Another Unintentional Hiatus.

My apologies to those that follow my blog regularly! Sometimes life just gets so crazy, and I can't keep up. I have a few posts in the works right now, so please stay tuned!

~Stacy

Galaxy Nails: Envy Lacquer, M Polish

Hello again lovelies! So...let's talk Galaxy nails! Have you done them yet? Are you afraid to try them like I was? Well...let me tell you something! They are so fun and so easy!!! This was my very first attempt at galaxy nails, and I can definitely see myself doing them a lot more often, especially if I keep using Licorice Whip!

For this mani, I used a base of Envy Lacquer Licorice Whip. I sponged on M Polish Apple Blossom, Bells of Ireland, Snowberry and Star Flower. So. Easy. So easy!

Galaxy mani featuring Envy Lacquer Licorice Whip

Galaxy mani featuring Envy Lacquer Licorice Whip and M Polish Starflower

You can find the products I used here:
Envy Lacquer: Website; Facebook; Instagram
M  Polish: Website; Facebook; Instagram

Do you like to do galaxy manis? How often do you do them?
Polish on!
~Stacy

Comparison: OPI Big Apple Red vs. Zoya Carmen

Hello again! Just a quick comparison of a couple of polishes that I have for you today! I was working on my "Favorite Sport or Hobby" mani, and I noticed that Zoya Carmen looked a LOT like OPI Big Apple Red.

Bottle comparison shot. Indoors on top, full sun on bottom.
See how similar they look?!

Now, a little back story that's completely irrelevant to the post (but fun, nonetheless!). OPI Big Apple Red is one of two polishes I received from a fellow March 2010 mom in a Christmas gift exchange a couple of years ago. It was shortly after that, that I found the message board that threw me head first down into the colorful abyss! Now look at me...ok, well, don't...lol!!

Anyways, back on track!

Two coats each, indoors, no top coat.

Two coats each, outdoors, no top coat (sorry for the sheet marks and tip wear!). 

I think that adding a third coat of Zoya Carmen might make these two darn near indistinguishable. What do you think?

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Mommy's Mani Monday: Favorite Sport or Hobby

Hello again, fellow nail lovers! The Mommy's Mani Monday theme for September 21st was "Favorite Sport or Hobby". Well, besides the obvious...I love many things! Which one would translate well to my nails, though??? I thought about it for a few minutes, and the one thing (besides polish) that kept popping into my head was my love of hockey! Detroit Red Wings hockey to be exact! The ideas started running circles in my head, but I just couldn't imagine a hockey puck and stick translating very well to my nails. Especially with my limited freehand abilities. I've wanted to put an old English "D" on my nails for so long, but have yet to acquire a stamping plate with said letter on it. So...I did it freehand, to the best of my abilities, that is!

For this mani I used:
Zoya Carmen and Oswin
Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Mommy's Mani Monday: Favorite Sport or Hobby. Go Wings!

And here is the collage! Great job, ladies!

Mommy's Mani Monday: Favorite Sport or Hobby collage

The products I used can be found:
Sinful colors: can be found at many retailers such as Rite Aid, Walgreens, Walmart
Zoya: can be found at ULTA, and online at zoya.com

Polish on!
~Stacy

Quick Stamped Mani

Hello, lovelies! A while back I discovered that the OPI Designer Series polishes were available in a place that I "frequent". Well...the last time I went, this happened...

Which turned into this...

OPI DS Extravagance
M Polish To Have And To Holo

Goooorrrreeegous!

You can find M Polish here: Website; Instagram; Facebook

What's your favorite holo polish?

Polish on!
~Stacy

Mommy's Mani Monday: Back to School

The September 7th theme for Mommy's Mani Monday was "Back to School". I had already done a BTS mani, and didn't have a chance to complete a new one for that week. However, the ladies in that group are so amazing that they used my former BTS mani. Here is the full collage for that week!

Mommy's Mani Monday: Back-To-School

Go check out Mommy's Mani Monday on Instagram! There are some super talented ladies there!

Polish on!
~Stacy

Fall Mani - Recreated from Narmai, PiggieLuv

Hey there! So, there's this girl...and I kind of have a major crush on her amazing artistic abilities when it comes to freehand nail art. If you haven't yet, check her out on Instagram, her blog, and Facebook!

Ok, now...I was sent this image by a friend of mine with a simple message of "dooooooo this!!!!!"

Narmai/PiggiLuv's original work.
Facebook; Blog; Instagram

I giggled at first thinking "man, I don't think I could do that justice at all" but then I thought..."that is gorgeous. I have to try!" I really need some work on my freehand skills, and some acrylic paints, but I do like how this turned out. :-)

For this mani, I used:
Funky Fingers Dark Knight
M Polish Bronze, Copper, Elizabethan and Guilded
Zoya Tomoko

My recreation of Narmai's gorgeous fall mani!

The polishes I used can be found at:
Funky Fingers can be found at Five Below stores
M Polish: Website; Instagram; Facebook
Zoya: Can be found at Ulta and online at zoya.com

If you aren't following Narmai yet, you are missing out. She is absolutely amazing, so...go check her out! Facebook; Blog; Instagram

What's your favorite season for nail art?

Polish on!
~Stacy

Birthday Collab for jessj958

Hey there!

A fairly well-known Instagrammer (I think I just made that up, you like it? lol) recently celebrated a birthday, yay! She's actually a part of the Mommy's Mani Monday group as well, so I've had the pleasure of working with her regularly. She's pretty amazing, so be sure to go check her out! (Info below)

Anyways, I was asked if I wanted to participate in a birthday collaboration for her. The only requirement was that each of us recreate a mani of hers. Of course I said yes so below, you will see the collage, the original mani that I recreated, then my version of it. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday jessj958!

The mani I chose to recreate.

You can find jessj958 on Instagram! Check her out!

Here is my recreation! For this mani, I used:
Sinful Colors Tempest and I Miss You
M Polish Dancing in the Streets
Twinkled T Chevron Nail Vinyls
Cici & Sisi Plate 09

My recreation

The products the I used for this mani can be found:
Sinful Colors: Can be found in many retail stores like Walgreen's, Rite Aid and Walmart.
M Polish: Website; Instagram; Facebook
Twinkled T: Website; Instagram; Facebook
Cici & Sisi: I usually buy these on Amazon. Just search the beauty section for Cici & Sisi!

Avon Breast Cancer Walk Mani and Collage

Hey lovelies :-)

Recently, a fellow mom and nail polish lover participated in the Avon Breast Cancer walk. We were all there for her (in spirit) from the minute she decided to walk, through her training, through the walk, and still now after she has already completed the walk! The nail community has brought me so many great friends, and I have a deep appreciation for each and every one of you. <3 p="">
Many of us coordinated our mani's to correspond with her walk. The only requirement? Include the color pink! So, here you will see the collage that was put together, and below, my solo shot from the collaboration. :-)

Avon Breast Cancer Walk Collage

And here's my solo shot! I used:
M Polish Annette and Snowberry
Sinful Colors Love Sprinkles
Born Pretty Store plate BP-26

Avon Breast Cancer Walk Mani

You can find these products at:
M Polish: Website; Instagram; Facebook
Born Pretty Store: Website; Instagram
*use the code BPSB10 for 10% off your Born Pretty Store order!

Have you ever participated in an awareness walk? Which one(s)?

Polish on!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani September: Ruffian

Hi there again! The second prompt for September's Push Your Mani was "Ruffian". I had never done one, and was pretty excited to try it. Thankfully, I had good motivation for the colors that I used, which made executing pretty easy. Picking colors - for me - is sometimes my biggest challenge!!! Anyways, we were going to watch the Detroit Tigers play, so blue and orange it was!

Colors used:
M Polish Hottie
Sinful Colors Matte About Blue
Love Angeline Coralline
Stamped using Born Pretty Store plate BP-13

You can find these products here:
M Polish: Website; Instagram; Facebook
Love Angeline: Website; Instagram; Facebook
Sinful Colors: Can be found at regular retailers like Walgreen's, Rite Aid, Wal-Mart, etc.
Born Pretty Store: Website; Instagram
*Use code BPSB10 for 10% off your order on Born Pretty Store!

Do you have a "go to" color combination when you're having a hard time deciding what to paint? Share here, maybe you can help me out! :-)

Polish on!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani September: Doodle

Hello again, lovelies!

The first Push Your Mani prompt for September was "Doodle". I had a couple of polishes that I hadn't had a chance to play with very much yet, and I thought they would look great together, so I went for it! For my base, I used Daily Hues Nail Lacquer "Julie". It's a creamy white crelly with aqua glitters in it. So pretty! I freehanded the "doodles" using Envy Lacquer "Pisces At Heart" because, well...I'm a Pisces! :-)

Push Your Mani September: Doodle

Daily Hues: Facebook; Instagram; Website
Envy Lacquer: Facebook; Instagram; Website

Do you enjoy freehand work? I need a lot more practice with it, but it's been fun learning!

Polish on!
~Stacy

Back to shorties...

The past few weeks have been pretty brutal on my nails. I've been dealing with peeling again, a couple of minor breaks and chips, as well as some pretty major breaks on my Cindy hand. Well, this weekend pretty much did my nails in. We had gone to my in-laws house - dog and all - but unloading when we got home was the end of the length that I had going. *sigh* The next few posts you see here on my blog will be "pre-chop". For now...I'm rockin' these shorties!

My nail length and shape seems to change quite frequently. Does yours?
Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Whew. Life got a little crazy there...

