Hanukkah

Today I wanted to show you my first Hanukkah manicure this year. I showed a sneak peek of it on my Facebook page a few days ago, so you might have seen it if you follow me there. I "lit" the candles one at a time, but of course I'm not patient enough to wear this for eight days, so they all got done on the same day. There is a little animation treat when you get down to the bottom of the post...

For the manicure I started out with OPI Into the Night, a beautiful soft silvery blue shimmer. How perfect is that OPI name of it for a Hanukkah manicure? All I can think of is Adam Sandler's Hanukkah song, "...we have eight crazy nights..."

The menorah was drawn by hand with a striping and detail brush using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes. For the stamping, I also used Silver Mercedes and the stars from Shany plate SH08. It was when I did my witch manicure for Halloween that I noticed the little stars around the moon are six pointed and knew they would be perfect for Hanukkah. They even tend to stamp with the center hollowed out which makes it even better for me....

For the flames I used a dotting tool and KleanColor metallic orange and yellow. Looking at it know, I realize that I'm actually missing the candles. I think I ended up with torches instead. I like it regardless so I hope you do too...

Here is that animation of each candle getting lit up one at a time... wouldn't it be great if I could keep my hands still for it? I actually painted the lights mid air, in front of the camera, hoping the hand position wouldn't change. As you can see, that didn't work out so well, so just watch the little flame and not my wiggly fingers ;) ...

A few other notes before I end this post...

Have you entered the Fashion Inspired contest yet? Don't wait until it is too late... last day to submit entries is this Friday!! I want to see all your beautiful manicures :)

Also, I entered the NailPolishCanada.com Holiday Nail Art challenge, so I would love it if you could take a moment to check out the entries and vote for your favorite! If that happens to be my manicure I would be ever so grateful :D

Let me know what you think of this!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Nail-aween Challenge Day 8: Witch

I hope you are all having a bewitching Friday. I'm trying to keep up with the Nail-aween challenge with just a few days left until the big day. The witchy manicure kind of had me stumped, the only thing I knew for sure was the witch was going to be stamped. I first thought to put her over a moon background, then maybe some sort of orange gradient and finally settled on a night sky using a few of my piCture pOlish favorites...

I started out with two coats of piCture pOlish Voodoo which with the tagline of "see the darkness, feel the magic" seemed really fitting for a witch. I actually stamped over it with piCture pOlish Aphrodisiac, but we'll pretend that I didn't since you can't see it anyway. Then, I added the beautiful piCture pOlish flakie Festival which gave it nice little bursts of color...

All of the stamping was done in Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and Shany plates SH02 (witch) and SH08 (moon and stars). Interestingly enough, the images on these plates are engraved deeper than usual and often have problems transferring completely. In this case the moon was left with a bit of a cutout and some of the stars also were left with a hollow center...

Since I was at it, I thought I'd show you fresh swatches of piCture pOlish Voodoo. It is a gorgeous deep burgundy with gold flecks. One of my favorite vampy shades for sure. Application is good, the formula maybe just a tad too thick, but manageable and well worth it. Two coats for full coverage and the swatches are with no top coat...

I'm a sucker for anything with flecks in in it...

Swatch Details
	Brand: piCture pOlish Collection: main line Color Name/Number: Voodoo - See the darkness, feel the magic! Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I'd love to know what you think of this manicure! Don't hesitate to comment below :)

P.S. Don't forget to take a look at all the other lovelies participating in the challenge...
datyorkLOVES, Erica's Nails and More, DreamyMM Nails & Make Up, Tes Did It Nails, Sassy Paints, Nicole gets Nailed , glitznglammer, Finger Food, Wicked Tips, Fancy Schmancy Nails, Delight In Nails, Polish Groupie, My Nail Journey, Get Polished Up!, Just A Girl and Her Polish, Spellbound Nails, Le nail's corner d'Alex, Hello.Lacquer, Countess Nails , Color the world with polish, Nail Crime Nail Art, Coat of Mani Colors, Cutie Cuticles, Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge, GLAMOROUS NAILS, Over The Topcoat, Polish Gone Crazy, tragedystipsandtreats

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping: Halloween

Just ten days left until the spooky day of Halloween so it is no surprise that the popular vote for this week's Sunday Stamping challenge in Adventure is Stamping is a Halloween themed manicure. I chose to skip the really dark and scary for today and go for cute instead. The idea for the manicure came from the fact that we are having some friends over later today to carve pumpkins. It only seemed fitting that I dig up all the jack-o-lantern images to play with for inspiration...

The base of this manicure is two coats of OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me. The pumpkins were stamped with OPI A Roll in the Hague, which I have to say stamps perfectly over light colors. I added /colored in the stems of the pumpkins using green acrylic paint. Stamping plates used for the pumpkins are Shany SH02 (index), Red Angel RA-119 (middle), Bundle Monster BM-222 (ring), BM-305 (pinkie)....

I wasn't pleased with the pumpkins just "floating" on my nails, so I added a bit of ground under them by sponging the tips with Sally Hansen Coco a-go-go. The black kitty happened to like my pumpkin patch and decided to sit on my ring finger. The image comes from Shany plate SH08 and was stamped using Essence I Love My Jeans....

Let me know what you think of it! I hope you like it as much as I do. :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** OPI polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Sunday Stamping: Pet Day

After my failed Sunday Stamping attempt, I decided to rethink the mani and come up with something else. I was still set on a kitty manicure so I picked two other kitties that I liked. Somehow these are a little more Halloween to me which is why I didn't choose them at first, but I really like how this turned out...

For the base I used Zoya Carey and then randomly stamped skelly fish using Zoya Kelly to create a background pattern. I have been trying to find an occasion to use those skelly fish and I finally found one! I used the fish from Red Angel plate RA-107, but there is an identical one on Shany plate SH02. I'm sure lots of others out there as well. The cats were stamped with Wet 'n Wild Black Creme using Bundle Monster plate BM02 and Shany plate SH08. 

To finish the manicure, I felt it needed a black edge, but I didn't want to do full black tips. I tried something that I first saw done by The Nail Buff a long, long time ago. It is just like wrapping tips, but instead of using the base color, a contrasting color is used. I loved the way it looked on her manicure and have been meaning to try it ever since. It is very subtle here, but really finished off the manicure for me...

A few bonus swatches of Zoya Carey, a beautiful soft gray cream. Formula on this one is just perfect, very smooth. Two coats for full coverage. The swatches are with no top coat...

Thanks for looking and commenting!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping: The Sky's the Limit

It is Sunday again, which means another edition of Sunday Stamping in the group Adventures in Stamping. The challenge for today is "The Sky's the Limit." The title first had me fooled into thinking it was a free for all, but turns out it had to be something sky related including things that can be found in the sky such as clouds, birds, etc...

I was still not ready to part with my Barielle Falling Star manicure from a few days ago and it fit the theme perfectly so I just went with it. I sponged the tips using China Glaze In Awe of Amber. Then using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes I stamped the moon and the stars. Silver Mercedes by the way is my new absolute favorite stamping silver! The moon and tiny stars surrounding it come from Shany plate SH08. The larger stars are from an ebay plate M08. I'm quite happy with how this turned out considering that I'm still not feeling well enough to sit still for something more complicated...

Here is what it looked like before the stamping. I think the copper sponged tips really bring out the copper glitter in this blue polish...

I would love to know what you think of this mani!

Is it just me or does it look like the glitter sprinkled down and settled at the tips?...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Curious Puppy Prints...

I often get the urge to try a gradient with similar colors within a collection. Just as often it doesn't work out as I imagined since the colors are too similar. Such was the case with Color Club Incognito and Give Me a Hint. Give Me a Hint turned out to be too light and sheer to create a nice gradient. Rather than give up and start over, I added Barielle Tight Knit into the mix to darken up the tip of the gradient.

The puppy and the paw prints were stamped using Barielle Unraveled Rust and Shany plate SH08. The puppy was just what I need to cheer me up. He is so cute. What shall we name him? ;)

I would love know what you think of this!
Do you ever create a silly manicure just to cheer yourself up?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)