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!!
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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

Dralion Toes

 Last night I got the opportunity to see the Cirque Du Soleil show, Dralion. The name is a blend of Dragon (representing the east) and Lion (representing the west). Since it's a circus though, I decided to do a pedicure to suit the theme.

For my big toes, I wanted to do red and white stripes as a representation of a big top tent. So, I started with a red polish coat, and once it dried, I used tape strips to create the stripes. This technique is the same as I did here with the Ladybug Toes.

 After the stripes thoroughly dried, I used a toothpick to paint the name Dralion on my two toes.

One of the major themes of the show was the idea of being in harmony with nature. The "main characters" in the show represented the four elements: air, water, fire, and earth. And the colors, blue (for air), green (for water), red (for fire), and ochre (for earth) are symbolic of the elements; that's why I painted my other toes in these colors. I didn't really have a good ochre color, so I used an orangey-peach polish.

Colors used:

• Big Toes- Revlon Love That Red, Wet n Wild French White Creme, and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
• Blue- Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue It
• Green- OPI Gargantuan Green Grape
• Red- Revlon Love That Read
• Peach/Ochre- Revlon Creme Sheer in Sheerly Coral

After this, I finished with top coat.

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Ladybug Toes

 To first create the ladybug toes, you will need to apply base coat, and then a color coat. Since the big toes will be for the ladybug design (see last picture), you will need to paint those red. The other toes can be red, black, or alternating like I did in the above photo.

 Once your polish dries, you will need to rip two pieces of painter's tape in half. Lay the tape on your big toes so that there are two pieces on each toe that leave a small red stripe showing in the center of the nail; it is very important that the tape cover all but this thin strip. Now, take black polish and paint over the tape as well as the red strip to make the center stripe. Allow this to THOROUGHLY dry before you do the next step, or, as I found out, you may have to do this over. While the polish is still wet though, you may remove the tape.

 Since your center stripe is now done and dry, you will need one more piece of tape torn in two. Place these so that only the very tip of your nails are showing. Paint these black as well, remove the tape, and allow your nails to dry. Add top coat/clear paint, and you are done!

Colors Used: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Black Out and Revlon in Love That Red.

You can also try doing the ladybug design on your fingers. Another idea is to make different colored ladybugs like yellow, green, purple, and blue. Have fun!!


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Neon Splash Toe Nail Design

 This is a great, simple, and fun design that is perfect for summer! First, I applied two coats of Color Fever Petites in Raspberry Ice (shown below). You can use any bright color that you own, but metallic paints look great for this. Then, I used Sinful Colors Nail Art in Sour Apple  (shown below) and Bad Chick (white) to add streaks to each nail; after, I applied a large blue dot with Sinful Colors Nail Art, Hey Dear! (shown below). The idea behind this nail is not to worry about being perfect, but rather to have fun with your paints and to make a cute abstract pattern. And the great thing is, with this manicure, no two nails will be exactly the same!

To apply the designs, you do not have to have special nail art paint, however, the Sinful Colors Nail Art paints came with very fine brushes which create great detail; they were also very inexpensive at my local pharmacy. If you choose to work with regular polish, I would recommend using a fine tip brush or even a toothpick/skewer to make the designs.

Shown here from left to right are: Sour Apple (Sinful Colors Nail Art), Raspberry Ice (Color Fever Petites), and Hey Dear! (Sinful Colors Nail Art)    [Note: The Sinful Colors Bad Chick was not shown.]

Happy painting!
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