Halloween Nail Art

You didn't think I'd let a holiday pass without doing some sort of nail art to commemorate it?!?

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These are my only Halloween nails I've done this year. I think it's because of my lack of stamping plates, or my obsession with fall manis, but this was all I did. It's cute and colorful so I like it, but man I've totally used these Halloween stamps before.





First off, to create these awesome stripes, I broke out my MoYou London Pro Plate 01 and used Painted Polish Midnight Mischief on the stripe image – then on the stamping head I painted the stripes using Dreamland Lacquer Plastic Pumpkin (orange), Sugar Coma (green) and Questionable Costume (purple).

After waiting a minute or two for the microglitter to dry on the stamping head, then I stamped the image on my nail (over a layer of Midnight Mischief, which I already had painted on my nails). This stamper decal method is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I find it so much easier than using my UberChic mat, because I find decal placement and transfer to be my biggest issue.





Then I did my accent nails which truly made it halloween using my Bundle Monster BM-H08 and my Jolie Stamping polishes. Check out how awesome that green looks against the black background.



Anyway I really liked how these turned out, especially the stripes. Sorry I didn't do more fun Halloween looks this year like I have in the past. But don't you worry, November is going to be FULL of fall colors and leaves manis!

Hope you all have fabulous Fridays, and have you entered my giveaway yet?!!?

Glam Polish Picks and Nail Art

Hey everyone happy Monday! Let's hope this week is better than the last for sure! Today I'm sharing some fun I've had with a newer to me brand, Glam Polish, who has definitely not disappointed one bit since I've begun purchasing from them.



Let's just say Glam Polish gets me. I guess I can say I've rejected Pantone's colors of the year, I don't even know what they are called, but they look like baby pink and blue. I feel they mock the difficultly I've been facing trying to have kids. Like a big, look see, let's just shove the baby stuff right in yo face.

The reason Glam Polish gets me is just as I am settling on the fact that I think my colors of 2016 are chartreuse and purple, here comes Glam with these amazing polishes!!!







This amazingly beautiful polish is Glam Polish Schadenfreude, from the Alphabet City collection, which is inspired by the Broadway musical Avenue Q, which I was lucky enough to see in New York City years ago!

This polish is my sunshine on gloomy days, it is bright and refreshing and amazing. It stands out without being neon, and its the perfect shade of chartreuse, not too green, not too yellow, but PERFECT! Schadenfreude is a lovely chartreuse green holographic polish filled with microglitters and holographic pigment in matching shades. The formula on this one was also perfect and applied easily with two coats.





Some of my favorite colors to pair with chartreuse are grey and navy, so expect to see more of that this year for sure. I've been finding a lot of happiness lately in the tiny bit of time I have to do nail art, so I threw some stamping on top of Schadenfreude using my UberChic Beauty 01-1 plate!









This stunning beauty is Glam Polish Daily Dilemma, a stunning purple holo polish with red microglitters creating a pinkish glow. This polish was practically a one-coater, which is good because I was playing with it just as my husband was ready to leave for dinner, so I did a super quick application with not problem at all!

Now when I say purple as a color of the year, I'm talking about the vibrant shades of purple. It seems to be a highly sought after color in the nail polish scene, and I've been surprised how much I've been drawn to them lately.



Another thing I've derived a lot of joy from lately is practicing different nail art methods, and I've been having a lot of fun playing with my UberMat to make reverse stamping nail decals. I'm learning lessons every time I make a decal that is for sure.







As you can tell here, don't mix strong pigments with white polish. It will bleed and screw up the crispness of the decal. The pink here is Smitten Polish (now Dreamland Lacquer) Date Night, a Valentine's polish from last year, which is super gorgeous and bright fun pink, but the pigment is strong.  For the stamping images here I used my MoYou London Holly 03 plate which I got from US Distributor What's Up Nails (super fast shipping, highly recommend, also where I got my clear stamper).

So I'm clearly still learning my stuff, but playing for fun is part of why I love polish. It is a true escape for me and I've liked being able to mix in the nail art again. I know everyone likes straight swatches of full collections too, but nail art is what keeps it interesting for me!

I just went and got a collection of colored Sharpies earlier today so I hope to do some watercolor work at some point as well. Was hoping to get around to that this weekend but it didn't happen.

Anyway Glam Polish has been killing it lately and if I could buy all the Glams I would! They are coming out with a new Clueless-inspired collection on Friday, and I know I want to pick up at least one of those! Any Glams you've been lusting after or playing with lately?!

Falling Leaves Nails featuring new Smitten Polish

I've got just a quick nail art post for you today, featuring my favorite polish from the new Smitten Polish Christmas in Stars Hollow Collection.

