My 2013 Top 10 picks

Hey y'all!  Can you believe today is the last day of 2013?  Geez, this year has FLOWN by.  I have had the BEST year too.  I guess time really does fly when you're having fun huh? ;) I have had such an amazing and busy year with a lot of big changes in my life.  I am so happy and 2014 is going to be even better I can feel it in my bones.  I did literally every one of my 2013 New Years resolutions and I've like never done that before haha.  My resolutions for 2014 all have to do with health and fitness.  Surely if I can pull off what I did in 2013 I can definitely do what I have planned for 2014.

Anyhoo, back to what this post is really supposed to be about lol.  I love seeing the year end posts and love doing them myself.  I went through all of my posts from 2013 and picked my top 10 favorite nails I've done. 

10. Sketchers Bug

 

 9. LSU Tiger Nails

8. Peacock Accent with glitter

7. I do nails!

 

6. Lilly Pulitzer inspired roses

 

5. I love nail art

4. Halloween Spirit Store Nails

3. Charlie Brown Christmas

2. Dark Starry Knight

Tied for 1st

Most because they were my first big published works.  :)  

Zombie Nails  

As seen in Nails Magazine October 2013 

Blue Dog Nail

As seen in Nails Magazine August 2013

"Mini-Masterpiece Contest" Honorable Mention

Well there you have it, my top 10 (err, 11) favorites from 2013.  Do you have a favorite that didn't make the list?  

Thank you all so much for helping make 2013 such an awesome year for me.  Your kind comments and encouraging words are always very appreciated.  I hope you all have an awesome New Year!  

Out with the old and in with the new.  Welcome 2014!!!!!  HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Recent Clients Nails

Hey y'all!  I haven't done a client nail post in a while so I decided to share.  I have been SO busy lately that my blog has kind of been put on the back burner.  I try to update when I can. :) 

I'm pretty proud of the last set.  I do A LOT of square white tip acrylic full sets so it was nice to change it up a bit.  I love the shape and length she wanted. 

Thanks for stopping by!  XOXO 

Magnificent Monday Manis - Silver

Hey y'all!  Yay, it's Monday again.  That means it's time for some more magnificent mani's.  This week our theme was "silver" and we both did silver and snow flakes.  You can see Destany's HERE. 

Thanks taking a gander at my blog today, I hope you enjoyed your visit!  XOXO 

Magnificent Mani Monday ~ Christmas Swirls

Welcome to another edition of Magnificent Monday Manis.  This week our theme is Christmas Swirls.  I started to do a water marble but then I realized I wasn't feeling up to the challenge.  lol  So I went for the next best thing, a need drag marble.  I love how this turned out. 

For this mani I used Zoya Carrie Ann, Zoya Ivanka, and OPI Alpine Snow. 

Be sure to check out Destany's Magnificent Monday Mani at Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom.

Have a great week! XOXO

Magnificent Mani Monday ~ Christmas Trees

Hey y'all, Destany from Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom and I are bringing you another Magnificent Monday Mani.  We are starting off the month of December with a festive Christmas tree theme.  

I couldn't be happier with my tree theme.  I will be honest, this is literally hot off the presses.  They aren't even dry as I type this. lol  I was actually watching Charlie Brown Christmas while I was working on it.  I LOVE Charlie Brown!  And it's not Christmas time in our household without watching a Charlie Brown Christmas. 

I did nails revolving our his poor sad tree he bought and the thumb is after his friends took the tree and made it beautiful.  I'm fond of the Charlie Brown tree myself, simple but yet the thought he put into it was what made it beautiful to begin with. 

Be sure to check out Destany's Magnificent Tree Mani HERE.  Check back next week when we continue the Holiday nail theme.  XOXO

Magnificent Mani Monday ~ Thanksgiving Edition

Hey y'all! It's Monday so that means it's time for another Magnificent Mani with Confessions of  Sarcastic Mom and me.   Sorry I've been kind of slacking lately.  I've been pretty busy at work and home so I haven't had much time to do my own nails.  The Thanksgiving nails I'm showing you today are what I've been wearing for about a week now.  LOVE using gel polish!  They still look good as new with no chips or dullness.  Considering I do nails for a living and wash my hands constantly gel polish is kind of a miracle product for me lol. 

This week for Magnificent Mani Monday we are doing a Thanksgiving theme so naturally I chose to do turkey nail art. :)  

 I used Gelish Sunrise in the City and the accent nail is Gelish Allure with the turkey done with acrylic paint and topped with Gelish Top It Off. 

Be sure to check out Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom for her Thanksgiving Magnificent Monday Mani too. 

I'm not sure if I'll have time to post between now and Thursday so I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you get to enjoy your day with family and friends.  Much love, Amber

Magnificent Mani Monday ~ Fall Skittles

Hey y'all!  Happy Monday!  Monday means it's time for another installment of Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom's and mine Magnificent Mani Monday.  This week's theme is Fall Skittles. 

I'm kind of in love with the mani I came up with for the theme this week.  I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I drew up a few sketches and had a few misses but it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Be sure to check out Destany's Magnificent Mani too at Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom.

