Snowflakes

The only time there is ever too much snow is when it's outdoors.  Says the person who grew up in Blizzard Alley.  Heh.  Today it's snowflake nails.

To create this look I used four coats of Orly Angel Eyes from the Naughty or Nice Holiday 2012 Collection.  On top of this I used a coat of Seche Vite to distance the glitter from the stamping I was about to do.  In order to create the snowflakes I used Konad Special Polish in White and the following plates: Bundle Monster BM14, BM-319, BM-323 and Konad m59.

My Very First Knockwurst

Today I have another lovely polish that is great for wearing to work.  This one is OPI's My Very First Knockwurst from their Fall 2012 Germany Collection.

It's on the sheer side, but it only took three coats to arrive at this opacity.  The coverage was very good and evened out nicely.

OPI My Very First Knockwurst has quickly become one of my "go to" polishes for when I need a more conservative or understated look at work.

A Little Leopard

I'm loving accent nails this winter.  It's a great way to do a little extra when one is strapped for time.  This is my first time free-handing leopard print (I usually use a stamp) and I'm pretty pleased at how it turned out.  I was inspired by a manicure from Fashion Polish (I think) Kayla Shevonne, although I didn't pin the manicure and now I can't find it.

Here I've used one coat of Color Club Wild at Heart which is all it takes to arrive at full-coverage perfection.  For my accent nail I used two coats of Zoya Shay then dabbed on some spots of Wild at Heart and outlined them using Sally Hansen Black Out to create the leopard appearance.

*Update 12/11/12: Found the manicure I was inspired by!

Where's My Chauffer

To me, nothing says winter more than a blue and silver polish combination.  I've been stalking Target looking for the new Essie winter collection which contains a gorgeous opulent turquoise: Where's My Chauffeur. Finally I found it at a Target 90 miles from my apartment; it was mine!

To spice this manicure up a little I used two coats of a silver top coat from Avon Markwins on my accent nail over one coat of Where's My Chauffeur.  I don't know the name of the polish but it's basically just silver microglitter.

On the rest of my nails I'm sporting three coats of Essie Where's My Chauffeur.   I found the formula on Where's My Chauffeur to be rather disappointing.  It was streaky like I've found in a lot of other Essie polishes but the beautiful color helps make up for it.  The formula wasn't so terrible that I've considered getting rid of it already so that's a plus.

Caramel Toffee Swirls

I love caramel and toffee.  Such delicious combinations of melted sugar, butter, and vanilla.  They melt in your mouth, are smooth, and amazingly creamy.  Mmmm....

That's the idea I had in mind with a water marble I created.  My base color was two coats of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss.  I alternated drops of China Glaze Call of the Wild, China Glaze Desert Sun, and China Glaze Kalahari Kiss into a cup filled with deionized water and then drew some shapes using a cooking skewer.  The final result?  The appearance of caramel swirled together with toffee on my nails.  Yum!

I don't usually show my left hand on here.  The nails are short and damaged, still, from the excessive nail biting that haunted my younger years but I really like how the water marble turned out on this hand.

I think from now on I'm only going to do water marbles based on food.

Nite Owl

A lot of time the holidays are so "go go go" that it's hard to get a moment alone to think, much less do my nails.  It makes sense then that while I'd love to be doing my nails in snowflakes, presents, and Santa Clauses, I usually just have time to throw on a nice nude polish!

This is three coats of Orly Nite Owl from the Fall 2011 Birds of a Feather Collection.  It's a gorgeous shade of taupe with tiny flecks of silver thrown in.  It's one of the most perfect shades of polish to wear to work if you're in a conservative office as well.