I Love Your Blog Award!

The amazing Jo from Northern Nails sweetly presented me with this award!!

The Rules: 

1. Link back to the person who awarded you.

2. Answer the questions.

3. Award other blogs!!

The Questions:

1. What is your favorite fashion magazine?

I was taught at a very young age that all women who are true Ladies read Vogue.  So I always have, and I always will.

2. Favorite singer/band? 

Without a doubt, A Perfect Circle.  There isn't another voice on the planet that can match that of Maynard James Keenan.  I love Tool, and Puscifer - but, for me, his greatest work was created with A Perfect Circle.

3. Favorite YouTube guru?

Honestly, I don't have one.  I really don't watch tutorial or review videos.  Sorry!!!!

4. Favorite make-up product?

As always, Up All Night by Urban Decay.  Some nights I stay out LATE, and I need my make-up to look like I just applied it, at all times!  So I always use Up All Night when I plan on being up all night!!!!

5. Where would you like to live?

I never really have an answer for that.  I'm happy where I am honestly.  I wouldn't mind a gorgeous little summer beach house though.  But my heart will always be in Atlanta.

6. What is your favorite film?

Without a doubt The Boondock Saints.  It's violent, it's funny, it's sheer awesomeness.

7. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

I'm not going to run upstairs to count.  I don't want to be "that" girl.  But, ball park number, around 25 pairs I think.

8. What is your favorite color?

It kind of changes daily.  Right now, it's purple.  No, emerald.  No, aqua.  I have no idea.

Award Tags:

Dana from Polished Claws Up

Amy Grace from The Polished Perfectionist

Jessica from Luv My Lacquer

Nory from Fierce Makeup and Nails

Jodi from Captivating Claws
Kaki from Glitter Obsession
Zoe from Obsessive Compulsive Nail Painting Disorder
Claudia from Chromatic Misadventures

Thank you again Jo!!!

And the winner is ...

The winner of my 250 Follower Giveaway has been selected!!!

Congrats to MariJo!!

She has been notified and will have 48 hours to respond, otherwise I will have to pick a new winner!

Thank you to all who entered!  Another giveaway will be starting soon!!!

Have a Heart!!!

Hi ladies!!  It's time for another Stamping Sunday!!!  

I started with one of the polishes from Wet n' Wild's new Spoiled collection, Checkin Into Rehab.  It's a deep purple jelly, with a touch of tiny flakes in it.  Since it's a purple jelly, it does that really fun "blue tint on the tips" trick!   

For my stamping, I used Sally Hansen Grape Going and Konad Special White with Red Angel plates RA-114 and RA-120.

Here is an indoor lighting shot of the finished mani!  I picked Grape Going for the main stamp color because I wanted something subtle that would add some fun shimmer to it.

The Konad Special White worked great with this, because the purple base made the white look almost lilac!

This design is really fun to look at in the sunlight!  It's very bright and shimmers nicely.  I love how this turned out and I hope you do too!!!  See you next Sunday for more stamping awesomeness!!!

Colors: Wet n' Wild Checkin Into Rehab, Sally Hansen Grape Going, Konad Special White

Sit Down, Look Pretty, and Sparkle

So tonight I was kinda on the fence about what to do with my nails.  So, I actually asked the hubby what I should do!  For those of you who haven't seen him ... Here's my husband, Sean!!  

I know, awww ... right?!  He asked me to do something light with sparkly tips.  (We have a secret meaning for the word "sparkle", so that certain sarcastic banter between us will be kid friendly!)

I grabbed three of my MANY untrieds tonight, starting with Zoya Marley, a very pretty pale lilac with a very subtle silvery shimmer.  This is just one coat of Marley with no topcoat.

For some added sparkle, I used two coats of Nicole by OPI Count on Me.  It's a really pretty lilac shimmer, with shines of blue.  I used one coat of SV over the two coats.

For my accent nail, I went with Butter London The Black Knight - an awesome black jelly loaded with multicolored micro glitter.  I used two coats, followed by one coat of Wicked Fast. 

I taped off and used The Black Knight for the sparkly tips, as requested!!  I finished off my mani with a coat of Wicked Fast.

Sean was really happy with the end result!  I like the way the colors contrast and compliment all at the same time!  This was a quick and easy mani for a very tired girl!  I hope you enjoy this one, and all of the untried colors!  Happy Painting!

Colors: Zoya Marley, Nicole by OPI Count on Me, Butter London The Black Knight

Double Trouble

Today was a seriously epic nail mail day - thanks to the genius of Adina, creator of A England, and the serious hard work of Leah Ann from Llarowe -- a must shop site for any serious polish addict!

