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Happy Halloween!

Hi, Fireflies!

I love Halloween! I have had so much fun with my crazy Halloween manis, and I'm a little sad that this is the last one for this year.

Because unlike Christmas, once Halloween is over, that's IT.  With a quickness.  You don't get until the next holiday to take down your Halloween decorations. You take that stuff down right away, and then go to Target to buy all the Halloween candy for half off.

So, I started off with  - you'll never believe it - Cult Nails Nevermore.  I know. That's just crazy talk.  But then I put this cool iridescent topper, Nightshifter, from Sindie Pop, on top.  I painted my whole thumb with it, and then made little wisps of it on my other fingers.

I picked several images from these two Shany plates - SH01 and SH02.

I made the moon with Cult Nails Tempest, and stamped the other images with it, or with Nevermore.

Screaming, and witches, and spiders, and black cats! (Oh, my!)

Bottle shot:  Cult Nails Nevermore, Cult Nails Tempest, and Sindie Pop Nightshifter.

I hope y'all have a safe, spoopy, and creppy Halloween!

Glitterween, Part II

Hello, Fireflies!

Can you feel Halloween getting closer? I have a fun, spooky mani for tomorrow, but for today - MOAR GLITTER!

This is LynBDesigns Psychedelic Vampire. 

Some vampires *are* sparkly, I guess! And, uh, purple.  Name aside, this polish is really pretty, and doesn't have to be relegated just to Halloween.

Pretty & Polished Witchy Woman is a purple jelly with glitter and a purple shimmer. 

The bottle is from a scratch and dent sale, but the polish is perfect.  So purple-y!  It needs at least 3 coats, though, especially if you have long nails.

This polish was even more sheer.  365 Days of Color I Smell Children is purple glitter in a really sheer black jelly base.

I'm torn about using undies on this polish, because the jelly is what gives it that cool translucence.  But this is 3-4 thick coats, and I'd never be able to wear that without denting it. 

Also, I will note that this polish doesn't really smell like children.  In case you were wondering.

Last, but not least, Dollish Polish Vampires Coven.  Dark black jelly with red/orange/pink glitters.  Looks like glowing embers.  Pretty cool.

My only complaint is that it needs a little more glitter.. and would look great with some of those larger holographic circles, right?  Of course, they weren't a thing when this polish was conceived.

Doing these posts made me realize how I've moved largely away from glitters lately.  It was fun to remind myself how interesting a good glitter can be.  Have fun with your seasonal glitters, and don't forget the peel-off basecoat!

Glitterween, Part I

Hello, Fireflies!

It's almost Halloween! For today and tomorrow, I've picked some glitter polishes I had that just felt right for this time of year. 

I love the picture on The Nail Junkie Candy Corn.  Angry Candy Corn will make you sick! More than a few pieces of the real stuff, and I do feel a little nauseated, so it's pretty appropriate.

I still love a milky glitter, and I love all these colors.  The formula wasn't as nice as I would have liked - it was kinda hard to get a nice distribution of the glitters, especially on my smaller nails.  It wasn't so terrible, though.  I'll still wear it again because I love the colors.

I fell in love with this polish all over again when I put it on.  This is Dollish Polish I'm the Boogieman.

In Real Life, it's easier to see the awesome golden shimmer that really makes this polish crazy beautiful. 

I got some skull & crossbones glitter from my friend Emma, and added a few. Cool!

I doubt that Rainbow Polish Jungle Paradise was intended to be a Halloween polish, but.. well... green with orange glitters? 'Tis the season!

This one was a little sheer.  I bet some green undies would look great.  Going lighter or darker would totally change the look, too.

The last one for today is Pretty & Polished Blood Clot, a red jelly with red glitters.

I'm kinda torn about this one.  I love the concept, and it looks great.  But the red base is just a little too cherry pink for me.  Oddly enough, it photographs darker - I wish it were the color in the top photo!  The pix below is closer to true color. 

Stay tuned for more Glitter-ween Gorgeousness tomorrow!

There be Ghosts in the Other Realm #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

It's getting spooky all up in here.  Today's mani is pretty much a copy of a mani done by Nearly Natural Nails.  I was looking at Pinterest, and my hubby spotted this one and just loved it.  Well, how can I not at least try it then?

I started with a new-to-me polish with a well-known name.  This year, Seche - the maker of the beloved Seche Vite topcoat - came out with colors!  This deep, dark, metallic eggplant is called Aristocrat.  Which, of course, only makes me think of the joke.

For my ghosts, I had to use a white holo.  I thought Lacquer Lust Eternal Bliss would fit the bill.  At one/1.5 coats, it's still translucent in some parts over the dark purple, giving it an ethereal look.

For the ghostly facial features, I went with Cult Nails Fetish, that gorgeous waxy black.  I like the play in textures between the metallic purple, the translucent holo white, and the matte black. Makes me feel all artsy-fartsy.

Scary?  I might be.

Bottle shot:  Seche Aristocrat, Lacquer Lust Eternal Bliss, and Cult Nails Fetish.