*Press Sample*

In case you missed the review of the new Smitten Polish collection, here is a link to Monday's post, I promise you won't want to miss out on the Gilmore Girls fun! The collection is available for preorder on Friday, more details (including info on a sale) on the whole review.

I'm obsessed with fall and I work in the most picturesque downtown in Northern California. The little main street is lined with these amazing Chinese Pistache trees and the leaves are dancing all over the place today. 

Credit to my wonderfully photographically inclined coworker Alicia!

Ok on to the nails!

To start off this look I did two thin coats of Smitten Polish Monkey Monkey Underpants and then I broke out another of my favorite Smittens - The First Lobster. I thought the shimmer in Monkey Monkey Underpants would pair so well with the the deep red orange of The First Lobster and I was right.

I stamped the nails using various parts of my MoYou London Mother Nature 07 plate, which is currently out of stock, but it's an amazing plate! I just love that The First Lobster was able to stamp and it actually paired so well with Monkey Monkey Underpants!

Which Smitten Polishes are you most excited for?!

Well that's all for today people, I've got holiday collections coming at me left and right, you won't want to miss what's in store for the next few weeks!!! :)

40 Great Nail Art Posts – Your Job

Well it's no secret what I do for a living here at Newsie Nail Novice, it's kinda integrated into the title of my blog! I'm a journalist, so of course I've accumulated stamping plates to showcase this!



A little bit more about me, I am a writer, more specifically an education journalist. I write about local schools happenings. I also do a number of other editorial duties (page layout, special section management, associate editor etc.), but first and foremost I'm writer. Which thankfully translates perfectly to the nails.



To begin with, I chose a lovely grey fun holo that has a name that I just couldn't refuse – ILNP Paper Route. How perfect is this polish for this prompt?!



For the center nail, I did a fun typewriter, which hails back to the old newspaper days (before my time). This is from MoYou London Scholar 02 plate stamped with B Polished Midnight in Death Valley.



For the rest of the nails, I used my favorite newspaper font stamp from Messy Mansion MM24 plate.



So that's it, nothing super complicated, but simple and to the point. Like most of my news stories. ;-)

Now don't forget to check out the rest of the ladies of this awesome prompt, can't wait to find out more about all of them in their posts below!


   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

40 Great Nail Art Ideas – Hobbies

Happy Friday everyone! Today I am so proud to say that I am starting a yearlong challenge and boy do we have a ton of amazing looks to show you! The first prompt of this journey is Hobbies!



One thing you may or may not know about me is I am an avid reader. Other than painting my nails and nail art, which seemed a bit too obvious for me, I do love to read. I would say fiction is my favorite – mysteries, suspense, historical and coming of age. I love it all. Surprisingly enough I didn't go with Literary Lacquers nail polish for this look, now that I think about it I totally should have.



So like any good reader would, I have collected my fair share of nail stamping plates that have books on them and I have to say two of my favorites are my Messy Mansion MM24 plate, center nail, and my MoYou London Scholar 02 plate (even if the images are a bit large for my nails). To apply the stamps I used my very favorite white stamping polish – KBShimmer Eyes White Open.



See, how cute is that open book from the Scholar plate?! Too adorable.



Now let's talk about this base! This is CrowsToes Indian Summer. Now I first grabbed for this because of the name. California has had hot weather non stop lately and I swear it has felt like fall will never come! But this polish has such a lovely shift from magenta to royal purple to even a darkened red orange – this polish reminds me of a really lovely sunset!



So I hope you liked this first installment of Crumpets Nail Tarts 40 Great Nail Art Ideas! I'll be posting a new prompt and nail art idea every Friday – so sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy the show!



You can keep up with all the other ladies in our inlinkz, listed below, or just check out our awesome Pinterest board for some amazing ideas!
   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Fall Nails featuring Elevation Polishes

So I saw the Sunday Stamping prompt in the lovely Adventures in Stamping Facebook group today was fall nails so I decided it was high time I partake in this fun.



I just had a great weekend. Super fun day yesterday with girlfriends showing them how to nail stamp and then today I had a swatch-a-thon and wanted to reward myself with a fun nail stamping look to cap off the day.



So I grabbed my new MoYou Mother Nature 07 plate and set out to do a fall leaves manicure! Fall is my absolute favorite season and here in California we've been having a bit of an Indian summer weather-wise, so I am trying to will the cooler weather on with these fun leaves changing color nails.



I used all Elevation Polishes for this fun look starting with a base of Ephemeral Sands SBP and then using Khan of Khans (olive green), The Latin of 4 Languages (orange) and Zhenjin (gold) to stamp the leaves on top.



The effect creates a subtle leaves changing color type look. I really like how these turned out, now if only California would change seasons already!!!



I hope you all are experiencing much cooler weather than we have been in California and I hope you area all enjoying various pumpkin flavored delights! I've caught way up on my swatching, so now I've just got a lot of post prepping to do this week!

Lake Tahoe Vacation Nails

Hey guys, I return from vacation today but I'm pre-posting once again so I can vacation without worries and so you won't worry about missing a thing!!!



Today I get to show you my ever so awesome vacation nails. Usually like to do a good skittle nail when I go on vacation so I don't get bored too easily with my nails.

For this awesome look I used my Smitten Polish neon flakies, and because I'll be in the sunshine, I added a layer of Indigo Bananas Spectraflair Holo top coat (SF 35)! Both of these brands are some of my absolute favorites so I was so happy I could pair them together. Also fun fact: turns out these ladies are friends in real life too! Yay for happy nice makers!!!



As you can see, the top coat makes these beautiful polishes sparkle in the sun. And now for the specifics, from thumb to pinky we have, Smitten Polish Terra Opal, Smitten Polish Lazy River, Smitten Polish Ice Pop Paradise, Smitten Polish Aer Opal V. 1.



And as you can see in the shade, the flakies come out to play! Soooo much fun! Love that the addition of holo does not overshadow the flakie goodness in these either. For the stamping I broke out my Rica Blackout Polish again and used my MoYou London Explorer 25 plate.



So what do you think?! I totally love to holo all the things so I just love that I was able to holo these flakies, it is the ultimate vacation look.

Tropical Fair Maiden Polish Nails

Happy Monday everyone, I'm prewriting this from last Friday (I know, no procrastination is crazy for me right!?), as you will currently find me on the shore of Lake Tahoe relaxing with my family. Yay for vacation!

Today I've got a super fun tropical look I've created using Fair Maiden Polishes!



These polishes are from the Hello Holo Customs group, which is an awesome Facebook group which hosts various indies and gives them the opportunity to create a custom chosen with inspiration from members of the group!

This gradient is completed using Fair Maiden Polish Aloha Nights (the blue) and Fair Maiden Polish Lanikai Sunrise!



And special for y'all today, I have a shot of the makeup sponge I used, so you can get an idea of how I create gradients (sorry I'm not fancy enough for videos or action shots). To start this look I did two thin coats of Lanikai Sunrise (because it's lighter), waited a few minutes for it to dry and then went to work with the sponge. Basically I paint the colors on the sponge, and then place it on the nail and move in up and down, side to side motion. The up and down motion is to help blend the colors!

Don't get discouraged when doing this! I promise so many times I feel like I screw this process up when working on my gradients, but after the cleanup and the final look, it really does come together!



For the stamping here I used my Rica Blackout stamping polish and my MoYou London Pro 08 plate for the fun Hawaiian hibiscus flower stamp!



So I'm short on words today but I hope you all have a super fun week ahead. I promise you I'm in my happy place right now, Lake Tahoe is my most favorite place on planet Earth!

Twinkle Twinkle Baby Shower Nails

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all are expecting fantastic weekends ahead. I am headed down to Southern California later tonight to celebrate one of my closest friend's baby showers! So of course, as is expected from someone who is as big of a nail freak as I am, I did themed nails to go along with the shower!



As you see below, I did my nails to match the invites I created. I actually am quite proud of the invites. I am no graphic design genius or anything, but I found enough online free stuff to create the invitation from scratch. The theme of the baby shower is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, so you just know I had to do matching nails.



The shower is for my best friend from high school and I am just so excited for her to have her first child. Well excited and a little jealous, cause I'm trying to have a baby too (keepin' it real!). Just hasn't happened yet. All in good time right?!

Let's get to the how-to of this post.



For the base I used two coats of Literary Lacquers Blue Lullaby, because not only was the name and color totally appropriate, I actually have a date to meet up with Amy of LitLaq because she just so happens to be visiting Disneyland while I am down in Orange County too! I'm so exited. I've never met anyone from the nail world before!!! ;-)

After the base, I knew I wanted some stars for sure, so I broke out my new MoYou London Festive 08 plate. This plate is actually Christmas themed, but had great stars so it worked perfectly. I used my  yellow Jolie Polish stamping polish for the stars. Now because it's also a baby shower, I had the perfect umbrella which actually had a star on it on my BP-18 plate so I did that on my accent nail to top off the whole look and tie in the whole baby "shower" concept!

I think the whole look turned out great and it isn't exactly over the top baby shower so I totally love it! Can't wait to show it off at the shower tomorrow! Hope you all have fantastic weekends!