Christmas Challenge Santa

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!!  Today is the last day of our Christmas no rules challenge.  Santa is the theme!  I have had so much fun doing this with my friends Anca, Lu, Marianne and Jaimie!  There were lots of lovely girls who joined us over on Instagram as well!

Here is my little Santa manicure.

Very simple manicure but I think it turned out cute.  A little bit of smudging but not bad.  I used wet n wild megalast in Rudy-dolph which I found at Walgreen's around Halloween oddly enough.  The white is Sinfuls Snow me white, the black eyes are Zoya Black swan and the flesh color is the same Bellatrix nude I used for my elf manicure.

I want to take a second to thank my girls for doing this with me and Marianne for the original idea and all the hard work she did creating the graphic.  I also want to thank you all for playing along or just showing some Christmas spirit liking and commenting over on Instagram!  Merry Christmas and as always Happy polishing!!  xoxo Jaime

Mani Monday Red and Green Sincerely Polish

Happy Mani Monday!  I can not believe we only have one more Mani Monday after this!  The year has flown by!  This week Lindsay had themed red and green for Christmas of course!  I have done so many red and green Manis I am almost tired of them to be honest. Not Christmas manis but just that color scheme....but it is the perfect color choice!

I have lost a bit of my nail art mojo and took a very easy way out this week.  First let me tell you about Sincerely Polish.  Sincerely Polish is a pretty new Indie company I came across on Instagram owned and operated soley by Karen.  First she is a sweetheart and second her polishes are awesome!  I am loving all Indie companies right now but I prefer to mostly spend my dollars at newer companies.   One I get to buy nail polish and two when I wear the polishes I get to tell people about these smaller companies. win win! I commend larger Indie companies for all their hard work to get there and plan on trying some in the New Year. On my most recent order Karen added in a little red jelly mini called Holly.  Oh no a red for Jaime and her picky ways.  I LOVE this one!!!

I had some major photographing issuies so please excuse that! Now that I have bored you to death on to the pictures.

I am no good at photographing with a mini and the shine caused all kinds of blurring!

 With a matte topcoat!  I think it makes it look like a gummy candy.  So squishy!

 Can you see all the little sparkly goodies hiding in there.

So for this Mani Monday we have a simple mani with green studs...hehehe...I told you I took the easy way out this week!  Happy Mani Monday and if you have read through all this Thanks!!  Happy polishing!  xoxo Jaime

Enchanted Winter Collection

Happy Saturday friends!  Today I want to show you three of the Finger paints Enchanted Winter collection.  I only picked up three but I am wishing I had also grabbed Sparkle  in the sky because now it is gone at my Sally's Beauty!  I was never into texture for the longest time and now I love it!  I still prefer them to have sparkle in them as opposed to all matte.

First up is my personal favorite from this collection .  I think there is something simple stunning when it comes to black nails.  Now having said that I like black nails with sparkle.  Texture with lots of glitz or a cream black with a glitter layered over.  This is Winter Chill and it is so pretty!  It is full of pink, purple and blue shimmer.  In person the shimmer is more visible.

Next we have a nice Rosy pink with a bronze tone shimmer to it. This is Enchanted winter. I really liked this one as well.  I like pinks but do prefer less of a rose colored pink, but it was a nice change.  This picture was done before I changed my lighting and watermark.

The last one I picked up was the one I thought would be my favorite from looking at the bottle.  I do like it and my photo does not do it justice.  In real life it has gold shimmers in it that do stand out.  This is Golden Kisses.  How cute is that name!!

My skin looks awful in this photo and I was going to leave it out but for the love of polish I am adding it to show some of the gold shimmer.

Going by the three I have this is a nice textured collection.  I always do three thin coats for textures and that worked just fine in applying these.  I had no trouble in application and found the formula just fine.  Do you like textured polishes?  Thanks for coming by and Happy Polishing!  xoxo Jaime

Christmas challange Gift

Today our theme is gift!  I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go with today's challenge but I am totally on a charm kick lately.  So here's what I decided to do! This polish is called Bewitched.  I think its a gorgeous green!  I don't think I wear enough green.  I think its a color that works for me but I don't find myself gravitating to it unless its a mint.  The gold from a art deco stripper polish.  Thanks for coming by and Happy polishing!  xoxo Jaime

Loaded Lacquer Mintallica

Press Sample

Happy Thursday friends!  Today I have another Loaded Lacquer polish to show you.  It is no secret that I adore Loaded Lacquer and Heather.  I have bought nearly all of her polishes and I am NEVER disappointed by them.  Heather kindly sent me Mintallica for swatching.  It goes on very easy, the formula is just perfect!

