Dot Mani

The One With the New Year's Eve Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world and Happy New Year's Eve!!!  Can you believe that 2017 has come and gone?!  I honestly cannot believe it.  Now I need to do a December Monthly Mani Favs post, followed by a 2017 re-cap post of all my favorites from the year.  Jeez I have a lot of work on this blog to do today.  I'll obviously be posting those two posts in the next few days.

Today's manicure is a re-creation of my 2015 New Year's Eve manicure.  I loved the design so much and actually forgot about it until I was looking to see what I had done before.  After searching forever for a design I liked, my mind kept going back to this design.  Therefore, I had to re-create it.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • FingerPaints - Golden Glaze
  • Serendipity Polish - Sunshine Rainbow
Isn't it wonderful??  I think when I created the manicure originally, I just randomly placed the tape on the nail and in the end it turned out looking like a star.  Can I tell you it took forever to lay the tape just right to make it look like a star again??  Finally was able to re-create it not once, but four times since I had this design on both my ring fingers and thumb.

I love this black and gold combo so much.  Topping FingerPaints Golden Glaze with Sunshine Rainbow was a wonderful idea.  The holo and gold flecks mixed together with the foiled golden polish really gave it a true New Year's Eve feel.

What do you think?  Like this design?  Tired of me doing re-creations??

I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year!!!!  Goodbye 2017, hello 2018!!!

See you next year, <3.



OPI

The One With the Snowflakes and OPI Feel The Chemis-Tree

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  Christmas over which means there are no more Christmas manicures for another year.  I'm kind of happy about that because I was getting a little tired of red and green, followed by more red and green.  Sure, there were designs I still wanted to create, but they will be saved until next year.

I finally was able to get to a manicure that I've been wanting to do since I purchased OPI Feel the Chemis-Tree.  To me, it was the perfect base for a snowflake design.  It's also that perfect manicure for this weird in between Christmas and New Years where you aren't so sure what you should paint on your nails.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - Feel the Chemis-Tree
  • Acrylics
Yes, I cheated and painted my snowflakes using acrylic paint.  I could have used polish but I didn't have the time or energy to at 11pm when I started this design.  I love how they turned out!

Totally took me until writing this post to realize the pun behind the name Feel the Chemis-Tree.  I am rather embarrassed with myself.  Regardless, it's a gorgeous polish which covers perfectly in two coats.  Truly unique to my collection. 


What do you think?  Fan of this design?  Like this new OPI polish??

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With The Final Christmas Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  Merry Christmas to all of those who celebrate!!!!  Cannot believe that I have made it a whole month doing nothing but Christmas designs.  I actually took this manicure off last night and got to work on something not so Christmas-y only for the base to turn dark and give it a Christmas look.  Sigh.  I'm going neon for my next mani.

Anyways, today I am bringing you my very last Christmas design!  I believe it was NBNailArt on Instagram who posted a design with a poinsettia over a gold gradient background.  While going through my Pinterest idea board, I saw I had pinned a similar design awhile back.  I loved the look so I thought I'd give it a go.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • FingerPaints - Golden Glaze
  • Zoya - Maria Luisa
  • Acrylics
Okay, kind of love how these turned out.  If I were to do this design again, I would make the flowers a little smaller so you can see the background clearer, because it truly was gorgeous.  Overall though, I'm impressed with the outcome especially since free-hand designs that are intricate like this usually don't turn out how I want them to.  I cheated and used acrylics because I had to mix a lot of colors to get the desired tones and details.

What do you think?  Fan of this design?  Perfect last Christmas manicure??

I hope everyone has a Happy and Merry Christmas!!!!

Until next time, <3.



Christmas

The One With the Christmas Dotticure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  It's finally Friday and Christmas is right around the corner.  That's right, Christmas is almost here and that means it's almost time for me to finish up posting only Christmas manicures.  I'm still surprised that I have gone all month with doing only holiday themed designs.  I really thought I wasn't going to make it because work has been so busy, but here I am!!  Successfully completing my blog task.

Today's design is the child born after a disasticure.  The other night I tried to do this holly design but it looked horrid.  Everything smeared, the leaves weren't shaped right, just everything was horrid.  So when it was midnight and I had naked nails I just decided to grab two of my favorite Christmas polishes and do a simple dotticure.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Santa Suit
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Cat in the Christmas Tree
My two favorite scattered holo Christmas crellys.  They are beyond amazing.  Two coats, full coverage, and gorgeous shiny finished look.  I absolutely love Cat in the Christmas Tree.  It's a green polish that is truly unique to my collection.

What do you think?  Fan of this simple Christmas look?  Like the polishes??

Until next time, <3.


The One With the Annual Christmas Light Strand Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Tuesday?  I had an awful nail painting night last night and was up for all hours and ended up with a disasticure.  Been a long time since I've used that term.  Disasticure was removed, simple manicure put on, and I'm still not happy.

I am happy though about today's design, which is the annual Christmas light nail art!  Each year I've done some sort of variation of the Christmas light strand.  Ever since I purchased Nine Zero Lacquer in Twinkle Lights, I've been doing the design on top of that.  This year is no different.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Twinkle Lights
  • Acrylics
I love this holo polish with the cellophane glitters throughout.  Perfect polish for this manicure, and for the Christmas season.  Two coats and you have full coverage, but I cheated and put one coat of ORLY Mirrorball down before so I didn't use more polish than I had to.

One thing I forgot about this polish - it is a pain in the behind to remove.  What is it about glitter polishes that make them impossible to remove?!  Literally 20 plus minutes using gel remover.  Ugh.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Like this base coat??

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With the Christmas Snowman Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this wonderful Saturday?  I'm never leaving my bed, especially since the temperature has dropped down.  My fleece sheets went on a few weeks ago and my bed is this cozy, warm, comfy cocoon which is truly difficult to leave every day.  Now that it's Saturday and I don't have to work, I don't see why I should have to leave.  Well, maybe to be a productive adult, but eh.

Today's design is one I've done every year now for a few years, but I put a Christmas spin on it.  I purchased a snowman sweater dress to wear to the ugly sweater party at work earlier this week, so it was only fitting that I matched my nails to the dress.  Usually I do this snowman manicure on a blue base and give the guy a neutral colored scarf and call it a winter design paired with the snowflakes.  Since I vowed to do only Christmas designs, I went with a red and green theme.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Merida
  • Zoya - Alicia
  • Zoya - Blaze
  • Acrylics
Oh Zoya, I love your scattered holos.  Please, oh please, give your polishes a wider brush!!  I can't be the only one who hates the thin brushes.  Companies like ORLY, OPI, and Sally Hansen have spoiled me with these wider brushes.  Few swipes and I have one coat.  I find with the narrower thin brushes I end up flooding my cuticles.  Maybe it's just me....

Anyways, these polishes are all gorgeous.  Two coats for each and you have sparkly, scattered holo goodness.  I think when Zoya has their annual New Years BOGO sale, I might stock up on my favorites.  That way I can use them more often without feeling like I'm going to run out.  Part of me feels like I have a back up of a few but still don't use them.  Probably should clean my melmers and check.

What do you think?  Like this little snowman?  Fan of Zoya's scattered holos?

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With the Santa Claus Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!!  Welcome to Wednesday.  Middle of the work week....is it over yet?  We are in a winter storm warning so it will be an interesting day.  Hoping it's a work from home day, aka a work from bed day.  That sounds just so wonderful, but I doubt it will happen.

Continuing with the Christmas manicures and they are starting to get a tad more intricate!  On Sunday at work we had the resident/family Christmas party.  Of course I wanted to be super festive, so I went out and bought myself the cutest Christmas leggings with Santa Claus on them.  It only made sense to match my nails to the leggings.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Santa Suit
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Cat in the Christmas Tree
  • OPI - Pale to the Chief
  • ORLY - White Tips
Isn't this the cutest manicure ever?!  I am obsessed with this little guy.  I was going to take the design off after two days because my right hand chipped some, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so.  I think this is my favorite Santa design of all time.  I don't think I did one last year because I honestly never liked how mine turned out.  I think taking a year off was good for me.

Santa Suit by Nine Zero Lacquer is a gorgeous red scattered holo polish.  Kind of a crelly consistency which needed two coats.  Perfect Christmas red which really does remind me of a Santa Suit.  


Here's a crappy cell phone shot of my manicure with my leggings.  Doesn't my manicure match them perfectly??  My goal now is to get leggings for every holiday and paint my nails to match them.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Love the leggings like I do??

Until next time, <3.



Christmas

The One With the Christmas Branch Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this Sunday?  It's supposed to snow a little bit here today, which I am okay with since it's freezing.  I also have a Christmas party for the resident's and their families at work, so if it's snowing while I'm working, I'm completely okay with that also.  I'm debating on waiting to do snowflake designs until after Christmas....

Until I figure out when I'm going to do snowflake manicures, I'm going to keep sharing Christmas designs.  Today's manicure is Christmas tree branches!  I've seen this design all over Pinterest, then I saw Shannon from Coffee and Nail Polish create a design like it, so I decided it was my turn to try the look.  I was going to try it last year, but I was nervous due to the blending and such.  I felt like I didn't have the talent to be able to make the design look like tree branches.

I think I did a pretty good job.  Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Morgan Taylor - I'm Drawing a Blanco
  • Acrylics
Cute, right??  It took me a bit to figure out how to blend the greens together to make them look like evergreens, but I finally figured it out.  I first started with a really light green acrylic, which was my Holiday Green acrylic mixed with some white.  After I had that down, I took the plain acrylic with no mixed colors and blended it a bit in with the light colored.  Then I mixed the green with some brown to add the darkest details.

Morgan Taylor I'm Drawing a Blanco is a perfect base for this manicure.  It is a white shimmer polish with tiny tiny glitter pieces.  It reminded me of snow.  Perfect winter polish.  Two coats and still a little sheer, but since it was the base for this design, I didn't need it to be completely opaque.

What do you think?  Like the Christmas branches?  Think they look like tree branches??

Can't wait to show you my next Christmas design.  It's adorable.

Until next time, <3.

Christmas

The One With the Poinsettia Nail Art Re-Creation

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!  How are you all doing on this cold day?  We are getting some snow, not as much as I would like, but some.  You might think I'm crazy for wanting snow, but December is the only month where I truly like snow.  After December 25th it becomes annoying and a bother.  There's just something about a white Christmas.

I'm back today with another Christmas manicure!  So far so good on keeping that promise to myself of posting only Christmas designs this month.  Actually painted another last night so that means I'll have another post in the next few days.  Anyways, today's design is a re-creation of one of my favorites from last year....my poinsettia design!!!

Switched up the accent nail a little bit due to sheer laziness, and made the leaves a tad smaller, and overall loving it.  Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Sunset Blvd
  • ORLY - Invite Only
  • Serendipity Polish - Glitzy Gold Champagne
  • Salon Perfect - Glam Glitter
Isn't it lovely??  Kind of love it more than last year's design.  The one thing that bothered me last year was that the leaves were large and I felt like it took over design and took away from the poinsettia.  This year, the red flower really stands out and the leaves are in the background just like they are on the real plant.

Sunset Blvd and Invite Only are from last years ORLY Holiday collection.  These two polishes are the BEST Christmas polishes.  The green applies in two coats.  Last year I had a problem with bubbling and had to add a top coat of Northern Lights, but this year no bubbles.  Must have been I applied it too thick or didn't let the coats dry long enough.  Who knows.  Sunset Blvd also applied in two coats.  Just a gorgeous, bright, Christmas red.

And one of my favorites this time of year - Glam Glitter.  I won this polish a few years ago and am shocked that the red didn't bleed and that the polish itself didn't dry up.  Small gold hexes, mixed with green and red pieces.  The best Christmas glitter.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Love the polishes used?

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With the Christmas Holly Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!  How are you all doing on this fine Monday? That's right, the work week is here again, are you all ready?  I kind of am, I'll know for sure by the end of the day.  Ever had one of those starts to the week.  Go into it all pumped thinking you're ready then halfway through the day you want to start over?? 

Since it is December, I have decided I'm going to bring you only Christmas manicures this month.  Well except for after Christmas when I bring you New Years manicures.  Maybe.  We will see how the end of the month goes.

Today's design is a simple holly manicure inspired by Jessica from LaLaLoveNailArt.  She posted it a few weeks ago and I fell in love.  I searched my melmer for a darker red and green and finally settled on a beauty by INM and Morgan Taylor.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • INM - Emerald
  • INM - Gold Northern Lights
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • Morgan Taylor - All Tango-d Up
Adorable, right?  So cute and simple.  Perfect introduction to Christmas manicures for the blog.  Emerald by INM is beyond gorgeous.  A deep green polish that covered completely in one coat.  I used two coats because I had an uneven spot on one of my nails.  What's great about these INM polish's is that they dry super quickly so you don't have to wait forever in between coats.

Morgan Taylor All Tango-d Up is going to be one of my go-to red polish's.  Sure, I'm not a huge fan of red, but this one is gorgeous and applied like a dream.  I always have a problem where my reds flood and stain my cuticles, but this one applied perfectly.  Two coats and full coverage.

A few months ago INM sent me a package which contained my favorite, INM Northern Lights in Gold.  I was heart broken a few years ago when my top-coat drawer fell out of the storage unit and this top coat was one of the casualties.  I searched everywhere and never found it.  When the bottle arrived, I literally jumped for joy.  This reminds me, I have those INM Christmas glitters from a few years ago!  

What do you think?  Fan of this holly manicure?  Something you'd try??

Until next time, <3.





Monthly Mani Favs

The One With November's #MonthlyManiFavs

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world and welcome to December!!  Work has been crazy busy and I meant to have this post up yesterday, but alas, I went to bed and forgot to pre-publish it.  So here we are on December 1st sharing my favorite manicures from December.  At least it's not like that time I skipped a whole month and combined two months in one post.

My plan for December is to share only Christmas manicures, except for the very end of the month when it becomes that New Years Eve mani time and odd winter time where you aren't 100% positive what you want to do on your nails.

Anyways, time to re-cap November.  Let's take a look!

  1. The One Inspired by Coffee and Nail Polish - I absolutely love this design.  I have a feeling it might make it on my favorite of the year post!  The purple, the gradients, the tape designs....just everything is so perfect.
  2. The One With the Harvest Pumpkin Manicure - My super simple Thanksgiving manicure which I loved.  Can we talk about how perfect Pandora by Sinful Colors is?  I love the color so much and am so upset that I haven't used this polish which I have had for probably 2 years now.  Plus the little pumpkin is so adorable.
  3. The One With the Bestie Twin Nails Re-Creation - I miss doing my BTN posts with Fashion Footing.  Hopefully we will come back in December with a holiday themed one.  We will see.  This manicure though is one of my favorite "fall" looking floral designs.  I can see myself re-creating this one each year.
  4. The One Inspired by One Nail To Rule Them All - Love this color combination and the floral pattern.  A design I never would have come up with on my own.  I wish I had this creativity.  Instead I re-create or come up with different twists on manicures I've already done.  Oh well.
What do you think? Any of these designs your favorite?  Think I should have picked another design?

Until next time, <3.


Gradient Mani

The One Inspired by Coffee and Nail Polish

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  It's Tuesday which means my work week has started and I'm already looking forward to Friday.  Actually work wasn't too bad yesterday.  I distracted myself from my actual job by decorating two of our four Christmas trees.  All four have been decorated by little ol' me and I kind of don't want to see another Christmas ornament again.  That's four 7.5 foot trees, three strands of 100 count lights on each, and 96 ornaments on each.  Yes, I went overboard, but the resident's love it.

Today's design is one I did awhile ago and it got lost in the draft posts here on The Little Canvas.  This manicure was inspired by the wonderful Shannon from Coffee and Nail Polish.  It's a fun gradient tape with my favorite colors...purple and blue!

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • OPI - Polly Want a Lacquer?
  • OPI - Rich Girls and Po Boys
  • OPI - Kiss Me I'm Brazilian
  • Zoya - Tomoko
Isn't it the most perfect manicure ever?!  The tape designs took awhile to do because I didn't have any stencils, so I placed every single piece of tape where you are seeing the white.  When i had the tape how I liked it, which took forever with my OCD, I painted the three OPI polishes onto the sponge in a random pattern and applied it to the nail.  I then quickly removed the tape and got the lovely look.  

Now, my advice with this type of manicure - wait a solid 10 minutes before applying top coat!  If you apply too soon, the gradient will smudge into the white areas!

What do you think?  Like this design as much as I do?  Don't you think the color combination is perfect???

Until next time, <3.


