ILNP

The One With Some New Years Eve Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose 


Hey everyone!!  We are almost to the end of 2020, and boy oh boy was this year a crazy ride.  While many people are saying 2020 was the worst year ever, I'm trying my best to look at the positive of the year instead of the negative.  As you know, I work in healthcare and faced numerous challenges.  Despite the challenges, struggles, and hardships, the residents at my facility remained happy, healthy, and safe.  What more could anyone ask for?  There were many lessons learned and at the end of it all, I'm a stronger person because of it all.  I truly hope that whoever is reading this looks at the negative in their life and tries to find one positive, and rise from the ashes.

Anyways, I could go on and on about that all day, but you are here to see the nails.  Today's manicure is a kitchen sink manicure for New Years Eve.  Every year I always grab my silver or gold holographics and do something fun.  To be completely honest with you, my New Years manicures are 9 times out of 10 my favorite of the whole year.  Today's design is no exception.

Let's take a look! 



Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Versailles
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky O
Two polishes, one fabulous manicure.  Each time I look at the manicure I love it even more.  The gradient using Versailles is perfect, because it's a perfect polish!  Two coats and full coverage of this gorgeous light gold holographic.  To me, this polish is the gold sister of Mega X, my favorite silver holographic polish from ILNP.   You might be seeing that polish make an appearance for my final manicure of 2020.


I just love how the pinkie and index finger turned out.  The gradient was so perfect that it looked like little fireworks or glitter bombs coming from my cuticles.  Then the laser tape design just pulls it all together.  I was going to keep my middle finger blank, but you know me and my polka dots.  I can't leave well enough alone.  Plus, it looked a little naked with everything else crazy going on with the manicure.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?

If I don't get my next post up before the New Year, I want to wish everyone who is reading this a very Happy and Blessed 2021.  End this year on a positive note.  You made it through a pandemic, you didn't let the world take you down.  Let's all make a resolution to look at the positive and find one thing each day to be grateful for.  Release all your expectations you have about 2021, and just focus on each day.  Every single day that we are given is a major blessings.  Look at it like that.  If we go into this New Year looking at the negative and having a victim mentality, then that's how we are going to perceive every day.  So instead of letting that happen, be the winner, be positive, and just kick 2020 to the curb and take 2021 by storm!  Please be happy, healthy, and safe.

And as always, thank you for sticking with me.  I know I went on some hiatuses because life got crazy, but I am so grateful for the ability to come back like I was never gone.  I love every single one of you.

Until next time, <3.




Christmas

The One With the Santa Nail Art - Merry Christmas!

9:30:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample Affiliate Link


Good morning Polished World, and Merry Christmas!!!!  December 25th is finally here, and I successfully brought you Christmas designs the whole month.  I'm rather proud of myself for this one.  Not going to lie, I was editing the photos for this post at 11:30pm last evening.  Santa was getting impatient with me since I wasn't sleeping and he couldn't deliver the gifts.

Santa understood though when he saw what today's post is!  I feel it's been awhile since I've done a little Santa Claus nail art, but after doing the Elf ones, I felt I had to.  Not to mention, I promised my residents at work that I would have my nails matching my Santa leggings for their "party".  I use the term party loosely since you know, social distancing and small groups.  Sigh, COVID needs to go away ASAP.  Despite the small group, they had fun, and loved my nails.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Santa Suit
  • Nine Zero Lacquer - Cat in the Christmas Tree
  • Acrylics and such
Isn't the big guy adorable?  I literally copied the design I did a few years ago because it matched the leggings so well.  While yes these are adorable, there's something about the original ones that hold a special place in my heart and I feel they look better.  Probably because my nails were in better condition than they are now and weren't constantly breaking.  Again, I blame COVID because I'm washing my hands constantly and bathing in sanitizer.


They're still adorable though.  I'm not complaining.  As always, Nine Zero Lacquer's Santa Suit is the perfect red for Christmas.  It reminds me of Say Love by ILNP except it is a tad lighter and a little more jelly-like.  Both are gorgeous, both apply wonderfully, both have holo, and both scream Christmas.  What more can you want?!

What do you think?  Loving the Santa?

Now it's time to try to do some New Years nails.  Wish me luck!!!

Hope you all have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas! 

Until next time, <3.

Christmas

The One With the Red and Green Christmas Light Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good morning Polished World!!!  Happy two days before Christmas!  Can you actually believe that Christmas is right around the corner?  I feel like December flew right on by.  I blame COVID and the fact it just turns my world upside down on a daily basis.  Despite the crazy, I'm super proud of myself for completing six Christmas designs.  Looking back at the year I've had and the hiatus' I've had to take because of my job, this is a huge accomplishment.  When I started up the blog again and my nail art, I told myself that I wasn't going to go on another break for the foreseeable future.  This has been a huge stress relief for me, and we all need that escape from the real world one way or another.

Today's I'm sharing with you my annual Christmas light manicure!  This is a design I've been doing since I started blogging years ago.  Each year I switch up the design by changing the base polish.  The most common base is typically a snowy gradient, but I really wasn't feeling that this year.  Then I remembered Christmas Cookie by ILNP.  It just begged to have some Christmas lights painted on top of it. 

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Christmas Cookie
  • Acrylics
Super adorable, right?  I opted for the red and green lights because of the tiny red and green microglitters in this polish.  Christmas Cookie is a white jelly polish with the different color microglitters.  Two coats and I had complete coverage.  It removes off the nail just as easily as it applies.  I was worried because of the density of the glitter, but you'd have no idea that the glitter was even there.


I love, love, LOVE how the red and green lights really make those red and green glitters pop.  I wore this polish alone as a swatch a few times this season and while you could see the glitter on it's own, with the colors on top it just added a whole new dimension.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?

Just one more design to share with you all.  Can you guess what it is??

Until next time, <3.




Christmas

The One With the Christmas Dotticure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose 


Good Morning Polished World!! How are you all doing today?  It's the 21st, which means Christmas is just four days away.  And I have two more manicures to share.  Well, I should have two more manicures to share.  I still need to paint my last one so maybe I'll only have one more to share.  I meant to paint last evening, but I didn't get home until late and I just did a swatch and called it a night.  Hoping tonight I can get my last design in.

Today's manicure is a simple dotticure I painted last week.  During this time of year, I fall in love with my red and green holographic polishes and I have to talk myself out of using them for every single design.  I wanted to show them off and not add too much art because I wanted the polishes themselves to shine.  So, of course a dotticure was the only solution for this.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:

  • ILNP - Say Love
  • Zoya - Merida 
  • ORLY - White Tips
How gorgeous is Say Love by ILNP!?  This is by far my favorite red nail polish.  If you've been reading this blog a while, you know I'm not a huge fan of red polishes.  I feel like they wash me out and make my nails look super short.  I don't have that nice, long, pointed nail which reds look gorgeous on.  That was until I purchased Say Love.  This polish is everything.  Two coats of this gorgeous holographic red and my nails look amazing.  Not to mention, it's a perfect Christmas red.


The Zoya scattered holographic polishes have been a win since they were all released, and Merida is no exception.  Two coats of this dark, beautiful holographic green.  It compliments Say Love so wonderfully.  Both polishes work wonderfully for nail art.  They dotted perfectly on my index and pinkie nail.  Say Love dragged a little bit when I added my top coat, but that's because my dot wasn't completely dried when I applied it.

What do you think?  Fan of this simple Christmas design?

Until next time, <3.


Christmas

The One With Buddy the Elf Nail Art!

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose 


Good morning, Polished World!  How are you all doing on this fine Wednesday?  Can you believe we are a week away from Christmas?  Seriously where did December go?  I still have more manicures to share so I really need to get my booty moving and edit the photos.  Actually, I think I have two posts and two others planned.  It seems I'm overthinking when it comes to the time frame.  I have more than enough....maybe.

Anyways, today's manicure is going down in the history books of The Little Canvas. It is inspired by one of my favorite Christmas movies; Elf!  For years I've seen other nail artists create Buddy the Elf nail art designs, I just never had the guts to go through with it on my own.  What better year to attempt it than 2020 where I have been on a major nail art hiatus and am just trying to get back into the swing of it all.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • INM - Survival of Earth
  • China Glaze - Grinchworthy
  • OPI - Exotic Birds Do Not Tweet
  • ORLY - White Tips
Isn't.this.amazing?!  I'm so proud of this nail art, and I did it all with nail polish!!!  Do you know how long it has been since I've used only nail polish to create a design?  I'm not going to lie, I was so nervous when I started this manicure, but as soon as I grabbed my tools, it was like riding a bike.  My confidence in my art came flowing right back to me.  Sure, I'm a perfectionist and I still see things looking at the photos I would have done differently, but overall I'm so proud of myself.


INM - Survival of Earth and China Glaze - Grinchworthy are the PERFECT Elf green.  I debated on leaving my pinkie finger a swatch of the INM, but I craved that little bit of glittery bling.  I'm happy I did it because I think it rounded off the manicure quite nicely.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Think I need to do more crazy nail art again?

Until next time, <3.  


Christmas

The One With the Christmas Holly Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample Affiliate Link


Good Morning, Polished World!  How are you all doing on this wonderful Sunday?  Last night I did some crazy nail art which is something I haven't done in awhile and I'm so proud of it.  I cannot wait to share it with you hopefully later this week.  It felt so good to sit down and do something a little more intricate than the normal dots or flowers.  Of course it's Christmas themed, so it fits in perfectly for the month.

