Best of 2012

Well this year has been a great one, considering it's the first year of my blog!!! I think things have gone well so far, and a big thank you to all my followers and new nail buddies!! You guys are great!!

So to commemorate, I've put together a Best of post. There are various "Best _" awards which I have given to different posts. But enough talking, and on with the nails!!!

UPDATE- 1/3/13: I know that the poll has not been working right, but I got it fixed, so please vote!!! (see the bottom of this post)

Best- Toes:

These adorable ladybug toes were definitely my favorite pedicure design of 2012!!!  To get an easy tutorial for these toes (or you could even make it into a manicure for summer!!) check out the post here.

Best- Stamping:

I actually haven't done too much stamping on this blog yet, but these orange nails were one of my best designs yet!! For a stamping tutorial, click here.

Best- New Technique:

Now I must say, while I did LOVE these icy ombre nails, I don't think they were my absolute favorite new technique. However, my first choice is actually my favorite mani for the year, so I decided to honor these (I mean, they were in 2nd place anyway :). Keep reading to see my favorite design of all!! Instructions for creating an ombre manicure can be found here.

Best- Halloween Design:

I REALLY loved these Frankenstein nails!! I just thought they were so cute, and the bright green and black were such a great color combo!! And not to brag, but these were definitely a favorite at my school! :)

Best- Swatch:

Do you recognize these?? LOL :) (And if you don't, just take a look at my previous post). I think this is one of my favorite polishes ever!!! Can you tell I like glitter? This also commemorates a very important moment in Polished history: my 1st GLITTER BOMB!!!! Okay, enough now... :)

Best- Simple Design:

I loved these Chanel nails so much!!! It was so easy to create as well, but it's a really classy and elegant design. The pearl strings were made with a dotting tool, and I freehanded the logo. My mom says that this is one of her favorite designs too. :)

Best- Tape Manicure:

We all know I love tape, but it wasn't hard to pick my favorite design!!!! While these nails remind me a lot of Ancient Greece, they looked great with my Robin Hood Halloween costume!! Check out this link for the tutorial.

Best- 3D Nails:

I thought this design was so pretty, but it's sad as it was created for the terrible tragedy in Newtown, CT. The white is to promote peace and nonviolence. I chose my white, 3D nail art flowers which are so cute and iridescent. I definitely adored this design, although the reason for it was so terrible.

Best- Cute Manicure:

The pastel colors did not show up the greatest in pictures, but I thought these little cupcakes were just too cute!!! My favorite part- the cherries and sprinkles (I used Bedazzled for the sprinkles :)!!!!

Best- Freehanding:

Now this manicure is definitely a close second for my favorite manicure of all!!! This Apollo 11 design was part of the Time Warp Challenge I did earlier in the year; the daily theme was a historical event, so I chose the moon landing. On my nails I painted: "1 small step for man, 1 giant leap for mankind", the Apollo spacecraft, an "11", the earth, and the American flag on the moon. Now I know the last photo doesn't show too much freehanding; it's predominately sponging with some freehanded stars; I just wanted you to get the whole look because I love it so much. :)

FAVORITE Mani of the Year:

Drumroll please...

Yes, I did make this photo extra large on purpose. :) And that's because it's my favorite!! If you hadn't seen this yet, I did this water marble for Labor Day (the post and tutorial can be found here). I just thought that the color combo was perfect, especially for a Patriotic holiday, and it was a major shock to have my first water marble turn out so well (in my opinion, that is :). My pictures turned out nicely as well (which does not always happen), and I love the sidewalk background. In short I LOVE THIS MANICURE!!!!!!

I think that's a wrap of 2012, now bring on the New Year!!!

Thanks so much!!
:) Trendy Tips :)

And finally, I have a poll for you all to see what you'd like me to do more of on this blog in the New Year. Please vote, I plan to listen to the results!!!
Click here to take survey

Lazy 15: Day 5- Galaxy

Yes, yes, I know I said I'd put up the water marble yesterday, and I didn't. I'm very sorry, and I do hope to do it sometime soon. But in order to not get too far behind, I have today's theme, which is galaxy nails!

 For starters, I just have to say that I LOVE galaxy nails. They looks soooo pretty when done well, and I always like to see people's individual twist on this design. I tried galaxy nails once before here, and I think I actually like those better, although I was pleased with these as well. :)

 Anyway, one great thing with this technique is that it's so simple to do!! You just start with a black base polish, then sponge on any colors you like to make the "galaxy/nebulae" look. And to finish everything off, I freehanded some stars.

What do you think? Have you ever tried galaxy nails, and do you like them?

I'm starting to get excited for Friday's post, feminine nails! That's actually my birthday, and I have some fun nail art to try out! Woo hoo, can't wait!! :)

Until next time, happy polishing!!!

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P.S. To check out the other fabulous participants in the Lazy 15 challenge, please check out my previous post for the inlinkz.

LDTTWC: Day 3- I Remember When

 Today's manicure I have been anticipating since before the challenge even started! The idea for the day is, "I Remember When,": design a manicure based on a historical event- well-known or personal. I'm pretty sure this one would fall under the VERY well-known category. :) So in case you couldn't tell, I chose the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Unfortunately, I was too young to witness it, but I've definitely heard about! And space stuff has always thrilled me.

Here is a "nail by nail blow" of this mani. :)

• First Finger: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Most people have heard these famous words, so in honor of Neil Armstrong (who very coincidentally just passed away a week ago), I painted a small step and a giant leap.
• Middle Finger: We have the Apollo rocket sailing through space surrounded by the stars; how exciting!
• Ring Finger: On this finger, I painted the number eleven to look like the moon too.
• Pinky Finger: And since all of the Apollo 11 astronauts were earthlings, I had to paint the Blue Marble somewhere! :) I even tried to make it look a little bit like North America as well as Central America. LOL :)

 And on this finger, I painted a half moon proudly displaying the American flag. I think I will call this design, "The Nail Armstrong" in honor of the first man on the moon.

 Now, I'm left-handed, so it is often VERY challenging to paint with my right hand. I knew to do this manicure while painting with my non-dominant hand would be a disaster so I tried out a galaxy nail design with stars on these nails.

I think the design is awesome, but it was so simple to do with a cosmetic sponge! I then added stars and streaks with a dotter and fine tip brush.

If you would like to try this design out yourself, here's a link to the tutorial that I used from, The Daily Nail: http://www.thedailynailblog.com/2012/08/galaxy-nails-nail-art-tutorial.html

Well this mani sure used a TON of polishes, so here they are:

• Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out (black)
• Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lightening (yellow)
• Sinful Colors Nail Art in Sour Apple (green) and Hey Dear! (blue for flag and earth)
• NYC Long Wearing in Times Square in Tangerine Creme (orange)
• Wet n Wild Fast Dry in Teal or No Teal (blue for galaxy nails)
• Wet n Wild in French White Creme (white)
• Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Metallica (gray/silver)
• L'Oreal Creme in Infrared (red)

I hope you like this, "out of this world," manicure! And be sure to check out all of the other great designs!
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