Mrs. Claus Nails

Hello lovelies. It's been a while and unfortunately I probably won't have time for another post until after the holidays.

I wanted to pop in and let you all know I haven't abandoned my blog (well, not permanently). I also finally made some time to do my nails which have been naked since *gasp* November! I had to do something seasonal for Christmas!

Behold, my Mrs. Claus nails! I found this design via Pinterest, originally from the blog Colores De Carol.

Mrs. Claus Christmas Nails in ZOYA Belle

Mrs. Claus nails

ZOYA Belle & CG Innocence

Colors used:
   ● base color - CHINA GLAZE Innocence
   ● Mrs. Claus suit - 3 coats ZOYA Belle
   ● white lining - WET n WILD French White Crème
   ● belt - WET n WILD Black Crème
   ● belt buckle - COLOR CLUB Disco Nap

I use the corner of cut pieces of tape to get the chevron shape and used a dotting tool for the white trim and details. I love this design and I think it is a fun, girly take on Christmas santa nails.

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe Christmas if I don't get another post in.

Thanks for popping in!

Go Pink Wednesday

I'm back again today with my late Go Pink Wednesday post. This is the last installment from this challenge showing support for National Breast Cancer Awareness month which was during October.

For the last day I am giving another go at doing an ombre manicure. The first Go Pink Wednesday, Mandy, from Chameleon Stampede, did a seamless pink ombre manicure that I absolutely loved. Ombre is really big right now and I dig it on nails.

red to pink ombre

Zoya Sooki ombre

I only used 2 colors for this manicure; ZOYA Sooki and WETnWILD French White Creme. I mixed the red with the white for varying shades.

I had fun doing this challenge. My grandmother died from breast cancer before I was born. It's amazing how much world-wide support there is now to fund research that has saved thousands of lives. There is so much information out there and resources to help empower women to take control of their health and detect any possible problems early. The Susan G. Komen foundation website is a great start for those seeking any information or which to find out how to get involved.

October may be over but as women we should all help spread knowledge and information all year round. Thanks for popping in!

Go Pink Wednesday - Matte Ombre Gradient

Happy Wednesday! October is National Breast Cancer awareness month and to show support I am blogging pink for Go Pink Wednesday. Of course, this is the 4th installment of this so most of you already know. (:

I sort of mushed a bunch of different styles together for this manicure. I have a pink to red ombre sponged gradient style and topped with my BL Matte Top Coat.

pink ombre gradient featuring ZOYA Sooki

pink ombre gradient featuring CG Go Go Pink

pink ombre gradient featuring ZOYA Kimber

I started with CG Go Go Pink as my base color and then sponged on ZOYA Kimber in the middle then ZOYA Sooki on my tips. When my polish was dry I topped it with my Butter London Matte Finish Top Coat.

If you are wondering if there is anything you can do to help raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness then the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure might be just the thing for you. This race is an international success helping to raise money to battle breast cancer. You can participate in a race or simply pledge your support for someone who is. To find a race near you check out this Susan G. Komen website.

Thanks for popping in and help spread awareness.

"This is Halloween" Gradient

Hey, all. I'm back with the Gradient theme in the "This is Halloween" nail art challenge. Jessica did a gradient for it as well. It's always fun to have someone painting their nails with you. We did them on the couch watching Burn Notice.

I did a gold and white gradient using BARRY M Gold Foil sponged over WETnWild White Creme. I then freehanded black stripes on to make a mummy effect and then used a dotting tool to add eyes.

Mummy Nails over gold/white gradient

BARRY M Gold Foil sponged over white

Jessica used ZOYA Arizona and sponged SH Lustre Shine Lava for her gradient.

ZOYA Arizona & SH Lustre Shine Lava

I greatly enjoyed my sister's visit and she gave me some more polishes to borrow! (:  Even though I had to hand over Creepy Pumpkin.

Thanks for popping in!

Go Pink Wednesday - Kimber Starburst

Hey guys! It's the third installment of Go Pink Wednesday to show support for National Breast Cancer Awareness month. I was talking with my sister about what I should do and she sent me this link. I went with an all pink starburst pattern using CHINA GLAZE Go Go Pink and ZOYA Kimber.

CG Go Go Pink & ZOYA Kimber starburst pattern

ZOYA Kimber starburst pattern

CG Go Go Pink starburst pattern

I haven't done many tape manicures before but it's fairly simple to do. I'm sure with more practice my lines will get more cleaner. Here is a picture of my nails with the tape.

starburst tape mani

I will definitely do more tape manis in the future.

Remember, early detection can save a life. If you're wondering where you can get screening done here is a website you can use to locate a screening center.

Thanks for popping in and help spread awareness.

Go Pink Wednesday - Pink Stripes with Pink Ribbon Accents

Today is another Go Pink Wednesday. Today's design sort of evolved as I was doing it. I originally was going to go with a table cloth sort of striping, but then decided I didn't want horizontal stripes. Then I decided to add the pink ribbon accents. I have lots of pictures so get ready!

pink stripes w/ pink ribbon accents

I'm actually quite pleased with this. :)

Colors used:
   • base color - SALLY HANSEN XTREME WEAR White On
   • stripes - ZOYA Kate
   • pink ribbons - CHINA GLAZE Go Go Pink

I absolutely love ZOYA Kate. It's one of my favorite polishes I own.

I free handed the stripes with an art brush and added the pink ribbon accents with the same brush. I had to do a few coats of Go Go Pink because it's so light to make sure it popped against Kate. I topped it all with Seche Vite.

Don't forget that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Make sure to regularly check yourself and encourage the women in your life to do the same. If you are not sure what to do here is website that may help. Take care because early detection can save your life. SAVE THE TA♥TAS

Thanks for popping in!

"This is Halloween" Water Marble Challenge

Today is the 2nd day of the "This Is Halloween" nail art challenge and it's water marbling.

This technique is not one I have perfected by any means. I have 2 designs to share today, one is from last year and one is from today. I hope you enjoy!

Orange Water Marble

Colors used:
   • FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin
   • ZOYA Arizona (base color)
   • SALLY HANSESN XTREME WEAR Sun Kissed
   • FINGER PAINTS Orange-Cordur

I had other plans for this manicure when I started out, but if you've done water marbling before than you know not all polishes work. I ended up going all orange because these colors worked the best in the water.

I also wanted to share with you the water marbling I did last year for Halloween when I wasn't actively blogging.

I added a cute skull decal I picked up from Sallys as an accent. The black certainly pops more and I was trying to use it in this years, but the polish refused to spread in the water.

Water marbling takes a lot of patience to be sure. I love how the end result is always unique and pretty. I do feel that I still need more practice with this technique.

Thanks for popping in!
I wish the inlinkz where different for each challenge, sorry the links are cluttered between two of the challenge days!

ZOYA Pink-Red Ombre

Good evening all. I was in the mood to be colorful today so I decided to try for my first ombre manicure. I chose to use only Zoya polishes. Although I have more Zoya than any other brand, I guess I don't quite have enough for a 5-shade ombre manicure. Well, I DO, but it's a bit of a jump. Jessica suggested I could have simply mixed white with one or more of the shades for an in between color, but this gal didn't consider that when I was painting.

Sooki, Tosca, Kate, Poppy & Melanie

Zoya ombre mani

I really like ombre manicures, I'm not sure this one hit the mark for me, but I would try it again. I might need to get into my sister's stash to make it work. Also, that photo is a prime example of why I always take my pictures outside, the lighting in my house is terrible! Kate (middle finger) is not that red at all. Although, I dig the shot of my bottles on the black glass.

I love all of these colors though so I'm not completely bummed with how it turned out. Have you tried out an ombre mani? I feel like it's harder than it seems to make it flow cohesively.

I'm debating participating in my first nail challenge for Halloween. What do you all think? Could this come and go blogger pull it off? Maybe it's the kick in the butt I need to dedicate myself to my blog more. Thanks for popping in!

Just Playing Around

Hey, ladies! I hope you all are fairing well this Friday the 13th. I was trying to play around some with my nails. I didn't really know what I was trying to do and it turned out a bit wonky, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I like the colors in it a lot. They're all Zoya, of course.

So, I tried nail dragging again. The first time I did this was here when I did tie-dye accents, which I loved! Well, honestly this is no where near as cool looking as those. Oh, why don't I just show you already! :-P

Colors used:
   ● ZOYA Midori
   ● ZOYA Robyn (base color)
   ● ZOYA Zuza
   ● ZOYA Bevin

I did not use a top coat because I liked the texture the needle left in the polish. I think the coloring is very aquatic. So, basically the color combo is all I really like about this. I'm not exactly stoked with the way it looks. Eh, you win some you lose some. Nail polishing can be quite the finicky art.

Thanks for popping by!

ZOYA Zara

Hello, girls. I hope you are all doing well today. It finally cooled off a bit yesterday because we had a lot of rain come through. It's nice to be out of the 100's!

Today I grabbed a purple shimmer from my collection, ZOYA Zara. Zara is a dusty light purple with an amazing golden shimmer throughout it. The formula was easy to work with and dried quickly. I applied 3 coats to see if I could get a bit of a deeper purple, but this one is really just a 2 coater. The 3rd coat didn't add anything except an extra layer of polish. I took my photos in natural sunlight.

ZOYA Zara

This polish makes me think of faeries. Is that weird? The shade of purple with the shimmer all throughout just seems whimsical to me. Actually, I would say that is very appropriate as Zoya describes this polish as having a "magical" feel. Whoever writes their polish descriptions over there is incredibly accurate.

Thanks for popping in!

Butterfly Gradient Skittles

Welcome back, ladies! Boy is it HOT outside today. It's going to get even hotter as the week goes on for us here in VA. I decided on doing more nail art today. My last nail post I did ladybugs, today I have butterflies! This one is also a re-creation from a Pintrest find originally done by Beads. Nails. Food. Pairing the gradient with the butterfly look was so gorgeous I immediately bookmarked it in my head to do later. I have been getting a nice little collection of shimmer polishes so I decided to pair a shimmer with a corresponding color for my gradient. Lots of polishes and pictures for this one so hunker down there, girls.

Butterfly Gradient

butterflies and flowers (that's a Gerbera daisy from my garden)

Little Miss Amoki admiring Momma's nails from afar.

Dpow smelling the daisy

Skittle Gradients before butterfly-ification

Colors used:
   ● thumb: ZOYA Midori w/ ZOYA Ivanka
   ● pointer: ZOYA Arizona w/ ZOYA Myrta
   ● middle: ZOYA Lolly w/ ZOYA Kimber
   ● ring: ZOYA Robyn w/ ZOYA Charla
   ● pinky: JULEP Anne w/ ZOYA Zara
   ● KONAD Special Polish in Black
   ● White Acrylic

all the polishes I used for this look!

I told you I used a lot! It took a while to achieve this look. I started with 2 coats of each base color (the ones listed first under colors used) and let it completely dry. I then used a small makeup sponge and applied the shimmery colors (second colors listen under colors used) on the tips down partially to the middle of each nail. I let this dry and then applied Seche Vite. It helps to use a top coat before adding nail art so if you mess up it's easier to remove your mistake without mussing up your base color too much. After that was dried I used my small art brush and freehanded the black butterfly lines and then added the dots with white acrylic using my dotting tool. After the detailing was COMPLETELY dry, I topped once again with Seche Vite to smooth out the look and help make it last. When adding top coat over any sort of nail art be sure it's 100% dry. If it isn't, the drag from the brush can smear your work.

Phew! Hope you could follow all of that. I love my summer toes and nails! I kind of have a mixture of things going on here; skittles, gradient, nail art... :-)

Thanks for popping in!