Sally Hansen

The One With the Sally Hansen Smoosh Mani

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Saturday?  I finally got all my Christmas lights up on the house and the decorations done at work.  I am officially ready for Christmas.  Well, I haven't bought any gifts yet, but I still have about 28 days...right?

Today's manicure is a smoosh manicure.  I was feeling completely uninspired the other night and had no idea what to do on my nails.  I started to paint and this idea came into my mind.  I hadn't done a smoosh manicure in awhile, and I had a new stamper I wanted to try to see if the look was easier to create.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • Sally Hansen - King of Shadows
  • China Glaze - Disco Ball Drop
  • OPI - This Crown Needs a Gown
Mish mosh of brands used for this manicure, but what can I say, they colors all came together perfectly.  King of Shadows is a gorgeous dusty purple polish which covers completely in two coats.  I've used this polish once before and am a little mad that I haven't used it more.

Disco Ball Drop by China Glaze is one of their new glitters from the holiday collection.  I bought it because, well, it's a silver holo glitter and you know me and my silver holos.  Kind of a sparse glitter which needed a little dabbing but it wasn't too awful.  It reminds me of OPI's In True Stefani Fashion but instead of square glitters, it's hex.

What do you think?  Fan of the smoosh manicure?

Until next time, <3.


ILNP

The One With the Harvest Pumpkin Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!  How are you all doing today?  Are you all ready for Thanksgiving??  I cannot believe that the holiday is tomorrow.  Where did November go?  I really feel like this month flew by, probably because it's been so busy at work.  Oh well.

Today's manicure is a Fall Harvest Pumpkin design for Thanksgiving.  I was going to post it tomorrow but I figured I'd get the mani up on the blog the day before so I don't have to worry about blogging on Thanksgiving.  Not like I'll be doing much other than watching the parade and dog show.

Let's take a look at the manicure!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Clockwork
  • Sinful Colors - Pandora
  • OPI - My Vampire is Buff
  • OPI - Crawfishin' for a Compliment
Pandora by Sinful Colors is so so so so so gorgeous!!!  I cannot remember when I bought this polish, and honestly had no idea I owned it until I was searching for the perfect Fall color for this design.  I don't even think I had used it.  Two coats and it had full coverage of the most gorgeous terra-cotta color with a subtle shimmer.  I'm so mad I haven't used it before.

What do you think?  Fan of the cute little pumpkin manicure??

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving!!!

Until next time, <3.


Dot Mani

The One With the Bestie Twin Nails Re-Creation

9:00:00 AM


 Good morning polished world and Happy Sunday!!  How's the weather where you are?  It's gross, windy, and snowy here.  I am so happy I got all my Christmas lights in the garden before this weather rolled in because I would have not been a happy camper setting them up in this.  I also set up the outdoor lights at work on Friday when it was semi warm and sunny.  Sure, I was frozen and exhausted come Friday evening, but it's all done and looks amazing.

Today's manicure is a re-creation of a Bestie Twin Nail design that I did last year with Fashion Footing.  It's been months since Amanda and I have done a BTN and I think it's about time we come together again and maybe even start our tradition up again.

Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I wanted to re-create a fall-ish floral design we did last November.  I truly loved last years design, but switched it up a little this year.

Let's take a look.


Colors Used:
  • Morgan Taylor - Don't Break my Corazon
  • OPI - My Vampire Is Buff
  • ORLY - Bling
  • OPI - Exotic Birds Do Not Tweet
  • OPI - No Tan Lines
My switch up wasn't much. The first difference is that I used a lighter red polish.  Don't Break My Corazon is a gorgeous cream by Morgan Taylor.  It had full coverage in one coat, but I used two for the manicure.  I didn't think I was going to like this color, but I fell in love with it.

The second switch was my index finger.  Last year I did the floral design, but this year I decided to do a dot design which combined all the colors and I think tied the manicure together really well.

What do you think?  Like this Fall design?  Something you'd try?

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

The One With the Tribal Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!!!  How are you all doing today?  It's Thursday but it feels like it should be a Friday.  It's been a long week so far but I have gotten a lot accomplished.  I have edited photos, pre-published some posts, and got all my Christmas lights up on the house before the winter storm this weekend.  Yeah, you are reading that right, we are expecting a winter storm before Thanksgiving.  It's been such a weird Fall, especially since all the leaves are still on the trees, but it's almost the end of November.

Today's manicure is a cute tribal design.  I've done this exact tribal look before, just on a different base.  I should start switching up my free-hand designs, but the evening I did this manicure it was late, I was tired, and not really feeling too creative.  Regardless, I'm in love with how it turned out.

Let's take a look.


Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Flip Flop Fantasy
  • China Glaze - Big Hair and Bubbly
  • Color Club - Blue Ming
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Isn't that gradient amazing??  I used the original formula of Flip Flop Fantasy for this design.  You know, the one that is more pink than coral.  I hate when polish companies change their formulas and you are forced to sparingly use your favorite until the bitter end.  I probably couldn't get a coat of my original Flip Flop Fantasy on my nail if I tried, therefore it's a gradient only polish.  I love how it looks mixed with Blue-Ming.

Big Hair and Bubbly is my new favorite gold glitter.  This polish is from China Glaze's new holiday collection.  The girl's at my local Sally Beauty let me have a sneak peek of the collection at the beginning of November and I picked out my four favorites - all being glitters.  Kind of shocking since I never wear glitter polishes, but I did this in hopes I start using my glitters again.  After using this one, I for sure will.  It applied wonderfully over a base of gold polish.  No need for dabbing or placing any of the large pieces.  Happy to have this because all of my gold glitter are either dried up, or have holo pieces.  

What do you think?  Like this tribal design?  Fan of the gold glitter?

Until next time, <3.


