Christmas Simples 2018: Christmas Bows + Tutorial!

Press Sample

Purchased by Me

Happy day stamp champs,

Who's excited for Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Small Business Saturday & Christmas?  I'm trying to get amped up.  Obviously I didn't get to post much of my Halloween nail art despite creating a lot of it so be prepared as the month rolls onward to see some untimely spooky nail art lol.  I've just decided there's no point to being super stringent on myself and these timelines.  I have to work with a body that is adjusting to things and in many ways in still unbelievably ill.  The week before last  I even had surgery which sort of threw me into another health tailspin.  So I'm just going to post as I will for whatever holiday.  And as it happens I'm starting anew with Christmas.  This mani I'm sharing was actually going to be a 4 part video tutorial of Christmas Simples.  However that kind of mega post & video edit requires some serious stamina which I am severely lacking.  Instead I'm going to break them apart and post them a solo.   Let's start with UberChic Beauty who I have the very real pleasure of working with.

My Favorite Nail Art Stamping Plates for Christmas 2017!

Hiya stamperistas,

Nothing To Disclose

Happy post thanksgiving dolls I apologize for the delay in this post I had an unexpected hospitalization sigh but I'm back!  Now its time for my annual favorites of Christmas.  I say annual but y'all know I'm hit or miss on that jazz.   Here's my first post cataloging all my Xmas favorites. Lets talk about how Christmas is my favorite holiday of all time!  I love the lights, the scarves, the warmth of hot cider and yummy apple brandy, and of course the smell of pine needles and spiced candles is everywhere.  For me its an irresistible combination.  Its been love at first sight for years now. As such every year when new stamping plates release I realize that love all over again and I want to share it with you today so get ready!

First up and in no particular order....

Christmas 2016: Moyra Plaid Simples + Tutorial

Hey darlings,

Purchased by Me

Here comes some Christmas nail art! How has everyone been? This year has been so hectic as usual I never get to do as much nail art as I want to around the holidays, but I have to admit I'm feeling these plaid simples.  Easy if you have a clear stamper which most of us do and red, white, and green polish.

Christmas Simples: Sugar Bubbles Holographic Snowflakes + Tutorial

Hey stamperistas,

This is the simplest of Simples.  Lol actually all my Simples have been just that easy one or two step creations that are pretty, festive, and give you plenty of time to do more important things than painting your nails.  Though let's be honest nothing is more important than painting your nails except stamping your nails wink wink nudge nudge.  After all the gift looks better when its wrapped up by pretty looking hands lolol ;)  You see how I use these excuses to get away with nonsense of the best kind yes?

Christmas 2015: Holographic Snowflakes and Candy Cane Swirls + Tutorial

Hey stamp champs,

As ever every year I don't get to do nearly enough Christmas nail art.  I wanted to do so much more this season and look its already the 22th! Gah!  This might be the most productive I've been over the christmas season.  Lots of tutorials - I've shot more than I've released so hopefully I'll be able to get a few more up before the holiday season ends.  However today I'm doing another MoYou London nail art using their Festive plates this time.  Honestly Festive 03 gets a heavy workout from me every season - namely because the patterns on this plate are so freaking classic!  That swirl for the candy cane gets me every time however todays mani is definitely not the classic mint twist you might be expecting.  Please definitely tell me what you think in this alternative take in the comments below!

Hot Off The Stamping Press: New Chez Delaney Christmas/Holiday Nail Art Stamping Plates!

Yo stamperistas,

Another press release post today.  Honestly these plates are super adorable, but likely will not make it to you in time to do any holiday nail art unless you are in the EU.  Still I wanted to share these beautiful plates from Chez Delaney along with her adorably fat Santas.

Christmas Simples: MoYou London Candy Cane Swirl Nail Art + Tutorial!

Hiya stamperistas,

How is everyone's weekend? It's amazingly warm here in mid December on the east coast which pretty much means the end of days is coming, but it also means the weather is utterly decadent!  I don't know whether to be happy or scared.  Lol in either case it doesn't really feel like winter however we are moving on with the Christmas Simples series.  This time candy canes.  I actually had another one planned, but they popped off before I could get photos :/  In any case candy canes are classic and cute for christmas nail art.  This time I created them using a twist of the Illusions Collections rather than a straight out candy cane plate.

Christmas 2015 Simples: OPI Snowflakes Wrapping Paper Inspired Nail Art + Tutorial

Ho ho ho,

Tis the season and all that jazz! For the last several years I haven't been able to do nearly as many nail art looks for Christmas as I have wanted to.  It's been pretty disappointing because I'm such a fan of this holiday, and of all the many many plates I own  Christmas is probably the one theme I own the most type of plates from across my entire collection.  I'm a bit helplessly drawn to these plates.  So this year I decided even if I can't do a bunch of my mega complex manis I'm definitely going to fit in more Christmas nail art magic this year.  One way is by doing what I call simples and for the first time I wanted to create a holiday playlist on my Youtube channel to go along with the art.

Hot Off The Stamping Press: Bundle Monster Occassions Christmas Holiday Nail Art Stamping Plates!

Hey stamperistas,

Happy Monday dears! Just another plate press release for you today :)  I always feel like right at the bottom of the year platemakers go crazy.  Lol releasing lots of holiday and new years related plates. Then we get a tiny little lull and it goes crazy again around spring.  Today I have the latest holiday plates from Bundle Monster from their Occasions Collection along with a discount code you can use, but more on that later first lets take a look at the goods!

Like the last Occasions Collection this one is also a 10 plate set.

Hot Off The Stamping Press: UberChic Beauty Collection 6 and Christmas Nail Art Stamping Plates!

Hey stamp champs,

Always new plates on the horizon! Today I'm just doing a little catch up in the plate press department hence the double post.  This post will be on Uberchic Beauty' latest release.  We all know this company is has been dropping plates like its hot for a while now lol.  So as usual here are a few more of Brittany's marvelous creations coming right off the press.  I'm going to start with Collection 6 and show you the Christmas plate last ;)

Let's get this party started!

Hot Off The Stamping Press: Cici & Sisi 2016 Christmas Nail Art Stamping Plate!

Hey stamperistas,

The holiday season is quickly approaching and with it comes a full assortment of Christmas themed plates and New Years cheer.  You may recall I posted about the Cici & Sisi holiday plate that released last year here.  I ended up buying it, but of course I got it after Christmas using a gift card received for the holidays.  Lol as such its sitting pretty in my collection unused until now.  Would you like a review of this plate?  Let me know! For now I'm going to show you this years version though I have no idea why they decided to label it as the 2016 plate when last year was labelled 2014 and it is Christmas 2015 but whatever.  Let's take a look!

Here's their promo shot.  I think its really pretty with all the red and white! Shout out to my stamping bestie Yvette for drawing my attention to the newest plate <3  The theme for this year is Happy Reindeer.

Christmas 2014: Merry Christmas!

Ho ho ho stamp champs,


Merry Christmas for those of you that celebrate and happy holidays to the rest!  I'm keeping in short and sweet today I just wanted to show off my Christmas Day nail art! Another complex one full of layerings upon layerings and loads of advanced stamping.  Not easy nor for the faint of heart but I'm loving how it turned out!