Anyways, enough about that manicure, onto today's design! Not going to lie, I'm super happy with how this design turned out.  Every year I do a holly design, but this year I wanted to add a little spice to it.  In my mind, spice was adding a little glitter gradient to index and pinkie finger.  I think it worked.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Zoya - Hunter
  • Zoya - Tomoko
  • Morgan Taylor - All Tango-ed Up
  • ORLY - White Tips
It's nice doing nail art with all nail polish and no acrylics.  I think that my holly are a tad messy, but hey give a girl a break.  I've been on a hiatus for the past year almost and now am just slowly sliding back into this.  If I were to re-create this design, I would have probably made the holly a tad larger and put it on the bottom corner of the nail.  There's always next year!


Tomoko worked wonderfully for a glitter gradient.  If you have been following me awhile, then you know how much I love my OG Zoya Pixie Dust polishes.  Tomoko is by far my all time favorite.  In all the years that I've owned them, it's never crossed my mind to utilize one of them for a glitter gradient over a cream polish.  Let me tell you, it worked WONDERFULLY!  I was super impressed.  Literally one dab on the nail with the makeup sponge and it was perfect.  The photos don't do it justice.

What do you think?  Fan of the simple Christmas design?

Cannot wait to keep sharing more Christmas manicures!! 

Until next time, <3


Christmas

The One With the Minimalist Rudolph Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample Affiliate Link

Good morning, Polished World! How are you all doing today?  It's Wednesday which means....UGHHH the middle of the week.  You know, that day that feels like a Thursday but in reality you still have two more days left in the work week.  Actually, with my job, there really is no end to the work week, but whatever. I like to dream that my weekends are 100% work free.

Well, regardless of a crazy work schedule, I've still managed to start my Christmas manicures!  The trick is just getting the photos edited and up on the blog and Instagram.  So far, I have created three.  It would have been four, but I wore a swatch of Christmas Cookie by ILNP for a few days and it was too pretty to take off.

Anyways, today's manicure is a cute little simplistic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer design that I found while surfing Pinterest.  I fell in love with the simplicity of it.  The original design that I found had a white three dimensional snowflake on the accent nail, but I of course opted for glitter.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Bordeaux Glow
  • China Glaze - Big Hair and Bubbly
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • Black Acrylic 
Sally Hansen Bordeau Glow is the PERFECT Christmas red polish.  I don't know why I haven't used it until this year because I'm pretty sure I've owned this polish for awhile now.  I normally don't gravitate towards red, so when I have a few reds that I like I stick to them.  I think when I got this one, I avoided it because it looked like a frosty finish which I typically don't like.  When I found it in my drawer, I just thought it looked like the perfect Rudolph red.

After one coat of this, I fell in love.  It applied perfectly in two coats.  It had a gorgeous finish - it wasn't so much as frosted but a weird mixture of frosted and foiled....if that makes sense.  It just has such wonderful dimension and is beyond shiny.


For my little minimalist Rudolph, I took the red and made one big dot for his nose in the middle of my nail.  I then went through with a black acrylic and added the little eyes and antlers.  A coat of top coat and I really loved the look.

What do you think?  Cute Christmas design?

Until next time, <3.


FingerPaints

The One With the First Snowflake Manicure of Winter

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good Morning, Polished World!  How are you all doing today?  It's December 4th, which means we are only 21 days away from Christmas.  I need to get my butt in gear and start doing some Christmas manicures!  I have a few ideas of what I want to create or re-create, it's just getting around to doing it!  Work has been crazy this week and I wore a swatch on my nails for most of the week, so that took away some of my Christmas design time.  Might sit down this weekend and bust through a few ideas....maybe do another nail art wheel?

In the meantime, today I'm sharing with you my first snowflake manicure of the season.  You know me and my love of snowflake nails, so of course I jumped right to it even though there was no snow on the ground yet.  Sure enough, the day after I painted them, we got our first snowfall of the season.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • FingerPaints - Sterling Sculpture
  • INM - Granite
  • ORLY - White Tips
At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like this color combination, but when it was all said and done, I was obsessed.  I forgot about how perfect of a silver glitter Sterling Sculpture is.  It contains large and small flecks, which you would assume would be impossible to remove, but shockingly it isn't.  Clearly glitter removal isn't difficult due to the size of the glitter or density, but the base itself which is practically gluing it to the nail.  Anyways, it's the perfect accent for this manicure blending the white into the dark grey. 


Short little nubby nails again due to a few breaks, but what can you do.  Back to square one of growing them out.  Despite them being short, I was able to get some pretty good detail with those snowflakes.  I think I need to switch up my snowflakes a bit this year.  Go for some different patterns.  We shall see.

What do you think?  Like this look?

Until next time, <3.


Jessica Cosmetics

The One That I Meant to Post on Thanksgiving but Forgot

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample Affiliate Link


Good morning Polished World!  How are you all doing today?  I cannot believe that I didn't post today's manicure on Thanksgiving like originally planned.  Reason being - I got caught up in the holiday prep and the holiday itself that I didn't have time to edit the photos.  And you'd think that since I took time off of work I would have time, but nope.  I actually have used most of that free time to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Anyways, today's manicure is a fall-themed pumpkin manicure perfect for Thanksgiving.  The manicure itself didn't last until Turkey day because due to the food prep, I chipped half the nails off.  Figures, right?  At least I just spent the day with my immediate family who don't look forward to seeing my nails.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Jessica Cosmetics - Mysterious Echoes
  • OPI - My Vampire Is Buff
  • NYC New York Color - Fashion Queen
Holy crap is Mysterious Echoes a gorgeous polish.  I used three coats because I really wanted the dark, fall, vampy look.  Depending on the lighting this polish can go from a deep plum with purple tones to dark red tones.  It truly is gorgeous.  Reminds me to use some of my vampy, darker colors more often.  You can use two coats but again, I wanted three.


Fashion Queen is the perfect coppery glitter which really accented this manicure well.  It was perfect for my little pumpkin.  It layered nicely with two coats on the middle finger, and then just one coat for the pumpkin.  The best part, it removed like a dream.  Love when you don't have to fight with a glitter polish!  I was surprised too because it had larger and smaller flecks in it.  Usually those are a pain to remove.

What do you think? Fan of this manicure?

Hope Everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Until next time, <3.


Flowers

The One With the Daisy Re-Creation

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample Affiliate Link


Good Morning Polished World!  Welcome to yet another week.  Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week?  Where did this year go?  Oh, that's right...COVID ate it all and spit it out leaving us here to wonder what the heck just happened.  Hopefully this second wind that is coming right now will come and go quickly and we can have a nice little Christmas season.  I'm not going to lie, I started decorating today for Christmas.  Earliest I've ever done, but hey, I wanted a little Christmas cheer in my office.

Today's post though has nothing to do with Thanksgiving or Christmas.  It's actually got quite the summer vibe to it.  It was in the 70s last week which is very odd for November.  I was able to get a lot of outdoor work done, and since I felt like it was a little second wave of summer, I thought my nails should match.  So I recreated a daisy dotticure that I did yearrrrs ago.

Let's take a look.


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky O
  • Sally Hansen - Wet My Thistle
  • Acrylics
Yes, I cheated and used acrylics for my daisies.  It got late after doing the base coat and the dots that I just didn't feel like waiting for polish to dry.  I can't be the only one who is obsessed with using acrylics for easy and fast nail art.  How could you hate using them when they dry so fast, you can manipulate the design more, and if you mess up you can wipe it off and start over.  The only issue is that the tips will chip a tad easier than normal paint if you have a design that overlaps the end of the nail, but whatever.  I change my nais every 3 to 4 days.


Anyways, Blacky-O was the perfect glossy black polish for the base of this manicure.  After the two coats dried, I went through with Wet My Thistle and created the polka dots. I was a tad nervous at first that the polish wouldn't show up on the black because it was a pastel, but it worked wonderfully for the dots.  No need to go over them again or anything...just one dab and done.  After they were dried  added my flowers and some top coat and admired my work.

What do you think?  Fan of the daisies?  Did you have the same heat wave where you were?

Until next time, <3.


Galaxy Mani

The One With the Galaxy Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good Morning, Polished World!!  How are you all doing today?  Can we believe it's already November 11?  Yup, 11/11 - which is supposedly a day of good luck.  That means it's only fitting to share a galaxy manicure....right?  I don't know it makes sense in my mind.

I have to admit, my mind is kind of mush because right before writing this post, I finished editing 12 posts worth of photos.  I'm pretty sure my eyes were crossing when it came to the last design.  I posted on my Instagram story some of my sarcastic post titles coming over the next few weeks.  Sure, in my tired mind they're sarcastic and witty, but in reality they're probably dumb.  Today's post title, clearly, is not one of them.  I couldn't think of witty post title for galaxy nail art.

Back to the whole eyes crossing thing...can I tell you how long it took me to edit these photos?  I was staring at three identical photos trying to figure out which galaxy looks the least blurry.  In reality, it's a galaxy, it's supposed to look blurry!

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky-O
  • Oh man I painted these in February and have no idea what other colors I used...they were holographic!
Seriously, I cannot for the life of me remember what yellow, blue, or pink polish I used to create the galaxy.  This is one of my favorite designs to create though.  There really is no messing it up.  You start off with a black base coat.  When it's dry, I went through with a white polish on a make up sponge and just dabbed it in random areas to create a "galaxy" base.  Then through the center I dabbed the yellow polish, followed by the pink and blue.  Threw a quick coat of INM Northern Lights on to blend it together a little more.


Once the INM Northern Lights was dried, I went through and added the little stars.  Another coat of top coat and I called it a night.  Haha, night...galaxy.  I need to go to bed.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?

