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.

FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin

Hello all. I hope you are enjoying your afternoon. I'm excited for my sister visiting this weekend but this also means I have to hand over the polishes she loaned me including FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin. :-( It's so pretty.

I have swatches of this gorgeous sparkle packed polish over orange (Zoya Arizona), white (SH White On) & black (CG Liquid Leather).

 FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin over ZOYA Arizona

FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin over SALLY HANSEN White On

FANTASY MAKERS Creepy Pumpkin over CHINA GLAZE Liquid Leather

I had to blow up that last one bigger so you can see all of the gorgeous colors packed into this; red, green, gold & orange. It's gorgeous over black. The black really brings out the full spectrum of color from Creepy Pumpkin.

I am so bummed to return this to my sister. She's really great about sharing her polish with me and her stash is much more extensive than mine so I'm sure I'll find more to snag from her.

Thanks for popping in!

"This is Halloween" Zombies

It's the zombie challenge of "This is Halloween" and be prepared because this is a gruesome one.

When I saw zombies on the list I knew I wanted to have actual zombie-esque nails and not just zombie art. I was perusing zombie nail images the other day and came across this link. It was gory and awesome and just everything a zombie's nails should be. I had to do it myself.

Zombie nails w/ brains!

Zombie nails

Halloween zombie nails w/ brain

Okay, first off let me put this out there; Those are FAKE nails. I zombified them myself but I would never do that to the ends of my real nails so I new stick-ons would be the way to go. I got a set for $1 at the dollar tree. I also found this fun brain there. Once I finished my nails, I realized they actually made the brain look too clean so I added some nail polish to bloody it up some.

Colors used:
   • blood - CHINA GLAZE Velvet Bow
   • base color - CHINA GLAZE IV thinned WAAAAAY down w/ ORLY Nail Thinner
   • half moons - Black acrylic paint

I pulled and ripped at the nails with clippers to make the jagged edges. To get the caked in dirt look I figured the most natural way would be to paint the underside of the fake nail (because clawing your way out of a grave is going to definitely get under you nails). I used the WAAAAAY thinned down brown (IV) as a quick brush over the fake nail. I applied the blood very thick and goopy right off the brush to make a fresher look. Let me just put this out there as a general notice about Velvet Bow, it is not cuticle friendly.

Here is the aftermath once I removed the nails.

after removing the zombified fake nails

So gross. I had to use pure acetone to get the red out of my cuticle bed then I scrubbed with Julep Hand Exfoliater, moisturized with St. Ives lotion and slathered my entire nail in Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.

all clean - my naked nails

All clean!

This was fun to do. I am saving my fake nails. I highly doubt they will ever get used, but I mean...I can't throw these away!

Hehe. So, apologies for the nasty nails but I hope you at least think they captured the theme today.

Thanks for popping in!

"This is Halloween" Jack-o-Lanterns

It's the 4th challenge in the "This is Halloween" nail art challenge. Today's theme: Jack-o-lanterns!

Last year I remember seeing these completely unique and awesome Jack-o-lantern nails over at Nails by Kayla Shevonne. I went to her blog searching because I remember she had a tutorial for them. Well, I found said tutorial and decked my nails out.

Jack-o-Lanterns

I added CHINA GLAZE Ghoulish Glow to the cut out parts of the jack-o-lanterns, but I had one heck of a time capturing the glow. Here is the "best" (and I use that term loosely) photo of it.

Colors used:
   • base color - CHINA GLAZE Liquid Leather
   • base color glitter - CHINA GLAZE Skyscraper
   • Jack-o-lantern cut-out color - SALLY HANSEN XTREME WEAR Sun Kissed
   • Jack-o-lantern cut-out color - CHINA GLAZE Roguish Red
   • glowing top coat - CHINA GLAZE Ghoulish Glow
   • I used white and black acrylic paints as well to make the orange pop on top of the black and then to cover up any mistakes and add detail to the shapes

Kayla is extremely talented and artistic and this design and tutorial are both fantastic. I absolutely love how it turned out. This is the epitome of Halloween nails.

Thanks for popping in!

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!