Wintry Mix

I love this! How cute is that snowman? And the reindeer might be *ahem* oversized but its still adorable. Its a reindeer-with-its-face-in-the-camera. Lets go with that. This is probably overall my favorite winter manicure from last year (yes, I post around a full year delayed. I do not have my life enough together to post just after I paint).

Colors:
~ Blue metallic: Zoya – Tart
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Brown: Zoya – Flynn
~ Light brown: Zoya – Chantal
~ Dark brown: Zoya – Dea
~ Red glitter: KBShimmer – Ruby
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Orange: Essie – Playing Koi
~ Green: Zoya – Tilda
~ Gold: Essie – Good as Gold
~ Red: OPI – All I Want For Christmas (is OPI)
~ Stamps: Nicole Diary – 120 

Lots of colors and designs and I still cannot get over that snowman! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I am going to finish up with some winter/New Years manicures this week, and spend the early part of next week on my top 10 posts for both polishes and nail art. Hope you enjoyed! 

Cute Santa

Merry Christmas! My husband just finished making me watch Elf (which is a horrible awkward movie, by the way) so this post is going up late. I figured it was only fair to humor him since his Christmas was so thoroughly downsized (to…just me) for COVID. 

Colors:
~ Red glitter: Emily de Molly – LE28
~ Nude: Zoya – Chantal
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Gold: OPI – All Sparkly And Gold
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Pink: Zoya – Jordan

Anyway, I painted these cute minimalist santas last year, and I am quite happy with how they turned out! As far as impressive manis go, these are not that, but they get the point across. I am particularly proud of the weird stylized santa hat on my thumb. Hope you all had a great holiday season, whatever you celebrated, and stayed safe!

Red/Green Mix

So, this was a bit of a disaster but I do like the fluid nail art! I basically just grabbed a few colors and made things up as I went along. I think it shows, but honestly I don’t care :-p

Colors:
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Red: OPI – All I Want For Christmas (is OPI)
~ Red fluid: Dance Legend – Spot It Red
~ Red glitter: China Glaze – Ruby Red Pumps
~ Green: Zoya – Shawn
~ Stamps: Born Pretty – Halloween L004, Valentines L002, hehe – 028 

Today it went from 65 and sunny with lots of wind to 28 and pouring out. I don’t even know what winter thinks its doing at this point? Oh well. One more Christmas-appropriate manicure after this one. Hope you enjoyed!

Green/Red Mix

So, it turns out I must have at some point deleted the entry I wrote where I stated which polishes I used for this design an why. I can take a very educated guess, but I am winging it! Regardless, we have entered formally into christmas nail art week, so all this week will be reds, greens, golds, and a santa to cap it off :-p

Colors (my best guess):
~ Red glitter: China Glaze – Ruby Red Pumps
~ Green: Zoya – Shawn
~ Gold: Essie – Good as Gold
~ Stamps: Nicole Diary – 120

And thats it for today! I hope you guys have all come up with some fun (socially distanced) way to celebrate the holidays. Enjoy!

Holiday Vines

How about some festive vine designs? Really I just wanted to use this base polish because it is almost perfectly holiday, green with lots of red and gold shimmers and flakes! Of course I just went and covered up 90% of it, but its the though that counts :-p 

Colors:
~ Green glitter: Rogue Lacquer – Princess of the Underworld
~ Red: Covergirl – Forever Festive
~ Gold: Essie – Good as Gold 

Hope you enjoyed! Happy end of Hanukkah (even if I didn’t post any super hanukkah nails this year) and start of the ONE WEEK that is christmas (as opposed to my husband who believes that christmas starts the moment thanksgiving ends). Harumph! 

Poinsettia

Unfortunately neither this design nor my photos came out exactly how I wanted. I was aiming to make poinsettia leaves/flowers and I think I achieved my goal, but you can hardly tell! Also all my non-sunlight photos you cannot see the design at all due to how closely it matches the red of the background. So you only get one photo today (it wasn’t worth the effort for me to edit any others if they just looked red). Anyway, I started with a red base and dry-sponged on splotches of other red shades including a glitter. Then I stamped with a darker red. So for very little result this actually took a bit of time.

Colors:
~ Bright red: Zoya – Sooki
~ Brick red: KBShimmer – Chai-huahua
~ Red glitter: Zoya – Aphrodite
~ Red: Revlon – Valentine
~ Dark red: OPI – Visions of Love
~ Stamp: Born Pretty – Texture L002

That’s all I have for today. Fridays post will be better and much more visible, I promise! Maybe I will retry poinsettia flowers this yea brut actually make them visible. We shall see! 

Bright Patches

I wanted to test out the orange jelly polish from Born Pretty. The color ended up being a little more brown-toned than I wanted, but since I picked it out myself I can hardly complain! It is a nice normal jelly so I am overall quite happy 😀

Colors:
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Red jelly: Zoya – Aphrodite
~ Orange jelly: Born Pretty – Arcadia
~ Yellow jelly: Esmalta da Kelly – Yellow Soap Bubbles
~ Pink jelly: Zoya – Paloma
~ Pink creme: Zoya – Kelsey 
~ Orange creme: Formula X – Incandescent 
~ Yellow creme: WOW – #301
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Stamp: Nicole Diary – L28

I should probably use this by itself at some point to give a better view of the polish, but I just enjoy mixing jellies with other jellies! Oh well. The tone is the brown-orange you can see by itself on most nails. To pick up this polish, you can find it here for $3.99. Enjoy!

Leaves on Woodgrain

I wanted to do a woodgrain manicure, but that was too simple! So I went and added some bright leaves. The base was a medium brown with lighter brown dry-brushed on. The stamp was two shades of darker brown. The leaves were advanced stamped (ooooh, aaaah) to make it more colorful, and to make them stand out. I like the end result and it is very appropriately autumn, but with the advanced stamping it took quite a bit longer! 

Colors:
~ Light brown: Zoya – Chantal
~ Brown: Zoya – Flynn
~ Dark brown: Zoya – Dea
~ Darkest brown: Zoya – Louise
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Red: OPI – All I Want for Christmas (is OPI)
~ Orange: ULTA – Sun of a Gun
~ Yellow: OPI – Never a Dulles Moment 
~ Stamps: BM – 608, UC – Lovely Leaves 2

I am so happy, the leaves on the trees in front of my house have finally started to change colors and it is pretty! I think last fall I was too caught up in life to notice things like the leaves changing. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! 

Lava Flows

I just trailed a bunch of different colors with my red spotted polish until I got a mix I liked! This either looks like fall leaves of lava going around greenery. I went with lava. Sadly, all the yellow got swallowed by the orange and red! Either way, I do think it looks rather cool 😀

Colors:
~ Red: Dance Legend – Spot It Red
~ Orange: Wet n’ Wild – Sunny Side Up
~ Yellow: OPI – Never a Dulles Moment
~ Green: Zoya – Tilda

I think I’ve been doing roughly one spot-syle manicure a month, which given how many polishes I have and that I only own three spot polishes is actually a rather high number. But its fun! And easy! And makes REALLY cool designs! Anyway, hope you enjoyed. 

Leaves on Stumps

You guys. When I made this I saw so proud of myself for layered stamping (this was last year) and now looking at it, it is way too busy and just NO. Also, my stamps are almost see-through and this whole thing is a mess. So you only get one photo…my indoor photos look like I forgot to add top coat and I am not forcing those images on you! Anyway, to make this overly complicated manicure I decided to use two different wood stump stamps that I had never touched. One as it turns out is negative space and the other is…positive space? Standard? Who knows. I didn’t like how it looked with just the wood grain, so I added fall leaves and then dots because I cannot leave well enough alone! 

Colors:
~ Light brown: Zoya – Chantal
~ Brown: Zoya – Flynn
~ Dark brown: Zoya – Dea
~ Darkest brown: Zoya – Louise
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Red: OPI – All I Want for Christmas (is OPI)
~ Orange: ULTA – Sun of a Gun
~ Yellow: OPI – Never a Dulles Moment 
~ Stamps: Whats Up Nails – B005, Moyra – 32 Nature, UC – Lovely Leaves 2 

Anyway, sorry about this mess. I have some prettier leaf-themed manicures coming up, I promise! 

Dark Roses on Grey

While I actually rather love how this mani came out, I like the inspiration better and am likely to try again in the future with a different color palette! I saw these nails at @billythebrime_nails and fell in love. Grey. Swirls. Roses. Moody yet awesome. How could I resist? And they fit so well for flower day in the 31 Day Challenge!

If I’m being honest, I liked my own mani better before I added the roses. The variegated grey background with darker grey swirls was elegant and very pretty. However, when I added the roses I realized I had made three mistakes: I used pink-based-reds for the roses (so when I mixed white with red I got pink rather than a deep orange-red…next time I need to aim for orange/red not pink/red), the roses are too small, and my swirls aren’t dark enough! They looked great on their own, but with the roses they just looked a little flat. 

Colors:
~ Light grey: Zoya – Dove
~ Grey: WOW – #333
~ Dark grey: Zoya – Evvie
~ White: LA Girl – White On
~ Light red: Pure Ice – Siren
~ Red: OPI – All I Want for Christmas (is OPI)
~ Dark red: OPI – Visions of Love
~ Stamp: Moyra – 50 Ornaments 3

I ended up going over by hand on some of the swirls nearest the roses, to make them appear bolder. It ended up giving my swirls an almost gradient appearance, which I quite like, but again I like Billy’s version better! Surprisingly, these nails took under an hour to do, so I’ll probably try them again sometime, with a few modifications! Hope you enjoyed! 

Blazing Twirls

Simple gold swirly stamp on a raspberry red semi-holo base! I remember back when I thought that this is what holographic polish looked like. And then I learned what true holo was! That said, this was the first Zoya polish I ever bought, so it continues to hold a special place in my heart.

Colors:
~ Red holo: Zoya – Blaze
~ Gold: Essie – Good as Gold
~ Stamp: Moyra – 50 Ornaments 3

Its odd, for such a simple design I think this nail art (and these photos) came out beautifully. I think a lot of how much I like a finished design has to do with my nail shape on any given day. I try to keep it consistent, but it is very hard when I keep having to file them down and cut them into funny shapes whenever I break a nail! Either way, when everything comes together shape-wise, even simple nail art is prettier 😀

Geometric Build

I wanted to create something subtle, so I did! I stamped with a raspberry holo over a slightly pink-red red creme polish. However, I decided that I was wrong and that was too subtle, so I added some silver. I actually really like everything about this manicure except the shape of my nails! I broke two edges and just gave up and filed them to ovals 😦

Colors:
~ Raspberry creme: OPI – Malaga Wine
~ Raspberry holo: A England – Rosebower
~ Silver: A England – Excalibur (Renaissance)
~ Stamps: Whats up Nails – B015

Oddly enough the photos of this manicure just did not come out right? Likely because the holo over similarly colored creme just sort of blended together if you couldn’t see the motion and the glitter in the holo. Live an learn!

Tribal Red

Ok, I really do not like this manicure. What I had in mind was something cool…and what resulted after I messed it up and got frustrated was something decidedly less cool. At least the colors are ok? It is hard to go wrong with red and gold, but this was certainly not my best work!

Colors:
~ Red glitter: Zoya – India
~ Red creme: Zoya – Sookie
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Gold: Essie – Good as Gold
~ Stamp: MoYou – Pro 02

Anyway, hope you enjoyed! This week is going to be a bit…slow in terms of nail art. I am just throwing random older bits together 😀

American Pennant

Fourth of July nails! Of course, these are from last year but whose counting? I am actually quite pleased with these. I ended up using a nail guide (aka funny shaped tape) to delineate the white part, and then stamps to make the red. The dots are, as always, freehanded.

Colors:
~ Red: OPI – All I Want for Christmas (is OPI)
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Blue: Zoya – Sia
~ Stamp: BP – L020

Other than frankly painting flags, I think these are the most pro-American-flag nails I have ever done? Even if they aren’t a flag at all. They also make me think of a barber shop. Anyway. Enjoy the fireworks this weekend, and hopefully America thinks back on its past and starts to recover from the myriad of stupid mistakes it is currently making!

Star Spangled Swirl

Ok, so this was a fun one. I made a drip marble out of red, white, blue, and silver, and then added star stamping! The silver had separated a bit in the bottle and also made a few cells (!!!). I finally, as of last month, own a bottle of white cell polish, but somehow I haven’t gotten around to using it yet! Bad Eva. Of course, these are what I wore last year (as well as the design you will see on Friday) so maybe I will actually get my act together and use real white cell-making polish this year!

Colors:
~ Red: Zoya – Sooki
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Blue: Zoya – Tart
~ Silver: Revlon – Metallic
~ Stamp: Lina – Make Your Mark 02

Hope you enjoyed! I am not proud of what America has become at the moment on multiple fronts (response to the pandemic, response to racism, response to people just being asked to show courtesy and wear a mask…to name a few) but I am glad that we are no longer under British rule, so 4th of July it is! Also, fireworks.

Rowdy Roses

Technically, I painted these around Valentine’s day. However, roses are good any time, so they are being posted now! In retrospect, I wish I had not made the backgrounds holographic, I think the art would have popped more against a creme background. Live and learn! Besides, I like making my backgrounds more sparkly than would otherwise be indicated :-p

Colors:
~ White holo: Emily de Molly – Crystal Crown
~ Red creme: Pure Ice – Siren
~ Red holo: A England – Rosebower
~ Green: Zoya – Josie
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Stamps: BP – L067, UC – Lovely Leaves 2

On a separate topic: things are going sideways in the US. At the moment, the city that I live in has a curfew, and honestly all but one of the 4 cities I have lived in at any point in my life are doing the same. The systemic racism and violence is (finally) being called out, which is (sadly) provoking violence. To all my readers in the USA: stay safe, stay strong, and do what you can to support your community. To my international readers: yes, all of this is exactly as terrible as it looks. If you feel so motivated, please encourage your leadership to sanction the USA; sadly I don’t think Trump listens to anything except his pride and his wallet, so if his income can be hurt we might actually see some change.

Chinoise Bridge

This was honestly a great idea and a very poor execution. The biggest issue I have with stamping is positioning the stamp on my nails. This got much MUCH easier with the advent of clear stamper heads (I look back at my first few years of blogging and am both horrified and impressed with the tools we had and how we made them work). That said, unlike a regular single color stamped image which can be easily wiped off with a bit of acetone, an advanced stamping design cannot. It lives forever. Which is to say I had a LOT of trouble positioning the stamps for this manicure and it shows!

Colors:
~ Red metallic: Zoya – Isla
~ Red creme: Pure Ice – Siren
~ Black: Sinful Colors – Black on Black
~ Gold: Essie – Good as Gold
~ Stamp: MoYou – Porcelain 01

Please don’t judge my stamping position too harshly, I did try! Anyway, hope you enjoyed all the red and gold, and how much my nails look like elegant slightly lopsided bridges :-p Happy friday!

Sienna Drapery

Maybe its because I am a doctor and love microscopy, but I see cells everywhere I look! These, to me, realllllly look like muscle cells. Spindle shaped, clusters of blue nuclei…anyway. They also might look like folds of cloth to more *ahem* normal folks so I decided to title this post after drapery and not immunofloresence staining.

The base polish her is a new-to-me polish called Sienna by Polished for Days. I have had my eyes on this polish (and others by PfD) for months just waiting for a sale! I maaaay have gone overboard 😀 but I can’t really regret it. PfD does the best flakie polishes! Anyway, Sienna is busy: dark blue base loaded with magenta/gold shimmer, scattered holo, and flakes that shift from a deep vibrant blue to gold. I may be obsessed. It is very pretty.

Colors:
~ Blue/red/gold shimmer: Polished for Days – Sienna
~ Silver: Nails Inc – South Kensington
~ Blue: Zoya – Ryan
~ Stamp: Lina – @urbannailart collab

I seem to be using the urban nail art collaboration plate a lot, I had been on the fence about buying it initially but I ended up loving it! Go figure. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed!

Petrified Leaves

If I am honest, I do not like this manicure at all. I like the new polish I was trying, and the stamp itself isn’t half bad…but why in gods name did I add those red-orange glitter shards? What was past Eva thinking? Bleugh! So, you only get one photo of the art. If it helps, the sun was not cooperating so it would have just been two indoor photos anyway…and the polish alone is wayyyy prettier than the design I chose to put over it. Take it or leave it!

Colors:
~ Green shimmer: Pahlish – Petrichor
~ White: Sinful Colors – Snow me White
~ Red glitter: Born Pretty – Raging Fire
~ Stamp: UC – Lovely Leaves 2

The polish here is two coats of Petrichor by Pahlish, a polish pickup shade. It is a lovely dark green-leaning teal jelly base simply full of pink-gold-green shimmer and silver holo flakie shards. It is a busy polishes but quite pretty, goes on smoothly, and removes easily (despite the glitter load). This is probably the third almost identical shade that I own (clearly I have a type) but it still makes me happy! So, look at the pretty polish and not the ugly nail art :-p