New Year's 2013

New Years Eve is one of my hubby's favorite days of the whole year.  I am not exactly sure why, but I certainly remember the first one we shared together.  It was the eve of 2000...man that was a long time ago!  This is going to be our first one as a married couple.  We are pretty boring people - we will stay in and drink a bottle of champagne and watch dumb movies.  But that is what we do and we are happy doing it.  So the festivities will be reflected in my nails this year as well!

This is my first post in the Let it Snow Challenge too.  I am new to the challenge world but it is a weekly one rather than a daily one.  I think I can keep up with it...YAY!

So, let me explain my "logics" on this one.  I did a count down with champagne and the New Years Eve Ball.  

Close up of the "ball drop"

Here is what I used:

• Base Coat = Insta-Grip by Sally Hansen
• Polish = Katherine by Zoya
• Glitter polish = Santa's Magic by Finger Paints (also the "ball")
• The tower the ball is on is on BM15 and is stamped using Golden-I by Sally Hansen
• The numbers are on BM311 and I used Golden-I by Sally Hansen, Antique Bronze by Sally Hansen, Silver Dollar by Revlon
• The champagne bottles and glasses are on CH9 and I used the same polishes to stamp that.
• Top Coat = Seche Vite

I really like how they came out!  I hope you do too.  :)

Thanks for visiting,
Brandy

Christmas Nails

I have been really quiet on here lately.  You know how it goes: things get busy and/or you just get lazy.  That is me...lazy.  It's OK though.  I am building up to a big plan for January.  I am not too sure how my nail art will be affected, but there are more things to life than my nail polish affection.  I'll get to that stuff later.  :) 

I wanted to see if I could improve this layout a bit - I like what I found.  I am such a novice that I can't believe this layout was even out there - just for me to plug in here.  How cool!

Here is what I managed to conjure up for my Christmas manicure.  I am still struggling with perfecting the water marble technique.  I will get it eventually.  These came out pretty neat - even though I ended up using polishes completely different than my original intent.  Like I said, I am still learning over here. 

This is what I used to get this work of art:

• Base polish is Au Champagne by Orly
• Water marble colors:
• green = SaGreena The Teenage Witch by Wet N Wild
• white (&gold shimmer) = White Cap by China Glaze
• red = Sample Sale by Sephora by OPI

I topped this off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

O' Christmas Tree

I'm back from my vacation to Florida to see the munchkins that are my niece and nephew.  It was exhausting but what can you do when you love them?  There is nothing like the joy on a kid's face when they are at Disney! 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand...  Christmas has been cancelled at my house for a few years now.  I'm just not into it.  I love this time of year, but I am "over it" right now.  So, because I love the holiday spirit - even though I am not feeling too much of it, I wanted to do some holiday manicures.  My sister sent me a picture of her tree and it inspired my first one of the season.  This is as much Christmas Tree as I am going for this year. 

What I used:

• Red base color/balls on tree = Saucy by Revlon
• White stamp = Superstar! by Pure Ice
• White base color = Gaia by Zoya
• Green Tree color = Emerald Crush by Pure Ice
• Stamp = CH11
• Star bling from Cheeky

 

 



 

I struggled with this one for really stupid reasons.  I couldn't get the stripes to stick to my nails easily.  I am guessing I was too slow in my application.  This hand came out much better than my left but they still are cute.  I love this red color!  Not too shabby since it was in one of my recent hauls from CVS for $1.24!  The green is one of my new Pure Ice's that I procured while in Florida.  I will post those hauls later.  The pictures don't do Gaia any justice - it is simply gorgeous as an ivory with gold shimmer in it. 

 

Thanks for visiting!

Brandy

Minnie Mouse!

I'm gonna do this blog a little backwards...I am going to show my nails then my inspiration.  :)

I am headed to Florida in the morning to spend the birthdays of my mom and my niece at Disney.  Really, it is all about my niece who will be 5!  She wants a Rapunzel birthday party.  Both my niece and my nephew (2) love Minnie Mouse, so that is the inspiration I used for my mani this week. 

