Sweater Nails

By far my favorite winter season nails are sweater nails. When I first got into nail art I had to put together my own sweater stamp using a variety of plates - now there are several stamps to choose from! Winstonia, Nail Craze, MoYou London and more all have sweater designs you can purchase. I have the Nail Craze plate and that's what I'm showing you today.

Please excuse my nubs, my nails have had a rough winter so far.

For this manicure I used two coats of OPI  My Vampire is Buff, stamped with Nail Craze plate NC 03 using Konad Special Polish in Royal Purple.

Quilted Rose Stamping

I recently bought a set of Pueen stamping plates and have been pretty excited to try them out. This was the first manicure I did with them.

For this manicure I started with three coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff. Using Zoya Dana, I stamped the quilted rose image from Pueen plate 22. I probably wouldn't use Dana to stamp with again, the image isn't as crisp as I would prefer, but otherwise this manicure turned out really well.

OPI Pink of Hearts 2013

I love the breast cancer awareness sets that OPI puts out every year. This year's set included a nail art component in the form of rhinestones and pink ribbon decals.

In this manicure I used three coats of OPI Pink-ing of You, and two coats of OPI More than a Glimmer on my ring finger. I added one of the OPI pink ribbon decals on top of More than a Glimmer and to my other nails I added a rhinestone near my cuticles.

Basic Stamping Design

A basic stamping manicure today.

Three coats of OPI What's With the Cattitude.  Then I stamped an image from DRK-A using Sally Hansen Silver Sweep.  On my accent nail I used two coats of Cirque Debris.

China Glaze Trendsetter

Do you ever have one of those colors you just don't know how to wear?  I've had Trendsetter since 2011 but it has stayed in my untrieds this whole time.  Finally, I came across this cardigan and my whole word changed.  Suddenly I had something that would match Trendsetter!  I put together an outfit, did up my nails, and wore it all together.  

I'm wearing on my nails two coats on China Glaze Trendsetter.  It's sort of an ugly mustard yellow-green with a slight hint of shimmer.  

Essie Chinchilly

I love this color for fall. A lovely, grey purple.  I love this polish so much, it's one that I'm giving away as part of the Midwestern Beauty Bloggers Fall Giveaway (a giveaway you should enter if you haven't already).

On my tips is three coats of Essie Chinchilly.  The formula is very nice, applies in a mostly even manner, and wears beautifully.  I went four days with no tip wear.

Put a Bird on it

When I see birds on things, I can't help but think of this episode of Portlandia.


Using this episode as inspiration, that's exactly what I did with this manicure: put a bird on it, spruce it up, and make it pretty.

For this manicure I used two coats of Essie Naughty Nautical stamped with MoYou plate Kitty Collection II using Konad Special polish in Black. Naughty Nautical has a good formula, very unlike most of the Essies I have in my collection so I was very pleased with it.

Midwestern Beauty Bloggers Present: A Fall Giveaway

A while back I joined a group of beauty bloggers from the Midwest and I'm excited to announce this morning that we're hosting our first giveaway!  Five other bloggers and I are hosting this giveaway and we've got some pretty awesome prizes, especially mine (not that I'm biased...).

The bloggers participating are:

Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom

Darling Nails

The Girlie Tomboy

Liquid Jelly

Plastered Polish

Ruby's Nails

For my portion of the giveaway I'm giving away Essie Chinchilly, Zoya Tomoko, and a bottle of OPI Avojuice Coconut Melon hand cream (upper left photo).  I picked these polishes because these have been my two favorite colors to wear this fall.  Essie Chinchilly is pretty much a fall must-have for me, and I've been enamored with Zoya Tomoko since the collection launched.  The OPI Avojuice hand cream is my favorite scent and lotion is a must have as the weather grows colder and more dry.

The rules:

• PRIZE: Prize Pack from Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom, Prize Pack from Darling Nails, Prize Pack from The Girlie Tomboy, Prize Pack from Liquid Jelly, Prize Pack from Plastered Polish, and a Prize Pack from Ruby's Nails.
• TO ENTER: In the Rafflecopter widget below enter your email address for one entry; additional entries may be obtained by following blogs, liking Facebook pages, etc.
• GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, October 9th at 11:59 pm CST.
• NUMBER OF WINNERS: One winner per prize pack.
• PRIZE SHIPS: This giveaway is open to just the United States.
• OTHER STUFF: One entry per person is permitted.  Duplicate entries will be deleted.  The winner will be selected using Rafflecopter and announced on Thursday, October 10th as an update to this post.  Once the winner has been selected they will have 48 hours to respond by email before a new winner is chosen.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you and good luck!

