Fairy Love

My love-hate-mostly-love relationship with Valentine's day is in full swing.  Bring on the pink!  Bring on the sparkles!  Bring on the hearts!  Bring on the love!  (Pretend to ignore my lonely singleness!)
Here's my first mani for the season.  I wanted to have some sparkling red on my nails, and went from there once I got some new decals in the mail that I ordered from RLR Creations.

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Zoya America
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*3 coats Butter London Fairy Cakes
*1 coat China Glaze Fairy Dust
*1 coat Out the Door

America is 2 easy coats for perfect red coverage.  Adding Fairy Cakes as a second accent was a last minute decision, but I'm glad I did it.  Sometimes too much red makes me feel...old.  I like breaking it up like this.
I used Snow Me white as a base for my red heart decal.  This comes in a really cute Valentine's set.  I was kind of off as I was finishing up this mani and left the first decal in the water WAY too long and it got folded as I slid it off.  This one lost a little bit of the red as I patted it on, which is really only noticeable up close.  I've never had this happen with these decals, so I'm assuming it was a fluke--we'll see with some of the others from this set that I can't wait to use!
 

I was having a rough day when I I painted this, so I figured a little more sparkle was in order.  I added a coat of Fairy Dust, the perfect micro holo glitter, and then shined it all up with a top coat. 
I've been doing a lot of cleaning/decorating/crafting lately, so I've gotten some chips on my right hand.  At first I was bummed because this was such a fun look, but now I'm a little happy because it gives me an excuse to move onto the next festive look!

Do you have any "love" looks you love?  Let me know!

Movember 2014

It's November, which means that lips are starting to get fuzzy and I get extra thankful for my daddy.  That's right it's...

MOVEMBER!

In the past, I've told my story about why this month is close to my heart.  Due to early detection, my dad has been cancer free at every check-up since his surgery!  There is a lot of information out there to take in and I've started a board on Pinterest (fair warning--some pins may be slightly Not Suitable For Work due to the focus on men's bodies and health) with more info, links, and support for the movement to focus on and discuss men's health.  

I'm planning to do a couple of manis this month in honor of prostate and testicular cancer awareness.  This one is the first, and I'm kind of adoring it!

*1 coat Gelous base
*3 coats Lucky 13 Lacquer Cliffs of Heaven
*2 coats Butter London Fairy Cake
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Out the Door

Look at all that sparkly, holo goodness!  This is my happy place :)
Light blue is the color of prostate cancer awareness.  I recently bought my first Lucky 13 Lacquer polish.  I saw a message on Facebook that Kyoti was trying to get to her family due to a loss and my heart went out to her.  I've been there and was more than happy to do something, little as it was.  The good news--the polish community is awesome and she made enough to get home!  Also, this polish is amazing!  Also also, she is wonderful to work with when you accidentally screw up your order (Thank you!)!
Cliffs of Heaven is a light blue, slightly teal-leaning holo--these photos aren't quite true to color because it's a bit dustier.  I used 3 coats because they were VERY thin coats, which created some bald patches.  The holo particles are gorgeous in the sun!  I paired it with Fairy Cakes, possibly my favorite micro silver holo.
I dipped back into my awesome RLR Creations decals for the little mustaches.  I love these water slide decals and am planning another order because through Saturday there is a promo--order through PayPal on Facebook and you can buy 5, get 1 free or get 10% entire order, whichever is the better deal.  TOTALLY worth it at less that $3 per sheet of 20 decals!  I dotted on eyes and sealed it all with a top coat.

That last pictures is way out of focus, but just look at all that holo goodness!  I had to capture it somehow!

So here's to another November of talking about men's health!

If you've created any Movember manis, I'd love to see them!  

"Say something, I'm giving up on you!"

I'm alive, I swear!
Between the holidays, travel, school, finals, work, attempting to sleep, and the little things, like taking a shower or breathing, the end of the year was insane for me!
I painted my nails a few times, but they were basic, uninspired, and left on for far too long.  January was a nekkid nail month, so there was nothing to see.
Then it was Valentine's day!  I really wanted to do a bunch of different things, but then it was the 13th, so I had to just go with something.  I promise that I'll be around a lot more now, because I was reminded how much I miss this little "me" time.
So, here's the look I loved:

*1 coat Gelous base
*3 coast China Glaze Good Witch?
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*2 coats Butter London Fairy Cake
*Savina Hearts
*2 coats Out the Door

I used this pin of a mani by @yesnails.http://www.iphoneogram.com/u/278152314 as my inspiration.  I went with black instead of white on my accent because, well, it is Valentine's day, after all.  I used my striping tape that came in from Born Pretty instead of my shaky hand and a heart glitter from the Savina polish. 
I went with Good Witch? to match the pink heart from the glitter.  This polish is so odd.  It's a pretty metallic rose with matching micro glitter throughout it.  It's stunning in the sun.  The mini glitter gives it a bumpy look, though.  It sort of kills me because it looks funky, but the color and sparkle are great!
I never get tired of the beauty of Fairy Cake's holo goodness, so that was my second accent.
I am LOVING these and do not want to take it off, but they were quick and look awesome, so it's a good motivation to get back into things.
Thank you for your loyalty through my silence.  Today I passed 10,000 views, which is not much for some bloggers but really blows my mind!  Than YOU for stopping by and making me smile!

33DC: Chevrons

Last week I really wasn't very inspired by the challenges, nor did I have time to do more than a simple polish.  Last night, as I read and tried to do ANYTHING but homework, I gave chevrons a try.  I've been dying to try this mani that I found on Pinterest and traced back to Selena at Pink U Rock.  I, like many of you, debated whether or not zig-zags were considered chevrons.  I took the technical road and decided not, so I tweaked the mani a bit, but love it!

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats Sinful Colors Cream Pink
*2 coats Butter London Fairy Cake
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Out the Door

I love Cream Pink and couldn't find it for a while last night.  I know Sinful Colors are cheap, so it wasn't a big deal, but I had had my heart set on it.  I'm glad it surfaced (which is sort of a miracle in my room right now).  I used 2 coats for coverage, though long nails probably need 3.  I love that, even though it has "cream" in its name, it has a really subtle golden shimmer to it that you can see in the first picture.
Fairy Cake is an awesome gold-ish holo glitter that I used for my ring finger accent.  I love how this looks with the pink!  I used Snow Me White as a base for my chevrons and used striping tape to make the v's.  Then I used Black out over the top and peeled off the tape.
This color combo is so stunning that I am sad to see it go tomorrow!  I have to meet with my internship contact for school and don't really feel like this is appropriate, but I'm sure I'll give it another go or try a variation very soon because I can't take my eyes off of it!  Do you have any color combos that just steal the show like this?  Share!  Share!

"Santa Claus is coming to town..."

This is not what I intended to wear today.  I had planned (and tried) to do a candy cane mani.  Last Christmas, when I was just beginning to read blogs and think beyond simply painting and layering polish, I did candy cane stripes on my thumbs with red nails (my first accent nail!).  I was going to do stripes again, but better.  I taped off thick red stripes and then added smaller ones to look more like candy canes.  They looked...not good.  So, late last night I went with another Christmas design that I think turned out pretty cute!  Here's a hint: it shakes when he laughs like a bowl full of jelly...

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*2 coats China Glaze Ruby Pumps
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*butter London Fairy Cake
*2 coats Out the Door top coat

 

I was pinspired by this mani I found on Pinterest (which was also inspired by another blogger).  I realized after the fact that I made my buckle a little wrong.  I should remember to look back at photos as I work...

 

 

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Ruby Pumps.  I hadn't used this red for a Christmas mani yet so I dug it out.  You'll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't love this squishy, glittery red!  It's actually a bit darker than it looks in these photos and a-mazing.  I taped off a narrow strip and used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out for the belt.

I used butter London's Fairy Cake for the glittery buckle.  This polish is SO pretty!  It's dense, silvery, holo goodness in a bottle.  The one downside is that it is a glitter, so I had to do a couple of passes with the nail art brush to make the lines opaque, which made them less crisp than I would have liked. 
Aside from the buckles, the one thing I think I might change next year is using Ruby Pumps.  Half of me loves how uber-sparkly this is and half of me thinks that the pretty cream finish looks so nice.  I'm torn!  Have you done a fun Santa mani this year?  Any cool interpretations of him?  Do tell!