Top 14 Polishes of 2014

Everyone says it on December 31st: "I can't believe today is the last day of the year"! It is finally here, and to celebrate the end of 2014, I went through my polishes and picked my favorite 14 to share today! These aren't necessarily the best polishes that came out in 2014, but they're the ones I liked the most.

14. Salon Perfect Ruby's Cubes (Top of the Class collection)

I think the novelty of this one is what really sucked me in. I'm a 90's kid, so Rubik's Cubes were a common source of childhood entertainment in my day. Owning a polish inspired by the toy is just.... nostalgic. Here I've shown one coat over Zoya Taylor.

13. Color Club Night at the Met (Made in NY collection)

I'm also a sucker for blue polishes. I really liked the dusty quality of this one, with an added silver shimmer to offset it. This is two coats.

12. OPI 4 in the Morning (Gwen Stefani collection)

I fell head over heels for this one the second I put it on! It is naturally a matte black with silver shimmer. It is gorgeous as-is (two coats), but just mind-blowing with a shiny topcoat!

Dragon Eggs

You've seen a glimpse of one of my other hobbies before (multiple times if you follow me on Instagram). Dragon eggs!

I've made a lot of them, but today I just wanted to show off a few. This is the first one I ever made. I used Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black for the color shifting glitter, and a holo silver glitter on top of that.

Crazy Christmas Cupcakes

Merry Christmas (if you celebrate it)! Otherwise, happy Thursday!

Today I have some Christmas cupcake nails!

Peppermint Snowstorm Nails

 I saw this mani Polish Frolic did and absolutely fell in love with the whimsy cuteness! I loved Anna's design so much that I needed to recreate it!

Twinsie Tuesday - Double Mani Holiday Special

Today for Twinsie Tuesday, we have two holiday manis to share. Everyone in our group celebrates either Christmas or Hanukkah, so we did a mani for each.

My first design is a Santa look using Zoya Logan, OPI Little Red Wagon, and white flocking powder for the fuzzy bits!

Black Lace Stamping

For some black lace stamping, I started by layering L.A. Colors Dizzy over OPI My Very First Knockwurst, then used plate BP-02 from Born Pretty Store and their black stamping polish.

Peppermint Swirl Nails

I've seen this look floating around Nailand quite a bit lately, and I haven't fallen in love with it as it seems a lot of people have. I figured I needed to try it out and see it on myself in person, though, before making a final judgement. I am talking about the two-tone drag marble swirl. I did mine in white and red, just for a little pepperminty festiveness, accented with a swirly stamp.

Festive Skittles

Today's festive mani uses all OPI: Birthday Babe (silver), Little Red Wagon, and Don't Mess with OPI.

Christmas Deer

For my second stamped Christmas design using Born Pretty Store plates, I started by stamping a star-like image from BP-09 using Sally Hansen Rapid Red and Mint Sprint, then layered snowflakes from BP-01 on top. The deer are also from BP-01, and I added a snowy landscape with China Glaze There's Snow One Like You.

Christmas Forest - Stamped Nails

Considering the name of this polish, I'm pretty such I'm on the opposite end of the thermometer here, but I grabbed it from my untrieds and it looked like a perfect winter polish! This is three coats of Polish Me to Go Summer Lights. I just love how the black bits and the iridescent glitters play together in this. It's got a chilly and dark feel to it. I am absolutely in love!

New Born Pretty Store Stamping Plates: An Overview

I received 12 of Born Pretty Store's new stamping plates (BP-01 - BP-10) to play with, and review. I have created a bunch of manicures using them, including some holiday manis. So I wanted to first share a quick overview of the plates I got.

$2 Manicure: Teal with Gold Accent

Last Wednesday, I shared this manicure I put together for $2 using items I found at Dollar Tree.

I had fun creating that look, so I went back to the store in search of more mani-worthy items for another round.

