There's so much beauty in the world

Hi Everyone!  Hope everyone is doing well.  We are finally get rid of the super chill again in Wisconsin and possibly warming up for the weekend.  I don't know about any of you but I am pretty much done with Winter.

To help with my Winter blues I decided to put on the most gorgeous and glorious red on the planet--yes I hauled out my beloved OPI Vampire State Building.  It is hands down my favorite red ever and probably always will be.  Today I paired it with the very lovely Elevation Polish Kita and really a star is born!

I love this vamp red SO MUCH!

And pairing it with the steel grey of Kita was a damn great idea!

Kita is one of those polishes that looks okay in the bottle then you get it on and go WOW!

I tried some double stamping on the middle finger!

I'm so happy with how this turned out!

This definitely helps thaw the frozen all around me LOL!

Do you all have a favorite red of all time?  I'd sure love to hear what it is!

There's a hole in my heart

Hi Everyone!  Another super chilly Monday morning here!  Geeze we are getting womped with snow and cold this winter season.  I feel like Mother Nature needs to give us a break up here in Wisconsin!

Today would have been my dad's 78th birthday.  Birthday's are hard when you are "celebrating" them after your loved one has died.  It's not really their birthday anymore, they aren't a year older.  But how do you just forget about that day when you had been celebrating it for nearly 49 years?

Well you don't.  You just pick yourself up and trudge on and basically you want to tell everyone and everyone that absence does not make the heart grow fonder and time does not heal all wounds.   There's a hole in my heart that will never be filled.

We are celebrating dad's birthday tonight by being together as a family.  We are having dinner with mom and I'm sure we'll share some memories, and some laughter, and most definitely tears.

Today's mani is for my dad

For those of you who can, give your dad a big hug today!

Dior Day!

Hi Everyone!!!  I'm a bit late--okay a lot late getting post up today LOL!  A few of mine friends and I are posting some mani's with our Dior's.  A few of us are new to the glory of Dior nail polish and a few of us are old hat's when it comes to owning them.  No matter who you are to them--new or old, one thing is for sure, it really is about quality and not quantity sometimes.

I have a few Diors. My new found obsession with them started when I bought myself the Les Violet's Collection for Christmas.  I always thought the hoopla about them was a little over the edge but then I got them.  And put them on.  And then I died a little inside.  Glorious!  Glorious!  Glorious!  Just like Chanel, Dior goes on just like butter!  Of the 7 (soon to be 9) I own there is not a single one that isn't almost opaque with one coat!

Today I decided to match my Dior Blue Label with accent nails of Zoya Natty and Elevation Polish The Arches II.  All the colors go so well together!

First up some pics under the light, I really love dusky blue

I stamped using my new plates from CiCi & SiSi.  This design is from plate 02 of the 2nd set

Here's some pics with the flash which to me brings out the true color of the gorgeous The Arches II from Elevation Polish

Ooooooh!!!! Aaaaaaaaah!!!

yummy, yummy, yummy--won't you take me to gorgey town!

Be sure to check out what Dior everyone else put on to wear today!

Before the break

Hi Everyone!! Happy Monday!  I got to spend a bit of a leisurely day yesterday and while doing virtually nothing for a few hours I had some time to go through some of the pics I took of mani's I never posted!  OMG it was sort of heartbreaking as there were some darn good ones of my beautiful long nails.  I decided to haul them out and post some this week!

Today I am showing you the mega lovely Elevation Pic du Gar with Color Club Eternal Beauty stamped over it

Pretty swirls!

I don't know which I like better, these nice long nails or my short more practical for typing nails!

One thing is certain I love this Elevation polish!

What do you all think---long nails or shorter nails--which do you prefer?

Hey! Did you know that even though Monochrome week is over you can still enter the Digit-al Dozen Giveaway!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome--Don't be cruel, to a heart that's true

Hi Everyone!  Happy Friday!  Wow sorry for such a late post but I got up and out of here at the buttcrack of dawn this morning and am just now getting home.  I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend and some great football on Sunday!

Today I just have a pretty simple monochrome mani and I even cheated a little adding color BUT the subject is quite near and dear to me.  I didn't have a chance to post this mani last week on the 8th because of the tutorial week but here's what I wore in remembrance of The King on what would have been his 79th birthday

Still love him after 43 years!!!  I think he would still be rocking out if he was still with us too.

