TDOCNAS: Day 12: Festive Stamped Scroll Design - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas to everyone who will be celebrating today! And to everyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a great day! The last design for my Twelve Days of Christmas series began with a sponged gradient of red, green, and gold. Specifically, I used China Glaze Cranberry Splash, Jolly Holly, and Zoya Ziv. I went over it once or twice to make sure it was saturated and vibrant and then I stamped the scroll design from Gals plate GA33 (I think!) in white over top.

I want to end this post with two separate inquiries. First, tell me what you thought about this series! Did it inspire you to do some nail art of your own? What would you like to see for next year's Twelve Days of Christmas series?

Secondly, I want to know what your favorite Christmas tradition is! Where do you spend the holidays? Do you rush around to a bunch of different family member's houses or do you get to relax a little at one place? What do you eat? Do you do a secret santa or do you buy gifts for everyone?

I'll be visiting my parents and my fiancé's parents this morning and then heading to my grandparent's for the rest of the day (and for an awesome ravioli dinner!). Joe and I opened our presents last year on Christmas Eve after he proposed to me, so we did that again last night! Anyway, have a fantastic day everyone!! :-*

TDOCNAS: Day 11: Minimalist Christmas Tree Nail Art

Ah, Monday again! I won't be too miserable today though because there's only two days left until Christmas! This month really flew by. Today I have some super simple minimalist Christmas tree nail art to share with you. :)

I started out with two coats of Essie Sand Tropez for my base color and allowed it to dry completely so I could form the tree shapes using tape on top of it. I painted China Glaze Glittering Garland inside of the taped area and carefully peeled the tape away right after. I finished the nails with a golden yellow rhinestone at the top of each tree and a coat of top coat to seal everything in. I'm always so intrigued by minimalism and I love how these turned out!

TDOCNAS: Day 10: Textured Ornament Nail Art

Happy Friday!! I'm so excited for this weekend so I can finish up some wrapping and just relax. The past few weeks have been so crazy and as much as I love the holidays, I can't wait for things to calm down a bit. I wanted to do ornament nails since last year and my initial inspiration was to do them as half moons, but I like how they turned out at the tips!

I started out with a base of China Glaze Cranberry Splash and used a matte top coat over it. I painted the ornaments using OPI Honey Ryder, Zoya Chita, Zoya Sunshine, and OPI Baby Please Come Home. To finish the design, I used a nail art brush to create the ornament tops and string with Zoya Trixie.

What do you think? Did you put up a tree this year? Real or fake? We went to a tree farm and picked out our tree this year and it's so full and wild, I love it!!

TDOCNAS: Day 9: A Very Mickey Christmas!

I've been having a terrible desire to go to Walt Disney World the past few days so I thought a Mickey mani was in order for the Twelve Days of Christmas series! I started out with OPI My Vampire's Buff on all my nails except the ring nail. I created dots using black, Zoya Ziv, China Glaze Cranberry Splash, and Zoya Tracie.

On my ring nail, I painted two coats of Zoya Tracie and then used a black liquid eyeliner to draw a Mickey Mouse head. I used a small nail art brush to create a santa hat shape with ChG Cranberry Splash and then used white polish and a dotting tool to create the furry lining and the puff at the tip.

I decided that a trip to WDW in the wintertime is on my bucket list. I want to see the castle all lit up with icicle lights so bad! Has anyone ever been? Tell me about it!

TDOCNAS: Day 8: Santa's Belt Nail Art

Good morning everyone! Today's nail art was inspired by Santa's belt. I started with a base of two coats of China Glaze With Love. I carefully painted a horizontal stripe of black across each nail and then used Milani Signature Gold to paint the buckle.

I can't believe that we're already on Day 8! Christmas is only 9 days away! Have you finished all your holiday shopping? How about wrapping?

TDOCNAS: Day 7: All Wrapped Up!

Another one of my favorites! These gift-wrapped nails are super festive, cute, and easy! I started out with a base of two coats of China Glaze Cranberry Kiss. I used the brush from China Glaze Jolly Holly to create a cross on each nail for the green ribbon and then I used a small nail art brush to paint Zoya Ziv over the green stripe and to paint a bow on each nail. I finished the design with a gold rhinestone in the center of each bow and a coat of top coat. Will you be trying this one out?

OPI Top This! Set Review/Swatches

Today I have one of OPI's holiday gift sets for you, the Top This! set. This gift set contains Matte Top Coat, Top Coat, and Snowflakes in the Air, a gorgeous chunky glitter top coat.

This is two coats of OPI Incognito in Sausalito with one coat of Top Coat.

This is two coats of Incognito in Sausalito with two coats of Snowflakes in the Air over it. Word of warning for Snowflakes in the Air: prop the bottle upside down for a little while before you paint your nails so the glitter is easier to grab.

And finally, this is one coat of Matte Top Coat over two coats of Snowflakes in the Air over Incognito in Sausalito.

This set retails for $27 and can be purchased wherever OPI is sold. Snowflakes in the Air is definitely a stunner!

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.

TDOCNAS: Day 6: Santa Hat French Manicure Nail Art

Good morning everyone! I have to admit, I am SO excited about all of these designs! I keep wanting to type "these are my favorite!" for each one of these posts, but I suppose that would get a bit redundant. I love a fun twist on a french mani and these are about as fun as it gets!

I started out with a base of OPI Don't Burst My Bubble and I used Essie Leading Lady to create a thick red tip and a bit of a curved shape for the rest of the hat. Then, I created the fur trim by dotting white polish along the red tip. I finished the design off with a silver rhinestone at the tip of each hat and a coat of top coat. They're so darn cute!

Some Random Pahlish Swatches & Review

Good morning! Today I have some gorgeous polishes from a new-to-me brand, Pahlish! I don't want to spoil the review, but I was really impressed with these polishes and loved the creative shades!

Fleur de Sel has a white base with the very slightest hint of pink to it with pink glitter shards mixed throughout. This is three thin coats.

El Topo Petit is definitely one of my favorites! Look at the gorgeous red shimmer packed in this dark shade of taupe! This is two easy coats.

Blood of the Mountain... oh, what can I even say? This blood red holo is even more stunning in person if that's even possible! The formula was fantastic and I used two coats here.

Black Lace Elderberry is a seriously vibrant purple jelly with red and orange glitter interspersed. This is three coats and you can still see a bit of nail line in the photo, but it was not as obvious in person.

Lonesome Ocean is a fabulous shade of teal with purple, orange, and teal glitter, as well as some pink shimmer. Again, being a jelly, this shows some nail line at three coats, but it is less obvious in person.

Toxic and Timeless is an emerald green jelly with bright green and blue glitter of different sizes. This is three coats.

Winter's Heart is a great royal blue jelly with red, pink, and blue glitter. This is three coats.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these polishes, you can do so at Pahlish's online store. Make sure you go like their Facebook page too in order to keep up to date on all the new releases and updates! My favorites from this bunch are definitely Blood of the Mountain and El Topo Petit, but I was really impressed with the formula on all of them!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review.

TDOCNAS: Day 5: Navy Snowflake French Manicure

Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend! Today's nail design is a classy french manicure using shades of blue. The base color is Zoya Natty and I used two coats. I waited for it to dry completely before I applied hole reinforcement stickers and used China Glaze Midnight Mission to create the french tips. Once that was all done, I used Konad white polish to stamp snowflakes on my middle nail. I finished it off with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

What do you think? I love these elegant french-type of designs!

TDOCNAS: Day 4: Elegant Side-Swept Christmas Design

Happy Friday all! Do you guys have any exciting plans for this weekend? There's a local holiday craft fair going on tomorrow that I'm excited to go to! I love craft fairs and they are so much better when they are around the holidays. ;) Anyway, this is a design that I am really, really in love with and might end up actually wearing on Christmas.

I started with two coats of a sheer polish (this is OPI Don't Burst My Bubble). I then used hole reinforcer stickers to create the sideways swoop on each nail and alternated between China Glaze Cranberry Splash and Jolly Holly. I finished the design by dotting Zoya Ziv along the line of each shape. You could use an infinite amount of colors and combinations with this design, but I like how this specific combo is festive and mature!

TDOCNAS: Day 3: Simple Snowman Nail Art

Good morning everyone! Today I have some seriously simple nail art for you inspired by snowmen! To create this look, start with a plain white base. Then, use a liquid eyeliner pen to create the hat, eyes, and mouth of the snowmen on each nail. Finally, take a small nail art brush and an orange polish and paint the noses on each nail. See, I told you it was easy!

I'll see you on Friday with some more nail art! :D

TDOCNAS: Day 2: Buffalo Plaid Nail Art

Even though my house has been decorated for two weeks now, I'm so excited that it's finally an "acceptable" time to be in the holiday spirit! I've fallen in love with buffalo plaid this season and seriously can't get enough! My pups both have matching buffalo plaid collars and I scored a buffalo plaid scarf for $10 at Forever 21 a few weeks ago! The lovely red and black plaid reminds me of winter and the holidays, so I thought it would be fitting for this series.

I started out with a base of two coats of China Glaze With Love, a lovely warm red. I used MASH plate Mash-50 and a black stamping polish to stamp the plaid pattern over each nail. I think I've finally gotten the hang of stamping straight!

Do you love plaid?? I can't get enough!

Happy HAUL-idays Giveaway! Win $100 Giftcard to Ulta or Sephora, Your Choice!

 
Good morning! How would you like an extra $100 to treat yourself to some goodies during the stressful holiday season? Enter below for your chance to win and make sure you check out all the bloggers who are involved in this giveaway (linked below)! Happy Friday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Special thanks to the following blogs for sponsoring this giveaway:

Adventures in Polishland

BeautyGnome

BeautyPopStop

Cosmetic Sanctuary

Glisten and Glow

Love for Lacquer

mandie's manicures

manicurator

Nail A College Drop Out
Pointless Cafe

Polished Cousins
Possibly Polished

Princess Polish

Samarium's Swatches

Set In Lacquer

Taneja's Bride

The Lacquerologist

The Nail Network

work/play/polish

XO, Noelle

TDOCNAS: Day 1: 365 Days of Color Elf-Tastic Christmas Collection Swatches/Review & Elf Nail Art

Good morning everyone!! Today is the kickoff of my Twelve Day of Christmas nail art series (or TDOCNAS for short). This series will post on Monday/Wednesday/Friday starting today and ending on Christmas day. I couldn't think of a better way to start off the series than with a collection and some nail art inspired by one of my very favorite holiday movies, "Elf"! The Elf-Tastic Christmas collection by 365 Days of Color consists of four gorgeous shades inspired by the movie "Elf". Let's take a look!

SANTA!! OH MY GOD!! is a gorgeous warm pink holographic shade with a great formula. This is three coats.

Code of Elves is a sheer jelly gray polish with a gorgeous mix of gold, white, blue, gold, and black glitter, as well as snowflake glitter! I prefer a more opaque look, so I chose to layer two coats over Zoya Carey.

Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins was inspired by Buddy's outfit and consists of gold, green, pink, and a random mix of other colors in a clear base. This is two coats over OPI My Vampire's Buff.

Four Main Food Groups is a fantastic mix of mainly red, green, gold, and white glitter in a clear base. This one truly reminds me of candy! This is two coats over Rescue Beauty Lounge Bella.

Since Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins was inspired by Buddy's outfit in the movie, I decided to do some nail art inspired by his outfit and the poster for the movie. I used a base of OPI My Vampire's Buff and sponged Cotton-Headed Ninnymuggins on all but my index finger.

For Buddy's outfit, I used Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Lightning for the tights, Zoya Hunter for the outline of the jacket, Zoya Apple for the inside of the coat, China Glaze Mingle with Kringle for the belt buckle, and a black liquid eyeliner pen for the belt and shoes. The shoes didn't come out the greatest but overall I think it's adorable!

This collection is available now on 365 Days of Color's online store! ;) I'm so in love with this entire collection! Which is your favorite? Do you love "Elf" as much as I do?? Make sure to come back on Monday for day two of the Twelve Days of Christmas series!!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review.

Happy Thanksgiving Feather Gradient Nail Art!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day and eat tons of delicious food! I'll be at my parents' house all day doing just that. ;) I love me a good gradient and this autumn-inspired one has me drooling almost as much as the thought of pumpkin pie!

To create the gradient, I dug through my collection and found a light tan, a burnt orange, a red, and a darker berry red (I'm so sorry I don't remember exactly which ones I used!). I painted all my nails with the light tan and then painted stripes of each color onto a sponge and sponged them onto my nails. Once that was all dry, I stamped a feather image onto each nail with white polish and finished with top coat.