I'm loving all the ghostly manis this season!  If you have one you'd like to share, please post on my wall! I'd love to see it.

Stamp-o-ween

It's Sunday Stamping, Fireflies!

I don't wear this enough.  It's the gorgeous, waxy-finish 1-coat black that is Cult Nails Fetish.  I usually topcoat my stamps, but I wanted to see if I could pull of this one without topcoat.

I used this full nail spiders and webs stamps from Shany 25, and Essie No Place Like Chrome, my favorite silver stamping polish.

I am totally diggin' on the silver chrome over the rubbery black.  It was even more awesome in Real Life.  I think everyone needs this black - or at least get the Cult Nails Wax That topcoat.  it's not matte, it's not shiny.  It really looks waxy.

I had these little gold spiders that I wanted to use.  My camera freaked out between the shiny black bottle, the shiny silver chrome, and the shiny gold. 

Bottle shot:  Cult Nails Fetish, and Essie No Place Like Chrome.

It just feels so right to wear all this black this time of year.  Halloween is so much fun for manis! What kinds of Halloween manis are you rockin'?

French tips and tophat with Mr. Burgundy

Hello, Fireflies!

Today's post is brought to you by the letter 'B'. As in Burgundy.  As in Mister Burgundy, SIR.

Enchanted Polish Mr. Burgundy has become quite the popular little polish, and I can see why.  It's a nice fall color, but not too vampy, and very holo.  Love.

I forgot to get a pix of the dress I was wearing to match, but it was about this color, with a black hem and yoke.  So, that inspired me to top and cap this mani with some black.  My favorite black, in fact: Cult Nails Nevermore.  First, the tips:

Now, there are several ways I could have done this.  I didn't feel like messing around with scotch tape, but that could have given me cleaner lines, and possibly less clean up.  I could have cut one piece and put it in the middle and just painted both top and bottom at the same time.  I'd love to hear how you did it, if you recreate this mani.

I used my striper to paint a guide line, and then filled in with Nevermore and an art brush.  Cleanup around my cuticle was a little tricky, but not too bad.

Something very clean and geometric about boxing in this beautiful color with black.

Tape might have made doing the right hand a little easier.  Who wants easy, though?  Not this gal.  Ok, I lie.  Of course this gal. 

A little monocle, and Mr. Burgundy would be ready for the opera.  How would you dress up Mr. B?

Grungy Stripes and Pearls

Hello, Fireflies!

Time for a little breather from the Halloween manis!  Don't worry, I'm not done yet!

Today, though, I want to show you Cult Nails Grunge, a dusty pale Army-green creme.  I absolutely love colors like this.

Cult Nails sets a high bar for cremes.  I don't think any other polish compares to their formula.

I was inspired by this Pinterest pin, but it just takes me to one of those sites that collects other people's manis.  I wish I knew whose it was.  I used my trusty black striper to make some stripes.

I thought I was being clever by dressing Grunge up with pearls.  Get it? Ha! Ha! ha. h-  Ok, maybe it's just me.

Still, it's pretty gorgeous.  I used shimmery half-pearls in a light green and a peach color.

Bottle 'n stuff shot:  Cult Nails Grunge, black striper, the wheel of pearls, and the tweezers and dotting tool I used to apply them.

I think that studs and rhinestones, etc are one of my fave ways to dress up a mani.  So many options!  I'm learning to keep them on a little while before I pick them off.   I love the look for the short time I can wear them!

Cancer-Free Celebration!

Hello, Fireflies!

Two manis in ONE post today! Stay tuned 'till the end for the heart-warming story that is way better than any mani I could do.

Recently, I went out for sushi and dancing with some friends.  I wore a fun and flirty magenta dress, and wanted to do my nails to match.

I started off with SpaRitual Calm and Clear with accent nails of Above The Curve Party Polish Pink V2.  It's a holo and it has little micro glitters that flash. 

I really liked this nail art from Liloo, so I decided to take the idea and do it a little differently. I just used the polish brush to make these curves on the nails with the Party Polish Pink.

Then, I took my black striper and outlined the curve and added the little swooshy-thing next to it.  I'm sure that's the technical term for it. 

Going out means all 10 nails have to be done, right? Right hand.

They looked pretty cool with my dress, yo.

Bottle shot:  SpaRitual Calm and Clear, Above The Curve Party Polish Pink V2, and my black striper.

Why the title of this post?  Well, one of our good friends was finally given the all-clear on her cancer saga.  She was diagnosed with a super-rare form of Colo-rectal cancer, and has been through at least 8 surgeries.  The last biopsy came back with clear margins.

So, there was much celebrating that night.  I didn't want y'all to think that the pink mani was in reference to my friend's cancer, because she didn't have Breast Cancer.

The color for the ribbon of Colo-rectal cancer is blue (and sometimes brown), so I did this mani for her with Enkelini Candlelight and Priti NYC Canterbury Bells.  The "L" is for the first letter of her name.

Yay for kicking cancer in the butt! Pun intended!