One last Christmas look...

Oh man, life can really get in the way of plans sometimes, you know?
I had this mani, which I LOVED, and another one that I had been waiting a long time to do, to show for Christmas.  But then I had to pack and fly home and a week had gone by before it started chipping and I hadn't snapped a picture. 
Then I was SO ready to start the new 31 day challenge.  But it had to wait until I got back from vacation.  Which was when I promptly came down with the flu.  Ugh.
So, there have been a couple of manis that didn't make it to my camera, but I'm fever-free and ready to start postin'!
So, this is a Christmas mani I originally saw on The Swatching Sprite (I'm so sad she's stopped posting--I loved this blog!) and had been dying to try.  Except for some pesky topcoat smearage, I LOVED how these turned out!

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Cover Girl White Night
*1 coat Zoya Ginessa
*Revlon Posh
*Zoya America
*1 coat Out the Door

I loved these polka dots!  Ginessa is a gorgeous white shimmer that, for opacity, is best layered over a white cream, and it's such a pretty base!  I fought every instinct and let the red, green, and white cream dots stand alone.  I like the lighter tone of America and Posh together.  I even liked the design of the dots (which I am so excited to do again and again for different holidays/color combos!).  I even waited a full 15 minutes but it still dragged the red :(  In real life, it was totally not as noticeable. 

Any tips for keeping a topcoat from dragging colors below?  Please share!

"You'll go down in history!"

I've been having a Christmas movie marathon for my "weekend" because I miss most of them while I'm working.  I LOVE Christmas movies!  Except Frosty--that one is really weird.  Anyway, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is one of my favorites, so here is my little homage to his story:

I love this movie!  Hermie's quitting makes me a little too eager to leave my job.  Yukon makes me laugh.  I love his dogs.  I want to cuddle the little dolly.  I even look past Clarice's "There's Always Tomorrow" and Santa being kind of a tool. 

 *2 coats Wet 'n Wild Blue Wants To Be A Millionaire?
*Sinful Colors Why Not
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out

Don't you just hate macro shots sometimes?  When I see those darn smudges in photos that aren't visible in real life it kills me!  This picture is really not color-true, either, but photo editing is a big world I'm not quite ready to dive into yet.  Why Not is a darker, dustier blue than this shows.  I used these cute yellow umbrellas that Holy Manicures painted (and their base) as my inspiration.  These little guys brought all of the misfit toys to children once Rudolph returned to Santa!

*3 coats China Glaze The Ten Man
*1 coat China Glaze Fairy Dust
*1 coat China Glaze Angel Wings

Good ol' Yukon Cornelius!  "Silver and gold, silver and gold,/ Mean so much more when I see/ Silver and gold decorations/ On ev'ry Christmas tree..."  Always looking for his silver and gold!  So, I gave him both here!  I used The Ten Man as my base, a gorgeous silver polish with micro glitter in it.  I added Fairy Dust for a little more sparkle and then taped off half of my nail and added Angel Wings.  This amazing gold holo glitter is part of their new Holiday line and so pretty! 

*2 coats Zoya Ginessa

*OPI Wooden Shoe Like to Know?

*China Glaze Mahogany Magic

*China Glaze Ruby Pumps

*Sinful Color Snow Me White

*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out

 

"Do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?"  There are a number of really cute Rudolph manis floating around blogs and Pinterest.  I used Wooden Shoe for Rudy's face and Ruby Pumps for his nose to add sparkle.  Next time I'd leave a little more room for the antlers, but my nails are pretty short right now, so they're a little stubby.  I love that little red nose!



 

 

*1 coat Sinful Colors Why Not

*Sinful Colors Pink Cream

"We've a special job each year/ We don't like to brag..."  This is another shot of Why Not where the flash just makes it too light and bright.  I'm a little bummed about that because this is for Hermie and the elves.  This blue could be a one-coater with special attention.  I knew I was going to go over the tip, so I didn't add a second.  When I was little I thought those girl elves in their pink dresses and hats were so pretty!

*2 coats Zoya Ginessa
*OPI Danke-shiny Red

"We're on the island of misfit toys/ Here we don't want to stay!"  This nail took a lot of debate.  One of the things that makes the movie so magical and nostalgic is the coloring and quality of the stop motion.  I cannot tell, after a LOT of searching and watching, if the elephant's dots are red or pink.  I went with red.  I am second-guessing myself as I type.  ANYWAY, this is for the little polka-dotted elephant, Charlie, and all the other misfit toys who only want a child to love them.  Because I do! 

