Llama Lacquers Holiday Collection

Well hello ladies!!  I can't believe it has been over 2 months since I have blogged.  Wow how life has gotten away from me!  But I am back and I have some great news for everyone :-)  Llama Lacquers has a new Holiday collection based on the best Christmas story in the world, A Christmas Story.  It has long been a tradition in my family to watch this movie only a few hundred times on Christmas day.  I love the characters, the simple story line, and the awesomely descriptive and exaggerated voice over of an adult Ralphie. There were so many inspirations for this line I had trouble narrowing it down but in the end I went with some of the most famous parts of the movie.  I have many pictures to show you and even a manicure for each.  I am quite pleased with the outcome of these colors and I think they all look so festive! Take a look and then let me know what you think.

From left to right:
* Deranged Easter Bunny-a gold base with tiny rose hex and gold square glitters
* Triple Dog Dare-a clean base with fine rainbow, large white and bright blue hex glitters
* You'll Shoot Your Eye Out-a clear base with red bar, large white, gun metal grey, and red hex glitters
* Fra-Gee-Lay-a clear base with gold bar, small black hex, and square black glitters
* Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie-a clear base with fine white, red bar, and red and green hex glitters
* Fa-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra-a clear base with white, red, silver, and aqua glitters

Here is a closer look at each

Deranged Easter Bunny

Base-Milani Gold Dust & Milani Black Swift
Glitter-Deranged Easter Bunny
Nail Art-It's So easy Stripers

Triple Dog Dare

Base-Sally Hansen Brilliant Blush
Glitter-Triple Dog Dare
Accent Nail-Spoiled Correction Tape base & stamp m59 using Sally Hansen Co-Bolt Blue

My nails are all all weird so this translucent polish doesn't cover up the yellow good enough.  Alas, there must always be something weird going on :-P

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Spoiled Correction Tape & You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Fra-Gee-Lay

Sinful Colors This Is It & Fra-Gee-Lay

I love this one as it also dupes as a Steelers polish. In fact these are my mom's hands and we are watching the Steelers game today :-)

Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie

NYC Tribeca Silver & Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie

Fa-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra

Finger Paints & Fa-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra

So, which one is your favorite?  These make great stocking stuffers in the minis and starting tonight I will have 15mL available! 

Cyber Monday sale starts tonight and everything will be 20% off.  Also, the holiday collection will have a straight shipping fee of $2.50 no matter how many you buy.  Hope to see you there!!

Llama Lacquers

Girly Girl Challenge Elegant Print

I feel like I haven't been around much! It started with football partying last Sunday, then the cocktail flu on monday, and then both of my children were down with strep throat the rest of the week plus I opened up my etsy store, Llama Lacquers, on Tuesday. Today was the first day I was actually able to go out of the house and be amongst the living.  I miss blogging every day :-(  But I think I miss reading everyone else's blogs and commenting on the beautiful manicures that my ladies do the most.  I feel like I'm neglecting other bloggers.  Sorry ladies....I love you!!!

On a good note, Llama Nails (my new group on facebook) had a great first challenge day! So many people posted and we are up to 62 members. I really never expected so many people to join.  Thank you to all of the lovely ladies who have joined and are participating! Oh, and saving the drama for the llama <3

Onto the nails.  This week's girly girl challenge was Delicate/Elegant print.  I knew what I wanted to do as soon as I saw this.  I have been waiting to use my bundle monster paisley stamp since I got it, and I was finally able to! I also used two new Sinful Colors I got from the $.99 sale from Walgreens.  I chose two different bases Leap Fog which I stamped with a metallic purple, and then I used a metallic SC called Hot Wired which I stamped with white.  I love the Leap Fog.  It went on completely opaque in two coats.  You could almost get away with one coat but it left a few bald spots. Overall I like this manicure.  I think the stamping could have been a little bit better (especially on the middle finger).  I do love the two color stamping on the accent nail! What do you think?

Base Coats-Sinful Colors Hot Wired & Leap Fog
Stamp-BM 315 using Maybeline Amethyst Ablaze & Spoiled Correction Tape

On another note, I love my new light box.  It makes all the colors look so life like.  But it sure does show every imperfection! I gotta work on that ;-)  

Thanks for stopping by.  And check out the other girls beautiful delicate manicures! 

