A not so Perfect Storm Stamping

Hey Everyone! Oh what a day! There has been way too much drama around and about today. I do have good news  though. Today was my first weigh in for the weight loss program and I lost 2.4lbs! YAY! I was disappointed that it wasn't more when I first weighed myself but I am feeling better about it now.

Zoya has a promo going on right now so it is fitting that I have a Zoya polish to show you. This is Storm from the Orante Collection.

Storm is a black polish with holographic micro glitter in it. This polish is really nice.

I took a couple of quick pictures before stamping over it. This is indoors under the light so you can see all the holo.

Formula was great and I used two coats. I really really like this polish.

I decided to use one of the China Glaze Bohemian Luster Chrome polishes to stamp. I used Deviantly Daring. These are great for stamping over black.

I used  that middle pattern on my Gals GA9 plate.

Unfortunately this didn't come out as nice as I would have liked. It was a bit of a dud.

The China Glaze stamped really well but I don't think the pattern worked for what I wanted to accomplish.

I wasn't too impressed with the outcome but both polishes were really pretty.

I am going to have to try again using this method with a different pattern. I am not sure Storm is the type of color you want to stamp over either, it is very pretty.

A picture of the Florida Sunset on Sunday from the car lol.

That's all for now :)

Don't Feed the Tiger

Hey Everyone!  Sorry I skipped yesterday. I think I have either pulled something or I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder and last night it was hurting. After using the heating pad for awhile I figured I would start a gel mani in hopes I would start feeling better. I did start feeling better since I had changed the way I was sitting BUT the gel mani took way too long and by the time I was done I was too tired to blog. The mani came out pretty nice but I definitely need a new area to do my gel manis in because the lighting was awful.

Today I have a mani to show you that I did for New Years. I don't do gold often and figure New Years was the time to do it.

I had a gel mani base of IBD Aphrodite on already and painted over it.

This was three coats of Aphrodite.

It was nice and sparkly, perfect to do gold over.

I used Essence Don't Feed the Tiger from their Circus Circus collection. It is a duo polish with gold on one side and black square glitter on the other. I had a duh moment and forgot to take a picture of  the polish.

I LOVE this combo. I love the glitter too and honestly the gold is not so gold that it is the type of gold I don't wear. This polish is a complete WIN!

I did more of a gradient with the gold. I didn't go all the way down to my cuticles so you can see Aphrodite peeking out.

I LOVE black glitter and I didn't realize until I started painting that this was square glitter. BONUS! I wanted to do a reverse gradient with the glitter and have it thicker at the base then thinning out toward the tips.

I didn't quite accomplish it completely because the square glitter was sparse and not the right type of glitter for what I envisioned but I LOVE the way it came out.

I love that my camera can take these close up shots! SO AWESOME!!

AND I introduce you to my snowman clan.

I don't remember if I showed them before but I LOVE THEM so I am showing them again. Most of them have flown to their new homes already.

That's all for now :)

A Christmas Story

Hey Everyone!! Today I am on the road so I am writing this last night. Well technically it is tonight I am writing this and tomorrow you will read it. I am slightly tired, don't mind me. I just finished my mani after spending quite a bit of time updated my swatch book and cataloging my nail art glitter. I am covered in glitter and so tired. I need to get my stuff packed up to entertain me in the car then hit the sack. 

Today I have for you my first Darling Diva Polish. I have my eye on several of them but I haven't been able to get them yet. This one came as a Christmas gift.

Darling Diva Polish A Christmas Story. 

OMG this polish sparkles. According to DDP it is a combination of Red and Holographic Green Microglitters. I think it is magic! SO sparkly.

I don't like to use my indie polishes too fast so I layered this one over OPI German-icure by OPI. MUST CONSERVE THE PRETTY!

This is a perfect Christmas polish and it is crazy awesome.

It makes me want to buy ALL the Darling Diva Polishes. Too bad my wallet won't let me lol.

I might have to wear this one again before the end of my holiday season.

A nice blurry shot to show off the amazing holo sparkles.

That's all for now :)

German-icure by OPI

Hey Everyone!! It is FRIDAY!!! I really enjoyed the short work week and am glad the weekend is here again! Tomorrow we have a little road trip to bring df's daughter back home and I get to stop at the good Ulta up near where she lives. I love going to that store because ours is not even half as good. I am excited about that. I need to line up some crochet projects to work on in the car too. Lots to do tonight. 

I recently got this polish from a blog sale. It is from the OPI 2012 Fall Germany Collection. I wasn't able to get the ones I wanted from this collection so I was excited to pick this one up. 

This is German-icure by OPI. I am not really sure who thinks of these names but some of them are a little bit out in left field.

German-icure (I refuse to keep saying the by OPI part) is a deep brown tinted red. It is super shimmery.

