Sweet Baby Octopolish!

I had time to squeeze in one more holiday-themed mani using the fantastic Curali 011 stamping plate I've used for all of these this year, each with a totally different theme. outdoor, partially sunny daylight I've started here with 2 coats of Glitter Gal White Gold Sparkle, which is nicely somewhere between yellow gold and silver, and has loads of sparkly holo microglitters.  This does leave a subtly sandy texture, so a good thick layer of topcoat is needed to smooth things out. outdoor, sunny daylight My accent nail is the adorable deer pattern from this plate  - those of you with longer nails will also fit the pretty garland under his neck, but the entire deer head & antlers worked fine on my medium-short nails.  The rest are done in a trailing holly garland pattern that I debated using as a french tip or down the middle - I think either would be pretty adorable.  Both the deer's nose and the holly berries were then dotted in red. outdoor, sun...

I'm hoping to make this work out like I did for Halloween, which is to say, crossing my fingers there's enough time for a few holiday looks before the 25th rolls around. indoor, bright CF lighting We had a holiday party at work this week, so I wanted to go with something definitively festive and not just winter-themed this this round.  I've started with 2 coats of Picture Polish Kryptonite, a lovely deep pine green somewhere between emerald and hunter. outdoor, overcast daylight To most of my nails, I've added this adorable repeating motif of evergreen trees from Powder Perfect's Woodland Creatures plate in basic white.  My accent nails are a slightly cartoony drawing of a Christmas tree from Curali 011, also in white, filled in using metallic gold, and then dotted with shimmery red to stand in for ornaments after placing it on the nail. indoor, bright CF lighting Curali is a new to me brand that I'd had my eye on for a while.  When I finally ...

Well, there's no denying that winter is about to show up - we had our first real snowfall this week, and the winter solstice is in just a few days.  Snowflakes and a turning season go hand in hand, so... outdoor, shady daylight For my base, I've used 2 coats of Rococo Sno Baby Luxe, a soft white shimmer I really loved last time I wore it. outdoor, bright afternoon sunlight My snowflakes are all from Curali 011, individually placed so that each nail is a little different and random, using MoYou London Mystique and Cult Time Traveler. outdoor, shady daylight Hope you're staying warm where you are! ~Michelle

Wow, I am just all about grabbing the new sparklies lately, or else everything recently arrived is somehow super good at jumping to the front of the line... indoor, bright CF lighting I do not remember for the life of me where I saw Moon Shine Mani's gorgeous peacock-teal aurora bomb The Boy Who Lived.  I mean, certainly on facebook, but that just goes to show you that if you're trying to stick to a no-buy, you gotta stay off the internet, because just look at this .  outdoor, shady/overcast daylight I'm wearing 3 coats of this absolutely shimmer-packed jelly, which wore well (especially considering I loved it so much I wore it all week... hence some of these pics showing my mani rather grown out).  indoor, CF lighting The best quality of aurora pigment comes very close indeed to matching the shimmer OOMPH of true Clarins 230-type stuff, and this is no exception.  Oh yes, check out the rainbow around the rounded corners of the bottle shot above...

It's been plenty frosty for a good month now, and my nails are just a scoch longer than usual, so it's thermal weather! indoor, bright CF lighting Emily de Molly has made a handful of really pretty tonal thermals lately (I've debated quite a bit over which of the berry to purple ones I most need), including More or Less.  This one is a deep forest green when cold: window-filtered daylight That shifts over to a soft cadet blue when warm: window-filtered daylight In addition to a scattering of ultra teeny holo glitters, there's a very fine golden shimmer running throughout that I think helps visually blend out the transition between the states. outdoor, bright afternoon daylight The result is a smooth, subtle transition from blue to green, more a gradient look rather than a starkly demarcated "funky french tip" effect. window-filtered bright afternoon daylight I'm wearing 2 smooth coats here for total opacity.  The formula was v...

Lately, I've been feeling more like playing around with my stash than wearing untried colors - this has resulted in a lot more short posts with just a few pics, but some of these looks have turned out just like I wanted them, and this one was a real fave of mine.  A colleague at work this week has been wearing the most adorable black & white plaid blazer, and after I told her I was just jonesing to do her nails to match, I went ahead and did mine. outdoor, overcast daylight for both My base here is Bee's Knees A Mantis Shrimp's Favorite Color, a stark white crème.  As per a recent suggestion on how to get white polish to be perfectly even in just 2 coats, I started with one coat of the white, then one coat of matte topcoat.  When I went in for the second coat of white, this resulted in a complete disaster of streaks and pulling, and I needed 2 more coats of white (so the same 3 coats I would have done anyway).  After being mightily annoyed by this "tip,"...