ILNP

The One With the New Years Eve Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good morning, Polished World!  Happy New Years Eve to you all!!!!  Can you believe that 2021 is now coming to a close and we are entering into 2022??  I feel like the past two years flew by.  The other day I was texting my one friend and I had to ask them how old I am because I couldn't remember.  That's how crazy my life is!

Despite the crazy, I wasn't going to miss painting my nails with the annual NYE manicure.  The main rules - has to be sparkly, and has to have black.  So, I created an idea that consisted of a mish mosh of manicures from the past year, grabbed a trusted ILNP, and got to work! 

Let's take a Look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Clockwork
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
I forgot that I owned Clockwork by ILNP!!!!  Absolutely in LOVE with this bronze colored beauty.  Two coats and you have full coverage of this holographic/metallic polish.  It's truly unique how it has that holographic and metallic look.  Beautiful!   Worked wonderfully for nail art, and that gorgeous pinkie nail gradient.  Of course, the camera didn't capture that glitter gradient, but trust me, it's gorgeous.


Now, my one issue had nothing to do with the nail art, but everything to do with me being impatient and not letting the polish dry.  I put the nail art tape on too soon, so when I peeled it off, some of the base went with it.  What did my tired self do at 12am when this happened?  I filled in the empty space with the polish and straightened the lines the best I could.  Overall, I think it turned out well!!!

What do you think?

I hope that everyone has a Happy and Safe New Years Eve!!!  See you all in 2022!



Christmas

The One With the Annual Christmas Light Manicure

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good Morning, Polished World, and Merry Christmas!!!!!!  Now, I'm going to say I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I only had 4 Christmas Manicures this year.  I really wanted to create a whole lot for you all, but life really got in the way.  Let's just say I'm really tired of COVID and everything associated with it.  It just is allll consuming in my line of work and it's quite exhausting.

Despite all that exhaustion, I did find time to paint my nails one more time for Christmas.  Every year I create a Christmas Light manicure. I've been doing this since The Little Canvas was born, and I wasn't going to miss this year.  Last year I created a red and green light manicure using Christmas Cookie from ILNP as a base.  I loved it so much that I decided to re-create it this year.  Maybe next year I'll go back to the classic look over the snow.  

Until then, let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Christmas Cookie
  • Acrylics
Yes, I cheated and used acrylic paint for my lights, but it's so much easier, especially when you're painting your nails at 11pm and just want to go to bed.  Christmas Cookie is my all time favorite Christmas polish.  It's a sheer white polish with tiny tiny red and green flecks.  I'm not sure how ILNP did this, but it's gorgeous and I love it.  It builds perfectly in two coats for full, Christmas-y coverage.  The best part - it dries rather quickly so you're able to just start your artwork.  Or throw on a top coat and go to bed.


This was the first year where I was able to paint the "string" perfectly in the first try.  Probably because I didn't do any curly q's like years prior.  Despite the one imperfection on my pinkie finger on that green light, all the other lights are perfect.  I'm really happy with how this turned out.

What do you think?

I wish all my followers and readers a Very Merry Christmas!!  I'll be back with at least one New Years Eve look. Hopefully.

Until then, <3.


Christmas

The One That Looks Like Wrapping Paper

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good morning, Polished World!  Less than seven days until Christmas!!!  Are you ready?  I am not!  I'm so behind this year because work is kicking my behind and taking all my time.  I had so many plans to create a bunch of Christmas manicures, but alas I've been unable to.  I'm hoping to have at least two more by Saturday.  We shall see.

Today's design is....well....amazing.  I really don't know how else to describe it.  The look took forever to complete, but in the end it was well worth it.  I wore in on my nails for much longer than I normally wear nail art, but who could blame me??  It's so cute, beyond Christmas-y, and just all around perfect.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Versailles
  • ILNP - Say Love
  • ILNP - Lucky One
Amazing, right?!  I cannot get over how perfect this manicure is for Christmas!  At first I thought it looked like ornaments, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized that it was a dead on duplicate of wrapping paper.  All that was missing was a little bow in the middle.  The glitter, the holo, the colors, everything about it just screams Christmas.


ILNP never ceases to amaze me.  Her polishes are beyond perfect, especially when it comes to nail art.  You wouldn't think glittery holos would build so well, but they do.  To get the look I started off with two coats of Versailles, then threw on some quick dry topper.  When that was done, I started adding the 10, yes that's right, 10 pieces of nail art tape to each nail.  I then filled in the areas I wanted with Say Love and Lucky One.  Pulled off the tape, added a top coat, and admired my work.

What do you think?  Fan of the look? 

Until next time, <3.




Halloween

The One With the Halloween Drip

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good Morning, Polished World!!!  Yes, that's right, two posts in one week.  Can you believe it?!  Well, I'm really knocking it out of the park with painting Halloween manicures and I need to share and post them as soon as I finish them.  Unlike my other designs, these can't disappear in a vault and be posted in two months.   I'm not going to lie, I'm enjoying getting back into a regular schedule!

Today's design is by far one of my favorite Halloween designs of all time.  The other night I was surfing Pinterest for some new ideas.  I came across a few Halloween drips on top of the negative nail. Most of them were plain black or red.  Now, I'm not one for the gruesome Halloween designs that look bloody, so I was drawn to the black drips.  Then, I came across the perfect one.  A black drip with a foil overlay which gave the drips a cool 3D look.   Since I didn't have foils, I got creative with some of my green polishes.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • FingerPaints - Smooth Over Ridge Filler
  • Acrylic Black
  • ORLY - Thrill Seeker
  • ILNP - Sundance
Before I get into gushing about how much I love the design, I need to share my secret for the perfect negative space manicure.  I am in LOVE with FingerPaints Ridge Filler.  It's come to my attention that this is on clearance at Sally Beauty, so I need to get to all my local stores and stock up.  It's the perfect nude-clear cream which still gives the illusion of the naked nail.  It also fills in my little gaps from when my nails are peeling.  For today's manicure I used two coats, which I normally do not do, but I felt like I wanted the background to be more cloudy.


Once that was dried, I went through and added the drips with my black acrylic.  Yes, I cheated, but I didn't feel like trying to manipulate black paint when it was 11pm.  When the paint was dry, I used a toothpick and created the Thrill Seeker outline.  Then went over that green outline with Sundance.  The two polishes together gave that 3D look that the foils gave other manicures.

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

Until next time, <3.


Flowers

The One With ILNP Better Days and Daisies

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good morning and Happy Monday!  I cannot believe that it is already October 11th.  I'm literally shocked and so confused as to where the time went.  While I haven't started any of my Halloween designs, I was able to decorate for Halloween at my house, and get some Fall themed decorations up at work.  Now if I can get to my nails to be festive, that would be great.  Usually I bring you all Halloween designs for the whole month of October.  A little sad that I'm behind, but it is what it is.

So, since I don't have anything remotely Halloween related in my drafts, it's fitting that I bring you a daisy design using a fall-ish looking base.  Right?  

Let's take a look! 


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Better Days
  • Acrylics
ILNP Better Days is now my favorite go to ILNP.  It is such a gorgeous grey blue polish.  The polish itself is described as a muted midnight holographic blue with gold accents. Those gold accents are really what stand out to me in person.  I wish that they captured in the photos, but instead you can see that gorgeous blue color with the lovely holographic.


When I bought this polish, I knew I wanted to do some sort of daisy design on top of it.  This design isn't what originally came to mind, but I'm happy it did.  I was thinking something little more dainty with some green leaves, but I really like this retro looking daisy.  I'm still thinking of doing the dainty design, but this was a good first daisy look with Better Days.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?

Until next time when I hopefully have a Halloween design, <3.




Dot Mani

The One With the Holographic Interlocking Dot Manicure!

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose


Good Morning, and welcome to yet another Wednesday.  Can you believe that the last week of April is next week?  Also, can you believe that it's 35 degrees and snowing where I am?  It was in the 70s last week, and now Mother Nature can't make her mind up.

Since the weather is not feeling too Spring-like, I felt it was appropriate to share a black and silver manicure instead of something with flowers or spring pastels.  Although, I feel I'm neglecting my pastel polishes this Spring.  Anyways, today's manicure is a fun interlocking dot mani using my all time favorite holographic polish - ILNP Mega X.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Mega X
  • Sally Hansen - Blacky O
I cannot begin to tell you how I was beyond obsessed with this manicure.  Ready to hear though the most disappointing thing ever?  Well when I painted this design, I didn't have anymore base coat, and I was too lazy to go downstairs and grab my new bottle that was in my purse.  So, I figured that using a top coat for a base would do the same thing.  Oh man, was I wrong.  After about a day, the nails literally were popping off as if they were fake nails.  Lesson learned the hard way, of course on a manicure I loved.


To get the look I started off with a base coat of Mega X.  When that was dried, I went through and did a diagonal swoosh of Blacky O.  I then went through with my dotting tool and added the dots.  Now, after looking at other interlocking dot manicures on the interwebs, I see that I did the dots slightly wrong.  I now know for next time.  You know, when I use a proper base coat....sigh.

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?

Until next time, <3.


ILNP

The One With the Silver and Black Snowflake Nail Art

9:00:00 AM

Good morning Polished World, and welcome to January 11th!  Can you believe we are already almost halfway through this month?  This has been a crazy first two weeks of January, but hey, we all are still here and breathing so we should be grateful.  I meant to post more last week but work got kind of crazy, then I got on an editing binge, and well, one thing led to another and here we are.

Today's design is a black and silver snowflake manicure using my FAVORITE silver holographic polish, ILNP Mega X.  As I said in my last post, I'm a little bit obsessed with the glitter gradient using these ILNP holographics.   I couldn't resist when it came to this manicure, and you'll see why.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Mega X
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • Acrylic White
Isn't this manicure perfect?  I was so sad when it chipped off and I had to remove it.  Mega X is just perfect. The holo accent, the perfect gradient, the bit of sparkle it added to the snowflake; all perfection!  It was very easy to manipulate over the top of the snowflake. 


One conclusion that I've drawn regarding this manicure; I need to learn how to paint different looking snowflakes.  I literally make all my snowflakes look identical each and every time I do one of these designs.  As we all know, January and February are my months of snowflake designs, so I feel I have some time to work on this.

What do you think? Like this manicure as much as I do?

Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

The One With the Holographic Gradient Accent Nail

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose 


Good morning Polished World, and welcome to 2021!  I'm happy to see 2020 leave, but let's face it the years are only what you make of them.  I look back on 2020 and despite all the hardships, I'm very grateful for the year.  Sure, with my line of work I could look and be all woe is me and hate on 2020, but I'm not going to.  That's not going to get me or any of us anywhere if we choose to look at the negative.  So let's all go into 2021 looking at only the positives and how the negatives were just there to help us grow.

Today's post is a draft from before Christmas.  I did it shortly after Halloween as a palate cleanser from all the orange, greens, and purples.  You can never go wrong with mint and silver holographics.  Plus a glitter gradient?  This manicure is simple and perfect.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Jessica Cosmetics - Flower Crown
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • ILNP - Mega X
Isn't this gorgeous?  I love how Mega X looks over White Tips.  In my last post, I used ILNP Versailles for a glitter gradient and it worked just as wonderfully.  I'm on a gradient kick because the design I painted last night has the Mega X gradient again.  You'll see that post in a few days.  I just think it's the perfect accent to any manicure.


Flower Crown is one of my favorite polishes.  It applies perfectly in two coats.  You technically could get away with one coat of this beauty, but you know me, I have to have at least two.  I've tried going the one coat route, but it feels like my nails are still naked.  Is that weird?  I feel that's weird.

What do you think?  Fan of this look? 

Until next time, <3.

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 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.


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.



Dry Brush Mani

The One With the ILNP Paige Dry Brush Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning Polished World!  Happy Super Monday, aka the day after the Super Bowl where everyone calls into work.  Except for me, I have an early day ahead of me.  Of course, I write my posts the night before so it's always weird for me to write about the day I'm going to have the night before.  All I know is that my Mondays are always busy.  Then that rolls into Tuesday and so on and so forth!

