Sweet Baby Octopolish!

 One last holiday nail art look to close out the year! indoor, CF lighting for both Baroness X has been releasing tons of seriously amazing fluid polishes for at least a year now, things that make beautiful marbled designs with a little extra oomph.  Fancy Gloss is known for their soft sheer crelly line (less so than for their thermals, but Got Milk is a frequently recommended fave white polish for a lot of folks).  Put 'em together and we get this! I started my Christmas tree look with 2 coats of Fancy Gloss Got Milk, a soft (not stark) white that's flawlessly leveling on each coat and gave me zero issues with application.  Then I made a sheet of fluid art marble with OPI Christmas Gone Plaid, Sinful Colors Under 18, and Baroness X Glam - a bright metallic gold flake/foil that also happens to crate this cool effect.  When the marble sheet was dry, I peeled it off my silicone mat, snipped it into tall narrow triangles, and applied with a touch of sticky basecoat.  Voilà, trees!

 It's a short week at work, with a few little fun things going on - ugly sweater contest, door decorating contest - and while this year doesn't have many folks really in a festive mood, I was ready for a little holiday nail art.  The contrast between my colors makes the green look much darker than it was IRL, but this is OPI Christmas Gone Plaid, a nice deep (but nowhere near this dark) pine green, stamped in white using a Christmas tree design from the Powder Perfect Woodland Creatures plate.  The white nails are Bee's Knees A Mantis Shrimp's Favorite color, with the ring finger wrapped in thin red lines from the workhorse Maniology M053 basic shapes plate topped with a bow from Curali 011, and the pinky finger an ornament from Curali 011 Happy Holidays! ~Michelle 

Sometimes when I do themed nails for book club, the design is inspired by the text, while other times the simple graphic design of the cover demands to be re-created - this month's book was firmly in the latter category. indoor, bright CF lighting for all The cover of Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen features a barely turquoise blue background graced with a golden leaf, and little gold coins (gold coins being a plot point in this Hallmark movie of a book): An old dead thermal with just a hint of shimmer was just ideal for the base color here.  The gold leaf is from KADS Nature 036, using El Corazon Fragrant Mimosa for that bright metallic gold flash.  Pahlish Goldsmith - a topper version of their fantastic crushed gold flake polishes - provided the perfect dusting of little gold coins in just one light coat.   While I wasn't a real fan of the book, I did love this nail art look and wore it happily all week.  Goldsmith is a real winner, and should probably be in heavier rotation!

 I've blogged a couple of times before about my birdwatching and nature nerdery, but this weekend's amazing sights truly inspired me to create some art on my fingernail canvases. outdoor, shady/overcast daylight for all While out in the woods this weekend, my birding buddies and I came across this utterly magical grey-morph Eastern Screech Owl.  S/he's been seen in the area for a few weeks now, and we were beyond lucky to catch a glimpse of this creature emerging into the twilight I was struck by the pale green eyes, and the earthy grey-and-brown camouflaged colors, and wanted to recreate that look with my nail art. I'm using the owl eye image and the feathers from Creative Shop 50, stamped in a chocolate brown crème over Aliquid Make a Wish.  The plate only comes with one eye, though, so I attempted to reverse the image by immediately rolling it off onto another stamper as soon as I'd lifted it from the plate.  Success!  The outline of the eye and iris were oversta

 Again this week, I needed a specific base color for a planned stamping look... and when I found the ideal soft grey, it turned out I'd never gotten around to wearing this one! indoor, bright CF lighting Aliquid Lacquer released Make a Wish waaaay back in 2013 - it's sat around untried long enough to have developed a bit of ugly bottle syndrome (the chalky white clings to the inside bottom of the bottle, but doesn't impact the color. indoor, bright CF lighting Wish is a lighter grey, ever so slightly blue-leaning, with a dusting of tiny copper-colored microflakies and a ghostly green contrast shimmer.  I'm showing 2 smooth coats here, and despite the age of this bottle I had no problems with formula or application. indoor, CF lighting Rating:  a solid 3 of 5 stars, a modern neutral with a little something extra sprinkled in there.   Where to buy:  though she flies under the radar, Aliquid is still open, and you can purchase directly . ~Michelle 

And here's that design I needed a deep purple base for: outdoor, afternoon daylight for all photos On top of my base mani of Glisten & Glow Monster Mash, I've added a 2-step layered plaid design that just happens to perfectly match one of my fave pairs of cool-weather tall socks.   I'm using two of my most workhorse-solid stamping plates here.  The light grey woven-design plaid  is from Hehe 028 (such a great plate that every time I use it I feel the need to check Hehe's store to see if there's anything else I need), then the red accent lines are from Maniology M053 (a plate that everyone needs in their stash, since it's nothing but basic shapes you can use to create any geometric design).  I mattified the whole thing, because  much like last week's autumn leaves, most plaid cloth isn't at all shiny! For a really long time now, I've only occasionally done nail art.  My nails are always done, but with the state of the world I just don't often