.

Stamping Snowflakes

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Today's Adventures In Stamping challenge was about Christmas.  I thought it would be fun to take one "holiday" - Friday the 13th - and turn it into another one!

Christmas Card Memories

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's prompt for Sunday Stamping is a childhood winter memory.  In my childhood home, the kitchen 'doors' were two shutters - one on either side.  They were never closed, so I don't really think of them as doors; they were more decorative.  Every year, my mom would send and receive so many Christmas cards, and the ones she received were all tucked into a slat on the kitchen shutters.  By the time Christmas arrived, the shutters would be crammed full with greetings of all the people she'd kept in touch with through the years - some of them for decades!

Exfolimate - The Cutting Edge of Exfoliation #exfolimate

Product provided for review.  All opinions are my own.

 Hello, Fireflies!

I like having smooth skin as much as the next gal.  I've tried body scrubs, polishes, and brushes.  But I'd never seen anything like the Exfolimate.

Happy Thanksgiving! #ChallengeYourNailArt #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's the last day of the November Challenge Your Nail Art Fall-ing for Nail Art Challenge! 

I'm Thankful For..

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's challenge is "I'm Thankful For" Thanksgiving nails!  I needed a base polish that just reminds me of the season, so I picked this unusual matte brown glitter polish from SpaRitual with an even more unusual name - Starry Night.  You would think that would be a black or blue polish, not brown.  It's super pretty, though, and dries down to a matte finish.

I didn't want to do traditional turkey stamping today, so I thought about what I'm really thankful for, and top of my list is the love of my husband.  We met online in what constituted social media in the early 90's, but we started falling in love when he sent me some mix tapes, and a lot of handwritten letters.

So when I saw this stamp on Cici & Sisi 11, I thought it had a lot of the elements that made me think of those early days of our relationship - hearts, envelopes, and music notes!

It should have some $$ too, though, because back in the day, making a long-distance phone call cost a lot of money, and my monthly phone bills would be in the $300 range.  In the 90's.  Turns out it was a good investment, though, since we've been married 19 years.  He doesn't write me letters anymore, but he still finds me music that he thinks I'll like.

I'm thankful also, if you read this far! What are you thankful for this year?

Please, Sir, May I Have Some More..Morea Naturals? #moreanaturals

Product provided for review.  All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

Would you like some more...hyaluronic acid serums?  Personally, I can't get enough serums, and love trying new ones.  My skin drinks them up, and, even if my knees tell me that I'm 800 years old, my face isn't ready to admit that I'm in my 40's!

I'm excited to share with you my experience with Morea Naturals Hyaluronic Acid Age Delay Serum With Vitamin C + Green Tea and my homage nail art!

My First Leadlight

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Ready for another post of 'Nidia Tries Something New and It Goes Sideways As Expected'?  Good! Here we go... my first lead-light technique!

Ageless Derma Oil Free Purifying Facial Cleanser Gel #agelessderma

Product provided for review.  All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

How do you clean your face?  I never knew there were so many choices, but I'm having fun picking textures, scents, and systems that work for me - and may work for you. 

I Adore You, Too, Teadora!

Products provided for review.  All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

I am all about the bold lippie.  Mattes, stains, creams, brights, vamps, you name it.  Most of these, I have to remove with makeup remover.  And then, there's the drying weather.

Let's not forget the smooching, either.

My lips are in need of some rehabbing, and when I got to try Teadora's Nourishing Lip Butter, I was excited.

But, but, it's a pot.  I don't *do* lip stuff in pots.  Or, shall we say, I didn't.  I will for this stuff.  It's the most unique lip stuff I've come across.  It's almost the texture of a shea butter - hard, and a little gritty in the tub.

But if you rub your finger over it, it melts and then you can apply it to your lips.  For more exfoliation, scrape a little bit of the balm out, and you'll get a more gritty texture that melts away after a few minutes.

I've been using this for weeks now, and I've barely made a dent in the tub.  For $15, it's a bargain!

The products at Teadora are made with their proprietary Elixirs - Rainforest Youth, Hydration, and Restoration, each containing ingredients to target a specific purpose.  What's also important is what their products DON'T have - no parabens, synthetic fragrances, silicone, gluten, Phlalates, sulfates, harsh chemicals, or animal products.  Their products are 100% vegan, and they do no animal testing.

