Snow Day

Today was the first day in a long time that I truly enjoyed a snow day -- no school! I am enjoying school, but I was really looking forward to a day to relax. I decided to do a snowy mani, because why not, it's the perfect day for one.  Plus I really wanted to try out my new Liquid Palisade that I won in a giveaway from Lace & Lacquers. 

I started off with a base of Fresh Paint "Firefly" which is a light light blue - almost white. I then applied the Liquid Palisade to my cuticles, and area surrounding my nail. I was impressed with how tiny the brush is and how easy the product goes on. 

I used a makeup sponge to create a gradient with the "Firefly" and Kleancolor's "Pastel Blue" and "Pastel Teal." I topped my gradient with Funky Fingers "Olaf" - a rockin' glitter topper made up of white glitters, a hint of iridescent microglitter, and even some snowflakes - very cute! I personally feel that Funky Fingers is an awesome yet under-appreciated polish line in the nail art world. (You can find them at Five Below stores.) 

 Finally I stamped a snowflake with Bundle Monster's #BMH01 plate, using Funky Fingers "Gesso." I believe this is the best polish I have used for white stamping as of yet.

 Now for the fun part -- taking off the Liquid Palisade! I used a pair of tweezers to grab and edge, and it came off much easier than I expected! I thought for certain that I would be picking of 4,5 or more pieces per nail, but they all came off in 1 or 2 pieces. As you can see in the picture below, I should have gone a little wider on the sides of my fingers with the LP, but still, look how much that reduced my clean-up!

In with my little ELF concealer brush I went, barely having to clean up polish around my cuticles. Happy Day! The first picture at the top is my finished result. 

I really liked using the Liquid Palisades. When I run out, I will most certainly be making a purchase. I am definitely looking forward to using it again -- I can see this making me want to do more water marbles. I also would like to try using it for other nail art applications. 

Have you used LP before? What were your thoughts?!?

Cold Nails

I created this set of nails to give to a special lady I know. She has been through some major ups and downs in life, but her attitude is always stellar. She is one of those people that make the world a better place.  I wanted to do something just to say thank you for being an inspiration. Her favorite band is Cold – I know she is a hard core fan – so when I began to think of what I could do for her, something from me and from my heart, I decided on making a set of Cold-themed nails. I had to do some research, because I admittedly know nothing about the band. I decided to incorporate their logo and the trademark spider (I didn’t *f* up the L’s in the logo, that is how it’s supposed to be!).

I chose a black, white and silver color scheme, using Essie “Blanc,” Zoya “Imogen,” Wet N Wild “Lights Out” and a no-name silver bottle of Icing polish. The spider stamp is from Shany plate #SH09. The lettering is from fauxnad plates #m17 and #m18, and the lightning print is from Bundle Monster #BM305.  This was my first time using the nail art chains, and it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I used the chain, a small jump ring, and a rhinestone to make (what I think is) a kickass little necklace.  It took about 15 hours to make these – a few of the nails, I scrapped and started over again.

Even if she never wears them, I hope that when she looks at them, she remembers what a blessing she is.

Golden Snowflakes

I do a snowy design on my nails, and it snows :( I guess I need to do some kind of spring/summer mani next.

Anywho, in case you couldn't tell, I'm not a big fan of snow, Or cold. Nonetheless, I picked up a few gorgeous Zoya polishes on sale at Ulta ($1.97 for Pixie Dust? Yes please!) and thought that "Rebel" and "Nori" would look awesome together for some type of winter design. This is what I came up with :)

The base is Zoya's "Rebel," which is a sky blue metallic with a silver shimmer. I added "Nori" in a random, abstract pattern and a few gold snowflakes. It's a pretty simplistic mani, but I am pleased with how it turned out.