Nicole's Nubbins

Happy 2013 polished peeps!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous New Years!  I've had a very relaxing two weeks off, it's officially over today - sad face.  Back to earning a living - ugh.

I've been having so much trouble growing my nails lately, I've considered changing the name of my blog to Nicole's Nubbins - full disclosure and all that!!  After taking off this mani, I had a break of my already short nails, so I had to chop them all off again - argh, so frustrating  especially after having such a successful summer of long beautiful nails!  I've even considered getting acrylics, but I want my natural nails to be healthy, and acrylics tend to do a number on your natural nails, so I'm staying away from those for now.  I want stiletto nails so badly, I love the look, but it's not happening here anytime soon!

I'm on a roll with trying to improve my stamping skills, plus I've been having major challenge withdrawals, so I haven't been all that inspired to do major nail art.  If you know of any challenges, let me know, I'm so down for the get down.  Kimber from Kimber's Lacquer Corner is hosting the ABC challenge shortly and I'll be doing that, but it's only a once a week deal and I'm committing to posting Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so I need to fill up two more days!

Have a wonderful Monday!!

Holla, N

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays polished peeps!

I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas eve, I've finally done all I need to do for Christmas - two potlucks down with no major casualties - with the exception of a burnt finger - ouch, only I would burn my finger making mashed potatoes!!

I haven't done a lot of holiday themed mani's that are worth posting, but this one was definitely one of my faves!

I actually used glittery polish again, I know, totally stepping outside the box!!  Here's some better shots to show the glittery goodness.

Wishing you and yours all the very best this holiday season - I hope everyone gets to enjoy time with their loved ones, with lots of laughter, love and of course good food!!  Mmmmm turkey dinner!!

Holla, N

Skittle it, Just a Little Bit

Hiya!!  I'm totally giggling at my post title right now - I was just thinking "uh, it's so hard to come up with clever post names all the time" and POP this just jumped on in to the ol' noggin.  I don't know if it's obvious or not, but I always try to come up with clever names for my posts - I want them to have a little to do with what I'm posting about, but they have to be some sort of pun or play on words.  I think that's my favorite part of the process, coming up with the title - oh the little things that make me happy :)  Thankfully blogger has a blog reader that shows the picture beside the post or I would get no traffic!!  LOL, I'm just thinking about Monday's title "Golden Nude."  Bring on the crazy search terms!!

This is the first time I've done leopard print with white, I like it, but I don't know if it screams leopard to me.  And, this is the second post in one week that I've used glitter - Gini, are you proud of me or what? LOL!!

Holla, N

Golden Nude

Happy Monday polished friends!

I can't believe Christmas is only a little over a week away! I'm so unprepared this year - we've picked up a couple of gifts, but we have so much more to do and next weekend will be a total write-off.  I have two potlucks to go to and cooking in my house is always an ordeal - at least both dishes I'm making are fairly foolproof, so I should have no issues - fingers crossed!

I've been seeing gold and nude everywhere lately and I love love love it.  I wish I had done this as a gradient, the gold glitter is a little overpowering in my opinion, but I'm still pretty happy with how this turned out.  I ended up adding a matte top coat and my friend at work asked "what's wrong with your nails?"  Not something a nail blogger wants to hear about their mani - I make myself feel better by thinking she doesn't know anything about style - lol!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Becca, recognize the color?  Why yes, it is my Essie Yogaga - soooo pretty!!!

I used the saran wrap method with Sally Hansen's Golden I and then layered the best gold glitter from Sally's over top.

Top Coat:  NYC - Matte Me Crazy

Holla, N

Skull-rific!

Happy Hump Day!!  This week has been going by so slowly, I think it's because I was off on Monday and I usually take days off on Friday, so my weeks all messed up!  Will Friday ever come?

I've got a long overdue review of some cute skull water decals I received from KKCenterhk for review.  You may remember from my EPIC 100 Follower Giveaway, that KKCenterhk was kind enough to provide some cool stuff for my giveaway - the alphabet stamping set, won by Becca from Nail Narcotics and the cute gold peacock water decals, won by Maggy from the Daily Lacquer.  Becca did this fabulous mani, dedicated to her favorite nail artist - moi, lol, you can take a peek, here.