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to me!  For my birthday manicure, I copied this manicure from Paulina's Passion.

I started with a three-coat base of Bourjois Bleu Model.  Across the lower third of my nail I painted two coats of Zoya Sweet, a bubble-gum pink.  The pink accent stripes were added using Orly Flirty and a dotting tool.  For the white frosting I used Wet n Wild Wild Shine French White Crème and the cherry was made with China Glaze Salsa.  To create the sprinkles I used OPI What's With the Cattitude?, China Glaze Sweet Hook, Ruby Wing Gypsy, and Essie Tart Deco.

Zoya Dhara

Today marks the end of the Zoya Pixie marathon.  The last color I have to share with you is Zoya Dhara.  This copper orange has orange glitter and seems to sparkle with an inner fire.

Pictured here is three coats of Zoya Dhara.  This formula was a little sheer, but not as bad as Carter for example.  I think I'm going to be pulling this polish out again near Halloween.

Zoya Arabella

Zoya Arabella is similar in style to Zoya Carter.  It's a deep, fuchsia pink in a matte, textured, sparkling finish.  Like Carter, instead of silver or gold sparkles, the sparkles in Arabella are pink.

Pictured here are three coats of Zoya Arabella.  I could have gotten away with two coats, but I bumped my polish before it fully dried and I added an extra coat to smooth everything out.

Zoya Carter

Welcome back to week two of the Fall 2013 Zoya Pixie Dust extravaganza!  I'm starting this week with Zoya Carter.  Zoya describes this polish as "a royal purple in a matte, textured, sparkling metal finish."  Instead of being imbued with sliver or gold sparkle, Carter has sparkling purple glitter.

What I'm wearing here is three coats of Zoya Carter.  This polish is interesting and quite different than every other pixie dust polish I have.  The formula is runny and applies like a glitter topper.

Zoya Sunshine

The last polish I have to share with you this week is Zoya Sunshine.  Described by Zoya as a "'Van Gogh' navy blue in a matte, textured, sparkling finish" I found Sunshine to be a sapphire blue polish with lots of silver sparkle throughout.

Pictured here is two coats of Zoya Sunshine.  The formula applied okay, not great, and this one chipped horribly on me in less than 24 hours.  Sunshine was the only Pixie Dust in this collection I had a problem with.

Zoya Chita

The next polish I have to share is Zoya Chita.  Zoya describes this polish as "a forest green in a matte, textured, sparkling finish."

Pictured here is one coat of Zoya Chita.  Chita has my favorite formula in this collection.  It's the perfect viscosity to apply perfect coverage of a color to your nails.

Zoya Tomoko

Brace yourselves, it's time for some Zoya Pixie Dust polish spam.  :)  Last month I bought the entire fall collection and have been wearing them over the last couple of weeks.  I'm starting with my favorite from the collection - Zoya Tomoko.  Zoya describes Tomoko as "a romantic champagne silver with a matte, textured, sparkling metal finish."

Pictured here is three coats of Zoya Tomoko.  I found the formula to be very sheer for a Pixie Dust polish.  I'm used to them being rather thick but this was on the watery side.  This slight formula issue aside, I think Tomoko is a "must have" from this collection.  It's also a great color to wear to work!  It's a little sparkly, but it really does fly under the radar enough to pass off as a business appropriate polish.

Moar Leopard

A different type of accent to share this morning.  I usually do a leopard accent but surprise!  It's a solid color accent nail.

For my leopard nails I used three coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff, then added the spots using China Glaze Call of the Wild and Sally Hansen Black Out.  For my red accent nail I used two coats of Zoya Sooki.

OPI Alcatraz...Rocks

OPI's new collection this fall is based on San Francisco.  It's a pretty collection, full of typical fall colors.  There was only one color that stood out to me and that was Alcatraz...Rocks.  It's really a great fall color.  

Pictured here is two coats of OPI Alcatraz...Rocks.  It's a deep navy and purple textured polishes imbued with color-shifting glitter.  Depending on the lighting, the little specks of glitter appear gold, silver, green, purple, orange, red, etc.  It's fantastic.  The formula was very nice and thick too, so I probably could have gotten away with just one coat.  

Del Sol Ruby Slipper

On a trip to California this summer I picked up a couple of color changing nail polishes from a Del Sol store I came across in a tourist trap.  This polish, Del Sol Ruby Slipper, was one of them.  I like color changing polishes because they're so fun to wear in the summertime!  They can be a bit of a hazard however.  Wearing color changing polish on your toes can cause you to trip and stumble when you look down at your feet and see a different color polish than you were expecting!  Hehe.

Pictured is three coats of Del Sol Ruby Slipper stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM-314 using Konad Special Polish in Black.  

Indoors, Ruby Slipper is a pale glittery polish.

Outside, Ruby Slipper turns into a red glittery polish.

One more. :)

Color Pop

Two colors from the Summer Wet n Wild Color Pop Collection.

On my nails I have three coats of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Who is Ultra Violet? and on my accent nail I have three coats of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Listening to Blue Reed.  I found the formula of both to be steaky, but it evened out after two coats and looked perfect by three.  Who is Ultra Violet was a little watery so it tended to pool in my cuticles whereas Listening to Blue Reed had great consistency.  

I'm Not Clowning Around

For a while this August it seemed as though Fall had come a few weeks early.  The weather was cold, rainy, and generally un-like August of years past.  And then a heat wave struck.  It's definitely still summer.

Today I'm wearing two three of Lime Crime Peaches <3 Cream on the majority of my nails.  On my accent finger I have three coats of Zoya Snow White, topped with three dabbing coats of Lush Lacquer Clowning Around.  Welcome back summer!

Zoya Miranda

Another quick manicure.  This is from Zoya's Summer Pixie Dust Collection.

Pictured here is three coats of Zoya Miranda.  A sparkling rose textured polish.

Emily de Molly Cosmic Forces

How often do you become completely smitten with a polish that you need to have it now?  That was how my relationship with Cosmic Forces started.  I saw one swatch, fell head over heels in love, stalked Llarowe till I figured out her restocking schedule, and then swooped in on the polish as soon as it became available.  That was back in June and I've worn this color three times since it arrived in the mail.

On my tips is three coats of Emily de Molly Cosmic Forces.  Cosmic forces is a jelly so it took a few coats to reach full opacity.  The circle glitters are slightly irksome to get out of the bottle but I found that tipping it upside down for the time it takes me to prep my nails for polish is long enough to get a lot of circles near the top of the bottle.

Jelly Sandwich

I recently picked up OPI Pirouette My Whistle.  It had been on my wish list since last summer but I never really got around to actually acquiring it.  I thought this color would be perfect in a jelly sandwich.

Jelly sandwiches are pretty easy, but prior to this manicure I'd never done one before.  It turned out really nicely (but they're also really easy)!

To create this manicure I used two coats of OPI Don't Burst My Bubble, a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, and one last coat of Don't Burst My Bubble.  The jelly sandwich effect traps the silver glitter topper inside the color, effectively muting the color and creating a subtle effect.

Clowning Around on a Gradient

I was inspired for this manicure by one from Candice over at Mommy Does Her Nails. Specifically her ring finger.  I love the neon glitter over a nude gradient!

To create this manicure I used three coats of Zoya Snow White, then sponged Zoya Snow White with OPI My Very First Knockwurst on top.  One coat of Seche Vite on top of all that smoothed things out nicely.  The I did three coats of Lush Lacquer Clowning Around, sort of half brushing the polish on and half dabbing the polish on.

Quilted Stamping

A quick and simple stamping manicure today.

For my base I used three coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff then stamped the quilted and reverse quilted designs from Bundle Monster plate BM-310 using a-england Tristam.

Green and White

For this post I was inspired by a manicure from The Nailasaurus.  What I really enjoyed about this manicure was the brilliance of using non-stamped accent nails (ring finger and thumb) so I had just to stamp six nails instead of ten.  That was a fantastic time saver, looked cute, and I think I'll be doing this for a lot more manicures moving forward.

For my base I used three coats of Essie Navigate Her.  I then stamped the zig-zag design from Bundle Monster plate BM-201 using Konad Special Polish in White.  On my accent nail I used All That Glitters Spotty Dottie Light.