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.

Crushed Glass

So one of the girls at work picked up this little dish we sell. It was made of recycled glass and though it was smooth, it looked like the glass had been crushed then fused back together. Very pretty. She stared at it for a bit then told me I should try and do something like that for my nails. Good idea, so here's my attempt to recreate the effect. Here I have a base coat of Elmer's glue (Check out Wacky Laki's tutorial for this awesome basecoat!) 2 coats of "Caribbean Frost" by Wet n Wild's Wild Shine followed by "Happy Holidaze!" by Wet n Wild's Fastdry. The picture doesn't do it much justice, the color is a very sparkly teal. Then over that I stamped the broken glass image from Bundle Monster's BM-208 plate with "Silver Mercedes" by Pure Ice. Follow it up with a topcoat of Seche Vite. Hopefully tonight at work I'll remember to get a pic of the dish for comparison shots, but in case something tragic happens to the manicure before I get there I'm posting this now. I'm still working on perfecting the glue basecoat and its been known to peel off before I'm ready for it to be removed. More on that another day tho, I have to get ready for work right now :)

Update: Here ya go!

Nabi Magnetic Nail Polish

Nabi Magnetic Nail Polish. 2 coats and topcoat. Ring finger magnet
by China Glaze. All other finger magnets by Nabi.

When I first read about magnetic nail polish, I didn't believe it could do what it said it could do. It was one of the weirdest things I'd heard about. I decided I wanted to try it for myself but at the time there was only one brand that offered magnetics and that was Sephora, 18 dollars a bottle and available in 3 colors. Grey, Dark Grey and Light Grey. I'm not dropping that kind of money on polish I didn't think would work and was in boring colors.

Then one day it happened.

China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away

Check out what I just scored at my local Sally's Beauty Supply! 

"Whirled Away"

"Its a Trap-eze!"

It's China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away collection! I snagged the 2 I've been waiting for but there are so many pretty gems to be found in this collection. Close ups of my beauties after the jump...

Top It Off

Seche Vite. Almost empty, I'm gonna have to get a new bottle soon :)

One thing that helped my nail art immensely was top coat. Sounds a bit silly, but when I first started I used either a very poor top coat or more usually, none at all. Right now my favorite is Seche Vite. You can find it at supermarkets and beauty supply stores both. I get mine at Wal-mart and Sally's Beauty Supply. There are many brands of top coat that is good for nail art, but as I have the most experience with this one I'll talk mostly of Seche Vite.

Pros and Cons after the jump...

"Just Google It"

I've always had a mild interest in nail polish. I think up till last year I had a dozen or so polishes. Nothing fancy, just some glitters and some favorite colors. But last year that all changed rather drastically. On a random whim I painted my nails. I hadn't done it for years but I was feeling pretty that day. My co-worker noticed and we started chatting bout polish. Then she mentioned doing something I had never heard of, water marbling. She tried for several minutes to describe just what it was then, frustrated she said "just look it up on Google." So I did. And oh my goodness! The doors to Nail Art just blew open in my face! I was stunned not only by the water marbling but by the concept of nail art. After a little research, a few polishes, and an absurd amount of enthusiasm, I tried my first marble.

My First Water Marble
Sally Hansen's "Purple Potion" and CoverGirl's Nailslicks "Silver Belle"

I think if that first attempt didn't go as well as it did then thing may have turned out differently. However things did go very well and I was in love! That was just over a year ago. My dozen or so polishes are nearly 300 now. I've attempted so very many techniques and have had so much fun every step of the way. Now I'd like to share what I've learned for the next girl out there who was told to "just Google it."