Christmas 2014: O Holy Night Nail Art

Welcome back varnished vixens,

Today I want to share some special nail art with you.  I have been dying to create some holy night nail art for years now.  I have failed many times.  Lol of course I never posted them because they were a hot mess, but today I think I succeeded in the craft.  Even if you aren't religious or don't believe in the sabbath everyone can just admire pretty nails!  And to be frank I had several stamping plates that were calling out for me to create this design.  So of course I obliged ;)

Christmas 2014: Candy Canes and Christmas Trees Watermarble Nail Art

Hey lacqueritas,

I'm on a roll with my watermarbles. Lol for whatever reason I'm just really loving them and loving playing around with them.  You guys know I've created watermarbles for Christmas before in fact I'm pretty sure I created a super cute one a year or two ago.  In this case I chose a different red polish and it ended up bleeding into the white polish.  This nearly drove me mad until I realized I kind of liked the effect.  That's when I decided to more a little away from tradition and add a bit of pink to the mix ;)

Favorite Nail Art Stamping Plates For Christmas!

Hey stamp champs,

I know a lot of you liked the post I did for my favorite nail art stamping plates for Halloween.  So I decided to go ahead and do one for all the holidays from now on :)  Hell maybe I'll even do it seasonally since I have borderline personality disorder when it comes to my stamping plates and switch my favorites up all the time :) So today we are going to talk about Christmas.  I know a lot of my followers are from all over the globe and from many different backgrounds so if you don't celebrate the holiday at least you get to look at lots of pretty plates, and hey at the end of the day you know I'm all about the nail art stamping plate swag!

I'm starting with the newer plates because my brain is just built like that I always recall what I am lusting for the most first and then go down stream ;) You can buy Pet'la plates here.

Christmas 2014: Gliterring Holiday Abstracts

Hey lacquer ladies,

I should be giving you all a lot more holiday nail art now that December has started and I promise I will starting today.  Lol I have been a touch distracted by all the neons and watermarbles.  Hehe! I will bring you a few more posts like that as well, but let's kick off the holiday season with my first mani directed at Christmas though it is totally non traditional.  Go figure ;)  I love glitter and I love holographics.  This that sparkle and glimmer are what the holiday is all about at least for me so today I created something just that.  So sparkly you can't look away...

MoYou London Candy Cane Nail Art

Happy holidays lacquer ladies,

It's getting to be a bit of tradition that I break out candy cane nail art.  Last year I did it with watermarbles, but this year I have lots of cool plates featuring candy cane-eque imagery that I wanted to try.  If you follow me on instagram you know I just got the other half of my MoYou London stamping plate order from way back in October and it has the Festive Collection plates that I adore.  There are literally candy canes everywhere so I could resist taking some of my holiday plates for a late spin.

Mani-louge

Base coat/Top coat: CND Stickey & Poshe Fast Drying Top coat

Basecolor: Wet N' While A Blank Canvas

Stamping polishes: Konad Special Polish in Red and Personal Accents Hunter

Stamping plate: MoYou London Festive 03

One this I have always loved are the candy canes with the multiple stripes of color that's what I modeled my watermarble last year, but this time I just wanted to stick with traditional swirls and stripes mimicking the classic candy canes that abound around this season!

So thoughts? This mani is pretty easy and straight forward taking me roughly 15 minutes to polish and complete, and because it is so simple I got a lot of compliments on this one.  Winning when you are rushing around during the holiday season!  You can check out the festive plates here.  In all honesty they are worth getting even if you are preparing for next year so you won't be like me rushing to fit in all of the mani's I want to see on my nails before Christmas is gone or until July when I have some fun plans.  In any case thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next post!

Liquid Sky Lacquer Sleigh Me and Ever Green Christmas Nail Art

Happy holidays lacquer ladies,

Today I'm back with some Liquid Sky Lacquer holiday polishes and Apipila Cosmeticos nail art!  I've actually had the holiday holographic trio by Liquid Sky Lacquer since the end of November, but I haven't had a chance to capture their beauty until just now.  Honestly I think you all know by now I love every single polish Carolyn makes particularly her holographics.  They are intense and gorgeous, but I bet you didn't know that I have been in search of the perfect arterial blood red holographic polish for a very long time.  While I'm still waiting for it I have to admit Sleigh Me is a nice step in the right direction ;)

