Monday, December 31, 2012

Painting in the New Year- The Countdown

Today begins another exciting nail art challenge! This time it is a challenge to celebrate the new year - Painting in the New Year, a play on "ringing in the new year." The first challenge is the countdown.


The countdown is a little difficult to depict. It's such an anticipated event, but it happens so quickly! I know the sparkly ball drops in New York, and there is usually a lot of confetti regardless of where you are, so I went with that.


To show the countdown in action, I put "3... 2... 1..." on one nail to literally countdown. That nail doesn't have any confetti since it's suppose to be the final seconds of 2012!


Then when the clock rolls over to 12:00 AM on January 1st, the confetti flies, so the two nails with "2013" painted on them have a bunch of confetti. Then I just took advantage of my pinkie nail and turned it into a total glitter bomb!


I started off by painting all nails with Zoya Trixie. I then added some "confetti" or glitter to the other three nails using Nailtini Millionaire and Neener Neener Nails Nail Glitz. My pinkie got some extra sparkle with Milani Gems, but I didn't want to put it on the nails that also say "2013" since it might be too difficult to read. 


I then free handed the countdown and 2013 in black, added a coat of Seche Vite, and I was ready to go! They're a little crazy, but I think they get the point across pretty well. 


A bunch of other bloggers are doing this nail art challenge as well! Even if you're not a blogger, feel free to join in and share your nails with me via email or Facebook!

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Zoya - Aurora

Wow, Christmas has come and gone already! Now onto New Years. I have no idea what to do with my nails for New Years, so in the meantime I'm going to enjoy some other polishes I've gotten.


One of the polishes I got recently is Zoya Aurora. This polish is absolutely gorgeous, and I'm so happy that I bought it! Although it's from the holiday Ornate collection, it's not really a holiday color to me. But it's very sparkly and holographic, so I like it.


Aurora is a purple jelly. It's more translucent than I thought it would be, but I only had to use two coats for these photos. It's so sparkly that it fills in nicely, though I probably could have used a third coat to make it slightly deeper purple.


It applied like a dream. For how sparkly it is, it applied easily and was pretty much smooth. I added a coat of Seche Vite on top for added gloss though. As you can see, the glitter in it is very holographic. I can barely call it "glitter" though since it's so fine.


The holographic bits shine red, blue, green and more. I just can't stop staring at this polish! 

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Monday, December 24, 2012

12 Days of Christmas - Santa

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! And for those who don't, Happy Holidays! It's Christmas Eve, but this is the last day of the 12 Days of Christmas challenge, so we're ending with Santa himself!


I made some silly, cartoon looking Santas. I didn't want to just do his face or his hat on every nail, so I decided to do a different bit on each one. I did his hat on the pinkie, his face on my ring, his suit on my middle, and "ho ho ho" on my index. I suppose I could have done Santa's legs and boots instead of "ho ho ho," but I thought the words were fitting for the Santa theme.


I started off by painting my index and middle red, and my ring and pinkie nude. I then free handed santa's hat on both the ring and pinkie, and began dotting the white on everything. I then carefully painted the belt and belt buckle on, and outlined the hat since I didn't like the nude background for it.


Colors used: OPI Red, Elf Nude, Wet n Wild French White Creme, Wet n Wild Black Creme, and nail art polishes in White, Charcoal, and Gold Rush.


I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! My little Santa looks so happy, and I love how the belt and his coat turned out. These are certainly some festive nails! 


On to the final challenge for everyone else as well:

<3 Corrinne

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Friday, December 21, 2012

12 Days of Christmas - Gifts & Presents

Today's theme is gifts and presents. I was pretty excited for these since I love wrapping presents. I love how pretty the finished product looks with all the shiny wrapping paper, ribbon, and bows.


I know I'm not the greatest at wrapping presents, but I still find it fun. I like to go all-out and make them look as pretty as possible for my family and friends! Recently I've been keeping them pretty simple with wrapping paper and some ribbon, so I wanted to reflect that simplicity in my nail art.


I tried to put bows on each one, but since I used striping tape, they just wouldn't match if I painted them, and the striping tape didn't want to cooperate to make tiny bows. So I just used holiday colors and made a simple ribbon crossing design.,


I used Zoya Logan, Trixie, Ziv, and Blaze, and also striping tape in gold, green, silver, and red. I started off by painting a couple coats of each color, making each nail a different color for some variety. I then used striping tape on each one - I happened to use the color to the left of each nail, so it's not entirely random.


I applied some top coat so the striping tape wouldn't fall off, and I was good to go! They're very simple, but I quite like them. I have a tendency to overdo things, so sometimes it's refreshing to do something more plain. I can also appreciate the sparkly Zoyas more this way! 


I can't waited to see how everyone else wrapped up!


<3 Corrinne

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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

12 Days of Christmas - Favorite Ornament

I'm posting a little later than usual, sorry! I have been very busy, but had a bit of time to get these ones done.
I love a lot of my ornaments, so it was difficult to choose just one favorite. But I went with something sparkly and festive!


My favorite ornament on my tree is a cupcake! It's pretty silly, but I think it's sparkly and relevant to the holidays since it's red and green, but I also like baking - especially cupcakes!


I've done some cupcake nail art before for one of my birthdays, but I figured I would do all of my nails to match this ornament, so I have a full cupcake manicure with all five nails. I also wanted an excuse to use the new Zoya holiday polishes!


I started off by painting the tips green. I then took a toothpick and painted the deeper green on it, and then laid it on the nail where I wanted the lines to be - I didn't use a brush this time. I dotted the cake part with gold, and built up the frosting part by dotting as well. I added the little peppermint on top and sprinkles by dotting with red and green as well. Lots of dots!


Polishes used (all Zoya): Holly, Logan, Ziv, Trixie, Blaze
I got these in the mail not too long ago, as I had gotten them with some of the promos Zoya put out. I'm excited that I got to use them in time for the holidays! 


So that's my favorite ornament! I had a lot of others I was considering using, but they weren't as festive. I don't really have a favorite since I love them all! 


I wonder what ornaments the others picked! 

<3 Corrinne

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Monday, December 17, 2012

12 Days of Christmas - Winter Wreath

Hmm another day where I'm sort of stumped. I love wreathes, and I have one for just about every holiday! However, I just couldn't figure out what would translate well onto nails to represent a pretty winter wreath. But, I gave it a try anyway.


Well, I did some traditional Christmas wreathes. I suppose I could have done some twig wreathes with red berries and snow as well, which may have been a better choice. But I think these are very festive!


I started off by painting my nails plain white. I then took a piece of a makeup sponge and sponged on the green to make the wreath shape. I added a bit of sparkle to it with a couple different glitters, and then added a freehand bow with two shades of red.


Colors used: Wet n Wild French White Creme, KleanColor Green Grass, Ulta The Jungle Look, Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope, and nail art polishes in Christmas Tree, Red, and Blood Diamond


I think they turned out okay. They're not super "wow" to me, but I think they're cute and fit the season at least! I like how they're sparkly and the bit of depth that the deeper red added to the bows. 


Now to see how the other wreathes turned out! 

<3 Corrinne

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Friday, December 14, 2012

12 Days of Christmas - Christmas Tree

Today's theme is one that I've been looking forward to in this challenge. It isn't exactly original since it's a concept that's been very popular this year, but I wanted to try it too!


I had to make that photo extra-large just because I'm so proud of them! I know they didn't turn out as well as some others that I've been seeing, but I still like them. This is my first time attempting the striping tape Christmas trees, and while they took a bit of work, I think it's worth it!


Thankfully the striping tape cooperated with me pretty well. That was pretty much the main tool here, and just careful painting around the tape otherwise. I started off painting a sloppy golden triangle with KleanColor Gold Bright. I didn't tape it off or anything since the rest was going to be painted over - it's basically my base coat.


I then applied the tape over my gold. I formed a triangle, and then put random strips for where I wanted it to look like golden garland. I painted the green with 365 Days of Color Trimming the Tree (it smells like a Christmas tree too!) and painted the outside of my triangle carefully with Julep Petra. Petra is a lot lighter outside the bottle than it looks!


I applied a coat of Seche Vite to even it out, and then put a star-shaped rhinestone on the top of each tree so it would look complete. I think it turned out really cute - and now I can't stop sniffing my fingers because of this 365 Days of Color polish! 


