Pssstttt.....BOOM!

 So my husband said I've been such a  good wife lately, he'd let me paint his toes, which I love doing! He picked the color green, but I wanted nail art, so I came up with an awesome idea of something we'd both like!

If you don't recognize this, its one of the creatures in Minecraft. We like to play that game together :). It is called a creeper. When you get close to it you can hear it start to go off like a bomb and if you don't run away quick enough it blows up in your face!
(image source)

 
So I got a picture and a palette ready and went to town. I sponged his toes with China Glaze Gaga for Green, Zoya Bevin, OPI Stranger Tides, and Julep Selena. I also mixed some of these shades with black to make them darker, hence the palette.

Here is the finished product! Kind of a camo green (was definitely not going to take the time to do perfect little pixel squares) with the creeper face on the big toes.

I totally coated them with some China Glaze Ghoulish Glow that a friend just sent me for fun. They glow pretty awesome, but of course it's almost impossible to photograph a glow-in-the-dark.

 

 Close up

He likes them! Does your husband or SO ever let you paint his toes?

Taste the Rainbow

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
When I asked a 5 year old girl at work how I should do my nails for St. Patty's Day it went something like this:
Her: Pink!
Me: Why pink? It's for St. Patrick's Day.
Her: Because it's Patrick day and he's pink!
*dies* LOL
So after she and the other kids understood the difference, they said rainbows and shamrocks. So here we have it!

I used a Nail Candy nail art pen for the shamrocks and all the colors of the rainbow.


I am trying to slowly get better at watermarbles. I have plenty of mess ups in this mani, but I have to say if I could only wear one mani for the rest of my life - this would be it.

Here is my right hand. I keep messing up though! I'll have a perfect nail, then when I'm doing my other hand or something I'll get a little tendril of sticky polish on my perfect nail. Or I'll bump it. With the ring finger, there was a bubble in the water or something so a third of my nail remained unmarbled. I did it again and it came out like that. It looks pretty awesome, just doesn't really go with the other nails.

My thumb turned out pretty pimpin' too. I chipped the end before I even got to take pics so I just dabbed on one of the polishes in the marble. So just imagine it without that bit :D.

You can buy Nail Candy nail art pens for $10/2 colors on their website. They have all kinds of colors! The one I used in this post was Pastel Green from the  Live Colorfully set. I will do a more in depth review on these later, but you'll see them in plenty of other posts!

Some of these products were sent for my unbiased review

Roses for My Love

Happy Valentine's Day lovies! I've always wanted to do a vintagesque roses mani. Some of the new Zoya Spring colors just seemed perfect for it.

I used Zoya Jacqueline, Neely, and Piper, OPI Aphrodite's Pink Nightie for the darker pink in the roses, and Sally Hansen White On for the highlights. I'm loving this creamy yellow, and I usually hate yellow polishes!

I don't know what it was with the cuticle cleanup - sorry guys. I swear I did it like 3 times and that creamy yellow didn't want to come all the way off. Maybe I let me topcoat dry too much? Idk! I've been wearing this manicure for about a week now and it has held up great though. Go Zoya!

I stamped the lines, but they weren't dark enough so I went over them with a brush anyway. The rest was done with my tiny brush and dotting tool.

And here's my Valentine's Day so far! We have major surprise plans this weekend that I have to pack an overnight bag for, so I can't wait to see what that is! That's one good thing about being a Military Wife - the holidays you have together are extra special.

I'm making a card for him right now and I love it :D. I think I'm nailing it. I totally came up with that end bit I wrote on a whim and I feel quite poetic lol! This card is adorable if you don't look at my handwriting. I'm trying to use my Cricut more too!!

 I made him a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake! I had planned to do the fresh raspberries and white chocolate curls, but I can't find the white chocolate bar I swore I had for the top. I love the look of the raspberry sauce I made, and it makes me want to do nails just like that!

How's your Valentine's Day been? <3

(Some of these products have been sent for my unbiased review.)

Poinsettia Christmas Nails

Merry Christmas lovelies!
Obviously it's after Christmas, but it's really hard to get to a computer as I'm still visiting family. I just snapped a few quick pics of my Christmas mani!

I used Zoya Logan, Isla, Elisa, and Ziv. I mixed a little black with Isla for some lowlights, and mixed Ziv with Elisa for the berries.

The tips were inspired by this stamping plate I have (I think it's a Bundle Monster) that has little leaves and berries and reminds me of mistletoe.

Speaking of mistletoe...I found some real mistletoe at the garden center this year! There was more than enough, so I bagged some up for my mum and brought it 600 miles for her. Well my husband left it out to freeze in the car over night, and then it got squished 5 times, so now we have this:

Waa waaa waaaahhhh. It looks like Charlie Brown's Christmas mistletoe.

Here's my nail art close up.

So how did your Christmas go!?
We visited the in-laws first through Christmas Eve, then spent Christmas Day on with my family (and are still here).
Some of my favorite things that I got: huge canvas print of our wedding couple picture, a last name picture where each letter is an item that looks like that letter, gorgeous purple and multi-colored wool slippers with leaf designs on them, a Sephora gift card which I've already used once, a small tapestry with a giraffe numming some plants that was hand woven at a womens' shelter in Africa (adorable), some awesome stuff! We just got back from hiking in the Smokies today, which I haven't been able to do in ages. We're having a great time :).

I want to hear about your Christmas and see your nails!!

Oh Christmas Moose, Oh Christmas Moose!

Please vote for me in the contest by clicking on this link and choosing my name on the ballot!! I'm #11!!

Another nail art contest! This week the theme is "trim the tree (holiday decorations)"! It just so happens I put up my tree only a few days ago! I decided to paint some of my favorite ornaments on my nails!

 I used KB Shimmer All Decked Out as a base. I did six ornaments, with Christmas lights on the rest of the nails. I used so many different polishes and mixes of polishes that I'm not even going to bother to list them unless you're curious about a particular one.

 I actually made this fish from clay in high school. I still love it so much!!

 I love this little walnut and pompom turtle haha! Isn't he adorable!?

 Here is a collage of each nail art I did.

 Here are my very favorite ornaments on my tree that I used as inspiration. I love birds, so the tiny cardinal is just too cute...an intricate glitter snowflake, turtle doves, the santa fish I made, a super fat penguin that was our ornament last year (we always pick one out every year but haven't gotten around to it for this year yet), and the random little walnut turtle lol!!

 Moose is LOVING the Christmas tree! He plays with it and sits under it all the time. <3
Jeremy was singing "Oh Christmas Moose, oh Christmas Moose!" lol!!

 We had to don our jingly bell matching antlers while we decorated the tree :D

What are your favorite ornaments on your tree?

Please vote for me in the nail art contest!!

Baby All I Want for Christmas

 ....is YOU! No seriously, you guys rock :D.

Please vote for me in this nail art contest!! I'm number 26!!

I did this for another nail art contest, for which the theme is Christmas gifts/presents/what you want for Christmas. I wanted to put my whole family on my nails...but that was too hard and not that pretty lol. So I was looking for ideas, and Subtle Shimmer says, well what do you really want for Christmas!?! I was like umm that would look dumb...a crockpot, some new jeans, this Columbia jacket, an Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. She says do the palette. DUH! So I did :D. 
SHABAM!
I picked out four of the colors, and did the front of the palette too so people could tell what it was lol. 

Here is the palette. 6 nude matte shades...mmmm!!

 I used two coats of Zoya Shay for the palette. It kind of has a shimmer to it like the palette compared to the matte shadoes. W.O.S is Zoya Farah, Naked 2 is OPI Barefoot in Barcelona, Faint is Barefoot in Barcelona with a little China Glaze Call of the Wild mixed in. Crave is Zoya Noot. I used this awesome nail art pen my MIL got me as an early Christmas present for all the black lines. Even then I couldn't get it perfect, but I could get SO much more detailed than with my brush!

