Favorite Nail Art of 2016

I know it's probably getting old seeing all these best of lists, but going through my swatches of 2016, I couldn't help but spy a couple of nail art I worked pretty hard on and really liked.



I'm feeling pretty tired tonight, so I'll make sure to name each nail art and then link you to the original post so you can read all about it there. Sorry for not giving more elaboration.

We'll go in chronological order to see progress throughout the year!



Black Holo Sparkle Nails



The Crows Fly at Twilight



Neon Gradient Sparkle



Red Metallic Stained Glass Nails



Birthday Neon Rainbow Nails



Spring Créme á la Mode Nails



Dry Brush Spring Nail Art



Neon Wilderness Sunset Nails



Super Holo Gradient Tropical Nails



Pastel Neon Nail Stamping



Double Stamping Nails



White, Black and Red All Over



Neon Summer Cocktail Nails



Rainbow Fan Gradient Nails



Double Stamping Leaves Nails



I Love Nail Polish Nails



Leaves and Stripes Nails



Thanksgiving Nails



The Pines at Midnight



Holiday Snowflakes

Want to know something funny?! I found a few nail art looks I forgot to share with you that I created in 2016 while going through my archives. Guess I should share those with you soon!

Also a little reflection: I often don't think much of my life as a nail blogger, but taking a look at these 20 looks, I have a lot to be proud of and I shouldn't beat myself up so much.

Now I'm dying to know, which of these is your favorite?!

The Pines at Midnight Nail Art

Hey everyone, how are you all doing?! I hope you're well. My life has been super busy as of late, between work, Sharks games and volunteering at a Christmas tree lot, I've had zero time for nail art, which makes me sad. This is the perfect time of year for festive nail art, and I've zero chances to create something special.

But today I'm sharing with you a look I created earlier in the fall when I visited Lake Tahoe, quite possibly my favorite place on earth. Since pine trees are slightly seasonal, I thought I would share these now.



I call this look The Pines at Midnight, because just look at the gorgeous sky scattered with stars.



Anyway to get this look, I started with a base of ILNP Interstellar, which is the perfect name for this polish since it basically is the night sky! It is a multichrome that shifts from teal to indigo with scattered holo pieces, which totally look like stars to me. I think this is opaque in three easy coats.



To create the trees and their shadows, I broke out my UberChic plate 2-02 and used Painted Polish Midnight Mischief and Essie No Place Like Chrome and a clear stamper to do layered stamping.



I really liked this final look, really reminds me of a cold winter sky. The high here in the Bay Area is 53 degrees today, and for California that is mighty cold. So this look seems appropriate for today.

Now concerning holiday nails – what do you think I should create – once I get an evening to myself?!

B Polished Lethe

Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday. I'm really sorry I've been quiet on the blog lately. Election season at work is bananas and I'm still reeling from last week and some personal stuff going on in my life. But anyway, I've got a lovely polish to share with you today.

Pretty distractions are great, even more great when they glow and are holo!!!









This is B Polished Lethe, which is limited edition. This is a muted, soft blue holographic polish, filled with green shimmer. It just glows with that green shimmer and it really feel aquatic to me. Perfect for those mermaid nails everyone loves.

The formula on this is great, it is slightly brush-strokey, but apply thin coats and you don't really notice. Drying helps a lot with this too. It was nearly a one-coater, but I did two for good measure and topped it with B Polished's wonderful Prism Shield top coat (this thing preserves holo, y'all), for a holo lover like me, this is a MUST.

Anyway, because this is almost a one-coater, I decided I must check to see if it stamps.





Good news everyone, this baby stamps and is gorgeous! For this look I broke out B Polished Midnight in Death Valley, the ultimate black stamping polish and stamped an image over Lethe using one of my Bundle Monster Festival Plates, this was on my pointer, middle and pinky fingers. For the thumb and my ring finger, I tested Lethe's stamping power using the same image and it was beautiful!

So the consensus is, we all need Lethe, and there are only a few bottles left and then this polish is gone for good. Don't miss out!!! Available at B Polished's webshop, there are a bunch of other unique and beautiful polishes there too!

Emily de Molly and Hella Holo Customs

Hello everyone. On Tuesday I received my latest order from Emily de Molly, which included one of the June Hella Holo Custom polishes, so I thought I would get to sharing these shades with you lickety-split, so you could see swatches while the polish is still available.