Since it's February, it's time for me to start some pink nail designs.  You know me and how much I love pink.  Not.  It's weird though, a huge part of my collection consists of pink polishes.  I'm a conundrum, what can I say?

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Paige
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ORLY - White Tips
Despite not being a fan of pink, ILNP Paige is one of my all time favorite pink polishes.  Back when I was on my hiatus, I used this polish every other week as my plain swatch color.  It's eye catching with that perfect holographic shimmer.  Two coats, full coverage.



Added a quick dry brush to the top of it to add a little bit of dimension.  At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but once I added the top coat it all came together.  Page would probably be a gorgeous base for a black and white splatter manicure.......

What do you think? Fan of this look?

Until next time, <3

Gradient Mani

The One With the ILNP Gradient Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world! How are you all doing on this fine.....what day is it, Wednesday?  I swear my days just keep blending into each other.  Every single day I ask "what day is it?"  I'm not the only one though, so I don't feel so bad about it.

Today's manicure is a simple ILNP Gradient that looked better in my head.  After my New Year's manicure where I did a gradient with Versailles, all I wanted to do was another type of gradient using some of Barbara's holographic polishes on top of a black.  I couldn't get the color combination exactly right, but it doesn't look too shabby.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ILNP - Float On
  • ILNP - Tidal Wave

As expected, the polishes were amazing to use for a gradient.  My only, minor, tiny, little complaint is that the colors weren't as vibrant as I would have liked.  Don't get me wrong, they were pretty bright, but I think Tidal Wave blended too much into Float On.  I really should try this with say a pink and a purple.


Regardless, I felt like the manicure had a real mermaid vibe to it.  If I was really feeling artsy, I probably would have painted some scales on the accent nail, but it was midnight when I did this manicure, and well, I didn't have time for that.  Honestly shocked I did a gradient on all ten of my nails.

What do you think?  Like this gradient?  Think I should try other color combinations?

Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

The One With the New Years Eve Manicure and ILNP Versailles

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  It's New Years Eve!!!  And it's rained consistently for the past 48 hours.  Great way to end the year by raining the whole way right up until the end.  Mark my words, we will probably start the New Year off with flooding, maybe an ice storm, and then a lovely winter storm.

Minus the weather, I'm kicking off the New Years right by having a wonderfully, golden, holographic manicure.  Before Christmas, I purchased four new bottles of ILNP, one being the beyond gorgeous Versailles.  My whole plan was to use this polish for Christmas manicures, until I realized it was the perfect polish for NYE.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Versailles
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
Isn't this the most gorgeous, beautiful, gold holographic polish!?  This polish reminds me of the gold version of Mega X, my favorite silver holographic by ILNP.  Two coats and gorgeous color.  I have received so many compliments on this polish because it catches the eye with the holo.



My favorite thing about this polish; the way it did a glitter gradient!  I've never used any of my ILNP polishes for a gradient until now.  I'm truly kicking myself that it's taken so long because it's such a stunning effect!  I cannot wait to do this with my others.

What do you think?  Fan of this New Years look?  Loving Versailles?

Happy New Year, everyone!  See you in 2020!

Christmas

The One With the ILNP Christmas Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning Polished World, and Merry Christmas!!!!  Hope you all are having a wonderful day with your loved ones!  Let us not forget all of those who are working today at hospitals, nursing homes, fire departments, and police departments!  Thank you all for your continued service to our communities.

Today's manicure was one I really was lazy about and was about two seconds from not even posting because I was just that tired from Christmas Eve to edit the photos.  The reason I forced myself to post was not only because I love the manicure, but I had to share the gorgeous ILNP Christmas polishes I bought this year.  I'm kicking myself that I didn't use them sooner.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Say Love
  • ILNP - Christmas Cookie
  • ILNP - Versailles 
  • ILNP - Lucky One
  • Serendipity Polish - Sunshine Rainbow
Yes, I know, I'm an idiot for covering up the beauty that is Versailles, but I wanted a little more of a glittery gem look on that nail for Christmas.  Any other time, I would have left it alone.  Two coats of that gold beauty and I had the BEST holographic gold accent.  Adding a thin coat of Sunshine Rainbow by Serendipity Polish really added a whole new dimension to the polish.  Part of me kind of wished I did an accent of Lucky One, the gorgeous green I used for the dots, but I like the gold accent.  I think it added a little something.