ZOYA Nail Mail

Wow! I can't believe that my "Take Three Free Zoya Pintrest Contest" trio is here already! That was quick. A few nights ago there was a code to use to get the 3 top picked colors from the Beach and Surf Collection from their pintrest contest for free, just pay shipping. There were 2000 codes available for use. The 3 top-voted colors were Kimber, Zuza & Myrta. I am psyched about Zuza & Kimber! I didn't personally vote for Myrta, I was hoping for one of the creams, but nevertheless at least I didn't already own it.

Zoya Nail Mail - Take 3 Free Pintrest Contest Trio

Myrta, Zuza & Kimber

Well this brightened my morning which was made irksome by the landscaping company that takes care of our housing community. Last year they "accidentally" dug out flowers I had around a bush because they "didn't see them"... right .... This morning I look out my window and all of my flowers are covered in debris from a tree they over-trimmed and a couple of them were smooshed! UGH! I had actually just trimmed that tree earlier in the week so all they did was make it look bald and muss up my garden in the process. I confronted a few of the workers and they told me they would clean it up and I told them to stay away from my flowers and I would take care of it because I didn't trust them not to do more damage. I was working outside when mail came so when I went back inside my new zoya package was sitting up against the door and it made me happy again. Oh nail mail, how you brighten one's day.

Check back in later today for some nail art I'm working on. Well, thank you for popping in!

ZOYA Bevin

Hello, girls! My June Birchbox has inspired me to go back and dig out a polish I received in my April box, ZOYA Bevin. I thought this was a pretty shade in the bottle and all, but I don't think I would have ever picked it out for myself. Well, I'm glad that it was picked out for me because I love this shade now that I'm wearing it.

Bevin is a dusty teal-ish sage green cream. It applied very easily and even in 2 coats. I think Bevin is a fun color for summer to take a break from the bright in-your-face shades with. It's also very similar to ZOYA Wednesday. I don't own Wednesday, but I have its color spoon to compare. While they are not dupes, they can seem more or less similar depending on the lightning. Bevin is a bit more deeper and leans more towards green where as Wednesday has a bit more blue to it.

ZOYA Bevin

ZOYA Bevin and Wednesday compare

Similar indeed. As far as stash size-control goes for me, I probably won't be picking  up Wednesday anytime soon. I do love the lighter look to it though... *sigh*

Enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for popping by!

Orange Spring Tips

Hello, ladies. Summer is getting closer and the weather is getting hotter. Today I went with a bright orange tipped manicure. I think it's a fun play on the classic french that is perfect for Spring.

I started off with 2 coats of Essie Allure as my base color. For my tips I chose Zoya Arizona. Arizona is a fantastic sherbert orange cream. 

Zoya Arizona tips over Essie Allure - shade

Zoya Arizona tips - direct sunlight

To get that curved shape I used reinforcement stickers which I peeled off while the polish was still wet. If you wait until your polish has started to dry, the polish may peel off on the edge with the sticker.

The sun really brought out the milkyness of Allure, but indoors and in the shade it just has more of a great shine to it like the top picture.

I hope you all have a great rest of your day and thanks for popping in!

ZOYA Mitzi

Hello, lovelies. I hope you are all doing well today. I have some stew stewing up for dinner tonight, yumm.

Today I'm sharing ZOYA Mitzi from the Mod Mattes Collection. This was actually my first Zoya purchase ever! I picked the set of 3 up last year and I was hooked on Zoyas. I know, I know...I have been doing a LOT of Zoya lately. It's my favorite brand though!

Ok, so Mitzi is a unique & funky yellowy-green matte. I have nothing else in my collection that is even vaguely similar to this color. This particular shade of green gave me a small case of lobster-hand, but it's such a fun shade for spring/summer that I enjoy it still.

Mitzi w/ Topcoat                                            Mitzi Matte

Matte

Topcoat

ZOYA Mitzi

Very fun and retro color for sure. As with any matte, your tips will wear a bit faster than a normal polish. If you want to extend the wear and change it up just a bit, try adding top coat on your second day.

Thanks for popping in!