skull

A skull with a red bow, how cute.  The skull is just a sticker so it is easy to apply.  Then an accent nail of red glitter.  Done.  A girly skull look.  Not much else to say about this paint job.

OPI - Gettin' Miss Piggy With It
Sinful Colors - Toyko Pearl

elephants

The elephants are some of the water decals I order a long time ago.  I wasn't that happy with them, especially since I got the awesome vinyl decals right after.  But, these elephant water decals I have been wanting to use for a while.  So I picked out two different colors (there are five colors) and matched them with a basic red polish.  I love the blue elephant but the red elephant turned out a lot more pink than I was hoping.

OPI - Malaga Wine
Essie - Room With A View

anchor

When you try and do quick nail art, things get wonky.  Like the anchor is no where near center.  Oh well.  I wanted to do all red nails but I changed my mind when pulling out the red polish.  I wasn't feeling a solid color paint job so I added two accent nails.  A sticker and some dots.  Quick and easy but still fun.  It would look better with stripes instead of dots but I didn't feel like using a stamp and my hands are way too unsteady to do free hand lines (thank you double espresso).

OPI - Got the Blues for Red
Wet & Wild - French White Creme
LA Girls - Flash Freeze

black & red

Nothing fancy, but very Queen of Hearts without the hearts.  The 'dots' are rhinestones.  The jelly glitter is a great polish that packs a ton of glitter.  The red is a classic red.  The only downside is it is OPI pre-3-free so it is a bit on the smelly side.  Why do I still have it and use it?  I love the color and the new formula of the same color isn't quite the same.

OPI - Malaga Wine
Spoiled - Ants In My Pants
Sinful Colors - Black on Black

peppermint candies

This paint job isn't so obvious as a red & white striped candy cane paint job.  But it does remind me of peppermint candies.  Just a base coat and a dotting tool, easy and done.  Yes the dots are a bit off and not perfect but that is what I was going for.

It's the time of year when I start stirring my hot chocolate with candy canes.  Have you tried that?  It is amazing.  Peppermint hot chocolate is wicked good.  I also keep the cinnamon next to my hot chocolate mix.  When I'm not craving peppermint I add a dash of cinnamon to the drink.  It is great and makes the hot chocolate (no matter how cheap or expensive your mix is) taste great.

OPI - Got The Blues For Red
Wet & Wild - French White Creme (side note - this is a 99 cent polish and it lives up to that price, it is thin and the coverage is awful, the brush is not cut correctly, but it was only 99 cents so I can't really be that mad)

happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope everyone has a great day with family and/or friends.

Hope that all your turkeys turn out perfectly and there are no accidents with a deep fryer.

And that no marshmallows catch fire when trying to heat up the sweet potatoes.

China Glaze - Sugar Plums
Sinful Colors - Lets Meet, Exotic Green

Pin Up

Pair this with some black stilettos with red soles and some red lipstick and its a look.  Again, my nails are still long so it looks a bit odd with the red polish.

I went with a silver base on the ring and pointer finger.  Then the red on the other three.  Two coats of a red & silver glitter polish on the pinky and ring.  Add some black vinyl decals on the pointer finger and it is a look.  Right after I applied the top coat to my nails, I remembered I have this great black jelly polish that has a lot of red glitter.  This would have been a great polish for this paint job.  It would have changed the over all look and made it much more of a night time look.

OPI - Gettin' Miss Piggy With It
Essie - A List
Sally Hansen - Celeb City

gradient

I saw this on another blog and love the deep red to silver gradient.  I cannot remember the blog and didn't bookmark the page because it was rather simple.

Just a normal gradient with silver as the base color.  What's funny is with the darker tips, my nails look short.  This is a great winter look.  Now I want to try it with a gold to red.  I just don't have a gold that is the same as this silver.  I can't find a gold that is like liquid gold.  They are either too yellow or all glitter.

China Glaze - Sugar Plum
Sally Hansen - Celeb City

Phillies

A college friend was visiting this past weekend.  She is from Philadelphia and is a huge sports nut.  I drew up a ton of different paint jobs for her to pick from (a different one each day).  They all came out great but there were a couple that she did not use that I like.  So, I used (and will be using) one.

The Phillies!  It's a rather simple paint job.  However, the red Sharpie I tried to use for the pin stripes and baseball stitches faded and bleed a lot.  Not good at all.  I had to go over them with some paint (which I should have just used in the first place).

 The nails aren't perfect, far from it.  But they are fun.  The 'P' is the Phillies logo P.  There is a baseball, pin stripe uniform, Liberty Bell, and the star over the Phillies name.

OPI - Got The Blues for Red
Wet & Wild - French White Creme, Saved By the Blue

poppies

Another great decal from RLR Creations (www.etsy.com/shop/RLRCreationsNailArt)It is a little big for my short nails but it is still fun.  Again I still need practice with water decals.  It sat in the water a little too long and the red from the poppies started to bleed.

It looks like water color though, so I am okay with it.  I added a polka dot nail and an abstract one.  To finish off the whole look I went with a matte finish.  I like it.  Something very feminine and 1950s about it.  Like I need to be wearing a white dress with a bright red wide belt and some great red wedges. And going to a garden party.

Sally Hansen - White On
Essie - A List
Sinful Colors - Exotic Green

fishnets

This paint job has been in my idea file for a long time.  I needed longer nails to make it really work.  And since I have long nails right now, it was time to try it.  I added a red pinky to break it up a bit.  It could either be a red shoe, a red sole of a shoe or even red lips.  It makes the fishnet nails a bit sexier.

I need a bit of practice with doing the tips, the lines are a bit wonky.  I am happy with the stamping.  The lines came out perfectly and I somehow got them all in the same direction.

This is a very easy look to accomplish.  I went with two nude coats and two red on the pinky.  After the polish is dry, time to stamp.  Simply stamp on the criss-cross with black polish.  Concentrate on the lower part of the nail.  If you miss some of the nail tip, that is fine since it will be covered with the black polish.  Since this stamping is so fine, it dries really quickly.  Use the brush that comes with the black polish and do the tips.  Let it dry before doing the top coat.  That is it.  Super easy.  This would also look great with a deep bronze or even a gold-ish polish.  It would have a different feel but still work.

OPI - Coney Island Cotton Candy, Malaga Wine
Sinful Colors - Black on Black
plate - no name, Claires

ruby red

I went to a bridal shower yesterday.  I also made the dessert and chocolate truffles.  I didn't have time to repaint my nails before the mid-day shower (I took my polish off before making anything).  I just had time for a quick nail-protein-hardener-etc clear coat before leaving.  When I got to the party, I kept on getting asked what special paint job I did for the shower.  A few really didn't understand why I didn't have time to do some elaborate paint job and make everything for dessert.  I guess that is what happens when you always have crazy/special/painted nails.  I draw the line at losing sleep so I can paint my nails.  Plus, I hate waking up in the morning with fabric indents on my nails.

This was a quick paint job.  Just a sparkly red (almost magenta) on four nails.  Then a simple basic red on the middle with a matte top coat.  Looking at it now, I wish I had switched the paints around.  The bright glitter polish would really pop if it was just the accent finger.

OPI - Got the Blues for Red, You Only Live Twice

quicky

I cannot think of a title/name for this paint job.  It is sort of out there.  It reminds me of Louboutin shoes (silver glitter with a red sole).  But for more of a shoe paint job, it would just be one red accent nail instead of red being the main color

I haven't done a red nail in a long time.  It's always fun to go back to a classic.

OPI - Got The Blues For Red
Urban Outfitters - Scorcher

june polish day - to boldly go

This month's polish day challenge is 'To Boldly Go'.  Space, Star Wars, Star Trek, galaxy nails, NASA, etc.  I have been wanting to do a galaxy paint job for a long time.  I was all set to do one until I got a super cute voice mail from my nephews.  They are Star Wars nuts.

I quickly changed my mind on the paint job and planned out a Star Wars themed one instead.
*more photos after the jump*

skull

I have been wanting to use these skull nail stickers for a while.  I didn't want a super dark paint job (black nails) so I went with red.  It makes the skull look so girly with the matching bow.

There is nothing fancy or complicated about this paint job but it still fun.  If I were to do this paint job again I would go with a black background for the skull nail.  I didn't bring a black in my mountain kit.  A black base would really make the skull pop.

Sinful Colors - Tokyo Pearl
Nicole - Basking in Gloria

april polish days - 7 deadly sins

7 deadly sins!!  Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride.  I don't know why this theme is so great, but it is.  I knew I wanted to go with greed (a sin of excess, hoarding of objects) and use a bunch of studs, rhinestones and pearls.

My pinky is so greedy for treasures it is spilling over to my ring finger.
*more after the jump*

nautical grab bag

I did a paint job on my friend when she was visiting earlier this week.  It was a combo of dots and anchor stamps.  It inspired me to do this grab bag nautical themed paint job,

*more after the jump*

24 K gold

I finally got inspired to use the polish "The Man With the Golden Gun", the 24K gold flake polish in the Bond collection by OPI.  There is something about deep red and gold that just works together.  I didn't just want a solid red polish with the 24K polish on top so I added some studs to my middle finger.

*more after the jump*

black to white with a dash of red

After cleaning out my box of paints. tools, and tricks from the birthday party, I re-found my two grey polishes.  Normally greys are so dull but they inspired me to do a gradient paint job.  I was going to start with the fifth nail being a silver halo polish but then I saw the red paint and it all came together.  

There is nothing fancy about this paint job and it still fun.  For some reason it reminds me of Vegas.

Sinful Colors - Black on Black, Smokin, Cool Gray
Sally Hansen - White On
Essie - A List

birthday party

So, after posting my Academy Award nails, my Aunt asked me if I was free tonight to come and paint nails at her daughter's 9th birthday party.  The theme for the party was an Awards Show so she thought the tux nails would be perfect.  So I packed up a few polishes, tools, rhinestones, stamps, etc and headed over to their house.

It turned out to be a lot of fun.  The hardest part was painting on a small scale.  9 year old's nails are a lot smaller than mine (duh) and they are super bouncy.  I ended up painting most of the girl's nails and doing tux nails on the thumbs of the one boy guest.

*photos after the jump*