Monochrome was a bit challenging for me, not really sure why.  I would look at all the way cool mani's the rest of my gang did and feel like they knocked it out of the ball park and I just fell flat.  I hope it's not all the hours I'm working sucking my creative juices dry!

Make sure you check out the last day for the group

And there is still the fabulous giveaway going on!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome--Blue Ocean!

Hi Everyone!  The weekend is almost here--yay!  Anybody have any great plans?  I'm working again--I know you're all shocked BUT I am also doing my mom's nails for her on Saturday.  Yes people hell has frozen over!  I could not believe it when she called me and asked me if I could make her nails look pretty for her dinner out on Saturday.  Now mind you all that will occur is a nude polish going on with no stamping whatsoever but still it's something!  Neither my mom nor sister capitalize on all the super cool mani's they could get from me whenever they wanted!  If Lisa was still here she'd be my number one non paying customer LOL!  I think we might try to go to the new Jack Ryan movie on Sunday if we aren't watching football--who knows anything cold happen!

Today I've chosen blue for my Monochrome Week day.  I have the lovely Into Darkness and Narasuk by Elevation polish in addition to Fishwife by Butter London on today.  I love the little accent nail I did with Narasuk so much I think I'll do a full mani like this one day!

Jut because I was lazy and it was still out I used MoYou Sailor 07 for the stamping

You just can't go wrong with waves--ever!

I think Monochrome week has been really great so far?  Does anyone have a favorite yet?  It's really hard to pick isn't it???  Let's see what everyone comes up with for today!

And don't forget the great giveaway!! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome--Orange Crush!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Hump Day!!  I have been loving all the brightly colored monochrome colors my cohorts have come up with so I decided to do one of my own today!  I went with a color I don't often wear---ORANGE!  It's pretty lickalicious if I do say so myself.
I started with a gradient of Zoya Thandie and Elevation Polish The Arches II.  Then I topped it with Red Dog Designs Pumpkin Toss.  It was pretty blingy.  I did it up last night so I went to bed feeling good.  Then this morning since I was up so early I decided to stamp over it.  I whipped up a light orange/peach color to stamp over the top of it and hauled out MoYou Sailor 07 and here it is!

It's pretty orangey!  Definitely not a dreary winter color at all

This pic here without the flash shows the peachy stamping color a little better.

What do you think of this nail length for me?  I think my fingers look fat but at the same time I do sort of like this length

Stamping over glitter makes me SO happy

What did everyone else come up with on hump day???

And don't forget about the fabulous giveaway!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome

Hi Everyone!  Hope you are all doing well.  I have to say I am having a heck of a time coming up with something cool for Monochrome Week!  I tried a zillion things this weekend and did not like any of them.  Yesterday I settled on the white and grey gradient but I really wanted to do something cool.  When you're in a group of mega talented gals you try not to look like the class clown!

I remembered a cool MSMD mani I did with same gradiented blues so I decided to to it with some plums and lilacs and I do really like how this turned out!

To get myself out of my rut I put on my new Chanel--Provocation.  It is a lovely dark plum.  Then I striped on Sally Hansen Lively Lilac and finally some white

I sort of needed the Chanel pick me up for the nubs I had to endure too!  I snapped a nail off removing my manicure!  How does that even happen people?!

Well one thing for sure that's a positive with it, I can type much faster now!

I really loved the mani's the girls came up with yesterday--how about you??

Let's see what's up with everyone today!

And Don't forget about the fabulous giveaway we have going on!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome

Hi Everyone!!! It's that time of the month again and this time I mean it in a good way!  This week not only kicks off Monochrome week but the Digit-al Dozen is also having another one our spectacular giveaways!  WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

First up let's start with the mani.  I had a heck of a time coming up with something I liked!  Yes you heard me, a heck of a time!  I tried 3 different looks and hated each one.  Running out of time I had to settle for a white and grey gradient with some black stamping.  

I felt it was kind of stark, like my soul, after all my fails!

This plate is adorable though isn't it?  It's Messy Mansion MM14

Birds on a wire!  Definitely cute!

I'm going to take a look and see what the rest of gals did and you should too, but don't forget to check out the awesome spectacular giveaway at the end of group pics!

