Christmas take one:

As promised I am back! I am still nursing some very short nails, but then again my nails have never really been long, anyways I'm kicking off the season with a very simple Christmas plaid design. I copied 100% from this site, she did a matte version & mine is a bit more sparkly!

Inspiration

Merry Christmas!

31DC2013 Day 18: Half Moons

I decided to go classic red for today's Mani, like Nailasaurus did on day 1, simply elegant. Considering all the designs I've been having to challenge my creativity about over the last few days & some of the ones that are coming up, the simplicity of this choice was a welcome relief. I left the base coat bare & used Zoya pixie dust Chyna as my red, to add some texture to the design. I really like this look, it might just become a staple classic look for me.

31DC2013 Day 1: Red

Being a holiday this weekend I actually found it hard to find the time & post yesterday because I was working on my home remodeling. But I have Day 1 & Day 2 ready so I'm posting both today, one right after the other, hope you don't mind.

Day 1: Red matte rose

Liquid Sand

Yay, I got my Mariah Carey liquid sand "Stay the Night", it's very unique & I found it quite gorgeous! There have been a few posts about her liquid sand collection & the general consensus is that this color is hands down the favorite of the bunch. I have to agree, it's just so unique, drying to a matte finish with a kinda bumpy feel while still having so much sparkle to it, is just wonderfully intriguing to look at. I heard one girl describe is as looking like hot lava. I had it on my nails for about 5 days & there was no chipping at all, I could tell it would've probably lasted quite a bit longer, the only reason I took it off was because I snagged my pinky really low & had to cut all my fingernails to match (yes, i'm one of "those" girls). So after I cut them, they just didn't look quite right & so now I'm wearing something neutral until they grow just a little bit. But I was terribly upset I had to take it off & can't wait to wear it again. All pictures are 3 layers, but they looked the same with 2, next time I will just put on 2 layers.

Cirque du Soleil

Just a quick little post with a layered swatch of a couple Cirque du Soleil polishes I picked up from China Glaze the other day, Bend over Backwards & Get Carried Away!

This was the most true to color picture I could get

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

...but if the white runs out, I'll drink the RED! Actually, I would probably drink the red first as I do prefer it. Anyways, this is not a white Christmas manicure, but a red one & I had just found that joke the other day on Twitter so I thought it would be funny (insert giggle here)! In any case, it did inspire this simple red & gold mani so I figured I should post it.

I used my Butter London Pillar Box Red as my base color. I then did a side swipe of this pretty gold I found a long time ago, the brand is Pastel & the color is 400, but I can't find any reference to this online so I added a picture. It kinda has the same effect as the luxeffects do, just a light gold glitter. To enhance a little better added a gold line using acrylic paint.

Outside sunlight

Indoor lighting

Add caption

LDTTWC, day 8: Let's do the time warp challenge again!

It's a sad day, the challenge is over. I'd like to thank Lindsey for her creativity & organization of this challenge. I'd like to thank Nail Polish Canada for sponsoring this challenge. And I'd like to thank all the ladies who participated, I found new sites to obsess over & new ideas to recreate.

For today's final challenge I get to do just that, recreate a design done by one of the lovely ladies participating in in this challenge. I chose Tammy's day 4 nail art , Arsenic & Old Lace, for a couple reasons; 1. I love old movies, especially ones with Cary Grant. 2. It has lace on it, I'm a sucker for lacy things. 3. Tammy is an incredible artist & has beautiful work, I hope I can do her justice.

I used W7 Mercury, from the W7 Metallic planets collection, as my base. I found a set on eBay but I can't find them anywhere now, the colors are amazing, I think there are about 5 in this particular metallic set. I did a design with the one called Venus a while back, but they are all just beautiful so if you come across the W7 Metallic Planet set I would advise you to grab it as it is a rare & fabulous find. I don't have a stamping plate with a lace pattern so I did a freehand version with some acrylic paint. I used my new Dazzle Dry top coat that I am in love with, everybody should get on the dazzle band wagon, this stuff is fantastic! Here is my Arsenic & Old Lace design, & here I bid adieu as the challenge comes to a close.

LDTTWC, day 6: They don't make'em like they used to...

Yay, I'm so excited for this day of the Time Warp Challenge that Lindsey created, cause we get to look back on happy childhood memories & the simple joy of playing silly games that kept us entertained for hours. Imagine not having tv, computers, video games or even a bicycle growing up? Well, such was the life of my family of 7 girls growing up in Brasil during the 80's & 90's. If we weren't outside climbing trees, at the beach, or playing soccer, we were indoors playing a variety of indoor games such as; Lego, scrabble, snakes & ladders, pictionary & other board games. But I had to narrow it down & ended up picking 2 favorites to design for you today; Pickup Sticks & Jacks. Can you imagine getting kids nowadays to play pickup sticks, they would look at you like you were crazy, lol!

For the pickup sticks I used various colors as my base in white, blue, green & yellow, any colors would do. I then used acrylic paints in the same colors for my two accent nails. 

For Jacks I used Elf Innocent as my base & then used acrylic paints for the Jacks & ball.

Sookie Stackhouse aka: True Blood

Season 5 has just finished & I have been an avid fan since day 1;). While my dear hubby lost interest in season 2, I have been hungrily watching every single episode & loving every minute!

Recently my dear friend Tara, you can see her nails featured here  lol, loaned me her Sookie Stackhouse novels that I just found out the True Blood series was based on. I was very excited to hear this & am happily reading the first of these books & will soon be on the second.

Feeling in the mood to do something "vampirish" I pulled some colors together & went for a bloody ombre look. It turned out kinda cool looking like I had bloody fingertips. The first picture has no editing besides putting a border on it. With the other two I added a couple of cool Picasa apps over them for effect. 

Natural Light

                            

Cinemascope app.

with Cross process app.

Geek Nail Challenge #3: Games/Gaming

Play play play, games & gaming day of the Geek Nail Challenge created by Girlonashoestring. I have to be honest, I am not a huge gamer. My parents really couldn't afford video game apparatuses for my sisters & I growing up as a missionary kid in Brasil, so I really didn't form any sort of addiction or skills growing up. I have since done much better, now in my 30's, but I'm still terribly slow & uncoordinated. I love watching my hubby play, he's really good & it feels just like watching a really action packed movie when he gets on a roll. I do like quite a few games & one that I actually enjoy playing is Stargate: the Old Republic. My Hubby & I actually got to test it @ Comic Con 2011 before it even came out & I loved it especially cause it's on a PC because I suck at xBox controllers. Our friend got it for him for Christmas 2011 & I've gotten to play it a little & it's been fun!


I got my inspiration from the logo's for the Empire & Republic: