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

Princesses and Villains: Aurora & Maleficent

I've come to the conclusion that my Princesses are always gonna look like poop.  For some reason, I just can't seem to paint them well.  Oh well - you win some, you lose some!

This week's Princess/Villain set is Aurora and Maleficent from Ice Polish :)  Here you go!

Aurora is a gorgeous baby pink with a light scattered holographic effect, and Maleficent is a beautiful duochrome with a nice sparkle in the sunlight.  Maleficent was a limited edition polish and is no longer available, but Aurora is still up for grabs in the Etsy shop!

Tomorrow is the next round of You-Pick-My-Art!!  Be sure to check my Facebook Page and vote for your favorite!  See you soon <3

*NOTE:  One of these two polishes was a prize for winning a giveaway.  While it was not purchased, it was NOT supplied for the purposes of a review.  Links are NOT affiliate (i.e. I do not get any sort of kickback when you click on them through my blog),  I simply provide them for your convenience :)

Princesses and Villains: Belle and Gaston

Alright, I'm gonna cut right to the chase, here - I hate these nails.  I painted over them multiple times, I tried Belle 3 different ways, and Gaston twice before I threw in the towel and accepted that the Nail Art gods are trying to tell me that's the best I'm gonna do for now :P  So, I left it alone, fixed it up, took some pics, and washed my hands of it.  Practice makes perfect, and I will most definitely be coming back to this design again in the near future :)

So, without putting it off any further (and I'm wincing as I upload these), here are Belle and Gaston over the beautiful "Belle" and "Gaston" polishes by Ice Polish.

For some reason this lighting made the polish look more butter yellow, when it's definitely more golden, like in the other pics.  At least you can see the pretty gold and light pink flecks of glitter in this macro ^_^ 

Like I said, lots of room for improvement in the art, but the polish is great!  I applied two coats of each polish to make it completely opaque, and they both dried very quickly, as every polish by this brand has thus far.  Belle dried to a semi flat finish, whereas Gaston dried to a shinier finish.

I love that Ice Polish managed to replicate the beautiful gold of Belle's dress for this polish, it's just lovely :)  And the deep maroon/red of Gaston is perfect for him, as it reminds me of his barely-fitting shirt.  She did a great job with this duo!

To keep up-to-date on Ice Polish, here are some social links for you.  I'll provide her shop link, too, though she is currently on vacation mode.

Facebook: Here

Etsy: Here

Instagram: Here

There will be no You-Pick-My-Art this week since I will be out of town, but I will still be posting for you :)  Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!  See you soon <3

Polish Post: Colors by Llarowe "Black Gold, Texas Tea" Swatches, Review, and Nail Art

Good Monday Morning, lovely people!  I've got a polish post for you along with the design from last Friday's You-Pick-My-Art.  While I'm waiting for my caffeine to kick in, let's dive right into it :)

The polish I used for the base of my nail art is "Black Gold, Texas Tea" by the brand Colors by Llarowe.  Here are some pics:

Outdoors

Indoors

Black Gold, Texas Tea is a gorgeous ultra linear holographic black polish.  Opaque after two coats, it dried almost instantly and application was super smooth.  I added a topcoat to make it shine and bring out the holographic effect even more.  My nails are POPPING!  I just love this color!  Clean-up was pretty neat, too - no staining around the cuticles, though Llarowe recommends a good base coat to prevent the nails from being stained due to the  high pigmentation of the polish.

I chose this polish as the base because it made the perfect "space" backdrop for my Captain Amelia nails from Treasure Planet.  For those unfamiliar with the movie, Treasure Planet is a take on the classic Treasure Island, and takes place in the 17-1800's but with a steampunk twist.  Aliens everywhere, ships fly, it's just amazing.  Definitely one of my favorite Disney movies, and my son absolutely loves it too ^_^

In the movie, the captain of the ship taken to find Treasure Planet is Captain Amelia, the winning choice from the You-Pick-My-Art last Friday.  Here is the design I came up with for her:

Her ship is on my pointer finger, Treasure Planet is on the middle, Captain Amelia is on the ring, and Morph is on my thumb (he's just such an adorable character, I couldn't leave him out!).  I had a lot of fun with these, and am pretty happy with how they turned out :D  I hope you are, too!

Got some nice polish posts set up for this week I think you will all enjoy :)  I hope you survive your Monday!!  See you soon <3

*NOTE: Links I provide are NOT affiliate (i.e. I do not get any sort of kickback when you click on them through my post). I simply provide them for your convenience :)

Princesses and Villains: Jasmine & Jafar

So last week I showed you Ariel and Ursula from the "Happily Ever After...Not If I Can Help It!" collection by Ice Polish.  This week I have the next set: Jasmine and Jafar!

Jasmine is a lovely light seafoam green with a subtle holographic shimmer.  Jafar is a deep magenta purple with purple micro flakies and a linear holographic effect.  Same as usual - really easy formula to work with, opaque in 2 coats, spread evenly, dried in under 5 minutes.  Love this polish :)

For some reason my villains are looking way better than my princesses so far :P  I'll work on that for the next pair.  Speaking of, I have Belle/Gaston, Mulan/Shan Yu, Aurora/Maleficent, and Cinderella/Stepmother left - which one do you want to see next?? :D