Hope you all have a lucky day. 

Until next time, <3.




Dry Brush Mani

The One With the Blue Gradient Dry Brush Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose 


Hello Polished World, and welcome to a post that was in my drafts prior to COVID!  The date on this was January 28th, 2020.  I seriously feel like that was AGES ago.  After going through my drafts I realized I have about 10 or so posts I need to share.  They're a mixture of pre-COVID posts and then random nail art I did during the COVID crisis when I wanted to get my mind off of work.  COVID be damned, I'm not giving up on my nail art again. Truly it's been something that I've missed and I know it sounds weird, but I feel more like myself when my nails are all fancy.

Today's manicure is a gradient dry brush manicure which I am beyond obsessed with.  I've done gradient designs before where I then add a black and white splatter over the top and loved the end result.  I clearly remember when I did this manicure I debated on doing the splatter, but I wanted something different.  Thus, the idea of the dry brush came to my mind.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - Gelato On My Mind
  • OPI - Can't Find My Czechbook
  • OPI - My Pal Joey
  • OPI - Alpine Snow
  • OPI - Black Onyx
Can we take a minute to appreciate how lovely that blue gradient is.  I started off with a base coat of OPI Gelato On My Mind, which is the light baby blue.  Perfect two coat polish.  Once that was dried, I took a make up sponge and applied the three blues and dabbed it on each of my nails.  As many of us nail artists known, the gradient is the most tedious part of any manicure.  Multiple dabs to get the color just right, a top coat to ensure that the colors blend properly, and then of course, the cuticle clean up.


After the gradient was just how I wanted it, I started with the dry brush.  I first added the swipes of Alpine Snow, then went through with Black Onxy.  Added another layer of top coat and called it a day.  Overall the whole thing took probably an hour and a half since I'm crazy and have to have all 10 of my nails matching.

What do you think?  Like the gradient and dry brush look?

Until next time, <3.

#SallySquad

The One With the Candy Corn Spider Web Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning, Polished World, and Happy Halloween!!!  Is it just me or is anyone else feeling anxious because of tonight's Blue Moon?  If you work in healthcare like me, you already know how a normal full moon affects the industry.  Hospitals, nursing homes, you name it, all things weird and crazy happen. Prayers to all my healthcare workers who are working today!  Hopefully I won't get called in.  Seriously though, leave it to 2020 for there to be a Blue Moon on Halloween.

Anyways, I almost forgot today's post, which is crazy because this is my favorite Halloween manicure to date. On Instagram, I have been obsessing over Sammie's Halloween manicures.  My first design this season was inspired by her, and if my nails were longer I would have re-created her pumpkin design.  Maybe I will put a Thanksgiving twist on the pumpkin and recreate it then.

Well, Sammie came up with a really cool orange ombre spider web design that I really wanted to re-create.  After my last mani with a nude base, I was really hating the idea of attempting another nude look, even if it was an ombre.  Then, it hit me....the candy corn gradient!  How cool would a spider web look on top of that?!  I always love doing the candy corn gradient, but hate it on it's own.  I've always wanted to put something on top but never knew what.  Now, that all changed...

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Electrocute
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky O
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • ORLY - Mirrorball
  • OPI - Exotic Birds Do Not Tweet
Seriously....isn't this the BEST Halloween manicure ever?!  Hands down it is my one of my all time favorite designs.  It honestly might be my favorite. Actually, I did like this naked nail with a black jelly, vampy accented spider web nail.  Getting off topic, but this is amazing.


I debated on having glittery black nails framing the manicure, but I decided for the plain black and am so happy that I did.  Then I was thinking of adding little googly eyes on the index finger, but thought it would take away from that awesome accent.  You know, my perfect candy corn gradient.  It's been a long time since I've attempted a gradient and I was beyond thrilled to see I still can accomplish one, especially one nubby nails like I have right now.

What do you think?  Fan of this Halloween design?

I hope that everyone is super safe this evening and has fun!

Until next time, <3.


Dot Mani

The One I Don't Really Like But Am Posting Anyways

9:00:00 AM

Press Sample 


Hey polished world.  Yes, you are reading the title right.  This is the manicure that I don't really like and am posting anyways.  I did this manicure last year too and I hated it then.  So I'm not really sure why I re-created it this year.  I think maybe in my mind I didn't hate it, then once I was finished it hit me how much I disliked it.  

Also another part that I dislike about it was the whole editing process.  I cannot get the colors to balance, therefore I'm legitimately not giving two craps and am not watermarking it or anything.  Watch, this will be the post that blows up and goes viral.  Oh well, again, don't really care because I don't like this manicure.  It looked a million times better on Coffee and Nail Polish's nails who inspired my original design last year.

