Ghostes with the mostest...



Today's Spooky mani is another easy one! Little floating ghosties!  These also glowed in the dark which was super fun! I used China Glaze glow in the dark polish over the white (but under the black) and I found that of the ones I own, it changed the color the least.  I think my favorite one turned out to be my ring finger but I tried to mix up their little ghost faces.  Which one is your favorite?

Monster Mash


It's time for another spooky design!!  Today I decided to mix up some of my favorite Halloween art for a fun skittle. You might also notice I'm rocking a new nail shape. While Halloween is the perfect time for a stiletto shape, it really just happened to be the time I decided to finally do it! When my nails get longer a square shape really doesn't work anymore. I do a lot of typing at work and the corners weaken and catch. I've gone round with great success but I wanted to try this new shape and so far I'm loving it!! Which shape do you prefer? (And as a side note my little monster nail glows in the dark)




Its skull in the details...


It's the second day of The Digital Dozen's Spooky Days challenge!! Today I was ambitious with my nail art!!


I've been going though my 3D art supplies and trying to find ways to use them more. I like the effect but it just seems like I never remember to add them.  I think my favorite nail turned out to be my thumb but after I did it I had concerns that it was too white.


Which one is your favorite? Don't forget it check out the other ladies art below!! 




Floating skulls...



This week The Digital Dozen are having an optional week of Halloween manis! I had some planned anyway so I'm jumping in with the other ladies to bring you a week of spooky nail art!  Here is  my first design, some floating skulls!  This is actually a SUPER DUPER easy mani to do and all you need is a dotting tool to pull it off. I thought after about making the skulls glow in the dark but then it just seemed like a hassle!  I hope you enjoy them! Don't forget we're having a totally awesome giveaway for you too! Check it out and win some prizes! :) 


The Digital Dozen Spooky Days Giveaway!


Hello Beautiful Readers!! Happy Monday! The Digit-al Dozen has something extra special in the works this week. We are doing a just for fun week of spooky Halloween manicures and guess what... we have a Giveaway for you guys too!! Two lucky winners will be bringing home some new pretties to add to their collection!

Prize 1 is the entire Different Dimension Spooky Spooky Collection!
Prize 2 will be winners choice of any 2 polishes from The Nail Junkie shop! 


A huge thanks to Different Dimension and The Nail Junkie for joining us in bringing some sparkle to your Halloween!
Both prizes will be open to international readers! (as long as your country allows polish to be shipped. You know if yours has restrictions, if it does please have another place your prize can be sent to) Giveaway will run until 12:00am (EST) November 4th Winners will have 72 hours to respond or another name will be chosen. Just fill out the rafflecopter widget below and Good Luck!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway 

 Please see terms and conditions. Prizes will be shipped directly from sponsors. Obviously we cannot be responsible for any items lost or damaged by the post office or customs.  **This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with facebook **

Zoya Matte Velvet

 

Today I have some swatches of the new Zoya Matte Velvet collection for you. These colors are not new, rather, they are re-releases of discontinued matte colors.  So far as I can tell the formula is not new either. I only had two of these in my collection from the original release: Harlow and Veruschka and both seemed exactly the same from new bottle to old bottle.  I actually did one nail of each of them with the old bottle on the swatches so we'll see if you notice a difference!! These all have a lovely shimmer to them, they're more of what I'd call a suede finish. That makes them easier to work with and it also means they're gorgeous and shimmery when shiny as well! All swatches below are two coats, no top coat.


 Dovima a smoky charcoal-black with strong silver shimmer.


Loredana a medium gunmetal grey, packed with silvery shimmer.


Harlow a rich, saturated rose plum packed with sparkling metallic shimmer.


 Savita a bold, vibrant medium purple with strong red and gold shimmer.


Posh a medium cool-toned wine red with metallic red shimmer.


Veruschka, a deep evergreen garnished with strong metallic shimmer.


Which is your favorite? You can get these shades for $9 at Zoya.com!

**These colors were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion**

Waves of sunshine...



So...this mani is a bit of a fail. Lol...it didn't come out quite how I'd hope it would and then I went to bed before it was dry and got some sheet marks (HATE THAT).  It didn't last long on my nails but I may attempt it again later since I think it could've been better.  I also think that a matte finish would have helped immensely but for some reason I didn't do it.  It started as in inspiration from a dress I saw on Leighton Meester. I'm not really a fan of hers -- not that I dislike her just she's never done anything that particularly interested me-- so I'm certain she must have worn the dress to some type of event but try as I have I can't seem to find it again.  Anyway it was a silk or satin dress with a blue wavy top and a keyhole cutout and then the midsection was white with a pastel yellow trim round the bottom. The colors were outlined with black creating a really graphic effect. If I'm honest the dress was rather terrible!  The idea wasn't bad but the fabric choice was terrible.  She looked like she was wearing rumpled bed clothes.  I DID however think it would be a cute mani.  I guess my execution was as bad as the designers though!  I really wanted to use these pastel, sparkly Zoya colors but then felt I needed something less stark than a pure white to make it work together.  So I used this satin finish Revlon which needed, like, ten coats to be opaque. Then I didn't plan the waves quite right and so that was a bit of a miss.  Then when I added the shiny top coat the whole soft finish of the Revlon was totally lost. So...just wasn't what I wanted.  But I do still think the inspiration is cute.  It reminds me of ocean waves and the sun on the horizon.

**UPDATE**
Just before posting I FOUND the dress!


So it's not AWFUL but look at that puckering around the seams! Micheal Kors would have a fit!! ;)

Hi Ho Silver Rose...


It's the final day of the Digital Dozen floral challenge.  As usual I've saved my favorite for last!  These nails were semi-planned and semi-accidental.  I actually did them before the challenge as I'd gotten a new stamper and I wanted to test it out.  It's more squishy than my other one and on this mani it worked wonderfully though I've had issues with it since. I suppose it's a learning curve! Anyway since I wasn't as familiar with placement when I stamped my first nail it was a little high.  Rather than try to match up the stamp to cover the nail I added a little glitter to the bottom!  I think it turned out really pretty. :)  I hope you've enjoyed floral week!  Please check out the other ladies art below! And remember you can keep up with the happenings of The Digital Dozen on our Facebook or Instagram. We'd love to see your themed mani's!


Peach Rose



Today's design is one I'm actually VERY happy with! I've struggled with these free hand roses in the past. Mostly it's the color choice that always gets me. They look so different until they go on my nail and then suddenly my rose is a blob of smudgy mess.  Today I have FINALLY found two colors that are similar enough but different enough to work!  I then finished it with some dots and stripes on the other nails. :)  It's sort of a spring manicure and it's decidedly autumn here but I loved the way it came out! Check out the other ladies art below! 

Paper the walls...


It's day three of floral week with The Digital Dozen!  Here's one of those stamping designs I mentioned earlier.  I actually had to re-do this one because the first time I had so much trouble with the image.  I got out of stamping for a long time and I just recently got more plates which has given me new inspiration.  However, it really is an art and I just haven't mastered it yet. Hopefully with more practice!  At any rate this reminds me of vintage wall paper or tea towels! I think it's one of my favorite stamping designs I have.  I used some butter London colors for the stamps and they came out better than I expected.  I love it when that happens! Check out the other ladies art below! :) 

Leopard Lillies...



Today's design is kind of a mash-up of things.  For Valentines Day a while back I did some heart shaped leopard print and it came out super cute.  I love leopard on my nails and I think it's fun to mix it up.  However this wasn't exactly what I planned!  I thought because the print is usually sort of mis-shapen that it would come together more easily but the shape of the flowers got a bit lost. Then I top coated too early and it dragged a little in places. I'll try this again with maybe a more circular floral shape (a rose might work better) but it actually did look pretty cute on my nails. I just think it ended up reading more multi-colored leopard than floral!  Check out the other ladies art below!!

The Digital Dozen does....FLORAL

dd

It's Digital Dozen time again!! This week's challenge was floral. I have to admit it's not my favorite theme. If you look back over my designs you'll find I rarely do anything floral or even too girly really.  This made it a REAL challenge for me! I see really amazing designs all the time with flowers on them but it's just really not my thing so I had to search for inspiration!  I actually ended up with too many designs because at first I just grabbed all my floral stamps and went to town and then I thought, no, that's a cop out, I'm going to try harder than that.  So I apologize in advance for what is sure to be a very amateur week from me! The important thing is that I pushed myself and went for it though!  Today's design is based on a pattern I saw on a shirt.  When I first did it I left the centers of the flowers empty and I think I liked that better than after I added the yellow, but I digress. It's floral and not a total mess so I'm happy with it!! :) Check out what is sure to be much more amazing art from my fellow dozener's  below!



It's all in the details...


Last week on a stroke of luck I managed to pick up some new Sephora Formula X colors for next to nothing.  Apparently they've changed the bottle shape again but the formula seems about the same to me.  I don't have many Sephora polishes, in the scheme of things they're no more costly than an OPI or an Essie but until recently the colors haven't been anything exciting.  At any rate at $2 each I couldn't pass them up.
This minty green one caught my eye (I'm a sucker for mints!) and I was pleasantly surprised at the two coat coverage.  I decided to add some purple chevrons to jazz it up a little!  It's sort of a spring mani for this time of year but hey, we all need a little brightness!! Here's my haul:


Most of what I found were creams which I LOVE but I have plenty of!! I snagged three sparkly Sephora by OPI colors, If You've Got it Haunt It, Spark-tacular Top Coat, and I Found a Pot of Gold (which I think is a dupe for a Jordana glitter I have).  Then I grabbed three Formula X colors, Hypochondriac, Jaded and Caddy. If you have a Big Lots near you, RUN and check out what they have! :)

Docinho on fire...



Here's a simple look I did recently.  I started with Hits polish in Docinho.  I really love this color! It's the perfect warm, mint green.  The only issue I have with it is the bottle is so small! So I try not to use it too often.  I first had the idea to stamp over it but then I spotted this Tokidoki glitter and it just had to happen! I love glitter gradients, they're so easy and they look so pretty!  I also love the mint/copper and mint/gold combo so pairing up a copper and gold glitter with a mint polish was my perfect combination!! I got quite a few compliments on this for such a simple look.  I hope you enjoyed it! What's your favorite glitter combo?

Creatures of Comfort



This is a quick look I did after spotting it in some of the New York Fashion Week pictures on line. Turns out it's a look done by Alicia Torello for the Creatures of Comfort show.  It was done using Zoya colors and given how many I have I thought I could probably recreate it quite easily.


Turns out the creamy color used in the show is Farah which I sadly do not own. So I used Jacqueline instead.  It's fast becoming a favorite of mine! Farah is a bit darker and more of a khaki color but I love the creamy off white color with the sparkly base too. This would be a stellar New Years look!  I think next time I'd do the negative space a bit smaller though!

Here's the original look:


Barielle Fall 2014 New York, NY Collection

barielle

Today I have the fall collection from Barielle for you! I wanted to get these up sooner but the sun just wasn't cooperating with me! The fall collection contains three creams and a cream with a hint of shimmer.  I was really excited about these and while I was surprised with them when I saw them in person I still ended up really liking most of them!


First up is Taupe Notch, described as a creamy dark taupe.  I've always thought of taupe as more of a tan color but I did some research and it can extend to greyish browns too.  I'm a sucker for a good grey and this is a GREAT one.  It's super shiny (no top coat on these) and very deep.  One complaint I had on this one is the formula of mine was quite thin. It still evened out in two coats but it was tricky to work with since it wanted to run everywhere. That's the first I experience this issue with this brand and it was the only of the bunch so maybe mine was a bad bottle. Nonetheless the color is stunning.


Next up is Berry Posh, a creamy dark fuschia.  This one is as described and just as shiny as the others. Shown is two coats, no top coat.


Moda Bleu is next, described as a creamy dark navy blue.  I found this a little brighter than a navy and the effect is almost that of a jelly although it's quite opaque.  This one was a favorite of mine.


Then there's Soho at night, a creamy grape purple.  Again it's pretty much just as described.  I love the shine on these!



 Boho Chic is next up and it's described as a creamy deep sea green.  I REALLY love this one.  It looks like a really dark teal.  This one, like the blue, reminds me a bit of a jelly with the shiny, squishy finish.  It was opaque in two coats though! 


Finally we have Vintage Gown, described as a rust with a hint of pink.  I don't feel the description fits this one at all! It's sort of a nice, warm tan with an orange gold flash.  It''s the only in the collection with a finish that isn't a cream but the shimmer is subtle.  It complimented my skin tone quite nicely though!

Which is your favorite?  Barielle polishes are five free and never tested on animals. :)

**These polishes were provided to me for my honest review. I have not been compensated for my opinion**

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