I can't wait to see what beautiful trees the others have created! 


<3 Corrinne

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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Neener Neener Nails - Ice Princess

In between 12 Days of Christmas challenges, I have a polish that I've been dying to use! I bought a few a while ago from Neener Neener Nails, but this one really stands out to me.


I'm usually a sucker for polishes that have a creamy white or blue base and lots of glitter. This one is almost a minty shade, but I was drawn to it all the same! Plus, I love minty colors. 


Ice Princess is sort of a jelly. It isn't very opaque on its own, so I applied it over a similar shade - China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint. Ice Princess has lots of holographic blue mini hexes, and some shiny blue stars as well.  Did I mention I love stars? Stars and mint - two things I love! 


I didn't apply too much of Ice Princess because I didn't want to overdo it. Although the glitter isn't super dense in this one, I like it! It's still very beautiful, and sometimes I don't want to go crazy with glitter. The stars are also very cute, and while they're a bit sparse, there are enough to get at least one on each nail without having to dig them out.


You can see a hint of the holographic blue glitter in the photo above. It's not super glitzy, but it's still gorgeous. The stars really catch the light and shine nicely too since they're metallic blue. Next time when my nails art in better shape, I'll have to use it as just a jelly polish! 

Neener Neener Nails has an Etsy shop where they sell their polishes. They are very active and have fun sales quite often! Currently, all full size bottles are just $6.00 each! You can find Ice Princess here, which is also included in the sale. 
Don't forget to check them out on Facebook as well to keep up with current sales and new polishes! 

<3 Corrinne

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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

12 Days of Christmas - Ugly Christmas Sweater

Ah, another day where I was sort of stumped on what I should do. The theme is ugly Christmas sweater, but I didn't really know what I wanted to paint to represent an ugly sweater! So I just winged it and started doing Christmas sweater designs.


I really like the white poinsettia snowflake looking things on sweaters for some reason. I decided to go ahead and try a couple of those, but since they're large, I could really only fit one on each nail. I also wanted to switch it up a bit, so I wanted to make some of the nails different.


I started off by painting all of my nails red. I used China Glaze Red Satin, which is sort of a crelly. I then used striping tape to mark off where I wanted the poinsettias/snowflakes, and filled in each point by freehanding with white polish.


I then freehanded some lines and added some dots for the other nails. The zig-zag and dots are simple, but they look like a sweater! I used a basic white nail art polish (long, thin brush inside), some striping tape (color didn't matter since it was just for clean lines), and a dotting tool. 


I'm very pleased with how these turned out! I really didn't think they would look this good when I started painting, since I had no idea what to do for sweater nails. I like the designs, but some flocking powder would have been cool too to make them fuzzy!


I have a feeling there will be some good ugly sweaters today! 

<3 Corrinne

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Monday, December 10, 2012

12 Days of Christmas - Winter Wonderland

Just about halfway through the challenge, which means we're just about halfway to Christmas! I can't believe how quickly this month has been going by. I have so many more holiday polishes to swatch and share too, but I just haven't had the time! Soon though, I promise!


In the meantime, I have more fun nail art! Today's theme is winter wonderland. Living in Florida, I can only dream of what a true winter wonderland is like. I didn't really know what to paint, so I left it up to my imagination and what I envision when listening to Christmas music.


I decided to go with with an outdoor scene of a snowy sleigh ride. I painted a sleigh, a horse pulling the sleigh, and some scenery - a snowy tree and a snowman. So much now! I also wanted to choose a fun background for it, so I used Dandy Nails Wonderwall.


Colors used: Red, Mango, Miss Sergeant, Charcoal, White, Cocoa, Wonderwall. I free handed everything with nail art polishes, and only used Wonderwall as the base and background color.


As I said, I used Wonderwall as my base. It's actually a clear polish, but it's filled with so much glitter that I used two coats with no base color, and it was dense enough for just about full coverage. I then painted the white tips to be the snowy ground, and free handed the rest!


The sleigh is supposed to have a person in it, wearing a hat with his scarf blowing in the wind. I should have added a face to him now that I think about it! Although, my snowman's face looks a little worried, so maybe it's better that I didn't. 


Now to see how the others interpreted their winter wonderland! 


<3 Corrinne

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