O! Christmas Tree Manicure

Hello, hello!  Two days in a row with a post, shocking, I know!  I hope everyone's holiday season is turning out well so far.  I've got my first holiday function this Sunday night with the crew from my job.  I'm trying to get myself into the spirit of things this year, so I've got another holiday manicure for you today.  This manicure is not my own design, as I found it on Pinterest and for once, the link back actually worked.  You can see the original design here on Laatikollinen lakkaa.  Aaaand here's my version:

 So adorable, right?!  I started here with 2 coats of Ulta's Salon Formula Nail Laquer in Diva, a pretty holographic glitter in a light pink shimmer base.  I used Wet 'n' Wild's French White Creme for the "snowbanks" and dots of falling snow.  The snowbanks were done using a method similar to Nailside's Freehand Cloud tutorial.  For my accent nail, I used painter's tape to create a long triangle shape and then filled it in with e.l.f. in Green Machine, a dark green creme.  I quickly went over GM with Wet 'n' Wild's FastDry in Happy Holidaze!, a teal multi-glitter jelly from their Party Rocks 2012 Holiday Collection, to add some sparkle and depth to the tree.  My tree topper is a silver star from Wet 'n' Wild's Stars and Stripes.  The ornaments on the tree are done with a dotting tool and e.l.f. in Cherry Bomb.

Overall, I thought this turned out great.  I love the sparkle that Diva adds to the whole mani and the nail art came out great!  Here's a close up of my accent nail:
 

I hope you enjoyed this manicure as much as I did.  Check back for more holiday nails before Christmas!  Thanks so much for reading!

Happy Accident

Howdy everyone!  We're halfway through the week, how's everyone feeling?  If you're like me, you can't wait for Friday.  I actually have the day off Friday and I'm thinking I might go get a massage.  I received a gift certificate to a local spa for my birthday from a friend and I'm thinkin' it might be time to cash it in.  

I wanted to put up some photos of my nails today.  This is a good example of how mistakes can often become happy accidents.  I was trying out a new stamping plate and instead of getting the whole design, I only got a partial.  At first I was frustrated, but then I decided I like the abstract feel of the partial stamp anyway so I stamped all my nails that way.  Here's how it came out:

I started with 2 coats of Peachy Keen by China Glaze (another from my weekend Ulta spree) and stamped over top with Luxe from Orly.  Luxe is my favorite gold of all time.  It reminds me of the look of gold leaf or foil and the effect is just marvelous.  I thought the color combo worked well here, too.  It reminds me of that marble with the gold veins running through it.  So you can see the original pattern of the stamp was a bunch of stars.  I'll give this pattern another try with a thicker polish and see if I can get a clearer outcome in the future, but as far as oopsies go, this turned out alright.

I'll be posting my first manicure for the Nail-aween Challenge tomorrow so be sure to stop by and check it out!  Thanks for reading!