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.

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.

Yellow and Pink Polka Dots

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! Its time for another nail art challenge on Polish-aholics Anonymous. We voted to revisit some of the first challenges. This week is Polka Dots. Perfect considering that they are coming back in style. I've always loved them!

I did one thick of white then two coats of Bootie Babe Electric Lemon. Neon polishes pop over white and show their true brightness. Then I used a dotting tool and Sally Girl Way Cool for the polka dots. I adore pink and yellow together, especially bright shades of both.

Bootie Babe retails for $4 on their website. In June, they will start selling their polish in bigger bottles (15mL versus their current 9mL). The caps will also be taller and easier to handle, though I had no problem with the current caps. For more info, check out their Facebook page. Sally Girl retail for $1 at Sally Beauty Supply.

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

Nightmare Before Christmas

I hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday! I have a Nightmare Before Christmas inspired manicure to show you today. If you haven't seen the movie, its a must. How can anyone turn down an animated movie from the mind of Tim Burton?

I painted all of my fingers (except for my ring finger) with two coats of Disney Jack Skellington Red. Its a pretty red shimmer in the cutest bottle, shaped like Jack Skellington's head. I got it in a set of three from Claire's. On my thumbs and pinkys, I layered on one coat of Fabulous Nails Midnight Black Crackle. On my index fingers, I did polka dots with Sinful Colors Black on Black and a dotting tool. Finally on my ring fingers, I used nail art stickers I got in a set from Claire's. On my left hand, I have Sally, and on the right, I have Jack and Sally.

Jack Skellington Red (the set did not come with names, but its Jack's head and red) applied very well. I was honestly surprised with how pretty it is. The nail art stickers, however, were a pain. They seemed to stay on well for a few minutes before they became to curl up near my cuticle. Maybe its just me. I know adhesives react differently to everyone. I do plan on trying them again before I make up my mind on them.

Both the Jack Skellington polish set and the Nightmare Before Christmas nail art stickers are on clearance at Claire's. If they are still available, they retail for $1-4. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. Fabulous Nails retail for $15 on their website.

Polka Dot Owl

I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday! Its the very last one in February. Today I have a cute little owl design to show you. I did this with a nail art contest in mind. Sarah from Chalkboard Nails is doing a Dotting Tool Contest. You can only use a dotting tool (or something that counts as a dotting tool like a toothpick). No nail art brushes, just the brush that comes with your polish.

I just love my little owl! For the owl and polka dots, I used Julep Olivia, Miranda, and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Everything was done with my nail polish brush (from Miranda) and my dotting tools. This design was inspired by CutePolish (she has the cutest designs).

I love these polishes. All were easy to work with. My nails with the dots have one coat of Miranda. Most of Julep's polishes seem to be one coaters, which I love.

Green for Depression Awareness

Sorry I am so late posting this mani. I did it Monday night, but was exhausted so I decided it could wait until Tuesday. But I had a clumsy moment that morning with ended painfully, so I was in no mood to blog by the time a full day of work was over. But I am posting it now. And who says a Monday mani has to be posted on Monday?

October is Depression Awareness Month. This is something very important to me considering its something both my mother and I have dealt with most of our lives. More people should be aware of the effects depression has on a person.

I went with something subtle. Shimmer, polka dots, and a green awareness ribbon. Sorry for only having one picture. The rest were useless.

I painted Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet on all of my fingers. Then on my thumbs and middle fingers, I added a coat of Body Luxuries Green Shimmer. That's not actually the name of this polish. The set has no names. I also did the dots on my index and pinky fingers in this polish. Then I painted a ribbon with Sinful Colors San Francisco.

I like the way this turned out. The ribbon just pops since the other colors are lighter.