These are three shades full of shimmer, which I’ve been very drawn to lately, and I feel a lot of makers have been gravitating toward. Only one of these shades is a Hella Holo Customs shade – meaning you having to be a member of the group to purchase it. To join email hellaholocustomercare@gmail.com with the topic 'JOIN'. The ladies at Hella Holo Customs have worked with a number of different indie companies, calling on them to make polishes inspired by the Facebook group photos.

Well let’s get to the swatches shall we?!









First up we have Emily de Molly Lace Man. This is a lovely purple leaning grey polish packed with pink, purple and golden iridescent flakies which give off the most stunning pink glow. This was opaque in two easy coats, but does dry down slightly textured (very very slightly, just the flakies I think). I would recommend a thicker top coat to make it shiny and smooth.









Next up we have Emily de Molly Shadow on the Moon. This is a lovely stormy grey linear holo polish packed with larger microglitters for a scattered holo effect and then packed with dark pink flakies to create an awesome red leaning pinkish glow. This one was absolutely stunning, I was in love with this polish. Just look at the macros and appreciate the depth and complexity of this gorgeous polish!!! This was opaque in two coats, shown with a glossy thick top coat.









Finally we have Emily de Molly Desert Rose, the Hella Holo Customs special polish. This polish was definitely pinker than I expected, but paired with that greenish golden glow (it leans more green in real life) that totally cools down the pink and makes it appear more coral like. I love the optical illusion of it all! The shimmer definitely is strong in this one, so much so the linear holo seems to take a back seat, but it is still a lovely combination. This polish was opaque in two coats, but was a bit on the watery side, not difficult to work with, just don’t overload your brush. It was mildly brush-strokey, but that seemed to disappear when the polish dried a bit.

This above shot is a little warmer, due to it being taken in the morning sun. 

I just can’t leave well enough alone and decided I needed to do a little double stamping of a succulent-like stamping image, since the inspiration for this polish was the most gorgeous mix of succulents. The image is from UberChic Beauty 7-01 plate. To stamp I used Bundle Monster Jungle Mirage (from the Electro Glo nail stamping set) and then used Painted Polish Midnight Mischief to double stamp.

I looooove the results. I was inspired by a video that UberChic posted on instagram last night. I thought the double stamping was a neat effect and I thought the Jungle Mirage color matched the shimmer in this polish so well!

There are two other Hella Holo Custom shades from Emily de Molly I didn’t purchase but now am seriously considering. I was really impressed by all of these polishes and now I want all the Emily de Molly polishes!

Emily de Molly - USA Stock site – Facebook – Instagram – Facebook Fan Group

Hella Holo Customs – Facebook Group (to join email hellaholocustomercare@gmail.com with the topic 'JOIN')– Instagram 

My Newest Fair Maiden Polishes

Hey everyone, I just got back to town last night from a weekend away at the beach with my in-laws. It was a great, relaxing weekend full of artichokes (my favorite food ever!) non-stop beach activities.

I got home Sunday night to some awesome nail mail and I knew it was time to put a new look together for the week.



These are my latest Fair Maiden Polish purchases, fresh from their newest collection: Pack Your Bags: A Travel Adventure. This is a mega 16-piece collection, with one half being cremes and the other half being matching effects (holos, glitter etc) polishes.

Exercising restraint while shopping I only picked up two of the effects polishes so that is what I will share with you today!













The coral polish here is Rio Carnival (E), which is an orange leaning pink coral holo polish with red and gold micro flakes. This polish applied perfectly in two coats, and is shown in these shots without top coat, because I added nail art!!!

The grey/taupe-ish polish here is Pearl of Siberia (E). This polish is a gorgeous grey linear holo polish with iridescent glitters sprinkled throughout with a beautiful pink shimmer to boot! This polish was also opaque at two coats and was also not difficult to apply. Shown with no top coat.









I couldn't just stop there, since I was wearing Fair Maiden Polish and they have an arrow in their logo, I thought I'd break out the new arrow images from my Bundle Monster BM-S308 plate and stamp them using the alternating colors to complete the look.

Now the Fair Maiden Polish collection has it's own matching creme polishes that probably would match better than the cremes I used here (Zoya Heidi and Morgan Taylor Sweater Weather), but I didn't have those to show you. But just think of all the looks you could create with this gigantic collection. Clearly I still have to practice restraint because there are a ton of others I'm lusting after in this collection!

This nail art look will also remind me to walk this week, as I'm in quite a few Workweek Hustles (via my FitBit), one of which is hosted by the lovely ladies of Fair Maiden Polish. My husband just got his own FitBit for his birthday, so now I've got all sorts of competition/motivation to be moving!