And now for the great giveaway!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Following A Tutorial Week--Stamped Decals from Messy Mansion

Hi Everyone!! Happy Friday!  Our polar vortex has finally vacated and now we have rain!  OIY we just are not winning here LOL!  I'm all for the warmer weather but rain brings sleet, slush and ice.  Here we are at the end of the tutorial week and I decided to do a stamping decal.  Julia posted a really cute idea for a leprechaun last March.  It's a pretty simple tutorial although if you're new to stamping this is definitely an advanced technique.  Do check out the tutorial for it over at Messy Mansion.  Because I chose a plate that needed a lot of detailing on the decal I decided to just go for an accent instead of the decal on every nail.  Good thing too because it was a bit labor intensive!
I chose one of my new Messy Mansion plates MM29 and then stamped with China Glaze Passion--my favorite gold.  Then I filled in ALL the little holes with my jewel tone Illamasqua's--Viridian, Scarab, Phallic and Baptiste

I think it almost has a stained glass look!

I sure you enjoyed the tutorial week!  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Following A Tutorial Week--Distressed Grunge

Hi Everyone!  The week is starting to wind down and I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend.  I am looking forward to it for sure--we are supposed to be in the 30's so a veritable heat wave for us dontcha know?!

Just like yesterday where I followed a tutorial by the fab Jacki from Adventures In Acetone today I followed one by the super talented Sarah of Chalkboard Nails.  I know I have told you all before I knew Sarah way back when she was just starting out!  Her freehand is amazeballs and it isn't too often at all I can copy one of her mani's.  Thankfully this tutorial made it pretty easy for me to create this cool looking distressed grunge mani!

It's a totally new look to me and I think I love it so much because it reminds me of shatter/crackle polish.  And if there's one thing Sarah knows about me it's how much I love Crackle!

Here's the mani I did.  I used a base of white and then China Glaze For Audrey, Zoya Mira and Reagan and then Sinful Colors Black On Black

I wish a bit more of the For Audrey showed up, but since this was first time trying this cool technique I wasn't sure how much was too much LOL!

This is a wicked cool base!

I really like my thumb

I think stamping might be totally awesome over this.  We'll see if I do it again and stamp something over it!

If you like this look and haven't done it check out Sarah's tutorial I linked at the top of the page, it's easy!  If I can do it, you can do it!

Following A Tutorial Week--textured gradient!

Hi Everyone!! Happy Hump Day!  I have a lovely mani to show you today and it's from a tutorial I followed from one of my favorite bloggers--Adventures In Acetone.  Jacki did this AHmazing criss cross textured striping tape mani awhile ago and I've been doing them ever since!  I love it when I can copy something of hers because she is crazy talented and really too hard to copy lol!  But a striping tape mani, now we're talking!

I started with a base of Nails Inc Victoria Street and then did my criss cross striping tape and sponged on Zoya Vespa and Kiko 646

I super love, love, LOVE this mani!

Some of you might be tired of the textured nail polishes but not me!  I cannot get enough of these babies!

Jacki does a lot of tutorials!  She has a Tutorial Tuesday where I first found this tutorial.  Make sure you check the link at the top to check it out and look into all her other fab tutorials!!

Following A Tutorial Week--Water Marble

Hi Everyone!  Still pretty bitter cold out there this morning.  Starting my day off at -14 with a wind chill of -35 BUT we are supposed to get to positive temps today.  We have a heat wave coming as this weekend we will be in the 30's.  And don't you just know some fool is going to come out in shorts when that happens!  I'll be sure to report back if I see anyone doing it.

So today for following a tutorial week I have the bane of almost all nail art lover's existence.  The dreaded water marble.  You know how it starts out, you see pics all of the internet of these super cool water marbles and you go wow just put some nail polish drops into water, swirl, stick your fingers and BAM! you have a great mani!  Then you try it and it is a MAJOR fail.  And you sit back and shake your head and wonder why didn't this work.  So then you Google "hey why didn't my water marble mani work--what are some tips and tricks to water marbling" and the internet Gods direct you to Colette--aka My Simple Little Pleasures YouTube Channel.  

Oh my stars it's like a gift from heaven when you find yourself there.  You watch every single water marble she does completely mesmerized.  But then you actually try some of her designs and low and behold you start to get one or two that work.  So you practice, practice, practice and suddenly you got this!

Today I just did a simple little water marble, that totally worked out and I didn't have to redo a single finger.  Just two colors China Glaze's Don't Make Me Wine and WetnWild Black

it's simple but still looks so pretty!

So if you haven't checked out Colette--you need too!  If you haven't tried to water marble yet--you need too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you all have a great day!