Inktober Day 18: Misfit

Halloween may be THE holiday for misfits, because on that night, no one fits anywhere, and that's why it's beautiful.

But if there were ever Halloween royalty, Wednesday Addams would be its princess. She's the ultimate misfit, and embraces it fully. So from anyone who's ever felt like an outsider, thank Ms. Addams!

Inktober Day 18 - Misfit

I used this design as inspiration for her portrait, and only 3 colors for the look: Black Hole from INM, Sharktooth from Jessica Cosmetics, and Skull & Glossbones from OPI.

Inktober - Gift

I've got 4 more days of Inktober to catch up on, so let me "gift" you with day 28. Since it's not Halloween-time anymore, here's a little sneak peek into a holiday look you could try for winter!

Over a base of Marshmallow (essie), I created some wrapping paper with Toast It Up! (China Glaze) and Snap Happy (essie). I was going to do all of my nails as presents, but I liked the bow accent on just one, so I added the dots to spice it up a little.

Inktober - Angular

I had really grand ideas when I started working on my first few fingers. There was lots of intricate, delicate, angular lines to make the theme for day 16. Then, as I did each nail differently, I flubbed up and got frustrated with one, and filled in the design, which led to what I ended up with! Happy accidents people, happy accidents!

The way the white lines up on my not-so-long nails gave them an extended look without the extension! No long hours at the salon trying to soak off these talons, they'll come off as easily as any maroon polish. My maroon polish is Floss Gloss Smoke On the Nail, and Alpine Snow from OPI makes the middle white talons.

This is an impossibly easy look, and I'd love to see someone recreate it!

Inktober - Chicken

Today is one of the reasons I decided to do Inktober. When inspiration isn't struck immediately, sometimes you need a little push. And sometimes, that push is straight off a cliff. Today's prompt does just that. Day 5 of Inktober is "chicken".

WTF do you do with "chicken"? I thought about several things, mostly relating to food. Then I thought about being funny with "which comes first", but couldn't figure out how to translate that. But that got me thinking about eggs, so here's what I came up with!

My ooey-gooey egg nail art is done with all OPI polishes today. The white egg is Alpine Snow, its cracks are Skull & Glossbones, with the yoke made up of The "It" Color with Towel Me About It accents for sheen.

5 days down, 26 more to go! Let me know if you're participating, I'd love to see your ideas!

Blood Red Bandana

A little Southern exposure for you tonight, with some bandanas!

They're not bloody or sweaty, but I was sweating to create the tiny lines, and the blood red is the lovely Snap Happy (Essie). The details were done with Alpine Snow and Black Onyx (OPI).

I had a bandana phase for a little while in elementary school. Unfortunately, living in Southern California, there were some bandana colors we weren't allowed to wear because of their affiliations with gangs. I wish I'd known about nail art back then, because this would've been an awesome way around that rule.

So if you're looking for a little Southern flair, but you're afraid of your school's dress code, try it on your nails. I bet they won't notice.

Cartwright's Blouse

I'm back! And I missed sharing things with all the readers.

For example, did you know that I'm shamefully running out of room for polishes as my collection grows larger and more colorful? Did you also know that I'm looking for a new pad for the summer? That means that my ever-growing collection will soon have a desk to live on, and an area to be stored in.

I've seen so many beautiful polish rooms, and so many great ideas for storage and organization of polish. Do you have a clever solution to your lacque-clutter? Tell me about it, I'd love to hear!

Tonight's look was inspired by an outfit I saw Karen Cartwright wear during a beautiful performance on "Smash" (a television show in the U.S.) Her red skirt had a gold embellished belt, and her blouse was a white silk number with black polka dots. It's almost a literal translation!

The colors I used include Peterhof Palace and Carmen (Zoya), and Alpine Snow and Black Onyx (OPI).

Lace Tutorial for Lulus.com

Lace isn't just for your grandmother's coffee table anymore, and it's certainly not restricted to special occasion outfits like the upcoming Easter best dresses ladies will soon be dawning.

Lovely lace adds instant femininity to any outfit, and depending on the color, can really spice something up to be sexy as well.

I wanted to bring the black and white embellishment on these lace trimmed matador pants onto my nails with today's Lulus.com tutorial.

You can read more about the look and what I think of it at the Lulus.com blog here.

Candyland's Jester

I promised nail art featuring the Sation Candylandia colors (swatched here), and tonight, though late, I deliver. Midnight posts are popular somewhere I'm sure. Some time zone loves the fact that I'm a night owl when it comes to posting.

This jester-inspired half half-moon, half funky french design is really eye-catching and funky! I used three Sation colors for this: two colors from Candylandia and one from Nailstock. Strumming My Nails is from Nailstock. It's that lovely off-white tinged grey. The two Candylandias are Lollipop! Goes the Princess and You're My Lacquer Charm. Both were wonderful to work with to create this design, and they complement each other well.

The illusion the ring and index finger gets is definitely elongating too. I wish I'd done that design on my nubbin of a pinky!

Zippy Boyfriend Valentine

Happy belated Valentine's Day! I had this manicure on all day yesterday, but never the chance to edit and upload the pictures. Apologies for that, but maybe you can use this next year as inspiration.

The dripping heart and french tips were done using an awesome color from Zoya, Zippy. The base is My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw this yesterday, so again, apologies for the late post. I'm also sorry for the empty week of posts. I've been busy with some wonderful nail art related business I hope to be able to share with you soon. Keep an eye on Pinterest and my other social media sites for some clues! ;)

(Apologies for the sad pinky as well. Sadly, what nails break in Vegas, stay in Vegas.)

Aspen Snow

The past two days at Vail, it has snowed 15 inches. This inevitably means skiing this weekend.

I didn't have time tonight to put together a review of some of the awesome things I have to share with you soon, so I just stuck to some fun, snow-inspired nail art.

These little aspens were actually inspired by a Kleenex box, of all things. That's the beauty of a camera phone...snap the inspiration before it's gone!

I used my favorite green, Posh from Revlon. The white is Purity (Zoya) and the little bark marks are Movie Star (Essence).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, whether skiing, swatching, or Super Bowling!

Back to Beautiful

With blog responsibility comes the struggle for creativity. I've been approached by a lot of different companies, both big name and indie-size, about doing reviews of polishes and tools and decorations. I always like to try new things and show you guys what's out there, so I'm usually inclined to say yes. With so much traffic in my inbox though, it's easy to lose sight of the nail art love behind the blog, and focus efforts on giving good reviews.

Tonight, I just opened up some drawers in my polish storage and picked out a few good colors. A simple pink, Parfait Day from Lime Crime, and my trusty Black Onyx from OPI, as well as Purity from Zoya. Pink. Black. White. Simple.

In keeping with the simplistic theme, what better than stripes and dots. Easy, clean, and refreshing.

Ah it feels good to breathe beautiful!

Snap Happy Chauffeur

I have really liked seeing Essie swatches on everyone's blogs. After seeing Where's My Chauffeur over at Pshiiit, I really wanted it.

I saw it on the display shelf along with Snap Happy and knew they needed to be paired together. Corals, reds and oranges all work so perfectly with teals already, but these two were meant to be together. It was pure love when I added Purity (Zoya) to the mix as well.

Kudos Essie...these are amazing!

The End of a Delicious Era

As a tribute to one of the tastiest brands that fostered many breakfasts and breaks in high school, I present, my Hostess nails.

If you haven't heard, or you're not from a country where Hostess brand snackums are sold, you can read more about Hostess and how it's closing here. They made some of the US's favorite snacks, including Twinkies and their Cup Cakes.

I used Get in the Expresso Lane (OPI) and Purity (Zoya).

Rest in peace Hostess. You will be missed.

Image Source

Vote for Nails

If you're living stateside, I hope you're voting today! Whether you're voting for one of the primary candidates or Rosanne Barr, your vote matters. Pay attention to your state's Amendments as well, and just go vote!

I think it's obvious from today's manicure who my vote's going for!

Colors used are all from OPI: No Room for the Blues, Tasmanian Devil Made Me Do It and My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

Black and White TV

Have you ever watched The Twilight Zone? You have to have seen or heard of it, and if you have, you probably immediately went to black and white. Those classic mystery shows were inspiration for this far-fetched Halloween theme tonight. Though it's certainly not your typical Halloween design, it still applies.

The ombre effect was continued onto each nail, pulling out the base color from each block of three on each nail. The colors used, from darkest to lightest, are Strumming my Nails (Sation), Carey (Zoya), Movie Star (Essence) and Black Onyx (OPI).

I'd also like to take a moment to thank everyone who supported me in the Tadashi Shoji nail art contest. Unfortunately, I wasn't the winner, but the talented Sarah at Chalkboard Nails did win, and I must say I'm thrilled it was hers that won. Her freehand skills were fantastic, and the colors were a unique choice compared to all the other entries. I can't wait to see what the clutch looks like! Congratulations Sarah!

What a Load of Chat

A trip to Marshalls the other day revealed that Sation polishes are indeed in stock. You may remember a post about that earlier. It's not a complete stock, with only a few polishes here and there, but I couldn't help picking up a beautiful neon pink for just $2.99.

Mimicking a shirt I also picked up during that same trip, these stripes were created using Chatty Catty (Sation) and Load (Illamasqua). I love the way the accent nail looks. It's so subtle and difficult to tell there's a party nail in the mix.

Gingham

Here's some Fall gingham nails, inspired by this pin. This is not to be mistaken for Gangnam.

Don't confuse those two. Your Google results will be very different if you search for one but meant the other.

I did this with two colors: Strumming My Nails (Sation) and Desert Sun (China Glaze).

It's really amazing what you can do with just two bottles of polish.

Oh...gee...speaking of two bottles...have you entered or thought about my nail art competition yet?

EDIT: 10/12/12

Now you can create this look yourself. Check out the tutorial below.

Click to Enlarge

 

A Full 'Hand'

I want to start this post out by thanking everyone who nominated and voted for me in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards! I was not chosen as the Best New Beauty Blog, but a fellow nail blogger, 10 Blank Canvases took that honor home.  Congratulations Jenny! Maybe if I play my cards right, I'll be chosen as Best Established Beauty Blog next time around.

Speaking of cards...check out my mani!

I used some fun colors for this manicure: Rochelle (Shimmer Polish), Strumming My Nails (Sation), Adventure Red-y (China Glaze), Potting Soil (Lacquistry), and Black Onyx (OPI).

My favorite finger would have to be my pretty little pinky. The diamond shapes are amazing. They're right...on point.

This night of bad puns has been brought to you by: Friday.

Happy Little Clouds

I got sunshine on a cloudy day...

And cloudy it has been. The ongoing anti-Fall protest continues with a sunny bright manicure. It's a little something but nothing too fancy or special. I've got some major projects to amp up for, so I'm savoring these days of simple nail art in the meantime.

There's only three colors and a dotting tool involved tonight. Once in a Blue Mousse (Lime Crime), My Boyfriend Scales Walls (OPI) and The "It" Color (OPI).

Dutch Stripper

 
You'll never guess what this manicure was inspired by. Never.

No, not candy canes.

No, not blood.

A milk carton. This milk carton.

Cool huh?

And the name comes from the polish I used (Dutch Tulips from OPI) and the strips of polish. Mix that with My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and a Dutch stripper is born.