NOTD: Formula X for Sephora Atom + Eve

I was going to do something fancier for my company holiday party, but I ended up running a bit short on time & so I just went with a red glitter - because that's always a great Christmas choice =)  This is Formula X for Sephora Atom + Eve:

This was also I think the only time I can remember having a polish on at the same time as my mom - she chose it for her church choice holiday concert - looks a bit different on her short nails  but obviously still a gorgeous color:

Thanks for reading!

~Colette

NOTD: Black & Wine Water Marble + Tutorial

I wanted to do something for the holidays without being blatantly red & green - I thought this deep wine was festive without being too traditional.  I used China Glaze Don't Make me Wine as my base color, then marbled with that & China Glaze Liquid Leather:

Here's the tutorial:



Several more holiday design to come before the end of the month =)  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Green & Gold Water Marble + Tutorial

These were my Christmas Day nails - yes, the last of my holiday looks LOL, only a couple weeks late =)  But there's no reason these colors can't work the rest of the year, it doesn't scream Christmas.  I got a lot of comments on the tutorial they were good Packers colors but as a Minnesotan I have to be anti-Packers even though I don't give a crap about football!

For my base color I used China Glaze Champagne Bubbles, marbling done with CB & China Glaze Holly-Day - both colors from the Let it Snow collection:

I guess I was so excited with Christmas, I didn't get many pics including no close ups of my favorite nails ... but of course I do still have a tutorial for your guys:

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: L'Oreal Amazon's Flash w/ Christmas Tree + Tutorial

Sooo ... obviously I did not meet my goal of catching up by the end of the year.  But one of my resolutions is to be better organized, so getting caught up is a good place to start with that =)

These nails are  from about a week before Christmas - I wasn't totally happy with them so they only lasted about a day (& that's also why there's not many pics), but still a fun & festive look.  Base color is L'Oreal Amazon's Flash, the tree is done with Ulta Salon Formula Envy, and the lights/ornaments are done with Nubar Fire Sparkle:

Here's the tutorial:

My next look also involves Christmas trees, but done with stencils rather than freehand =) 

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Guest NOTD: Butter London Big Smoke + Sally Hansen Glass Slipper

Mom had been wanting to wear Butter London Big Smoke for quite a while, and when I picked up Sally Hansen Glass Slipper she decided to pair them together.  Here's a "before" shot of BS on its own:

And with the bling amped up with GS added on top:

This ended up being her Christmas manicure =)

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Merry Christmas!

Off shortly to spend the day with family, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday as well =)

 

My new goal is to be caught up with all my NOTDs by New Years. I am off on Monday so hopefully that will help me meet that goal LOL.  Until then, if you want to catch up with a few of my Christmas looks that haven't made it onto the blog yet, or from past years, check out some vids from my Christmas Nail Art playlist:

 

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

NOTD: Candy Cane Water Marble + Tutorial

Finally!  I made it to my holiday nails before Christmas Day =)  Due to being so pleased with this one that I wore it a whole week, I am very close to being caught up for the first time since October LOL.

 

For my base color I used 2 coats of Ulta Professional Angel Baby, marbling done with AB & Ulta Salon Ruby Slipper:

 

The hard part for this, is keeping the stripes the same size throughout.  I managed to keep them pretty even per hand, but my hands next to each other you can see the difference.  I actually had one that came out thickly striped & looked really good, but I took it off & changed it to match with the thinner stripes.  Here are my favorite nails:

 

 

And here is the tutorial:

 

 

Another couple of Christmas tutorials coming, and going to try & get my first cooking tutorial up in the morning before work so stay tuned =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Finger Paints Merry Mittens + m71*

Merry Mittens is from the Finger Paints holiday collection.  I did the stamping with China Glaze Passion & Born Pretty image plate m71* - since the BP plates use the same letter as regular Konad plates, I'll be denoting them with an asterisk when I post & in the tags.  I was going to use Ghetto Fabulous for the stamping but it wasn't showing up, was going to use 2030 but it wouldn't transfer - sometimes I think the Khrome polishes dry a bit faster than the older Romantiques, making the Romantiques easier to stamp with.  Anyway, here's the finished product:

I plan to have my full review of the plates up tomorrow, so stay tuned for that, and to really check some things off of my to-do list this weekend, like the top 20 =)  Also reeeaaally need to upgrade my Picasa storage before I just run into the wall when I go to upload LOL.  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

NOTD: Holographic Gold Foil + Tutorial

This was my Christmas Day manicure ... what better time for a super-bling mani?  Even one that wouldn't last that long.  I applied these holographic gold foils, "Vibrant Yellow," & I was prepared to be very careful with my hands for the day: 

 

Unfortunately, the wear was even worse than I expected ... if you know about foils, you probably know that top coat will make it wrinkle/crackle & the design just doesn't look as cool after that.  And so this time I thought I would skip the topcoat to keep as much of the holo bling as possible.  And by the time I got to my grandparent's house, they had already degenerated to this:

 

 

Now mind, the only thing I did was to put on my gloves & drive over.  They continued to scratch at the very slightest contact, and I eventually scraped the whole thing off, leaving behind the base color of Milani 3D.  If I ever put myself through this again, I guess I'll go with topcoat, even if it does crinkle.

 

(The first time I wore foils, I did a topcoat comparison, and you can check it out HERE if you're interested)

 

I did shoot a quick tutorial on the foil application - my sloppiest one ever I think LOL, but you get the drift:

 

 

Have you ever tried foils?  Any magical secrets to share for better wear and/or better application? 

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

NOTD: Red, Gold & White Christmas Water Marble + Tutorial

I actually meant to get this up yesterday, and didn't get around to it.  I had an excellent Christmas Eve as well as Christmas Day - my mom is really great at paying attention during the year when I mention liking something, then I get it for Christmas & I've forgotten all about it, so I'm totally shocked & happy =)  I got a Shiatsu foot massager & a jewelry box among many other great gifts.

 

This is the manicure I wore Thursday & Friday - my last successful Christmas mani I'll admit.  I thought I do foils for the big day - Jeez, what a huge FAIL.  But it will still get it's own post, I got some OK pics the 5 minutes they stayed looking good.

 

For this marble, I started with a base color of Finger Paints Spun Sugar, a creamy off-white,, then marbled SS, Finger Paints Butterscotch Cookie & Sally Hansen Perfect Match:

 

My favorites were my left pinky, ring & thumb, and my right thumb.  Here's the tutorial:

 

 

Did you get what you wanted from Santa?  I hope so =)  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Star of Bethlehem Water Marble + Tutorial

So I did marble on top of China Glaze Cheers to You, although I wasn't able to use that color in the marble ... it just wasn't flowing smoothly in the water for the design I was trying to do.  The blue is China Glaze Little Drummer boy, and since CtY wasn't working, I grabbed China Glaze Swing Baby - it is kind of metallic taupe in the bottle, but in the water & on the nail, especially over my existing mani, it goes much more silver.  I'd like to wear it alone sometime.  You can interpret this design in several ways, but to go with the holiday I'm sticking with the Star of Bethlehem:

 

Here's the tutorial:

 

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

Cookie Day Part 2

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year, right up there with Christmas day itself =)  Baking, frosting, exchanging & making up trays, we did 13 tins & trays for family & friends this year:

 

 

And here are the cookies!  Lime Coolers (made by mom):

 

Sugar cookies with sprinkles:

Apricot nectar cookies (me):

Sesame seed logs (my aunt):

Gingerbread people (made by mom but decorated by me):

Marzipan balls with frosting (grandma):

Haystacks (grandma):

Nut butter balls I think ... I don't eat them since I'm allergic LOL (grandma):

Sesame cookies (grandma):

I don't know what these are called a lady at my mom's work didn't want to take home the leftovers so she gave them to my mom:

Rosettes (my aunt):

Fruity foldovers in lemon curd & blackberry (me)

Two kinds of toffee (also from mom's work):

And of course the frosted sugar cookies:

Here are some of my favorite decorated sugar cookies:

 

 

Want to do your own cookie marbling?  I did a tutorial:

 

 

We're in the final countdown, I can't believe it's less than a week until Christmas!  I am actually done with shopping & wrapped everything tonight - are you done, or still running around?

 

Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette