Champagne Bubbles!

Hi Everyone! I hope you are have a great day today preparing to greet the new year! I have not had the energy nor the mood to paint my nails for the past week, but I'm hoping that will change today. I want to have something special for tonight's celebration. In the mean time, I would like to show you a manicure that I created a while back that reminds me of bubbles of champagne. Perfect for the occasion...

Dreamscape Ornaments!

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate this holiday!

I loved my rhinestone/stud ornament mani from last year and so I decided that I need to create a new one this year. Lucky for me, I had some pretty new rhinestones to play with that arrived just in the nick of time..

Peppermint Twist!

Every year I get drawn to all the beautiful looking candy canes out there and I end up buying a box (or three) and then eating one and sometimes none of those candy canes. No joke, I've thrown out more unopened boxes of then I care to admit, month after they have expired. This year I decided to resist temptation and enjoy the classic color twist on my nails instead...

Kaleidoscope Whirlwind

Hi Everyone! I recently added a few more MoYou plates to my collection and I was itching to try them out. Starting out today with a manicure created using one of the Kaleidoscope plates. I'm pretty much obsessed with the images of this entire collection, although I only opted to purchase one plate due to image size issues. Insert really sad pouty face directed at MoYou here...

Hanukkah Sparkles!

Hi Lovelies! Today I have another Hanukkah manicure to share with you. I don't usually get the chance to create multiple manicures for the occasion, but I got an idea that I just had to try out. Waiting until next year was not an option that I could live with, so time had to be made for the time consuming endeavor. I've been wearing this for the past couple of days and I hope it will last me at least through the weekend because I can't stop staring at them. I'm actually having a difficult time writing this post since I keep getting distracted by the nail...

Happy Hanukkah!

Hi Everyone! I want to wish a Happy Hanukkah to all of you lovelies who celebrate the holiday! This year I created two manicures to celebrate, the first of which I would like to show you today.

I'm always slightly jealous of the abundance of Christmas holiday stamping patterns available. Although I do make good use of those said patterns (so I won't complain too much), I wish more companies would create patterns to celebrate other cultures, traditions and beliefs. There is always a part of me that gets super excited when I see a pattern that I can use for a Hanukkah manicure. So queue the excitement and a dizzying game of dreidel...

Glam Polish Fantasia Flakies Swatches and Review

Hi Lovelies! Today I'm super excited to show you four gorgeous multichrome flakie top coats from the Glam Polish Fantasia Flakies series. These top coats can be worn over a wide variety of base polishes for some gorgeous combinations...

Gold Foiled

Hi Lovelies! Early last year I had attempted to franken my own gold leaf top coat which didn't quite work out as planned (see my franken gone wrong post here). What I was left with was a bunch of gold leaf sheets and some 'real' gold leaf flakes that I purchased for a 2nd mini-trial. Until now the flakes have sat unloved next to the rest of my nail decorations. I finally got the inspiration to use them! Why you might ask? That's right because as I might have mentioned a billion and one times, in my world purple and gold belong together...

Whimsical Winter Scene!

Almost three weeks ago Marta of Chit Chat Nails announced a nail art contest that she is hosting with a stamping plate maker Pueen. I was instantly intrigued because it features two of my favorite things, stamping and holiday nail art. I rarely enter contests, partly for lack of time, but largely because I disagree with the 'judging' process. Marta's contest, however, has actual judges which makes the process about talent rather than popularity. For me that makes the contest a challenge and I love challenges...

I've been thinking about what I want to create for the contest for the past couple of weeks and have been coming up blank. I knew I wouldn't be entering the contest unless it was something I was really proud of, so that I wouldn't kick myself later and think "I could have done better". That way loosing would mean someone created nail art that is better or more creative than mine, not because I didn't give it my best shot. Also, win or loose, I had a blast creating this manicure and at the end of the day that is what really matters to me...

Olive Theory!

Hi Lovelies! I've got another manicure with one of the Dance Legend HoloDays shades to show you today! The manicure was inspired by the leafy polish color itself...

Snowflakes Again!

Hi Lovelies! Well it has been exactly a week since I showed you my last snowflake manicure, so one could say I'm way overdue. Although just to set the record straight, I wore them more than a month apart and I'm just a slow blogger. Hanging my head in shame over here. I kid of course, but I do love snowflakes and will pretty much take any opportunity these next few months to wear them on my nails. Consider yourselves warned, you'll likely see more, but I do hope you enjoy them as much as I do...

