Start the New Year off with a Bang!

It's a new year!  Time for a new mani design, some new watermarks, and a new polish line!  Yay!!!!  And, I know I've been on kind of a "holo kick" lately, but can you really blame me?!

I started with two coats of Hits Ares, an amazing red holo!

Macro view of Ares

Colors: Hits Ares, Hits Apolo, Sally Hansen Celeb City

After the two coats of Ares, I taped off sections for the Bang! design.  I did this by taking square sections of the tape, and cutting them in half diagonally, for a nice straight point!  Then I added one coat of Apolo - a beautiful deep blue holo, and took the tape off immediately.  On the ring fingers, I taped off the same section, just slightly lower down, and applied one coat of Celeb City, a bright silver foil.  Finally, add a coat of SV!  I really like these a lot, and I hope you will too!!!!  Happy New Year everyone!

Happy Holo-days!!!

For my Christmas Day mani, I want to first say, "Happy Holo-days!".  I used all of my favorite Color Club holo polishes!!!!

Since I'm doing this at night, I'll give you a few photos with the flash on!

Can you believe these colors!?!?

I really wish I could do these colors justice! The rainbows are everywhere in them!!!

Colors: Color Club - Wild at Heart, Fashion Addict, Worth the Risque, Revvvolution

Holos for the base, holos for the art .... HAPPY HOLO-DAYS!!!!!  I wanted to go with something fun for Christmas, so this is what I came up with!  I used Wild at Heart, which is an amazing deep purple, for the base color on all nails, except for the ring finger.  So, for Frosty's face, I used Fashion Addict, a dazzling light purple!  I used my dotting tool with Revvvolution for Frosty's eyes and smile, which is the best black holo EVER!!!  Then I used my fine brush with Wild at Heart again for his nose.  Finally, I used the fine brush and dotting tool to create the snow flakes!  These are by far some of my all time favorite shades.  The holographic effects in them are nothing short of amazing!  I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do!  

Happy Holidays everyone!!!!

Happy Little Trees!

Colors: China Glaze Ultimate Holiday, Orly Wandering Vine, Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Color Club Holiday Splendor, Sephora by OPI Leaf Him at the Altar, Color Club Gingerbread, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Barielle Falling Star, Ulta Mint Condition, Wet n Wild Buffy the Violet Slayer

I decided to make some happy little Christmas trees today!  I used Ultimate Holiday as the base color, which is a gorgeous gold/green glitter!  Then I used my dotting tools with all of my greens for the tree, Gingerbread for the star, and the rest of my colors for the ornaments.  This was another big hit with my little ones!

Santa's Reindeer!

Does anyone remember Hallmark's little reindeer plushies & figurines, Rodney the Reindeer?  

Isn't he the cutest?!  I adore him, so I thought I'd create a Rodney the Reindeer mani!!

Colors: Color Club Worth the Risque, Revlon Hot Chocolate, OPI DS Classic, OPI Alpine Snow, China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Sally Hansen Black Out

This was another easy and quick mani!  I used Worth the Risque for the backdrop color - it is such a beautiful holo!!  Then I used Hot Chocolate to create the reindeer heads in the half oval shape.  I used a thin detail brush with DS Classic to create the little antlers.  Finally, I used my dotting tools to create the reindeer noses and eyes.  See Rudolph in there too!?  

My little boys just love this mani!  It's fun and festive all at once!  I hope you enjoy it too!  Happy holiday painting!!!!

Snow Fall on Poinsettias

Colors: Butter London Victoriana, OPI Vampire State Building, Ulta Scene Steel-er, Sally Hansen White Out

Everyone in the house fell asleep a little early, so I decided to break out the Red Angel plates tonight!  I used two coats of Victoriana, but this polish has such amazing coverage that one coat would have easily done the trick.  I used the RA-118 plate with Vampire State Building for the poinsettias on my finger finger, and the RA-119 plate with Scene Steel-er and White Out for the snow flakes on the rest of my fingers.  Scene Steel-er worked really well with Victoriana.  You can only see the design when the light hits it, so it isn't too much for the beautiful blue.  This was a quick and easy mani to get done, so I definitely recommend something like this if you're pinched for time!  Happy painting ladies!

Visions of Sugar Plums!

The lovely Rachel, at Creative Nail Design, is an absolute doll for sending me the new Plum Truffle Collection to try out!  It's a set of two separate colors, one beautiful creme plum base color, and a really pretty light pinkish plum sparkle effect color.

Here is the Plum Truffle color on it's own:

Even without the Plum Truffle Effect, it's a gorgeous color - especially for the holidays!  Here is the Plum Truffle Effect:

I really like the way that this pair works together.  The sparkle effect was really nice and eye catching, and it complimented the deep plum, without over powering it.

After applying, I had to rush out the door to take my eight year old to his Cub Scout meeting, when tragedy struck ... my car door handle attacked me:

Perhaps you caught it on the evening news: Crazed Atlanta woman goes on ramage while screaming about finger nail assassination conspiracy plot.

So, after I mentally took a sledge hammer to my car, I cut my nails down.  *sob*  Then I decided to have a little more fun with the Plum Truffle Collection.  I applied two coats of the Effect polish, and used the base color polish with Red Angel plate RA-107.  After stamping, I applied one more coat of the Effect, and then one coat of SV.

To be honest, I really like this collection.  It's the best kind of color combo: one that works together, and one that can stand alone.  I'm really looking forward to seeing what else I can come up with using these!!  

Happy Painting!!!

Gingerbread Man Cookies

Colors: Nicole by OPI Disco Dolls, OPI Planks a Lot, Milani Dress Maker

Another sweet mani for today!  I loved using Disco Dolls for the gingerbread cookie!  It's so sparkly and even has red and green glitter mixed in!!  After two coats, I applied one coat of Seche Vite, since I would be using tape for the next step.  (Glitters and tape don't often work well together without a top coat buffer!)  If you haven't tried Dress Maker yet, I highly recommend it.  It's such a nice soft green with a slight shimmer that really reminds me of frosting!  I created the fun lines of frosting by cutting a piece of scotch tape in half with my zig zag scissors and then placing both pieces on my nails, leaving a small even space in between.  Since Dress Maker is so light and Disco Dolls is a rather dark glitter, I used three coats.  After removing the tape, I used my dotting tool with Planks a Lot to create the gum drop buttons.  I used Poshe for the final top coat!  I hope you enjoy it!  Happy painting!!!

Oh So Merry Holly Berry

Colors: Milani Hi-Tech, Color Club Holiday Splendor, Sally Hansen Cha-Ching, Kiss Silver Glitter

I was feeling a little festive tonight, so I decided to create some holly berry fun!!  The Milani Hi-Tech is a wonderful holo lime green, but for some reason came out gold in the photos.  (Pics below taken with flash help bring out the green.)  After two coats of this, I drew some holly leaf outlines on my scotch tape, cut them out, and placed them on my nails with two coats of Holiday Splendor.  Another method I used, if you're not into cutting tiny shapes out of tape, would be to place two thick dots of polish close together, and take something thin, like a straight pin, and drag outward to form the leaf points.  Next, I used my dotting tool with Cha-Ching, from the new Gem Crush series, to create the berries.  I'm absolutely in love with the Gem Crush polishes, so keep an eye out for your chance to snag them!  Finally I used my Kiss Nail Artist silver glitter to create small swipes down the center of the leaves.  Since I used SO many glitters, I used Poshe for my top coat.  It's my go to choice for thick glitters, since it dries without leaving you with that gritty feeling.  I am so happy with the level of sparkle on my fingers from this!  

Here are some I took using the flash so you can really see just how sparkly this turned out to be!!!

Super sweets!

Colors: China Glaze Ruby Pumps, OPI Alpine Snow Matte

We have another holiday party to attend tomorrow, so of course it requires a new mani!  My little boys love candy canes from Santa, so I wanted to make them smile with this one!!  I applied two coats of Ruby Pumps, and then a top coat.  I always use a top coat with glitters before using scotch tape on a mani because glitters and scotch tape don't always get along too well!  After they dried, I cut small strips of tape, placed them on, and applied two coats of Alpine Snow Matte.  I liked the contrast of glitter and matte, but I still decided to use a top coat - I'm a sucker for glossy nails!!!  Happy painting!!

A holiday explosion

Colors: China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, Essence Can't Cheat on Me, Essie As Gold as it Gets

My husband wanted me to do something super festive for his office holiday party ... the boss's wife has to look nice, right!?  So, I went with both sets of traditional holiday colors: green & red and silver & gold.  I painted each nail with two coats of colors alternating between silver, red, and green.  Next, I cut long triangular pieces of scotch tape, and placed it across the center of my nail.  Once the tape was set, I painted different colors on the top and bottom sections.  Once that was complete, I used the amazing gold flakes over the entire nail.  My husband was happy, and I received a ton of compliments!!!

Frosted Snow Globes!

Colors: Maybelline Snow Bunny, OPI Crown Me Already, Confetti Tiara, Essie Matte About You

I love little snow globes, so I wanted to do a mani to reflect that!!!  I used two coats of Snow Bunny, then one coat of Crown Me Already.  Then I did another half coat of Crown Me Already on the tips only.  Add two coats of Tiara, and finish it off with Matte About You!  I really like how this turned out!  It's still shimmery, but with a frosted finish!

Holiday Sugar Cookies!!!

This is my first holiday inspired mani of the season!!  I really enjoyed doing this because it was all cookie and no calorie!!!

Colors: Orly Girly, Essie Sand Tropez, Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters, Confetti Tiara

I applied two coats of Girly for the outside cookie ring, then only one coat of Sand Tropez for the frosting.  Two coats of Party of Five Glitters makes up the sprinkles, and then one coat of Tiara to help give it a sugary sparkle and texture.  Unfortunately, Girly doesn't show up extremely well in the photos, but looks pretty in the light.  Since it's a nice shimmery pink ... I'm doing this for Pink Wednesday!!!!  Hooray!!!!!