Día de los Muertos

Cara's Nails

November 1st and 2nd are the celebration of The Day of The Dead. I am in love with the imagery of this holiday. The bright colors, sugar skulls, marigolds, and butterflies are just so amazing!!In celebration I have this Dia de los Muertos manicure showing off my favorite symbols of this holiday. 

The marigold bases are China Glaze's Happy Go Lucky. The red marigold is China Glaze's Salsa and the orange marigold and monarch butterfly is Ulta Professional's Sun of a Gun (my most favorite fall orange). 

It's a Monster Mash!!

Cara's Nails

Happy Halloween everybody! I had all these great ideas for Halloween nails that I was so excited about! Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy decided to mess with my plans and leave me without electricity for a few days. And painting your nails by candle light is just not a smart idea. So as a result, I decided to mix all my monster ideas into this Monster Mash. Enjoy!

All the white is White On by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. The mummy base coat is Essie's Master Plan. The Frankenstein face is Ulta's The Jungle Look and all the black details are Wet n' Wild's Ebony Hates Chris.

Happy Halloween!!

Kate's Nails 

Here on the east coast we've been dealing with Hurricane Sandy for the past few days, so I haven't been doing as many Halloween manicures as I would have liked!  I made sure I had some done for today, though!  The base of the drip nails was done in Wet N Wild's Rest in Pieces, which is black with a subtle purple glitter.  The drips are Sally Hansen's Lickety-Split Lime.  The pumpkin nail uses Sally Hansen's Sun Kissed and Going Green, as well as Liquid Leather by China Glaze.  

I hope everyone has a happy Halloween!!

Stormy Skies

Cara's Nails

What is a girl to do while waiting around for "frankenstorm" Sandy to hit? Why she creates a manicure to commemorate the occasion of course!! I was inspired by the dark clouds looming over head as we all wait for Hurricane Sandy to hit. 

I sponged layers of Wet n' Wild Eboni Hates Chris, Ulta Professionals Concrete Evidence, Zoya Kelly, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On over a base coat of Butter London Blagger. The hurricane accent nail is White On over a coat of Blagger.

 Hoping for everyone to have a safe couple of days while we wait out this 

frankenstorm !!!

Spider Webs

Cara's nails

Halloween is right around the corner and I realized I have yet to do a true Halloween manicure! I have been seeing a lot of of spider web manicures and I thought I'd try one out. I created the spider webs using Wet n' Wild Fast Dry Eboni Hates Chris as a base coat.Using a white nail paint, I streaked white lines over a thick coat of the black. I used the drag marbling technique to create the spiderweb pattern. The accent nail is a nameless thick orange glitter. I found this glitter in a pack with other great glitters at Rite Aid for super cheap.These came out a little messier than I pictured in my head. But for a first try I think it isn't half bad. 

Keep checking back for more Halloween inspired nail art from me and Kate!!

By the power of Greyskull!!

You know... because my nails are grey.. with a skull on them.. He-man? Anyone?

 

In continuing with Halloween nails, I wanted to use some of the great Halloween stamping plates I have.  The skull is from Bundle Monster's plate BM-211.  The grey is Ulta's Concrete Evidence, and the black and silver flakes are Ninja Vs. Pirate by Nail Pattern Boldness. 

 

 



Nighttime Forest Nails (and tutorial!)

Kate's Nails

I'm a little behind on starting with the Halloween nails! I've seen a lot of great designs this year, but I didn't quite know where to start.  I didn't want to start with a typical pumpkin, ghost, or spider manicure.  Then I came up with this idea.  It's not a typical Halloween design, but I really like it none the less!

 

 

And, because it's Saturday, and I don't feel like cleaning and doing errands, I decided to do a photo tutorial for these nails.  Enjoy!

These are the polishes I used.  I'll give the names when I use them in the steps, but here are the general list of what you need:

Base coat, top coat, black, yellow, orange, blue, purple, navy, a makeup sponge

 

First, paint a thin coat of yellow on the nails that your trees will be on.  This yellow coat doesn't have to be even or pretty, since it's going to be almost entirely covered up.  I used Ulta's Sun-Sational

 

On the nail where your moon will be, paint two coats of your navy polish.  I used Natty by Zoya.

 

With your orange polish (I used Big Daddy by Sinful Colors), sponge a line across your nail.  Leave the tip un-colored.

 

With your blue, sponge a line just above the orange.  I used Pacific Blue from Sally Hansen for this step. 

 

I then sponged Grape Going! by Sally Hansen over the entire nail.  This purple/blue duochrome color is very thin, so it's not too noticeable, but added a nice dimension to the colors. 

 

While those colors are drying, paint on your moon.  I used two coats, but made sure it was not opaque in some places so that it had more depth to it.

 

Then, use your navy blue polish to sponge on a pretty thick coat on the rest of the nail.  I ended up having to do this twice to get good coverage. 

 

Your nails will be a sloppy mess at this point, but that's ok!  Use your black polish (China Glaze's Liquid Leather ) to paint a bird flying across the moon.

 

Then paint the ground across the tip of the other nails.

 

 

Paint on the trunks of all your trees.  Have them be all different heights.

 

Then paint branches on all your trees.  Make them different shapes and sizes.

 

Clean up your nails with some acetone and an angled brush.  Apply top coat and you're all done!  I ended up using a matte top coat on these, and really like the results.  If you end up trying this design, send us a picture!!



Nail Pattern Boldness - Ninja Vs. Pirate

Kate's Nails

 

Recently I've been on the hunt for a black glitter top coat.  I couldn't find what I wanted in any store, so I decided to try the indie polish route.  I had never bought an indie polish before, but had seen some gorgeous glitter polishes on other blogs.  I headed over to Etsy, but couldn't find what I was looking for (I'm not entirely sure what I want, but I'll know it when I see it!).  However, I did stumble across this fun polish from Nail Pattern Boldness.  It wasn't what I was searching for, but it was too unique to pass up.  Ninja Vs. Pirate is flakes of black and silver glitter in a clear base. 

 

Isn't it pretty??

 

I decided to layer it over Caitlin by Zoya, with an accent nail of Essie's Lilacism.  I did have to do a bit of dabbing to get even glitter coverage, but it was not a pain to work with.  There were a few pieces of glitter that refused to lay flat, but after two coats of Seche Vite you could barely tell.  I'm really happy with the results!  I even got a compliment from one of the women working at Ulta today.  I can certainly see myself using this polish a lot.  It's an easy way to add some excitement to your nails with little effort.

 

I was curious to see how it would look over other,  brighter, colors.  So here is Ninja Vs. Pirate layered over:

Sally Hansen Sun Kissed

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

Essie Bachelorette Bash

Essie Mojito Madness

I'll be wearing the orange combo near Halloween, for sure!

Here it is with a coat of Sephora's Matte Top Coat.  It doesn't make a huge difference, but is fun none the less!

 

So what do you think of my first indie polish purchase??

 HERE is the link to the Nail Pattern Boldness store on Etsy.



Pink Monday #4!

Pink Monday Nails

We're continuing on with our weekly Pink Monday nails in support of Breast Cancer awareness.  You can check out our previous Pink Monday nails HERE

Kate's Nails

I took advantage of the recent Butter London sale at Ulta, and picked up this gorgeous pink glitter, Rosie Lee.  I was able to get the glitter opaque in four light coats.  The nude pink is OPI's My Very First Knockwurst.  I did the V-Gaps by taping off triangles and painting on three quick coats of Rosie Lee.

In shade

Indoor light

Cara's Nails

I had a hard time choosing a pattern for this monday's mani so instead I decided on a pink mash up. The pinks I used here are Presto Pink from Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and Dana from Zoya. The glitter nail is three coats of Rosie Lee from Butter London. The chevrons are painted using Presto Pink and a striping brush over a base coat of Metallic from Revlon Top Speed. 

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 7 - Maryland Pride

Kate's Nails

This week the Ravens are in Houston to take on the Texans.  It's going to be a rough week (and season!) without Ray Lewis and Lardarius Webb, but I'm hopeful that the Ravens will bring home a win!

This week's nails are showing off some Maryland pride.  I've done Maryland flag nails before (in the pre-blog days), and always love how they look.  I've found that people either love the Maryland flag or they hate it (especially after the University of Maryland put out their awesome Maryland pride uniforms).  I love the flag, and love how nice it looks on my nails!

Polishes Used:

Milani White on the Spot

Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober

Wet N Wild Red Red

Wet N Wild The Wonder Yellows

China Glaze Liquid Leather

Butter Teetotal



Pumpkin Half Moons

Cara's Nails

I went "punkin hunting" today and am preparing to spend the rest of tonight carving up my cool green Cinderella pumpkin while stuffing my face with kettle corn. I had this pumpkin half moon manicure floating around in my head as soon as I woke up this morning. I loved the idea of doing half moons but did not think it all the way through. I had the hardest time photographing these but I think they turned out pretty great. 

I used two coats of Ulta Sun of a Gun for the pumpkin half moons. The background is Teeltotal from Butter London and the vines are Going Green from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. The accent nail is Sinful Colors Serena and Chloe.

