China Glaze and Butter London Loveliness.

I've mentioned my newfound love affair with nail stamps before, but I'm seriously in love with them.  I'm going to ask them if they want to go steady later tonight, so wish me luck they say yes! The application process and the versatility of stamping in general is just so cool! This is actually the second time I've used this stamp (as shown in my previous stamping post) but I just think it is so darn cute and to be honest, I wasn't feeling some of the other stamps on the image plates I have. I guess that just means I need MORE :D That's not to say I don't love a majority of the stamps in my current set, I just wasn't feeling them for tonight's mani. Since it's almost Monday and I'm really not excited about it (though I only have a two day week! I'm going to Costa Rica on Thursday!! YEEE!) I wanted something fun but simple. 

Freehand Triangle Cutouts with Zoya's Aurora!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been incredibly sick and had a bunch of down time in the last few days. I spent yesterday watching I Heart Huckabees, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, and The Dark Knight Rises and before/during/after I felt like I was going crazy from being stuck inside. Regardless of my aches and pains I pulled out my polishes and made an attempt at a new design.

I was originally going to do another entry (plaid themed this time) into the December Nail Art Challenge, and was somewhat inspired by one of my favorite new plaid flannel shirts from Urban, but when I painted everything on I was not impressed.

I restarted and grabbed Zoya's Aurora which is another stunning holo color from their Ornate Collection.  I'm also realizing I'm obsessed with Ulta's Concrete Evidence, which I've used before. I did this design free hand with my striping brushes and I really like how it came out. 

Snowflakes for December!

I'm going to talk about winter again because, well, it's winter! But also because I'm going to be going to Costa Rica for 10 days starting on the 13th so I will be missing half of my favorite time of year being away! I found this nail art challenge on Instagram for the month of December and thought I would give it a go! 

I was busy! :(

Here are a couple manis that I did over the Thanksgiving break and wasn't able to post.

The first is Ulta's Concrete Evidence with Pinata-Yada in a reverse gradient.

While at home, I ended up raiding my Mom's polish collection and found Sally Hansen's Shell We Dance and...a sharpie! Shell we dance is very sheer and I had to do about 5 coats to get it to this color. I also discovered that Mom does not own a fast dry top coat and because I had to do so many coats of this, I spent about 2 hours waiting for my nails to dry :/ But here's the result!

Happy Polishing :)

Is it too early for a Christmas mani?

Autumn and Winter are by far my favorite time of the year. I love being able to bundle up on the couch next to the fire with my hot cocoa and a great book. Reading and nail painting are essentially tied for favorite things to do so don't make me choose! (Maybe I'll do some book reviews on here occasionally...hmm). Anyway! The past few days have finally begun to be gloomy and cold (only took to the end of November!..but that's what you get in California) and driving home after work with the sun already down and all the Christmas lights up really solidified the feeling that it is in fact winter! My favorite! 

I was feeling inspired by the time of year and landed on PRESENTS! Everyone loves to give and/or receive gifts and I've been slowly finding presents to give to friends and family so it seemed fitting. 

I used, YET AGAIN (sorry!) Sephora by OPI's Mr. Right Now because it is my all time favorite red and I am going to have to go buy more soon. My striping accents (you have no idea how many times I checked to make sure that didn't say stripping accents...) are Ulta's Concrete Evidence and a mini Sephora by OPI called Already Famous that came as part of their winter Tinsel Town Collection. 

Essie Beyond Cozy Gradient

It's winter! And after Thanksgiving it finally feels like it! Yay! My favorite! 

Err...well it doesn't snow in my part of California, but a girl can dream, right? I am pretty envious of the those in the cold snowy weather because all I want to do is get bundled up and go play in the snow all day long!

I suppose painting my nails wintery-ish will have to suffice for now, though. So! I present, another gradient look (this time done following proper technique!). I used Ulta's Smoke Screen and Essie's Beyond Cozy for my gradient colors (with a foundation of white).

Happy Polishing.