Serendipity Polish

The One With the Serendipity Polish Abstract Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  I'm doing well as I have finally edited all of my old manicures that I've been sitting on.  I have 6 posts to share and I'm extremely embarrassed with myself that I do not have a better posting schedule.   I looked at my Instagram and have only posted 3 manicures this month and we are already halfway through November.  Sigh.

Today's design is an abstract design I did using some of my beloved Serendipity Polish's.  When they closed up shop, I purchased most of the colors that I didn't already have.  Kind of sad that there are two that my collection will forever be without but what can you do.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Serendipity Polish - #GoalDigger
  • Serendipity Polish - Peace, Love, and Sandy Feet
  • Serendipity Polish - Pink Poinsettia
  • Serendipity Polish - Bottomless Mimosas
  • Acrylics
Kind of neat, isn't it? I started off with a base coat of #GoalDigger which is a white polish that covers in one coat.  That's right, just like pretty much every other Serendipity Polish this was a one coater.  So upsetting that I find the perfect white and cannot get another bottle.  Par for the course, right?

To get the rest of the look, I just dry brushed the colors randomly on the nail.  When they dried, I went through with a grey and black acrylic and added the grey lines and the dots.  I tried to make it look abstract and I think it turned out rather well.

What do you think?  Fan of this design?  Mad at me that I have been failing at posting?

Until next time, <3.

Flowers

The One Inspired By One Nail To Rule Them All

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  I apologize that I haven't been updating the blog regularly but this Day Light Savings has thrown me off and I'm exhausted by the end of the night.  I have 7 posts to share, so maybe tomorrow I'll write them all up and pre-publish them.  We will see though since I got the bright idea to do a Pinterest craft.

Today's nail art is inspired by One Nail to Rule Them All.  I have been a fan of Alice's blog since I started blogging way back when.  She's a fellow nail artist who creates some really cute designs on short nails.  Therefore, re-creating her designs on my nails is super easy.

Months ago I came across this design on her Instagram and instantly fell in love.  The grey with the yellow florals and black accented leaves....just everything about it was great.  It's one of those designs that I never would have come up with on my own.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Greyfitti
  • Acrylics
Greyfitti is a gorgeous grey polish which I am beyond happy to have part of my collection.  You know how much I love the Miracle Gel line, so a grey polish was one of the colors that I was missing.  Two coats and full coverage.  Usually with greys, I need three coats because they're watery, but this one is perfect.

I used acrylics for the design because I was tired and lazy.  Using acrylics for art is so much easier than using polish.  Especially because when you make a mistake you can erase it and start over without having to destroy your base coat.

What do you think?  Like this design?  Something you'd try?

Until next time, <3.


Animal Print

The One With the Zoya Leopard Manicure

9:00:00 AM


God morning polished world!!  How are you all doing on this fine Tuesday?  It's starting to feel like winter here.  Cold temperatures, windy, and of course snow in the forecast.  Who knows if we will actually get snow because I feel like the meteorologists always get it wrong.

Today's design is a simple leopard print I did when I was feeling completely uninspired.  I wasn't sure what color combination to do, so I decided to dig into my Zoya's and use some of them.  I have so many Zoya polishes, but I rarely use them, especially the nude colors.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Tomoko
  • Zoya - Rocky
  • Zoya - Taylor
  • Zoya - Raven
I did this manicure with a pink accent years ago, but am really loving it with Rocky.  It amazes me after years of not using it, and the label missing from the bottom, I still remember the name of this polish.  I think that show that I have a real addiction here.  Two coats and full coverage on this beauty.

Accented with Tomoko, my favorite of the Pixie dusts and probably the most used Zoya in my collection.  It's very multi-functional and can be used with so many different designs.

What do you think?  Like this design?  Do you like Zoya polishes?  I kind of hate the thin brushes....blend their polish with OPI's brush and I'd be fully in love.

Until next time, <3.


Dot Mani

The One With the Polka Dots and ORLY Mirrorball

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  Welcome to November.  Let's see if I can post as many manicures as I did in October.  Last month was kind of the exception because of Halloween.  Maybe in December I can do the month of all Christmas designs and then post dozens upon dozens.

Anyways, today's design is a super simple polka dot manicure using one of my all time favorite polishes - ORLY Mirrorball.  Back when Sally Beauty discontinued this polish from their core collection display, I purchased 5 bottles at a discounted rate.  I have no regrets other than I wish I bought more.


Color Used:
  • ORLY - Mirrorball
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Isn't it gorgeous??  Look at that holo goodness!!!!  What I love about this polish is that not only does it have your normal linear holo, but it also has holo hex glitters throughout which adds just a little more sparkle and umph.  It really is an amazing polish and one of a kind from a mainstream brand.  I have yet to see other brands like China Glaze or OPI come out with something similar. 

Originally I was going to do a tape manicure with this design, but then after seeing how gorgeous Mirrorball was on it's own, I really couldn't bring myself to cover it up.  Therefore I went for a super simple dot manicure, which I haven't done in forever.

What do you think?  Love this holo?  Have about 10 bottles of your own??

Until next time, <3.

Monthly Mani Favs

The One With October's #MonthlyManiFavs

9:00:00 AM

Good morning polished world and Happy November!!!  Odd start to the month, yesterday it was freezing and now today it's going to be warm.  Hopefully I can get at least one more warm day so I can put up my Christmas lights.  I won't turn them on until after Thanksgiving, but I like to get them on the trees and bushes beforehand so I'm not freezing my butt off in December.

Since I wanted to post Halloween manicures right up until the very last day of the month, I am coming to you today with my Monthly Mani Favorites from October!  Now I had two manicures which were not Halloween ones, and I did love one of them and wanted to include it in the collage, but my OCD wouldn't let me.  I needed to share a collage of just Halloween designs.  Yes, I'm crazy.

Let's take a look!


  1. The One With the Halloween Paint Drip - I haven't done a paint drip manicure in I don't know how long.  I really need to do one again this month or even in December.  The base of this polish was beyond perfect.  I will be using it for Christmas and for St. Patrick's Day.
  2. The One With the Halloween Smoosh Manicure - Another manicure I haven't done in a while - the smoosh manicure.  This design was a recreation of one I did last year.  Loved it then, and love it now.  Anyone have any color ideas for future smoosh manicures?
  3. The One With the Halloween Splatter Manicure - I wanted to come up with something a little different for a Halloween design, and this mani was the result.  It was a twist on the candy corn gradient with a fun black splatter.  I think this was my favorite manicure of the month.
  4. The One With the Neon Green Spider Webs - Drink Up Witches by China Glaze is an amazing neon green polish.  I always mean to use this polish in the summer time, then I look at the name and put it back.  Sure, it can be used year round, but when it's such a Halloween name, I feel weird using it at any other time of the year.  I also talked about in my post how much I love the hex glitter and that I need to use more.  Yeah, well, I remembered quickly why I don't use them when I went to remove it.  Took me forever.
What do you think?  Was there a manicure you liked more than what I posted?

Until next time, <3.

China Glaze

The One With The Neon Green Spider Webs

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world and Happy Halloween!!!  After days of preparing a group costume of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I am ready for today.  Sure, I'm probably going to look super stupid, but I'm excited and I know that my co-workers and resident's are going to love it.  I can't wait to see what my other co-workers costumes.  We should have had a contest....

Anyways, to match my costume, and have still Halloween nails, I decided to re-create a spiderweb design by OhMyGoshPolish.  I pinned this design last year since I had all of the polishes, but I never got around to doing it.  I'm kind of mad that I haven't used any of my glitters like this in a while.  I need to go through my glitter collection and force myself to use them.

Let's take a look at the last Halloween design!


Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Drink Up Witches
  • China Glaze - Something's Brewing
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Isn't it cute??  Drink Up Witches is such a bright, fluorescent green polish.  I put a base of white underneath because when I tried it alone on the naked nail, it was kind of a thin jelly which probably would have taken three coats to get opaque.  It has a similar consistency to ORLY Glowstick.  Super bright, super thin, but super amazing.

Somethings Brewing is a mixture of green and black hex glitters.  You can't see the black glitters that much due to the black base, but you can kind of see them over the green glitters.  It applied nicely with little to no need to dab or place glitters.

What do you think?  Like this final Halloween manicure??

Until next time, <3. 


Halloween

The One With the Ghost Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world and Happy Sunday!  How are you all doing today??  I need to carve my pumpkin and make a few more tutus for my group costume at work.  I cannot wait to show you guys this costume.  It's been forever since I dressed up so I am beyond excited.  It's all coming together so nicely!!

Today's Halloween manicure is a re-creation of last years ghost design.  It popped up on my Facebook Memories the other day and I decided I had to re-create it.  Of course this seems to be the trend this year.  Probably a good thing I didn't post any of these to my Facebook because next year I'd just be re-creating everything again.

Let's take a look at today's re-creation!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky O
  • Sally Hansen - Electra-cute
  • ORLY - Mirrorball
Super cute, right??  I think my little ghosts last year were cuter, but whatever they still are cute this year.  I forgot what a pain in the behind they were to paint.  I couldn't space them out on my nail right so I had to re-do them like five times before I was happy with this final design.

What do you think?  Like this design?  Have you ever tried to paint itty bitty ghosts and frustrate your self?

One more design coming on Tuesday!!!

Until next time, <3.


Halloween

The One With the Halloween Patchwork Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world and Happy Friday!!!  Super excited that it's Friday, and super excited that Halloween is almost here.  I finally have my costume picked out and it's a group costume with some of my amazingly lovely co-workers.  I haven't dressed up in ages, let alone have a group costume!!!  Cannot wait to show you all!

Bringing you yet another Halloween manicure.  I'm having mixed feelings about Halloween being around the corner.  I'm happy because I'm kind of getting tired of the Halloween designs, but I'm sad because I still have so many ideas that I want to try but not enough time.  Such is life, right?  Never can be happy.

Today's design is a simple Halloween patchwork.  I usually create this design every year in one way shape or form.  This year I opted for simple, and somewhat neon.

Let's take a look! 


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Thrill Seeker
  • ORLY - Frolic
  • Serendipity Polish - Orange County Girl
Super fun look, but I kind of wish I went for a more traditional Halloween green.  Yes, Thrill Seeker is amazing, but it just leans more yellow than I would have liked.  Actually, it looked greener in person, I think my camera couldn't fully handle the neon and made it look weird.

Easy look to re-create.  First I started off with a base of white polish.  When that was dried, I went through and added the color blocks using a dotting tool.  It didn't have to be done neatly because I knew the black lines would be covering over the spots where the colors met.  When my patches dried, I added the black using a nail art brush.  Top coated, and called it a night.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Something you'd try??

I should have two more Halloween designs for you before Tuesday!!!

Until next time, <3.


Halloween

The One With the Halloween Smoosh Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished people! How are you all doing on this fine Tuesday?  Can you believe Tuesday is already here?  I feel like Monday just came and went.  Actually yesterday was just an odd day.  Work was okay, but when I came home from work, my relaxing night of making dinner and lounging turned into chaos.  It was kind of windy here, so the trees across the street started to hit the power lines, causing the tree to catch fire, which then in turn brought the fire department to the neighborhood.  The fire department brought the electric company who threw the power for the whole street while they fixed it.  Of course, they threw the power off 10 minutes after I started dinner, so everything stopped cooking and just sat.  About an hour or so later the power went back on, I was able to finish dinner, but it just threw my whole night off.  Oh well.

Thankfully I had my nails painted so I didn't have to worry or even consider painting by candlelight which I have done in the past.  Today's design is yet another Halloween one.  It is a recreation of last year's smoosh manicure.  I love the smoosh designs, and rarely do them.  I"m not sure why, especially when they produce such amazing results like this one.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Serendipity Polish - Building My Empire
  • Serendipity Polish - Orange County Girl
  • Serendipity Polish - #GoalDigger
I'm finding it hard to believe that I have yet to use Orange County Girl from my Serendipity Polish line.  Still feeling the pains of this company closing.  I seriously love their polish and miss them terribly.  Roxie did begin a new company which is really awesome raising awareness for causes, but I'm selfishly missing these pretty collections.

This manicure is super easy to create. First you start off with a base of white polish.  Then with a stamper, I drip a few drips of white, black, and orange, then smoosh it onto a paper plate, then onto the nail.  Added a little top coat, and called it a day.  Seriously love how each nail looks so differently!

What do you think?  Fan of this look??  Something you've done before??

Until next time, <3.


Gradient Mani

The One With the Halloween Splatter Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Saturday?  I am planning on laying in bed for 90% of the day ignoring the world.  Okay, maybe I won't.  It's my father's birthday this weekend so I need to get some stuff done for that.  Most importantly, I need to bake a cake.  I guess I could lay in bed while the cake bakes....right?

I'm so proud of myself that I'm still painting and posting Halloween manicures.  I think that I have more ideas than I do time to post them.  We will see what happens.  Today's design is a different take on the candy corn gradient I usually do.  Every year I do that same white, to orange, to yellow gradient.  I admire it but then about a few hours after completing it I kind of hate them.

After searching around, I came across a white, to yellow, to orange gradient which had that candy corn feel, but wasn't your typical candy corn manicure.  I painted that on my nail, and enjoyed it much more, but there was something that was missing.  I came to the conclusion, it was a splatter.

Let's take a look....


Colors Used:
  • OPI - Alpine Snow
  • OPI - Exotic Birds Do Not Tweet
  • OPI - No Tan Lines
Isn't it cool??  I really love this manicure!  I don't think I've ever hated a splatter manicure because each nail looks so different and unique.  Some people avoid them because of the mess, but I don't find them to be much messier than doing a gradient.

When doing a gradient, I always put painters tape around my nails.  I prefer tape over the liquid latex or peel off base coat because I feel like those require much more clean up.  Also, there's that dry time which I don't have time for when it's 10pm and I want to be asleep by 11pm.  So after the nail is taped off, I will add the gradient, then right after the gradient is done, while the tape is still around my nail, I'll add the splatter.  It baffles me when I watch tutorials that people remove the latex or the glue before finishing the full design. Eh, to each their own.

What do you think?  Like this look?  Think it's a Halloween-ish manicure?

Until next time, <3.


Halloween

The One With the Halloween Paint Drip

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this fine Wednesday?  Midweek is upon us.  I honestly don't know where the past two days went.  Work has been busy, life has kind of been blah, so everything is just blurring into the next.  Oh well.

Today's manicure is yet another Halloween design!  After surfing Pinterest, I found a bunch of green nails with black paint drips.  I loved the look and it had been forever since I had created a paint drip look, so I decided to re-create one of them.  Especially since I had a new green polish from INM which I have been dying to use!

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • INM - Survival of Earth
  • INM - Northern Lights
  • Acrylics
Isn't Survival of Earth fabulous!?  It's such a pretty green shimmer polish!!!!  I couldn't help myself and had to add a top coat of INM Northern Lights and I'm beyond happy I did.  It is just beyond gorgeous and I cannot stop looking at them.  Actually, before I put the design on, I debated on just wearing the green polish alone....which if you know me that is shocking since I NEVER wear polish without a design.  That tells you how much I love this shade.

The design on top though really made for a neat looking manicure.  I don't think I would have liked this design as much if I would have used a flat cream polish.  So happy I went with the shimmer.  It made the black drips look like they were stickers.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Have you ever used any INM polishes?  Are you not in love with this green??

Until next time, <3.


Halloween

The One With the Googly Eye Nail Art

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today??  Welcome to yet another Sunday.  The weather here is mad crazy.  It's going to be 80 degrees today.  So yesterday when I put up my Halloween decorations, it was abnormally warm, the mosquitos were buzzing, and it did not feel like October at all.  I saw though that it's supposed to be 55 on Monday, so that means I'll end up sick or something.  Or we will have a horrid storm.  Either way, no fun.

Continuing on with the Halloween manicures!  Today I re-created a googly eye design which I usually do every Halloween, but for some reason didn't last year.  I think I was going to and then ran out of time.  Well, after seeing Sarah from 25 Sweet Pea's re-creation of one of my past designs using colored pupils, I decided to do the same.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • A bunch of ORLY neons
I don't know how I feel about the photo of this manicure.  Love the manicure, but kind of hate the photo.  Well, I like it because it looks more like the eyes are disappearing into the blackness of the bottle, but then I kind of hate it because you can't see the edge of my nails.  Honestly this is probably just a mind over matter thing that no one would have noticed unless I pointed it out, which I just did.  Oh well.

Easy as heck to re-create this look.  First start off with a base coat of black polish.  When dried, go through with a white polish and a dotting tool and add the white part of the eyes.  When that was dried, you add the colored cornea, then go through with a tiny tiny dotting tool and add the pupils.  Top coat and you have some spooky cute nails.

What do you think?  Like this design?  Something you would do for Halloween??

Until next time, <3.

Gradient Mani

The One With the Orange and Black Gradient

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing on this Thursday??  It was a super cold rainy day yesterday, and today it's supposed to be a tad warmer.  I hope it does warm up a bit because I feel like I'm starting to get a cold, and if the weather evens out, I think that the cold will go away.  Maybe?  Who knows.

Continuing on with another Halloween manicure today!  Last year Jessica from LaLaLoveNailArt on Instagram created the most perfect PixieDust gradient using Dhara and Dahlia.  I wanted to re-create it last year but never got around to doing so.  Of course that meant that I needed to do it right away.  Sadly though I don't like the look on my nails as much as I did on Jessica, but it's still an awesome manicure.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Dhara
  • Zoya - Dahlia
I mean, it is a cool looking design.  Now, Jessica kept hers matte, but I made mine shiny because the matte texture was kind of driving me insane.  At first I regretted adding the top coat, but they turned out to be so sparkly.  Literally my nails looked like black to orange gems.

I think the reason I wasn't a complete fan of this manicure was because it really was not easy to do.  I have done a gradient in the past with Pixie Dusts, and I forgot how difficult they are to do.  Maybe it's just me, but it takes forever for the colors to turn out how you want them to.  I also found it hard to get it evenly distributed.

What do you think?  Like this gradient?  Think I should have kept it matte?

Until next time, <3.


Halloween

The One With the Spider Web Re-Creation

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  Happy Sunday everyone!  How are you all doing today?  The weather is kind of weird here.  Yesterday it looked like a cold, Fall day, but instead it was so humid.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up with a pretty nasty sinus infection.  Sigh.

Since it's October, I said I would start sharing some Halloween themed manicures!  Halloween is no where near my favorite holiday, but for some reason I love doing nail art for it.  I have so many ideas and I hope to get through them all.

The first one I'm sharing with you is a re-creation of a last years vampy spider web design.  I loved this look and really wanted to give it a try again this year.  I of course broke a nail right before painting so my nails were shorter than I would have liked them, but I still got it all to work out.

Let's take a look.


Colors Used:
  • Morgan Taylor - Fruit of Temptation
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • Zoya - Dahlia
Last year I used a Jessica polish which was more red tinged, where this year I used a more pink/burgundy shaded polish.  I think I like the color better.  Sure, it's not vastly different, but it's different enough for me.

The base behind the spider web is my own concoction.  I mixed some black polish into an old bottle of Out the Door making a sheer black jelly polish.  Actually, I used the same bottle that I mixed last year, which I was surprised I was able to do.  I honestly thought that it was going to be dried up.  Took some shaking, but it came together perfectly.

What do you think?  Like this design?

Until next time, <3.


Dot Mani

The One With the Pink Holo Tape Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?? It's Thursday meaning our week is almost over and Saturday is right around the corner.  I've started doing some Halloween manicures, but I won't have them up on the blog until probably this weekend.  Every year I try to challenge myself to do new designs, and so far I've recreated one that I did last year.  We will see how many new ones I end up coming up with.

Today instead of sharing that Halloween design, I thought I would share a pink holo tape manicure I did using some of my Serendipity Polish.  Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought it was fitting to share a pink manicure right from the beginning.  Sure, I probably should have posted it on Monday, but I wasn't thinking and ended up sharing the yellow flowers.  Oh well.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Serendipity Polish - I Close Deals in Heels
  • Serendipity Polish - Girl Pwr
Two beautiful polishes from the Selfmade Babe collection which I didn't get when it originally came out.  Kind of kicking myself that I waited until the store was closing to buy them because they truly are amazing polishes.  I Close Deals in Heels (totally something I can relate to) is a gorgeous dusty pink polish which covers in one coat.  I used two coats because I tend to do that regardless.  Super fast drying with no bubbles.

Girl Pwr is by far one of the best holographic polishes I own.  Two coats for full coverage.  Worked amazing for nail art as you can see by the dots and the tape design.  The holo effect was strong in every type of lighting.  Truly an amazing polish and I kind of hate gushing about it because you guys can't get your hands on it.  I'm actually kind of mad that I can't get a back up bottle.

What do you think?  Like this taped holo look? 

Until next time, <3.


Dot Mani

The One With the Yellow Flowers

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today on this fine Monday?  Can you believe Monday is already here?  And can you believe it is already October??  That means I need to start doing some Halloween manicures.  This is going to be that weird month where my Monthly Mani Fav collage is going to be half normal designs, and half Halloween designs.  That kind of bugs the old OCD.

Today's design is a fall-like floral manicure.  I tried to make tiny sunflowers on my nails, but instead they turned into looking more like yellow daisies.  Regardless, I got the idea from a pin I saw on Pinterest where instead of using a nude base, the girl had a naked nail.  I don't like doing that much of a negative space design, so I decided to grab one of my favorite OPI nude polishes and get to work.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - Pale To the Chief
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • Acrylics
Pale to the Chief is one of my favorite OPI nude polishes.  Actually, all the nudes that I own from OPI are my favorite.  I was debating on getting this one because I have so many OPI nude polishes, but I'm beyond happy I did.  This polish has a very, very subtle shimmer to it which sets it aside from the others I own.  Two coats and full coverage.

The design was super simple to do.  Once my base was dry, I went through and added the polka dots on the nude nails.  I then added all the flowers, then the green leaves.  Super cute, super easy.

What do you think? Like this look? Wish they looked more like sunflowers like I do?

Until next time, <3.