Here we go Steelers (with a girly twist)

Today's Girly Girl Challenge is Gimme that Bling.  No problem....I've got plenty of rhinestones :-)  Today is also the opening day of the NFL regular season and I am a HUUUUGE Steelers fan. I will be going to an epic football party with some great people today and needed something really great to show off on my nails.   I realize that most people would say that football and girly girl cannot go together, but I beg to differ.  Anything can be made girly by adding some jewels!

So, for this manicure I used the Steelers colors and added some red, blue, and gold rhinestones to represent the three stars on the Steelers logo.  I also chose to do two accent nails on each hand using Hit Polish Bumblebee. A beautiful yellow and black glitter indie polish.  She does make a Steelers polish, but since I already owned this one it works just fine!

Yellow-Sally Hansen HD Lite
Black-Milani Black Swift
Accent Nails-Spoiled Correction Tape & Hit Polish Bumblebee

These were a lot of fun to make and I think they look super cool and totally ready to drink some beer, eat some football food, and watch an awesome game! Let me leave you with my favorite Steelers cheer..

Chewin Tobacco Chewin Tobacco 

Spit Spit Spit

If you ain't a Steeler fan

You ain't shit!

Hehe! Will you be watching a game today?  Do you have a team you love?  

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the other ladies bling today!

Girly Girl Challenge-Day 1

Spur of the moment thing.....doing another challenge.  Thankfully I am only doing it once a week.  It looks like a lot of fun and gives me an excuse to be girly :-P  This challenge was created by Lindsey at the Neverland Nail Blog

Day 1 (or week one) is Think Pink.  My favorite pink that I own is Milani Pink Out Loud.  It is such a bright and shimmery dark pink that always looks great! I also decided to use one of my own polishes from the Princess Bride Collection called As You Wish.  I'm glad that I did this, because it gave me a chance to see what I need to change about the polish....it needs more concentration of glitter! I was having a hard time picking it up as you will see.  The glitter is a little sparse.  Even still, I think the mani is pretty and oh so girly!

Base- As You Wish by ME
Accent and diagonal french-Milani Pink Out Loud
Striper-It's So Easy white
Stamp-BM317 using Spoiled Correction Tape

Thanks for stopping by! Let me know what you think :)

There are other ladies participating, but I do not have the linky's code yet.  I promise to get it soon! I do know that The Cute-icle Chronicles is participating so you can check her out to start with!

Day 30 & 31-Final Days

So this is it!  I completed the 31 day challenge in 31 days straight! I am quite proud of myself...if that's ok :-) The first time I did the challenge it took me about two months.  I may have fallen a little behind this past week, but I did it! WOOHOO! You can cheer for me if you want, I don't mind.

For day 30 it was Inspired by a Tutorial.  Let me tell you there are some great tutorials out there!  I watched about a million on youtube and just couldn't decide. So much talent out there! In the end, I chose to go with my favorite video tutorial girl Raquel at Love4Nails. She has so many unique, creative, and artistic designs that I think are amazing.  I hope to be as good as her someday.  I chose to recreate one of her flower designs again.  I went with different colors, but the idea is still the same.  They started out ok, but I had a hard time getting the flowers right.  I think I need to remember that my nails aren't nearly as long as hers and I must accommodate for my short nails next time.

Base-Sally Hansen Brilliant Blush
Diagonal French-Essie Mojito Madness
Flowers-LA Colors Art Deco Pink striper & Spoiled Correction Tape
Leaves-NYC Big Money Frost

I wonder if I had stuck with her colors they would have looked nicer.  Also, she uses acrylic paints instead of polish.  I have so much polish it seems silly to buy something else to paint with :-P If you want to see her tutorial, check it out here.

Day 31 was to recreate your favorite mani from the challenge.  Someone in the group suggested that we recreate someone else's mani that we liked.  I thought this was such a sweet and kind suggestion! Problem is....which to choose! Such wonderful work was done and it was so hard to pick! After looking over the pictures so many times I kept being drawn to one in particular.  It was a simple but pretty manicure done by Carina Martins at Polish it All.  On Day 5 she did a blue manicure that I fell in love with.  It was a beautiful teal blue base and on one accent nail she made scalloped clouds in one corner.  She did such a nice job! Here is her original one

Go to her post to see more pictures!