Mani-louge

Base coat/Top coat:  CND Stickey & Sally Hansen Diamond Flash

Base Colors: Liquid Sky Lacquer Sleigh Me and Ever Green

Stamping Polish: Konad Special Polish in White, Essie No Place Like Chrome,

Stamping plates: Apipila 05

This mani is pretty straight forward. It was quick and easy with the right amount of Christmas cheer.  I have to say I have neglected this Apipila plate for far to long.  It's probably one of the best Christmas plates I have and to be honest a lot of plates that have come out recently have only just started creating themes that Apipila has been creating for a while now.  It's probably too late to pick up this plate for Christmas mani's but it does also have some New Years themes that might be nice. 

You can buy your Apipila plates here and as to the oh-so-stunning holographics snap them up here after all there is no such thing as too much red or green polish in my universe.  However Carolyn's shop won't be open again until the 28th so plan accordingly. Thanks so much for reading and see you next post!

Making CrowsMas I Mean Christmas...

Hello polished prisoners,

I have been gone far too long I know it!  Life has been kicking my ass! Yup literally and figuratively I suddenly very poignantly understand the phrase "everything that matters just breaks in two".  Well I can only push forward the same as ever polishing my nails and hoping for the best.  Well striving for my best...so it's basically almost Christmas around these parts.  I wanted to do a 7 days of  CrowsToes Christmas but I'm thinking of doing something a more gurilla style to pay homage instead.  So let's start the show...

Mani-louge 

Base coat/topcoat: CND Stickey & Poshe Fast Drying Topcoat

Base color: OPI Big Apple Red and IMN Northern Lights in Silver

Glitter accents: CrowsToes Making Christmas

Stamping polishes: China Glaze Passion and Millennium and Konad Special White

Stamping plates: Sugar Bubbles Special 01 & Special 02

CrowsToes Making Christmas is a sinful mix of green, red, and silver microglitters.  It spreads like a mother..ahem it spreads awesomely ;) Let me tell you something.  I am in a lusty like relationship with my CrowsToes polishes.  People who complain about the formula or the density of these polishes have surely not let their beauty touch their souls, aside from which I have never had any such problems, but oh well maybe I'm biased by all the the brilliance.  Lauri is a freaking genius! There hasn't been a single polish that I've seen by her that hasn't sparked a covetous grinch like desire within me.  Also for the sake of full disclosure I purchased all of these polishes myself so I have zip to gain from singing their praises.

Sugar Bubbles.  Tamira why have you not mentioned this brand before? Eh cause its a new and happening Brazilian indie plate maker who recently stole all of my freaking heart.  Love at first stamp? You betcha.  I will throw a quick review together tomorrow of what I got from her so far but for now you can check my nail art supplies tab for the downlow.

So here we are Making Christmas with Crowstoes.  I love everything about this mani but all good things must end as I have so much more to show you.  CrowsToes polishes can be purchased at either Llarowe or Overall Beauty, and Sugar Bubble can be found here.  Thanks for reading and toodles!

Candy Cane Lane...feat Essie She's Pampered

Hiya lacquer ladies,

Yesterday when I went to my job everything was so festively decorated with candy canes, wreaths, and poinsettias everywhere!  I was even given a poinsettia though it's on its deathbed from not being watered over the weekend.  Hopefully I'll be able to revive it any and all tips and tricks for working with a dessicated plant will  be appreciated ;)  Anyhoo I saw all the little candy canes everywhere and thought...water marble please!

Yum I love the mixed candy canes...

Mani-louge

Base: Confetti Wedding White

Marble: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Going Green & Essie She's Pampered, Out the Door Top Coat

Accent Nail: Essie Beyond Cozy

Does anyone else really love the wintergreen mix candy canes?  I love them to death! I don't like peppermint ones though at least not candy canes I love barrel mints though :)  So thoughts - totally Christmasy right? And so the holiday manicures continues...Thanks so much for reading and see you next post!  Toodles...