Anyhoodle, onto the review - I picked the Rock Skull Water Decals, because they are so darn cute.  I was a little intimidated to use these, one, because they are so cute, I didn't think I could do them justice and two, because I was worried they would be SUPER difficult to apply.  Totally not the case - I have to say, I'm super surprised at how easy these were to use.  All you do is cut out the decal you want to use, soak it in a bit of water and carefully slide the decal from the paper.  You have to make sure your nail is dry and not super soaked like I did on my first try.  The decal won't stay on a wet nail so I had to take it off and make sure my nail was dry.   I just held the decal in my other hand and dried off my nail, super easy.  Once it was dry, I placed the decal and fiddled a bit to get rid of wrinkles and VOILA!  I didn't use tweezers and I don't think I would when I use these again.  I think these are sturdy enough if you are gentle to withstand the handling.

Apparently I was in the mood to try every technique on my nails last night, water decals, gradient, stamping, leopard, polka dots and glitter - it's a little much, but how CUTE is that decal?  There's 25 nail decals in a set and they're super reasonable, at only $2.82 USD.  If you're interested in getting some of these babies for yourself visit http://www.kkcenterhk.com/ and search "skull water" or just click here, the item # is WDSY558.  Want something a little more serious, how about trying the gold peacock water decals, you can find them here.  Is stamping more your style?  You can pick up the alphabet here and here.

Thankfully, I've done this post in time for you guys to use my 10% off coupon to get your own goodies from KKCentrehk, the coupon code is:  nearlynailed and expires Jan 31, 2013!! 

Holla, N

Baby, You're a Firework

Hi polished peeps!

Quick post today, I'm a day late (again) posting for the Lazy 15 Challenge - bonfire/fireworks.  I chose to do fireworks, my friend brought me back a beautiful glittery glitter from Munich and I knew it was perfect for this mani, hope you enjoy!

And another special bonus - my right hand, making a rare appearance!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Base Color:  Flormar - 393 (no name, but still pretty cool!)

Top Coat:  Finger Paints - Black Expressionism

Seche Vite

Holla, N

Lazy Cupcakes

Hello, short post today, I've got an awful headache and still need to paint my nails.  On the plus side, I did manage to make dinner tonight - the hubby was incredibly impressed :)  Without further ado, day 8 of the Lazy Day Challenge - dessert!

Holla, N

Water Mar-BOO-led the Sequel

Hey everyone!!  How's your fall going so far?  Here, it's wet, windy and gray, it makes taking decent photos next to impossible.  Now would be the perfect time to build that light box I bought all the material for months ago!!

We're onto water marble day for the 31 Day Challenge - ugh, hate water marbling, I always make the biggest mess and for the life of me can't get my finger where the best part of the pattern is - I can make the pattern, get it where I want it, dip my finger in and.....voila, a big splotch of not the pattern I wanted - really, I mastered the circle goes into a round hole etc. as a child, you would think I'd get this.  Oh well, I'm still going to show you all two of my tries, I would have gone for a third, but the day is ending and I wanted to get this up.

Ooooo and on a side note. I participated in my very first Nail Polish Secret Santa - everyone got assigned a name via Elfster - the lovely Amanda from The Nail Polish Enthusiast organized the Halloween/Autumn themed exchange.  The limit was $20 and you had to shop for your secret santa - Elfster makes it easy to create a wishlist or a don't need list for the person that drew your name and ask questions about the name you drew without giving away your identity - so cool!!  Anyways, I got my package last night from Amanda who drew my name and I was literally squeeing with excitement, the hubby was looking at me like I was crazy - lol!!  I got some lovely polishes and the best part the set of MASH nail art brushes - which are SOOOO cool, I can't wait to try them!!  I also got a mini bottle of my FIRST indie (Gini, you would be proud) - here it is over some yummy orange OPI polish that I got!!

Of course the photos don't do the glitter justice, but you'll just have to buy your own Harley by Hit Polish click the link if you want to see much better photos!!  Beautiful orange, black and silver hex glitters and smaller black glitter - ab fab!  I decided to recycle this mani I wore today and water marble over the orange - I also accidentally (how I did this, I don't know) marbled over the glitter so I quickly took the marble off repainted a coat of the OPI orange and did one coat of Harley  - a jelly sandwich of sorts....the pic above has two coats of Harely (which is amazing to apply by the way!).

I used cheapy NYC nail polish for the water marble in black, orange and white.  Pro FX was the top coat.

Now for the attempt I did yesterday, I wanted it to be neon yellow and pink, but it turned out orange so I ended up putting a coat of the neon yellow over top of it all because there was so many white spots.  I will master this one day, just need to practice practice practice.