Sooooo, two new polishes that are so amazing, I can't seem to pick which one to use!!  What's a girl to do??  .... Exactly!!!

These are two of the newest shades from A England's "The Legends" Collection!

Dragon & St. George

Aren't they amazing???  And they're completely opaque in just one coat!!!!  I couldn't even choose which color would be for the accent nail only, so I did a reverse!

Dragon is a gorgeous khaki green holo - so stunning!

St. George is a fantastic deep teal holo that seriously commands attention!

And, of course, I had to throw in some nail art too!  So I used Konad plate m63 and Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl.

If you hadn't realized, this is probably the most pic heavy post I have ever done.  To be honest, I think I took about 20 total pics of these polishes.  I couldn't help myself.

These are absolutely two polishes that cannot be missed!!!  I hope you love them as much as I do!

Happy Painting ladies!!!!

Colors: A England Dragon, A England St. George, Konad Special Black Pearl

A Hound in Houndstooth

It's time for another Pink Wednesday!  I have been waiting to do this one for days now!

I grabbed OPI Pink-ing of You for my main color.  I really like this shade, it's so soft and shiny ... an awesome pink creme.  But, as far as application goes - it's a royal pain.  It goes on very thin, streaky, and unevenly.  It takes three careful coats for an opaque finish.  

And, of course, it's just not my style to have all my nails match - so I picked Confetti Get the Party Started for my ring fingers.  It's an awesome bright pink creme that isn't a hot pink!!!!  It's almost like it has a hint of bright mauve to curb any kind of neon finish.  I LOVE IT!!!

After using a coat of SV, I used the houndstooth pattern on my Konad plate m63 with the Konad Special Polish in white.  I repeated the pattern on each nail, and finished with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.  I'm sure you all know that I get a lot of inspiration from things that happen in my daily life, and this mani is no different ....  It's DIXIE!!!!

Yeah, my miniature dachshund, Dixie, has a pink houndstooth pleated dress.  Beat that!!!  Seriously, how cute is she?!?!

So there you go, the little hound in houndstooth!

I really love this mani!  It's so much fun having nails that match my littlest dog!

Happy Pink Wednesday!!!!!

Colors: OPI Pink-ing of You, Confetti Get the Party Started, Konad Special White

Green with Envy

I picked up some awesome Sephora by OPI shades recently ....

Mermaid to Order & Teal We Meet Again

The lighter of the two, Mermaid to Order, is absolutely captivating in the bottle.  It's a gorgeous teal that appears to be a multi chrome that shifts from teal to light green to blue to purple.  Unfortunately, all of this gets lost in application translation.  I'll even give an inch and say it's a duo chrome, because I can slightly make out the hint of light green.  I still think it's a pretty color, but it had potential to be amazing.

I used the darker of the two, Teal We Meet Again, on my ring fingers.  With this one, there aren't any unpleasant surprises, it's gorgeous in the bottle, and stunning on your nails!!  The deep teal color is so beautiful, and the slight sparkle really makes it pop!

The past 84 hours or so have been nothing short of absolutely crazy, so I'm more than a little tired - but I still needed the zen feeling that polish provides.  So this explanation is me trying to apologize for the lack of nail art in this post.  I know it's a little out of my norm!  I actually used my RA-106 plate with Color Club Perfect Mol-ten on my ring fingers.  Try as I might, I simply could not get it to photograph very well, but it has a really pretty greenish gold shimmer in person!

I ended up naming this post "Green with Envy", because I am truly envious of the amazing color that is on display for me when I look at my bottle of Mermaid to Order.  I wish it were on my nails!!!  So ladies, until next time ... Happy Painting!!!

Colors: Sephora by OPI Mermaid to Order, Sephora by OPI Teal We Meet Again, Color Club Perfect Mol-ten

Truly Tiker

I'm going out for some much needed drum & bass tonight, so of course I need an absolutely out there mani!

I decided to grab my Elixir Lacquers With a K, and Kiss Black.  I feel like I haven't really done a scotch tape mani for a while now, I broke out the tape too!! 

I used two coats of With a K, covered with one coat of SV, since I'm using tape.  I cut even strips and striped them over my nails, then applied one coat of Black, and removed the tape immediately.  I did this on each nail, and finished it all off with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.

I love With a K, and I love tiger stripes, so Tiker was born!!  I really love the how With a K reacts to the black.  It makes it stand out and pop even more!!!

I hope you enjoy it!  Happy Painting!!!

Crescent Moons

I was trying to decide what to do for Pink Wednesday, and then I got a inspiration from my little Evan!  He always makes sure to tell the moon, "Night Night!", when he goes to bed.  So, paired with that and the crescent moon on his Twilight Turtle night light, this is what I came up with!!!

I started with one coat of Dare to Wear - Hot Fever, that I won from the beautiful Sirena Sparklestar!!!  It's a really fun bright pink that I instantly fell in love with!!!  It goes on really well too!!  Opaque in just one coat!!!

Next, I grabbed Zoya - Savita, one of my favorite purples, and by far my favorite matte!  I painted one coat, just as I would normally paint my nails, except for slightly lower down the nail.  This gave the pink the crescent moon effect!

Since I just recently used Savita, I grabbed one of my untried polishes, Color Club - Ultra Violet.  To be honest, I was a little skeptical on this one, which is why I hadn't used it yet.  As you can see by the bottle, there really isn't anything too violet about it.  It's a hot pink with a teal shimmer.  But the greatest thing happened!!  An instant duo-chrome when layered over a dark polish!!!!

And of course, I just had to see it completely shiny, so I used a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast.  I really love the way this turned out!!  I will definitely be using Ultra Violet a lot more often!

Colors: Dare to Wear Hot Fever, Zoya Savita, Color Club Ultra Violet

A Touch Out of Control

Some days, I feel a little like things are just out of control.  Today, they're out of control in a good way!  I mean, come on - Elixir Lacquers went live!  What could be better?!?!

I think I only have one untried holo left in my arsenal, so I decided to grab it!  Here is the macro shot of Hits - Poseidon.  

I simply adore this polish!  Completely opaque in two coats, and loaded with rainbows!  I can't wait to see it in sunlight tomorrow!!!

I wanted to jazz it up a little bit, so I decided to go with another untried and chose Dare to Wear - Pillow Talk with Red Angel plate RA-114.

I'm a little tired, since it's kind of been a whirlwind of a day, so this was a great choice since it only took me about 10 minutes!!!!  I hope you like the pattern as much as I do!

Happy Painting ladies!!!!

Color: Hits Poseidon, Dare to Wear Pillow Talk 

Elixir Update!

Elixir Lacquers has officially gone live!!!!

www.elixirlacquers.com

The Breakdown on Elixir Lacquers

Since I've been getting questions right and left on the meanings of the Elixir Lacquer polish names, I thought I'd go ahead and break it down for you since they're all up on the site now!!!

With a K

This one was named for me.  It is a long standing joke now for some of my friends to refer to me as "Nicole with a K".  When we all used to go out and party our faces off every night, we would spend a ton of time during the day online, and we all had different aliases/user handles, so to speak.  And mine was Nikole.  These names have stuck to us all like glue for over 10 years now.  Somethings are just too funny to die.

Kind of Connery

This was named for my husband, Sean.  He was actually named after Sean Connery - his father's favorite actor.  Since there are a number of different ways to spell his first name, when people would ask him about it, his reply was always, "Sean, as in Connery."

We Sisters Three

This one was named for my three sisters, Tammie, Gina, and Leslie!  They all have the perfect shade of dark hair, so they always look amazing in green.  I adore my sisters completely.  I'd be completely up a creek without them!

Supa Sugar Bee

This one was named for my best friend Melissa!  Remember what I was saying about "With a K"?  So yeah, Supa was Melissa's alias!  And I always seem to call her Sugar Bee when I'm talking to her!  I loved this one for her, since purple and sparkly just screams, "Melissa!" to me!!!

Dakota

This one is named for my mom!!  She has gorgeous auburn hair, and looks dazzling when it's paired with any of her pretty gold accessories!!!  I named it Dakota, because of a long standing joke between my parents, that involves my dad calling her Dakota!  And just to clarify, my mom is better than your mom.  So HA!

Blue & Green Blondes

This one was named for my little boys, Taylor & Evan!  They're my mischievous angels!  Taylor has blue eyes, and Evan has green eyes, and they both have some of the blondest hair ever!!!!

A Cool Fool

This one was named for my dad, and is honestly my favorite name in the collection.  Just to be clear, I am in no way referring to my dad as a fool.  In some of my younger days, I listened to a lot of lectures from my dad ... and good lord, did I ever have 'em comin.  One of the favorite repeats in these was the "Cool Fool" lecture, and about how the words were similar in sound, but very different in meaning.  I always said that if I ever wrote a book, there would most definitely be a chapter called "Cool & Fool".  Since I don't have any book deals on the horizon, I thought I'd immortalize it in polish form!  My dad is simply awesome!

F4

This one is named after my little family - my husband, myself, and our two boys.  Our last name starts with the letter F, so I always find myself referring to us as "F4".  Plus, my kids seem to have a tornado like effect on a clean house.

So, there it is.  The inspiration for the polish names in the Preciate Collection!!!