Christmas Coco

So originally I only intended to take the first month of my senior year away from blogging to really focus… but then it turned into a whole semester. The longer I stayed away the harder I found to get back into it. I wanted to come back when my year bloggiversary was, but I had to work on my school's premier gala. Then about halfway through November I figured I would just come back after my ORLA was done, this huge assignment that all the seniors have to do where you basically write fourteen essays on one book. It was no bueno. So now as of today it's been four months since my last post, and high time I get back into it. I need more than just school and Netflix to stay sane lol. So today while I was deciding what I should paint, I was inspired by my mug of hot coco. I've got a sore throat and it really helps. I started playing around with the colors and patterns on it and really liked this one.

The trees on my cup have these little starbursts patterns, so I did this kinda loose interpretation of them. I think after this I'm going to end up making another cup.

I used:
Revlon Posh
Pure Ice Platinum White

I hope you are all keeping warm this winter and have a hot beverage of your own!

Next Stop: the Twilight Zone

Do do do do do do do do. The Twilight Zone is a classic example of science fiction, starting in 1959. The episodes that stand out the most to me is the one where a lady finds a stopwatch that freezes time, and the one where the English language changes so everybody is saying that Wednesday means a cat and dinosaur means lunch, but one guy isn't apart if the trasition so he's just left extreamly confused. 

At first I was going to do a skittle manicure of the different symbols from the intro, but the spiral was just so much fun to draw that I ended up doing all of my nails like that. I used a white gel pen to draw the spiral, it's much more precise than a nail art brush, and you can wipe it off if you mess up.

I used:

Maybelline Onyx Rush

White Gel Pen

Tokyo

I just couldn't get the manicure I wanted to do for Tokyo right before I had to leave, but here's the inlinks!

Red for Luck

Hey guys! I'm coming at you from the opposite side of the country, I'm in New York! My little brother is participating in a tournament in Cooper's Town, and I got to tag along. We're finally settled in to the rental house we're sharing with the rest of the team. I did all of my posts right before I left, so I'm editing and writing from my iPad. The only drawback so far is that I can't label the posts.

I decided on a simple look for Beijing, just a red and gold gradient. Red is often used as a symbol for good luck in China, it's everywhere on the New Year. 

I used:

Revlon Red

Maybelline Bold Gold

This is the last night to enter the giveaway, so if you haven't yet go now, there's a link in the side bar! If you want to see what I'm up to in New York you can follow me on Instagram, I'll try to post some cool pictures besides selfies. The other day I was at Niagara Falls and totally spaced taking any pictures!

I don't know how to auto-post.

Big apologizes to all my guest posters for the past week, apparently the way I thought you auto-post is not the way you auto-post. This is the first I've been able to get on the web, I'm at my grandparents house for the day then heading home tomorrow. I've posted them all now with the respective dates, I didn't see a reason as to waste perfectly fantastic guest posts. Thank you again to Dina, Charlie, Laura, Emily, and the other Laura for helping me out. Hopefully next time I'll have things figured out correctly :)

Laura is Guilty as Charged

So this is a little different for a guest post, I'm writing it, but the nail art wasn't done by me. It was done by my friend Laura, who I've mentioned before. She spent the night awhile ago and wanted to join in on my nail art stuff. So we walked to Walmart and bought some fake nails for her to play with. I also scooped up some new polishes which I will be sharing soon. Turns out what Laura can do on a huge canvas she can also do on nails. Who knew?

She loves Adventure Time, so she did some based on these ones at Chalkboard Nails. She used acrylic paint for these, and Essie In the Cab-ana for Beemo. 

 I have no idea where she drew inspiration from for these, I think she had a reference picture on my iPad. If you know where they're from please link to it in the comments. I also don't know what polishes she used, I'm guessing acrylic paint, but the purple might have been Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac.

These are also a mystery, I believe this was her own design. I know she used Julep Rebel  and Maybelline Onyx Rush for these. I went to sleep and when I woke up she had done like six sets. I didn't get to take pictures of all of them before she left, but the others were a Union Jack, pokeballs with Pikachu, some kind of drippy thing, and a silver black bubble thing. She's like a little nail art elf.

Birds of a feather flock to...Orly fOWL Play!

Hello readers of Guilty As Charged!  It's such an honor to be a guest of the lovely & talented Haleigh in her absence.  This is actually my first-ever guest post, so it's extra exciting for me! :-)

My original mani plan ended up having an element that just would not work, so after going back over the ideas I'd had for this post, I decided this one was much more fitting anyways, since Haleigh's blog features such great nail art.  I hope mine is worthy of being here!  I give you Fowl Play:

I cannot even tell you how excited I was to find out that OPI's Merry Midnight has an almost exact dupe.  I wanted MM after seeing only one photo of it, but when I discovered it was going for upwards of $25 on eBay, I was quite sad.  Then along came a comparison post (or several!) with Orly Fowl Play, and with some trepidation, I headed back over to eBay.  This time however, I was overjoyed to find I could get my dream polish for only $5!!!  Mmmm...just feast your eyes on that vampy purple, flaky, sparkly, rainbow-y goodness!

Being a huge fan of plays on words, I had a "liiiightbulb" moment and realized that freehanding an owl as an accent nail would mean I could entitle my post Fowl Play! ;-) hehehe

Isn't he a cute 'lil guy?!  :-D  I think he needs a name...any ideas?  

Mr. Unnamed Owl is composed of Zoya Reagan, Sinful Colors My Buoyfriend, Zoya Arizona, and just any old black & white for the eyes, against a background of OPI Can't Find My Czechbook.  The color combos are truly endless, which is super fun!  :-)  I don't actually have a nail art brush set, but a detail brush from my roommate's set of craft brushes (from Wal-Mart) worked just fine.  I also used a pin - yes, A PIN - for the beak & the dots on the owl's body, as well as the black pupil & the teensy, infinitesimal, tiny, microscopic white glint on the pupil.

In case you were curious, I did end up doing my right hand because I really want to be able to wear this mani for a few days, so I had to at least attempt to make my hands match!  He's a tad...deformed, but still loveable. :-)  OH!  I almost forgot - the branches are China Glaze Ingrid.  Pretty much the only brown I have in my stash.  And of course, it has a fine gold shimmer in it, so my apologies, but Houston, we have a sparkly branch!

The application of all these polishes was really great.  Ok, yes, I used most of them in minute quantities, but I was glad to see they were all very opaque as there was a lot of layering going on!  This is only two coats of Fowl Play.  I think I would classify it as a couple-shades-lighter-than-eggplant purple jelly base, but it's highly pigmented, so the coverage is great - as is the drying time.  I've had SO many issues with bubbling cremes lately, so this was quite a welcome relief.

If any of you have read my blog, you know I'm very long-winded, and I'm sure I could continue on about this mani, but I feel I've kept you long enough, especially since this is a guest post!  I leave you with one final shot:

Thank you so much for reading!  I hope this inspires you to be creative & boldly go where you've never gone before...on your nails. ;-)  Or in life.

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You can check out Emily's blog here!