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: 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

Challenge Your Nail Art: 12 Days of Christmas Song

Today's Challenge Your Nail Art theme is rather unique, and I admit, had me super stumped for a little while.

I had no idea what I wanted to do, because a couple of these I could see being easy (which defeats the purpose of this CHALLENGE), but others seemed impossible.  So, I decided to settle on my favorite - the Partridge in a Pear Tree ^_^

For the background polish I used the freebie "Deck the Halls" that I received from Gothic Gala Lacquers from her Black Friday sale.  Everything else is acrylic paint.  This design turned out a lot better than I anticipated :)

Be sure to check out the other lovely and creative entries below!  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Ice Blue/White Colors

Today's Challenge Your Nail Art Theme is "Icy Blue/White Colors."

I had so, so many hopes for this design.  I had a beautiful image in my head, I knew exactly how I could create it, and then...somewhere, I fell short.

I'm so very, very disappointed in this design, but I have learned a few things from my mistakes, and will try to make this design again - only better!  I think the hand is what bothers me the most - reminds me more of tentacles than fingers O_o  The saying, "We are our own worst critics" feels like it is the definition of how I feel about my nail art :P

Short and sweet post today :)  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Santa and Elves

Gonna be a quick post for you today.  I don't normally post on Sundays because I reserve that day for family only.  I'm making a brief exception today, just long enough to post this up for today's Challenge Your Nail Art theme :)

I almost skipped today's prompt because I knew there wasn't really anything I could do that hasn't already been done.  I decided to go ahead with it anyway, just for funsies :)  I did a design I've seen a lot of this season so far - Santa's hat and elf hats, though I added my own little flair on my ring finger ;)  Have a look:

If you haven't guessed already, my ring finger is a nod to the movie Elf with Will Ferrell.  It is one of my favorite Christmas movies ^_^

I hope you like this design!!  I'll see you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Snowmen

Alright...as soon as I saw this challenge theme, I knew exactly what I wanted to do - and it was going to be unconventional, and probably only familiar to a certain "crowd."

How many of you are familiar with the old comics of Calvin and Hobbes?  Well I am, and my hubby absolutely adores them!  My favorite of the cartoon is alllllll the awesome snow man ones, and I have made it my goal to re-create a few of them in real life, the next time I visit or live somewhere with snow ^_^

So, I decided to take one of my favorite snowman Calvin and Hobbes, and put it on my nails for this mani!!  Here is the inspiration comic:

And here is my design:

I had to cut the little dialogue lines because, to be perfectly frank, there just wasn't enough room on my nails for it :-/  But, I wanted the picture there, because it is still comical :D  I am very happy with it, and I hope for those of you that remember these, it's a little wave of pleasant nostalgia ^_^

I'll be back tomorrow with another polish post for you!  See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up

Challenge Your Nail Art: Snowflakes

Hello Monday!  I feel like that holiday weekend went by too quickly, don't you?

Today is the first day of the 12 days of nail challenges ahead of me in the group Challenge Your Nail Art on Facebook.  Here's my schedule for the month:

It looks pretty fun, and I'm very excited to challenge myself to do each and every one of these!!  So, for today's snowflake theme, here is my design:

One of the features I love most about snowflakes is the intricate geometric detailing in them, and I just love the fact that they are all unique - every single snowflake is one of a kind.  That's incredible!!  I wanted to capture a bit of that with this nail design.  I looked up macro images of snowflakes and painted my favorite sections from four different snowflakes.  It's amazing to think that that little tiny floating speck of snow is so detailed and intricate - and gone in a flash.  Like I said - incredible!!!

I plan to try to post regular polish swatches and reviews in between these art posts, though it will depend on how much time I have.  I do have quite a lot of awesome Christmas polishes from some fantastic polish companies, though, that you really need to see.  I'll do my best!!

See you soon <3

An InLinkz Link-up