Dotty Halloween and Zoya create-a-polish!

I was SO close to getting a third post in for the week!

The problems was that I was overly-ambitious about the mani I planned and had to find a quick, dark plan B to cover up a disaster (which you will still see remnants of on the tips if you look closely).  I was ready to do a sponged candy corn "gradient" that needed better planning...and cutting of my sponge.  The yellow tips started fine but the orange overtook my nails (it had a mind of its own, I swear!) and I had a white base with some nails sponged to cover.  So, I used this mani from hellomissniki.com as my jumping off point.

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White (NOT necessary)
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*2 coats China Glaze Some Like It Haute (middle)
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed
*1 coat Out the Door

I promise, though my nails have been stained in the past, that yellow at the tips is NOT my natural nail, but the tip of my candy corns!
I love Some Like It Haute and couldn't resist pulling it out.  It's such a gorgeous mix of micro gunmetal glitter and larger hex holo glitter!  I resisted every urge to add glitter to the black and left it alone with a cream finish.  I dotted Black Out and Snow Me White over Sun Kissed--a gorgeous, easy orange cream--on my ring finger and called it a day.
I love the polka dots!  If I didn't have the botched base poking out, I'd be more in love with this look, but so it goes!  I'm going to switch it out tonight because it's really driving me nuts, but I'm sad to lose my dots and sparkles!

What do you think about manis-gone-wrong?  Do you want to see the botched attempts to know you're not alone, or is it better to pretend they just didn't happen?

If you haven't heard, Zoya (a brand that I LOVE) is running a really fun contest through Friday.  Log on to their site to play in the color lab and create your own polish.  You can play with colors and finishes and see all the others that have been created.  AND, if you feel so inclined, you can give my li'l bottle a vote by following the tweeted link below!

Vote for my creation, Melissa: "A sparkling bright pink for an extra-girly touch" http://t.co/hbktZLcFIc via @ZoyaNailPolish
— Melissa Andersen (@melissandersen) October 28, 2014

Halloween left-overs

I know, I know, you're thinking about Thanksgiving left-overs and I'm sounding a little out of it.  Well, I am a little out of it.  Between interning, class, and work, my time has dwindled.  With it, my li'l blog has been neglected.  Actually, my nails have too.  I haven't done too many interesting looks and often simply polish one simple color to keep them covered and neat.
But, here are 2 Halloween looks that I did enjoy, but did not get up.

 *1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener

*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy

*Zoya Storm

*Zoya Aurora 

*1 coat Out the Door

Polka dots--easy!  I wanted witchy colors, and loved the holo sparkle contrast of the Zoyas on the cream finish of Green With Envy.

 

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Hardener

*3 coats China Glaze Some Like it Haute

*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out

*Cover Girl Boundless Color Candy Corn

*3 coats Spoiled Vitamin C

*3 coats China Glaze I Herd That

*1 coat Out the Door

I tried to somewhat recreate a Christmas mani that I loved from last year, pattern-wise.  This didn't turn out as I really envisioned, but I love the glittery polishes, so I can't really complain.  As you an see, the orange Vitamin C is incredibly sheer (I really only did 3 coats of the others because I did one coat for each every time I added one), so if you love that orange shimmer, consider a base coat.

So, here's my out of season Halloween looks!

Haute momma

So, what I actually wore today was China Glaze Some Like It Haute.  This is yet another gem that my mom gave me for Christmas.  I am a blessed girl!
I had been eying this polish for a long time and am in love with it!

*1 coat Hard As Nails Hardener
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat China Glaze Some Like It Haute
*2 coats Hoof Lacquer

In the bottle this looked black to me, so I layered it over Black Out.  When I did that, something interesting happened.  The contrast became very clear, showing Some Like It Haute to be a very dark charcoal gray micro glitter packed with silver shimmer and small silver holo hex pieces.  It. Is. Amazing!  I am kind of in love with this one.  Pictures can't do it justice!

 

Ignore those tips that took a beating when I went back to work today.  I could not keep my eyes off of my hands.  It is almost like a galaxy nail with one brush stroke.  Gorgeous in the sun!  I like dark colors like this best on shorty nails and am so sad to see it go for another challenge mani!  Not that something awesome isn't coming, but this beauty has me hooked right now!  Do you have any polishes, even ones you really wanted, that just blew you away on the nail?