Gleaming Gold with Black Stripes Guest Nails

Today I have guest nails!  My cousin came over and we painted our nails.  She chose to wear Avon’s Gleaming Gold polish.  We painted on three coats then stamped stripes to her ring and thumb fingers using Wet N Wild’s Black Crème polish and Bundle Monster plate BM-205.  We used N.Y.C.’s Grand Central Station on the ring and thumb fingers to seal in the stamping.  

Grand Central Station brought out the shine in the Black Crème polish.  The gold and black polishes look great together!  This was a fun look to create! 

Liebster Blog Award

Thank you to Joanne from Northern Nails, Sasssy Sweeet Nails, and Hollysagemini at Hooked! for nominating me for this award!  I am very excited and happy to add this to my blog, as well as to pass it on to some other great bloggers!

"Liebster" is a German word, meaning dearest or beloved, but it can also mean favorite.  The idea behind the Liebster Blog Award is that it is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers in order to create new connections and bring attention to these wonderful blogs!


The rules are as follows:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal the five blogs you have chosen and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award onto your blog.

4. Request that people you have sent the award to forward it on to their favorite bloggers.

 My nominations:

1. Through The Motions

2. Morie's Nail Art

3. Obsessed With Glitter

4. Nails, Actually

5. Silly Nails

These are some great blogs.  Be sure to check them out and follow!

Christmas Ornament French Manicure

Today I have a cute Christmas ornament manicure.  I used Wet N Wild’s French White Crème to completely paint my ring finger and paint white tips on the rest of my nails.  I then stamped my ring finger with a small Christmas ornament using Wet N Wild’s Red Red and Bundle Monster plate BM-225.  I topped it all off with N.Y.C.’s Grand Central Station.  I love the way this look came out.  It is simple yet cute and nice for the holidays.  

Dream On Kitty

I decided to try Sinful Colors Dream On.  This polish looks neon purple in the bottle.  It also goes on that way.  The polish dries quickly.  You can actually see this polish drying because as it dries, the polish turns darker and matte.  This was a nice surprise.  I used two coats of Dream On over L.A. Colors base coat-top coat.   

Bottle Shot from my little photographer

More of the neon look

I then decided to stamp on Hello Kitty from a plate I got free from the Born Pretty Store.  I used Wet N Wild’s French White Crème for the stamping.   

I did not add a top coat because I really love the finish Dream On has on its own.  I was not planning on buying this polish, but I am very happy that I did.  I am also very pleased with the Born Pretty Store stamping plate. 

Comparison: Pure Ice’s Tease and OPI’s Be A Dahlia Won’t You

For today’s Pink Wednesday I have a comparison between Pure Ice’s Tease and OPI’s Be A Dahlia Won’t You.  These colors are very similar.  Tease has more of a blue/purple shimmer to it whereas Be A Dahlia Won’t You has more of a pink/red shimmer to it.   

I used two coats of Tease on my thumb, pointer, and middle fingers.   

I used two coats of Be A Dahlia Won’t You on my ring and pinky fingers.   

Both polishes went on smooth.  Be A Dahlia Won’t You had a wider brush than Tease so I was able to cover my nails with fewer strokes.  Pure Ice’s Tease costs about a fourth of the price of OPI’s Be A Dahlia Won’t You.  Overall I like both these polishes.  They are close enough in color that having just one of these polishes would suffice.  OPI’s Be A Dahlia Won’t You was slightly easier to work with because the nail polish brush was wider, however Pure Ice’s Tease cost a lot less and still had an easy application. 

Gunmetal

Today I have a beautiful nail polish from Avon.  This beauty is called Gunmetal.  It is a dark gray polish with a metallic shimmer in it.  This nail polish went on smoothly and only took two coats to get completely opaque. 

I used L.A. Colors base coat-top coat as a base so my nails wont stain when I take this polish off.  I also added N.Y.C. In a New York Color Minute polish in Grand Central Station as a top coat to help prolong the wear of my polish, as well as to add some shine.  Grand Central Station is a thick clear polish that helped my nails dry quicker and left them smooth to the touch when dry. 

I really love this look.  It is tough yet feminine.  This is a great color that will be nice to wear now in the fall and winter months.

Jersey Nails

This look was inspired by football—specifically the Miami Dolphins.  I have wanted to do something with their colors for a while now.  I mean who can resist aqua and orange?  So for this look I started with L.A. Colors base coat-top coat followed by two coats of L.A. Colors Color Craze in Atomic (BCC 564).   

I used masking tape and two coats of Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on my middle finger to create a stripe down the middle.  After letting the orange polish dry, I peeled off the tape.  The tape did not come off as cleanly as I would have liked.  I think this was due to the thickness of the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polish.  I ended up going over the stripe again with the orange polish brush and no tape.  I then added L.A. Colors base coat-top coat and Love My Nails Nail Dryer.  The nail dryer really helped to smooth out the stripe and of course helped the polish dry faster with no smudges.  

Halloween Cats

Happy Halloween!  For today’s manicure I have black cats on orange nails.  To create this look, I first applied L.A. Colors base coat-top coat followed by two coats of Wet N Wild’s Creepy Pumpkin.  Creepy Pumpkin is such a pretty orange that has tons of sparkles.  This is definitely a color I would wear again and not just for Halloween—despite the cute tombstone bottle.  For the cats I stamped on Wet N Wild’s Black Crème using stamping plate m46.  I hope you all enjoy and have a fun and safe Halloween!  

Halloween Spider Webs

Halloween is just around the corner.  This is such a fun time of year.  It almost seems to kick off the holiday season.  To celebrate I created a Halloween spider web manicure.  Here is my inspiration.  I started with a base coat (L.A. Colors base coat-top coat).  I then sponged the tips of my nails with Pure Ice Hot Tamale.  

When the orange polish was dry, I painted over it with L.A. Colors Sassy Sparkle.  Sassy Sparkle added nice green, yellow, and blue glitter to the orange Hot Tamale.   

When this was completely dry, I used a dotting tool and N.Y.C. Black Lace Cream to create the spider webs on my thumb and ring fingers.