Julep Christina and Vinyl It Up Gingerbread nail vinyls!

Happy December!

I'm not really crazy about snow but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy some fun Christmas themed manis!  Check out these crazy adorable gingerbread man nail vinyls from Vinyl It Up.

The red is Julep Christina, it's more of a sparkling persimmon.  Really pretty for Holiday manis!  A little sheer so I used 3 coats.

 

The white is Julep Kate, in person it has very subtle silver shimmer.

The gingerbread decals!  I couldn't help but cut the head off of one, poor Gingy!  Not my gumdrop buttons!  LOL That's my fav Shrek line.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Halloween Skull King mani - Sinful Colors Neon Melon Julep Tazeen and Brandt

It’s almost Halloween Everyone!

So I did MORE Halloween nails of course. A few weeks back I bought the cutest skull charm on ebay, it’s neon yellow with a little gold crown. I thought it was a really great color combo with the black eyes so I came up with a matching mani. Check out my neon skull king mani!





For the pointer and pinky I used Julep Kate a white shimmer as my base, I used 2 coats. Then I topped the white with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Neon Melon, a highlighter yellow. It is very bright but not the brightest highlighter yellow out there, I love it! I thought it was a little thicker than other versions of this color.



For the middle finger I used Julep Sienna, a great neutral shimmery gold. Then I topped with 2 coats of Julep Tazeen, a full coverage glitter. At first glance Tazeen just seems to be a gold color but after a second look you see some green to it. The hint of green looks perfect with Neon Melon, I love how they look together.





I used Julep Brandt on the ring, 2 coats. Brandt is one of my most used colors, it’s the perfect off black crème. Great for when you don’t want just straight black, it’s got character lol. I applied the skull charm to a coat of freshly applied HK Girl Topcoat. It is so cute, I love it so much!



You know how sometimes you have an idea for a mani in your head and then it doesn’t come out good? Yea, well that didn’t happen here lol This is exactly what I was hoping for! I like how this is a Halloween mani but not your typical, and Neon Melon is perfect and I can’t wait to wear it in the middle of the cold winter when I need a little brightness to bring me out of the snow. Thanks for checking out my mani!

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Vampire Diaries nail art water decal mani - It's the season 6 premiere!

Hey Vampires,

Today is a very great day, it’s the season 6 premiere of one of my fav shows – The Vampire Diaries! Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!! 2 words, Ian. Somerhalder. Be still my heart. Ian and I are in a long-term long-distance relationship, he just doesn’t know it yet.

I wanted to do a Vampire Diaries themed mani but I’m not the greatest at freehand nail art haha So I decided to try making my own water nail decals. This was my first attempt and I think I did good! I bought a pack of waterslide decal/temporary tattoo paper Papilio Inkjet Clear Waterslide Decal Paper 10 Sheets and a clear coat fix spray Krylon 6-Ounce Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating Aerosol Spray. They were super easy to make, I just found the images I wanted on the old google, cropped and shrank them to the size of my nail beds, printed, sprayed with clear coat and cut to fit! You submerge them in water and then the decal part slips off the paper backing and you position onto the nail. You have a lot of time to get them to lay how you want, which was nice since this was my first time trying them.

Here is how it came out!



I painted a white base, Julep Kate, on all nails added topcoat and let dry completely. The decal is clear so for the colors to pop they need to be on a base color. You can use white decal paper which may have worked better for these full nail images. I may end up picking up some of the white paper to do more of these and use the clear for small images that don’t cover the whole nail.



I didn’t use topcoat for the photos since the shine might have made it hard to photograph the images. They’re not perfect and a little blurry but I kind of expected that since they are such a small image. I had to do a lot of clean-up once I applied them to remove the white base coat from showing around the edges. I pushed the acetone soaked brush a little under the edges of the decal to get as much white off as I could.



TVD logo on the thumb. I sealed the free edge with black polish because the white tip was annoying me lol you can kind of see it but whatevs.



It’s Stefan Salvatore! His print is a little more fuzzy than the others but he is still handsome.



Elena Gilbert in the middle of a Salvatore brother sandwich, color me jealous! This nail probably came out the best, it doesn’t look as blurry as the others.



Mini Damon Salvatore! He’s so dreamy…………he has been staring at me all day and I’m loving every minute of it. See you tonight Damon ;)



I didn’t know what to do with the last nail so I chose the obligatory blood splatters, probably from Damon eating some innocent.