Fun fun!!
Don't forget to vote for me in the nail art contest!!

What do YOU want for Christmas? :D

Wintry Friend

  I joined a nail art contest that is going on for about a month at Nail Polish Canada. This week's theme is snow!!
Please vote for me here if you like my design!! :D

I love birds. They're my favorite animal. And cardinals look so beautiful against the stark white snow. I tried to portray a soft Winter day with light snow falling and a cardinal nestled in the snowy branches.

Here is my birdie up close.
 

I used three coats of Essie Barefoot in Blue for the sky. The cardinal is mostly China Glaze Adventure Red-y,with highlights of OPI Paint My Mojitoes Red, and some black. The beak is China Glaze Peachy Keen. The branches are China Glaze Call of the Wild, with some Barielle Stardust snow falling.

I can't wait to see a cardinal in the snow this Winter. I hope we GET snow!

I hope you all have happy holidays! I'm loving the holiday season!

Please vote for me here in the nail art contest if you like my design!! :D

You're a Witch!!

Happy Halloween!! I was too busy last night to post my Halloween mani :P. I was feeling something witchy.

Creepy trees, a pumpkin, and a flying witch!


I must say my right hand looks better, go figure!

I tried to double stamp the pumpkins with white then orange, but even that didn't show up. I just did the white first and painted over it carefully as a guideline.

I used Borghese Purple Confetti for the base, topped with Girly Bits Purple Potion (witch appropriate huh?) for some extra sparkle. I did gradient tips with Butter London Black Knight. The yellow is China Glaze Sunshine Pop with a little white swirled in for a cool moon. The orange is China Glaze Candy Corn. I added a coat of Lynderella When the Moon Was a Star to make a fun night sky behind my haunted house on my thumb. 

Borghese Purple Confetti surprised me so much with the mostly matte finish! Yea, it's a little gritty because of the glitter, but it was still a cool surprise!

 Here's what I wore for Halloween! I'm Pocahontas...or her albino cousin...

 I hung out with my friend Brittany, who dressed as a super cute witch. One of the kids came up to the door and said "YOU'RE A WITCH!" Lol! Well yea!

 NOM  NOM Milk duds!!!

What did you dress up as for Halloween? Link a picture in the comments!!

Polish Us Pink: Heart Tree

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime, and even men can get this cancer. To the survivors, the people struggling with it today, and the people whose lives have been touched by it, this is for you. Read my first post for more about how cancer has effected my life.

 Another Monday mani for Breast Cancer Awareness! Yea I know it isn't Monday anymore...whatever...I got distracted :P. This is kind of a nail fail so forgive me, but the idea is cute so I still posted it. Feel free to laugh.

 I used Barielle Big Apple Red for the base, with one coat each of Barry M Pink Iridescent and Color Club Fame and Fortune. The accent nail is a base of Milani white with Barry M Dusky Mauve for the tree. The hearts are stamped in white, Orly Pixy Stix, Barielle Big Apple Red, and Revlon Electric Pink.

This image was my inspiration for this mani. I was searching for images about breast cancer awareness and this cute pink heart tree with ribbons in it came up. I didn't add the ribbons as I thought it would be too much detail, but this is what I was going for.

I swear I waited a good amount of time before the topcoat....but it never seems to matter. The hearts weren't really showing up over the red, so I decided to double stamp them over white. I've seen loads of people do it even with full nail designs. Line em' up...BAM! Fail...lol.

But ooh that glitter! I love Pink Iridescent and those big flakies from the Color Club are pretty cool.

 The flakies give off a dark color at some angles. This one isn't so bad, right? The little tree is at least ugly pretty :D. So this mani isn't predominantly pink, but it's the thought that counts!

Feel free to join in the fun this month as we post a mani in support of breast cancer every Monday in October. Don't forget to tag your posts on Twitter/Instagram with #PolishUsPink!