[Rainbow] Penguin Nails!

Oh yes. That's right. Not just penguin nails...RAINBOW penguin nails. Prepare yourselves!!

Honestly. I'm literally in love with my five little friends. I look at my hands more than I usually would, because I like seeing five multi-colored penguins looking up at me.

If you're curious about the colors, the base colors are:
Zoya Perrie (thumb)
Zoya Yummy (index)
Orly Green Apple (middle)
Zoya Jancyn (ring)
Essie Ole Caliente (pinky)

Yeah...the thumb penguin got a little messed up...but it was kind of fat and I couldn't figure out how to do the eyes until the penguin on my second finger...

That being said, I'd like to take a moment to say something:

YES, THEY ARE REAL!

These are my real nails, and everything I do on them, I do myself, freehand! Not to toot my own horn (that's one of those phrases that I've always wanted to say but never gotten to use...), but for everyone wondering...well, yeah. They're my real nails and I do all the art by hand. Okay. Anyways!

As per the usual, I was too intimidated to try to do penguins on my right hand, but I wanted to keep with my rainbow color scheme, so here's what I did instead:

A tape manicure! Same base colors, with a regular white on top. I'm starting to realize that I REALLY like taping...it's so much easier than one would think, and it can look SO cool if done right!

So I've decided that I really enjoy having animals on my nails...any suggestions for what to do next? Let me know!

Stay happy :)

Tuxedo Nails!

Happy New Year's Eve! I spent awhile thinking about what kind of nails I'd do for today, and I came up with a really cute dotted manicure, but I was too scared to try doing a mega dot mani on my right hand. So here's what I have instead - tuxedo nails!

That's my left hand; after a few accidents, I wasn't brave enough to do the same on my right hand (everything was done freehand!), so I changed it up a little:

I have to admit...they turned out a lot better than I thought I would! 

How do you like the look? 

Stay happy!

Zoya Gwin

Right after Christmas, I was a little tired. Too scared to try out my dotting tools again...so I took a step back and went back to a happy place - orange.

Gwin is one of my favorite oranges ever (even if it's not neon). Check it out!

Isn't she pretty! In some lights, Gwin leans a lot more coral than orange, but she's mostly orange. She has a golden to almost-green duochromey effect going on, which you can see more in the bottle than on my nails in these pictures, but in real life you can definitely see the color shift.

My ONLY issue with Gwin is her formula - she's a little thin and runny and does need three coats for full opacity. But for an orange-obsessed nail freak like me, Gwin's color makes up for that.

Stay happy!

Happy Christmas!

IT'S FINALLY HERE!! Happy Christmas everyone - even if you don't celebrate it. I still hope today is rockin' awesome for you. I hope today is rockin' awesome for everyone, frankly.

Two different Christmas-themed nails today! I'm going to start with my right hand, because I think it's slightly less impressive. Having finally figured out the art of tape manicures, I decided to go a step further than just diagonals....with candy canes!

Christmas Candy Cane Nails

As you can probably guess, I'm right-handed, so this was my right hand done by my left...I was pretty pleased with how this turned out, considering I did it with my bad hand!

Now, my left hand mani...I'm in love with it. Without any further ado...reindeer nails!

Christmas Reindeer Nails

AREN'T THEY CUTE? The best part is that now I can't POSSIBLY be lonely on Christmas...I have five new friends on my nails!

Well, if candy canes and reindeer can't make you happy on Christmas, I don't know what will. Try to find  a happy place today. It should be hard to find a place that ISN'T a happy one...

Stay happy :)))

Red Holiday Nails!

So red is basically THE holiday color right? Well. Have I got a red for you. If you're looking for your go-to red that isn't summer-status bright, stop looking right now. It's right here. Zoya Dominique.

Zoya Dominique

Dominique isn't a straight up pure red. In the bottle, there's almost a brownish-clay-ish look going on; she does dry redder though. She's perfectly opaque in two coats, and for some reason she dries shinier than a lot of other creme finish polishes I have. Like, even with topcoat on, other cremes don't seem to be as shiny. I don't know how and I don't know why, but I love it.

But, with the holiday season in full swing, I couldn't just leave Dominique alone like this. I had to add some glitter.

  

I think it turned alright! The glitter is Julep Vivien, which is described as "champagne bubbles"...although I think she looks a little lighter than actual champagne-color.

Quick! Any more nail ideas for Christmas before it's gone? And then any inspiration for a New Year's mani?

Stay happy!

My phone looks like the UNIVERSE!

First in the sky itself. Then on nails. And now...on the back of my phone!

...Yes, that's right. Now my phone looks like the universe.

Galaxy phone...ha, ha...get it?

I used the same exact process that I use on my nails to make the back of my phone look like the universe! It took even less time than my nails, though, because I didn't need to do a layer of base coat or of black!

Additionally, I could not get over my own genius in making my phone (which is a Galaxy something-or-other) look like...well, a galaxy. Okay...maybe not "genius", exactly, but at least let me think it's super clever, okay?

Stay happy!

Julep Harper

I AM SO HAPPY THAT GLITTERS ARE THE THING TO DO FOR HOLIDAY NAILS.

Sorry. Too much excitement? I just am so, so, SO thrilled that its the general consensus that glitter is appropriate for Christmas and New Year's and all the other wintry holidays that are arriving right about now. In keeping with that spirit, Julep released a bunch of new glitters and for now, I have my favorite one for you: Harper.

Julep Harper

 This is two coats of Harper over a coat of Zoya Wednesday (Harper is, unfortunately, too sheer to stand alone). I might have gone a little overboard with pictures again...but I wanted to make sure I got all the aspects of the glitter and the color and all of Harper's beauty - Harper is SO pretty. I feel like I say this about a lot of polishes I use, but she looks like mermaid nails!

Harper had perfect formula but, as per the usual with glitters, needed a coat of Gelous and then one of Out the Door topcoat to smooth it out.

How are we liking the winter glitter trend? If you can't tell, I'm loving it!

Stay happy!