I feel it's important to share though the manicures we don't like.  I feel sometimes we get lost in this world of perfection where we only show our most perfect sides of ourselves.  Look at Facebook.  No one is ever going to post on there how miserable they truly are.  Instead they are going to show you their perfect life, which in turn causes people who aren't having a perfect life to feel insecure or even more upset.  I don't know, it sound stupid but I feel we need to normalize showing our imperfections or things we dislike so others out there can see they aren't alone.

So, here I am, posting my imperfect manicure on my blog where I typically only show what I consider to be masterpieces.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • OPI - My Vampire is Buff
  • OPI - Alpine Snow
  • OPI - Exotic Birds Do Not Tweet
  • OPI - No Tan Lines
See how the photo just looks blah.  And how my dots are blah?  What you can't see are all the little air bubbles that popped up around the dots after I added the top coat.

Overall the manicure is a fabulous idea, but on my skin tone it just doesn't work.  I think if I went with a naked nail base I would really like this.  You know, like the negative space.  For me, the nude doesn't work.

What do you think?

I can't wait to show you my last Halloween design.  I can tell you, that one for sure is a masterpiece in my mind.

Until next time, <3.


#SallySquad

The One With the Candy Corn Patchwork

9:00:00 AM

Press Sample 


Good morning, Polished World!  How are you all doing on this fine Sunday?  Can you believe I am here for yet another post?  I haven't disappeared yet.  Nor am I planning on it.  I can't begin to tell you how grateful that I am to be back to painting my nails, posting, and sharing them on Social Media.  Sure, I'm not where I was when I disappeared a few months ago, but I'll get back there again.  It's been relaxing for me to find an escape again from my work life.

Today's design is a different Halloween design which I do not believe that I have done before.  The other night when I sat down to do my nails it was close to 11pm.  I didn't want to do just a swatch so I went to my Pinterest board for some inspirations. I came across a candy corn patchwork design and I settled for that.  At first I was going to do it on on my nails, but alas, it was 11pm and I didn't want to go all out like that.  So, I opted for the easy peasy accent nail.

To be honest, I love it just as an accent.  Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky-O
  • OPI - Exotic Birds Do Not Tweet
  • OPI - No Tan Lines
  • ORLY - White Tips
Isn't this a cool manicure?  I really, really loved this design a lot more than I thought I would.  It also received a lot of compliments.  To get the look, I started out with a base coat of white polish.  Then I outlined the patchwork boxes.  I then colored in each box with either yellow or orange.  When that was dry, I went through and again outlined with black, and then added the little sew marks.


Now, you all know my love of ORLY Liquid Vinyl.  It has been my favorite black polish for years and years.  Sally Hansen Blacky-O is now right at the top of the list.  This polish applies kind of thin on the first coat but builds up beautifully on the second coat.  It is beyond shiny and just like the other Miracle Gel polishes, it wears like steel and doesn't chip easily.

What do you think? Like this Halloween manicure?

Until next time, <3.


China Glaze

The One With the Creepy Drippy Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good Morning Polished World!  Can you believe I'm back and posting again. You probably all thought I would disappear again, but nope.  Here I am.  I have too many Halloween designs to share to disappear back into the void of my busy life.  Getting back on Instagram and Blogging really felt good and I don't want to disappear again for awhile. 

Today's design is one I originally wasn't going to do.  I set out to create another spider web manicure, but my hand was quite shaky and my lines looked horrible.  Earlier in the day, I spray painted a pallet for a Halloween craft and I somehow managed to pull a muscle in my wrist while doing so.  I kid you not my arm hurt for a solid three days after.  Note to self: when I have to spray paint the top coat, I need to remember to alternate hands or take a break!

Anyways, since the spider webs didn't work out and I had a wonderful green base, I thought that some drips would look good and it would stick with the Halloween theme.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • China Glaze - Drink Up Witches
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Okay, so Drink Up Witches is one of the best neon green polishes that I own.  You can use this on top of a white with about one coat, or three coats on it's own.  You can get away with two coats if you are careful with how you apply it.  It can be a bit thin if you don't have enough on the brush since it's kind of a jelly consistency.  Regardless, gorgeous green.


I do enjoy the drip manicures.  They're really easy to do but took like they would take awhile to accomplish.  I always start off with an acrylic outline then fill it in with the polish.  Add a top coat and you have the perfect, eye catching manicure.

What do you think? Fan of this Halloween look?

Until next time, <3.


Color Club

The One With the Spider Webs

9:00:00 AM


Good morning, Polished World!  Yes, I'm still alive.  I keep meaning to put up a post about where I've been but everytime I go to write it, I just end up falling asleep.  Not to mention, I didn't have any nail art to post afterwards so I didn't want to bring the blog back with no content.  Now, I have content and I'm just too lazy to write the post about where I've been.  If you follow me on Instagram, then you've seen a few updates about my life and how the pandemic really turned my life upside down.  I don't want to get into it fully because I still kind of want to write that post.