The description of Mintallica is  Multi sized matte mint hexagons and dots, metallic gunmetal hexagons, holographic gunmetal hexagons.  My pictures below are taken outdoors but we had not a peep of sunshine so the holographic does not show up but trust me it is in there and it is gorgeous!!  There are other photos at LoadedLacquer.com that show all of the holographic goodness. I used NYC Siderwalkers as my base (a light grey)

Two coats of Mintallica over Sidewalkers.

I personally love metallic glitter and as you can see Mintallica delivers that perfectly along with Minty fun!  

This last picture does show a tad of the holographic glitter.  It was part of a failed mani due to the base I used.  Gone grey from Sally Hansen Insta dri.  I love this line but this particular grey metallic base was very streaky and was awful on the other nails.  This is three coats of Mintallica over that and you can see a tad of the awful Gone grey peeping through in places.

Another brilliant creation from Loaded Lacquer!  If you are like me and love glitters and unique creations I urge you to check out Loaded Lacquer!  Though this is a press sample I do spend my own money on Loaded Lacquer polishes and they are high quality!  Thanks for coming by and Happy polishing!!  xoxo Jiame

Winters Breath

Another blog post on the same day!!  I know...a little to much perhaps but I had some extra time this morning and wanted to catch up a little bit.  I want to talk about the world of Indies I have dove head first into lately.  There are so many Indie polish companies to choose from and I wish that I could try them all, but lets be serious I like most of us am on a budget.  So for now I am trying a few smaller Indie companies.  The one I would like to show you today is one started by Jessica or b_Jessica_3 on Instagram.  Her company is brand spanking new and is called Drip Drop Nail Paint.  Jessica was one of the first girls to welcome me into the nail community and has been very sweet to me and encouraging to me and my beginner skills with nail art.  I just had to support her dream and try a couple polishes out.

Winters breath is the only polish I have done a manicure with yet from Drip Drop Nail Paint.  I really like this polish.  I love a frosty white for winter time!  I used a white undie and applied one coat of Winters breath over that.  I can not really even tell you what is in here to make it so wintery and icy looking.  I know there are flakies and maybe some shimmer as well.  I am excited to see what Jessica brings forward next as she learns more about testing polishes and hones her creative skills!  If you love a frosty white nail and are looking to try a new company Winters breath is a good polish in my opinion!  Happy polishing!!  xoxo Jaime

Mani Monday Sparkles

 Happy Mani Monday!  Mondays can be so somber and drab but not this Mani Monday.  It is all about the sparkle!! I decided it was time to pull out some of the holiday drug store polishes I had been buying late in the Fall.  One of the shiniest sparkly drug store collections that came out were the Maybelline Color Show Brocades!  Sally Hansen has also released all kinds of new glitters!

I chose Emerald Elegance from this line.  It is a beautiful green which contains green glitter and gold shimmer!  It just shines on the nail.  No matter which way I tilt my fingers there is more sparkle!  I added a gold glitter that is new from Sally Hansen's complete manicure line to my ring finger for a little more sparkle!!  It is called Crown Jewels and is full of gold and holographic glitter.  I am attaching a macro as well even though it is not clear.  I had a really hard time photographing this sparkly manicure!!   Happy Mani Monday and Happy Polishing!  xoxo Jaime

Ring finger

Christmas Challenge Elves

Hello my polish loving friends!  Today is elves day.  I am such a beginner when it comes to freehand painting on my nails.  I do think my little elf is kind of cute though.  I wanted to add a green little collar but I was so afraid I would mess him up so I added buttons instead.  I know easy way out. :)

A little smearing and smudging but not to bad!  The Red is from Rimmel obviously.  It is called Stiletto red and I actually like it on me.  I am still looking for a deeper red that still says red instead of Burgundy.  I think that would be my shade!  I added a coat of Sinful colors Opal glitter to make it a little more magical looking.    My little elf is Stiletto Red with a generic white undie from Broadway nails. The ball on the hat is that same off white.  The face is a nude polish from Bellatrix I picked up at Walgreen's in a perfect pair duo.  The black is out of a sinful colors striper.  Thanks for coming by and Happy Polishing!! xoxo Jaime

Christmas Challenge Holiday movie

Happy Tuesday friends!  Today in the challenge it is Holiday movie day!  Yay!  My husband and I are big holiday movie watchers.  We even watch all the animated movies and old claymation and we have not even been blessed with kids.  I can not pick a favorite at all.  They are all so different and bring a special memory of feeling of magic to the holiday season.  I wish I had not waited until the last minute to do this day because I can think of a few movies I would like to take on as a manicure.  I really enjoy old movies the best.  Things were different then and the kind spirits of people really shine through.  One movie we never go without watching is White Christmas.  It is full of Christmas spirit, caring for others and some love in bloom as well.  Lots of dancing and music as well.  I went with another simple manicure because I wanted to wear some beautiful white nails.  This picture does not do it justice.  There is lots of glare.  I apologize.

