St. Patrick's Day nails 2013

*All products here were purchased by me for my own wear and review. 
This is: CND Stickey base coat, Gelish base coat, two coats of RCM 'Dress for Success', two coats of China Glaze 'Running in Circles', one coat of Poshe top coat, stamped with BM-221, and one coat of Poshe top coat. Accent nail has one coat of Ninja Polish 'Shamrock Floam' over the CG with a bit of twee & honey 'Viscera' and a coat of Poshe top coat.

Happy (belated) St. Patrick's Day! It is a HUGE day for my because I work in (and my family owns) an Irish pub. I see more family on SPD than on Christmas. No exaggeration. Naturally, I need awesome nails.

When "Running in Circles" came out, I remember lots of people saying, "This is the green version of Riveting! It's beautiful!" Somehow this stuck out in my mind and I still love my Giants playoffs mani, so I did a green version based on that. I fell in love with Ninja Polish 'Shillelagh' and 'Shamrock Floam' as soon as I saw them, and had to incorporate 'Shamrock Floam'. ('Shillelagh' deserves its own manicure on a day that I won't be stuck in a very dark pub. And pictures of me WITH a real shillelagh because I do have one.) I bought a TON of SPD polish and was only able to wear a bit of it. I do love green polish so I don't see this as a problem because I have no problem wearing it on any given day.

The interesting thing about this mani is that I completely forgot the Gelish top coat step. And didn't have very good results. RCM isn't the most durable to gels (on me) so that really didn't help. It started to crumble on a couple of my fingers and lead to me taking this off after only wearing it for a couple of days. Also, it looks like tipwear here but it was shrinkage! Poshe! :( Going back to my beloved (and much cheaper) Jordana top coat immediately.

Here's a picture of me with my super cute shamrock shirt found at Target. (tiny hat also from Target!)


I am also wearing Sephora + Pantone emerald green fake eyelashes, but didn't take a close-up to show them off.

My "work" outfit for the day, since I was dancing, was this:


I was very excited to wear my new Jig outfit! Not only is it hella cute (especially compared to my last Jig outfit, seen in the middle there) it is a lot lighter and cooler to wear than a kilt or an Aboyne outfit. And it's one zipper and an apron tie versus five different items of clothing. I'm excited to do some more competing this year, even with the "no polish" dress code. I'll be posting some nude toned manicures for sure! :)

LITTLE MERMAID NAIL ART!

I have something to show you guys that I am SO EXCITED ABOUT! I can barely believe that *I* am responsible for this.











These babies are my DISNEYLAND nails!

I did so much I'm not sure where to begin.

My right hand (and my left middle finger) is a custom mixed of soak-off gels because I didn't have the perfect color. It's mostly RCM "Who Are You Wearing" and "Dress for Success" mixed, with a little white added in. I stamped it with RA-111 and Urban Outfitters "Green Holo" (so creatively named).

My left hand went a little like this:
Thumb: Ariel's hair using SensatioNail "Taupe Tulips" as a base with L.A. Colors red and red glitter nail art stripers plus LA Colors "Hi-Lite" striper and a teeny bit of Ulta "Sun-Sational" for the star. It's hard to tell in the pictures but the two yellows gave the star a bit of depth.

Index finger: Shell bra! Using SensatioNail "Taupe Tulips" as a base and OPI "Funky Dunkey" and an unnamed love&beauty purple for the shells. It was way easier than I expected it to be! This is what I thought would be the most difficult and it ended up being a breeze. There may be more nail art in my future!

Ring finger: FLOUNDER! Used SensatioNail "Taupe Tulips" as a base and completely covered it with Ulta "Sun-Sational" and painted the stripes using L.A. Color stripers in "Blue Glitter" and "Teal Glitter" (more creative names).

Pinky: Sebastian's eyes used Sally Hansen "Red My Lips" as a base and a dotting tool with black and white. Pretty simple but so perfect!

Basically I'm so excited about this I can barely make words! I found several Little Mermaid manis via Pinterest (of course!) and put together what I thought was cool and what I thought I was actually capable of doing with my very limited nail art skills. I borrowed mostly from these two from The Nail Network and Nails at Home. I also was really inspired by this one and the less literal take on everything.

Because a Disneyland trip isn't complete without PICTURES here are a couple more:








I missed the exclusive 15-minute preview of Oz that was playing in CA Adventure but I ended up seeing it yesterday. It was great! The original Wizard of Oz is my favorite favorite favorite movie (followed by the Little Mermaid) and while this one didn't come close, I did like it a lot. I've never done Oz-themed nails, so that may be in the works.

Up next: St. Patrick's Day greens!

Stitches nails!

This is: CND Stickey as base coat, one coat of Gelish base coat, three coats of SensatioNail "Espresso Bean", one coat Gelish top coat, alcohol wipe, Revlon "Golden" stamped with Bundle Monster plate 225, plus a coat of Poshe top coat. The pictures above show direct light, indirect light, and shade.

Last year was my first year going to Stitches West, a convention for knitters, crocheters, spinners, and fiber lovers of all other sorts. I went this year, prepared for being totally overwhelmed with gorgeous wooly things of every variety. While I ended up going down the rabbit hole and deciding to finally give spinning a try, I managed to make it out of there without too much damage to my wallet. Mostly, I got to see and meet some amazing humans at the LSG meetup.


(not my photo, click thru to flickr for the owner's feed with MORE pictures of us!)

Last year, I was asked quite a bit about my nails. (And I had a really awesome manicure so you can imagine why people asked about it.)  So I knew I had to do something pretty cool this year! Since I hadn't stamped in a while, I figured that was the way to go.

This manicure was inspired by another knitter, Amoena. She's also a polish blogger! (Although her blog is in Finnish. Google translate is your friend! The stripped-down tumblr version in English is here.) She has created some gorgeous stamped manis that look like tapestry like this one and this gorgeous beauty. I find myself admiring her work a lot and decided to try my hand at doing something tapestry-like and sort of tonal. I was already wearing SensatioNail 'Espresso Bean' and I thought gold would go great with it. I was right! I did audition 4 or 5 golds before I hit it out of the park with "Golden". Orly "Luxe" was my back-up in case nothing else worked out. We all know it stamps like a dream!

*All products featured in this review were purchased by me for wear and review. 

Valentine's nails + giveaway info!

This is CND Stickey base coat, Gelish base coat, three coats of SensatioNail 'Heirloom Lilac', Gelish top coat, stamped with Konad m59 plate and this unnamed love&beauty wine-colored polish.

Stamping over gel is so much fun! It's so easy to clean up any mistakes without having to worry that you're going to damage the base color. I really don't know why I don't do it more often.

This is NOT my typical mani, as I'm sure anyone that has read this blog for any amount of time can tell. The reason for it? Two-fold! One is that I had to to hearts for TartanHEARTS! I spent quite a while looking through plates picking out which hearts to use. The second, and most important reason, is because I'm going to be giving away two bottles of 'Heirloom Lilac' and I needed a way to showcase it!



That's right! SensatioNail 'Heirloom Lilac' will be up for grabs! The giveaway will have its own dedicated post coming very soon. It will be a rafflecopter giveaway!

*Some of the products featured in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer. All opinions expressed are my own uncensored, regardless. 

Halloween/Giants manicure!

China Glaze Riveting stamped with BM-221 and Sinful Colors Black on Black. Two coats of Jordana Quick Shine top coat, one before stamping and one after.

I LOVE THIS! I hadn't stamped anything since around St. Patrick's Day. Somehow the stars aligned and I didn't have to re-stamp anything! And miraculously, my right hand looked better than my left. The bottle of SC Black on Black that I use for stamping is a couple years old now, and it stamps like a mofo! As good a Konad special polish, for sure. (I will probably replace it with a bottle of the Konad special polish, but for a starter stamping polish, you can't go wrong with it.)

We all know how fantastic China Glaze's 'Riveting' is. I don't have to reiterate that. It is even more amazing when you stamp over it. I love stamping over creams, but stamping over this micro glitter/shimmer was fantastic. It gave a lot of depth. (I have a gorgeous pendant made with it in my shop now.) And this is one of the few oranges that works pretty well on my skin tone. The gold shimmer really helps with that.

This has inspired me to do a little more stamping. Or maybe do some leopard print freehand. Or both!

Cleopatra mani

This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2
two coats Milani holo '3-D'
stamped with Sinful Colors 'Black on Black' and BM201
one coat Poshe top coat

This is one of my favorite plates because this design is so simple but still interesting. I really love the Milani holos. I prefer scatter holos over linear holos because they tend to look better in non-direct light. (CG Kaleidoscopes vs CG OMGs)  I spend a lot of my time indoors, so I don't want a boring, drab mani 75% of the time! These Milani holos look great 100% of the time, regardless of the light.

Disneylandy mani featuring Minnie Mouse

When you're going to Disneyland, you need to be appropriately attired. The finishing touch on that for me is themed polish!

This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2+
two coats Milani 'Ready to Wear Red'
stamped with LA Colors white and BM19
Minnies are freehanded with Sinful Colors 'Black on Black'
Minnie's bows are also freehanded with Milani 'Ruby Jewels'

(And no, my right hand did not look anywhere near as good as this. I also smeared the best Minnie by putting topcoat on too quickly.)

Here it is in context with the whole outfit and WITH MINNIE!



Next time, Diasy Duck manicure for sure. Daisy is my homegirl.

swirly, sparkly mani

This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2+
two coats Essence 'Walk of Fame'
one coat CoverGirl 'City Lights'
stamped with Sinful Colors 'Black on Black' and Konad plate m51.

I love the way this came out. Adding simple holo glitters like CoverGirl 'City Lights' or China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' makes any great color even better! This plate (m51) is fantastic and I think I love every mani I have ever seen done with it. This one: http://pinterest.com/pin/144678206748953995/  is fantastic!

faux bois for the win!

This is:
one coat Nailtiques 2+
two coats Sinful Colors 'Nirvana'
stamped with Revlon Top Speed 'Espresso' and BM16.
one coat Poshe top coat

This is probably my favorite manicure that I have ever done. Ever. I adore the faux bois plate, and I am going though a serious brown phase. (It's like black but ... better!) There's also a faux bois-type plate in the new Red Angle set that I am anxious to use.

brown is not drab!

Base is Revlon Espresso. Stamped with China Glaze Gr8 and Konad plate m51.


This is one mani that I really screwed up by not photographing it in the sun. I mean, hello, I used a CG OMG polish. You know it was so sparkly and hololicious that I could barely look at it without being blinded by awesomeness. But I was too lazy, and the weather was too bad, to get a good in-the-sun shot.

I have yet to do a mani with m51 that I haven't loved. This plate is magic.

Hot pink + leopard print =

Base color: Wet N Wild - Through the Grapevine
Stamped with Sinful Colors Black on Black and RA-107. Scotch taped black tips.


I loved this. It started out minus the the black tips, but that is the best way to hide little chips and tipwear!


(My nails almost always photograph like I have serious tipwear even when they are freshly painted. They don't look that way, so I wonder if it's a camera thing or what.)

1970s-esque mani

Sometimes you copy something and like your version more than the original. This is Sally Hansen Fairy Teal stamped with Orly Luxe and BM201. It's a rip off of this manicure from the Nailsaurus. I LOVE how this came out, and I like it more than the original mostly because of the darker background color.