Hanukkah nails

My husband grew up celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas, and this is a water marble in honor of the Jewish holiday. I love using Avon polish for marbling! The colors I used are "vintage blue", "arctic waters", "cosmic blue" and the dots are done with "starry sky" (Avon). I followed the curves of the water marble when placing the silver dots on the design.

O Christmas tree

Christmas tree inspired nails....the green is "Ho Ho holly" (color club)....which I found out during this mani, is scented!! I started smelling evergreen, which confused me...since I don't have a Christmas tree in my apartment. Since I love the smell of evergreen, it was awesome!!

..These are a few of my favorite things...

Ok, so I am a huge fan of movies and musical theater...when those two things are combined, it makes me happy :) lol. Growing up my mom would show us movies like My Fair Lady, The Music Man, and Funny Girl...but by far, my favorite movie musical is The Sound of Music! It was a huge part of my childhood, and I am still obsessed with it to this day. This mani is inspired by one of the songs from the movie: "My Favorite Things." The line in the song goes: "raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string--these are a few of my favorite things..." Those 5 items are what I tried to capture on my nails.

The base color used for thumb and ring finger is "French Rose" (Rimmel); pointer is "Desert Sun" (China Glaze); middle is "Black Satin" (Rimmel); and pinky is "White on White" (China Glaze).

Colors used for thumb ("raindrops on roses) design are: "Sizzling Red" (Avon), "Exotic Encounters" (China Glaze), and a mixture of "Dreamer" (Revlon) and "White on White.

"whiskers on kittens" was done with "White on White," "Black Satin," "For Audrey" (China Glaze), and "Got a Date To-knight" (OPI).

"bright copper kettles" nail was done with "Lucky Penny" (Avon), "Starry Sky" (Avon), and "Hazy" (Revlon).

"warm woolen mittens" are done with "Noir Emerald."

The pinky was done with "A-Taupe the Space Needle" (OPI) and "White on White."

wrapped up :)

Continuing the trend of holiday themes, I decided to use a wrapped gift as my inspiration. I started with a white base of "White on White" (China Glaze). The 2 green colors are: "Entourage" (China Glaze) and "Exotic Green" (Sinful Colors). The bows on my ring fingers were done with a few reds: "Sizzling Red" (Avon), "Red Wine" (Avon), and "Sparkling Red" (Avon). I really like how this one came out...hope you guys do too :)

Back to life, back to reality!

I did not fall off the face of the planet...just been really busy. Grading, meetings, trainings, trying to get back into working out, and spending some time with the family for thanksgiving. I hope you all had a wonderful time with your families. This post is going to be kind of random, sort of like my life has been lately lol.

Now that nail art is my hobby, I try to do my family's nails when I visit. Below is a mani I did for my sister. This purple gradient design was done with "Midnight Plum" (Avon) and "Wild Orchid" (Rimmel).

My maternal grandmother is obsessed with the color purple...to the point that we have taken to calling her "Grandma Purple." She has a purple couch, purple towels, shoes, and sheets...and now purple teddy bears on her nails. The pale purple base is "Lilac" (Revlon), and the glitter on top is "Full Spectrum" (China Glaze). I even put polish on the band-aid so that she could be stylin' as she covered up  her broken nail. That would have been the end of the manicure, but then she saw that I had purple teddy bears. She couldn't be stopped lol.

This is the quick mani I did on myself when I returned from Thanksgiving weekend visiting my family. The red is "Sizzling Red" (Avon), and the white snowflake is with "French White" (Rimmel).

I did not do any black friday/cyber week nail polish purchases. I know that might sound crazy for someone who is obsessed and addicted to polish, which I am. However, I do have a solid collection already (over 100 bottles of polish), and I am working with a teacher's salary here. I know there were some great sales/deals, but we all have to work with what we have. As my dad would say: "it is what it is." :)

broke a nail...

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and in the midst of the chaos I broke a nail down to a nub :( It didn't feel too hot. I'm glad it didn't break off completely though.

I broke the middle one on my right hand (seen below), and chopped the other nails down so that it wouldn't look ridiculous. On my nails there is "Red Wine" (Avon), which is my favorite red of all time. Depending on the light, it looks a bit brighter.

This is what I have on my nails right now...keeping it simple. This is "Nude and Infused" (Avon) with "Full Spectrum" (China Glaze) on the thumb and ring finger. The nude looks almost mauve because it has a subtle purple shimmer. I am loving this combo more and more :)

Don't "Fall" Behind...unless it's for the time change :)

It has been a while since I have done a water marble design, and I figured I would use this opportunity to use some fall colors. The (China Glaze) colors I chose  reminded me of autumn leaves. I used "Happy Go Lucky" for the yellow, the burnt sienna color is "Desert Sun," and the maroon is "Loft-y Ambitions." I really like how this turned out, and I love how the colors look together. There were a few unplanned bubbles and smudges, but overall I think it turned out well. Now I'm ready for fall and the "fall behind" time change this weekend. :)

 With Flash

Without Flash (Truer to the colors)