The polishes used are all Sinful colors.  I have been neglecting them lately.  I still believe you can created beautiful manicures with inexpensive polishes!  The base I started with is snow me white.  It is a nice white but I am now around half way through the bottle and it is a tad thick now.  I hope I can thin it because it is such a bright white.  I layered silver belle over that.  Silver belle was released with the Sinful colors holiday display this year.  It is the polish pictured.  It has a pearly sheer white finish to it with lots of little silver glitters.  I would like to try this over blue as well.  The accent nail is Heavy metal.  It is a shiny shiny silver that goes on super easy with a foiled finish.  I added a little snowflake glitter after two failed attempts at a freehand snowflake.  I just could not get the strokes small enough to have room to add in detail.  So third time repainting the accent nail I went a new route!

Mani Monday Favorite Blue

Happy Mani Monday!  This weeks theme is favorite blue.  I love a blue Mani and have tons of blue polishes! I could not just pick one.   It was hard as I stood there looking at all my polishes to narrow it down to favorites.

 First I would like to show you Dream from Zoya which is new to my collection but has quickly become a favorite.  This picture is from last week I think.  I posted this on Instagram but neglected to get a blog post about it.

How beautiful is this blue and just look at all the shimmer!  It just sparkles on your fingers!

Next I have more of a brighter blue from Revlon.  It is called Mesmerize.  It is very bright and fun.  It is such a happy nail color!  Mesmerize is from the Brilliant Strength line and it applies very nice and easy.

Lastly I would like to show you a favorite mid tone more muted blue.  This is Blue La La from Nina Ultra pro.  It is another go to color and applies very nice.  Great formulation on this one.  The brush is also wide.  I know a lot of girls like that.

I really think that I could of gone on and on with blues, if I had time to swatch more last night I am sure I would have included a light blue and navy just to hit all the bases.  I tried to pick ones I have not shown on the blog before.  What is your favorite blue or one you would recommend me adding to my collection?  Happy Mani Monday and Happy polishing!!!  xoxo Jaime

Christmas Challenge Christmas Tree

Today for the Challenge we have Christmas tree!  I think no matter how you celebrate Christmas eveyone includes a beautiful Christmas tree in their decorating for the holiday. We have a big country living room and usually put up a big beautiful 10 foot tree.  This year I had not been feeling well so we only put up a 6 foot tree.  We are still behind in with some decorating.

I purchased Zoya  Chita recently specifically for this manicure.  I was not sure exactly what I wanted to do but knew I wanted green and texture.  A Christmas tree if nothing but texture.  I feel like my nails are so busy all the time (which I love) but wanted to keep it simple yet still say Christmas tree.  Chita has a lovely gold shimmer to it so I decided to go with that and this is what I came up with.

I did this Friday as a full manicure and will be wearing it until I do my Mani Monday nails Sunday night.  I really really like this and think it is cute.  It completes the challenge while being a nice neutral manicure I think.  The beige background under the tree is Espionage from Sinful colors and all the gold decorations for the tree are from a stud wheel I got at Five Below.  What do you think of my Mani?  Thank you for visiting and Happy Polishing!!

Christmas challenge Gingerbread

Hi friends!  I was not going to do a blog post for Gingerbread men because I didn't like how they turned out but they were a big hit over on Instagram. I have the best most supportive followers.

 I don't really have a true gingerbread color for polish.  Darker deeper browns look best on me so I used coffee by Sinful Colors for the little guy.  The red is obvious with the bottle.  China Flower is beautiful and I love it in the bottle.  I just do not think it is for me as the main color.  The green is also from Revlon.  It is lime basil which I love!  It was not so smart to use two different scent polishes. lime Basil was sitting right there so I didn't even tho k about using it.  The White is Sally Hansen White on.  I am really enjoying our Christmas challenge!  Happy polishing!!

Christmas Challenge Christmas Lights

Today is the third theme on our little Christmas no rules challenge list.  Christmas lights are always fun!  I have already seen many strand of lights manicures going on and they are adorable!  I wanted to try to make mine a little different and go with nontraditional colors again and do one big Christmas bulb but maybe it looks like an ornament instead???

