Candy Canes and Icicle Dreams

So, I'm not going to lie...I'm in love with this manicure. Also, I'm in love with Zoya. It's a nail polish company that makes the most amazing products. I highly, highly recommend liking them on Facebook, here, or visit their website, here. They're also doing "Flash Promotions" through their Facebook and Twitter accounts. They put up codes you can use to get free items, free items with free shipping, Buy two polishes, get two free etc... The only catch is that it's first come, first serve. So you need to be quick with that copy and paste!
Just within the last 2 weeks I've been participating in the Flash Promotions, I got a "Buy 2 polishes, get 1 free + free shipping", "$10 off your purchase + free shipping", "Buy 3, get 3 free + free expedited shipping" and, just last night I got my first ever freebie- "first 100 get a free polish!". I was so excited! I'll take some pictures of the beauties when they all get here. I'm waiting on the last 2 orders, but they'll be here very soon!
Anyway, with the holidays fast approaching, I thought it would be a great idea to do a Christmas themed manicure. I had free time last night and did my nails up! I didn't take any pictures then because I wanted some sunlight, but I had to work today and by the time I got home, no sunlight. So, these nails are still looking decent enough after a day of hard work at the hospital! The following pictures are taken with indoor lighting and flash.
I used Zoya Isla (my favorite polish color ever!) and the L.A. Art white and silver striper brushes. It's a candy cane and festive theme. I have a Christmas party to go to tomorrow and I'm accenting my outfit with rich red, so this works perfectly! I just wish I was able to capture the deep intensity of Isla. It's so rich that the middle of the nail glows red and the sides are a dark, deep blackened red. So amazing. I recommend this color to everyone!

Ahhhh....there's nothing like a macro picture to remind you how much hospital soap and winter air dries your hands out! Oh well, I'm off to moisturize! Wait until you see my other ideas!

Happy Halloween!!

Yayy! It's here! Halloween! Sadly, I'll be spending my night in class, and working on a Power Point for a presentation later in the week. But I won't let this get me down! No way! Just to prove my point, I kept the themed nails going and I'm sharing it now. I attempted another spider web design mostly because the last design came out sickeningly messy. I will say that this one is much better, but the right hand - not so much. I need to work on drawing with my less dominant hand. Practice makes perfect, though!
So, this is my design. Black base, hand drawn spider web, orange base on my pointer fingers, same black as base on other nails used for drawn the Jack-O-Lantern face. All are coated in a gorgeous creepy glowing green flaky glitter.

For these, I used a base of Sinful Colors Black on Black, used my trusty L.A. Colors Art Deco in white, then on the index fingers used Sephora by O.P.I. Caliente Coral, and Sinful Colors Black on Black to draw the face. Over all of that I applied the newly released Nails Inc. special effects The Wyndham. It's my first ever flaky glitter polish and I'm so happy with it! I thought it added a little oomph to the nails and made them a little eerie, in honor of Halloween!

Here, you can see the Wyndham flaky glitter a little better. Love it!

My thumb.

The middle and right fingers are my absolute favorite ones!

So, that's it for today. I hope you all have an amazing night and if you celebrate, do so safely! Have fun!

Halloween Candy Corn/Spider Web Mani

Ugh, so this blogging often thing is already off to an iffy start. However, I started this as a way to catalog some fun nail designs and talk about stuff that makes me happy. So, on that note, something that makes me happy:

H A L L O W E E N !  

It really is my favorite holiday. Everything from the history and spiritualism behind it, to the dressing up in costumes makes me swoon in anticipation! With the way the cards have fallen this year though, I'll be bowing out of actually celebrating the day. So, to keep my heart from crumbling, I at least wanted to keep up with the themed manis. Be warned, this was my first themed nail art and my downfall is always that I set the bar too high with what I want it to look like in the end. This didn't quite meet my expectations but, in it's own right, it's fun! I used colors that were available because I don't have the funds to go out and buy exact colors (secretly, I think the neon adds a little pow! to the look). Also, please don't judge the chips in the polish. I neglected to photograph the nail right after I completed it.

Base is Sally Hansen Xteme Wear in White On, stripes done with Color Club Wham! Pow! and Color Club Almost Famous. Copper glitter stripes done with L.A. Colors Art Deco in Copper Glitter. The spider web was some freehand art that I did using Finger Paints. I don't have the bottle with me so I don't know the name. All I can tell you is that it's a basic finish black. I finished it all off with a topcoat of Seche Vite.

I hope you enjoy! I'll do my best to have more up soon!