december haul + 2012 previews

Happy new year everyone! I know a lot of us have had a difficult 2011 and I hope better things are coming for all of us in 2012.

Before we talk about 2012, let's finish off 2011.
Ah, December. The month of copious shopping and money-spending.
Let's see just how many bottles of polish ended up in my shopping cart or in my mailbox in December...

I bought quite a few sets of things, for good prices:
Color Club - Backstage Pass Collection
Barielle Shades 5-pack (Swizzle Stix, Decadence, Buddha-ful, Du Unto Others, Slate of Affairs)
China Glaze Memorable Moments minis ($6!) (Oxygen, Stellar, Bridezilla, Silver Lining)
Color Club Femme Fatal minis ($5!) (Worth The Risque, Revvvolution, Where's the Soiree?, French Tip)

I got a Secret Santa package: (Thanks Brenda! You totally spoiled me!)
China Glaze - Sea Spray
China Glaze - Medallion
China Glaze - Party Hearty
Savita - Purple Hologram
Set of 9 Wet N Wild minis

I got an awesome Brazillian swap! (Thanks Marilia!)
Butter London - Stroopy
Lynnderella - Gotta Love Brains
Hits - Rocker Chick
Hits - 367
Hits - 368
Ana Hickman purple polish

I picked up 4 of the new Finger Paints flakies (for a good price with a good coupon!)
Twisted, Asylum, Flecked, Motley.

 
Santa brought me three polishes:
Nicole by OPI - It's All About The Glam
Nicole by OPI - Kim-pletely In Love
Nicole by OPI - Follow Me On Glitter

Other stuff:
Sally Hansen Nail Prisms - Ruby Diamond (Thanks Hayley!)
China Glaze - White Cap (free!)
China Glaze - How About A Tumble? (Thanks Chelsea's blogsale!)
Pretty and Polished - Midnight Rider (Thanks Chelsea's Etsy!)
Hard Candy black mini ($1!)
Nicole by OPI - I'm A Belieber (Thanks Rhonni!)
Del Sol - Trick-Or-Treat (clearance, $2.47!)
Cosmetic Arts - No name green with pink shimmer

Awful iPhone photo but look at that! Green with strong pink shimmer? I had to buy it because of how different it is. Anyone know if this has a name?

As I mentioned once before, I was chosen by Llarowe to be one of her swatchers so I had a Glitter Gal haul! I'm going to begin swatching these babies as soon as I'm done with this massive post.

This month was bad. I'm a sucker for deals.

Now let's talk about 2012!
My January haul is already bad, too. I know what is on the way to me... But just know, in advance, that I got amazing deals. And I'm going to try not to buy much more in January.
(I'm also not buying clothes in January... Or shoes...)

It's going to be hard for all of us polish addicts to stay in control in 2012... Here's some reasons why:

I might as well give China Glaze my wallet now. Really. Just take it.

Zoya keeps killing me too...

Have. You. Seen. The. Swatches? Skylar, Tru, and Lotus will be joining my stash ASAP.

Essie is up to her usual tricks...

Most of those don't thrill me but there are a few interesting ones.

Orly's new collection looks potentially promising. I'll wait for swatches.

I haven't heard anything from Color Club for 2012 but I'm sure they'll get a chunk of cash from me, too.

My wallet gets a little sad when OPI does such awesome collections.

Actually, my wallet is a little sad about 2012.

I'm off to do some swatching! Have a lovely day!

More about → december haul + 2012 previews

Recap 2011

Not only is it the first day of a new year, but it is also approximately 1 year since I began doing nail art! To celebrate, I thought I would look back at some of my favorite designs. Here is a chronological list of my 15 favorite nail designs! I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed painting them. 

You can click on the title of each photograph to see my original post. 

Happy New Year!

1. Hausu

These nails were inspired by the crazy Japanese horror movie  Hausu. They were the first nails that I  designed myself as opposed to using someone else's design.

2. Raccoon

I love the whole animal french tip phenomenon (like the pandas, pigs,  bunnies), so I decided to contribute by creating my own design and I came up with these adorable raccoons! The accent nails are their tails. 

3. Strawberries and Kiwis 

Oh fruit nail art, how I love you! This is a simple summery set of nails that always make me smile! You can't go wrong with strawberries and kiwis! 

4. The Evil Dead 

As a huge horror fan, I can't *not* include these Evil Dead nails!  My index finger has a portrait of Ash, which was my first, and will be my last, attempt at portraiture!

5. Attack the Block 

Attack the Block is an awesome movie! A lot of people who were involved in Shaun of the Dead worked on Attack the Block and it's about an alien invasion in the 'hood of South London. These are by far my most famous nails as they were tweeted a lot. 

6. Asteroids

You might not be able to tell, but these are the hardest nails I've ever done! They took hours and hours. The reason was that with a game as iconic as Asteroids, if you get one line slightly off, it's impossible to tell what it is!

7. The Rolling Stones

I'm not always the most creative person, and it's usually easier for me to copy someone else's design than create my own. The Rolling Stones logo was perfect for nail art and I loved how these looked!

8. Box Pattern

Initially these were inspired by M.C. Escher, but it was pointed out to me that they are also totally be the Q*bert background design, which makes them even more awesome! I do a lot of pattern designs, but these were my favorite of this year!

9. Life In Hell

It's possible that these are my all time favorites. These nails were inspired by one of my favorite people: Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons and Futurama). And by one of my favorite comic series: Life In Hell. You can see Bongo, the one eared bunny, his father, and Akbar and Jeff. 

10. Minesweeper

This was another set of insanely difficult nails. For these ones the difficulty was the layering. First I painted a solid gray base coat, then I painted a grid with has marks over all the nails, then I filled in the numbers, and finally the flags required outlining the boxes and then a little art work. But, these were totally worth it, I've wasted many hours playing Minesweeper and I was proud to sport these on my nails!

11. Nibbler/Futurama

My love of Matt Groening is probably well known, so included in this list are these Nibbler nails. On Futurama, Nibbler is Leela's pet  who poops dark matter (you'll notice my little dark matter piles of poo). I also really loved my first set of Futurama nails which can be seen here, but they didn't make the cut. 

11. Garfield

I have always loved Garfield. I think the comic is hilarious. My tribute to Garfield included Odie, some cat scratches, some markings, and of course creator Jim Davis' signature. 

12. Godzilla

Not only is Godzilla badass, but his representation of the atomic bomb is tragic. Here I depicted him trashing Tokyo by knocking his way through some power lines. 

13. Hamburglar

This was a set that was largely painted for Ron, the lover of all things hamburger. Hamburglar, from McDonaldland, dominated many a commercial in the 1990s and I have fond memories of being legitimately afraid that he would steal my hamburger. 

14. Eyeballs

I've done quite a few sets of eyeball related nails, but these are my favorite! I love that they manage to look cartoon-y and realistic at the same time! 

15. Taco Bell

How could a list of favorites not include Taco Bell? Taco Bell, is one of my favorite things ever and these nails made me really happy.

I hope you enjoyed this list of my 15 favorite nails! Thank you for reading my blog and I hope that I can impress you more in 2012! 

More about → Recap 2011

Happy New Year!! 2012!

Happy New Years everyone!! I wish everyone a wonderful 2012! May it be filled with lots of joy, happiness, good health, prosperous, and lots of nail polish! My new years resolution is the same EVERY year, SAVE MONEY!! Which is insanely hard with all the wonderful polishes coming out for 2012.

I decided to do a simple nail art for 2012.



Polishes used
-Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory Black creme
-Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday
-Color Club Art Color in White

What are you new years resolution?! Please share!

More about → Happy New Year!! 2012!

The Fox & the Hound

For all you dog lovers out there! (Becky!)

Two creatures struggling to maintain a friendship despite social pressures dictating them to be enemies. Such a sad but inspirational childhood movie. My sister and I fell in love with basset hounds after this movie. Copper was actually a coon hound dog in the movie, but we liked basset hounds for their short stature. We had 3 growing up a male and 2 females. Luther, Louise, and Lilly. 

Sadly, Luther is the only one still living. He's 13 years old and still lives out at our parent's house. They have such fun personalities, and he still manages to get around just fine and enjoy life. :)

This is Luther as a puppy. So sweet! He was primarily Kimberly's dog.

 Then once he was fully grown. Now he's lost all of the color on his face to gray, but he still has those sweet sad eyes! (And can you see the face silhouette in the spot on his back? Lol)

This is Louise. She was primarily mine! All 3 dogs were AKC registered basset hounds, but Louise (we called her Wheezie) had the least pronounced basset features. Her ears and muzzle were short compared to the others. She died while I was in college and still living at home. She had the funniest personality. She liked squeaky toys and would sit in one spot and squeak it steadily for hours on end! Once, a little boy was over and tried to play with her and her toys... She didn't like it so she took it out of his hand and walked over to her dog house and put it away and out of his reach. Lol. She would even pout when I was away for a trip. When I came back, she would ignore me and try to guilt trip me for leaving. :)

 A quick blurry pic from when she was a puppy. We put her ears in foam hair rollers! I wanted to show this pic because that's my hands and my nails were painted a crazy bright blue! (I also like that gigantic plastic watch on my wrist! Lol)

Then lastly is Lilly, she was primarily my mom's dog. She was hilarious! I think she was seriously crazy. She thought she was human and belonged in the house with us rather than the other dogs outside. And she would be outside and suddenly start "talking" to the air around her. She would snap the air like mosquitoes were buzzing around her face. (and they weren't...) She would also respond when you talked to her and she would grunt, grumble, and whine to make conversation! She died a year or so after Louise.

They lived full lives, and they are greatly missed. Many of my best childhood memories are with out pets. Luther is still going strong, but we are realistic in knowing that he won't live much longer. It's just a matter of time. 

So back to the nail art:

Here is the tutorial for Fox and the Hound.

I started with OPI Jade is the New Black.

 Then I did some "grass" with shades of green acrylic paint on 3 nails.

Then acrylic paints for all the following details of Tod and Copper. 

(Tod was the fox, Copper was the coon hound.)

I think they turned out really cute, and they brought back some great memories. :)

More about → The Fox & the Hound