I used:

• red base color/stamp = Wet n Wild Red Red
• white base color/stamp = Pure Ice Superstar!
• black polish = Pure Ice Black Out
• polka-dot stamp = BM19
• bow stamp = CH1

I used a stamp for the dots but it didn't come out strong enough so I went back over it with a dotting tool and the white polish.  I did the ears free hand (kind of).  I found some stamps that had good curves to them and laid them down as a template for the "ears" and then filled in with the black. The definition is lacking a bit.  I added the white dots over the black as you couldn't see the red too well over the black and it needed some contrast.  I would do the black head part differently next time.  I am on borrowed time as I type this up since my flight is in the morning and I haven't started packing yet.  It is already almost midnight! 

Here is my other inspiration.  This is the Minnie Mouse hat my step-daughter got the last time we were at Disney World. 

Oh, and here she is with Minnie:

OK, with that, I am off of this computer (after I check in for my flight) and fixin' to pack!

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Hiding the Addiction

Now, I don't do anything special for storing my polishes but I am posting this blog as a special request from one of my besties. 

Back before my addiction really became prevalent, my wonderful husband built me a nail polish rack.  We went to Lowe's & Home Depot and picked out the necessary supplies and paint - it was a family day.  I provided way more input than I really wanted to but it came out really awesome, so I am not complaining.  At the time, we thought one would be plenty and we had just the spot to put it - in a little vanity alcove in our bedroom.  Here is what that looks like:

As my love for polish grew, so did my need to stash it!  My hubby doesn't like to see it - out of sight, out of mind!  I had read other blogs and had heard about "Helmers".  Those are drawers that are found at Ikea.  While an Ikea isn't too far from me, it is in Canada!  If you only knew the tax rate up there and then the duty I would have to pay to bring it back into the US - NO THANKS!  Well, I had heard others talk about a decent substitute at Michael's, so that is where I headed.  I started with one as they aren't that cheap...but quickly needed another.  Then, on Black Friday I got 2 more for 13.99 each!  Total deal.  So, now that everything is set up and I am working toward a "no buy" in January, I think I am under control with the 4 I have now. 

Here is my other station:

The rack holds about 300 polishes.  The drawers contain another 500 or so.  I also keep my stamps and other nail necessities in there.  Everything is nicely out of sight for my hubby and I can easily find everything I need.

So, Lori, this is how I hide (store) everything!

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Catching Up

Oh boy!  I didn't realize how busy I had been until I went to catch up on my swatching.  A lot of people swatch by actually painting their nails - I don't have time for that at the moment, so it is all about nail wheels for me.  I put everything I needed to do into a black plastic tote and as soon as I picked it up, the handle broke! 

Here is what I had to do:

 

 Once I had it all organized, this is what it looked like:

 

 

Then, the trick was to get it all done before my hubby got home.  He likes my addiction to polish hidden.  When it is all out like this, he freaks out a bit.  :)

 

On that note, I will head on to the next blog post which will be about how I store my polish problem...

 

Thanks for visiting!

Brandy

Pretty & Polished Nail Mail

I bought my first independent polish!  I am very pleased with what I got since I did a "grab bag" buy.  So, it was seller's choice as to what I got.  They came very well wrapped and timely.  I am excited to try them out but as they are more spring colors, they may wait a little bit. 

My first impression of these is just pure awesomeness!  The shimmer colors appear to be nicely opaque and the glitters - oh my word - they are just beautiful!  The glitter is very well suspended and the application looks to be easy.  I will know more after I swatch them though.  So far, so good!  Here is a photo of what I received.

I am excited to try these out!  Check out Pretty & Polished here.

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

CVS Beauty Clearance 2012 Haul

Upon hearing from Nouveau Cheap that the CVS Beauty Clearance has started, I felt the itch to hit up my local CVS.  Well, since I was in Florida when I heard the news, I wanted to go to at least one there but I just never had time.  So, after my first day back at work this week, I went to my local CVS.  My store is really not very impressive when it comes to cosmetics so I wasn't expecting too much.  But, the haul wasn't too shabby.  I manged to get 27 polishes and 5 eye shadows with a couple of nail guides thrown in for good measure.  Here is a really awful photo of what I picked up.

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Beach time!

No, I am not longing for summer already!  I mean winter is barely off the ground here.  I wanted something summery for my trip this weekend though.  I am headed off to New Jersey tomorrow to see my sister and her kids.  I am helping move them to Florida.  It is going to be a very long drive with 2 kids, 2 cats, 2 dogs and my mother.  So, I wanted my "happy place" to be my nails so that I can look down at them and think of nothing but warm weather and the beach. 