The main reason that I kind of kick myself that I didn't accent with Lucky One is because it probably would have blended in Christmas Cookie a tad better.  This polish though is amazing.  A white crelly with the most delicate mixture of red and green glitters.  I was so obsessed with the Say Love and Lucky One dots that I was half tempted to just do a full dotticure.  Maybe next year.


Say Love.....that gorgeous, GORGEOUS, deep red holographic polish that I have been searching years for.  This is the ABSOLUTE best Christmas red.  It reminds me of Dorothy's red ruby slippers.  It's just so flawless.  Two coats, full coverage, and just like all of Barbara's polish, the strongest holographic effect.  If the snowflake design looks familiar, it's because it is a re-creation of one of my designs from last year, just switched up all the other nails.

Looking at it again, I kind of do wish I accented with Lucky One.  Hmm.  Next year, right?

What do you think?  Loving the Versailles accent nail or do you think I should have done Lucky One?

Again, I hope you and yours have a very blessed Christmas!!

Now, onto New Years manicures.....where did my bottle of Versailles and Mega X go?

Until next time, <3.




ILNP

The One With the Christmas Snowflakes Inspired by SRG.Nails

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world! How are you all doing on this fine Monday?  We are in a little big of a heat wave here and the snow is all melting.   Makes sense I finally paint some snowflakes on my nails and the snow melts.  I hope that it comes back for Christmas.  Nothing is better than a white Christmas.

Today's manicure is inspired by this manicure by srg.nails on Instagram.  I'm not one for red nails, but this design I couldn't get out of my head. I just had to try it.  I busted out my red polishes and started swatching to see which was the right one for the design and settled by an oldie from Morgan Taylor.  The end result, something I completely loved!!

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • Morgan Taylor - All Tango'd Up
  • ILNP - Mega X
  • Acrylic
Isn't this design perfect?! I really did not want to take off this manicure, but alas, I have to keep up on the Christmas designs for the blog.  I switched up the design a little bit and put my own spin on the snowflakes. Mainly because I attempted to paint the snowflakes just like hers but couldn't get them to look right on my nails.



All Tango'd Up is a gorgeous red polish by Morgan Taylor.  This is a brand I love but severly neglect when it comes to my blog.  Sally Beauty started carrying the line, so that means I just need to splurge and start utilizing the brand more.  Paired with ILNP Mega X, this manicure truly came together perfectly.

What do you think?  Fan of this nail art?  Love the combo?

Until next time, <3.

Dot Mani

The One With ILNP Paige and Some Dots

9:00:00 AM

Nothing to Disclose Press Sample Affiliate Link

Good morning polished world, and welcome to Monday!  Another weekend has come and gone, Daylight Savings is upon us, and now I'm going to be all off for the next two weeks.  Don't get me wrong, I love this whole extra hour of sleeping and falling back, I just hate how I have to learn a new sleep schedule.  It's safe to say last night I failed at that sleep schedule.

Instead of sharing the Monthly Mani Favs like I used to for the first post of the month, I've decided to hold off on that until next year, since this year it's going to be completely impossible to do a Monthly Mani Fav round up for my Yearly Fav post.   See what happens when you take over two months off?  Blogger madness.  I'll bring back the Monthly Mani Fav in 2020 if I stay active with the blog.  I really hope I do.

Anyways, today I am posting the second manicure I did during my blogger hiatus.  It is a super simple dot manicure using the gorgeous ILNP Paige. I went through about a 3 week period where all I wore was Paige, so I had to switch it up a bit with some dots.  And to see if I still could do a dotticure.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Paige
  • ORLY - Liquid Vinyl
  • ORLY - White Tips
Isn't Paige gorgeous?  One of my all time favorite holographic polishes by ILNP.  Two coats and I had total coverage.  This holo is so strong outdoors and indoors.  I always forget about this beauty in my collection, then it makes a re-appearance and I cannot get enough.



Paige pairs so well with these black and white polka dots.  I debated on doing an abstract looking manicure, but I didn't want to take away from that holo, and really, can you blame me?

What do you think?  Like this manicure?  Fan of Paige?

Until next time, <3.

ILNP

The One With the Fall Pumpkin Manicure

9:00:00 AM


Good morning polished world!  How are you all doing today?  Look at me, back at blogging like I never left.  I'm not going to lie, it doesn't feel like a chore anymore.  I now look forward to sitting down on my computer, coming up with nail designs, completing them, and then sharing them all with you. I think the break was good for me.  Hopefully I continue down this path.

Truly, I came back at the perfect time of year.  Fall has so many opportunities for nail art, then followed by Christmas!  Ahhhh so many nail art ideas, so little time.  It already is October 9th and I just painted my first Halloween design last evening.  I feel I'm behind, but really looking at other Instagrams, I feel like I'm right where I should be.  I actually wonder how many other "blogs" are still out there.  Part of me always wondered if I should delete this blog, and just convert to Instagram, but my first three posts back already have over 100 views, so people are reading.  *waves*

Anyways, today's manicure is a Fall pumpkin design.  Typically I would do this design around Thanksgiving, but after seeing a few other nail artists use this color of green, I just had to do this design.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • INM - Sage
  • ILNP - Clockwork
  • ORLY - White Tips
  • Assorted Acrylics
Isn't that little pumpkin cute??  And look at me shading and makine some sort of dimension to that pumpkin.  It looked better in person than it does in the photos.  I have to reconfigure my lighting setup.  It's all out of whack since I took it all down with the whole hiatus thing.  I also probably should invest in a new camera......



Sage by INM is a gorgeous green polish.  I used two coats but you really can get away with just one.  It applied perfectly, dried super fast, and had such a shine that if you didn't have a top coat, you could go without it.  I ended up wearing the manicure for five days with no chips, which is a huge record for me.

What do you think? Like the green? Think this is a good Fall design?

Until next time, <3.

Flowers

The One With the Sunflowers and ILNP Sundance

9:00:00 AM


Hey there polished world!!  I told you I was back!  Twice this week I have painted nail art, and I have a surplus of drafts.  I didn't realize until I took my picture card out of the camera how many manicures I never edited from before I stopped painting.  I think I have about 8 manicures to post, which is just beyond crazy to me.  Now, I just have to find the appropriate time to post them since it's Fall and most of the designs are Spring/Summer.  Guess I'll be creative....

Today's manicure is one I painted the other night, aka the first nail art after my hiatus!  For the past two months I have been wanting do sunflower nail art.  Summer, then September came and left, and I never painted any sunflowers.  Since it was super warm out the other day, and sunflowers are a Summer to Fall transition flower, I figured it would be appropriate to still paint them.

If you've been following me for a while, then you would know that annually I paint sunflowers on top of a glittery cobalt blue base.  Since I've done it so many times,  I really wasn't feeling it.  I then found my bottle of ORLY Olive You Kelly and was going to use that as my base, until I remembered that last year that's the base I used for my sunflowers.  Then, sitting next to the ORLY bottle was Sundance by ILNP; the perfect base for this design.

Let's take a look!


Colors Used:
  • ILNP - Sundance
  • Acrylics
Look at how gorgeous Sundance is!!!!  Two coats of this beautiful, green, holographic beauty.  All of my ILNP polishes are the same, saturated with color with a gorgeous holographic effect no matter what type of lighting you are in.  I can't tell you how many times this summer when I was wearing plain swatches I would get distracted and get lost in the holo.


I love how nail art on top of a holographic base gives the manicure a 3D illusion.  I debated on adding little flat green leaves but felt like the green background really gave it a leafy-field feel!

Not going to lie, I was a tad rusty when it came to nail art and working with the acrylics.  After a few nails it all started to come back to me.  I think it's going to be a slow and steady type thing as I start to get back into the swing of nail art!

What do you think?  Fan of this manicure?  Loving that beautiful base.

Until next time, <3.