Berry Holiday Party Nails

Today I have some festive and fancy holiday party nails for you. I love this manicure because they are so appropriate for this time of year, but I could see myself wearing them at basically any other time.

So I already missed the only non-family Christmas party I was invited to, my husband's work party. Sad face. It was pretty fun last year. There was a casino theme with a ton of different tables. We spent the whole time at the roulette table. The guy manning the table (would you call him the dealer if it's not cards?) used to work in Vegas and he was really friendly. It was fun because we don't gamble, so it was a whole new experience for us learning about all the rules and strategies. I guess this year was supposed to be the same, but I had already scheduled something else for that night. It's a bummer because I wanted to try the blackjack table this time.

I applied two coats of OPI Miami Beet. Then at the tips, I used OPI Golden Eye, tapering it downwards with just one coat. I did the same with the bigger glitter, Sephora by OPI The Golden Age, coming down the nail just a little bit farther.
Glitter gradients are always trickier than they seem, for me. Maybe with a little more practice I'll be able to really get it right where I want it. Luckily it turned out well enough that I still liked it. It just made me sweat a little bit.

What I used:
OPI Miami Beet
OPI Golden Eye
Sephora by OPI The Golden Age

What holiday parties to you have planned this year? Are they the dressy kind, or the ugly-sweater kind of party?

Ulta Professional Nail Lacquer Twilight

Today's mani features Ulta Professional Nail Lacquer Twilight. I had a request to swatch Twilight after using it in my Nude Nail With Two Toned Tips post. I love the color of this polish, which is a mix of pewter and gunmetal with silver shimmer. This is a great Winter shade!

The formula is good and application was smooth. I used two coats, plus top coat. The one complaint about the Ulta Professional polishes is that the square caps are big and bulky. It's annoying trying to find a good way to hold the cap while applying the polish. The polish itself though didn't give me any issues.

Ulta Professional Nail Lacquer retails for $7.50 at Ulta stores or Ulta.com.

Celebrating 100 Posts With 100 Polishes!

To celebrate my 100th post I wanted to do something a little crazy. What's more crazy than a manicure with 100 polishes?! The funny thing is, it doesn't even look like that many polishes. But I promise you, it is! I just know that there are some of you who will actually want to count each one, so I'll explain what I did. I didn't count base coat or top coat. The ombre base colors were made using three polishes. I started with Zoya Flynn on my middle finger. Then I added black polish to Flynn for the darker colors, and white polish for the lighter ones. Then one by one (yes, it did take forever!), I added in little dashes and dots, 97 polishes on top!

When I started this blog I honestly wasn't sure if I would make it this far! It was a huge learning curve at first, and I'm still learning things every day. There have been some memorable moments along the way, and I thought I'd share some of them with you...

My first post was my brave first step in bearing my soul, and my cuticles, to the world. I explained a little about how I came to have the crazy idea to start all this. I didn't have much of an idea of where I was headed with my blog, what I was going to focus on. I'm still experimenting with that, and in the process I've covered a lot of ground.

In September I participated in the 31 Day Challenge which was insane and stressful, and really pushed me to try new things. My most popular mani from the Challenge was my Day 17: Glitter nails. I had way too much fun with that post! Sarah from Chalkboard Nails featured it in her pick of Guest Post of the Week, as part of The Lipstick League. My Glitter mani and my Day 23: Inspired by a Movie Phantom of the Opera nails are my most re-pinned on Pinterest.

The manicure I am most proud of is my Day 27: Inspired by Art Bansky Nails, a true labor of love. It caused a lot of stress, was so much work, and then I basically took them right off! But it was totally worth it! It was recently featured in a BuzzFeed article titled, "The Year 2013 As Told By Nail Art".

I've enjoyed this adventure so much already. I can't wait to see what the next 100 posts bring!

I hoped you enjoyed my brief walk down memory lane. A huge motivation to keep going is all my loyal readers. Thank you so much for sticking with me, and for all your wonderful comments and encouragements! Let me know if there were any posts that were memorable for you!

My Guest Post at Craftynail!

Today's post is super exciting for me. It's my first ever guest post! Jacqui at Craftynail graciously asked me to do a post for her blog, and I would love for you guys to take a look!

Jacqui is super talented and dynamic. If you haven't discovered her blog yet, here are some gems you don't want to miss: her recent Snow Bunny Nails are absolutely adorable, the Size Comparison of Top Stamping Post had all the info I was looking for about different brands of stamping plates, and her Black and White Underside Mani has a cool edge to it that makes want to grow out my nails for that design alone!

So now let's all change into our comfy blue Keds, pull on a warm cozy cardigan, and hop on the trolley to my guest post at Craftynail! >> View the post in its entirety here<<

Formula X for Sephora Wham!

Today I have another Formula X swatch for you. Wham! is from the Xplosive Top Coats category, as is Chaotic, which I swatched here. It is described as "white confetti", and contains multiple sizes of hex glitter along with bar glitter. It applied easily, with just a little coaxing needed to get the bar glitters in the right place.

This polish is certainly eye-catching. I had a number or people ask, "Oo, what is that?", or "How did you do that?"

This is one coat of Wham! shown over two coats of OPI Muir Muir on the Wall. This last photo shows off the color shifts of the OPI polish the best. I'm a fan of Muir Muir because it's so vampy and mysterious. I think the two paired well together.

Formula X for Sephora Wham! retails for $12.50 and can be purchased at Sephora locations or Sephora.com.

Christmas Leopard Print

Well December is finally here. I'm not a crazy-about-Christmas kind of person, but I couldn't resist starting off the month with a wild Christmas leopard print mani. I have a lot more Christmas themed ideas that I really hope turn out! Christmas or not, I am really feeling the winter vibe now. Although I'm not happy about the freezing temperatures, I really enjoy focusing on different colors with the changing seasons.

The base color is two coats of OPI Bagota Blackberry. I have been wanting to buy this polish for years. I seriously don't know what took me so long, but I finally bought it last month! I don't regret it, I think it's gorgeous. For the gold dots, I used OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder, and painted the color on straight out of the bottle. Since I used a top coat you don't get to see the texture of the polish in all of its glory, but the color is still so pretty. With a small dotting tool I applied A England Saint George around the gold dots.

I think this looks like velvet. Like a fluffy velvety bathrobe that a flamboyant grandpa would wear.

What I used:
OPI Bagota Blackberry
A England Saint George
OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder

What do you think? Too wild, or just enough?

Thanksgiving Turkey Nails

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! A while back on Pinterest I found this cute manicure by Jen at Polish and Pearls. It's been sitting in my "To Try" board just waiting for Thanksgiving to roll around. It is so cute that I didn't bother to try doing my own version, I just copied it straight up. She even has a helpful tutorial with the post too!

I noticed (have you?) that my last three posts featured nails with nude base colors. Not that it's a bad thing, I just hadn't planned it that way. My next mani will be very colorful, just you wait!

What I used:
OPI My Vampire is Buff-base color
(all the other colors were mixed, except the black and white for the eyes)

I hope everyone who is celebrating has a wonderful holiday with family, friends and yummy food. And to all my veggie friends, I hope your tofurkey is equally delicious!

Pumpkin Polka Dot

Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow! I never used to get excited about this particular holiday. This year I have been anticipating it more than usual. I think it's the fact that I do most of the cooking now, that I appreciate good food much more. I have been slowly expanding my stomach in preparation of the holiday. I'm ready now to stuff my face.. bring it on!

In celebration, I have a fun pumpkin (or punkin, depending on where you're from) polka dot mani. I was originally planning on doing a tutorial for this one. Unfortunately I had a senior moment and forgot to take the necessary photos to make said tutorial. Whoops. Will you take a rain check?

Here's what I did:
1. I began with two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff.
2. Then with my large dotting tool I made a polka dot pattern using Sephora by OPI Paisley Attention to Me.
3.With my pointed dotting tool I added the stems to the dots on my accent nail, magically transforming them into pumpkins.
4.I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite top coat.

What I used:
OPI My Vampire is Buff
Sephora by OPI Paisley Attention to Me
Sephora by OPI I Come in Peas

What is your favorite pumpkin flavored food/beverage? I do like pumpkin pie in small portions.
Hope you enjoy the nails! Ciao!

Nude Nail With Two Toned Tips

Today I have a subtle and elegant mani for you. I've had this is mind for a long time. I think now was a good time for something simple, because I have some crazy stuff in mind for December. I don't know how many of my ideas will be realized and make it to the blog. I hope at least a few of them do! (They always seem super awesome in my head, but don't always turn out that way!) 

In this mani I really wanted to show off the base color, Barry M Lychee. I love this shade and the formula is pretty good too! When I bought this polish I also got PiCture POlish Splendour in the same order, along with some others. I tried the two together and was pleasantly surprised by the results. I loved the subtlety of the pair.  

I started with two coats of Barry M Lychee. When it was completely dry, I taped off a small section at the tip of each nail with striping tape. I applied one coat of Ulta Twilight to the taped off section and removed all the tape. Then I repeated the process with one coat of Zoya Pepper, this time with the tape going the other direction, overlapping the section already painted. Then over the entire nail I applied one coat of PiCture POlish Splendour. Splendour adds just a little bit of extra specialness with those beautiful flakies. It was all finished off with a coat of Seche Vite.

What I used:
Barry M Lychee
Ulta Twilight
Zoya Pepper
PiCture POlish Splendour
Seche Vite top coat

I think this could be pulled off in a more conservative office work environment. I've never had that kind of job before, so I couldn't say for sure. But I have a pretty good feeling about it :).
Thanks for reading (or just looking if you didn't read any of the other text)! Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

If You Were a Nail Polish, Which One Would You Be?

Thank you everyone for entering my giveaway, and for your loyal support for my blog! You guys are the best :). In case you missed the facebook post, Colleen B. was the lucky giveaway winner! I thought I'd give an update to say I got the package in the mail today.
Second, I wanted to share some of the answers to the giveaway entry question, "If you were a nail polish, which one would you be? Why?" Here's a little sampling:

• Glow in the dark, cause they're cool!
• I would be a holo because I love sparkle!
• Vampy dark berry shade.
• Loreal Burgundy Diva- the perfect colour, elegant and classy :)
• I would be any glitter polish because glitter is just so sassy!
• Top coat. (: It's clear and it's basically a necessity 
• Zoya Paz, because it's bright and punchy, like me!
• A jelly! Cuz I don't think they're ready for this jelly!
• Any liquid sand glittery polish, because I'm rough on the edges, but there's a sparkle within me.

There were some great answers, am I right? I find myself agreeing with so many of them! So what's my answer? Hmm, good question. I could (and just did) come up with twenty different answers for just as many reasons. Well if I have to be decisive, and specific, I would choose... OPI I Don't Do Dishes. It's classically beautiful, the sparkle makes it fun, and.. I don't do dishes. :)

xx Emiline xx

Birthday Haul and Formula X for Sephora Swatches

Yay for birthdays and presents!! Here's a shout out to my friends and family who gave me nail polish or cash/gift cards, that obviously went to buying nail polish. So let's see what I got!

 Formula X for Sephora left to right: Heroic, Dusk, Chaotic 

Left to right: OPI Liquid Sand Honey Ryder, OPI Underneath the Mistletoe, Essie Carry On

Zoya left to right: Zuza, Arizona, Opal, Sailor, Seraphina, Hunter

Left to right: Contrary Polish Sand, PiCture POlish Freya's Cats, PiCture POlish Ocean, 

A England Saint George (these four purchase through Llarowe.)

It would have been a little insane to swatch all of these for you guys, so I just went with three. I decided on the Formula X for Sephora polishes because it's a recently launched brand and you might  not be as familiar with those yet. On a similar note, this whole time I have been referring to them as "Sephora X". There was originally a Sephora X brand, and this Formula X has replaced it. I mislabeled it in my Formula X for Sephora Legend post (it's fixed now). I apologize for the confusion!! Next time if you notice something questionable, just give my head a good whack.

Formula X for Sephora Heroic: 2 coats, with topcoat

Described as lilac and gold metallic, Heroic is from Formula X's "Shifters" category. Another from the category is Legend that I swatched last month. Unlike Legend which only has the glitters that shift, Heroic has more of a duochrome quality.
I like that it has a silvery appearance, but actually contains gold flecks. The coverage looked great in person with only two coats. For the photos you can tell that I probably should have used three, but they looked fine to the naked eye. Retails for $12.50.

Formula X for Sephora Dusk: 2 coats, with topcoat

Dusk is part of the "New Classics" category. It's described as "sunset red pearl", which I guess isn't necessarily misleading, depending on your interpretation of "sunset". I would describe it as a pearly brick color, or even burnt red with pearl finish.
Whatever it is, it fills a gap in my stash, because I don't have another color like this. The application was really smooth, with good coverage in even just one coat. Retails for $10.50.

Formula X by Sephora Chaotic: 1 coat, with topcoat.

Shown over 1 coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rose Rum. Chaotic is part of the "Xplosives Top Coats" catergory. It is packed with multi-sized black and white glitters in a clear base. I believe there are five sizes of hex glitter in both black and white, as well as black bar glitter.
I was really surprised how much glitter stuck to the brush! As you can see, quite a big glitter payout. Retails for $12.50

What do you think of the Formula X polishes so far? Are there any other polishes from my haul you would like to see swatched?

33 Day Challenge Day 26: Something From Pinterest

I saw this "fall mosaic" mani on Pinterest and fell in love! It was done by Whitney from Dressed Up Nails. Her blog is just awesome. I am amazed by her nail art! Sadly, the most recent post is from June. I really hope she comes back and gives us more!

I loved this mani so much I wore it for two whole days! I got a lot of compliments on it too. (Making an effort to talk with your hands more helps people notice your nails.)

And now for something totally unrelated..
So I got my (expired) driver's license renewed today! Woot! Now I don't have to worry about it again for ten years, I think. All the employees at the DMV were super nice and helpful. When did that happen? Not that I was disappointed that I didn't deal with a Selma or Patty. It just felt a little Twilight Zone-ish.
The lady who processed my application asked me how my birthday was, and I told her about my party. She even complimented my hair. I remarked that we had the same hair color (I was going to say something about hers, but she beat me to it) and she said yes, we have same birthday too! It was a special moment.

I really liked it from far away too.

What I used:
Ulta Salon Formula High Roller- base color
A whole lot of other colors- just ask me if you'd like to know about them!
Seche Vite top coat

What do you think? I wish I had the polish that Whitney used (China Glaze I'm Not Lion), but I think mine turned out pretty good!