Since I'm a little behind on the ABC Challenge (bad me) I've got a pretty combination to show you today!  Recently I started doing events for two major nail polish brands and one of them was Deborah Lippmann.  For my very first event I decided to do this glitter gradient.  What I really love about nude gradients like this is that they basically make your nails look like they're just growing glitter!  I also love that glitter is difficult to remove and so it protects the tips if I want to leave polish on for awhile.  It's a trick I use all the time to salvage mani's with a bit of tip wear.  I also really loved the unintentional smoky effect I got from using this particular combo.  The base in Today Was A Fairytale is a little bit tinted so it created just the slightest tinge of blue-grey.  The base color is Before He Cheats. :) 

Don't forget to check out what Emma and Kerrie had for the letter "T"!

It's time for another letter in the A,B,C Challenge!! Toady the letter is "R".  I had a lot of choices for today but I ultimately decided to go with this GORGEOUS Deborah Lippmann called Razzle Dazzle.  This was a Christmas gift from my husband and I haven't really gotten around to wearing it yet.  It's a stunning magenta jelly with glitters.  It looks really mulch-dimensional on the nails and it's super duper sparkly! This is two coats and it's completely opaque but it still has a squishy quality about it which I love! What do you think?

Don't forget to check out what Emma and Kerrie had for the letter "R"!

This is another really simple manicure for Love and Heartbreak week with the Digital Dozen.  Lately I've been really getting into the nude with a flash of color look.  One thing that's really cool about them is that whatever you pair them with really pops and yet it's still soft enough that you can wear it to work or professional events.  Last month I reviewed the butter LONDON GOOP collection and I know I said that the only must have is Hampstead  Heath but I retract that statement! The one I've used the most is this one, Bread and Butter Pudding.  I'm dying over how shiny and healthy it makes my nails look.  It reminds me of a subtle gel mani I had ages ago.  Anyway for this one I went simple and just added a burst of color at the base with some glitter and two little hearts on the accent nail. :) Simple and sweet. Just like me. :P

Colors Used:

butter LONDON Bread and Butter Pudding

Deborah Lippmann Flash Dance

Essence Gabriella

Prolana Quick & Slick Top Coat

The final day of Blue Week is here!  This is my finished design!  I actually REALLY loved the final look on this week.  It's got a lot going on but from afar it really just looks like a cool pattern.  I think this could almost go tribal with different colors and I'm thinking of trying it again sometime but using black instead of the white and some vibrant colors instead of the two shades of blue.  I hope you all enjoyed blue week and watching me 'evolve' another manicure!! You can flip back through my Blue Week Evolution by clicking below OR check out the pictures on my Facebook page!

See yesterday's evo-BLUE-tion by clicking here!!

And don't miss out on the other ladies blue mani's! Check them out below!!

Day two is here!! If you missed yesterday's post, I'm in the middle of a challenge week using the color blue.  To challenge myself, personally, I've added a rule that I can't remove any art from my mani.  I have to add to what is already there.  The challenge started yesterday with a base coat of Deborah Lippmann Let's Hear it for the Boy. Today I decided to do some simple stripes.  I used butterLONDON Big Smoke which is a gorgeous dark, shimmery blue to add some fat stripes on each nail.  I thought really hard about matte topcoating this because I LOVE suedes.  But I ultimately decided against it.  I like stripes since they're easy to do and yet they look somewhat elaborate on the nail!  I hope you're enjoying the challenge!  

Check out the first challenge day by clicking here!

 

Don't forget to check out the other members of the Digit-al Dozen's art work for the day!!

It's time for another theme week!! And I'm really excited for this one because I finally get to talk about my new group!  Recently, Debbie from The Crumpet invited me to join a challenge group with her and eleven other wonderful ladies. The premise of the group, aptly named The Digit-al Dozen, is one week of theme nail art every month. I gave you a little preview last month with the Week of Red art, and now this week the official launch is BLUE!  So for the next five days, you'll be seeing a lot of blue on my blog!  Even though it isn't part of the challenge, I'm going to TRY again this week to only add to the artwork I do each day.  So on day five, my base coat of Deborah Lippmann Let's Hear it for the Boy, will still be intact! Just covered with art. :)  It was a bit of a challenge last time, and the art I ended up with wasn't my favorite but I think it's fun to see where things go!  It's sort of a mood change mani, since it changes everyday depending on how I feel!  I was going to plan something out this time to avoid what happened last time BUT I didn't. I know. Bad me. So let's just see where things go, shall we?  

Don't forget to check on the other twelve ladies in the Digit-al Dozen!!

Well this week's Project Runway challenge was certainly interesting.  It didn't really give me any new favorites: I still love Buffi and Christopher, but it did put new perspective on some other contestants.  What the heck was going on with Elena?! And Andrea with her whole "I'd feel relieved to go home" spiel...then goes on to tell Christopher he's being 'demeaning' when he points out that she doesn't care to be there on the runway. Grrr...I hate it when people play games like that.  At the end of the day, I felt like Buffi and Elena REALLY worked it out.  Their dress was one of my favorites and I was really stressing how it would come out.  I hated Dmitry and Melissa's look yet the web was buzzing with people who felt it was short changed.  It looked like a weird chiffon sweatshirt over a nice dress.  Just. Odd.  I was also in love with Kenley's dress even though, let's face it; I hate Kenley.  I do love her style! I did think Irina's dress was lovely on her even though I was reminded that she's a total beyotch.  I was feeling kind of smug when her dress got into the top after she said she was embarrassed to walk in it and bad mouthed the sewing skills of the designers. And even though Gunnar is a total Christian Siriano wannabe...I was hoping he'd win.  So that brings us to the design I chose to do for my nails.  I was rather unimpressed by most of what went down the runway this week.  Things were too simple for my taste or too cliche.  But I was surprised by Nathan and Sonjia's dress for Valerie. I felt like it was too much for Valerie's frame and it made her look too old and heavy BUT I think a statuesque young actress could ROCK this thing.  I could see someone like Miley Cyrus just bringing this thing to life. I love the glitter and the gold and the tiny hints of shimmery chiffon in the sleeves.  Fabulous.  So I chose to do my nail design based on their design.  It wasn't the winner. It wasn't the loser. But in my  book...it was the one with the most pizzazz!  Which look was your favorite for this week? Did this episode change your opinion of who will win?

Colors used: Deborah Lippmann Believe, Tokidoki Savanna, NYX Gold Glitter

Well today was my very first official day of work!! It was a long day! But I learned A TON and I have so many more nail care posts planned for you guys. I can't wait and I'm loving all the feedback I'm getting from you all. :)  One thing I learned about recently is nail shape.  Did you all know that we have a shape that's perfect for our nails?  There's a quick and easy way to tell what shape is right for you. I'll be posting on this hopefully on Saturday along with showing you how to tell what basic type of nail you have so that you're better equipped to care for them.  Knowing your nail type will not only help you choose the right products to use but will also help you prevent hangnails and other pesky problems.  My natural nail shape is meant to be oval.  Which is ironic because I had just ovaled out my nails the other day on a whim and today when I trained it ended up just being the right shape for me.  I still think I like them square!! But I'm normally a risk taker with these types of things and it's easy to go back to square!! What do you all think of the new shape?

Today's design was inspired by my new iPhone case.  Cute, no?  Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for following!!

So it's day 13 of the 31 Days of Christmas Challenge and that means today's inspiration is angels.  Is anyone else in total shock that today is December 13th? Where is the time going?  Lucky me I have my Christmas shopping complete! And my extra sweet husband gifted me early with a Keurig coffee pot which I can't stop obsessing over.  I'm in love with it and it makes my extra hectic life so much easier!  Anyway onto the nails...I was in a hurry today so this is another stamped mani.  The base coat is Essie Bone Chiling and it was kind of stark for my taste so I warmed it up with some Deborah Lippmann Diamonds and Pearls and then I added a coat of Essie Luxe Effects in As Gold as it Gets.  To top it off and make it more angel-y I added some gold feathered "wings" with some Color Club Gingerbread Man.  Enjoy and thanks for following!!

I've had a super busy week, so I apologize for this one going up late.  Wish I could blame it on blogger being stupid but this time, it's my own fault!! This is day 10 of the 31 Days of Christmas Challenge and the task is to use your most festive red polish. I went back and forth a bit on this one.  I started out thinking I'd use Color Club's Santa's Cinnamon.  Then I decided I'd go with Barry M Red Glitter instead.  Then this gorgeous Deborah Lippmann caught my eye.  It's Do Ya Think I'm Sexy and I must admit...I do.  I LOVE this red glitter.  It's like a disco ball on your nails.  Wicked sparkly and unlike any other glitter I own!  So you can see why I decided to use it!

So it's day five of the 31 Days of Christmas Challenge  and that means today's challenge is wreaths!! I had a plan in mind to do a french mani and run it down the side of my nails like a wreath, similar to what I did for the worst polish challenge a few weeks ago. But then when I started doing it I really wasn't a fan.  It was just too much green and not enough anything else.  So I decided to go a different route.  It's not really a wreath!  It looks a bit more like mistletoe to me (and what's better than that?!) but I liked the subtlety of it on my nail.  It also gave me a chance to use one of my untried polishes and it turns out I kind of like it!  Enjoy and thanks for following!

Have you ever been kissed under the mistletoe?

Base on all nail but accent: OPI The Show Must Go On

Base on accent nail: CoverGirl Bronze Beauty

Mistletoe is done with needle marbling and China Glaze Glitering Garland

Last week was extra crappy  for me.  I had SO much to do and not nearly enough time to do it all.  And the combination of running here, there and everywhere, PLUS being sick...just didn't work out too well.  I paid for it earlier this week when I spent two days in bed with a fever over 100.  Fun.  To cheer me up my lovely husband bought me some new Lippmann glitters. Let's face it glitter IS the way to a girls heart. :P  Part of what he got me was this mini set called Dance Music. It has three glittery polishes; blue/green, grey/holo, and pink/purple.  On to the swatches!! These are all taken in natural light, three coats, and no topcoat.

 Next up is Dancing in the Dark.  To me this is a glitter version of Orly's Rock Solid.  I wasn't a huge fan of Rock Solid and that didn't change with this glitter.  The base is a concrete grey and it has tiny silver glitter and larger, round holo glitter.  To me, the holo glitter seemed to break up the harmony of the silver glitter.  I liked that they glinted in different colors in the sun and I can see how a flat grey/silver glitter might have been boring but I think I'd have liked it better if all the glitter were a uniform size.  Still, it's a gorgeous shade. The jelly base on this one was the most sheer.

These nails were sort of spur of the moment nails.  I got a TON of nail art supplies from Dollar Nail Art and I've been itching to use them.  I've seen a lot of bloggers and artists using striping tape in various ways and I thought I'd try it out on something simple.  I also wanted to try out my new Orly Mineral FX collection so I started with two coats of Orly Stone Cold.  It was pretty. VERY blingy.  But a bit TOO much for me.  So I covered that with one coat of Deborah Lippmann's Across the Universe.  It's a beautiful color (which unfortunately does not play well with my Seche Vite) and it looked great over the Stone Cold.  Then I decided it was a little too blah...lol. So I popped two quick tape stripes over the ring finger and...voila! Instant nail art.  (These weren't even totally dry when I got a compliment on them from a clerk at the electronics store!).  You might notice that my thumb is MIA in some of the pictures recently.  It's because it split halfway down my nail and rather than patch it and baby it for weeks I just cut it off. The growing back process is slow :(  I think I might like the pics better without the thumb though, so I'm debating whether to leave it out or give it an encore when it grows back. Time will tell and opinions are appreciated! :)

Enjoy and thanks for following!

Base is: Orly Stone Cold

Glitter is: Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe

Top Coat: Seche Vite

This Monday's challenge in my Facebook group was pink for Breast Cancer Awareness.  This month being Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought it would be a good one to participate in.  Don't forget this month (and every month) to get regularly screened by your doctor and to remind the men and women in your life to do so as well.  You can find information on how to do a self check, what to do if you find something, and even how to get support if someone you know is suffering at The National Breast Cancer Awareness website. This is a serious disease that I've personally lost someone to.  If found and treated early, the chance for survival is very good. The check is very easy, doesn't take much time, and can really save your life. If you have a minute, visit the website to see what you can do to help promote awareness in your area.  If you even tell one person you love you can make a difference.  Don't forget there are also TONS of cool products this month that are going Pink for the Cure so just by doing some regular shopping you can contribute to the cause! I hope you enjoy the nails and thanks again for following.  :)

Base: Catrice Miss Piggy Reloaded

Glitter coat: Deborah Lippmann Bring on the Bling

Bow: Konad White

Bow center: Barry M Shocking Pink