Pure Ice Iced Merlot

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! I know my posts this month have been a little sporadic. Its the time of year for colds and the holidays. Things have been a little hectic. Things should level out soon. And I'm going to do a few nail art designs soon. Expect plenty of nail art for December between Christmas and New Years.

Pure Ice Iced Merlot is a raspberry wine with pink and silver shimmer. The application is great and opaque in two coats. Its a gorgeous polish, but honestly based on the color in the bottle I was expecting a deep red foil or metallic.

Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics.

Blue Milk Mushrooms

Its Stamping Sunday! I have not done this challenge in a long time. Which makes me sad. So I'm making an effort to start again. This week's theme is 'Poisonous and Toxic." It took me a long time to decide on a design. Spiders, snakes, and bats are all venomous not poisonous (if they are deadly at all). I finally found something poisonous that I had a stamp for. YAY!

Lactarius indigo, also known as the blue milk mushroom, ranges from light blue to dark blue. They can be poisonous. They are very pretty if you see pictures.

To create those lovely fungi on my accent nail, I started with two coats of Pure Ice Wild Thing. Then I sponged on Ulta The Jungle Look and Sinful Colors Black on Black. Finally I added my blue mushroom with BM-302 and Sally Hansen Pacific Blue. The rest of my nails are two coats of Pacific Blue.

BM stamping plates are part of a 25 piece set (the 2012 one) that retails for $22 on Bundle Monster or their Amazon store. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. Ulta Nail Lacquer retails for $6 at Ulta. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear retails for $2-3 at Walgreens, Walmart, Riteaid, Target, and Ulta.

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. 

Patriotic Stamping and Glitter

Its Stamping Sunday! And my first design for the Fourth of July. I'll admit, its a little bit of a fail, but not too bad. The theme for this week is dots and circles.

The stamping didn't transfer perfectly and smeared a little. Plus my glitter didn't disperse well. But unless you look up close (or with these macro shots), the design looks nice, so its not all bad. I started with a base coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white backdrop. Next I stamped on Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar and Color Club Cold Metal with plate BM19. For my accent nail, I used two coats of Love My Nails Glory. Its a slightly blue tinted base with red and blue string glitter plus silver stars. I love how unique it is, but wish it was less bumpy. Two coats of tc later and still bumpy. But its perfect for the upcoming holiday.

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. Sinful Colors retail for $2 at Walgreens (online/in store) and Target (in store). They're also available for $2.50 at Cherry Culture. 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. 

Double Gradient

I hope you are enjoying your Monday! This week's theme on PAA for the Monday Nail Art Challenge is Sponging. That theme instantly brings gradients to mind for me. I originally intended to have a simple three color design, but it did not turn out the way I intended, so glitter was added.

I started with one coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. Using a sponge, I created a gradient with NYC Times Square Tangerine, Wet n Wild Red Red, and Julep Helena. The orange and red blended very well together, but the purple sponged on horribly. It was patchy and did not blend. I have not used Helena for sponging before, so I'm unsure if it was to blame or not.

I put too much time in to just start over, so I saved the design by sponging Love & Beauty Black Knight onto the tips. A creme gradient and and a glitter gradient. A double gradient.

Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel retails for $1 at Walmart, Riteaid, and Family Dollar. Wet n Wild retail for $1-2 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website. Julep retails for $14 at Julep and Sephora. Love & Beauty retails for $2.80 at Forever21, online and in store.

Funky French Glitter Bomb

I hope you're enjoying your Monday! The Monday Nail Art Challenge is here again. The theme this week is Glitter Bomb. I have done many glitter filled manicures so I wanted something a little bit different. A funky french glitter bomb.

I absolutely love this glitter combination. It reminds me of my high school colors. Though I think it will remind most people of LSU. I used L.A. Colors Nuclear Energy and Pure Ice Cheatin as my purple base. I did one coat of the former and two coats of the latter. Cheatin has blue glitter, along with the purple. I free-handed the gold tips using Color Club Gingerbread Man and Funky Fingers Golden Coast. Along with the gold glitter, there is also holo glitter. The applications on all of these polishes is great.

L.A. Colors retail for around $1 and can be found at most Dollar stores. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. Funky Fingers retail for $2 or 3/$5 at Five Below. Gingerbread Man is part of the Color Club Scent-suous Collection and retails for $4.

Creative Layering

Its Monday again, so its time for another nail art challenge from Polish-aholics Anonymous. This week, we could pick between Franken/Indie and Creative Layering. I chose the latter.

For my creative layering, I used three different polishes. Two coats of Ulta Sun-sational as my yellow base. It is a lovely yellow creme with great application. Then I sponged on Pure Ice Rio and Wet n Wild Party of Five Glitters. I wish Rio had blended a bit better, but otherwise I'm happy with how this turned out.

Ulta Nail Lacquer retails for $6 at Ulta. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. Wet n Wild Fast Dry retail for $2-3 at CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Ulta, and many other stores, all of which are listed on their website.

Colorful Gradient

Its Stamping Sunday! Two themes were neck and neck for winner. So, we could do either. Stamping over a gradient or using two stamps. I went with the former. I have been wanting to try a sponge gradient for awhile.

I was inspired by this blog post on Laynie Fingers. I did one thick coat of Pure Ice Super Star! as my white base. For my sponging, I used L.A. Colors Phenomena, Kleancolor Neon Green, and L.A. Colors Shock.  I love this technique! Automatic gradient. Now for the stamping. Using plate BM10 and Color Club Blue Topia, I stamped on little flowers. Since Blue Topia is a jelly, the petals are slightly faded. But I like that. Using a dotting tool and Super Star!, I dotted middles for each flower.

Happy Easter

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday! And your Easter if you celebrate it! I have a cute Easter manicure to show you today.

I was inspired by several different manicures that I found on Pinterest. All of them can be found on my Polish Likes and Inspiration board on Pinterest. I used Sinful Colors Unicorn, Snow Me White, Black on Black, San Francisco, Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac, Wet n Wild Tickled Pink, Lavender Creme, Pure Ice Wild Thing, Cosmetic Arts Sky High, and Dahlia Orange.

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear retails for $2-3 at Walgreens, Walmart, Riteaid, Target, and Ulta. 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. Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. Cosmetic Arts retail for $2 at Ross (I'm unsure where else they are sold, if anywhere else). Dahlia retails for $4 at various sites online.

Round and Round We Go

Its Stamping Sunday! This week's theme is Circles.

I started with three thin coats of Pure Ice Super Star!. Next I stamped on Color Club Cold Metal (blue) and Perfectly Mol-ten (green) with stamping plate BM19. Super Star! went on about as well as most white cremes; a little streaky until the third coat. I was unsure about how well using two polishes to stamp would go, but it was super easy. I just swiped one polish on then the other. They blended very well together without mixing.

Pure Ice retails for $2 at Walmart and Bari Cosmetics. Cold Metal and Perfectly Mol-ten are part of the Color Club Foiled Collection. They 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.

Untrieds Day 14 - Pure Ice Catwalk

I have a cute little combination to share with you all today! :) I layered Pure Ice Catwalk, one of their crackles, over my existing manicure of Wet n Wild Lady Luck.

I love the pink and yellow combo! I do wish the yellow was a little more opaque, but its still cute. I did have a little adventure trying to get this polish on. It applied wonderfully, but my first nail did not crack. I thought I would try painting on a fresh coat of pink then layering over the tacky polish. The polish being slightly wet and tacky did the trick.

I'm sure you notice that my nails are shorter. I broke my thumb nail yesterday and the nail on my middle finger today. The length I had to trim them to was too different from the rest of my nails, so I caved and shortened them all. This is the shortest all of my nails have been ever. I was so sad while getting rid of the length. Thankfully my nails grow pretty fast.

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

Alexandria at Je T'aime Lacquer

Alyssa at Always Polished

Amber at The Polished Momma

Andrea at Addicted to the Allure of Beauty

Caitlin at Something Creative

Carly at Lacquered Lover

Caroline at Good Lack, Nail!

Caroline at Shadow's Nail Art

Chelsea at Pretty and Polished

Ingie at Limited Addiction Nails

Jacki at Adventures in Acetone

Jamie at Nails Adored

Lindsey at Nailtopia

Nory at Fierce Makeup and Nails

Rachel at Cherry Glam Girl

Sarah at Lucky Lacquers

Shaina at Haute Lacquer

Taylor at Nailed to the T

Thalie at Glazed Talons

Blue Monday, Breast Cancer Pink, & Black Crackle

I've got a lot to talk about tonight. First off, this week's theme for Monday on PAA was Blue. Any design as long as all the polishes were blue. I decided to do a french manicure, replacing the white with medium blue and the pink with a shimmering light blue. It did not turn out as I wanted however. My index tip is too flat and goes down too far. I'll be painting my fingers something different tomorrow.

I used one coat of Pure Ice Splash first so my pink alternative would be a bit more opaque.

Then I free handed the tips with Wet n Wild Saved by the Blue. Next time (if I do this again) I will use my little guides. I'm usually not this bad at free handing.

Finally another coat of Splash. I used my new top coat Orly Sec N Dry on top. It really did dry it super fast.

I also painted my toes today. I finally took teal off my toes; they were teal for all of September as part of Teal Toes to raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer. Continuing with that theme, I decided to paint my toes pink for October since its Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm not going to torture you with a picture of my toes, so I did a swatch on my nail wheel of what I did.

Neither is quite color accurate. Its baby pink with glitter. I used a Bon Bons in light pink then Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter on top. Its very cute.

Last but not least, I finally received my order from Fabulous Nails. I ordered a bottle of their crackle a month ago and got it free from Savemore.com. They give you $10 toward a purchase when you sign up. Normally the polish is $15, but they had it for $7. 

I've never owned a crackle before. Its a nice effect, but just not my thing on a regular basis. However, I really wanted some for Halloween. When I received this package in the mail, I immediately swatched it on my nail wheel. It has a great application, consistency, and cracked perfectly.

Its Fabulous Nails Midnight Black Crackle. The bottom left of the nail is where the polish was thinnest and the rest was thick. So the thicker you paint, the wider the cracks are. I personally would not pay $15, but it is an amazing formula.

Pure Ice Spit Fire

I am far behind on keeping up on my nail posts. I painted my nails on Thursday night and meant to post this Friday after work. That did not happen. But better late than never.

I was crunched for time and did not want to go with naked nails, so I opted for partially naked glitter covered nails. A pretty glitter by Pure Ice called Spit Fire. It has rose gold glitter along with some iridescent as well.

This is one coat over my bare nails. It has a lot of glitter for one coat. You cannot tell from the pictures that the glitter on my nails is iridescent, but you get a glimpse of it in the picture below of the bottle.

Since I was going to work with this glitter on, I wanted to take some of sparkle away. So I added Hard Candy Matte-ly in Love. I love the effect that matte polish has on glitter. Its so interesting. And instantly changes the look of your polish.

I promise Spit Fire is just gorgeous in person. I swatched it yesterday on my new nail wheels. Two coats and you could see the rose tint. It is so pretty. And absolutely worth owning.