Day 29-A Mermaids Call

In many coastal towns, it is believed that fishermen long to catch the beautiful mermaids that live in the sea.  If they catch one, the mermaid must come to land and live with him as his wife, grant him wishes and he will be forever happy.  Alas, the mermaid will spend the rest of her life feeling the call of the ocean, longing to return to her home in the sea.  But bound by the mythical rules that govern her to stay with the fisherman she is unable to do anything about it.  The only way that she can return is if he loves her enough to set her free.  I find this tale both sad and intriguing.  It inspired me to do some mermaid nails for Day 29, inspired by the supernatural.  I have been wanting to do mermaid nails for a while but I don't have the stamp that I see so many others use to accomplish the mermaid scale look.  Instead I chose to use dots to create a fish tale like scale on my accent nail.  After completing it I started to think they looked a little like the Rainbow Fish :-P Oh well, a talking shimmering fish in the ocean is supernatural too, right?

Base-Sinful Colors Let me Go topped with China Glaze Prism
Accent Nail Dots- Wet n Wild Caribbean Frost, Sally Hansen Silver Sweep, WnW on a Trip, S.H Co-Bold Blue

What do you think of when you hear the word supernatural? My husband said ghosts. ooooooooooooooo

Thanks for coming by today! Only two more days left in the challenge! Then, I will have some news to report that I just can't wait to tell you about!!

In the meantime, check out some of the other supernaturally inspired nails :-)

Day 22-Wicked Nails

No, I did not become a Bostonian all of a sudden.  I am not going around calling things wicked.  Although I do think that is an awesome saying. She's wicked smart. This hot dog is wicked tasty.  Her manicure is wicked good.  I digress....this manicure is called Wicked because it is inspired by the musical Wicked, particularly the song Defying Gravity.  You could say that it is my most favorite musical.  I saw it in Ft. Lauderdale about 7 or 8 years ago and was blown away! When Elpheba sings Defying Gravity at the end of the first act I just melted (haha).  If you don't know, this musical tells how Elpheba (the wicked witch) and Glinda go off to college and hate each other but grow to become best friends.  And when they find out that the Wizard of Oz is a phony, Elpheba becomes a scapegoat and is labeled a Wicked Witch.  It is a great story with some amazing music.  No one can sing it like Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowith either! They both just blow my mind everytime they sing.  (I included the song down at the bottom for your listening pleasure if you want)

So for this manicure i used the playbill picture as my accent nail and then created glittery french manis on the other nails.  I think it's pretty cool looking.  What do you think?

Base-NYC Luxury Lime Creme
Elpheba and Tips-Kiss Striping Paint Black
Glitter-Spoiled Show Me the Money

I didn't do a nose cause I was afraid I was going to ruin it :-P

The original playbill

Thanks again for checking me out! Come back tomorrow for some movie nails with an ocean twist :-)

Don't forget the other ladies!

Day 17-Glitter Glitter Glitter

I love Glitter! I especially love indie polish glitter.  I have been looking forward to this for a while (many of the other patterns mani's don't appeal to me) There really isn't much to say though.  I used another D & R Apothecary polish called Ametrine.  I had no idea what ametrine was so I looked it up.  It is a gemstone that has both purple and yellowish gold tones to it. It's quite beautiful! This makes perfect sense considering the coloring of this polish.  I started with a gold base and then topped it with the Ametrine.  I created some abstract lines on the accent nail using the colors in the ametrine.  When I was done I thought it looked like a a Jackson Pollock painting.  I was almost tempted to save it for 'inspired by art' later on, but then I would have to take this off and I just don't want to :-P

Base-Milani Gold Dust
Glitter-D & R Apothecary Ametrine
Accent Base-Wet N Wild Eggplant Frost
Stripes-It's So Easy Yellow and Gold Stripers

Do you love glittery things as much as I do?  

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the comments!

Don't forget the other ladies manis :-)

Day 15-Delicate Print

This theme always confuses me a little.  I think I know what it means, but then I start planning and I'm never sure it is right.  Anyway, this is not my favorite mani by any means but its alright. I started with a base coat by Sinful Colors called Winterberry (which is just gorgeous!) It is a thick purple grey that is just lovely.  I didn't want to cover it with anything.  I then added some China Glaze Marry a Millionaire to the accent nail. This is just AMAZING! It's purple and silver and gold, and well....millionaire material! You want me to marry one you say? Well ok....just don't tell my husband ;-)

Base-Sinful Colors Winterberry
Glitter-China Glaze Marry a Millionaire
Stamp-BM321 using Spoiled Correction Tape

For some reason the accent nail polish shifted down when I stamped it.  You can see that the the tip is bare. Has this ever happened to you?

Thanks for checking in! I appreciate all of your comments. 

And as always check out the other ladies!

Day 12-Stripes, sort of

First of all....what do you think of the new look? I went purple...Holly's favorite color :-)

Ok, so I'm not totally sure if this counts as stripes.  I had an idea and it just wouldn't come to fruition, so I opted for just some crossing lines.  I hope I don't get kicked out or something :-P

I choose another D & R Apothecary (or as she is now calling her nail polish line Hit Polish) for my inspiration to this manicure.  Seriously, if you haven't checked her out yet you really need to do so! Her polishes are just amazing and she keeps making new ones all the time.  It's a gold mine!  I think I own like 13 already. The polish I chose was called Fiesta.  It is a clear base with teal, orange, and yellow glitters.  I especially like the bar glitter in this one. Gave it an extra special touch.  As I was doing this manicure I kept looking at the colors feeling something familiar and I just couldn't figure it out.  Then it hit me! Miami Dolphins!! Their colors are teal and orange. I lived in Ft. Lauderdale for 8 years of my life and although I don't care much for the Dolphins, it brought back good memories <3  Maybe this manicure will make you feel all warm and fuzzy too.  One can only hope....

This is without the lines (although technically since there is bar glitter I could have gotten away with it)

Orange Base-Wet N Wild Sunny Side Up
Teal Base-sinful Colors Rise and Shine (apparently there is a theme here)
Glitter-Hit Polish Fiesta
Stripes-It's so Easy Teal Striper

Tell me that glitter isn't gorgeous! This whole manicure just makes me want to get up and well....fiesta!!

Thanks for stopping by. Come back tomorrow for animal print and I will answer the question where do you get Strawberry Milk from :-P

Check out the other lovely stripe manicures from the ladies below

Day 8-Metallic

Tiger Tiger Woods Y'all.  These were the words that my husband said when I showed him my nails for today.  Funny thing is....they are not tiger nor golf nails.  I guess the metallic orange and the black stamping threw him.  Alas, all I can see when I look at them now are a tigers strips. Totally not what I had intended.  I used a barbed wire stamp for goodness sake.  I tried to stay away from the accent nail, but I just couldn't help myself.  I added a little glitter to it, nothing too flashy or stand-outy (yes, that is a word) Just enough to say, 'hey look at me, I'm super more awesome than the other nails'.  Because your nails talk to you too right:? :-P

I used two Kleancolor polishes for this manicure and I gotta tell ya, I just love the Kleancolor polishes.  They go on so nicely, and the glitters are ever so cool.  My only thing is that I notice a weird smell with each of them.  It's not a very pleasant or unpleasant smell, just weird.  Does anyone else notice this?

My whole idea behind the Metallic nails and the barbed wire was to make it all edgy and a little dark like Heavy Metal music....then I added the glitter and I think all my badassness went away.

Base-Kleancolor Metallic Mango
Accent Nail-Kleancolor Fireworks
Stamping-BM323 using Milani Black Swift

Hope you liked these 'metal' nails.  Please feel free to leave any comments....I love them all!  

And don't forget to check out all the other lovely ladies participating in the 31 day challenge. 

Day 6-Candied Violets

Two things I am in love with today:

1.  The new shape and equal length of my nails
2.  Another D & R Apothecary polish

It only took me 8 months :-P but i finally was able to get my nails to be pretty much the same length and figured out how to shape them correctly.  It sounds like it would be a simple thing, but it wasn't.  I don't know why, it just wasn't.  I love the rounded square nails, but was never able to get it right.  I finally figured it out.  I may be an idiot for it taking this long, but that's alright.  I think I was afraid to cut my longer nails even though they weren't the shape I wanted them to be.

So, today was day 6-violet.  I love purple.  (Because yes, purple is violet.  Potato, potatoe). It's almost up there with green.  I especially love purple and green together! But today, I stuck with just purple. It's so pretty that I almost want to eat my nails.  I used another D & R Apothecary polish called Candied Violets for my base.  I tried to go with the name of this polish for my inspiration....candy! yum.  I even used a candy stamp on my accent nail, although it is really hard to see. I really love this manicure....almost enough to not want to take it off tomorrow! Naaah

Such a pretty glitter with purples and whites....even some color changing glitters

Base-Sally Hansen Brilliant Blush then D & R Apothecary Candied Violets
Tips- It's So Easy Striper purple
Accent Nail Base-Milani Hi Res
Stamp-BM 306 using Maybeline Color Show Amethyst Ablaze

Here you can actually see the detail of the candy stamp :-)

Thanks again for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed today's mani :-)

As always, check out the other ladies who are participating in the 31 day challenge!

Day 5-Blue Mash

I have been eyeing this manicure on pinterest for some time now.  I have no idea who it belongs to as the link takes me to a social networking page that I don't have an account for.  But I have been wanting to do something similar and decided to do it for this mani.  I really like it.  I have so many blues and in so many different shades that I couldn't decide what to do.  I literally sat my blues out in front of me and stared at them until one of them told me which one to use. :-P I kid. No, my polishes don't talk to me, I'm not THAT crazy.  I did sit there for a long time trying to decide though.  Eventually, I decided to go with a metallic Maybeline and a glitter Finger Paints.  The Maybeline was called Blue Blowout, which I have only ever used for stamping.  I was a little disappointed in the application of it as it was very streaky.  I know this happens with metallics, but this was unusually so.  The Glitter was called Art you Wondering and took three coats to cover, which is also pretty typical.  Well, onto the pictures.

Metallic Blue- Maybeline Color Show Blue Blowout
Glitter Base- is Finger Paints Art You Wondering?
Teal Base-Sinful Colors Rise & Shine
Striper-Kiss White
Stamps-BM317 & m59 using Spoiled Correction Tape

This was my inspiration mani....if you want to see it on pinterest  click on the picture

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate all of your comments :-)

Check out the other ladies that are participating below.  It is a great way to see so many different and fabulous interpretations of one color! 

Cala Lily from D & R Apothecary

Have I told you yet how much I love the polishes from D & R Apothecary.  Well, let me tell you.  They are gorgeous! I now own eight of them.....three of which I won from their giveaway! YEAH for giveaways! Because I have been so busy I have only had the chance to try out two of them.  The first one I did was Champagne (which I blogged about a few days ago)  Today's color is called Cala Lily.  It is a shimmery white base with white, yellow, and green glitter flakes.  It really makes you think of spring flowers, Cala Lily's to be exact! It looks just lovely in the bottle and even greater on the nail.  

I've discovered that my favorite type of mani has one accent nail.  I find I have been doing this more and more.  What is your favorite style of mani?

Cala Lily is to the right

Yellow Base-Sinful Colors unicorn
Glitter Base-Kleancolor Holo Green
Indie Glitter-D & R Apothecary Cala Lily
Striping-It's So Easy Green, Yellow, White

I love how some of the white glitter made little flower patterns :-)

Did I mention that I also love the Kleancolor polishes?  I bought a bunch of new ones from Beauty Joint.  They are quite pretty.

Thanks for looking and I appreciate all of your comments!

An Apple a Day

First of all, I had to switch up my 52 week calendar.  Today's post is supposed to be Coast Guard and Thursday's is supposed to be fruit. I switched them because the Coast Guard's birthday is next Saturday and that just made more sense. So, today you will get fruit and like it! :-P

Secondly, I now love Kleancolor! More importantly I love Kleancolor Black for stamping.  It is so nice and thick and stamps so dark! YEAH! 

Thirdly, Seche Vite top coat is my new best friend.  OMGEEEE are my nails shiny and thick.  Who knew? I mean, I guess a lot of people knew.  But I didn't know.  Now I know. Double YEAH!

Fourthly, I did some serious nail care today.  After looking at my last post, my cuticles were in complete disarray.  

And lastly, these nails turned out way better than I had planned.  It was a simple idea based around the new China Glaze Jamaican Out that just came yesterday in the mail and it just went from there.  I love it when that happens.  I also love when I am able to match my 52 week challenge schedule up with the Sunday Stamping for Adventures in Stamping.  So, what do you get when you take fruit from my challenge and  red and black from the Sunday Challenge? Strawberries you say? Watermelon?  No, apples of course!  And here they are....

Glitter Base-Spoiled Pirates Booty
Red Base-China Glaze Jamaican Out
Black-Kleancolor Black
Stripe-It's So Easy Gold
Stamps-QA18 using Kleancolor Black & SE18 using Wet N Wild Red Red

Thanks for looking! Hope you had a great weekend and I appreciate all comments!

Guest Post & New Indie Polish

YEAH for my first guest post! and YEAH for it being for someone such a great nail artist as Caitlin @ Caitlin's Creative Corner.  She is always so creative and unique from doing book covers to teal tuesdays.  Thanks Caitlin for letting me post on your blog :-) And have a great vacation!!

My other first is that I got my very first Indie polishes today and was soooo excited to try them out.  I have been drooling over some Indie polishes for a while now and for one reason or another have not bought any.  So, I finally decided to give one a try and they are AWESOME! I came across D & R Apothecary last week while searching through Etsy.  I could not get over all her awesome colors.  She also makes handmade soaps....which she sent me a little sample of :-)

So, I got three shades from D & R.  Rock Star, Champagne, and Bumble Bee.  I am saving the Bumble Bee for my Steelers nails later in September.  Black and Gold!!! I am also saving the Rock Star for later too.  I know I scheduled Rock Star Nails somewhere in my 52 week challenge.  So, I chose to do the Champagne nails.  Take a look at this color! It is so purty, you really want to drink it and get all giddy on bubbly.

I used Decades of Dysfunction as my base coat.  This is the first time I used this color....its quite pretty really. It's an off white with a hint of pink or lavender.  It's hard to tell 

I'm a little bummed that I couldn't get the real color to show up in these pictures.  But it's still pretty.  It is a gold base with purple and gold flecks.  Just gorgeous. It looks coppery in the pictures which it really isn't. Oh well.  It was also real easy to put on.  I love glitter but one of my complaints of most glitters is that you have to blob it on.  This went on in a nice smooth motion.  My hats off to you D & R Apothecary! Thank you for such a job well done!

She is also discontinuing some of her older colors if you want mini bottles for only $2.50.  She needs more room :-)  So go check out her Etsy page here

Thanks for looking! All comments are appreciated!

Glittery Girl Skulls

Today's Sunday Challenge was new favorite stamp.  Ummmmm, this is like asking me what my favorite book or song is.  They are all impossibilities.  I simply can't answer that question.  So instead I chose my newest stamp.  I was on vacation when they came, so coming home to new stamps was pretty exciting! I really like this mani.  I hope you do too!

Base-Sally Hansen Gunmetal
Glitter-Milani Silver
Stamp QA5 using Spoiled Correction Tape & Sally Hansen Wined Up

Thanks for looking! I appreciate all comments :)

My Babies Birthstones

This week's Sunday Summer Challenge is Precious Gems.  I thought, ooooo girly stuff!  I wanted to do something with the gem amber but couldn't quite figure it out.  There are a lot of gorgeous gems out there, I even learned a little about gems through a Colored Gem Tutorial that was suggested to us by Emily Esqueleta Blasphemy who happens to be a gemologist. Check out her blog here :-) After a lot of thought I decided to go the birthstones route.  I don't talk a lot about my children on here because doing nail art is something that is for me, and it's good to have interests outside of your children.  But there is no doubt that my children are great inspirations to me.  My daughter is 4 and was born in April and my son is 10 1/2 months and was born in August.  Both have beautiful birthsto
nes.  April is Diamond and August is Peridot, a beautiful greenish yellow gem.  How lucky that those colors look so good together! I used a lot of polishes for this mani and I am still not sure how much I like it.  It has a lot of texture which I am not a big fan of.  But I think it looks pretty.  What do you think? 

as a base coat I used Sally Hansen Brilliant Blush and on the ring finger Sally Hansen Ivy League
For the tips I used Sally Hansen Silver Sweep and Spoiled Show Me the Money and striped with the Ivy League
I then globbed on glitter flakes from Studio M called Covered in Diamonds (how appropo)
I stamped with BM-315 using the Silver Shimmer and BM-317 using Milani Black Swift
I then added a small rhinestone

I love the little bows and I love my children :-)

If you want to know your birthstones....or someone you love, here is  a chart

 Thanks for looking!