Challenge Your Nail Art: Penguins!!!

Of all the prompts, I was really excited about the Penguins one, because I *adore* penguins.  I really do, they're pretty fantastic :D  While I really, really wanted to make a much more elaborate mani, I just didn't have the time or energy I wanted to put into my mani.  So, alas, I have but one penguin, but I think the overall mani is pretty cute :)

I used Daily Hues Nail Lacquer's Nov/Dec limited edition polish for the base:

I then painted the snow with white acrylic paint and added very faint falling snow in the background using a white flakie polish topper from an unknown indie (no label on the bottle).  I also freehanded the penguin, using just acrylic paint

He's pretty cute, right? ^_^  I'm happy with it!  What do you think?

And don't forget to check out the other adorable penguin nail designs from the talented gals of Challenge Your Nail Art below!

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An InLinkz Link-up

12 Days of Christmas Nail Art: Silver & Gold Glitter

I know, I KNOW!  I'm super far behind.  Like, miles behind this challenge >.<  I have good reasons though - the Whooping Cough plague has torn through my house like a sniffly, hacking tornado, and after spending three nights on a couch holding a bucket for my eldest as he puked, and helping my youngest get back to sleep after waking up a few times from coughing, it finally reared it's nasty head on me.  So, my time's been a bit occupied.

But!  I am on the up-and-up, and I plan to go back and finish out the designs I've missed thus far!  I'll start by showing you my design from December 6th's prompt:

For the base, I used the new Frosty the Snowborg by Pretty Serious Cosmetics for the base in this mani.

For the gold glitter gradient and accent nail, I used Empire from ILNP's new Holiday Collection.

For the accent nail, I also wanted to use one of my new Snowflake holiday charms from Daily Charme.  I think it added a really nice touch to the mani overall ^_^

I'm very pleased with how this mani turned out - I actually left it on for a few days (sans the charm) because it was so pretty and sparkly :D

Be sure to check out the other gorgeous silver and gold manis from this prompt!!  Let me know what you think about this one in the comments <3

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An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Christmas Trees

I had a couple of ideas for today's Challenge Your Nail Art prompt, but I kept coming back to the one that involved flocking powder, because I still had yet to try it out, and the green always reminded me of fuzzy trees :D  So here's the design I came up with!

I used a base of ILNP's "Cherry Luxe" from the brand new Holiday Collection - I just looooooove the flakie goodness of it!!  It's the *perfect* Christmas red!

After the base, I used striping tape to make the tree design, then put clear nail polish down with flocking powder on top.  I have an accent nail where I used white glitter instead of the flocking powder to represent those that have those gorgeous white Christmas trees in their homes :D  All the trees got a holographic glitter star topper ^_^

I'm not too displeased with this mani, though my pinky looks super wonky - I tried pressing my finger into the flocking powder first, and found it clumped like a mofo.  I used a dry brush and dabbed it on the other nails and got a much better effect.  I'm definitely not opposed to playing with flocking powder again in the future!

What do you think of this design?  Have you had any experience with flocking powder?  Let me know in the comments, and be sure to check out the other fantastic designs for this challenge through the inlinkz below!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Freestyle

Well the day has come - the final challenge theme for this round of designs.  It is bittersweet - while this has certainly taken up quite a bit of free time this month, is has been so much fun creating all this art with such am amazing and talented group of women!!

For today's prompt, I decided to go with something a little less crazy, and a little more fun.  I wanted to paint Rockefeller Square, but subtly :)  I have never been there myself, but every time I see beautiful, giant Christmas trees I think of it in all the pictures and movies I've seen Rockefeller in.  So I wanted to paint that, and this is what I came up with:

It's very simple, not too incredibly detailed, because I wanted the feeling more than the features.  I used all of the new winter colors by Model City Polish in variation (background color, color accents, etc).  The rest is acrylic paint.  I'll have a blog post for you tomorrow featuring all the polishes I used in this design :)

Be sure to check out the other beautiful works of art below!!  Have a wonderful day - see you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Presents

Running super duper late today in this post, so I'l get straight to it!

Today's theme was pretty fun to do!  I liked adding a few little details to them to give them character.  Here's my design:

I hope you like it as much as I do!  Check out the other gorgeous designs below!!  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Ugly Christmas Sweater

I finally did it - I finally took the plunge into a culture that's been hot on my tail, begging me to get it on it.  I started watching Dr. Who.  I know some of you are thinking, "What took so long?" while others may be saying, "What is that?"  Well it took me so long because it's not the first genre of show I am pulled towards - I'm more of a Dexter, American Horror Story, Walking Dead kind of person.  However, most of my close friends and family watch Dr. Who and are crazy about it, and reference it frequently.

So, I decided to start watching it - and I gotta say, I'm pretty hooked!  It's a great show!  And it inspired me for this next Challenge Your Nail Art prompt:

Now this prompt is the most difficult one I have had so far, because I have never done anything like it, and from every reference image I could find of ugly sweater nail designs, most were either stamped, or they all had the same images on them.  That just wouldn't do for me, so I went the unconventional route, and did Dr. Who themed ugly sweater nails based off a picture I saw online a few weeks ago!  Check it out:

I'm pretty pleased with it, though it was soooooo hard to do the itty bitty details on the Tardis and the Daleks.  If you're wondering, the bottom of my middle finger is supposed to be a Weeping Angel, and the bottom of my pinky is a Cyberman.  Here's the reference image for the design:

Source Link Here

Can't believe there are only two more designs left in this challenge!  It's been so much fun though, and I'm so happy I was able to participate in it!  Make sure you check out the other fantastic designs below :)  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Glitter

Pretty sure it's safe to say that anything glitter is a huge hit in the nail community :D  I have yet to come across someone who DOESN'T like glitter.  You can imagine, then, the excitement from all the ladies in this nail art group who saw today's theme:

I am surprised the universe hasn't exploded yet from this prompt :P  I was pretty excited for it - so much so that I have *2* designs to show you! In the first design, I used my polish from the Festive Fortification Box and created a twist on the traditional candy cane nail design:

I used nail tape to make the smooth lines - I couldn't freehand that accurately straight to save my life :P  While this design has gorgeous glitter polish, it just was glittery enough for me.  So, I came up with this design:

I used a silver polish for the base coat and topped it with "Guys and Galaxies" by Nicole by O.P.I.  I then used my O.P.I. sheer tints and layered them to make the green color over the glitter (about two coats of the blue tint and two of the yellow tint on top).  I freehanded the red swirls using a red glitter art polish by Salon Perfect.  And there you have it!

The biggest aggravation with glitter polish (aside from trying to remove it) is trying to photograph is AND capture all its sparkle.  The fact is, it just won't happen.  My second mani is soooooooooo sparkly, and I just couldn't convey that through my pictures.  So I guess you'll just have to trust me ;)

Hope you enjoyed this design!  Be sure to check out the other glittery goodness through the links below!  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Christmas Decorations

Happy Monday! (Is there such a thing?)  I hope you had a nice weekend :)  I finally got the last of my Christmas lights hung up in the front of my house.  Had a snaffoo with adaptors, and ended up using two strings of lights that weren't lighting up as "extension chords."  It worked out very well, and now my house's curb appeal is downright jolly ^_^

Today's Challenge Your Nail Art theme is Christmas decorations, so in honor of my lighting win I decided to go with this fun design:

AND!!!!!!

 ...wait for it...

THEY GLOW IN THE DARK!!!

Yeah, I know, it's pretty awesome if I do say so myself - and I do! ^_^  I used Christmas Lights by Skin Artisan (which you may remember me blogging about a few weeks ago) as the base, and blue and green topcoats by Indigo Bananas over the lights that are freehand painted using acrylic paints.  I am quite pleased with the outcome :D

Be sure to check out the other fun designs created for this challenge below!  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Red & Green Colors

Happy Saturday!  I hope you have some exciting plans for this weekend - and that includes sleeping, because that can be pretty exciting if you haven't had any for a while ;)

Today's challenge was actually one I was very much looking forward to, because I *just* received my order from I Love Nail Polish of 5 of their new color shifting chrome flakie polishes, and one of them was the *perfect* green for the job!!  Here's my design with a few close-up shots to see the majesty of the flakie!

I used "Open Fields" by ILNP for the green, "Cosmic" by Nvr Enuff Polish for the gorgeous deep red holo background, and "Deck the Halls" (a freebie from my Black Friday purchases) by Gothic Gala Lacquers for the gold accents.  Overall I think this look is nice and classic :)  I'm very pleased with the outcome!  What do you think?

Be sure to check out the other gorgeous designs below!!  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up