Forever After Floral

Hello Hello!

Today I have another manicure with a few of the soon to be released Glam Polish beauties. I've been dreaming of doing a floral such as this for a while and these polishes lent themselves perfectly to the task. So bright and fun with just the right amount of sparkle...

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..

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...

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...

Foiled Snake!

Last week Nail It! Magazine posted a nail art contest with the challenge to create a manicure inspired by their mood board. I thought I would take a stab at it. It seemed like fun and what have I got to loose, right? For the manicure I was inspired by a metallic snake/lizzard print outfit that is part of that mood bard...

Fashion Inspired: Smoky Star Pumps

If you follow me on Instagram, then you may have already seen this manicure. I created and wore it early this week after a fellow Instagram member suggested showing off our shoe inspired manicures. I have done quite a few such manicures in the past and seem to often be inspired by shoes. For that reason, I really couldn't pass up the golden opportunity to dig through my inspiration folder which is filled with photos of shoes that I hope to one day recreate in the form of a manicure. I chose these beautiful gray star pumps because they were the perfect match for the gray shade I had been wearing at the moment...

Happy Chinese New Year!

I want to wish those of you who celebrate this holiday, a happy and wonderful new year! Although I don't partake in celebrating the Chinese New Year, I'm always fascinated by the beautiful traditions surrounding it and the meaning behind each year's animal sign. I wanted to create a bright and festive manicure to welcome the year of the Horse!

Golden Snowflakes...

I've got another snowflake manicure to show you today because that is just about all that I want to do at the moment. I have been wearing OPI Ski Slope Sweetie solo for the past few days because I'm seriously in love with it. It is so beautiful and sparkly on it's own, but I finally decided to add some subtle nail art yesterday so I could enjoy wearing it for another day...

Happy Ho Ho Holodays!

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates!

I have been having too much fun playing with nail studs lately and although I had something entirely different planned for today, this happened at the last minute and I love how it turned out. Truly I think often the best manicures are the spontaneous, unplanned ones...

The Graveyard After All This Time...

Today I would like to show you a fun Halloween themed manicure. I got this beautiful gray polish for review along with the 365 Days of Color Horcrux collection last month. I set it aside at the time because it was not part of the collection and it somehow managed to hide from me until now. I'm so glad that I finally saw this little one hiding among all the big polish bottles which clutter my table. It is appropriately named 'After All This Time?' as though to mock me in the fact that I took so long to play with it. It is absolutely perfect for a spooky graveyard manicure that even glows in the dark...

Pipe Dream Polish The Night's Magic...

I set out last night to swatch the gorgeous Pipe Dream Polish lacquer The Night's Magic. It wasn't long before the name and the color captured my imagination leading to my first Halloween manicure of the year. I just love this season and the manicures it has in store. Do you believe in magic? The Night's Magic?...

Gone Hexy...

I'm not sure what it is that compels me to incorporate studs into stamping, but I've attempted to do it again. While I have already shown you some of the round studs from the Winstonia nail stud wheel, today I would like to show you the larger hex pieces which I have been eyeing since I first got these studs. Of course I paired them with a matching hex stamping pattern...

Going Dotty with Winstonia...

A little bit ago I received a wheel of nail studs and pointy tweezers from Winstonia for review. Today I would like to show you both of these items. I decided to incorporate the nail studs into my stamping as I usually like to do. Of course it goes without saying that I paired the studs up with a stamping pattern from a Winstonia plate. The plates I purchased and reviewed back in March. Being very impressed with the quality, I was excited to try more Winstonia products...

Sunday Stamping: 4th of July

Happy Sunday everyone! Today is another Sunday Stamping challenge in Adventures in Stamping and the theme today is Independence Day/Canada Day. I always get excited for the 4th of July because it means going on a weekend getaway with my closest friends. Every year we go out of town for a few days just to spend time together, catch up and recharge. Working on this manicure reminded me of the quickly approaching trip and my building excitement...

Mermaid...

Today I would like to show you a show you a mermaid manicure which was inspired by the beautiful InDecisive Mermaid glitter. I love the beautiful teal shade over green and it really made me wish to create a manicure around it...

Sunday Stamping: Earth Day!

Tomorrow is Earth Day, so quite appropriately it is the theme for today's Sunday Stamping challenge in Adventures in Stamping. I didn't have a chance to create something specifically for the challenge because I'm having a fun weekend with a cousin visiting from out of town. I do, however, have a manicure to show you that I created recently and I think it is perfect for the Earth Day theme with nature and animals...

Sunday Stamping: Orange Base

It is once again time for the Sunday Stamping in the group Adventures in Stamping. This week the challenge is to stamp over an orange base. It gave me the perfect opportunity to create a manicure I've been thinking about for a while. I even bought brown flocking powder specifically for this little guy. For those of you from Russia or the former Soviet Union, he needs no introduction, but for those who have not seen him before, his name is Cheburashka. He is a sweet and lovable children's cartoon character...

Delicate Flowers...

As bad luck would have it, I broke a nail yesterday before I finished swatching the Color Club Halo Hues collection, which I was hoping to show you today. I'm putting that on the back burner for a few days and instead would like to show you a manicure that I created last weekend. It uses one of the holographic beauties form that collection for stamping. I originally intended this mani for the flower themed Sunday Stamping challenge last week. I ended up posting a different flowery manicure and this sweet lilac one has been waiting for it's moment in the spotlight...

Sunday Stamping: St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!

This week's theme in Sunday Stamping is quite appropriately a manicure to celebrate the occasion or just create something with an Irish theme. I didn't have anything specific in mind when I started on this manicure, but somehow ended up using everything and the kitchen sink for it. The end result turned out being sweet and subtle and matches my mood perfectly...

Winstonia First Generation Stamping Plates Review

I was waiting to show you the Winstonia stamping plate set, the latest set to join my collection, until I had a chance to try them out. I finally used them for the beach manicure last weekend and can share my thoughts on them...