UPDATE!!!

Hi guys,

navigating this blog just became easier!


You can now search through posts using 5 categories of labels: STYLE, COLOR, EMBELLISHMENT, BRAND and OTHER- which includes material, level of difficulty, personal notes and much more!

You can also browse other blogs on my BLOG ROLL TAB, which lists all the blogs I currently follow in alphabetical order. As well as the 25 most recently updated sites which appear on the lower right hand side of the blog at all times.

Another tab available is the Challenge tab which will show links to completed challenges and special posts.
You can also see product reviews on the REVIEWS tab,  HOW-TO's for some of my designs can be found on the TUTORIAL page, and amazing blogger giveaways on the GIVEAWAYS page!

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Thank you,

Kelly

24 days of XMAS Challenge : Day 11

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Christmas movies are one of the best parts of waiting for the big holiday day. Now one of my favorite holiday movies is Nightmare Before Christmas. Its so silly and imaginative, and one of the best parts, i can watch from halloween to christmas and its still so fitting. 
So how does this relate to my theme today? Well, if you've seen this movie before you'll probably recognize the scene i am depicting. When Jack Skelington takes on christmas he makes several stops on his route, one of them is at an old women's house. He opens the door an places what seems at first to be a harmless wreath... until like all of the haunted holiday toys it comes alive and starts to attack!. This scene is so ridiculous and playful and well depicts how twisted this holiday can be when not even an old women nor a wreath are safe from the handy work and fantastical minds of Henry Selick and Tim Burton.

I didn't want to white for the background because i thought it would make it more graphic looking and as your know its stop motion which means its built scenes using puppets and props. SO...

I used two coats of Sally Hansen - shell we dance (#160) which allows my natural nail to be scene so the design really stands off my nail. 

To make the wreath i started with my middle finger so i could determine where the arms of the wreath were going to move. So first i used L.A. Girl FLARE - hunter green, I sort of stippled a leafy wreath pattern i a circle then moving towards opposite edges of my nails... and then continued this in a line across the rest of my nails. 

Next to get a little tonality i used Sinful Colors -HD nails (#926),  spaced out to  add to the leafy feeling.

Now to do the actual leaves I used Nail Star - medium metallic green in differently sized dots all on top of the green already down, but spaced enough where the individual leaves aren't touching, so that it looks like individual leaves. Then to add even further to the leaves I used Kiss - green striper. To accentuate the leaves EVEN MORE I used Kiss - black striper and made little squiggles on the wreath to separate the leaves, then did a little choppy outline under the top section to give the wreath looking like it has a mouth. 

The eyes were done with Nail Star - white and Nail Star - black.

 For the last touch of the wreath i used Kiss - bronze striper to create the little berries on the wreath. I used bronze so that they would recede into the wreath more when I added the bow.

The Bow was done using Kiss  - red striper, for the base color. Then for highlights I used Nail Star- red on the outside edge of each flap of the bow, a line or two down the center and on the hanging ribbon. Again, not completely covering up the back ground color and not touching other red sections so that it looks more 3D. 

Then Seche VITE - quick dry top coat.. DUH! :)

PHEW! Stay tunes because tomorrows theme is HOLLY

More holiday WREATH inspired nails can be seen HERE:

❅ nails and stuff ❃ obsessed with glitter ❉ Polish, Oh My! ❇ paint that nail ❄ red hair and black nail polish ✺ Ruby's Nails ❅ finger painted ❃ My Polish Stash ❉ Me, Myself and Nail Polish ❇  KK Nails ❄ My Wet Nails ✺ Life with Salpi ❅ The only way is Nails! ❃

Thanx for stopping by :)

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copper coated

I don't know what it is about Forever 21 nail polish, Love & Beauty but it just works for me. They come in so many colors, luster's, (did i mention this brand is only$2.80 a bottle!!) and even SCENTED nail polish now? where have i been, because this is news to me!? I must have looked like a weirdo in the mall, eager to try the new scented nail polish i whipped it out and took a big sniff... then realized spectators might find sniffing nail polish questionable. btw straight out of the bottle...it still smells like regular old nail polish.
The image your seeing above however is not the scented nail polish but two new colors that i could not wait to try out! my camera broke a few days ago (several posts ago) so my pictures are pretty crappy, but bear with me!
anyways so the two colors your seeing above are
Love & Beauty- "rust" (so awesome on) and Love and Beauty- "mint" (which if you buy this brand you'll realize they recycle names A LOT!) this particular mint had a metallic green sheen to it.
I call these nails; OXIDIZED COPPER, a sort of ode to jewelry.
to get this effect you; 1. put a few layers of rust (i put 3 down because i wanted it to be extra shiney)
2.a layer of mint 3/4 of the way down.
3. a second layer of mint 1/2 way down
4. final layer of mint 1/4 of the tip of the nail.
the mint nail polish is very sheer so it does not require the sponging technique to achieve the desired effect.

victorian daisies // midnight

Midnight daisies was a fun little experiment using 3 colors gradient base, glitter striper, white striper and football shaped white and baby blue rhinestone cabochons.
my gradient consists of
"grey"-love and beauty
"indigo"-love and beauty
"royal" love and beauty
i actually really love this line of nail polishes, their colors aren't too diluted so you never need more than two coats to get a fully opaque coat. They also don't take too long to dry and are under $3.00 a bottle!
The next step involves using a gold glitter striper, drawing a horizontal line that seperates the grey from the blue tones. Next you'll want to place the football shaped cabochons starting on top of the gold stripe. I used white for stones for my index, middle and pointer fingers in a line, and alternated blue and white on my pinkies and thumbs.
For the Final step you will need a white striper. first on the tip of your finger nail make little dashes that point either left or right depending on the curve of your cabochon. next make dashes around the rhinestone that is on top of the gold stripe only (this should be be the one furthest from the tip of you nail). Finally  make 3 dashes in the center along the rim where the cuticle grows,  this should connect but not touch the "flower petals" from the rhinestone daisy, creating a victorian inspired floral pattern.

sequin eyes

i've seen some crazy eye ball nails and i since i don't yet have acrylic gel nor a surplus of fake eyelashes i had to find a way to make this design interesting, appear 3D and new.
one of the easiest designs! first silver striper along the top of your nail, even skinner than the stripe for a french mani.
using what ever color you want for your two iris fingers make two large circles a cm or so above your silver line. neck glue the sequins on over the iris and for the nails without glue them on a few cm from the silver line. the last step is to outline your eye, dot the pupil and draw the eye lashes using a clack striper and go over with top coat.
super simple and fun for those who want quick nail changes

autumn berry

it was SEPTEMBER, 2011 and i look forward to the smell, sight and overall feel that accompanies the change of seasons from summer to fall.  However the extended summer sun started to bum me out and i wasn't yet feeling festive (i also hate when its too hot, and august/september was just that.) This Autumn berry design is a cross between the two seasons and of course a berry and a pumpkin. Using base coat of orange, turquoise for the the leaves i created the general pumpkin motif. i then used a fluorescent powdered glitter,  although it is hard to see in this picture, it looked amazing. On top of the glitter i used a textured paper towel that had a honeycomb patten, using the side in which the center of the honeycomb stuck out i sponged the texture of the berry with that baby pink. finally I added pearl cabochons to accentuate the berry form. (i wish i had a better picture!!) 

cast away

August 2011, these nails were done in a loose style using only three colors and a black striper lacquer.
first choose your water color for the base. for my nails i chose "mint"- by love & beauty. since this was going to be a playful and summery design i wanted a playful palette that could be both summery and in the cooler tonal range. For the fish i used "Lavender"-by love and beauty, and the bubbles and waves  i used "teal"- by L.A. girl Flare.
//don't try and be too neat, this design is supposed to be loose and semi-childish in nature. //
Finally using a black striper loosely outline all of the fish. the pinky nail that is barely visible here is done using a black striper in a "J" shape for the hook and a purple squiggle for the worm. Using the black striper again go back into the worm and draw lines for the segments. creating a light hearted fishing scene!

images include fish, bubbles, and a worm on a hook (which is hard to see in this picture)...  i was on a boat while my boyfriend and dad were fishing, i didn't feel left out afterward.

clown suit

These nails were done DEC 2010, they use a mix of solid, transparent and glitter lacquers.
theme: a 5 year olds clown themed birthday bash? i was feeling playful and it was one of those days where i couldn't pick JUST ONE design so i decided to just start and see where it would take me. this design is really simple and allows for a lot of personal touches as well as eye catching party themed flare. All you have to do is pick 6 colors MAX too many and they will look too different. Using a black striper create an "X" fill in each quadrant with a color or a transparent and make sure they alternate fingers. Then begin to "doodle" just like the quadrant base coats the designs should vary, but should be used on more than one finger so that the nails still maintain that "look" without looking too random.