Mommy's Mani Monday - Peeping Plush Polar Bears

Today for Mommy's Mani Monday, our theme was to seek out inspiration on Pinterest. Here is the image I was inspired by.

Of course, I had to make these peeping little polar bears my own, and added flocking powder for maximum fuzzy polar bear cuddles!

Neon Rainbow Snowflakes

I love rainbows. I love neons. I hate cold, dreary winter. So to liven up the lamery, I got the idea to paint some bright and fun snowflakes!

And I asked Christabell from Christabell Nails to create her own version of this mani with me!

Nontraditional Geometric Snowflakes

For my geometric snowflakes, I used Sassy Chic Lemonade topped with China Glaze Glitter Up on three nails, with Sally Hansen Sweetie Pie as a base on the other two. I also used Sally Hansen Blue Me Away! to match the blue glitters.

$2 Manicure: Floral Tape on Purple

Today I have a different sort of mani to share. Proof that you can still rock gorgeous nail art on a budget!

Ornament Nail Art - Twin Nails

When I hit 7,000 followers on Instagram not long ago, I had a custom glitter topper made to celebrate, and two bottles of it went to live with the giveaway winners. Christin (cmlovesnails) was one of them! 

So we decided to use our bottles of Nail Honey's Lace Up or Shut Up in some twin nail art!

After much deliberation, here's what we came up with: Lace Up or Shut Up over green, with alternating red and gold ornaments!

OMG Nail Strips - Houndstooth and Black & White Splatter

I was recently contacted by a new-to-me brand, OMG Nail Strips, and asked to review their nail wraps.

Straight from the package, these seem pretty comparable to the many other brands of nail strips. They come 14 strips in a cardboard envelope, wrapped in plastic. Bonus: each strip has the size printed at the base. I haven't seen any other company do this before, and that info can come in handy. So we're off to a good start!

What's so special about them?  They are different from other nail wraps "because of their ability to stretch and have a unique resistance to chipping, tearing, and wrinkling" (info found on their website here).

I was also told when I was contacted that these wraps do not dry out. It's believable since they were sent in a plastic wrapper that wasn't air-tight, and I had no issues with them. That is really nice, too. I can't even tell you how disappointed I was to purchase a set of Sally Hansen Halloween wraps; used them one year, then wanted to throw on the leftovers as an accent nail for another mani the following year, and much to my surprise, they were brittle and worthless. So being able to use the OMG strips in the future whenever I want, and not having to worry about wasting money using half the product and being forced to toss the rest shortly after, is really appealing to me!

Monochromatic Snowflakes - Silver Holo on Chrome

My grandma sent over some Christmas presents recently, and I fell so in love with the paper on one (above) particular gift, that I needed it on my nails immediately! It's a silver-on-silver, reflective-base, holographic snowflake print.

I already knew the perfect polishes to recreate this design on my nails too! OPI Push & Shove (chrome), and Color Club Harp on It (holo silver).

Unfortunately, if I hadn't shown you the wrapping paper, I'm afraid you probably would have had no idea what I painted....

Striped Rainbow Gradients and Dots

Today's mani was inspired by my last Mommy's Mani Monday post. I absolutely loved the blue striped gradient middle nail, and wanted to do all the other nails in different colors!

Eggplant Nail Art

If you saw my review post yesterday of Seche Vite Empress from Live Love Polish, today's post is sort of a supplement. When I initially received this polish, it struck me as a pretty eggplant color. So I went with my first instincts and tried my hand at some eggplants!

Night Owls feat. Seche Vite & Live Love Polish

I was recently contacted by a new-to-me shop called Live Love Polish. They sell polishes from various well-known brands: Color Club, Seche Vite, China Glaze, Floss Gloss, etc., as well as accessories, and some nail care items.

I received two polishes from them to review today: Seche Vite Empress and Seche Vite topcoat.

Mommy's Mani Monday - Weather

Kicking off December, we have a Mommy's Mani Monday post! This week we are doing weather-inspired manis.