Super Bowl 51 - Atlanta Falcons - Julio Jones - Sally Hansen Nails

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Hey y'all!  Today I have my Super Bowl mani to share with y'all!  Sally Hansen was kind enough to send me red & black to go with the Atlanta Falcons colors & I decided to bump it up a little.  For the NFC Championship, I did Matt Ryan nails so this time I went with Julio Jones #11.  So lets get right to it!

The polishes that were sent were Red My Lips from their Complete Salon Manicure range & Black to Black from their Insta-Dri range.  I also added in Silver Sweep from the Insta-Dri range and some white acrylic paint.  It's a great silver that I use a LOT. 

 The index and pinky nails have the silver base with red, black, and white "waterfall" like stripes.

 The middle finger is the red and black both smooshed onto a stamper and then dabbed onto the nail making it look smokey.  I did my thumb nail the same way.

The ring finger is the red base, and the black with white acrylic paint to make up the #11 on the jersey of Julio Jones.  Those 1's were done by hand and turned out great I think.  

I am so looking forward to this game and I am of course pulling for my Falcons.  Who are you pulling for?  

Oh, and here's a pic of me...yanno in case you forgot what I look like. 

Winter-y Grey & Wine Nail Art

Hey y'all!  Today I have a recent mani that I did & wore for a few weeks.  I wanted something winter-y, but not completely dark and drab.  So this is what I came up with.

This was super easy to do, and of course I added a little sparkle as well.  Per the usual, I used Seche Vite as my top coat.

Index: China Glaze Change Your Altitude & Fairy Dust
Middle: Sinful Colors Snow Me White(base), China Glaze Change Your Altitude, China Glaze Wine Down For What?, & chevron tape from Born Pretty Store.

Ring: China Glaze Change Your Altitude(Base). China Glaze Wine Down For What? & black acrylic paint for spots.
Pinky: China Glaze Wine Down For What? & Fairy Dust

I absolutely LOVED this mani and hated taking it off. 

Color Club - Matte Rouge - Makeout Maven

Hey y'all!  Today I have another polish I got in last years meetup swap.  It also happens to be the other one from the Matte Rouge collection.  I'm kinda back & forth on liking it, but I'm keeping it either way.

The polishes in this collection have a matte, though more satin, finish with a slight texture to them.  Unlike the Zoya Pixie Dusts, these are smooth.

Since they're matte, I didn't use any top coat, and used 2 coats for these swatches.

This color is so difficult to describe.  Depending on the lighting it looks brown-ish red, but then again it looks almost like a wine.  So I wrote down a mauvey brown & then brick red.  

I might have to wear this again to see how I feel about it for sure.

Atlanta Falcons- Matt Ryan Freehand Nail Art - #RiseUp

Hey y'all!  Today I have my current mani to share with y'all.  I've been a fan of the Falcons for all of my life, even went to a ton of games as a kid.  However, with this season going so well and the divisional championship's being this weekend I had to do some nail art to help cheer my team on.  I was going to wait and post these tomorrow, but I'm impatient and wanted to share right away.

My inspiration was the Matt Ryan jersey that I have.  The kiddo has a Julio Jones, but I didn't think I'd be able to get the lettering the way I wanted....so I went the shorter route.  Plus, they'll match when I wear it while watching the game this weekend!

Index: Wet N Wild Black Creme with "ATL" in red acrylic paint.
Middle: OPI Coca-Cola Red with "RYAN" & his # in white and black acrylic paint. 

Ring: OPI Coca-Cola Red with #RiseUp in black acrylic paint.
Pinky: Essie Little Brown Dress with white acrylic paint to look like a football.

This took a while to do.  For the jersey nail I made decals with acrylic paint & a brush on my silicone mat and placed them over the base.  For the rest of the nails I actually just drew everything on using a toothpick.  Because I used acrylic paint I didn't have to wait long before applying Seche Vite as my top coat.

I love these nails so much, even though they didn't turn out 100% like I wanted them to. I took at least 50 pics and had to narrow it down BIG time.

I'm praying that we win this weekend because I totally want to see a Superbowl rivalry in my house this year (hubs is a Steelers fan).  I wish I was going to the game, but I'll be screaming on the comfort of my couch.

Holo Christmas Splatter & Stamping

Hey y'all!  Today I have my Christmas mani to share.  I had a dozen different ideas in my head, but once I saw this post from Copycat Claws, I knew what to do.  Of course, I HAD to do it holo style. 

I also had some new stuff I bought from BornPretty Store & wanted to try it out.

For the splatter nails I started out with Butter London Knees Up as my base then applied Darling Diva The Alchemist on top. 

Once that was dry I applied my liquid latex to protect the skin & used a small straw for the splatter.  The shades I used were ILNP A Fresh Evergreen and MakeUp Store Greta. 

The Alchemist is so darn pretty on its own that I almost didn't cover it up, but yanno...you can never have too much holo.

On my ring and pinky fingers I applied Nubar Reclaim as my base color & stamped over it with Butter London Knees Up.

With Flash

The stamper and plate were both from BPS & I'll have them linked below.  Of the 2 recent stampers I purchased from them, this one seems to work better for me. 

Stamper  |  Plate 

This was pretty quick and easy to do.  I absolutely LOVE it.  

Zoya - Seashells Pixie Dust Collection - Summer 2016

*Press Sample*

Hey y'all!  Today I have the last collection that I received during my blogging hiatus & wanted to share it with y'all.  I know it's late, but better late than never.  This is the Seashells collection that was released over the summer.  

I only needed 2 coats for all of these, and since they're pixie dusts I didn't use a top coat.  They always dry pretty quickly too.

Tilly - Can be best described as a starry grey with small holographic glitter interwoven with a darker gunmetal - It's so sparkly that the camera didn't really want to pick it up.  The gunmetal glitters look almost blue.  My favorite out of the collection.  

Levi - Can be best described as a beige gold with medium holographic hex glitter - I totally didn't expect to like this as much as I did, but I think the holo sparkle in it won me over.  

Zooey - Can be best described as a classic pink laced with gold & medium hex holo glitters - It's like a tulip pink with a dash of gold glitter.  So pretty.  

Cece - Can be best described as a full impact green with a thin vein of gold - The depth of green in this looks like there's multiple shades and the gold just adds to it.

Linds - Can be best described as a cherry red with red and fuchsia glitters - I noticed a slight bit of gold in this too that doesn't seem to translate too much onto the nail.  This one also looks kinda wet even when it's dry.  Definitely a winner.  

Bay - Can be best described as a sky blue with fine silver and gold glitter - This blue is frosty, and reminds me of Frozen.  

While I liked all of these, even though I'm not really THAT huge of a fan of texture, these shades give off more Winter vibes than they do Summer vibes.  Is it just me?

These are currently available on Zoya.com for $10ea.

Red/Black/Silver Football Colors Mani

Hey y'all!  As today is my birthday I thought I would share a favorite mani that I recently did.  It incorporates the colors from both of my fav football teams, the Atlanta Falcons and the Georgia Bulldogs. This could really work for any team with those colors, or you could change it up to suit your colors.

I wanted to do something with the 3 colors that would be different than I have done before.  I am horrible at stamping, so I decided to try marble stamping.  And this is how it turned out.

The base colors for the index and ring fingers are Sally Hansen Silver Sweep with Make Up Store Greta over top, while the base for the middle and pinky fingers is OPI Coca-Cola Red.

For the ring finger I went a little basic.  With the stripes down the sides of pants, I did a somewhat thick stripe of red with Wet N Wild Black Creme on each side. It left most of the holo open and easy to see.

Then for the rest of the nails I used a marble stamping technique using OPI Coca-Cola Red, Wet N Wild Black Creme, Sally Hansen Silver Sweep, and Make Up Store Greta.

I wasn't 100% perfect at it, but I did get it to transfer in spots and made it look different.

Messy, but pretty....at least I think so.

I really hated taking these off when it was time, and definitely plan to try to perfect this technique.

China Glaze - Rebel - Fall 2016

**Press Sample**

Hey y'all!  Today I finally have the fall collection ready to show y'all.  Rebel was inspired by the 90's and has an interesting mix of shades and finishes.  Not to mention the names.  Half the time, some of us will purchase polishes just for the name itself.  So I'm going to get right to it, and as usual I used Seche Vite as my top coat.

I have some mixed feelings on this collection.  I definitely have some favorites though.

Fresh Prince-ss - 2 coats - Baby doll dress pink creme - Pastel pink cream.  Easy to apply and pretty, but this makes me think spring rather than fall.  

Dope Taupe - 2 coats - Almond taupe cream - This looks more grey-ish purple taupe to me.  I used this as a base color for my Halloween mani and it worked well.  I don't really think fall with this shade either, but I like it.

Pearl Jammin - 3 coats - Chic gray opalescent - This looks more blue based opalescent to me.  It's super sheer with a rosey gold shimmer. It would be better layered over a base. 

Y'all Red-y For This - 2 coats - Red shimmer - This is a pretty opaque red with pink shimmers.  It could easily be a 1 coat application.

Jagged Little Teal - 2 coats - Vampy teal creme - My camera picked up more of the blue in this than the green, but this is a dusky blue toned teal cream.  

Combat Blue-ts - 2 coats - Bad ass matte blue - A matte cobalt blue with shimmer.  Application on this is definitely more tricky than any matte I've used before.  When left matte, the shimmer is hidden.  It's only when you apply a top coat that the shimmer appears.  I really like this one both ways.

Holo At Ya Girl - 3 coats - green-gold holographic glitter - I did 1 coat over Combat Blue-ts and 3 coats alone on my ring finger.  Sadly I didn't use the glitter sponge application for this so that may have cut the amount used down.  It's a clear base, but the glitters look more gold with a green/blue. I see nothing holographic about them either.  Definitely not a favorite.

Purple Fiction - 2 coats - Royal metallic plum - Definitely a metallic purple, but there's some purple/pink shimmer in there to give it something else.  Love it, and of course the name too.

Heroine Chic - 2 coats - sultry chocolate creme with flecks of red shimmer - I definitely don't see chocolate creme in this, or red.  To me, it looks more like a charcoal brown with pink flecks of shimmer.  Maybe it's just me?  

Don't Mesh With Me - 4 coats - Lavender shimmer - This is a clear base full of just purple and pink shimmers.  It's almost like a duochrome shimmer & would look great layered over something else.

Blue-Ya! - 2 coats - Sapphire blue shimmer - This has that deep cobalt blue jelly-like base full of blue & teal green shimmer.  The shimmer sticks out a little more in person.

Teen Spirit - 2 coats - Deep inky blue-black with metallic flecks - This looks more, to me, like a deep, almost black, purple base with purple, blue, and maybe some pink shimmers in there.  It was definitely hard to photograph. 

I think Combat Blue-ts and Purple Fiction are my 2 fav's.  What about you?

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