Sorry I sort of disappeared again for a bit! I have a few posts in the making, so stay tuned over the next few days. I hope to have many of them done and posted. :-)

~Stacy

Push Your Mani: August Collage

Hey there! I decided to put together a collage of all of my August Push Your Mani designs since I was able to complete the full month. Enjoy!

PYM August cCollage

Links to each mani:
Watermelon & Nimbus
Butterfly
Nautical
Polish You Dislike
Flamingos
Stained Glass
Peach
Matte Finish
Stripes

Thanks for stopping by!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Stripes

Hey lovelies! This blog post brings you the final Push Your Mani prompt. I've really enjoyed doing these challenges this month, and I'm hoping to be able to complete full months even more often!

This mani is done using Bonita Frosty. I used NYC East Village for the freehand stripes.

PYM August: Stripes

Come back soon, and polish on!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Matte

Hey there! Here is another Push Your Mani, mani! This one is "Matte". I've wanted to do something like this for quite a while. I just wish I could top coat the whole thing and not lose the stamp! Ah well...

For this mani, I used NYC Color Prince Street and my Wet & Wild matte top coat. Stamped with Shany Cosmetics plate SH203.

PYM August: Matte

One more prompt to go! Do you enjoy monthly challenges? Or do you prefer to work alone? ;-)

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Peach

Hey there lovelies! Hopefully over the next couple of days I will actually get the last few August Push Your Mani prompts shared. I seem to have acquired a couple of extra kids for a few days, so I'm both busier and less busy than I have been. If that makes any sense whatsoever.

Anyways, that's beside the point. Let's get on with it! NAILS!!!

In this post, I am sharing my super simple, super pretty peach nails! I suppose this could even count as a swatch, except I didn't use my DSLR and light box for the pic, therefore, no swatch! Sometimes it's nice to just do a simple mani. A palette cleanser of sorts...

NYC Color in Hamptons Peach :-)

PYM August: Peach

What's your go-to color when you need a palette cleanser?

Polish on!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Stained Glass

Hello! This prompt...ooohhh, this prompt. I had so many ideas that I wanted to try. So many stamps that I had in my head but this one...this one stood out to me. I had to give it a shot, and of course, I had to try out my brand spanking new Cayuga that I got from M Polish! Seriously, if you haven't tried M Polish yet, you are soooooo missing out! I only had to stamp each of my nails one time. ONCE. And it cleaned up like a dream.

This mani is stamped using M Polish Cayuga and CiCi&SiSi 27. I filled all the little nooks and crannies in with ORLY Bling, Digital Glitter and Steal The Spotlight. Love the sparklies in this one. :-)

PYM August: Stained Glass

Have you tried lead lighting, or a negative space stamp? I almost didn't want to cover these up!

Polish on, lovelies!

~Stacy

Push Your Mani: September Prompts

Well, August is officially ending, and I'm proud to say that I *actually* managed to complete a full month of Push Your Mani prompts! Watch for the remainder of the August posts over the next few days, but for now, a look forward to the September Push Your Mani challenges! Head on over to the IG account as well!

Do you have a favorite monthly challenge account? Feel free to share it here!
Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Revisit: Cover Girl Capitol Collection

Hi! These are some old swatches, but I feel like I need to share them again since Mocking Jay Part 2 will be coming out in just a couple of months (eek...I can't wait!).

I had purchased one or two of these when they first came out, and quickly went on the hunt to find the rest of them. I had to have them!

I'm relatively certain that I used 3 coats for each of these, maybe 4 on some? It's been a little while though, so frankly...I don't remember! :-)

Now, the swatches!

Cover Girl Capitol Collection

These are all pre-light box, and pre-macro lens...sooooo...they're taken standing in one of my windows with the curtain as the backdrop! :-)

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Inferno

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Rogue Red

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Flamed Out

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Sulfur Blaze

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Scalding Emerald

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Seared Bronze

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Violet Flicker

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Pyro Pink

Cover Girl Capitol Collection: Black Heat

And here are a couple of the designs I did with this collection:

June 2014: Skittle mani with nail sticker

Thanksgiving 2014: Stamped Gradient

How many "full" collections do you have in your stash? I'm almost embarrassed to say, myself...haha!

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Bestie Twin Nails - August!

Good morning fellow nail polish lovers!

This month I was paired with the amazing crooked_mani. Click that link to go check out her Instagram page!

We agreed on a picture that I took of one of my oldest daughter's dresses, but decided to replace the green with purple. This was so much fun, that I'll definitely be doing this style/design again in the future!

BTN August: Collage

Here is my solo shot! So.much.fun! I used Bear Pawlish Peek-A-Boo! and Ultra Violet (LOOOOVE), and I used Sally Hansen White On, as well as M Polish Scouting the Beach for the freehand daisies! I'm a wee bit miffed that my quick dry top coat decided it wanted to matte my tips. :-/ Probably thanks to the humidity, fan and open window, so yeah. It's my own fault! LOL!

BTN August: Solo Shot

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Flamingos

Hello again! :-)

I fell behind again on the Push Your Mani prompts, but I'm going to do my best to catch up and complete them all!

This weekend I visited my sister (sans kiddos ;-) ), and was able to complete the flamingo prompt between all the toes and fingers of my sister and niece being painted!

In this mani, I used KBShimmer In Bare Form, one of my no name The Color Workshop polishes, Sally Hansen Fucsia Power and Black Out.

Push Your Mani - Flamingos

How are you enjoying all of the summer mani's that have been around? I have been, but man am I ready for some fall preties to come out and play!

Polish on, lovelies :-)
~Stacy

Stamped Weekend Mani

Hi again! Last weekend, the hubby and I took the whole fam up to my mom and step-dad's cabin. We had lots of fun, and of course I had to paint my nails with a 'wow factor' that had a bit of staying power (read: glitter!). So, I opted for some glitter, and a bit of subtle stamping!

Here we have Funky Fingers Bling Dipper (photochrome!) stamped with Gesso using my brand spanking new CiCi&SiSi 30 plate!

Funky Fingers Bling Dipper stamped with Gesso - Outside

This mani shows my new watermark, too! Yay!

Funky Fingers Bling Dipper stamped with Gesso - Inside

Are you a stamper? What are your go-to products?

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Mommy's Mani Monday: Mani Orders & Reverse Mani Orders

Hello again, fellow polish lovers! This post is all about Mommy's Mani Monday! It wound up being a combined post on Instagram, so you get a two-fer! :-)

Mommy's Mani Monday: Mani Orders & Reverse Orders

For the August 3rd edition of Mommy's Mani Monday, we were assigned another person in the group to give "orders" to. @ThePolishedPerspective (check her out, she's amazeballs!) "ordered" me to use my least favorite and most favorite color. For this mani, I used Sinful Colors Vacation Time and Tempest (because I LOVE purple!!!). I used a fan brush to work both colors into the mani, and I actually kind of like how it turned out!

Mommy's Mani Monday: Mani Orders - Least Favorite Color and Most Favorite Color

I was assigned to give orders to @hottmama_of4 (go check her out, too, she's pretty awesome!) and I gave her "Braided, or "Herringbone" nails. She nailed it. I love the look she did! Below, you will find my braided mani. It was a lot easier than I had anticipated! I used all M Polishes for this mani, and they made it a breeze! I used Hottie, Dancing in the Streets, and Iron.

Mommy's Mani Monday: Reverse Orders - Braided or Herringbone

Have you tried the braided technique yet? Do you like it?

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Polish You Dislike

Hello lovelies! Today's post is about the fifth Push Your Mani prompt: Polish You Dislike. I had to use two for this one, because these two are probably my least favorite colors. I did use some Twinkled T nail vinyls for this, but I LOOOOVE the vinyls! I need to use them more! :-)

Anywho, here we have Sinful Colors Vacation Time and Revlon Bare Bones.

Push Your Mani: Polish You Dislike

Do you have a "least favorite" polish? Or one that just doesn't float your boat? (You don't have to name drop...haha!)

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Nautical

Hey everyone! The fourth prompt for Push Your Mani this month was "Nautical". I was totally excited about this one because I had this great idea in my head. It turned out pretty close to what I had imagined, I'm calling it a win!

So, without further adieu....here are my Nautical Nails!

For this mani, I used Laquerlicious (now Polish'M) Distant Shores for the base, and I stamped waves using  M Polish Starflower and Snowberry. The anchors and stars are stamped with M Polish Copper. Love, love, love!

PYM August: Nautical

Have you done a nautical themed mani? What did you use?

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy

Push Your Mani August: Butterflies

Hello again! I opted for a quick and easy mani the other day because I was short on time getting out of the house. I used Envy Lacquer "Pride" topped with a single coat of "Sinful Summer, both from the Seven Sins of Summer collection. I love how fun this glitter is! It's quickly becoming one of my faves!

Envy Lacquer Pride and Sinful Summer

The third challenge for Push Your Mani for the month of august was butterflies. I opted for a more subtle, abstract take. Since I loved this base color combo so much, I decided to keep it and just add the butterfly stamps to it later on!

As previously mentioned, this is a base of Envy Lacquer "Pride" topped with "Sinful Summer", stamped with M Polish Berry Best Friend using Cici&Sisi 07. I'm soooooo excited that I got my grubby little paws on this LE polish!

Envy Lacquer Pride and Sinful Summer
Stamped with M Polish Berry Best Friends

What are your favorite stamping images? Do you like floral? Abstract? Geometric?

Polish on, lovelies!
~Stacy