My Christmas Day Nails- Snowflakes and Santas

Stamps and freehand!  I haven't done either in a long, long time.  I loved these for Christmas, and my family loved them too!  I got an entire set of dotting tools today, so expect some polka dot manis in the future!

Santas!

Bonus Phone Pic:

Products Used:

China Glaze Electric Beat

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep

Essie Pure Pearlfection

BM 14

SH 17

Zoya America

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Petal Pusher

China Glaze Dance Baby

Wet n Wild 449C

Green and Gold Winter Holiday Mani

Simple, subtle, lovely!  Like gold decorations on a Christmas tree.  I needed something quick that I could wear to work, and this was it!  I'm loving this deep green- I used a brand I've never used before- something cheap from Target because I was in a hurry.  And I was pleasantly surprised!  The perfect green for what I wanted.

Products Used:

Sonia Kashuk Emerald City

Essie As Gold As It Gets

NOT a Gradient! Wow! Glitter instead

A break from gradients for me.  This one was especially difficult to capture on camera.  I used two red glitters- one micro and one chunky- and the microglitter just did not want to capture on my camera!  Trust me though, it was very lovely and I got compliments at work.  The different size/shape glitters gave it interest and depth without being too much.  Sometimes I feel juvenile in glitter manis- which is fine most of the time!  But this one seemed work appropriate, and definitely appropriate for the Holiday season!

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Red Carpet

Priti Polish in Union Jack

Candy Stripes

The kids really loved this one!  It didn't come out exactly as I had planned (I was hoping for more, thinner stripes) because of the thickness of the brushes, but I still think it came out really well!  One of the kiddos smelled my nails (and probably would have tried licking them a second later) so I guess I will take that as a success!

P.S. Yup- Another gradient!

Products Used:

Zoya America

Wet n Wild 449C (note to self- unpack the rest of your nailpolishes, it has been 6 months since the move!)

Long Time, No Blog- Winter Gradient

Wow ok so the last time I posted was in August.  I've been awful.  Terrible.  Working two jobs plus my etsy shop has really been kicking my butt, so much so that I hardly even have time to paint my nails at all, let alone do anything worth blogging about!  So I'm hoping to start managing my time a little better and to step my nail game up.  The holiday has really inspired me to get crackin- not to mention I am getting MARRIED in 5 months and really need to knock this nail biting habit by then.  So here's hoping I kick off and keep this thing going!  Starting off with yet another gradient--

Awww yea.  It's no secret that I love a good gradient.  They're super fast, super easy (minus the cleanup) and they look like you spent a ton of time on them.  I got a bunch of compliments today at job #1, so I would consider that a success.  Although they chipped after a day and a half- I blame that on super short stubby nails.  I really love these colors for winter- I wanted to do silver snowflakes or polka dots on top but I just loved them the way they were.  Maybe next time!

Products Used:

Revlon Top Speed Royal

China Glaze Electric Beat
Essie Borrowed and Blue

Quick Winter Travel Mani

Here's what I did with my nails for travel.  It was quick, easy, and my family was really into them (they don't understand that crackle does its thing all on its own hahaha!)

Wintery, huh?  Like ice!

Products Used:

Revlon Top Speed in Royal

Sally Hansen Crackle in Snow Blast

Another Winter Inspired Mani

I recently went on a bit of a splurge!  One of the polishes that I added to my collection is Revlon's Powder Puff, which is one of their matte suedes.  I was sort of expecting it to look like white out- just a flat white color.  Instead, it's pretty sheer, and it has this lovely opalescent shimmer to it.  It is very pretty, but I couldn't stand the visible nail line.  (I didn't take any pictures of Powder Puff on its own, but I will soon).  On top of Powder Puff, I went for a shimmery red/gold stamped pattern that reminds me of poinsettias!

Products Used:
Revlon Powder Puff
Essie Wrapped in Rubies
Bundle Monster BM205

Swatch: Essie Cocktail Bling

Essie's Cocktail Bling is part of their Winter 2011 collection.  It's a very pretty grey with blue-ish tones, and I think it's great for all year round, not just winter!  And, best of all for me, it's work appropriate.  I'm loving everything that Essie is putting out lately.  All winners!

Winter Design- Red Flowers!

Inspired by the poinsettias I've been seeing around, I thought I'd try some pretty red flowers on top of the greenish-teal base of School of Hard Rocks.  I think it came out lovely!

Products Used:
Essie School of Hard Rocks
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in In The Red Creme
Sally Hansen Chrome in Tourmaline Chrome
Love & Beauty Clear/Silver

Swatch: Essie School of Hard Rocks

Essie's School of Hard Rocks is part of the Winter 2011 collection.  It's a really lovely greeny-teal and it's perfect for the season.  I'm a big fan of Essie's recent dusty-ish tones they've been coming out with recently, and this one is no exception.

Pretty, right?  I love it.