Side Note:  I've been having issues with my computer at home and just started a new job so if you haven't seen me commenting like I normally do, I haven't stopped looking at all your amazing work, I just haven't been commenting as much because it's next to impossible on my phone!!  Bear with me while I adjust, I'll be back to my regular commenting self soon!!

Don't forget to check out the other lovelies doing the 31 Day Challenge - I think we've got most with us still!!

If you want to win some amazing stuff, click here.  Is this getting annoying?  Should I end my giveaway now instead?  or should I just hold out until the 31st?  I feel like it's going on forever, I should have made it last two weeks instead of a month......

Holla, N

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
 -Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
-Robin Sparkles 

Glitterific!

Hi everyone!!  I'm not a huge fan of glitter, it looks beautiful, but it's such a pain to put on and take off - yes, I've done the glue base, that's a pain too.  Anytime I use glitter and want some good coverage, it gets SO clumpy and thick - it ends up looking like poop.  I don't know how you guys do it, maybe it's just the cheapy glitter I buy?  Should I go indie? Oh man, the hubby is going to have a stroke!!

When I went back to Sally's for my second BOGO of Finger Paints, I picked up another glitter, that I just HAD to try, so here's another glitter gradient for y'all - two mani's, one post - lucky readers!!!

For the Purple Glitter Gradient, I used:

Base Color:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Glitter:  Orly - Can't be Tamed

For the Blue-y Glitter Gradient, I used:

Base Color:  Finger Paints - Tiffany Imposter

Glitter:  Finger Paints - Art you Wondering? and Wet n Wild - Spontaneous Combustion

Don't forget to show some love to my buddies doing the 31 Day Challenge with me by clicking on the links below.

GIVEAWAY - it's on until the end of October, so click here to enter if you haven't already!!

Holla, N

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
 -Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
-Robin Sparkles 

Skittles, Take 2

Hiya!!  Lately I've been so consumed with challenges, I haven't really had to think of what to put on my nails - which has been fabulous to be honest.  Last week, I had done most of my mani's on the weekend and had them all scheduled to go - I change my polish daily, usually because it's chipped or I can tell it will chip, so I had to come up with ideas to keep my nails pretty during the week.

I had originally thought skittles mani's were brightly colored nails, in varying colors on each nails - I think these still qualify as skittle mani's - but skittle mani's also refer to nails with different designs on each nail, in any colors.  I wish I could find the mani that inspired this again, but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it - so frustrating!  Anyhoodle, here's my second skittles mani, hope you enjoy!!

Here's another skittle mani I did last week, I only managed to get a indoor photos, so am just showing you the collaged version!!

For the pink skittle mani, I used:

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Light Pink:  Wet n Wild - Tickled Pink

Darker Pink:  Nyx - Salsa

White:  NYC - French White Tip

Flower Petals:  China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover

Glitter:  Wet n Wild - I ripped off the name sticker - oopie...

For the black and gray skittle mani, I used:

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Black:  Essie - Licorice

White:  NYC - White French Tip

Gray:  Sally Hansen - Wet Cement

Silver:  Sally Hansen - Celeb City

Glitter:  Revlon - Stunning

Want another hint for my 100 follower giveaway???  Here it is.....

Holla, N

We Can Do It!

Hiya!!  welcome to Day 5 of the Let's Do The Time Warp Challenge - "We Can Do It!"  Our task for day 5 was to come up with a mani that honors an influential woman in history.

The woman I would like to honor, isn't famous, but has influenced me in my life for as long as I can remember.  She is amazingly resilient and strong has always supported me in everything that I do.  She has loved me unconditionally and is always there for me, no matter what.  She is my aunt, my godmother, my friend.  I love her with my whole heart and hope that she knows how much she means to me.  Her love and support has shaped who I am today and I hope that I can show the same courage and strength that she shows in the face of all that life has thrown her way.  I love you loads Auntie!! xoxox

Main Color:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Glitter:  Sally Girl - No name glitter

Pink Ribbon:  Nyx - Salsa and Revlon - Flirt

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

As always, please check out the other lovelies doing the LDTTWC with me by clicking on the links below and check back Wednesday for "You're Timeless to Me."

Holla, N

Help eradicate breast cancer, consider donating to the cause.

Favorite Glitter?

Hiya Lovelies!  I'm a day late posting for Ooh La La's My Favorite Things Challenge and I'm super duper sorry.  I'm up to my eyeballs in challenges - which couldn't be more fun - but it has thrown off some of my posts for September.

I can't believe that we're on Day 7 of this challenge already!  How time flies!!  We only have three more days left and I'm a little bummed it's almost over.  Today is GLITTER!!  I love glitter, despite the fact that it sucks to take off. I ended up not leaving this on for very long, so it wasn't that hard to get off.  I also love the look of matte glitter, I took a chance on this and mattified it, I liked it, but wish the camera could pick up the blue-y, teal-y goodness that was the glitter I used....

This one is the most true to the color it was on my nails and it shows the matte as well....

Here's my first attempt at this mani - I actually like it better and wish I had used this one instead....oh well, sharing now :)

Main Color:  Essie - Licorice

Glitter:  Essence - Choose Me and Sally Girls - No Name Gold Glitter

Top Coat:  NYC - Matte Me Crazy

Please show the ladies doing this challenge some love by clicking on the links below!  I will be posting for this challenge again tomorrow - come back for Hearts and/or Love!!

Holla, N

Favorite Color?

Hiya polish peeps - that's paw-lish, as in nail polish Shawna!!

I'm super excited about this post because I've managed to find a challenge that I can join right from the beginning!! I've been wanting to do a challenge for some time and found that arranging one myself was a little advanced for a newbie.  Kelly over at Ooh La La Polish! is hosting her very first challenge and what a challenge it is - My Favorite Things!  Can I just say how much I LOVE the Sound of Music, as a kid I could watch this over and over, mostly to sing a long - which I'm sure everyone enjoyed :)  So let's get down to it, here's my first challenge post:  My Favorite Color - PINK!!!

Be sure to check out all the other lovelies that are participating in this challenge, it's only day one and already we've got some amazing mani's!!!  Here's a list of all the fun stuff we will be doing!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Billie - Fuschia

I used acrylic paint for the dots

Top Coat:  Sally Hansen - Rock Candy and Seche Vite

Holla, N

10 Minute Mani

No, this did not take me 10 minutes to create, sorry for the misleading title!  It actually refers to the fact that I wore this mani  for a total of 10 minutes!  I usually last at least a day, but this was just so thick and I didn't trust the top coat I used, so off it went!  I still like it and if I could figure out how to do scalloped nails properly I might try this again.

Awhile back, I bought a bunch of Essence polish and loved how they looked together, so I used them all!  Here's my take on a scalloped/framed mani!

Base Coat;  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Essence - Lime Up!

Scalloped Edges:  White Acrylic Paint, Essence - You Belong to Me (Blue), A Lovely Secret (Lilac), Choose Me (Blue Glitter)

Top Coat:  Pro FX

Holla, N

Black as Night

Hiya!  I'm back after a couple of days camping.  It's so good to be home!!  I love camping and we had a great time, I just really love my bed, internet and tv.  There was the craziest storm yesterday, the thunder and lightening and the 10 minute down pour.  It was so LOUD and the rain was intense.  It was a little scary and I'm surprised the 3 year old that was with us didn't freak out!!  Tough little bugger :)

Here's the mani I wore camping.  I love the gold glitter over bright colors I used for Olympic Fever - Part Deux, so I decided to do both hands all one color.  If I was to do this again, I would only use one coat of the glitter, I think two coats made it less sky like and more glitter like, if that makes any sense....

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Essie - Licorice

Top Coat:  No Name Gold Glitter from Sally's and Seche Vite

Holla, N

Olympic Fever - Part Deux

Hiya!  I'm officially on vacation for 10 days and because I don't need to see people every day, I don't normally do my nails.  But because I'm super paranoid they are going to break with no polish, I've done my nails as usual.  Today's mani is the second part to yesterday's mani, 2012 Summer Olympic Fever.

I've often wondered if nail artists that do super complex nail art on their non-dominant hand, skip their other hand.  I've done this a couple of times, especially my munchkin nail art, there is no way I would have been able to get that detail on my right hand! Or I end up doing something easier on my right hand, but that matches my left.  Yesterday's mani wasn't overly complex, but I'm a little anal and like things perfect and I know it would have been difficult to get yesterday's design on my right hand.  So here's what I came up with for my right hand, super simple, but I love this no name gold glitter I got from Sally's - the ones in those super tiny bottles.  I only picked this up because I thought I would use it for yesterday's mani, but ended up not using it, but I really love it over bright colors!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Colors from Thumb to Pinky:  China Glaze - Man Hunt, Wet n Wild - Black Creme, Sally Hansen Extreme Wear - Cherry Red, Sally Hansen Extreme Wear - Mellow Yellow, China Glaze - Four Leaf 

Clover

Top Coat: Sally Girl Gold Glitters and Seche Vite

Holla, N