Zoya-Tinsley with Pueen Stamping

Awhile back when Zoya had their big sale, this is one of the colors I got. I'm so glad I did because it is gorgeous! I love the golden shimmer it has.

Seriously, I can't get over how pretty this is.

I have been craving some new stamping plates, so I got the Pueen Love Elements set. I love all the girly images! Lots of hearts and swirls. This ruffled image I've seen others use before and loved it, so it was the first one I tried out. I used Sinful Colors- Snow me White and Pueen 32.

February SquareHue Box

The Passport Collection: Tokyo

Nails Ablaze, Harajuku Style

I don't know much about Tokyo, or about Harajuku, but from a little googling, I could tell it was a little wild and very colorful. And SquareHue didn't disappoint!

The first color is Roppongi, a bright green glitter with a hint of golden shimmer. It's full of iridescent glitters. I'm not a big fan of this shade of green. It may look better layered over something rather than on it's own though. The formula was a bit sheer, I used 3 coats for the photo below and there is still slight VNL.

Next up is Shibuya, a bright pink/magenta with blue microglitter. I really love this one! This one started out a little sheer, but built up easily. I used 3 coats for full opacity.

Last is Ginza. A kind of sky blue shimmer. I think this one is gorgeous. Its almost got more of a frost finish than a shimmer, as you can tell by the slight brush strokes. I used 3 coats for full opacity.

Overall, I think this box is very fun! It's bright and glittery, a nice change of pace for the yucky winter weather we're having!

Next month is The Passport Collection: Paris. Sign up now so you don't miss it!

Zoya- Aurora with a heart

I finally got my Zoya order in the mail and was so excited to play with my new gorgeous colors! 

I used two coats of Zoya- Aurora for all but the accent. That is two coats of OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls with a heart in Aurora. I just used a dotting tool for the heart. I absolutely LOVE this color!! It's amazing! I'm glad it's one of the three I ended up going with.

I'm happy that Valentine's Day is around the corner, lots of hearts and girly colors on their way!

Simple Swirls

I did these nails a few weeks ago, on pretty short nails. The base color is a mini that came in a 7 pack from Ross. They don't really have a brand, but the color is called Cranberry. I stamped with BM-314 and Sinful Colors- Snow Me White.

In other news...after the big share the love event last weekend, my Facebook page just hit 500 likes! I'm in shock! Before the weekend, I think I had 73! I'm so excited and hope everyone likes my work! I also started posting a little on Instagram. You can find me there @kickacetone.

Go Niners!

To be perfectly honest, I don't care much about football. But my husband is from Sacramento and is a huge 49ers fan, so these are for him :) They're playing the Seahawks tomorrow and he says he thinks this game is going to be bigger than the superbowl, so I decided I probably should do some nails for the occasion.

I'm really loving the braid look lately. It's easy and just looks so cool! For this one I used OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Color Club- Berry and Bright, and SquareHue- Honor. My accent nail was done with Berry and Bright and black and white Nail Ritz pens. My husband loved them, so mission accomplished!

 My girls also wanted 49ers nails! This picture is of my almost 2-year-old's nails. I had to be quick for obvious reasons, so don't mind the messy job with lack of cleanup :) I've been painting her toenails since she was 3 months old, but this is only the second time I've done her fingernails. It's cute how she wants to show everyone :)

This one is my other two girls. The top hand is my 4-year-old, the bottom is my 8-year-old. They thought it was so fun that they all had matching nails. I tried to get a picture of all 3 of them, but my baby wasn't having it.

Anyone else rooting for the Niners??

Glitter Chevrons!

I started out with the intent of doing a pond manicure for today. It reeeeally didn't work out. My layering polish was a little too sheer. I'll give that look a try another time. So after one failed mani, I completely switched directions and started over about 10:30 last night. I absolutely love how this turned out!

I started with 2 coats of OPI- My Boyfriend Scales Walls, then used the large chevron Vynails nail decals. I used them as guides for this look. They were super easy to use, and it went really quickly. I painted one coat of Nina- Twinkle, Twinkle over the guides, then peeled them off with tweezers while the polish was still wet.

This is something I would definitely do again! But I'll need more of those chevron stickers! And that blue glitter! Isn't is amazing?? I was surprised how opaque it was in just one coat as well! I picked this gem up on clearance at Sally's a few weeks ago.

Double Holo Houndstooth

Sometimes I just don't want to do "seasonally appropriate" nails. Sometimes I just want something that will make me happy. And what's more happy than sparkle, holographic, and pink!

I started with 2 coats of Orly- Miss Conduct, by far one of my very favorite polishes. I stamped with BM-322 and Color Club- Cloud Nine.

I love how this looks in direct light, as well as indirect.

Miss Conduct is a scattered holo, and Cloud Nine is a linear holo, I wasn't sure how they would look together, but I think it turned out pretty awesome!

Now those are happy nails :)

Holo Snowflakes

I've been wanting to do a winter nail art look, but wasn't really feeling like the usual blues and grays that go with winter. I needed something happy and fun. So I went with China Glaze- When Stars Collide, a beautiful, rich, holographic purple. I used Sinful Colors- Snow Me White and BM-323 for the snowflakes.

 I really love how these turned out. They're very "happy winter". I like that.

January SquareHue Box

 I realized when I got the shipping notification for this box that I never did post the swatches from last month's box! So if anyone is interested in seeing those, just let me know and I'll post them :)

The Passport Collection- London

I was pretty excited to see what was in store for this box. I went to London with my brother when I was 17 and it was incredible! So it was fun to see the names of the polishes were places that I've been to :) To be completely honest, I was slightly underwhelmed when I saw the colors, and then I swatched them...and it totally changed my mind!

First up is Buckingham, a gorgeous deep burgundy. I absolutely love this! Upon first glance, I wasn't too impressed, but on the nail it was incredible. It's so rich and dreamy, and once again, crazy awesome shine. This is 2 coats, no topcoat.

 

 Next up is Westminster, sort of an off white, cream color. The formula on this one was a little streaky and probably could have used one more coat to even it out more. I used 3 thin coats for this photo. I don't love this color on it's own, but I think it will be great to use for nail art!

 Last, we have West End, a dark blue shimmer. I thought this one looked the most interesting at first glance, and it's an absolute stunner on the nail! You can see a hint of the bright blue shimmer in this picture, so pretty!! I used 3 coats, no topcoat. Even thought this one isn't one of the hi-gloss cremes, it still has great shine.

Have you signed up for SquareHue yet?!?

Do it!!

Last Hurrah

 Since it's the last day of the year, I have to get a post in. I cut it pretty close on this one. I'm putting Christmas and New Year's Eve all in one post since it's kind of my last shot.

On the left is my sweet little Chloe's nails. She's 4 and really wanted some Christmas nails, so we did these one evening while she watched Mulan 2. She loved them and was excited to take pictures just like Mommy. On the right are my Christmas sweater nails. A very popular trend this season, I really liked how they turned out. I used Color Club- Berry and Bright, then stamped with Sinful Colors- Snow Me White and W120.

 Next up is my look for New Year's Eve. My mom bought me a pack of 7 mini polishes at Ross awhile back. I don't know what brand they are, but this is one of them. It's called Grapevine. It's such a gorgeous dark purple and in direct light you can see the beautiful pink and blue shimmer in it. I just love it!

 I started with 2 coats of Grapevine, then decided to do a skittle, something I rarely do. On the index finger I added Hard Candy- Hip Hip Hooray, very fitting for party nails, I think! The other images are stamped with Pure Ice- Silver Star and BM-311 and W117.

Better late than never, right?? 

My goal for my blog in the new year is to start posting more regularly. Hopefully we're doing with sickness and surgeries for awhile, so things can calm down. I do my nails, I just have trouble finding the time to post! Maybe once the older kids go back to school, I can start carving out some time during Sesame Street for blogging :)

Happy New Year everyone!!

Royal Lacquer Swatches & Review

Back in October I posted about Suds n Stickers, they did the great Vynails decals. They recently started a line of polish called Royal Lacquer and I was lucky enough to receive a few colors for review! Unfortunately, I got them the same day I had my tonsils out, so I've been out of commission for a couple weeks, so sorry ladies!

On my index and middle finger is Aura. A gorgeous purple glitter topper. I layered it over OPI- You're Such a Budapest. This color is so sparkly and the glitter payoff is great. The larger circle glitters take a little fishing, but that's to be expected.

 

 

 On the ring and pinky fingers I've got this cute little unnamed mini. It's a delicate glitter topper, some pink, purple, blue, very pretty. It's also over You're Such a Budapest. 

 

 I really loved this next color, it's gorgeous! This is three coats of Inner Glow. A gorgeous berry colored jelly with some redish micro glitter and some copper and holo glitter. It's so pretty! It dries to kind of a waxy finish, which is cool, but I really love it with top coat!

No topcoat

Topcoat

 The last one is another cute little unnamed mini. It's a pretty teal color packed with black, white, and silver glitters. All different shapes, hexes, squares, circles, stars, although I didn't manage to get any of the stars. I really like this color, the larger glitters do require a little fishing of course, but it's worth it :) This one also had a waxy finish to it.

No topcoat

Topcoat

Thank you to the ladies from Royal Lacquer for giving me the opportunity to review your polishes! I absolutely love them!!

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Fall Braid

Sorry about the lack of posts lately! It's been a rough few weeks, we've all had one sickness after another around my house. I have an appointment tomorrow to schedule a date to have my tonsils removed. I'm a little nervous, I've heard the recovery is pretty bad for adults, but I'm so tired of being sick all the time, so hopefully this will help!

I've been doing good to even paint my nails once a week lately, which has been rough. But I was finally in the mood to do a fall look, and I really wanted to try the braid look again. I used Honor, Scorched Summer, and Swahili Charm, all from SquareHue. I can't say enough great things about their polish! Both the gold and the orange are something I would never pick out for myself, and yet they're perfect for this look! They look amazing in nail art. That's partly why I love SquareHue, I don't know what colors I'm getting and I get some colors that would be out of my comfort zone, and end up loving them.

November SquareHue Box

The Coastal Collection

First off... I LOVE this box!!! The colors are all amazing!

The first color is Nantucket. It's the most gorgeous teal blue. The formula is perfect as always. Opaque in two coats, crazy awesome shine.

Next is Chatham. It looked like I dipped my fingers in hot chocolate. Perfect color for fall for sure. This one was a little thinner, I used three coats for full opacity.

 Last color is Portsmouth. An incredibly beautiful dusty grayish blue. I LOVE this one! It seems a little more gray in real life, it photographed slightly more blue. Two easy coats.

All of these colors are so pretty, it makes me even more excited to see next month's colors! All three of these are HiGloss Creme formula, they're my very favorite. I'm always amazed by the shine, they're absolutely perfect!

If you haven't signed up for SquareHue yet...you're missing out! Check it out...SquareHue...next month is The Passport Collection. Sign up so you don't miss it!

Happy Halloween!

Sorry I didn't get this post up yesterday! I hope everyone had a great Halloween! The night before, my brother and his family came over to carve pumpkins, we do this every year, it's a lot of fun. I decided I wanted a challenge this year, and about 2 hours into it, I was wondering what the hell I was thinking. I spent about 7 hours on it that night. The next morning, I took one of my daughters to school and came home to finish my pumpkin. It ended up taking me about 9 hours by the time I finished it...I've included pictures later on.

Anyway...I spent so much time on my pumpkin that I only had naptime to hurry and get my nails done. So I did this quick mani before the girls woke up to get ready for our neighborhood trunk-or-treat.

I used two coats of SquareHue- Iron Horse on my index and pinky fingers, and two coats of Desert Grit on the other two. I stamped with Sinful Colors- Snow Me White and Konad Special Black. I used the Halloween plate from the Winstonia collection, I don't remember what number it is, I could get up and look, but I don't think I can peel myself off the couch right now.

Here's a picture of my adorable little girlies!! Hailey was an elephant and Chloe was Ariel. They had a lot of fun even though it was only 41 degrees and started to rain during trick-or-treating.

And now...my pumpkin! If you don't have children, you may not recognize her...it's Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. This was the first year I've tried surface carving, I used a little wood carving kit. It was a little ridiculous. But I wanted a challenge, and a challenge I got.

I may pick something a little simpler next year...it does look pretty awesome though, right?