Mentality Half-Moon

Hello, Fireflies!

I hope you enjoyed Black Friday like I did! whew! I'm exhausted and broke, and I didn't even leave the house.  The Interwebs are a fine, fine invention!

Today's mani was inspired by one done by my friend Stephanie at A Little Polish.  When I saw it, I knew I had to do something similar.  Her manis are sooo beautiful, though!

I started with China Glaze Keep Calm..Paint On, a lovely mint green creme with a subtle shimmer.

After the base coat was *completely* dry, I used a piece of clear tape to mark off a straight 'half-moon' and then painted the rest with Mentality Kindness, a beautiful teal-green holo with a duochrome shift to purple.

Then, I placed a small rhinestone in the center of each nail, and hex glitters on either side.  I don't know how people do those manis with whole nails - or whole hands - of glitter placed one by one.  I was tired after doing just one line on both hands. 

I felt so fancy-shmancy with this mani.  Something about all those sparklies.

Look, Ma, both hands!

Bottle shot: China Glaze Keep Calm..Paint On, Mentality Kindness, rhinestones from Cult Nails, and glitter.

Have you done a mani with individually placed glitters?  Do you think it's worth the effort? This one was totally worth it for me - I loved it.

Hanukkah Blue and Sparkles

Shalom, Fireflies!

If you're celebrating Hanukkah today, I have a blue mani for you today!  If you're not celebrating, I...still have a blue mani for you today!

This sparkly holo is Colors by Llarowe Beam Me Up, Scotty.  So very sparkly and hard to capture, just like a transporter beam.

It's holo, but it's also just glittery and sparkly. 

I was inspired by a mani on Didolene's Nails, but I don't like the 'feather' glitter polishes, so I changed it up a little.  I made thick, diagonal stripes with GAP Constellation Blue, which looks more green in the bottle, but comes out a teal creme on the nail.  It's lovely.

In the center of the stripe, I dabbed some WingDust Shake Ya Tailfeathers.  Such a pretty glitter! WingDust makes some awesome polishes.

The gold glitter reminded me of the gold chocolate coins that are often given to the children this time of year.

Bottle shot:  Colors by Llarowe Beam Me Up, Scotty, GAP Constellation Blue, and WingDust Shake Ya Tailfeathers.

I love chocolate, but I may love this glitter combo better! 

Thanksgivinukkah #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

Today is the last challenge for Falling For Nail Art! Whew, I made it!

And, what a unique day to be ending on.  I don't remember Hanukkah and Thanksgiving falling on the same day!  I'm not Jewish, but, here's a shout-out to those of you celebrating.  Mazel Tov!

So.  How to commemorate this with a mani?  I did something simple, and incorporated the two colors I associate most with these two holidays - brown and blue.

I started off with a brown holo - Cameo Colors Lacquer Cocoa Rainbow. It's so pretty! It has just a smidge of that reddish quality that I love in a brown.

It reminds me of Mexican Hot Chocolate, with that hint of spice.

I added a diagonal French tip with Sation Let's Mingle and Jingle, a beautiful blue with holo microglitters.

I also added some iridescent glitter in bluish-green along the dividing line between the brown holo and the blue glitter.  Sparkly!

Bottle shot:  Cameo Colors Lacquer Cocoa Rainbow, Sation Let's Mingle and Jingle. and a little bottle of glitter.

If you hung with me throughout this whole Falling For Nail Art challenge, I thank you!  It was a lot of fun, and many times made me think outside the box for inspiration.  Thanks again to Ashley of Plump and Polished for allowing me to be a part of the fun.

Enjoy whatever holiday (or both!) that you are celebrating today!

Turkey Time! #FallingForNailArt

Hello, Fireflies!

We're almost to the end of the Falling For Nail Art challenge!  I'm not going to finish *exactly* on time, but I'm hopeful we'll be at the end before December!

What's Thanksgiving without turkey? The turkey marketing people really got this holiday in the bag.  I wanted to make a vibrant, jeweled turkey feather mani based on this tutorial from NailPro.

It starts with Revlon Polished, a crelly creamsicle-cantalope color.  It's thin..and a little streaky.  Even with three coats, I wouldn't wear it on its own.

I made the outline of the feathers with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Chop Chop Copper, a gorgeous copper and gold microglitter with pink and chartreuse flashes.

Julep Karmen is like fire in the bottle!  I wish it looked like that on the nail, but it's still a pretty and vibrant red with flashes of gold.

I thought that using a black striper, like I did on my pinky, would look best, but it actually didn't work.  A gold glitter striper from Milani was better.  This design is versatile, too - it only looks like feathers because of the context.  Different colors would give it a totally different look.

I used another tutorial, this one from Adventures in Acetone, to help me make the turkey on my thumb.  I used the same colors for the feathers, and Cult Nails Miss Conduct for the head, Tempest and Nevermore for the eyes, and Sinful Colors Mardi Gras for the beak.

Now, that's a turkey that looks too good to eat.  Good thing, too, because I'm sure it tastes terrible.

Lots-o-bottles shot: Revlon Polished,  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Chop Chop Copper, Cult Nails Miss Conduct, Tempest, and Nevermore, Sinful Colors Mardi Gras, and Julep Karmen and Milani gold nail art striper.

That's a lot of polishes!  What's the most polishes you've used in one mani?

Glowing Jewels #FallingForNailArt

Hi, Fireflies!

I love jewel tones.  They are some of the most flattering colors for me to wear.  This glowing red from Estee Lauder is perfect for me.  And the name, Dressed To Kill, is perfect for it.

Blackened red with orange shimmer! So pretty.

I got these little rectangular rhinestones from Cult Nails.  They compliment Dressed to Kill perfectly.

What is your fave jewel tone?

Brown Glitter, Brown Glitter, Brown Glitter

Hello, Fireflies!

I don't know why brown gets such a bad rap.  I love it - I am a brunette with brown eyes, and I wear brown polish!

So, today, I have a few different brown glittery - and I think, gorgeous - looks to show you. 

They all start with Mentality Hunger as undies, though most of them didn't need undies.

I like the shift between the copper and gold, and the subtle holo.  It's a little too light for my personal coloring, but it works so well with these glitters.

First up is Rebel Heart by Fanchromatic Nails.  It's listed as a 'cherry red' but it looks more reddish-brown to me.  I think this color is so beautiful, and is one of those shades that looks good with so many other colors.

The reddish hue just makes it glow.

Next, from the now-defunct Feenix, is Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter.  I feel bad that you can't buy from her store anymore, but you can still find Feenix in blog sales sometimes.  It's too pretty not to show off, anyway.

That subtle hint of red is something I love in a brown polish. 

Another reddish-brown polish is Lilacquer Variations On A Theme.

Apparently, Lilacquer is defunct now, too.  That's the problem with liking Indies - some of them don't stay around very long.  Bummer.

Three reddish-brown glitters, all different.  As of this writing, you can still get Rebel Heart from Fanchromatic Nails, but the rest are out of business.

Bottle shot:  Mentality Hunger, Fanchromatic Nails Rebel Heart, Feenix Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter, and Lilacquer Variations On A Theme.

Does the fleeting nature of Indies make you want to collect them, or avoid them?  I used to want to own *every* Indie I could, but now there are so many I can't possibly collect them all.

Nail Art for Nubs - Gorgeous Holo/Simple French Tip

 Hello, Fireflies!

As I'm wrapping up the Falling for Nail Art challenge, I decided to join in another weekly nail art challenge called Nail Art For Nubs.  I admit, I wish I could grow longer nails... but I can't.  No use cryin' about it, though, so I'm going to celebrate my nubs!

I wanted to start out this week with a simple look I did for a wedding I went to this weekend.  I put on my coveted Enchanted Polish In The Nude, a soft pinkish-nude holo.

I used Cult Nails Tempest to do a thin French tip, and then drew a little line with silver glitter.

Simple, elegant, and goes with just about any outfit.  I love what the holo brings to an otherwise boring mani.

Do you still rock a French tip?

Frosted Spice Cake #FallingForNailArt

Hi, Fireflies!

There's a chill in the air - even here in Florida today!  There's a nice cool breeze, dropping the temps into ... the 70s... still, you'll see people walking around in parkas and boots like it's 40-below!  Ah, wacky Floridians.

It's nice to take the chill off with a hot tea or cider and a warm piece of spice cake.  And that's what Liquid Sky Lacquer Spice Cake reminds me of.  It's not so brown to be chocolatey, not so light to be like tea.  It's just like spice cake.

What's cake without a little frosting?  These MatteFX flakies from Orly are different!  Matte, soft pink iridescent flakies are like a sweet glaze.

Such a subtle detail, but so cool.  I love flakies!

Matte flakies for you, or only the glossy ones?

Creamy Perlier Imperial Honey and Creamy Julep Colorblock #PerlierOnHSN

Hello, Fireflies!

I have a double-feature for you today!  A review of a wonderful cream that I received through my relationship with iFabbo, and a mani I did to go along with it.

Look at this beautiful packaging.  I love when a product's packaging lets you know to expect something luxurious.  This is Perlier Imperial Honey Body Butter.

A Royal product deserves a royal mani, right?  I was inspired by the creaminess of the butter and the gold packaging to do this colorblock mani.

Creamy goodness!

The cream is made with the rare honey of African Black Bees and Royal Jelly.  It is wonderfully thick and rich, but absorbs quickly with no greasy residue.  I can see using this any time of year because it moisturizes so well, but doesn't leave any film on the skin.

The cream is scented with notes of 'honey and Oriental woods' according to Perlier.  And..that's the only problem I had with this product.  The scent.  It's pretty strong, and I'm not a fan of heavy, musky scents. I like the scent of honey, but the 'Oriental Woods' was too much for me.   It lingered for hours, too - every time I raised my hands, I got another whiff of the heavy perfume.  I like the cream enough to doctor it up with some fragrance oils I have, and lighten the scent. 

Here's a closer look of the mani -

Just like the cream, the mani has lighter and heavier notes!

Bottle shot:  Julep Alexandra, Chloe, and Aisha, with a Milani gold glitter striper.

If you're interested in more information, or to buy the Perlier Body Butter, you can find Perlier on Facebook, Twitter, and on HSN by clicking: HERE.  And, even better, there's a coupon code!  It normally retails for $40, but you can get $5 off by using the code: iFabbo5

Are you looking for a new creme for these drying winter months?  I'd love to know if you're thinking of trying Perlier Imperial Honey Body Butter!

Psst! Did you see there are TWO posts today?  Stamping Sunday is a gobblin' good time!