With owls, it is never easy come, easy go.

 Hey y'all!  Today I am pulling a mani out of the vault that I did a while back and forgot to post.  I seriously love this owl charm.  I've also worn it HERE. He's just so stinking cute, don't you think???

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by.  XOXO

Magnificent Mani Monday ~ Fall Dotticures

Hey y'all!  Today is our 2nd installment of  "Magnificent Mani Mondays".  This week's theme is Fall Dotticures.

For my dotticure mani I used Ulta Chocoholic, Color Club Antiquated, and China Glaze In Awe Of Amber and topped it off with China Glaze Matte. 

Check out my friend Destany's Magnificent Mani too at Confessions Of A Sarcastic Mom.

Magnificent Mani Mondays

Hey y'all!  I'm very excited to announce a new challenge I'm going to be doing with my friend Destany from Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom.  We are going to be doing "Magnificent Mani Mondays", where we will have a theme and post a new awesome mani.

This week our theme was fall leaves.  I my fall leaves using Germanicure by OPI, Color Club Antiquated, and Pure Ice Bare It All.  The black is acrylic paint.

 

I forgot how much I love Germanicure.  In real life it also has a deep red hue to it too.   In photos it looks more brown to me. 

This design is relatively simple if you have the right brushes.  A lot of times in nail art, and other painting as well,  your brushes are EVERYTHING.  The size of your brush is so important in getting the perfect lines.  Not that this is perfect by any means.  I'm just saying that using the right brush can change your life lol.  

Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy our posts.  I'm looking forward to do this challenge every week.  Be sure to check out Destany's Magnificent Mani Monday Post today as well at Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom.

Halloween Hangover~How I wore my make up and nails.

Okay, I really don't have a hangover but I'm sure there are plenty of people that have a candy hangover...or maybe just a plain old grown up hangover.  No judgements from me either way ;).  Halloween is over though but I thought I'd share what we wore.

At work were allowed to dress up and we all had a lot of fun.  I decided to do sugar skull make up and I loved, loved, loved it. 

My design was loosely based on THIS design.  I changed a few things but that's pretty much what I went off of.  The white is cake make up from the Spirit Halloween store and the rest is just regular old make up I already had.  I used liquid eyeliner, pencil eyeliner and different eye shadows.  The Blue and Purple are both Colormates Eyeshadows.  They have super bright pigmentation and it stayed on from about 7 in the morning until I took it off about 10pm.  Not bad for some $5 eyeshadow huh? 

And of course I did my nails too.  I wanted to match that teal shadow as much as possible and I think Orly Sweet Peacock was the perfect choice.  It's also my favorite polish EVER. The art was done using various acrylic paints.

And a completely gratuitous photo of my daughter.  I did her make up also, she was a kitty cat. :)  I used THIS tutorial for her make up.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Happy November!  XOXO 

More Client Halloween Nails

Hey y'all!  I could have sworn I posted this the other day but apparently I didn't.  I tried doing it from my phone so maybe that's where things went wrong.  Anyhoo, just wanted to share a few more Halloween nails I've done on clients and myself.  The first one is me.

  

 

I loved doing all of the Halloween nails I got to do this season.  I'm looking forward to Christmas now.  I LOVE Christmas nails and I hope my clients do too!!! 

The Boogie Man

Hey y'all!  Only 2 days until Halloween!  Are you dressing up?  We get to dress up at work so me and one of my coworkers are going to do sugar skull make up.  I'm probably just going to wear all black and do my make up and of course my nails.  I'm still debating on what I want to do for my nails.  I think my main color is going to be purple so I guess I'll start there and see what I can come up with.

Anyhoo, today I am sharing a design that I am wearing right now.  It is inspired by the Spirit Halloween Store logo.  It turned out just as I imagined, I'm pretty pleased with it.

 
Pretty creepy huh? 

I used Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers Purple Potion for my base color and the art was done with acrylic paint and then topped off with a coat of Out The Door. 

Client Nails~Halloween Edition!

Hey y'all!  I'm officially working full time now and everything is going really well.  I seriously LOVE my job and the spa I work at.  It's so nice and my co-workers and bosses are really great.  I could not ask for a better place to work.  This is the first job I've ever had where I didn't mind going everyday lol.  I really only work 5 or 6 days a week, so it's not really every day but you know what I'm sayin' ;).  It's just a nice place to be.  If you want to check out where I do my nail thing, they have some pics of the mani/pedi room on the spa website HERE.  Just scroll to the bottom of the page for the manicure room pics.  

I thought I'd share some Halloween nail art I've done on clients lately.

Full Set with acrylic bows and hand painted candy corn nail art using acrylic paint and gradient accent. 

These is actually my daughter's nails :)  Loved the tiny bows on this one.  I'm getting better at making the bows! 

Jack Skellington nail art using Gelish Gel Polish and acrylic paint.

Full set with Halloween polish and rhinestones. 

Here's a full nail wheel I did to give clients an idea of Halloween designs they may want. I've actually done several but I forgot to take pics :/ 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a good day!  XOXO