I'm back!! Maybe. Or just visiting....

Hi everybody!

Wow, it has been a long time since I've paid attention to this blog. I was never going to let it go completely but I had to put it on hiatus for a little while. My little guy has been occupying my time quite a bit and....we have a second one on the way!!! Needless to say, there were times when even just painting my nails was low down on the list, never mind blogging about it. Things have settled into somewhat of a groove now. Long naps by the kiddo have something to do with me getting a little more time to do my nails. Nowhere near where it used to be but doable. I thought I'd slowly start working my way back to posting some manis now and then. I'm sure there will be more hiatuses in my future but for now, here's another mani!

This is Zoya Blaze with a stamped design on the ring finger and a taped design on the middle. Those squares were done by painting black polish on a stamper, letting it dry then cutting out the square shape.

Are any of you guys still with me? Lol.

My last snowflake mani

Hi everyone!

So, I think, I hope, last week was the last of the snow we are going to see around these parts. Spring is stumbling in and summer is around the corner and I can't wait!! I figured I better put up my last snowflake mani for this year. This has been sitting around for a while. Obviously, I haven't really been keeping up with this blog much lately. I hope to keep it going enough that when I finally get time in my life to get back to it, I still can.

The base for this mani is a sparkly grey concoction that I came up with a long long time ago. I'm not even sure of all the polishes that are in there but off the top of my head I can think of Revlon Carbonite, Wet n Wild The Gold and the Beautiful, Milani Silver Dazzle and Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty. It's sparkly!

I stamped it with snowflakes from Bundle Monster BM 323 plate again, just like I did with Orly Stone Cold. Basically, I had that stamp sitting out, I was feeling to rushed to find another design and I went for it.

I tried to do some sort of double stamp initially. I started with the ring finger. Then I decided I didn't have time for all that, so I left it as an accent nail. It sort of works....maybe. 

Nubar Reclaim

Hi all. I can't let the whole month of March go by without a single post so here's my green mani for March.

I finally busted out my Nubar Reclaim. I wore this with a couple of racing stripes. I didn't always have the sun to bring out the holo but the green is lovely either way.

Orly Stone Cold with snowflakes

Hi folks!

Wow, so I finally, finally, finished what I hope is the last big exam of my career this weekend. And what a nerve wracking process it was! So glad it's over. I feel like I have my life back! I still don't know if I'll be able to post at pre-baby level but I shouldn't completely disappear again!

Today's post is Orly Stone Cold. It's an old one but an untried for me. The shade of this blue is stunning! The micro flecks in the polish are so reflective! I really couldn't capture the depth of it on camera.

It's still snowing here so the snowflakes are totally appropriate still. I tried to do a mix of white and holo when stamping but I'm not sure the holo really comes across. The plate used here is BM 323.

Here it is by itself. Alright, that is all!

NYX Girls Emerald Forest with black and gold skittlette

Hello everyone!

I can't believe how cold it has been in the Cleveland area in the past couple of weeks! This is only my second winter here and I don't remember the last one being so cold. Of course, I was privately miserable with my first trimester woes so last winter was bad in a different way. I am happy to hear the long time Clevelanders tell me this is unusual even for Clevelend. In other news, my son is slowly learning the art of putting himself to sleep while at the same time I am learning to allow him to cry a bit so he can go back to sleep without needing me around. In fact, I learned that he gets more sleep if I don't go to him every time he cries. Go figure!

Let me tell you about this mani, real quick. This is NYX Girls Emerald Forest, which is the same as NYX Advanced Salon Formula Enchanted Forest. However, if you thought that had anything to do with NYX Girls Enchanted Forest, you would be wrong. Confused yet? I was. Which is why I own both NYX Girls Emerald Forest and NYX Advanced Salon Formula Enchanted Forest. Oh well, it's so pretty that I don't mind! This is a sheerish micro glitter polish with gold and green microglitter in a green tinted base. I wish it wasn't as sheer as it is because it took three goopy coats to get opacity. 

The sparkle is amazing though! If you follow me on Instagram, I had posted a video of this a long time ago. 

The stamping was done with China Glaze Passion and the image from a Red Angel plate, RA 10.

Originally I had it without the extra dots and pinky stamping. It felt sort of unfinished that way. What do you think? Less is more?

OPI Congeniality is my Middle Name with leopard print accent

Here we go! Another week, another mani. Ok, more like a couple of weeks! I was in sunny AZ last week, getting my study on at a board review course. I took my son and husband with me and I think both of us came away from that trip feeling more pooped than usual! My son turned out to be a decent traveler though. As long as he could nurse, he was fine. He slept on all of the plane trips there and back. What a relief!

On to the mani. This is OPI Congeniality is my Middle Name. I love love this color. The brightness of this fuschia is just right. Jewel toned and vibrant. The only weird thing about this polish is that all the shimmer seems to want to settle in the bottle. I always have to give it a good shake prior to application. This is two coats, easy application. 

I jazzed this one up with my first ever freehand leopard spots. I loved it!! It felt just right.

L'Oreal Rainy Piccadilly watermarble skittlette

Alright! Good morning, everyone!! It's Jan 7th and for the first time I feel like I can take a deep breath after the end of the year/beginning of the next year rush! 

It's also my son's 5 month anniversary today so here's the obligatory statement about oh my gosh, how time flies!! It's been flying so fast I've had barely any time to do my nails. At least not in a blog worth sense. The last mani was so shoddy I hated having it on my nails. The one before that was awesome but I didn't have time to take pictures!! I'll have to redo that one. So, lucky for us, we have a few manis in the files waiting for their time to be shown. Here is one of them!

I did these a long time ago and posted a not so great picture on Instagram, promising that I would show better pictures soon. Well, here it is weeks later. The main color for this is a wonderful teal by L'Oreal called Rainy Piccadilly. I had used it in the past in a different skittlette here.

My favorite parts about this mani are actually the accent nails of watermarble and the texture polish. This is the first time I did a horizontal stripey watermarble and I loved it! I have to credit My Simple Little Pleasures on YouTube for the first time I saw this method of creating a water marble design. She has so many different ways to create watermarble designs that I haven't even touched on yet! The colors I used for this one are L'Oreal Rainy Piccadilly and Club Prive.

Finally, the textured polish is one of the Gumdrops by Nicole by OPI. It was a teal color that I only found at Target. This one is called Emerald Green. I wore it without a topcoat as intended but the shimmer in there is so amazing that I have to wear it with topcoat at some point.

Happy New Year!! My 2013 Favorites!!

Happy New Year everybody! Here's to 2014 being even more awesome than 2013!

I was lame this year and didn't have a New Year's Eve mani done. Blame it on the baby! So, I thought I'd just compile a post of my favorite looks from 2013, oldest to newest. 2013 was a good year. I really expanded my skills set with nail art and improved on the ones I had already tried. I entered the world of indie nail polish. I even entered a contest and a challenge and loved doing them both. Enjoy!!

This one has been really popular on Pinterest. One of my potential entries for a skittlette contest sponsored by Marta from Chit Chat Nails.

Remember this one? My one and only stained glass look.

One of my first forays into using striping polish. Also my favorite color to wear matte of all time!

Holy crap, did I love everything about this mani! The color, the sparkliness, the design....

A very intense sugar spun mani, done during the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge

Loved the beauty of those hand placed mylar flakes...

A very intense gradient.

Wore this at my baby shower. Enough said.

I used a brand new technique for me!

One of my frankens. It was so sparkly!!

I finally busted out one of the Mari Moon multichromes!

First time trying splatter.

Pretty pretty watermarble.