'Stache Celebration

Okay, it's technically December 1st, now, but this was planned for the last day of November until life got in the way.  It has a funny habit of doing that...
I want to thank you all SO much for your amazing response to the Movember movement and my own personal story.  You have created some amazing manis showing love to the men in our lives, letting them know that their health is important to us because they are.  I have been so humbled by your kind words, amazing art, and awesome response.  THANK YOU!

Today is my final Movember mani for the year, because the month is over.  Like breast cancer awareness, though, this is not the end.  These awareness campaigns are wonderful and really do cause people to pause and think about their health, but I worry that there is a danger in moving on afterward.  Yes, we think and talk a lot about breast cancer in October and prostate and testicular cancer in November, but what happens in March?  We need to be aware of our bodies and our health all the time, trusting our instincts and speaking up when we see changes.  Why?  Because it literally saves lives! 
So today I am celebrating.  Celebrating you, and all of your support that far surpassed my hopes.  Celebrating the promise that medical advances bring, thanks to pressure from the public and the hard fundraising work of people like you and me.  Celebrating my pappy, and his healthy new reality.  Celebrating early detection and the wisdom of those who have devoted their lives to saving others. 

 Celebrating the 'Stache!

I figured that I would pay tribute to all of you brave ladies that freehanded mustaches this month and do one of my own. Yup, it's a weird looking little guy! I know that the nails are a bit dark, but I really wanted to let the confetti stand out! However, that little mustache needed to show up, so I added an accent of Zoya Ginessa (2 coats).

I was going use my trusty Black Out, but instead tried out Jacob's Protection by Essence.  This was part of their Breaking Dawn quad.  I have no experience with the Twilight books or movies, but these polishes were pretty (and less than $2!).  This black base is full of a pretty blue shimmer, so I used 2 coats as a base and then again for the mustache.  Then came the glitter!  I wanted a celebration, but couldn't choose one glitter, so this also morphed into a comparison:

Insert more pictures here.

(Well, I'm at a bit of a loss right now.  As I was uploading photos I hit my 2G limit.  Now I have to decide how to continue this blog and how much I want to invest in it.  For tonight, though, no more pictures, I guess.  It's late and I have some decisions to make.  I do have shots of all of these glitters to compare though.  Oh well, this was really about something more important anyway!)

So there it is--glittery joy!  I love the names of the polishes, too, which are appropriate for this joyful post: Party of Five Glitters by Wet 'n Wild (pinkie), Milani Gems (middle finger), Pinata-Yada-Yada by Ulta (index) and Happy Ending by Cult Nails (thumb).  How perfect!  These are all so fun, with Gems and Pinata-Yada-Yada being the most similar (and my favorites).  Happy in a bottle! 

Life is short and can be scary, so why not embrace a little celebration?  Cancer can be so dark and daunting, but the reality is that there is hope and can be life after, which is worth some sparkling joy.  So thank you!  There has been a lot of good this month to celebrate and I can only hope that movements like Movember bring a lot more celebrations to many more people--here's to the power of the 'stache!

31DC: Inspired by fashion

"Fashion" is hard for me because I'm not really into clothes.  I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl.  It's rare to see in anything but flip flops.  I like to look at pretty outfits on Pinterest, but I really don't know much about fashion at all.  So, I had to get a little creative again...

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*1 coat Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Zoya Ginessa
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Purple Pizzazz
*Sinful Colors Purple Diamond
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out

I decided to give argyle nails a go.  I had not used either of these two purples before, and I thought that they looked so pretty together in the bottle.  I really should have tested their opacity.  The colors are really pretty.  Purple Pizzazz is a deep purple with red shimmer throughout.  Purple Diamond is a light lavendar with shimmer too.

The two were very sheer.  I taped off the quarters and painted them, but then needed to try to dab color on again.  It made for a little messiness.  Purple diamond is also pretty hard to see.  I used Black Out to add stitches.  The design isn't bad, but the colors weren't wise.  So I tried a fall-inspired one with darker colors:

 

*China Glaze Harvest Moon
*China Glaze Riveting
*China Glaze Mahogany Magic

These colors were much more opaque and made for a clearer pattern.  I think I'll have to try this again very soon with colors more like these or some good creams.  Side note: isn't the shimmer in these colors a-mazing!  I love them!  This is what is really cool about this challenge.  I am doing so many styles and designs so quickly, but I'm learning a lot with each about colors and techniques.  I'm excited to have time to try some new things when this is all done and use what I have picked up!
Have you done argyle nails before?  What color combos did you use?  Any cute fall ideas?