Until then, I'm here to share with you Halloween manicures!!!  Yes, my favorite time of the year when the holiday themed manicures can start.  For the past few years, I've tried to do Halloween designs throughout the whole month of October. In September, I dusted off my nail art brushes, dotting tools, and practiced a bit with some floral designs so I could head into October 100% ready.

On Instagram, I saw an awesome spider web manicure by SRG.Nails and I knew right away that was going to be my first manicure of the season.  Of course, I was a little shaky on my spider webs, but overall, I am obsessed with this manicure.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Color Club - Pucci-Licious
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • ILNP - Mega X
Alright so they mega changed Blogger since I last posted so it is taking me a solid minute to figure out the new logos to get hyperlinks, spacing, bullets, etc.  It all pretty much in the same spots, but goodness, I'm too old and don't adapt well to change.  I also need to learn patience but that's a whole different story.  I really need to write that post on where I've been!


Look at me rambling, yet again. Isn't this manicure fabulous?  Pucci-Licious is a polish I have owned for at least 7 years and it still applies as if it were brand new.  Perfect purple for this time of year.  I love how the black spider web pops on top of it.  The best part?  Mega X!  It is the perfect accent for this design.  I really wish I could have done my white spider webs as silver ones like SRG.Nails did, but I really couldn't manipulate my silver polish that way. So, I cheated and used acrylic paint.

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

So happy to be back!  Hopefully I can keep this up long term. 

Until next time, <3.


ILNP

The One With the ILNP Mega X Tape Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning Polished World!  Welcome to March!  Can you believe that the first two months of the year are already gone?  To be honest, I feel like January and February always fly right on by, then March and April draaaag.  That's because Spring is around the corner and I just want winter to end, but of course, it won't.  Mark my words, we will get another snow storm and possibly one ice storm before Spring.

Well since I did only pink nails last month, it's time for a little black, white, and silver manicure to refresh the blog so to speak.  I always need a little cleanse after I stick to certain colors, and for me the best way to do that is with these shades.  Of course, that means using my favorite polishes ever.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • ILNP - Mega X

Isn't this amazing?  I absolutely LOVE Mega X and how it looks underneath black and white polish!  These tape manicures are something that I have loved creating for ages, and this one is no exception.  A year ago, I created this manicure where I used literally 100 pieces of tape to create the most perfect, awesome, X shaped tape manicure.  Since that manicure took forever to create, I didn't want to re-create it today, so I opted for the random zig zag look.  Looking back, I can't believe it was a year ago that I did that other manicure.


Anyways, just like the other manicure, Mega X truly shines under those black and white polishes.  The silver holographic is so strong that it truly gives the whole manicure a different dimension.  To get the look, I started with a base coat of Mega X.  I then went through and randomly added the tape almost in "Star" patterns.  You know, those stars you messily doodled as a kid on your notes in school?  That's what I was kind of going for.  Every nail mastered it except the index finger, not sure what happened there.

What do you think?  Love this look?  Think I should try the 100 tape design again but maybe with a different color scheme?

Until next time, <3.



Dot Mani

The One With the Daisy Manicure and Serendipity Polish

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world! How are you all on this fine Monday morning?  The weather is warming up here some and we are finally having some sunshine.  Maybe that Groundhog was right after all and we will have an early Spring!  Although, I have a suspicion that this isn't going to last and before we know it, it's going to be below zero and there's going to be a snowstorm again.

Well, since it's warmer, and I'm attempting to stick with the pink theme for the month of February, today I'm sharing a fun, Spring-Time pink manicure with you all!  I have to say, the pink is starting to grow on me. Maybe it's because of the design on top.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Serendipity Polish - Poinsettia
  • Serendipity Polish - Holoday Lights
  • Serendipity Polish - #GoalDigger
  • Serendipity Polish - Bottomless Mimosas
Ahhhh my beloved Serendipity Polish's.  Oh how I miss this brand.  Poinsettia is a perfect pink which has full coverage in one coat.  Yes, one beautiful coat.  I of course use two because I'm crazy like that.  I just feel like my nails are more durable with two coats.



Once the base was dry, which was super fast because the dry time on these Serendipity Polish's are no lie 5 seconds, I went through with #GoalDigger and created my designs.  Added the finishing touch of the center of the flower using Bottomless Mimosas and I topped the whole design off with their Fast Dry Top Coat.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Loving that 60s kind of look to the daisy?

Until next time, <3

Jessica Cosmetics

The One With the Pink Snowflake Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning, Polished World!  How are you doing this Wednesday morning?  It's cold and snowy yet again.  Well, it was snowy yesterday morning with that horrible "heart attack" snow that is so wet and heavy that it causes heart attacks when people try to shovel it.  Of course, I went out there and shoveled it and I swear I pulled a muscle in my back.  Hey, it's my only exercise in the winter time.  Hopefully Spring is around the corner.

Since it's snowy-ish, today I'm sharing a manicure I painted before Valentine's Day and was planning on posting it before the holiday, but of course, I didn't get around to doing so.   To be honest, I thought I had edited the post, but instead I editted some other manicure which wasn't pink and had nothing to do with winter.  Not sure what I was thinking, but oh well.  At least now I can share this cute snowflake manicure with you!

Let's take a look!



Colors Used:
  • Jessica Cosmetics - Mojave Desert
  • Jessica Cosmetics - Festival Fuschia
  • Serendipity Polish - Holoday Lights
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Isn't this manicure fabulous?  It has to be one of my all time favorites.  My gradient turned out wonderfully, the snowflake is so straight and perfect, then the accented dots?  Ahhh, I just love it all!!!  Then that silver holographic nail adds a little flare and pizazz that I feel really pulled it all together!



Jessica Cosmetics Mojave Desert was the base coat for this pink ombre look.  It's a perfect light pink polish which applies evenly in two coats.  When that base dried, I took a make up brush and added some Mojave Desert and Festival Fuchsia and dabbed it on the nail.  Sometimes two color ombres can be tricky and be too dense and not have a smooth blend, but these worked wonderfully together.  After I got the color how I wanted it, I added the snowflake design and added top coat.

What do you think?  Fan of this snowflake manicure?  Love it as much as I do?

Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

The One With the Pink Roses for Valentine's Day

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose

Good Morning Polished World, and Happy almost Valentine's Day!!  Also, happy blog-versary to me!!  That's right, 8 years ago today, this little blog was formed.  It is beyond shocking to me that I have stuck to this blog for that long.  Sure, last year was a tad rocky, but I'm back.  Maybe not better than ever, but I'm back!  Thank you EVERYONE who has stood by me and followed me for this long.  It seriously does not feel like it was that long ago.

Today's design is a re-creation of one of my all time favorite rose designs.  I wanted to post another pink manicure before this one, but I got a lovely migraine the other night and just did not want to blog.  Anywho,  I remember years ago when I created this manicure that it took me a super long time to get everything just how I wanted it.  Now, here I am, years later, re-creating a design that took close to three hours in just under an hour and a half.  Now sure, an hour and a half seems long, but I was in the midst of playing an intense round of Candy Crush and I kind of abandoned the nails before my endless lives ran out.

Let's take a look at the manicure!


Normally this is where I tell you what colors I used, but I have absolutely zero clue.  The sticker at some point or another fell off the bottom of the bottle and I couldn't find it anywhere.  My assumption is that it fell off in the bottom of my drawer, and when I was cleaning out my drawers last, I just threw it out instead of looking to see where it belonged.  Kind of a shame because I really truly wish I knew this polish's name because it's GORGEOUS.  Two coats of this perfect, subtle, neutral pink.  Perfect base for this design.


Once my mystery pink polish was dried, I went through with a white polish and added polka dots on all my nails.  I let them dry a bit and then added the pink circles for my base of my roses.  Then with a toothpick, I paintstackingly (just kidding it went really fast) added the leaves.  Grabbed a small nail art brush, some black acrylic, and added the detail.  Slapped on some Out the Door and went to sleep.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Perfect for Valentine's Day without being too Valentine's-y?

Again, I want to thank you all for sticking by me for the past 8 years.  I truly cannot believe I'm still blogging after all these years and that this hobby would mean so much to me.  I love you all.

Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

The One With the Pink Dot Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning Polished World!  How are you all doing on this fun Thursday?  We are in the beginning of yet another snow few days.  It was kind of getting gloomy around here with dead, muddy grass, salty streets, and grey skies.  Kind of weirdly looking forward to the snow.  It also is coming at a good time because that means I'll have an excuse of why I am going to do nothing on Saturday!

Today I am sharing another pink design because I have told myself that I'm only going to post red or pink nails up until the 14th.  I figured that it's still Valentine's Day-ish if it's those colors, right? Well, today's design is using some of my old polishes by Serendipity.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Serendipity Polish - Summer Sunnies
  • Serendipity Polish - Building My Empire
  • Serendipity Polish - #GoalDigger
  • Serendipity Polish - Midnight Kisses
Boy do I miss this brand.  One coat of Summer Sunnies and I had full coverage.  Of course, I used two coats because I feel naked with just one.  I then went through and I started to add my dots using the various polishes.  I started with the white, followed by black, finishing off with the silver dots.  I then went through with a tooth pick and added some smaller dots to fill in the naked, larger holes.



I was actually shocked how much I liked this manicure, especially because I'm not into pink.  I love how the dots really came off the pink base.  All the colors just blended well together and made for one pretty manicure.

What do you think?  Fan of this look?  Think this post makes sense because I feel like it's disjointed.....

Until next time, <3.