Cityscape Underneath the Milky Way

Hi Lovelies! Today I would like to show you a simple stamped manicure that I created while playing around with the new Polished by KPT winter shades. The gorgeous Underneath the Milky Way made me feel as though I had the night sky on my nails so I felt compelled to add a cityscape...

In a Snow Flurry

Hi Lovelies! The Glam Polish Mid-Winter's Dream collection is launching today and I wanted to show you some nail art that I created with one of the shades from the collection. Inspired by the icy blue beauty itself and fighting the strong urge to stamp snowflakes, I decided to attempt a snowy tree scene instead...

Glam Polish Mid-Winter's Dream Collection Swatches and Review

Hi Lovelies! I'm excited to share with you swatches of select shades from the Glam Polish Mid-Winter's Dream collection which will launch tomorrow. The collection consists of a total of nine icy winter inspired shades and I've got six of them to show you today...

Snowflake Lumières

Hi Lovelies! It snowed in Seattle over the weekend and has actually been cold enough for bits to stick around. Nothing dramatic by any means and probably not even worth a mention given what has been happening in other parts of the country (I'm looking at you Buffalo with your 8 feet of snow! Just insane!), but in any case our little snow fall makes me feel justified to dive right into Winter manicures. I actually created and wore this snowflake manicure in September, but held off on posting to avoid frightening you all. It is not that I was ready for Winter a few months back, it is just that I have a weakness for snowflakes. I would wear them in July if no one would question my sanity...

Dazzle Dry Oh to Be Royal Collection Swatches and Review

Hi Lovelies! Today I'm excited to show you the new Dazzle Dry collection named Oh to Be Royal for this Winter season. It consists of six beautiful shades in a variety of finishes including cream, shimmer and glitter...

Polished by KPT Light Years Spiral

Hi Lovelies! Today I would like to show you a manicure that I created while playing around with the the Polished by KPT Cosmic XOdus collection. I couldn't get enough of this silver holo glitter bomb so I decided to try accenting it with a bit of mesmerizing stamping.

Polished by KPT Cosmic XOdus Collection Swatches and Review

Hi Lovelies! I've been busy swatching and today I'm excited to show you this gorgeous Winter collection named Cosmic XOdus from Polished by KPT which will be released tomorrow. The collection includes a variety of different finishes including glitter, duochrome and of course thermal. Since this post is looong, I'll make my intro short and get right to the swatches and review. I hope you'll enjoy!

Thermal Stripes

Hi Lovelies! Sometimes I get wonky or should I say wacky ideas for nail art that I must then try out or they give me no rest. This is one of those! While playing with the Polished by KPT Paris & Me collection a while back, I was fascinated by two thermals which are both a gorgeous charcoal gray in their warm state, but completely different when cold. The idea was to combine them into one manicure so that when the nails are warm it appears to be a solid color and then magically reveals a pattern as it gets cold. The result is subtle, but see what you think...

This is one of the transition stages...

Falling for Flowers

Hi Lovelies! When I see purple, I think gold and if that purple has a gold shimmer then it is practically a crime not to play it up. It is probably my favorite color combo ever and therefore should come as no surprise that I couldn't resist playing around with some stamping and this gorgeous purple shade from the Glam Polish Broadway collection!

Raindrops on My Parade

Hi Lovelies! Today I have some stamping to show you. As it often happens, I was inspired by the polish name, Don't Rain on My Parade. More specifically, I was drawn to the rain part of the name. That is likely either because it's been raining in Seattle a lot recently or maybe because a parade wasn't something I was willing to tackle on my nails right now (I'll have to save that idea for another day). In any case, I decided on this beautiful pattern which reminds me of rain drops and puddle splashes. Perfect for a rain theme...

Basket Weave

Hi Lovelies! Today I'm going to show you my feeble attempt at a free hand basket weave pattern. I was inspired by a seemingly simple tutorial by @yagala on Instagram. She made it look so easy that I thew my inhibitions to the wind and decided to try it out. Now although her manicure is gorgeous from any distance, mine is best viewed from far, far away. In other words, back away from your computer now or you might get scared. Yes, that means you too! Take your coffee cup and back away, then come back and tell me what you think of this...

Tutorial: Racing Stripes

Hi Lovelies! As promised, I've got a tutorial for my last manicure to show you today. It is a quite simple look when you break it down and I hope that will encourage you to play around with striping tape as well. Whether it is this arrangement, one from a previous tutorial or something you create on your own. Give it a try and remember to have fun!

Supplies

• 3 polishes of your choice. Shown here OPI Coca-Cola Red, My Signature is "DC" (silver) and Today I Accomplished Zero (black jelly with red glitter)
• Striping tape of any color (I purchased mine on Ebay, but there are lots of other places to get it!)

Steps

Instructions

1. Paint your nails the desired base color and allow it to dry completely. 
• You can speed this up by using a quick dry top coat or drops
2. Arrange striping tape as shown above. 
• For my thumb, I used a similar chevron arrangement as on my ring finger, but a simple stripe would work just as well. 
3. Using the silver polish, paint in between the two sections of striping tape.
4. Remove the striping tape closest to the cuticles while the polish is still wet to ensure a clean line, but leave the other piece(s) of striping tape in place.
5. Apply the glitter polish covering the nail tips up to the remaining striping tape.
6. Remove the striping tape while the polish is still wet.
7. Add a top coat to seal in your work and enjoy!!

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial! Please don't hesitate to ask questions and let me know what you think of this!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Coca Cola Racing Stripes...

Hi! I've got a manicure form the 'archives' to show you today. There are lots of fun manis in this mysterious 'archive' that are just waiting for their time in the spot light. I would like to start out by showing you one that I created a couple of months ago using a few shades from the Coca Cola by OPI collection. This look makes me think of racing stripes. Hmm, I wonder if I should have attempted it with the Mustang collection instead...

Gold Tipped

Hi Lovelies! Today I would love to show you a quick and easy manicure that I created with two shades from the new Glam Polish Broadway collection. Maybe it is too early to be getting into the holiday manis, but this green an gold are just perfect together and I'm really loving the sparkle...

Select Shades of Dance Legend HoloDays Collection

Hi Lovelies! Today I have swatches of a few select shades from the Dance Legend HoloDays collection. As the name suggests these beauties are loaded with holo sparkle which has me longing for sunny days rather than the stormy weather that is happening now. These three are my favorite shades from the six piece collection, but as you can imagine the rest are equally gorgeous...

Glam Polish Broadway Collection Swatches and Review

Hi Lovelies! Today I'm super excited to show you some gorgeous shades from the upcoming Glam Polish Broadway collection. These shades have been inspired by the glitz and glam of Broadway musicals. Loaded with sparkle and plenty of ultra holographic glitter these lacquers really capture what they set out to do. The collection consists of nine shades and I've got six of them to show you today.

Dreamgirls
A grape purple jelly filled with scattered ultra holographic micro glitter and hold glass fleck shimmer. It sparkles and shines like crazy. Truly a must have for any purple lover. The application was great and formula is very nice. Two easy coats for full coverage. Just look at that holo glitter in the bottle! Although it was difficult to fully capture in my lightbox, it does show well on the nail. Swatches are with a top coat...

Peanuts by OPI Swatches and Review

Hi Lovelies! Today I would like to share with you my swatches and review of the Peanuts by OPI collection. Inspired by the popular comic strip, this collection really captures it's essence with the four shades which include two beautiful creams and two fun glitter mixes...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Lovelies! You may have noticed a lack of Halloween designs from me this year. It is actually one of my favorite holidays for nail art, but since I was out of town this year, I missed out on the fun. Of course I couldn't miss the actual day itself and the opportunity to have some creepy crawlies glowing on my nails...

OPI Pink of Hearts Duo 2014

Once again this year OPI brings us a limited edition Pink of Hearts duo to raise awareness for breast cancer. This duo is always released in October to coincide with the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I do look forward to it every year. Just as the previous few years, the duo includes a creamy pink and a glitter shade...

Tutorial: Aged Bamboo

Hi Lovelies! It is time for a tutorial again. After I posted my art inspired bamboo manicure last month, I got a few comments from readers who said that this type of manicure is too complicated and not something that they can do for themselves. I wanted to show that if you already know how to stamp, this is actually a really simple manicure that only looks like it takes a lot of work, but is actually rather simple. So let's get started...

Supplies:

• 2-3 neutral shades for the background. I used Zoya Jacqueline, Taylor and Flynn
• Brown polish for stamping. I used Zoya Emilia
• Sea sponge
• Stamping plate (I used Bundle Monster plate BM-424) and stamping supplies

Steps:

Instructions:

1. Apply the lightest color for a base and allow it to dry completely. Shown here is Zoya Jacqueline.
2. Put a few drops of the beige lacquer(s) on your palate and dip the sponge into it. I used a little bit of Zoya Taylor and Flynn. Dab the sponge onto a clean area of the palate to work the polish into the sponge and remove excess. Finally gently dab the sponge onto random sections of the nail, leaving portions of the base still visible.
3. Apply stamping polish onto the stamping plate, scrape and pick up the image as usual
4. Stamp the image onto your nail
5. Seal with a top coat and enjoy!