Once again, I have turned to MixedMama for inspiration.  She never lets me down.  :)  I must confess though that I searched "beach nails" on Pinterest first.  I had several candidates, but MixedMama's Tropical Sunset Nails won my vote! 

Here is what I used for mine (same as MixedMama):

• base coat = mellow yellow by Sally Hansen
• gradient is mellow yellow, hot tamale (Pure Ice), lavender creme (Wet n Wild)
• stamp(s) = BM-309
• I used several colors for the stamping
• black out (Pure Ice)
• french kiss (Pure Ice)
• turned up turquoise (China Glaze)
• savage (Sinful Colors)
• top coat = seche vite

Here is how it turned out.  Very summery (in my opinion)!  It reminds me of a popsicle I used to beg my mom for money to buy when I was a kid.  I think it was called a "torpedo pop" or something like that.

My favorite nail is my thumb on my right hand.  It is hard to get with the camera but here is what I was able to shoot:

And one more just because I think it is so pretty to look at!

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Pure Ice Haul

So, Nouveau Cheap posted on her blog (here) that Pure Ice is going to discontinue some of their shades.  Not wanting to miss out, I went to my local Walmart to see what I could grab.  I did pretty well!  I think there are only 5 that I am missing.  :)  I am only going to post pictures of these - you can check out my collection on the other tab up top.

I am in love with these!  I can't wait to try a couple of these for stamping and maybe some gradient work! 

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

11/26/12 Nail Mail

Monday's nail mail is all about OPI!  Yay! 

Here is the first package:

Vanilla-zuela, Miso Happy with this Color, Suzi Sells Sushi by the Seashore

 The 2nd package today (super big treat for me!):

How do you like that tissue paper in the background?  Nice huh?  Let me break this down better for you.

 

I'm a Princess, You're Not!, Strawberry Margarita, Nutcracker Sweet, Azure for Sure

 

 

 

Princesses Rule!, Aphrodite's Pink Nightie, Significant Other Color, Go on Green!

 

 

 

As always, these are so gorgeous and I am thrilled with my ebay buy!  I only have one complaint: Princesses Rule! has a detached brush...the bristles are floating around in there.  Bummer - I guess I will just have to use a different brush for this one. 

 

Thanks for visiting!

Brandy

 

Ode to MixedMama's Classy Nude & Black

I have said before that I don't have a lot of creativity.  I take large inspiration from other nail artists to come up with my looks.  With that being said, MixedMama is one of my favorite blog writers.  I love her nail art and I definitely try to emulate what she does.  This is my version of her "classy nude and black" post.  You can see/read it here. 

I used OPI's play the peonies as my base polish and stamped using Pure Ice's black out on BM11.  Follwed by a coat of Seche Vite. I hope I do her a little bit of justice with this copy cat design.  :)

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy

Sally's Beauty Supply Haul

I had a coupon to use at Sally's so I hit it up for a mini haul.  I spent only $20.  Here is what I got:

• Giant bottle of acetone
• Nail wheels
• Finger Paints polish (Holiday 2012 collection)
• Elves Bells
• Sparkle Top Coat
• Santa's Magic
• Merry Mistletoe
• Free clutch with purchase of polish

See my new Ottlite in the background?  Yeah, I love that!  I got that from Michael's on Thanksgiving for only $18.00!  Originally $60!  Sweet deal!  I love to justify spending money.

Thanks for visting!
Brandy

11/23/12 Nail Mail

Today's nail mail is all about some Zoya!  The first one is a beautiful set from the Bibhu Mohapatra collection.  It came in a luxurious black velvet box too!  I love the simple things.  Anyway, it contained Rekha, Zeenat & Parveen.

Next up is a little bit of purple heaven!  There were 12 bottles in this package...one is a dupe and two are dupes of something I already have.  Who cares!  I still love them. From left to right: Adina, Lotus, Tru, Nimue & Neeka.  Dupes = swap opportunities!

Also in this package are some lovely neutrals.  And, as a bonus, a Matte Velvet!  From left to right: Lolly, Gaia, Skye, Pasha, Harley & Brizia.

I just love them...now I need to swatch them so I am officially caught up!

Thanks for visiting!
Brandy