I did an ok job recreating this mani.  I couldn't quite get the scallops right, but in the end I thought they looked quite pretty.  I did add a little something because I love using my D & R Apothecary polishes. So I added one called Cloudy Skies over the non-accent nails.  Pretty appropo don't you think!

Base-Spoiled Toadally Amazing
Scallops-Funky Fingers Mrs. Mint & Sinful Colors Rise and Shine
Glitter-D & R Apothecary Cloudy Skies

Well, I can't believe it is over!   I think either the Bollywood or the Violet Day were my favorites.  What would you say was yours? 

I will be starting a few new things over the next weeks or so.  I've got the Princess Bride, a Time Warp contest,  the ABC's, and a possible giveaway!  Make sure to come back tomorrow and you may just find out what some of those things may be!!  

Thank you so much for all of your support and wonderful comments throughout this challenge.  You are more than appreciated! This whole adventure wouldn't be nearly as much fun without my beautiful followers!

Ok, now go check out some other awesome manis!

Captain Jack turns One

I cannot believe that my baby boy is one years old today! It seems like just yesterday that I was holding in my arms feeling so unbelievably lucky to be blessed with another sweet child.  And being amazed that I could love this one as much as I loved my daughter.  Jack was an angel from the day he was born.  He has always been a smiler and brings joy to everyone who sees him! I am so going to miss the baby stage in my life. And yes, we are done.  Two is plenty! So here is to hoping Jack's second year of life is just as enjoyable as his first :-)

For the manicure I got to use a new indie polish from 365 Days of Color.  It is called birthday bash and it has a lovely white jelly base with fine blue glitter and multi-colored confetti like glitter.  It really reminds me of icing.  I wasn't too sure about it when I first put it on, but after the second coat I fell in love with it. I almost ate my fingers....but I took pictures first!

Base-365 Days Birthday Bash
Tips-Its So Easy White striper & Maybeline Blue Blowout
Accent-Spoiled Correction Tape
Stamp-BM 307 using Maybeline Blue Blowout

Happy birthday my baby boy! I don't care how old you are, you will always be my baby! 

Days 26-28-Patterns, Art, and Flags

So I fell a little behind :-/ Fortunately I was ahead before I fell behind, so I didn't fall tooo far back. That sounded confusing.  Anyway, it has been busy and then I got sick.  Feeling better today, so you get three manis in one post! Amazing, I know. So, let's get started!

Day 26 was inspired by patterns.  There are so many freakin patterns that I am inspired by that I simply couldn't choose.  So I think I took an easy way out and did a mani using a bunch of geometric patterned stamps I have been wanting to try.  Excuse the messy tips....I didn't have time to photograph them right away and ended up chipping them a little.  Overall, I liked this mani, especially the base color that reminds me of denim.  And it happened to match my dress I was wearing that day :-P

Base-Finger Paints Art You Blue?
Stamps-Bm 203, 322, 319 using Sally Hansen Silver Swift and Spoiled Correction Tape

Day 27 was inspired by art.  I had an idea for what I wanted to do for this for a while, but wasn't sure I could get it right.  I have always loved paintings of birds on a wire.  There are a million of them out there.  All with different backgrounds and different birds.  I especially like the ones where there is a long wire and the two birds are sitting right next to each other <3  I started with a whiteish base coat and then sponged on a pretty purple.  Then I drew the wire across three nails.  I originally wanted to free hand my birds, but I was sure I would screw it up.  So I found a stamp that had a crow sitting in briar bushes.  I simple removed the briar bushes and used the little bird.

Base-Orly Decades of Dysfuntion
Sponging-Sinful Colors Winterberry
Stripe-It's So Easy Black
Stamp-BM 323 using Milani Black Swift

Day 28 was inspired by flags.  Considering the 20 year anniversary of Hurricane Andrew was this past week and hurricane Isaac has reared its head, I thought I would do a mani in honor of all the people affected. I chose the hurricane warning flag.  Nothing real fancy, just simple and to the point. 

Base-Spoiled I Tripped on the Carpet
Box-It's So Easy Black Striper

Thanks for checking out all of the manis today.  I feel like I did them a bit of a disservice by not writing much.  But I figured with three manis no one wanted to hear some long story :-P

Hope everyone is feeling well and don't forget to check out the other ladies manis!  We're almost done!!

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!