The base is White on from Sally Hansen and I went with a new to my collection Funky Fingers in Lady Charlotte which was supposed to be sort of twinkling lights.  The bulb is Sinful Shine in slick which, looks very purple in the bottle but this sponged in bulb over  white is looking very blue or blurple. The gold on the bulb is Funky Fingers Golden Grace. I added a matte topcoat over the ring finger which made it kinda frosty.  Even though this was not where I was going exactly I am really happy with how it turned out.  Lots of girls are doing this challenge on Instagram so be sure to search the tag #xmasnorules to see some more cute manicures! Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!!

Links to the other girls who are hosting this Challenge

Marianne
Anca
Jaimie
Lu

Mani Monday Snowman

Happy Mani Monday friends!  This week the theme is snowman.  I love snow people.  They  take over my house once the decorations go up for Christmas and some get to hang out all winter!!  

Here are my nontraditional snowman lady nails!  I have a fuzzy sweater that is a soft purple and it may be silly but if I can I like to match my manis if I can, so I decided to try some soft girly snowman nails. 

I used Sally Hansen Hard as nails in No Hard Feelings for the purple nail and polka dots.  The light blue base is Sally Hansen x-treme wear in Breezy Blue.  The glitter is Loaded Lacquers North of the Arctic Circle.  The snowman is White On  from Sally Hansen 

x-treme wear.  Be sure to check out the other Mani Monday girls and their snowmen nails on facebook! Thank you for stopping by and Happy polishing!  

Christmas challange Snow

Better late than never!  I got these done on time and up on Instagram but neglected to put up a blog post.  I love snow!  In general I like cool crisp weather and add a beautiful blanket of glistening frosty snow and I'm thrilled!  I know it can be a pain but for me the beauty and crisp clean scenery outweighs that. 

This is Loaded Lacquer 40 below over Funky Fingers Galactic Blue and Ruby wing Moonstone.  I added loose glitter snow flakes and a matte topcoat.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy polishing!!

Christmas challenge

Christmas is just around the corner and that means it is time for some holiday nails!  A lovely group of Mani Monday girls have started our own no rules Christmas challenge.  If you would like to join in on Instagram just hash tag #xmasnorules.  If you have a blog and want to participate just leave me your blog in the comments so I can come by and visit.

Day 1 is Red and green!  I used Zoya Elisa Revlon Parfumerie Lime Basil and Sinful colors Holiday Rebel.  Happy polishing!!!

Loaded Lacquer Rubbernecker and Captain Obvious

Hello friends I am behind on blogging again!  Surprised...I didn't think so...hehehehe.  First I should say I am not affiliated with Loaded Lacquer other than I swatched four polishes for her.  These are my honest opinions on these polishes and Heather.  I wanted to posts two Loaded Lacquer Manicures I have done since my order came in on Monday.  Monday!!  I ordered on Friday!  Heather is so committed to customer service.  It is nice to order from someone who not only has a quality product but takes pride in how she treats customers and people in general!  Big thumbs up Heather if you ever were reading! 

Captain Obvious is a beautiful polish.  I thought it was lovely on the website and from swatches but oh my gosh...in person it is so shiny and the combination of colors is perfect!! There is purple, rose, blue and teal in there.  The teal is holographic I believe!   I applied one good coat over a dark blue from Pure Ice called All Night Long.

Light box

Very easy application and I think this polish could even be built up to wear alone.  I really enjoy it over a dark base personally.   

Next we have Rubbernecker which I have wanted since I saw Heathers posts about it on her IG.  It is a very cool polish.  The base is black but the combo of the rose and purple duo chrome glitters really make this polish something to see!  

Light box

This is Rubbernecker on its own in three easy to build coats.  I thought surely this may be a goopy one but not at all.  Heather really does glitter polishes right!  I have 5 more Loaded Lacquer polishes I look forward to bringing you over the next few weeks.  There are 10 more I hope to purchase in the near future, with the Holidays coming its time to slow down buying polish for a bit because I have been buying a lot!  You can check out Loaded Lacquer  here. Thanks for stopping by and Happy polishing!!! xoxo Jaime

Mani Monday Favorite Green!

Happy Mani Monday!  This week the girls from Mani Monday will be showing their favorite green polish.  I don't have to many greens in my collection and most of them are either a strong mint shade or an olive green.  My favorite green is from Sinful Colors and it is called Mint apple.  We had strong storms on Sunday and I was not able to get an outside photo and for the life of me I could not get the color to adjust in the light box.  This picture is not exact color accurate.  I was pretty sure I had my pictures down pat but I have been extremely off my game lately....talk about frustrating!!!

 Light box

Light box

I darkened this photo a bit to get close to the darker green this polish can be,

Mint apple has a lovely shimmer running through it which sadly did not translate to my photo very well at all.  Working with a Light box has been a challenge for me as I feel some colors just wont photograph the same but with my schedule and our weather it is a must for me to get even close on some days.

My favorite nudeish green is a polish that is no longer available sadly.  It is Caught with my khakis down by Sephora by OPI. I found mine at Marshall's.  If you have a chance to pick this up at a similar store it is a very nice Khaki green.  This photo is very true to color.

Light box

 My current favorite olive green can be seen here in a previous blog post No S-pear Time.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy polishing! xoxo Jaime 

Loaded Lacquer Review

If you have not heard Loaded Lacquer is a new Indie brand started by the lovely Heather.  I have been following Heather on Instagram and Facebook for at least a month and have seen all the posts of previews and short videos of her polishes and I fell in love with what I was seeing right away.  I have been looking for the perfect Indie brand for me for quite awhile and her gorgeous glitter polishes were exactly what I wanted!!  Heather very kindly asked me if I would like to swatch a polish for her.  I was so excited and honored to be one of the first girls to wear a Loaded Lacquer polish!!  She sent me four polishes to swatch.  These are my honest opinions on those polishes.

Loaded Lacquer polishes are 3 free and made in the US by Heather. Lets talk about the fantastic that are Loaded Lacquer labels!!  Very fun and shiny!  They are so appropriate for her line.

The first polish I want to show you is from her Christmas collection.  It is called Christmas bonus.  It is full of green, a yellowy gold and red glitters.  The red glitters also seem to give off a fuchsia flash.  The formula was perfect and it was so easy to work with!

Christmas bonus 

Christmas Bonus

This swatch is three coats alone.  

Christmas Bonus Mani

  I used 3 coats alone on my ring finger and also on middle finger I used 1 coat over Red eye from sinful colors.  Christmas bonus was a dream and very festive and shiny!

Next up we have Moonshine in a jar!  This is the ultimate gold and copper glitter bomb in my opinion.  It is just chalk full of Gold and copper glitter!

Moonshine in a jar

Moonshine in a jar

This swatch is 3 dabbed coats alone

Moonshine in a jar Mani

This photo was awful but the polish is amazing!

I adore this polish.  The formula again was very nice!  I could not believe how easy it was to build up.  For the above mani the pointer finger is 3 coats alone and each of the other fingers are one coat over a black and a gold both from Sinful Colors.  It is so so so beautiful and my pictures do not do it justice.  It is like shiny jewelry on your finger tips!

Next we have Fluffy Macaroon.  This polish is so pretty.  It is packed with blue purple white yellow and also iridescent glitter in a clear base.

Fluffy Macaroon

Fluffy Macaroon

This swatch is one coat over a cream base

Fluffy Macaroon

 This is a very delicate looking glitter topper.  The name is perfect.  Fluffy Macaroon is very sweet and pretty!  The formula was so good.  No fishing for the bigger pieces!  For the above Mani above I used one coat over each nail and just did a little accent nail with waves and a fimo heart!

The last polish I have for you today is Steampunked.  I can not even begin to describe everything that is in this little bottle of awesome!  It is a heavily packed metal glitter polish in a clear base.  Just take a look at all the different metallic glitters in here. There are also black glitters.

Steampunked

Steampunked

This swatch is three dabbed coats over a dark gray base

Steampunked

Not a great picture.  The metallic shine was again overwhelming for my current set up. This is two and then three dabbed coats over black and dark gray.

Steampunked Mani

The pink mani is one coat over Revlon's Ginger Melon.  I also fished out three of the silver glitters to use on the polka dot nail.  Steampunked is very edgy in my opinion and can be used in many different ways to add some sauciness to your manicures.  The formula on this is tricky only because it is so loaded with all that glitter goodness but it is still a good formula if that makes sense! It is very easy to manipulate the polish once you dab it on your nail.  I love it and an very happy to have it!!

Overall Loaded Lacquer gets a big thumbs up from me.  The polishes are amazing and Heather is such a sweet person and has fantastic people skills.  She knows her stuff when it comes to glitter polishes.  There are several other polishes in her line!  Her website launches at 9 am central time TODAY!!!  I will be ordering some more from her this morning and I do recommend Loaded Lacquer if you are a glitter lover like me!!!!!!  You can find Loaded Lacquer on Instagram, Facebook and at loadedlacquer.com once the site launches this morning.  Happy polishing!!  xoxo Jaime