Happy New Years!

Well the end of 2011 is right around the corner! Can you believe it? It went by so fast. I am not one to make resolutions for the new year.....however, I do want to work more on me this year. Maybe just take better care of myself, so I can in turn be a better mother, wife and friend.
Anyway, I did a New Year mani last night. My husband asked why I did it so early, because he knows I'll get tired of it and re paint by then, but I just felt like a change. So I started with China Glaze, Midnight Magic. I never used this color before, but it's got a beautiful sparkle to it! Then I stamped stars on with a BM plate and sponged the tips with Ultra Pro, Mossy Britches. These colors worked really well together, I guess because of the gold sparkle in Midnight Magic. So, here it is....

I was able to get a few shots in the sunlight. I hope you see the sparkle, because it's wonderfully delicious!

I have to say I will definitely use this Midtown Magic again. Really pretty color, even though I usually don't use dark colors.
Well I'm off to explore other blogs and get some new mani ideas.
Thanks for stopping by!
Happy Painting!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! This was the best Christmas I had in YEARS! So much family and fun, I can't wait to do it again next year!
Well I did a few more designs for the holidays. I started off this first mani with two coats of Avon black matte polish. I really like this polish, even though it's hard to clean up. I then painted on tips with China Glaze Ruby Pumps. Maybe I should have done the Ruby Pumps over white? I couldn't see the real beauty of the sparkle so it just didn't catch my eye like I wanted.

Then I decided to go with solid red Ruby Pumps. This was before clean up, because then I decided to make stripes like a candy cane.....epic fail! I can never make up my mind! So I took it off instead of cleaning it up!

Finally I settled on tips for Christmas. I went with green and red. I could have done without the stickers. But here it is!

It's funny now how family will always look at my nails when we get together to see what I have done ;)
AND...for Christmas my wonderful hubby and daughter got me a Sally Mate storage unit for my nail goods! Woohoo!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I will be back in a few days with a New Years mani!
Happy Painting!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!!!!!

Yeah, right! In Houston?????
Anyway, I am in such the Christmas spirit! I did some snow flakes on my toes with a few rhinestone accents. I could have left those off because then it looked a little more like flowers ;) Sorry, I can't stand toe pics!

A while back I ordered some matte top coat from E.L.F. and it came in finally! I am totally bummed. I don't know if it's me, or the polish, but it isn't very impressive. I thought I would get the first half of my mani done this morning so later I could just finish it. So I started with my favorite bright OPI red, then put on a layer of the matte and this is what I got.....

Now, you may or may not notice that the pinkie nail almost has a 'crackle' effect. The rest of the nails didn't even matte like I expected them to. So I took it all off and started over! Uggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

I won't give up though. I will try it again tonight, because the mani I have in my mind looks so good.....if only you could see it!

Happy Painting y'all!

Another Christmas mani!

I haven't done as many mani's as I would like, but school's out and I'm going to have a few more before it's over! The one below is my current mani. I just went with some silver sparkle gradient for now.

(Pics could have been better.) I am enjoying this mani. It kinda makes me happy ;)
I also had the chance to paint my step mom's toes! We went with a nice red and snowflake stamps from Bundle Monster. Then I had to give her a little bling on her big toes! Again, the pic could have been better but I'm lucky she let me take one at all!

I probably won't attempt a new mani until Sunday....after the game of course! TEXANS are ROCKIN it!

Happy Painting!

Let it Snow!

Let me first say that I LOVE STAMPING! It is so much easier than freehand! Still I am so indecisive! This happens quite frequently.......I sit down to paint my nails, get them all done and decide I don't like it. So I take it off and start over! Well last night I started with a stamp that reminded me of Christmas lights, so that was my theme. I got them all painted and decided they were too busy. You just couldn't tell what was going on.

So, without even a top coat, I took it all off and started over! You can tell that my cuticles were a mess after all that acetone!
So I went with something simple~snowflakes! I started with a pearl-ish white tip, then used dark blue, silver and white to stamp snowflakes. It wasn't really complete until I dotted on some snow. I like it, though I wish I had smaller snowflake images. I even tried to freehand, but that was a total fail!

It is always a nice break for me to sit down and mess with nail stuff! I have school tonight, but tomorrow I think I'm going to do something cute for my daughter. She's going to Santa's Village! Gotta look cute for Santa!
So now I'm going to look at posts to get some ideas!
Happy Painting!

Darn cold weather=dry skin!

So I have tried soo many lotions and oils on my poor cuticles, but nothing seems to really moisturize them very well. They will look good for a while then a few hours later look horrible! For the most part it's probably because I never want to spend much money. Yesterday I decided I'm worth it! I spent around $6 and bought this Sally Hansen Maximum Growth cuticle and nail treatment stick. Oh, I'm in love! My cuticles look good all day! It is totally worth it if you have dry-problem cuticles!

The application can be tricky, because you turn one end of the stick and the oil comes out on a brush on the other end. Sometimes if your not careful it will drip!

After I brush the oil on I push my cuticles in with this comfy plastic tool....

And there you have it! I highly recommend this beauty!

I also dabbled in some nail art the other day, but did I get a picture....no! Completely forgot, then about 2 days later I cleaned house and they got yucky so I took it all off. However, I did do a sweet little girl's nails for a banquet the other day! Now please take note that she has little sad nubs that were very hard to paint, and I did some clean up when I was done. It's just hard when they bite their nails because clean up with remover can hurt. I started with a silver base, and used a BM stamp in black. She got some black and clear rhinestones for accent as well!

Then I had to paint her little toesies as well! I just did silver with a flower accent.

Well hopefully tonight I'll have some time for a great design! I'm ready!
Happy Painting!

Happy Holidays!

Well I'm late but Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have been through several polish changes, but forgot to take pics of a few ;)
So I will start with my pink nails with the ring finger stamped. I stamped them with white konad polish then dotted the flowers with color.

Next is a simple American manicure. I like the pearly white better than solid white on my nails. It's just such a natural look.

And here is the natural, clear coat only nail! Ta-da...........

These next few pics are a really pretty color (China Glaze) which I don't remember the name of. I just wanted to try it out for a day or so. It's a very dark fall color and I really enjoyed it. It's one of those colors that is super pretty and shiny in the sun light and super rich and dark inside.

Then there is my current manicure. I was ready for Christmas colors, so I went with green and red. Both are China Glaze colors with a white striper for the accents.

I also carried a box of nail stuff to Oklahoma with me and painted/stamped my niece, daughter and sister. However, I didn't take pics! What? I know, I have been a bit on the brain fart side lately. BUT....I do have a pic of the girls for you ;)

The little one in front is my niece. They are soo cute!
I also have one last photo to share. I figured since we share my manicures all the time I will share with you the mean guy that pulled me over and gave me my first speeding ticket......EVER! Kidding, he was real nice. I was just mad that I can never say I've never had one now!

Ok, so you can't really see HIM, but those are the mean man's lights that made my daughter cry! I'm not kidding, she started crying when I said, "Oh sh*t, he's pulling ME over!"
Nuff about that!
So I only have a few weeks left of school and I will have MUCH more free time to paint nails! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! I am steadily practicing my nail flub corrections too. I can't seem to get that PERFECT paint job, even when I try correcting with the brush dipped in remover..... but I WILL! Look forward to many more mani's this month!
Happy Painting!

New Black Matte Polish from Avon!

I have been hunting for matte polish for a while now. Even when I went to Ulta they had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for it. Duh! Educate your sales people!
Anywho, I painted a black matte base coat and used gold for the stamp and tips. The tips got a little gunky, so I wasn't real happy about that. Of course you couldn't notice from a distance anyway.

I wore this for three days! It survived my trip to Canton! If you don't know, Canton is like a HUGE flea market and it was 2 days of endless shopping! So that was pretty good. I was concerned that I didn't use a base coat, but it held up pretty good.......

So this week I have another interview. It's a little more casual, so I just went with a french manicure. It's a pearly white on the tips.

That's all for now! I think next I'll try some layered stamps! They look so good on other people's posts ;)

Happy Painting!

Full nail stamping

I have to say this was a great deal of fun! I was looking for something not-so-bold for my interview (even though I didn't get the job!)
I don't remember the name of the colors, but the base was 3 coats of a light pink. The stamp was actually the same green as the tips, but it was a LOT lighter. It was a china glaze green from the metro collection.
Anyway, it was fun and I hope you enjoy!

Sorry, I could have gotten better pics but you get the point!
Happy Painting!