Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  For those who don't, happy belated Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Festivus, Happy Solstice, Happy Yule, and just a plain old Happy End of the Year to everyone!  Normally, I do comparisons on Thursdays, but I'm going to show you guys a few of my Christmas manis from this year instead!

Purchased, Gifted, or Made by Me

Christmas Ornament Mani

I used three Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers as well as a gold Sephora pen for this design.  For the undies, I used Untrodden Snow.  For the holly and leaves, I used Mickey Smith Defending the Earth and You Just Want to Mate?!  I modeled this manicure after my all time favorite ornament that we used as our inspiration for all of the decorations in our house!

Christmas Tree Mani

I apologize for the photos on this one because, honestly, I took them with my iPhone, lol!  Here, I used Literary Lacquer's 1000 Christmas Trees and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Grandpa.  To make the Christmas Tree, I used some striping tape and the LL.

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy Mani

For this manicure, I decided I'd go with something bright, flamboyant, and not quite Christmasy, per se.  For this mani, I used Smitten's In October We Wear Pink topped with accents of Lynnderella Sugar Plum Pink from the 2012 advent LE collection.  This is another pic taken with my phone, which I haven't quite mastered due to my shaky hands.

Tacky Winter Sweater

I did another untraditional mani, but this time I went with a polish based off of the love of tacky winter sweaters, which happens to be the name of this polish!  BEGL Tacky Winter Sweater is a hot pink crelly base packed with snowflakes, diamonds, and glitters in various other shapes.  And yet another mani taken with my phone instead of my real camera!

Matte Glitter Gradient

For this mani, I used OPI Feel the Mo-heat-toes Green topped with a glitter gradient with Lynnderella Merry Ferry, and then topped with NYC Matte Topcoat.  Again, I apologize for this photo because I took it on my phone!  Here, I'm showing off my mani with a lovely beer by the Bruery called Seven Swans a Swimming, which is an amazing Belgian Quad!

Christmas Skittles

It's a very Lynnderella Christmas!  For this look, I used BEGLs, and RBL, an OPI, an EvP, and a metric-butt ton of Lynnderellas!  From thumb to pinkie - OPI L.A.M.B. topped with Lynnderella Change; BEGL Grandpa topped with Lynnderella Happy Holodaze; BEGL Siren's a Special Snowflake topped with Lynnderella Holo-day Hearts; RBL Gondoliere topped with Lynnderella Fire in the Jelly; and Elevation Wuyi Mountain topped with Lynnderella the Mindful Heart.

Candy Cane Tape Mani 

For this mani, I decided to go with a classic look that I've been seeing around town (i.e. on IG by Nail Polish Wars and Pointless Cafe- I know there have been more, but I can't find them now!).  I used two coats of Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Dogwood because it has that shimmer that really makes it look candy-like.  I then topped it with Seche Vite, used my striping tape to tape off some lines, and topped that with BEGL You Just Want to Mate?! and another coat of Seche Vite.

I hope that everyone has a lovely and safe holiday season!  May your new year be better than you expect and happier than you hope!

Happy Memorial Day!

I know it's a day late, but I wanted to post my Memorial Day mani and to take a moment to think about those individuals who died while protecting our freedoms and to say thank you to the families who have lost their loved ones defending our country.  What you've lost cannot be repaid, but know that both their and your sacrifices were not for nothing.  My sincerest and deepest condolences to you all.

And now I feel that a stupid manicure really isn't important in the grand scheme of things if you really think about it.  That being said, I'll just make this a quick photos only post.  On my right hand, I used Emerald and Ash Mei Scattering (a white jelly with a super duper subtle holo shimmer, which is also my #1 favorite white jelly), topped with Sonnetarium Snowfall, and then stars made using nail vinyls by @Teismom using Lynnderellas Nail Bed of Roses and Mermuse.  On my left hand, I used Chanel Bel-Argus under Lynnderella Bibbitty Bobbitty Boo Blue, Cult Nails Kiss topped with Lynnderella Love Letter to be Red, and Cult Tempest topped with Lynnderella Tidy Whities (I wish now that I had used Mie Scattering again, but c'est la vie, I suppose!).  All polishes in this review were purchased by me or were gifts from friends.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wow, I'm actually on time for a holiday post for once!  That makes me happy!  Tonight's post will be heavy on photo and light on commentary since I've got a million photos to show you.  I've got two different manis that I wore this weekend and today for St. Patrick's Day.  I hope you guys like them!

*All polishes were purchased by me.*

First, let's start with my skittles and attempt at nail art.  Here are the polishes I used:

Elevation Tindur, Elevation Mount Yu, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer BEGL Go Bragh, Lynnderella Emerald Hope, Elevation Wyui Mountain, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer SE Faith, Hope, Love, and Lynnderella SE Patty Whack!

On my unpictured thumb, I had Elevation Tindur topped with Lynnderella Tidy Whities, but I have a bit of unsightliness on my thumb, so I didn't subject you to that.  

On my index, I have a dotticure using all of the base colors from the mani, Tindur, Mount Yu, BGB, Wyui Mountain, and FHL over Elevation Mount Yu.

On my middle finger, I have a base of BGB with a free-hand shamrock from FHL.  Not be best work, but it's not as bad as my other hand...

My ring finger has two coats of Emerald Hope over Wyui Mountain.

Lastly, my pinkie finger I have one coat of Patty Whack! over FHL.

For my next mani, I used OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby, Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Four Star Daydream, Elevation Torres del Paine, Lynnderella Mindful Heart, Elevation Sarychev, and Lynnderella Cauldron Drippings.

I looked in my stash, and I had zero gold glitters.  Gold doesn't really call to me, so I've never bought one.  So, what do I do when I want a polish that I don't have and can't get right this second?  I make it!  My index finger shows one coat of Four Star Daydream over OPI's matte Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

My thumb and pinkie show one coat of LE The Mindful Heart over ONE coat of Elevation Torres del Paine.  I love that EVP.  It required zero cleanup!

My middle and ring fingers have one coat of Cauldron Drippings over two coats of the succulent and juicy EVP Sarychev.

You can buy Elevation polishes here, Lynnderella polishes here, and Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers here.  You can purchase OPIs at most beauty supply shops as well as some drug stores and Target.  So, what did you wear and do for St. Patrick's Day (if you celebrate it)?

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I hope you all have a happy, warm, and safe day today!  I was contacted by Brilliant Earth a few weeks ago asking if I would join in their How Do You Say Love? campaign.  Brilliant Earth says, 

"Creativity and Perspective: Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity to show anyone in your life just how much you care - bit it's also a day to showcase your appreciation, individuality, and creativity.

Friendship and Memories: Love means an array of things to a lot of people.  We love people as well as our passions!  Show us how you creatively spell "LOVE" however it best resonates with you, your life, and/or your loved ones! 

Create: Create your own photo representation of "Love," then give a little insight into your creative expression and what it means to you.

Share: Whether you tell a story, give a quote, express a memory or even jot down a quick blurb, share it with your readers for all to be inspired by!"  *Taken from brochure sent to me by Brilliant Earth.

So, here is my offering!  Since I'm a nail polish blogger and an indie polish maker, I chose to spell out love with glitter!  Glitter makes everything better, am I right?!  The glitter I used came from the little candy full of glitter that I received with my Lynnderella Sweet Art Valentine's Day package that also included All Heart and Heart Spoken.

I can't not show a mani, too.  Here is my Valentine's Day mani.  I used Lynnderella Nail Bed of Roses with accents of Lynnderella All Heart over Elevation Mount Feathertop.  All polishes were purchased by me or given to me as gifts from friends.

Love for me means anything from a warm blanket and a book to spending time with my husband and family.

Love also means spending time doing things that I really enjoy doing, like polish!  Whether it is creating my own unique hand-poured polishes or having fun painting my nails, I always get a sense of peace and restfulness when I'm playing with polish.

Nail Bed of Roses is a clear based polish packed full of red holographic micro glitters and larger red holographic shaped glitters.  This is two coats with one coat of Glitter Tamer and one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  All photos taken in artificial sunlight.

Mount Feathertop is a sweet pink/peach tinted cream jelly.  It took three coats to get mostly opaque, but you could still see nail line.  Dry time was quick, and application was flawless.

Here's a nice blurry shot of the two glitter polishes so you can see the sparkle.

All Heart is a mix of white glitters with a colorful mix of hearts in blue, pink, orange, red, black, purple, and silver (I'm sure there are more colors that I'm missing) in a shimmered base with pink holographic micro glitters.  The glitters were easy to get out of the bottle, but be careful as the base is not as thick as normal Lynns!  You'll need to make sure you don't get too much polish on the brush, otherwise you may end up having some pooling issues at the cuticles and side walls.  This is one coat with a coat of Glitter Tamer and a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

You can purchase Elevation Polishes here.  Lulu restocks on the 7th and 22nd of every month, so make sure you follow her blog for news on restocks and new releases!

You can purchase Lynnderella's at their store here.  Follow their fan run Facebook and Instagram pages for lovely swatches, new releases, and fun giveaways!

Brilliant Earth, in their words, provides the highest quality jewelry originating from pure sources and harvested using socially responsible practices.  For more information on Brilliant Earth, take a look here and here!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!  Whether you spend it with someone else or use the day to pamper yourself, have a wonderful and relaxing day!

Golden Oldie Thursday: Valentine's Day

Wahoo!  I totally am rocking this challenge, and I'm so stoked!  I can almost never keep up with these, even if they're only once a week, but I'm really loving the fact that it isn't all about nail art.  So, let's take a look at tonight's offering - a pretty pink mani with a bit of stamping!

Here is the schedule of events if you would like to follow along or participate.

Remember the rules:

• The polish you use must be at least a year old.
• If you haven't been a polishaholic for that long, you can use the oldest polishes you have.
• The polish should be previously used, but if you're stuck, you can use a polish from your untrieds stack.
• You can use more than one polish as long as it fits the rules.

All polishes were purchased by me.

Tonight's polishes all fit in the 1 year or older rule, even the polishes I used for stamping! All photos are taken under artificial light with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top and one coat of Alter Ego She Shines to help fix the dull from wearing this mani all day. Here are the polishes I used:

China Glaze LOL, Lynnderella Mon Petit Chou Chou, Essie Pink-a-boo, OPI My Very First Knockwurst, and Nicole by OPI Pink Flower Power.

Pink-a-boo is a dainty as f pink (that's for you Sara) with an assortment of rainbow micro flakies.  I used four thick coats of Pink-a-boo as it is a jelly that takes several coats to get fully opaque.  You could still see my nail line a bit before I stamped, but it wasn't that bad.  Dry time is actually pretty fast despite having to use four layers!

OPI's My Very First Knockwurst is a taupe leaning pink cream, which I've previously reviewed here, but needless to say, my opinion has changed.  This is probably one of the polishes I grab for the most to use as undies.  I've finally figured out the trick to its application, which is thicker coats with sufficient time to dry in between.  I used two coats as undies underneath Mon Petit Chou Chou.

Mon Petit Chou Chou is a very pretty light pink with pink, purple, and silver glitters in hexes, squares, blossoms, butterflies, and hearts.  This is the first Lynn I've ever had an issue with in regards to getting glitter out of the bottle.  It's a super thin base where there is a lot more base than glitter.  It's a super sheer polish as well, which necessitated the use of undies.  While I did have some issues getting the glitters out, I was still able to fill up my nails without overloading my nail with base pooling at the sides and without wasting too much time.

I stamped using China Glaze LOL, NOPI Pink Flower Power, Bundle Monster's Holiday plates and a Red Angel plate on my right hand, which isn't shown.  Pink Flower Power stamped much better than I thought it would, which was a great surprise!  I wasn't sure it would transfer very well, but I think it did well because it's old and a bit thick.  I actually purchased this polish when I was in middle school, which was a long long long time ago.  It was easy to pick up the image from the plate and easy to transfer the image to my nail without having to rush.  Win win in my book!

China Glaze LOL stamped alright.  I was a bit disappointed with the opacity of the image transfer as it's hard to see the word Love on my ring finger.  Also, it required super quick work to apply before it dried.  When I say super quick, I mean you'd better scrape the excess and immediately pick up the image on your stamper and then quickly transfer the image to your nail.  Otherwise, it will dry on the plate...  Yeah...  I wish I'd had Color Club Eternal Beauty for a year because I think that it probably would've transferred better.  Either that or I should've stamped the purple onto Pink-a-boo instead of Mon Petit Chou Chou.

You can purchase NOPI and Essie at drugstores and beauty supply stores.  You can purchase China Glazes and OPIs at beauty supply stores.  Although, note that LOL has been long discontinued, so you'll need to find it at a salon or on a blog sale.  Lastly, you can purchase Lynnderellas at their store here.  So, there you have it!  I'm going to have another special valentine's day challenge post up tomorrow, so definitely check back then!

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