See? That was easy, right? I even struggled to make a full tutorial out of this because there are so few steps when you really think about it.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Falling Leaves

Hi Everyone! I can no longer deny that Fall is now in full swing so I've been pulling out all of my leafy stamping plates to ogle at and play with. Fall is actually my favorite time of the year for nail art and all the rich colors that it brings. This simple stamped manicure fits the mood perfectly.

Cascading Glitter

Hi Lovelies! Today I have another manicure to show you with a couple of polishes from the Dazzle Dry Global Beat Fall collection. I'm not sure if there is a name of this glitter gradient look, but cascading glitter sounded rather fancy to me so I'm sticking with it. The manicure itself is fairly simple to create, but gives such a fun sparkle accent.

Tutorial: Simple Stripes

Hi Lovelies! How about a throw back Thursday post for you today? This is a tutorial for a manicure that I showed you back in April of this year and somehow just never got around to posting the tutorial. I guess I need to dig deeper through my archives and see what else I've forgotten to post. Shame on me!

Supplies:

• 2 polishes. I used OPI 4 in the Morning and Over & Over A-Gwen
• Striping tape (any color). I purchased the striping tape that I use on Ebay.

Steps:

Instructions:

1. Apply desired base color and allow it to dry completely. Shown here is OPI 4 in the Morning.
2. Arrange 4-5 short segments of striping tape to each nail in a random crisscrossing pattern.
3. Apply the 2nd polish shade over the entire nail (making a mess as I did is optional!). I used OPI Over and Over A-Gwen for my red shade. 
4. Quickly remove the striping tape before the polish has started to dry to ensure clean lines
5. Clean up the cuticles if needed, seal with a top coat and enjoy!

I hope you find this simple tutorial helpful!

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

For a little bit of variation, you can also create this look with a gradient on top. Check out my tutorial here for full instructions!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Arc de Triomphe!

Hi Lades and Gentlemen?! At times or fairly often for me all it takes is the polish name to get my imagination going in that direction. I guess one could say I'm rather easily influenced, but I like to think that I'm easily inspired. This manicure is one of those cases and although parts of it didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped, I still love the idea. I will try to give it another shot some day, but for now I'll show you this attempt...

Tutorial: Color Block with Striping Tape

Hi Everyone! As promised, today I have for you a simple tutorial for the manicure that showed you yesterday. This simple technique with striping tape can be used to create a lot of different looks. I will show another similar look that I created with this technique soon. It is fun to play around with arrangement, colors and style.

Supplies:

• 2 Polishes. I used Dazzle Dry Sultry Samba and Waltz with Me.
• Striping Tape. I purchased mine on Ebay, but it is available in many beauty supply stores and online on sites such as Amazon.com and BornPrettyStore.com

Steps:

Instructions:

1. Start by painting your nails a base color and allow it to dry completely. For this manicure I used Dazzle Dry Waltz with Me
2. Cut short segments of striping tape and arrange them on the nails as desired for your look. You can use any color of striping tape at this step since it is being used just for the color block and will not be a part of the final look.
3. Using the second nail polish fill in different areas of the design as desired. You can use either the brush from the nail polish or use a small nail art brush for precision. I used Dazzle Dry Sultry Samba for my second shade.
4. Quickly remove the striping tape before the polish has started to dry to ensure clean lines.
5. Apply new/clean pieces of striping tape in place of the original ones.
6. Using cuticle nippers, trim excess striping tape along the edges of the nails. Try to trim as closely to the nail as possible so that you will seal the edges of the striping tape with a top coat and help keep them from lifting up
7. Seal with a top coat and enjoy!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. Please don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any!

Until next time...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Dazzle Dry Color Block

Hi Lovelies! Today I have a manicure to show you that I created not too long ago while playing around with the Dazzle Dry Global Beat collection. The two creamy shades complimented each other so beautifully that I wanted to combine them into one manicure. I've been having fun with striping tape recently and decided to continue that streak...

Lilac Swirls

Happy Friday Lovelies! I'm on vacation this week so I'll be showing you a few of my manicures that I haven't gotten around to posting yet. I didn't have much time before I left to write them up, so the text will be brief and I'll just let you enjoy the photos. Starting today with a manicure that I created a little while ago when I was playing around with the beautiful Polished by KPT Paris & Me collection.

Mont Bleu Giveaway!

Hi Lovelies!

I've got an amazing giveaway for you today! The prize is generously sponsored by Mont Bleu who create the best Czech glass nail files decorated with beautiful Swarovski crystals. You can read my review of the nail files here, but long story short, I love them!

The prize is this set of 3 Mont Bleu Czech glass nail files:

The giveaway is open internationally! Must be 18 year and older or have parents permission to enter.

All you have to do is complete the Rafflecopter entry form!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway ends October 30th 2014!

Good Luck!!

Anutka :)

Plaid Print with SinfulShine Prosecco

Hi Lovelies! Sorry I've been a bit MIA this past week. A new shift at work is leaving me with little time and energy to spare for nail art. I finally got the motivation that I needed when my friend gave me a bottle of SinfulShine Prosecco. I have been trying to find this limited edition polish in vain for the past few weeks so you can imagine how excited I was when she got a hold of one for me. I'm still over the moon excited to finally have it in my little paws. I have no idea how a 2 dollar bottle of polish bring so much happiness, but it does. Of course I couldn't wait to use it and here is what it led to..

InDecisive Ichor Green

I should be sleeping right now, but I have been wanting to show you the latest addition to the InDecisive Lacquer Ichor line for quite some time and I refuse to delay it any further. Ichor is now available in 5 awesome colors including the original black plus the colors red, purple, blue and now green. You can see my swatches of the previous colors here! The Ichor thermal top coats are really fun to play around with an layer. They all transition from clear when warm to their color state as they get cold...

OPI Mustang Collection Swatches and Review!

Hi Lovelies! Today I would love to show you my swatches of the OPI Mustang collection. This lacquer collection celebrates the 50th anniversary of Ford Mustang with 6 gorgeous shades...

31DC2013 Challenge Recap!

Nothing is sweeter than finally completing a 31 Day Nail Challenge. Granted it took me more than 2 years to finally complete it and some people have completed two of these in that time, but I'm going to celebrate anyway! It is actually fun for me to go back and recall all the early manicures that I created in 2013 before loosing steam on the last third of the challenge. Let's take a look, shall we?

31DC2013 Day 31 - Honor Nails You Love

Today is the final day of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The challenge for today is to honor nail you love. I chose to create a manicure inspired by Christina of Let Them Have Polish. It was a while back that she posted a photo of her thumb nail on Instagram with this design. It reminded me of bubble chocolate and I knew that I would have to recreate it some day...

31DC2013 Day 30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

Turns out today is 2 for 1 day because I'm really wanting to finish up the 31 Day Nail Challenge. Day 30 of the challenge calls to create a manicure inspired by a tutorial. I chose to try my hand at a quatrefoil print by Christabell Nails. I first saw her tutorial on Instagram, but she does have an extended version on YouTube as well which is what I would suggest you check out. It is so simple to create this look using just two shades of polish, a dotting tool and a small brush. Who could have imagined...

31DC2013 Day 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

I've got only a few days left to complete in the 31 Day Nail Challenge and I couldn't be more excited. Day 29 of the challenge called for a manicure inspired by the supernatural. Since Halloween is just around the corner, all things ghost and goblin came to mind. I've been wanting to try this particular technique for creating sheer ghosts for a while. I'm not sure who originally came up with the idea, but I see it done a lot these days...

31DC2013 Day 28 - Inspired by a Flag

Hi Lovelies! Today I'm forging ahead to Day 28 of the 31 Day Nail Challenge. The theme for today is a manicure inspired by a flag. I had a tough time deciding on a design for this one mainly because I was pretty set against recreating a country flag. I started racking my brain for other creative flag ideas and I was coming up blank. It wasn't until I saw the Messy Mansion stamping plate innocently hanging out on my table waving it's little pirate flag that inspiration hit!

31DC2013 Day 27 - Inspired by Artwork

Hi Lovelies! Up next in the 31 Day Nail Challenge is Day 27, Inspired by Artwork. I'm always drawn to Asian inspired art featuring bamboo so after a quick search online (this is literally the 3rd image that comes up in Google when I search for "bamboo art"), I knew what I wanted to do.

Cloudy Days Go Away!

Fall weather in Seattle is such a fickle thing. Although the sun is peeking out now, it has been pouring buckets on and off for days now. Polished by KPT Cloudy Days Go Away couldn't capture my mood or sentiments any better. I decided to create some playful nail art to go along with this beautiful polish and my cloudy days state of mind...