Happy New Year!

Kate's Nails 

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!! I hope that everyone has fun ringing in 2013 tonight.  I'll be headed out in a little while to welcome 2013 with good friends, and I had to do some fun nails for the occasion.  Prior to these nails, I had never tried nail stickers, or wraps, or whatever you want to call them.  I always figured that I could create those designs myself, so why spend the money?  But then I saw this Minx set on sale for $5 (normally $18) at Ulta, and thought they would be perfect for tonight.  They were super easy to use, and seem like they will hold up well.  I used the Minx on my middle and ring fingers.  I used China Glaze's Liquid Leather on my thumb and pinkie, and then I layered a coat of Milani's Gold Glitz over a coat of Essie's Good as Gold on my index finger.  

Looking Back on 2012

This has been a big year for Miscellaneous Manicures!! We launched the blog in April and have cranked out some serious manicures over the past months. Kate and I took a look back through the year  and have compiled (in no particular order) our 12 most favorite manicures of 2012! We are very excited to see what 2013 brings for our fingernails!! Happy New Year!

Click on the titles to link to the original post so you can see what we used and how we created these manicures. 

Fair Isle

Dias de los Muertos

 Pink Cheetah for Breast Cancer

Composition Book

 Maryland Pride

Superman

  Vegas Baby!

 Fireworks

Pattern Mixing with Where's My Chauffeur

 Purple Snowflakes

Rosie Lee Gradient

Annapolis, MD

Do you agree with our choices? What do you think we should have included in our top 12?

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 17 - Liquid Sand

Kate's Nails 

It's the last week of the regular season, and the Ravens are in Cincinnati this week to play the Bengals.

My nails this week feature Can't Let Go from the Liquid Sands collection from OPI.  I didn't expect to see these polishes in stores until after the new year, so I was very surprised when Cara texted to say she saw them in Ulta (and that she picked this one up for me - what a good friend!). This was a two-coater, and the texture is really interesting.  I've never seen any polish like this, and I can't stop looking at it! 

Polishes Used

OPI Can't Let Go

OPI You Don't Know Jacques

Milani White On The Spot

Ulta Little Black Dress

Wintery Silver and Teal

Kate's Nails 

Now that Christmas is over, it's back to regular old manicures.  My nails have been in pretty rough shape lately, thanks to all the holiday glitter polishes I used.  Luckily I got a nice nail care kit for Christmas, so I'll be getting my nails back to normal soon! 

For this manicure I started with three coats of Essie's Where's My Chauffeur?  I then taped off a section, and painted one coat of Essie's No Place Like Chrome.  Then I added the dots with my smallest dotting tool and China Glaze's Liquid Leather.

Fuzzy Snow Manicure

Cara's Nails

This has been a very enjoyable and busy holiday season for me. Unfortunately, I have not had much opportunity to complete all the holiday nail creations I had in mind. I am hoping now that the holidays are dying down I will have plenty of time to get to some winter themed manicures. Here's my latest wintery manicure using white flocking powder. I have had this powder sitting around just waiting for the weather turned cold! I applied the powder over a base of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On. My glitter nail is 3 coats of Sally Hansen Diamonds over White On. I love the fresh snow look the flocking powder creates. I wish this kind of manicure could last a little longer!

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 16 - Purple Snowflakes

Kate's Nails 

Sorry for the late post today - I've been at a family party all day.  Merry Christmas, Ravens Nation!!

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 15 - Fuzzy Purple

Kate's Nails 

The Ravens are back at home this week against the Broncos.  The game starts in 6 minutes, so I don't have a lot to say this week.  Go Ravens!

These nails started with a coat of Wet N Wild's Buffy the Violet Slayer.  I then added top coat, and sprinkled on purple flocking powder (Recollections brand from Michael's).  The football nail was done in OPI's You Don't Know Jacques and Sinful Colors Snow Me White.  The gold is Essie's Good as Gold.

Oh Scribbly Christmas Tree!

Cara's Nails

This weekend was full of festive activities with friends and family!! I thought it was time to try out a holiday manicures since Christmas is really only 8 days away! So here are my scribbly Christmas trees. I used a base coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme wear Red Carpet. This was two coats. My Christmas trees were painted using Ulta The Jungle Look with little sequin tree toppers. My glittery "light" nails are OPI The Living Daylights from the Skyfal1 collection. 

I am having a  difficult time coming up with original holiday designs this year. If you have any suggestions or requests please leave me a comment. Happy Holidays!!

December Birchbox

It's Birchbox time again! If you're wondering what a Birchbox is, or if you want to see previous Birchbox posts, click HERE.  This month's box came with some really good products!

ModelCo SHINE Ultra Lip Gloss:  

After last month's full sized ModelCo mascara, I was surprised to see another full sized product from them this month. This lip gloss has a nice scent, and adds just a touch of color.  There's a mirror right on the lip gloss, which makes for easy application.  The gloss itself is a little thick, but not waxy, which is great.  Two full sized products that I really like in two months. Way to go, ModelCo!

(Full size - $16)

Aerie Shimmer Fragrance:

At first smell, I really liked this fragrance.  It smelled light and fresh, which is what I look for in a fragrance.  However, after a few seconds of smelling, the scent became very heavy. The best way I can describe it is "Old Lady smelling".  Yuck.  (Full Size - $14.95-39.95)

Kérastase Resistance Ciment Thermique - Protect:

This did a nice job of softening my hair.  I blow dry my hair every day, and straighten it regularly, so it was nice to add a little protection from the heat.  It made my dry ends look healthier, and gave my hair a nice texture.  This was a win!

(Full Size - $39)

Benefit Cosmetics It's potent! eye cream:

I haven't been using this product long enough for it to make a difference, but I have high hopes for it.  I have used another product by Benefit (POREfessional) and it did exactly what it promised.  Therefore, I expect the the eye cream will help with my dark circles.  If it does, I will definitely buy it in the future!

(Full Size - $32)

Chuao Chocolatier ChocoPod:

I'm not entirely sure what this was supposed to be.  It said it was a breadcrumb with chocolate and sea salt.  Seemed to me like just a piece of dark chocolate.  And, since I don't like dark chocolate, I did not enjoy it at all.  Oh well.

So there you have it. If you're interested in signing up for Birchbox (or giving a subscription as a Christmas gift!) you can use my referral link here: https://www.birchbox.com?raf=xdgbr

Julep Maven Box

Cara's Nails

Guess who found a Julep Maven box sitting of her doorstep?! This is my first experience with the Julep Maven and I am just so looking forward to seeing what shows up in the next few months! This minty green beauty is called Daphne. My accent nail or "party nail", as I have recently learned from a friend, has a top coat of China Glaze White Cap. 

Gitter Bomb #3

Cara's Nails

Here is my third entry in the Glitter Bomb series. I know it's time I start with the holiday nails but there are just so many glitters left in my collection! I used China Glaze Glistening Snow for today's manicure. This is a beautiful halo silver. It's mesmerizing in certain lights. The chevrons and polka dots are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Red Carpet. This is a sparkly red polish. It was hard not to stare at my nails all day with this manicure!

Fair Isle Nails

Kate's Nails 

I love Fair Isle prints, but have always been hesitant to try them, thinking that I would screw it up pretty badly.  But then I found this  TUTORIAL for a Fair Isle snowflake and decided I needed to give it a try. The snowflake was actually really easy to do! Coming up with a pattern for the other nails was a bit more difficult.  I started with a base of Ruby Pumps from China Glaze.  I'm pretty sure I'll be wearing this color from now until December 26th.  I'm not a big fan of red polishes, but wow.  I can't stop looking at it!  
More wintery/Christmasy/holiday nails to come in the next few weeks!

Polishes Used:

China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Milani White on the Spot

layered under

China Glaze Glistening Snow

White Acrylic Paint

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 14 - Beltway Nails

Kate's Nails

This week the Ravens take on the Redskins in the "Battle of the Beltways".  Since the teams are located so close to each other, this area is pretty equally split between Ravens and Skins fans. 

So for this week's nails, I painted the sign for I-695, which is the Baltimore beltway.  Here's hoping the Ravens win this one, because I don't want to listen to the Skins fans if we lose :-P

Polishes Used:

Spoiled 2 Weeks Sober

Revlon Cherry

Revlon First Class

Milani White on the Spot

Zoya Farah

Butter London Teetotal

Plaid Accent Nail

Kate's Nails

I have always liked the look of plaid nails, but after a horribly botched attempt at them last St. Patrick's day, I haven't given them a try.  But after seeing a bunch of great ones lately, and with the holidays coming up, I wanted to give them another go.  I decided on just an accent nail - baby steps! I really like how this turned out, and I'm sure I'll be doing some holiday plaid in the near future!

Polishes Used:

Zoya Natty

LCN London Beat

Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Revlon Cherry

Glitter Bomb 2!

Cara's Nails

Good morning all! Today I am continuing with my homage to all things glitter!! This glamourous manicure was the perfect addition to the amazing day I had yesterday! I used Essie Set in Stone over a base coat of Ulta Professionals Joined at the Hippo. I love this Essie chunky glitter with its variety of little silver flecks and large hexagonal pieces. It only took one coat to get this beautiful sparkle effect. My accent nail is 3 coats of Set in Stones over a base of Essie Blue Rhapsody for a little extra bling. It is not an easy polish to photograph unfortunately. I wanted to make sure to really capture the glamour of this glitter. Amazingly enough I found the best lighting under a street lamp in a poorly lit parking lot! 

Glitter Bomb #1

Cara's Nails

The holiday season is officially upon us! I love this time of year mainly because of all the pretty lights and glitter. I am not quite ready for the holiday manis so I thought I would ease into it with some glitter bombed manicures. I have been on a huge glitter kick most likely brought on by the holiday season. Here are a few of my more recent favorite glitters.

My thumb is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Rockstar Pink. I just recently re-brought this color because my original became way too chunky to use. But I really love the color! The green is Orly Halley's Comet. This is a gorgeous blue-green with flecks of silver. This was an easy 2 coats. My middle finger is Sally Hansen Gem Crush Glitz Gal. On my ring finger is Pure Ice Strapless. I really love this vibrant blue but it took about 5 coats to get it opaque. It also looks nice over a coat of black. My purple pinkie in LASplash Vernis a Ongles. This was another one that took several coats. 

Baltimore Ravens Nails - Week 13 - Purple Patchwork

Kate's Nails 

This is a huge week for the Ravens!  If we beat the Steelers and the Bengals lose, we clinch the division.  A win over the Steelers is always a wonderful thing, but if we can clinch the division with it too, there would be even more reason to celebrate!!

I've been loving glitter polishes lately, and wanted to use some in my design today.  I couldn't decide which ones to use, so I used a few in this patchwork design.  I've done this design BEFORE, and really like how they look.  

Polishes Used:

Milani White on the Spot

OPI You Don't Know Jacques

Milani Hi-Res

Ulta Little Black Dress

Milani Purple Gleam