Snowmen-Holiday Manicure #5

Another super cute but poorly photographed mani. I love this one because you can do it all winter, not just for the holidays. I'm defiantly gonna do this one again this year, and I'll make sure to take a better shot of it. I took this pic last year after I'd worn it for a while and it was starting to chip.

Santa Hats-Holiday Manicure 2012 #4

Super cute mani, super bad photo. Sorry, I took this photo before I thought I'd do anything with the photos. Was taking pics at the time just to entertain myself. Never thought I'd be posting them or anything. Well anyway, I did this by placing ordinary tape over my fingers so the only part of the nail exposed was a triangle. I then painted the triangle red and removed the tape. A dotting tool added the white trim and puffball at the top. I think I saw this mani somewhere online and copied it at the time, but that was a year ago and I don't remember what website I saw it on. So it's not an original concept in the least. The red I used was some bargain bin color and when I added topcoat, it started to bleed onto the white. If I do this again this year, I'll use my better stuff.

French Mistletoe-Holiday Manicure 2012 #3

Yeah, I tried. A post a day isn't gonna happen. But here is what I'm wearing right now! I broke a couple nails at work so I'm sporting nubbins right now. A simple French tip with a glittery gold line. Accent nails have red berries and green leaves drawn with a dotting tool. I'm out of topcoat (asked Santa for it) so they arn't gonna last much longer. I can see it chipping now.

Red Rouge-Holiday Manicure 2012 #2

I don't know about you, but I like to wrap gifts. I love getting all creative with bows and ribbons and such-like. This year I've colorful tape. It's silly and fun, but some of it is really pretty. Staring at one roll I picked up on a whim I decided to try to do my nails like it. Here is what I came up with. I think if I did this again I might choose a white background with red stamping, but I was trying to be fancy. Not my best work but I'm still learning. The white dots were an attempt to make it look not so very dark. China Glaze's "Hey Sailor", Wet n Wild Fastdry "Ebony Hates Chris", Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "White On" and B17 by Kiss Fing'rs. A stamping plate you can find at Wal-mart (if your lucky and it's not sold out...again) which happens to be a dupe (or blatant counterfeit) of Konad's M20 plate.

Red and Gold Gradient-Holiday Manicures 2012 #1

Well, the holiday season is in full swing so that means I'm working a crazy amount of hours at work (yay retail :P ). While I told myself I was gonna keep this blog updated, time has slipped away from me. Sorry. So to make it up I'm gonna (try) to keep posting some holiday manicures. I'm not gonna say I'll post one every day cause then I'll feel bad when I don't, but I'll try, maybe. Love how decisive I am? First up is a simple gradient. I bought this gold for a buck at my grocery store. I'll be honest, it didn't look all that pretty in the bottle, but I hadn't heard of the brand before and was willing to give it a shot. "Everglade Sparkle" by Princessa is a kinda of greenish gold. What did impress me was the, well, "texture" I guess is the right word. Its not really a flakie, glitter, or shimmer. If anything it reminds me of gold leaf foil used for crafting and scrap-booking  It's hard to explain but I was fascinated by it after using it.

I painted the whole nail gold then sponged China Glaze's "Hey Sailor" on the tips. It took a bit of work at the tips because it didn't want to cover all the way, but with some persistence I got it solid. I like it, but I think it's still missing something. What do you guys think? What should I add or change to spice this up?

Well off to work. Hope to talk to you guys later!!
<3 Fox

Well that was disappointing...

My crushed glass manicure from yesterday? Well here's my nails after removing the paint:

Well that was disappointing. Turns out my Wet n Wild: Wild Shine "Caribbean Frost" is a stainer. A year ago this would have been a disaster but I've learned a lot. Here is what I did to remove the stains.

First: Nail Polish Remover to get rid of the bits of polish still there.
Second: Whitening Toothpaste and an old brush Its a neat trick but it didn't remove all the stain.
Third: A multi sided buffing block will get the last of the stain off. And buffs your nails to a high shine. Win-win!

Now my nails are back to normal and I'll be more cautious when using that polish.