What are you wearing on your nails for Thanksgiving? Are you going Black Friday shopping? I hope everyone stays warm and safe out there, I know how nuts it can get!

J & L Creations Autumn Splendor, Mistletoe, & Peppermint Swatches/Review

Good morning all! Are you prepared for Thanksgiving tomorrow? I've got some delicious pumpkin bars to bake tonight and then I'll be all ready! Today I have some beautiful polishes from J & L Creations, plus a yummy bar of soap to review for you!

Autumn Splendor is a mix of orange, white, and yellow glitter in a sheer white base. This is three coats and it had a great formula!

Mistletoe is a unique shade of green with a creme finish. This is two easy coats.

Peppermint is a lovely mix of red, gold, and white glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over Mistletoe. It doesn't get more Christmassy than this!

They were also kind enough to send me a bar of soap to review. I bought some vegan soap at a craft show at the end of the summer and have been utterly obsessed ever since, so I was really excited about this! It smells soooo good and performs just as well. I love it and would definitely recommend!

You can order from J & L Creations on Etsy and also make sure you like their Facebook page to stay updated with them! I would definitely recommend both their soaps and polishes; they both have great formulas and are beautiful!

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.

Different Dimension Happy Holly Days Collection Swatches/Review

Good morning everyone! I have some very pretty polishes from Different Dimension to share with you today. This is the Happy Holly Days collection. There are a lot of fantastic polishes here with a great mix of finishes, so check them out! :)

Mistle-Toad is a pine green linear holographic polish. There is also some shimmer mixed into this one that gives it a beautiful almost duochrome effect. This is two coats.

Can We Carol On is a gorgeous silvery lavender holographic with shimmer. This is so perfect and wintery! I used two coats here.

Load of Baubles is a baby pink shade with tons of blue shimmer that dries to a matte finish. This is three coats without top coat.

This is three coats of Load of Baubles with one coat of top coat.

Why Am I Such a Misfit? is a great mix of neon glitter in a white jelly base. I don't really dig the jelly finish, so I layered two coats over Zoya Kennedy. I did have a bit of an issue getting the bigger glitters out of the bottle.

This is Not Fir is a green jelly polish with green and silver glitter. I chose to layer two coats of this over Zoya Hunter. I had issue getting the larger glitter out of this one too.

I Only Have Ice for You is a stunning silver top coat packed with silver glitter and a holographic finish. This is one coat over Zoya Monica. Absolute perfection!

You're Not Making Any Frankincense is a mix of gold and silver glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over China Glaze Red-y and Willing.

Christmahanakwanzika is a mix of colors from the three most popular winter holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. There are red, green, yellow, blue, and black glitters in this clear base. This is two coats over Zoya Neely.

Don't Be the Santa of Everything is a mix of green, gold, and red glitter in a clear base. This is two coats over OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons. I love these Christmassy glitter top coats!

That's Snow Joke is a mix of blue, white, and silver glitter in a shimmery base. I layered two coats here over OPI My Vampire's Buff. I love how frosty this looks!

Tinselitis is a mix of silver round glitter and shimmer in a clear base. This is one coat over Zoya Sailor.

This collection is available right now for purchase on Different Dimension's Etsy page. My top three picks are Mistle-Toad, Can We Carol On, and I Only Have Ice for You. Which ones catch your eye?

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.

OPI Taylor Blue Review/Swatch

Good morning everyone! Today I have a very special polish to show you called OPI Taylor Blue. Taylor Blue is made for the Taylor's Gift Foundation, which works to increase the amount of people who are registered organ donors. The foundation is named after Taylor Paige Storch, who died at the age of thirteen, but saved or improved the lives of five different people because she was an organ donor.

The color is a fantastic shade of creamy turquoise and was perfect in two coats. The cost for each bottle of polish is a $10 donation to the Taylor's Gift Foundation. You can also choose to contribute more to the foundation or purchase a holiday gift pack, which includes a Taylor's Gift book and two Taylor's Gift bracelets.

This is a cause that I feel very strongly about and I think it's great that Taylor's Gift was able to team up with OPI to offer this polish! I know I'll be wearing this gorgeous shade often, especially in the summer months. To purchase Taylor Blue, please visit the Taylor's Gift store. I'm an organ donor, are you?

Products in this post were provided for my honest review.