Stripes a-plenty

So...after spending a few hours looking at my last mani and being unhappy with the pairing of Glitter Goblin over Bizarre Blurple I decided it had to go.  I was just going to do a plain color, no art, because I still had costumes to finish for my kiddos.  But then I ran into this post from Let Them Have Polish and knew I had to be a super huge copy cat.  I used to play roller derby and have fond memories of wearing lots of stripy socks and tights.

I used 3 shades from Sinful Colors for the base on alternating nails:  Cloud 9 (orange, right hand), Dream On (neon purple, left hand) and Irish Green (both hands).  Then I got down with the striping tape and the Wet 'N Wild Shine Black Creme.

Here are my stripes!  They're not as good as the inspiration but they'll do.  Yes, there is a huge ding on my pinky on my right hand - it was a casualty of last minute costume finishing.

Sort of Halloweenish

Halloween is my favorite holiday but for whatever reason I am having issues getting into it this year.  I bought the China Glaze Wicked polishes a little while back and have yet to use them so I did a little something today.  It's just a simple manicure but I like it.  I used Bizarre Blurple and Glitter Goblin to do simple stripes. I have to say I'm kind of disappointed in Glitter Goblin.  I don't know what it is but to me it just looks dirty and muddy.  I probably would have liked it better if the silver in it was gold instead.

Bloody Kisses

When I saw that Black Cat Lacquer had a polish named after one of my favorite albums I had to buy it...and I'm now in love with it.  The red glitters are so very pretty in the black jelly base.

Cling wrap marble

I've never tried this technique before but dig the results when other people do it so I thought I'd give it a go.  This is the method where you dab color on with the plastic wrap - I tried the method of removing polish with the plastic and couldn't get it to turn out right.

For this I used Zoya Elisa, a gorgeous red, and Wet 'n Wild Creme Black with a healthy coat of SV.

Z is for Zombies

Happy Hands Nail Polish recently had Z is for Zombies in stock and I had to have some. :)  I love, love it.  I have 2 coats of it here layered over 1 coat of Zoya Yara.

Tape is handy

I usually don't have the patience for tape manicures - I'm constantly ruining them by taping way too early in the drying process.  But, yesterday I managed to contain myself enough to do this.  It's a base of OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls with a stripe of Sinful Colors' Out of this World and a strip of L'oreal's The Queen's Ambition.  I was kind of dull looking when I finished so I topped it off with a light coat of Confetti's Ice Ice Baby.

I just blue myself

Happy Hands makes some awesome polishes. I wish I could capture just how vibrant this amazing blue is. Please excuse my dry skin...many apologies.

Zoya!

I've seen manicures similar to this on several sites and thought it would be cute and fun to do...and it was.  For this I used 5 Zoya shades: Robyn, Charisma, Perrie, Maura and Dana.   The blue base is Robyn and the accent nail is Perrie - all of the colors were used for the dots.

Moar Dots!

I heart polka dots and sadly I usually suck at making them. These cane out halfway decent though. The orange color is Parker by Julep, the green is Alma by Julep.

Violet and shinies

I'm much happier with this than my previous entry. This is Loreal Violet Vixen topped with Nina Ultra Pro Holographic Topcoat.

Meh, this won't last long

I'm not sure where I was going with this and an unhappy with the result. Just blah.

Blood

I'm starting to get in the mood for Halloween, it's my favorite holiday. So yesterday I did the blood splatter nails...really, really should have taped my fingers. Such a mess but it was fun to do. Added bonus - they glow in the dark. For this I used Piggy Polish Nocture-Nail (for the glow in the dark goodness), Fingerpaints Signed in Wine, Sinful Colors White on White and my current favorite top coat Seche Vite.

Sponge Gradient

This is my first attempt at a sponge gradient.  I wanted to keep the fall theme so I used the Nina Ultra Pro Maple Syrup again as well as Sinful Colors Courtney Orange and Fingerpaints Signed in Wine.  And...of course I had to stamp a little over it - just some small leaves in gold.

Fall nails

We don't really have fall here and I miss it. So I decided to do my nails to give me that fall feeling. I did 2 coats of Nina Ultra Pro in Maple Syrup then did the tips in Pumpkin Spice by Sinful Colors. I love the way they sparkle in the sunlight.

Essie Stylenomics

I really love this green in the bottle but I don't think it transfers well - on me with only 2 coats it looks nearly black. I was hoping it would be much more if a dark green. Oh well. So I stamped over it with a gold from Ulta.

Essie Wicked = pure awesome

The rich almost black red color of this polish is sadly lost with the lame iPhone camera. I'm in love with the color though and I love how Ulta's In Line for the Crown looks stamped over it.

For Audrey - love this blue

I'm normally not a fan of blue nails but I love, love this color.

<3 purple

I really like this one, might even keep it for more than a day. I used Zoya Monica for the base color then stamped with China Glaze No Plain Jane using BundleMonster plate BM-209.

I have issues with cleanup

Ugh, I can never get all the mess off. But...I love, love this color. It's Essie Skirting The Issues and I've stamped it with Sinful Colors Zincing Of You using Mash-48.

Manicures of the past month.  These all looked way, way  better in person - I really, really suck at taking pictures.

Tone on Tone

I am really loving Zoya Natty and Essie Matte About You.

I think this picture shows the contrast better: