Snowflowers

I picked something a little more elaborate than planned for my triumphant return to nail art ;o) Tomorrow is my holiday party at work, so I chose this flower design from my new Pueen plate #75, which reminded me of snow flakes. The base is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Blue Me Away," and the design is stamped in Wet n Wild "French White." On my ring fingers is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Breezy Blue," topped with "Sea-ly String" glitter.

How long did it take me to figure out the "Sea-ly String" pun? Way too long.

Origami Jam

A friend at work was selling Jamberry nail wraps as a fundraiser for her daughter's soccer team. I loved a lot of the designs, but decided to go with a couple that looked like things I couldn't just do myself with stamping. I loved these origami-looking birds on a white background. For my first ever attempt with Jamberry wraps, I decided to do them on my ring fingers only, with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Bubblegum Pink" on my other nails.

Well, I don't know if the problem was the wraps or user error, but they never seemed to stick right, and came off in the shower the next day. So I painted those nails with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "White On," and stamped the origami bird from BM-405 a few times in "Blue Me Away!," "Mint Sorbet," and "Bubblegum Pink."

Mint Lace

Another minty manicure! These Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes in "Mint Sorbet" and "White On" came in another of those kits I picked up on sale. The white actually stamps pretty well! I used the flowery lace design from Pueen plate #28.

Gradient Dots

Inspired by a few "dotticure" pictures I pinned on Pinterest, I decided to try a kind of gradient version. On top of a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Brisk Blue," I dotted Pure Ice "Black Out," "Kiss Me Here" (gray - that name makes no sense), and "Superstar" (white).

It turned out neat, but I'm not 100% happy with it. It took me a couple nails to figure out a pattern, and on the dark base, the white really sticks out, as compared with the black and gray.

Next I'd like to try a gradient base with a single color of dots on top!

Blue Skies

I was going to just paint my nails with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue-Away" and leave it at that, but it was like they were calling out for fluffy white clouds! So I grabbed my Wet n Wild "French White Creme" and a dotting tool and went to town.

This was the first time I tried this technique and I love how they turned out!

Vine Buffet

I wanted to do something a little lighter today, so I did a nude base of Nina Ultra Pro in "Spun Sugar," and stamped with Wet n Wild in "White Creme." I used the vine design on Pueen plate #55 from the new Stamping Buffet.

I'm totally digging the larger designs! Once again, no two nails are alike, but they all match.

Lacy Underwear?!

After my snowflake Christmas mani, I thought I'd do another white and nude design. This is Pure Ice "Superstar" stamped on OPI for Sephora "Nonfat Soy Half Caff."

Without flash

With flash

I was originally going to use one of the flower-on-lace patterns from Pueen plate #27, but the images kept coming out kind of smudgy looking, so I ended up using the large rose design on plate #22, which came out a little better. However, when I asked my husband what he thought, he said it looked like lacy underwear!

Winter Wonderland

Well, it's been a while! For the last couple weeks, I've been so busy with holiday stuff, I've barely had time to sleep, let alone touch up my nails or do a design that wouldn't last more than a few days. So I just did a solid silver and then a solid nude color. But I wanted to do something a little different for Christmas day.

This is Nina Ultra Pro in "Spun Sugar" with stamped designs from BM-416 in Pure Ice "Superstar!" Originally I wanted to do that snowflake/sweater design on both ring fingers, but after two attempts, I still couldn't get it straight on my left hand, so I said, "Ok, forget it," and went for the penguin design on the same plate, instead.

Candy Stripes

I have to say off the bat, I'm not 100% sold on this. And the fact that the color ran when I added a top coat doesn't help. That said ... I wanted to do something a little festive for a holiday event I have at work, and after considering a couple options, decided to go with the candy cane look. This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Cinna-snap," one of my favorite colors. On my ring fingers it's stamped on top of Pure Ice "Superstar!" using the diagonal stripe design from BM-423.

This is a very bad picture, but that's ok because it's a kind of bad manicure.

My husband said he wanted to eat my fingers - what do you think?

Subtle Strings

I'm not too happy with this one... I've liked this design on Pueen plate 45 since I first saw it - it sort of looks like strings of beads. But I chose the wrong color to use for the stamp: Revlon "Black with Envy." It was just too sheer. However, I love the base color, Wet n Wild in "Rain Check."

The result is a bit more subtle than I'd like.

So I added a little Wet n Wild "French White Creme" on top, and ... I guess I am happier with the results? Next time I'd like to try something a little more bold and graphic.

My First Attempt with Konad!

I've been kind of obsessed with the idea of Konad for some time, so I finally did some research, figured out what kind of supplies I needed, and placed an order. I was so excited to try everything out when it arrived! I only got the stamper and some plates, not the special nail polish.

For this first attempt, I tried a couple things just to test out some of the designs, but eventually decided to go with Sally Hansen InstaDry in "Expresso," and Essie "Fiji" for the stamps, for a kind of subtle look. To jazz things up, I added a tiny dot of red in the center of the flowers with a dotting tool (but kind of regretted it).