Okay, so they might not be actual lizards, but that's what they remind me of.  Deal with it! 
This was my first time using the correct size of glitter for the mosaic/scaly look.  It wasn't too terrible to do, but my neck sure was stiff after doing the first nail!
And a big thanks to my sister for finding the glitter at a dollar store!

So I thought to make up for my long absence, I'd post one more set!  I wanted to use some summer colors to cheer myself up since Minnesota is being continuously dumped with snow.  I figured I hadn't done a cloud mani in a while, and these colors were perfect for it!

This is the one I'm currently wearing and the picture was taken 2 days after I painted them WITHOUT a top coat.  I know I know!  How dare I NOT use Seche Vite!  My only reasoning is I was feeling particularly lazy that night.  Deal with it :P

Aaand I'm back!  It's been FOREVER since I've posted new nails, and for that I apologize.  I recently bought my first house and a week later I took a 4-day road trip to Dollywood (yes, that is Dolly Parton's amusement park and it was wonderful).  So needless to say, my nails haven't quite been my top priority as of late.  The day I bought the house, I quickly painted my nails with China Glaze Dorothy Who with a splash of Sinful Colors After Party on the tips.  It was a very bright sparkle with just a hint of a gradient and  that mani lasted TWO WEEKS before it was noticeably chipped!  I was amazed.  So to get back into the swing of things and to practice my mani for a friend's wedding in Des Moines this weekend, I did these wing-type nails.  

Fun Fact:  If you're going to replicate this mani, put the glitter on first and then paint the wings with a fine liner brush.

Tools Used:
Liner brush

Polishes Used:
Glitter - Sally Hansen #120 Diamonds
White - Sinful Colors #101 Snow Me White
Silver - Sally Hansen #220 Celeb City
Black - Orly Artistic Liner Black

I couldn't decide what to do with my nails on this lazy Sunday afternoon when my eyes drifted over to the salt & pepper shakers I brought back from Amsterdam and BOOM!  Inspiration!  It's quite fitting too since I've been missing Amsterdam as of late.  ...Now I just hope that the people at work don't think they are "XXX" porn nails.

I had big plans for these Game of Thrones nails.  I speckled them like rocks and I was going to paint a giant dire wolf running across them.  As I finished the head on my ring finger, I realized I had angled it such that there was no room for the body and the head didn't look like a head anyway.  So I painted over it with black and silver glitter and I think they turned out pretty rockin'! 

See how I got the splatter effect below!

So to get the splatter effect, I first painted my nails white.  Then I watered down some black acrylic paint.  Not too watery, but enough that it wasn't clumpy.  Then I wrapped my thumb in aluminum foil in a way that gave me a ridge along the bottom of my thumb.  This way, I was able to flick the bristles of the toothbrush without ruining the paint on my thumb. 

My sister and I went to see Pauly Shore perform live so I did these tie-dye nails for the occasion.  I think they were very fitting for The Weasel.  AaaOooOOooHHhhhOOOooOo!!

And here he is the best picture I got of him.  He is drinking from a fish bowl he pulled off an audience members table.

Yes, the title is a bit lengthy, but how else would you describe these?  Well, I suppose "striking" would also work.

There's a mini-tutorial below.

Go Go, Mini Tutorial!
Step 1: Paint 2 coats of black
Step 2: 2 Paint a matte top coat
Step 3: Carefully dab your blue glitter on to create the half-moons (I used 2 different blue glitters)
Step 4: Paint just the tips with a clear coat
Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy!

Polishes Used:
Black - Orly #40484 Liquid Vinyl
Blue Glitter #1 - China Glaze #857 Dorothy Who?
Blue Glitter #2 - Sinful Colors #1165 After Party
Matte Top Coat - Sephora
Top Coat - Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

I went into Ulta on Saturday to pick up another bottle of Seche Vite and walked out with 7 different polishes and $53 less in my wallet.  With my fancy new colors in tow (and my first Zoyas!), I sat at home and tried to come up with a design that would use as many of them as possible.  I've tried the butterfly wings before (many moons ago) with disasterous results and thought that this would be the perfect time to try again now that I have new brushes and...oh boy did these turn out great!  The colors all blended together extremely well, they are super shiny and shimmery and my line work has improved immensely!  I want to try my other polishes, but I plan on wearing this mani for as long as possible - soooo pretty!

Tools Used:
Make-up sponge
Detail brush

Polishes Used:
#1 Base pink - Zoya #ZP551 Faye
#2 Orange - OPI #NLE79 A Woman's Prague-Ative
#3 Dark pink - Nicole #NIF13 Back In My Gloria Days...
Black and white acrylic paint

*And just because I couldn't stop this scene from playing in my head whilst painting this mani...

No one ever suspects.....The Butterfly!!

You may notice that these are not my hands - they are my sisters.  She had an old mani that she wanted me to freshen up with some stamping.  I obliged on the condition that she bathed my dog. 
With my dog clean and tearing around the apartment like a spaz, I started stamping!  We originally wanted to try the new OPI I bought "A Woman's Prague-Ative" - it's a bright, shimmery, lava-like orange, but sadly it didn't show up too well over the greens.  So with that idea dead, we decided to just alternate the colors she already had.  The results were great!  After the stamping, we added a glitter coat to tie it all together. 

Tools Used:
Mash Stamping Plate #39

Polishes Used:
Light green - Nicole #401 Mer-Maid for Each Other
Dark green - Sally Hansen Lustre Shine #007 Scarab
Glitter - Sally Hansen Diamond Strength #120 Diamonds

Gotta dress up the nails for a holiday!  I wanted to do a slightly more complicated gradient for St. Patty's Day, but looking back on them, I wish I had used more dark greens.  Oh well, there's always next year!