It reminds me of a cherry cola type color, maybe Dr. Pepper. That could be because I just smelled an amazing tart that was scented like Dr. Pepper. I will talk more about those after I try them out though.

ANYWAY, most of the time the polish looks like the above picture.

This one was taken with flash so it shows more red than it should be. I took these pictures with the old camera which should explain the problem lol.

I am not sure I LOVE this polish but it is pretty. The first coat was very sheer and I can't remember if I used 3 or 4 coats total but I wasn't happy having to use so many. I will have to give it another try before I decide if I really like it.

That's all for now :)

Candy Cane Crush

Hey Everyone!!! Today I have my Christmas mani for you but I have to warn you that the pictures aren't great. I had cooked and baked, wrapped and unwrapped and other stuff that totally tore my nails up. I was playing with the new camera while taking these pictures so they didn't come out as awesome as they could have. I loved this mani though so I am showing you anyway. This one is going to be quick so I can go do my nails tonight lol.

I used Orly Enchanted Forest as a base.

I layered KBShimmer Candy Cane Crush on top. I can't remember if it was one coat or one and a half.

It might have been a whole two coats. I can't recall.

I was trying to test out the macro and by george it looks pretty darn good! Especially compared to the old camera.

This polish is scented though they are coming out with a non scented version soon. I didn't mind the scent at all though, it was minty and light, not at all overwhelming. I LOVE this polish so much! It is my first KBShimmer and certainly not my last. 

The formula was great and I totally fell in love at first sight with this polish. I was all about the candy cane polish this year. I only ended up getting this one due to my budget but I love it.

AND I have a couple of fuzzy pictures for you.

Charlie being Charlie.

Neil playing with his new Christmas present. He loved that thing. I love this picture with his little tongue sticking out.

That's all for now :)

Ho Ho Holly

Hey Everyone!!!! Today was a back to the real world work day and let me tell you it wasn't fun. I was sleepy all day. I had lots to catch up on too. I managed to get everything caught up and still have some down time. It wasn't too bad but man, I really enjoyed my vacation of relaxing! I don't do a top 20 list at the end of the year because honestly I am really too indecisive and lazy to make a list. Mostly indecisive. I also feel bad for the polishes I don't pick lol If I did make a list this bad boy would definitely be on it though.

Today I am showing you Color Club Ho Ho Holly from their 2012 Winter Affair Holiday collection. This was was at Sallys and it is scented. I don't know what it smells like but it isn't bad so I don't really mind it.

This is two coats.

I LOVE THIS POLISH!!!! It is a perfect goldy green glowy beast! 

I actually looked at my nails a ton when I wore this polish and I used it for all the holiday manis I could incorporate it into lol I really REALLY love this polish. Is it St. Patrick's Day yet?

I also have some random pictures to show you some of the things I did this vacation. I made some peppermint bark.

I am actually making more tonight! Anyone want some? lol I have SOOO much chocolate I figured I would make bark and start giving it to EVERYONE I know lol.

Speaking of bark I have to go make another batch lol

We made this fruit basket for df's boss people. I love the lights!!! They are on a diet so I couldn't give them bark lol 

I LOVE this polish!!!

That's all for now :)

Happy 2013

Hey Everyone!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. We were pretty boring and low key. We watched the ball drop and drank Shirley Temples. It wasn't quite the same with out Dick Clark though. I think we were in bed by 12:40 so party animals we are not! Today is my last day of vacation so tomorrow I get to go back to the real world. I am not necessarily looking forward to it but it was a nice vacation. I have for you today the mani I wore New Years Eve then tomorrow I will go back to some Christmas manis lol. I am still enjoying my Christmas polishes and don't want to put them away yet.

I started by sponging a base of Essie Penny Talk. 

Then I added two coats of Finger Paints Santa's Magic.

OMG I took these pictures with the new camera!! They are awesome! Now, when I figure out how to use the camera they will be even better!

I then mattified the whole thing.

I used the Gals plate GA9 to stamp drink glasses and bubbles.

I put top coat over the bubbles because I wanted them to be sparkly. Unfortunately there is no sun today so I can't show you the sparkle.

I was rather rushed and it wasn't coming out as good as I had imagined. Not all the stamping came out perfect but it looked pretty good overall.

It was pretty festive at least.

The funny thing about this mani is that I don't drink yet I have drinks on my nails.

I haven't showed you furry pictures in awhile. I was testing out the new camera taking tons of pictures of the animals.

Broken puppy, aka Charlie, had just finished eating a bone. Neil was quite feisty and playing with him, or trying to.

Neil was trying to hit the hard stuff for the holidays. I don't think he needs to be any more hyper.

It was all too much excitement for Bruce. He was falling asleep under the tree.

That's all for now :)