VALENTINESY-WINTERY-SWEATERY GOODNESS

All this talk about the impending snow storm is making me anxious. But that doesn't mean my nails shouldn't be decked out in some snug little sweaters of their own!

Well, not literally

~

This week I picked up Zoya Haley, a gorgeous red polish that has strong orange undertones. It might even be my favorite red (to be fair, I say that about nearly every polish these days). Seriously though, this red is awesome. It seems to be more of a jelly polish than a creme, and applies as such. You'll definitely need 2 coats, possibly a third. But it's worth the effort, because when you're finished your nails are going to practically GLOW.

It's hard to show the true tone of this color in photos, but I did my best.

(no topcoat, and pre-clean up in this photo!!)

Then, I got down the business and stamped the heck out'a my nails using an image from my nailzcraze stamping plate...

 Being the klutz that I am, I managed to slice my thumb open between painting and stamping my nails. Since nothing says Valentine's Day quite like the cutest couple ever, Minnie and Mickey, that played a big part in the band-aid I selected for the wound. Pretty damned adorable, if you ask me. 

Anyway, my nails totally look like they're wearing sweaters, right? ..Right?! 

The silver I used for the stamping is Silver Sweep, one of the Insta-dry polishes from Sally Hansen. It's p-e-r-f-e-c-t for stamping. Seriously. Stamping has never been as easy for me as it was with this polish!

Since this is the second post in a row where I've stamped my nails, so here's a quick crash course in how to stamp your own nails. 

(You'll need a Konad (or simmilar) stamping kit!)

So there you have it. Obviously I'm just pretending to stamp my nails in those photos, but you can get the general idea. It's important to be quick when stamping, because as the polish starts to dry it'll be come harder to transfer the entire image to your nail!

 I applied a thick layer of top coat, and my nails are glistenin' like snow. 

Awwyea, I sure love this manicure. Hopefully it'll make the snow storm more tolerable this weekend. Hopefully.

tschus!

GLITTER GRADIENT~

I'M BACK AGAIN

As much as I loved those Elvis nails, I have to admit that I love the color grey even more. This is definitely a grey that leans way into the blue spectrum, but I still think it still falls in the grey family.

 I'd describe it as slate...

The slate color I used is a lovely Zoya called Marina. I'm in love with every Zoya polish I have for multiple reasons. They have gorgeous colors, apply smoothly, and free of formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate and camphor. 

Next, I applied China Glaze's Some Like it Haute, a gooooooooooorgeous glitter. Definitely one of my favorites. It's comprised mostly of grey/black and silver glitters, but also generously packed with slightly larger (but still small!) holographic hexagons. (Normally, I hate alliterations, but that one's just too good)

Then, Essie's Set in Stones; a polish made up of 3 different sized silver hexagonal glitters. And lastly, as always, a thick coat of Seche Vite. This top coat is by far my favorite, especially because manicures packed with this much glitter need smoothing out and Seche Vite is well suited for the job.

Anyway, I think I'll actually keep this manicure on my fingers for a few days. Glitter gradients are one of my favorite manicures and aren't very complicated at all. It's a quick way to do something radical to your nails.

tschüs!!