I love my Vampire Diaries mani! I have so many ideas for more, I sense an all Damon themed mani in my future. Thanks for looking!

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Gridlock Lacquer - You Had Me at Merlot from The Beer and Wine Collection

Hey Everyone!

Today I have the first of a new collection of polishes from Gridlock Lacquer. Get this, the collection is called Beer & Wine! How great is that? All of the polishes are inspired by and named with a beer and wine theme. Sooooo many great colors in this collection, neutrals and brights. They will be available on store.gridlocklacquer.com in about 2 weeks. I will update this post once they are available for purchase.

Onto the first swatch, You Had Me at Merlot.



Isn’t it pretty! I wouldn’t call it a true Merlot wine color, it’s more of a merlot mixed with water haha! It has a very glowy quality to it and is a fab color for Fall. This gorgeous jewel tone is shown with 2 smooth coats, great application on this one.



For my accent nail I used a Julep Kate as my base color, and a Bundle Monster Holiday stamp plate for the wine glasses. I left the stamp on the stamper and then painted in the wine and removed from the stamper once dry and applied to the nail.



Here is a close-up of this gorgeous polish.





I wore this mani to a Fall wildlife festival, it was a beautiful sunny day and my fingers were just all glowy and sparkly, perfect! Thanks for looking!

(This polish was provided to me for review)

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Buffalo Bills Zubaz manicure nail art

Hey Internet addicts! (yep I’m talking to you)

If you live in WNY then you were probably sick of hearing how Jon Bon Jovi was going to buy the Buffalo Bills and move them to Canada. Well, the football Gods blessed Buffalo and Terry Pegula bought the team and is keeping them right here. Thanks Terry! You’re a good egg ;) (PS he is a bazillionaire and also own the Buffalo Sabres).

Even though I just did some Bills nail art I thought what the hell! At first I tried to paint a little Buffalo logo…… My first try on paper came out good and then I dunno what happened but good thing I didn’t try it on my nails, it ended up looking like a hyena. Then I had an idea! Remember Zubas? You know, the crazy zebra print multicolored pants of the early 90s popularized by football players? No? Here’s a refresher.

Ok it’s mani time, let’s do this!



It’s true, I do love the 90s. I guess the secrets out.



Look at those cool dudes. Actually, Zubas pants have made a sort of a comeback and you can still buy them! I’m thinking of getting a pair of leggings. My Mom wouldn’t buy them for me so I think I need to fulfil my dream.



I’m gonna toot my own horn here, I think these came out great lol I’m no pro at handpainted nail art but this was super easy since the lines are supposed to be all wonky. I used Julep Kate as my base, a flat edge brush to paint the red lines with Christian Louboutin Rouge, and then used a fine detailing brush to go over the red with Julep Ally the blue. I practiced a little on paper and it only took a few tries to get it to look like the pants.



The glitter is The Rockpile from Gridlock Lacquer. I decided to just wear it on its own without a base color. I never do that but I’m so glad I did this time! I used 3 coats and you can see nail peeking through but I think it works well with this mani.





A close-up of the thumb. It’s kinda just a zebra print.



A close-up of the pointer.



OMG I love this collage haha!

Go Bills!

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Wizard of Oz Mani - Julep Glinda The Good Witch, Kate, and Different Dimensions Big Bang

Hey Internet People!

Today I have a Wizard of Oz themed mani. Juleps Glinda The a good Witch is super pretty in the bottle but was a bitch to apply, so I'm renaming it Glinda The Bad Bitch! On the other hand Different Dimensions Big Bang was amazing! OMG what an insanely awesome glitter, it's silver holo glitter in a bunch if different sizes and manages to be opaque in 2 easy to apply coats.

I'm praying for a gold version of this polish. PLEASE!!!

Enough begging, onto the mani.


Glinda the bitch is a nice soft warm pink with subtle silver shimmer. I used 3 coats here and it was still streaky looking. Too bad because the color is nice. Sigh.


Different Dimensions Big Bang on the ring. Look. At. It. It applied so smoothly and really did give perfect opaque coverage in 2 coats. I have BIG plans for this one lol



On the pinky is Julep Kate. A nice soft white with some silvery shimmer/pearl. 2 coats here and applied perfectly. I used a heart jewel from eBay.

Even with my disappointment in Glinda I loved how this came out and I think it represents The Good Witch pretty well :)

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