One, Two, Freddy's Coming For You

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! It is the first day of October (YAY) and the first day of the challenge I am participating in. The This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge started by Bec at Lacquer Dreams. The challenge runs the length of October, just not everyday. Today is horror movies. I LOVE horror movies! I based my design on my favorite man in the horror genre.

If the title didn't give it away already, this manicure is all about Nightmare on Elm Street. I absolutely love Freddy Krueger! I did green and red stripes for his dirty sweater, slashes for his razor fingers, blood splatter, and brown for his hat. I'm hoping the sweater and slashes are enough to scream Freddy.

For his sweater, I used Essie Blood Curdling and Color Club Artsy Crafty. I sponged on a sheer layer of Color Club Rebel Spirit to give it an even dirtier look. For the slashes, I painted on two coats of Orly Decades of Dysfunction. When it was mostly dry but still a bit tacky, I ran lines of Blood Curdling over it with a nail art brush. The blood splatter starts off with two coats of Decades of Dysfunction. Then I used a straw and blew polish to create the splatter. Finally the brown for his hat. I used Rebel Spirit and sponged on light patches of Julep Olivia to give a bit of dimension.

So, what's your favorite scary movie?

 Check out the other amazing designs done for this challenge!

First Nail Art of Autumn

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! Yesterday was the first day of Fall, at least for those of us in the northern hemisphere. The temperatures here are putting a damper on thoughts of cool crisp Autumn days, given the highs are in the 80/90s (sadly nice cool weather for us in September). But I can help myself pass the time until cool weather, with pretty fall colors.

It honestly did not turn out as I imagined it, but not completely a nail fail. Reminds me of vintage curtains or furniture. I started with two coats of Julep Demi, a deep burgundy creme. Then I did stripes and dots with China Glaze Harvest Moon. Finally, more dots using Love My Nails Hot Tamale. I was inspired to do this after seeing this post from Polish Art Addiction. Next time I will try this design with all cremes.

Harvest Moon is part of the China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection and retails for $3-6 at various stores (it will be in the clearance area) and websites. Julep retails for $14 on their website. Love My Nails retail for $1 at Bari Cosmetics.

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday! And your Fourth of July, if you're in the US. Today, I have a final design to share with you for the holiday.

I had a man compliment me on my patriotic nails today. That rarely happens. Almost never. On my pinky, index, and thumb, I did two coats of Wet n Wild Red Red then stripes with L.A. Colors Art Deco White. For my middle and ring fingers, I used one coat of Pure Ice Super Star! then stamped on stars with Color Club Cold Metal and plate BM20. To add a little extra something, I placed silver star glitter in the middle of each large stamped star.

Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. Cold Metal is part of the Color Club Foiled Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. L.A. Colors Art Deco stripers retail for around $1 and can be found at most Dollar stores. 

Stars and Stripes

I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday! Today, I have a design for Monkey See Monkey Do and Fourth of July. I found inspiration in a design by Girlie Tomboy.

I absolutely love this! I got several compliments at work today. My index and pinky are two coats of Love My Nails New Love and my ring and thumb are two coats of Color Club Cold Metal. For my middle finger, I did one coat of Pure Ice Super Star!, stamped on stripes with New Love and plate BM20, and finally stamped on a star with Cold Metal and plate BM05.

Love My Nails retail for $1 at Bari Cosmetics. Cold Metal is part of the Color Club Foiled Collection. It retails for $4-8. I purchased mine in a collection set of all six for $8 at Ross. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. 

Celebration with Cupcakes

Its Stamping Sunday! This particular Sunday we are all doing designs to help Beth's (Debbie's daughter) birthday. I decided to do a cupcake, polka dot, and stripes design.

Rightie is making an appearance because I like the chocolate cupcake. I started with a base of Sinful Colors Easy Going, a very light pink creme. On my index fingers, I stamped cupcakes using Cosmetic Arts Sky High, China Glaze Mahogany Magic, and plate BM14. On my ring fingers, I stamped polka dots using Sky High, Konad Yellow, Sally Hansen Raspberry Race, Wet n Wild Lavender Creme, and plate BM19. For my pinky, I stamped stripes using the same polishes as the polka dots and plate BM20. To add the finishing touch, I layered a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust over each nail.

Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). Cosmetic Arts retail for $2 at Ross (I'm unsure where else they are sold, if anywhere else). China Glaze retails for $5-10 a bottle at Sally Beauty Supply, Ulta, and various other stores/sites (Fairy Dust is Core collection, while Mahogany Magic is from the Colors from the Capitol Collection). Konad Special Polish (for stamping) retails for $6.80 on their website. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri retails for $3-5 at Walgreens, Walmart, Riteaid, Target, and Ulta. Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. BM stamping plates are part of a 21 piece set that retails for $18 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store.

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 1 - Think PINK

Today is the very first day of the Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge. Several lovely bloggers are participating, so you'll have plenty of girly manicures to look at.

This challenge lasts a month and includes eight different days of nail art. Instead of trying to keep up with a new nail design each day, we have two each week. Day One is Think PINK: Wear your favorite pink polish and nail art.

Picking just one pink polish as my favorite is hard. But I went with the shade that's been my favorite for several years. No6 Party Punch. I also used Wet n Wild Tickled Pink. Who doesn't love baby and hot pink? I painted three thin coats of Party Punch on all of my fingers except for my middle finger, which I painted with three thin coats of Tickled Pink. I used a dotting tool on my index finger and a striping brush on my pinky, both with Tickled Pink. I think its a fun and very pink design.

Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. No6 retail for $3 at Payless (though I'm not sure how many still carry the brand.)

Please check out the other lovely bloggers participating in this challenge. :)

Amanda of Nox Nails
Amanda of Berry Polished
Ashley of Smashley Sparkles

Bethany of  A Plethora of Nails
ChiChi of I'm just me...ChiChi
CR of Color Me Silly

Danielle of Polish. Glitter. Rock & Roll
Elly of Polishable

Emily of TheLacquerologist

Eugenia of Talon-ted

Jess of LuvMyLacquer

Jodi of CaptivatingClaws

Johanna of Neues vom Kellerkind

Kate of This Charming Kate

Kelly of Devilish Polish

Lindsey of Neverland Nail Blog
Lizzy of The Do It Yourself Lady

Olivia of Unprofessional Nails
Robin, Erin, and Anna of Polished Cousins

Sarah of See Sarah Swatch

Stephanie of A Little Polish
Tressa of O' Natur Nail

Cupcake Nails

I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday! This week's Monday Nail Art Challenge on Polish-aholics Anonymous is Water Marble/Happy Birthday. As a joke, Krissi (admin on PAA) threw in the option to vote for her birthday as a theme. She's awesome and we love her, so water marble and her birthday pretty much tied. The one time I attempted a water marble, it was a brown mess, so I decided birthday was a better choice.

I followed a tutorial from CutePolish with a little tweaking. For most of my nails and the base of my cupcake, I used Wet n Wild Tickled Pink as a base and Lavender Creme for the stripes as well as for the candy heart. The icing is Sinful Colors Snow Me White. The sprinkles are Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac, Cosmetic Arts Sky High, Sinful Colors Unicorn, and Wet n Wild Tickled Pink. 

I definitely need more practice. Doesn't help that my hands shake a little due to a hereditary trait. Its not noticeable unless I'm doing certain things. Like painting tiny details or taking camera pictures without a flash.

Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. Sally Hansen retail for $2-3 (the Xtreme Wear) at Walgreens, Walmart, Riteaid, Ulta, etc. Last but not least, Cosmetic Arts retail for $2 at Ross (I'm unsure where else they are sold, if anywhere else).

Nautical

Its Stamping Sunday! Over at Adventures in Stamping, this week's theme is 'Three Colors'. You can only use three colors including base coat and stamping polishes, no more, no less.

I decided on a nautical design of red, white, and blue. On my ring fingers, I did two coats of Essie Midnight Tango then stamped on an anchor using Sinful Colors Snow Me White and plate BM08. On the rest of my fingers, I did three thin coats of Snow Me White then stamped on stripes using Love My Nails New Love and plate BM20.

The lines are not perfect. Despite my nail beds being relatively small, the whole nail designs do not cover my entire nail. So I had to use a nail art brush to fill in the gaps. I still like this design though. In person, the stripes look fine. Macro pictures show every detail and flaw.

Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. Essie Midnight Tango is from the Mortia's Nails Collection and only seems to be available on HSN.com in a set of three marked down to $7. Love My Nails retail for $1 at Bari Cosmetics.

Mardi Gras!

I love Mardi Gras! Celebrating the day is a rather big deal in Louisiana. Though I have never been New Orleans and experienced that slice of crazy. Up where I'm at, there are several parades. Floats, fun, and beads. I just had to do a mani for today.

Its a fun design to wear, but honestly it took a lot of patience. This was my first time using striping tape. I imagine practice makes perfect. I used two coats of Beauty UK Electric Purple then gold and green striping tape. I topped it off with a layer of China Glaze Fairy Dust. I absolutely love these polishes! Electric Purple has a pretty shimmer and good application. Fairy Dust is a clear base filled with micro holo glitter. Its an amazing polish to layer with.

Beauty UK polish retails for £2.49 on their website. You can also get sets there for £4.99. Individual polishes are full size (14ml) and the polishes from sets are minis (8ml).