October Birchbox

Today I have a non-nail related post for you.  I recently signed up for Birchbox, and thought I would share a review of the samples I got in this month's box.  If you're not familiar with Birchbox, here's how it works.  For $10 a month, they send you a box with about 5-6 samples of high end beauty products.  It's fun to try new products that you normally wouldn't buy, and it's nice to get a little treat in the mail once a month!  Last month was my first month, and I got fun things like an exclusive nail polish (which the Polishaholic swatched today, strangely enough.  Check it out HERE), a makeup bag, perfume, and face cleanser.  This month I didn't get any nail polish (sad..), but I did get some other great samples.

First up is the Lip Enhancer by Jouer.  Those of you that know me know that I am completely addicted to Softlips.  I'm hesitant to try other lip products, because none can compare, in my mind.  But this lip enhancer was surprisingly good.  It won't replace my Softlips, but I liked it none the less.  It wasn't sticky or waxy at all.

 

Next is Viva la Juicy La Fleur by Juicy Couture.  I'm pretty picky about my perfumes.  I don't like very "girly" or floral scents - I prefer fresh, clean, light fragrances.  La Fleur is a little too flowery for my tastes, but I don't hate it. 

 

Mary-Lou Manizer by theBalm cosmetics is a "highlighter, shadow, and all-over shimmer".  I have to play with this more to figure out how to best use it.  So far I have dabbed a bit on the inside corner of my eyes and it definitely brightens my eyes.  This came with a card that explains other uses for it, so I'll have to try some of them out.

 

My favorite product from this month's box are the Pro:Vitamins A15 and C10 from Vitivia.  They are single use caplets that you smooth onto your face at night and in the morning.  I have been using them for a few days.  I can already tell that my skin feels softer, and just nice.  I guess there's a reason these are $55 for a full sized product!!

 

Last up is the LUNA protein bar.  I got it in the Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor.  Nothing to rave about, but it was decent and kept me full for a little while.

 

 

If you're interested in signing up for Birchbox, you can use this link:

https://www.birchbox.com?raf=xdgbr

 





Paris Skyline Nails

Kate's Nails

I felt like doing some French-themed nails this week, and came up with the idea of painting some of the Paris skyline (and really, as a French teacher, I'm surprised I'm just thinking of this one now!).  My nails are pretty small, so I couldn't fit as much on there as I wanted to, but I'm pleased with how these turned out.  The base is two coats of London Beat from the LCN Urban Expression collection, and the skyline was painted with black acrylic paint.  I topped it off with a coat of Sephora by OPI's Matte Top Coat. 

 

 

 

 



Spun Sugar Accent Nail

Kate's Nails

 

I've seen a lot of these "spun sugar" nails on the blogs lately, and wanted to try them out.  After watching a few tutorial videos and picking out my colors, I got down to business.  Basically, to do these nails you stir a blob of polish with a toothpick until it's almost dry.  It becomes very stringy, and then you use the toothpick to lay the strings on your nail.  It took a few tries to get it right, but I finally got the hang of it.  I definitely plan on trying this look again in other colors.  I topped these off with a coat of Seche Vite, which unfortunately took away from the neat texture of these.  I would leave them without a topcoat next time (as long as I have enough time to let them dry!)

 

Polishes Used:

Ulta Joined at the Hippo

Butter Dodgy Barnett

Sally Hansen Fairy Teal

Pink Monday - Pink Dots for Breast Cancer

Kate's Nails

 

Welcome to week two of Pink Monday!! Every Monday in October, Cara and I are showing our support for breast cancer awareness by doing pink nails.  You can check out our previous Pink Monday Manis here, here, and here.

 

This week I wanted to do some dots in various shades of pink.  My original plan was to dot the whole nail in progressively darker shades.  However, once I did two shades, I really liked how it looked, and decided to keep it like that.  This is a simple design that would look great in other color schemes as well.

 

Do you have a Pink Monday Manicure to share with us?  E-mail a pic of your pink nails to MiscManis@gmail.com so we can share it!!

 

Polishes Used:

Essie Bachelorette Bash

Confetti Dance Party Pink

Zoya Jolene

 



Fall Stripes

Cara's Nails

Today's nails were inspired by the beautiful autumn weather and my latest splurge at Ulta!  The base color is Sun of a Gun from Ulta's own nail polish line. This is a great burnt orange color. Perfect for the Fall!!  The accent nail is a base of Teetotal from Butter London with stripes of a bronze polish from Cos Bar. The stripes are made up of Teetotal, White On from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear and Cinna-Snap from Sally Hansen Insta- Dri. I like this mani for the warm color palette as well as the retro feel. Don't you think something about these colors striped together gives it a sort of 60's vibe?

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 6 - Glitter Gradient

Kate's Nails

This week the Ravens take on the Cowboys.  This is a home game, and I hope we can keep up our winning streak at home!  This week, M&T Bank Stadium was ranked by ESPN as the most difficult venue for a visiting team to play!

For this week's nails, I attempted a glitter gradient.  I usually stay away from gradient nails, because I'm really terrible at them.  These ones turned out much better than I thought they would.  Milani has some amazing one coat glitters, and their purple glitter made this design much easier than I had expected.  I wish my camera could have gotten a better picture!

Polishes Used:

China Glaze Liquid Leather

Milani Purple Gleam

Milani White on the Spot

Butter London Teetotal



Pink Monday: Ruffle Manicure for Breast Cancer

Kate's Nails

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Miscellaneous Manicures will be doing Pink Mondays for the rest of October! Every Monday we will feature one or two manicures dedicated the the lovely color of pink. You can check out Cara's first Pink Monday manicure here, and Cara's design for this week here. If you have any suggestions for future Pink Mondays, please leave us a comment!

 

For this week, I did a ruffle manicure.  I love this design, because it is so easy to do, yet it makes a big impact.  You can check out my previous attempt at a ruffle manicure here.  I did the ruffles with a large dotting tool, and painted the ribbon with a medium striping brush. 

Polishes Used:

Milani White on the Spot

Essie Bachelorette Bash

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Coral Reef

Zoya Mia

Zoya Jolene

 

Pink Monday: Cheetah for Breast Cancer

Cara's Nails

In honor of Breast Caner Awareness Month  Miscellaneous Manicures will be doing Pink Mondays for the rest of October! Every monday we will feature one, maybe two manicures dedicated the the lovely color of pink. You can check out the first pink monday manicure here. If you have any suggestions for future Pink Mondays, please leave us a comment.

Today's monday mani features a base coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Coral Reef. I stamped the cheetah pattern using Wet n Wild Fast Dry Ebony Hates Chris. I just want to mention how great of a stamping polish this is. I have bought several black polishes over the last few weeks in hopes of finding something that will stamp a true black as opposed to a dark grayish color. So far, I am quite pleased with this one. Using a dotting tool, I finished off the cheetah pattern by dotting Zoya Dana into the print. 

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 5 - Captain Dee-Fense

Kate's Nails

This week the Ravens take on the Kansan City Chiefs.  My nail art this week is inspired by Ravens super-fan, Captain Dee-Fense.  A "Hall of Fans" inductee, Captain Dee-Fense is probably the most dedicated Ravens fan out there!  You can see him at every Ravens game and most Ravens events decked out in his signature outfit.  Here is a picture of my friend Becky and I with Captain Dee-Fense back in 2009 at "A Purple Evening" (ladies night at the Ravens stadium)

 

 

And here are my nails!

Polishes Used:

Ulta Concrete Evidence

China Glaze Liquid Leather

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Milani White on the Spot

Butter London Teetotal

Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober

 



Colorblocked Triangles

Kate's Nails

 

THESE NAILS are one of the first nail art designs I pinned when I first joined Pinterest.  In looking through my board for inspiration, I couldn't believe that I hadn't tried them before!  There is a tutorial for these nails, but it seemed like it would take too long, and I was trying to get to bed before midnight.  So I just took a piece of tape, cut it diagonally (so I was left with two triangles), put it on my nails that I had painted different colors, and then used the other colors to paint around the tape.  Super easy, and I really like how they turned out.  I will be trying these in other color combinations in the future!

 

If you are on Pinterest and want to follow my nails boards, I have two of them.  The first is my Nail Inspiration board, and the second is my own nail art.

http://pinterest.com/kmb3883/nail-inspiration/

http://pinterest.com/kmb3883/my-nail-art/

 

Polishes Used:

Ulta Concrete Evidence

Essie No Place Like Chrome

China Glaze Traffic Jam

Zoya Natty



Pink Ribbon Nails

Cara's Nails

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! I created this pink mani with a combination of gradient and sparkles. The gradient is Sinful Colors Soul Mate and Zoya Dana. My pointer finger is Soul Mate with a top coat of the super sparkly Diamonds from Sally Hansen Diamond Strength. The ribbon is Dana with a Diamonds top coat over a base of White On by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear. 

This is a subject very close to my heart. I happen to know several breast cancer survivors. The is a great month to donate to a great cause! You can check out a bunch of great website where proceeds go towards the cause. Here are two of my faves. 

Save The Tatas

Keep a Breast

Always make sure you "Think Before You Pink." Know where your donations are going. Just becasue it's pink doesn't mean it's a donation!