Not only does the lip balm feel great, taste amazing, and is made from great ingredients, Teadora is committed to doing business in a socially responsible way, by using ingredients that are fair trade sourced, sustainably harvested, carbon reduction focused, recyclable and biodegradable.  They are also involved in efforts to help preserve the Amazonian Rainforests.

Teadora Lip Butters come in two versions - Rainforest at Dawn, and Rainforest at Dusk.  The Dawn Lip Butter is in a flavor they call Laranja, and is a light, sweet orange.  It is DELICIOUS.  Totally addictive.  Dusk's flavor is called Acai-Acu, and is a berry-chocolate blend.  Yum.

As always, you know I'm loving something if I'm inspired to do nail art!  I based this on their logo - in color on my middle finger, and the black and gold version on my thumb.  To do this nail art, I used Milani Black Swift, Sally Hansen/Revlon white, Sephora X Enriched, A Rhyming Dictionary Polish Show and Tell, China Glaze Metro Pollin-tin, and Urban Decay Bang.

If you'd like more information about Teadora, which means, "I adore you" in Portuguese, or to purchase any of their butters, oils, cleansers, or other skin care products, you can find them on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.

How are you taking care of your lips?

Sad Monsters

 Hello, Fireflies!

This month's NCC prompt is books.  I used to read a lot.  All the time.  You know what killed it for me?  College.  I actually read textbooks and articles, and somehow, through 4 years of undergraduate, and some years of graduate work, I no longer read for fun.

So, I was fumbling around for this first mani.  Not sure if I should go back to the many bookshelves we have and find an old book of mine, or one of my husband's many books.

I was wearing this polish, Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn, a deep brown, bordering on plum holo.  And, I thought to myself, Self, I should do something based on this polish.

And, so I did.  I found this book cover art for Sad Monsters, and decided to give it a try.

First, I stamped with Maybelline Bold Gold and Dashika Big SdP-A, and tried to hi-light with a yellow nail art pen.

Then I drew in the eyes, mouth, and teeth of the sad monster on my ring finger.

He's a sad, sad monster.

Bottle shot:  Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn, Maybelline Bold Gold, and nail art stripers in black and white. I used a yellow nail art pen, too, but I guess it didn't want to be photographed?  Not sure how I missed that..

When you're looking for inspiration, where do you look first?  Pinterest?  Google? Your workspace? Nature?

An InLinkz Link-up

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?

Knight Fight

 Hello, Fireflies!

Today's Sunday Stamping challenge was to use white and gold.  I started with Orly Platinum, a frosty white with a pearlescent finish.  Took 3 coats for complete opacity, but I kinda quite like the result. 

I'm an Ice Queen, baby (With the top let back and the sunshine shining.../Kid Rock)

Because of the colors, and possibly because I just finished watching the Life/Death season of Face Off culminate in a battle of good and evil knights, I picked the Fairy Tale Collection (03) from MoYou London that depicts an epic battle between a knight and a dragon.

These colors were so hard to photograph!  I have the knight's steed on my thumb, the knight's fighting lightning bolts on my index, the dragon's fire on my middle finger, and the dragon's head and tail on my ring and pinky fingers.

Of course, I used Maybelline Bold Gold as my stamping polish.  Cracked open a new bottle! Ah, what a glorious feeling, right? Like popping a bottle of champagne.

I usually prefer one stamp versus a vignette like this, but I couldn't resist the story.

So, who do you think wins?

I've Come To Suck Your Blood, uh, Nail Polish!

Hello, Fireflies!

There are some vampires we love, some we hate, and some we love to hate.  This villainous nail art was inspired by this tutorial, and they are so cute! They're not sparkly, either, though a little glitter could change that!

I painted all my nails with my Sally Hansen/Revlon white mix, and then added the black details with a striper.  The eyes were multiple dots, and then, there has to be some blood, right?

My husband has been playing all the LEGO movie games, and maybe that's influenced me, because I kinda think these guys look like little LEGO vampires! Can't you just imagine them with little LEGO capes and "U"-shaped hands, running after some hapless LEGO victim?

Bottle shot:  Sally Hansen/Revlon white, Wet 'n Wild Black Creme, and Revlon Cherries In The Snow.

Who is your favorite famous vampire?

An InLinkz Link-up