2013 Holiday Nails #1

For this Holiday look, I used Santa Red My List by China Glaze as the base color and Essie's No Place Like Chrome for the stamp color:

Happy 4th of July

So, I couldn't decide what to do for my patriotic manicure (there are sooo many options), so I just decided to do a little bit of everything.  Here's my left hand:

 And here's my right hand:

I've got glitter gradients, polka dots, stamps, and rhinestones...I feel like Uncle Sam would be proud!  It's too much product to catalog here, and I honestly can't even remember everything I used for this look, but it's pretty great, huh?!

Anyway, I hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday! Happy 4th of July!

Shot of the Day: Cinco de Mayo Nails and Margaritas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Cinco de Mayo!  Here in Tennessee, it was rainy and cold, but that didn't stop me from bringing the fiesta to my mani!

For this look, I used Essie's Blanc over a base coat of OPI Nail Envy.  I have to say, once again I am disappointed with an Essie polish.  Less than 24 hours later I had some major chips, even with a Seche Vite top coat.  For the dots and stamping I used the red from my Forever 21 Red Carpet Kit and NYC's High Line Green.

Here's an upside down shot so you can see the stamp better.  This stamp is from Gals plate GA9. I didn't have time to do any of the complicated Aztec designs, so I just decided to go with Mexico's national colors and some "Margarita" glasses.  They might actually be martini glasses but let's use our imaginations.

And look how good they look with a drink in my hand! Ok well yes, everything looks better when there's a drink in your hand...My husband made these margaritas for us this weekend to celebrate the holiday and boy were they strong!  Here's the recipe if you dare:


2 oz tequila
2 oz triple sec
Key Lime juice to taste
Salt rim (if desired)

Stamping Success with MASH 26-50 Plates

If you follow Polish off the Bottle on Facebook and Twitter, then you know that I have been super pumped about getting started with nail stamping.  Well, my MASH 26-50 Plates arrived last week along with my Konad double ended stamper, and I have been having a ball!  It's a much easier process than I thought it would be, and there is so much variety you can do with your manicure.  I feel like I'm an all-star nail artist now thanks to nail stamping.

So my first attempt wasn't perfect, but I wanted to try a small design instead of a full pattern first just to get used to the application process.  Here's a pic from my first nail stamp manicure attempt: