Harry Potter Nails!

  I went to the final Harry Potter last night at midnight (after waiting in line for six hours) and it was really amazing!  While it of course cannot stand up to the book, it was very nicely done and I was really pleased with the adaptation.  I of course had to do some Harry Potter nails for the event!

I really like how these turned out - so much fun!  Here is what I used to create this manicure:

Thumb: 3 coats OPI Grape Set Match as the base, with stars stamped in Zoya Trixie and Nicole by OPI Not a Gold Bigger using BM21

Index Finger - Gryffindor: 2 coats of Zoya Sarah as the base, with the pattern and tips stamped in Nicole by OPI Not a Gold Bigger using plates m60 and m19

Middle Finger - Ravenclaw: 4 coats of Zoya Kotori as the base, with pattern and tips stamped in Zoya Trixie using plates m60 and m19

Ring Finger - Slytherin:  3 coats of Zoya Suvi as the base with pattern and tips stamped in Zoya Trixie using plates m60 and m19

Pinky Finger - Hufflepuff:  3 coats of Nicole by OPI One Voice as the base with pattern and tips stamped in Konad Special Black using plates m60 and m19

  Hufflepuff looks totally different than the other four nails, haha.  And the gold for Gryffindor should have been more yellow-ish, but I didn't have anything the right color that would stamp well - so I did my best.  :)  The midnight showing was a lot of fun - lots of people dressed up!  It is sad that Harry Potter is now officially over, but I know I will continue to enjoy the books and the movies for years to come.

Lucky Penny

  While this polish may be from a fall collection, I find it to be a really great color for just about any time of year!

Outdoors, overcast, no flash

  This is three coats of Zoya Penny, which is a really nice warm copper with a metallic finish.  This would have done fine with two coats, but these days I always seem to want to apply one more coat.  Application was great, although as with most metallic finish polishes there was just a hint of brushstrokes visible if you are really looking for it.  Otherwise application was smooth with a fast dry time.  Penny by itself shown below.

Outdoors, overcast, no flash

  I wanted to do a really classy design over this one, and went with Bundle Monster BM21 and Konad m19 with Konad Special Black.  I really enjoyed how this turned out... until I bumped my ring finger into my other hand right after applying topcoat.  I need to be more careful!  However the mani still looks great from a normal viewing distance and I am really loving it!  Another great one from Zoya; I am excited to try out some of the polishes from their Intimate collection, they should be arriving soon!

DISCLOSURE: The polish featured in this post was provided to Polishology by Zoya for review purposes.  This is an honest and independent review and was in no way influenced by the company.

Merry Christmas!

  Merry Christmas Everyone!!  I hope you all have a wonderful day today, whether or not you are celebrating the holiday.  I am so excited, it is going to be a great day with almost all of my family.  I need to get to bed so I can hopefully make it through the busy day without taking an impromptu nap somewhere... :)

Outdoors, shade, no flash

   My Christmas nails this year are a red and white Santa-themed french.  The white tips on these remind be of the fluffy border of a Santa coat or hat.  I used two coats of OPI Affair in Red Square, followed by Konad Special White with plates m78 and m19.  Simple but very fun and festive!  On my toes I have CG Party Hearty layered over a really nice green, Claw Polish Toxic.  Didn't get a picture of that one (not sure you would have wanted to see toes anyway, haha) but together toes and fingers look really good! :)

  Merry Christmas!!

Happy Halloween! Orange and Black Mani

  Happy Halloween!!  I love Halloween night, it is so much fun!  Here are my Halloween nails,

Outdoors, evening shade, no flash

  This is three coats of ChiChi Sally Spectra, a really pretty bright orange that was sent to me by Nicole from MAGIC MAID - thank you so much, Nicole!  The polish applied really well, although it was a tad thin.  This probably could have used four coats to eliminate all VNL, but three was enough since I was planning on adding the tips anyway!  Very smooth application with great dry time.

Cute pumpkin!  With blurry nails, sorry about that! :)

   I used Konad plate m78 for the full nail design, and m19 for the black tips.  The final product being a very fun black and orange Halloween mani for my family Halloween party tonight! :)

  Hope you all have a great Halloween!!

Breast Cancer Awareness - Pretty Pink French

  I have gotten some really amazing comments from all of you who have entered my giveaway so far, thank you so much!  I look forward to receiving many more suggestions on how to improve the blog.  I am definitely taking your comments into consideration and planning on adding some things to the blog in the near future!

  Today I have a french mani that I wore earlier this week.  I wanted to do a pretty light pink mani in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month this October.

Outdoors, full sun, no flash

  For these nails, I started of with a basecoat of NailTek followed by two coats of  Sephora by OPI A True Romantic.  Then I used Konad plate m19 using Konad Special White polish twice on each nail.  I topped this off with a coat of Seche Vite.

  From there, my original plans changed a bit.  I had been planning on using a darker pink polish for the embellishment, but I realized that my K-State Wildcats were playing our biggest rival, KU, in football the next day.  I have a superstitions belief that my nails must be somehow purple for us to win.  I don't really believe this, but it is fun and I usually try to do something purple for games.  So I used OPI Funky Donkey and Konad plate m35 to put purple hearts on the nails.  We completely crushed KU, if you are interested.  :)  After that, I decided the mani needed a bit of sparkle so I layers one thin coat of OPI Princesses Rule! and topped it off with one more coat of Seche Vite.

Outdoors, shade

  Unfortunately, I was not able to take pictures right away and some damage happened to the mani before I was able to get pictures for the blog (like a polish smudge on my ring finger and a bit of a chip on my index finger).  But it was still pretty and I actually wore these for three days afterward - a combination of loving the nails and being too sick to change them, heh.  I did have some issues with using the Konad french tips, since they have to be fairly perfectly straight to look right, but I am pleased with the overall outcome and will be excited to use the plate again in the future!

  Please take the time this month, and all year, to think about those people who are fighting, have beaten or have lost the fight with breast cancer.  If you are interested in donating money to the cause, here is a link to the donation page at SUSAN G. KOMAN FOR THE CURE.  They are a fabulous organization that funds a lot of brilliant research into treatments for breast cancer.  Coming from a cancer researcher, thank you so much for any donations you are able to give.  They are very much appreciated!