Mardi Gras!

There is a whole lot of different in this post!

I have to preface this post by apologizing for the photo quality and the lack of 'proper' clean up. Originally, I had not planned to post this mani at all because I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but after some coaxing from some friends I decided to share it. And it totally grew on me!

Going into it I knew what colors I wanted to use, but I didn't have a plan. Eventually I decided on 'organized chaos' and set to work doing pretty much whatever came to mind. The results are...fun. At least, I think so anyway :)

I used 3 main colors -
Purple - Color Club - Cosmic (from Claires)
Green - Rimmel 60 Sec - Camouflage
Gold - Color Club - Winter Affair

Additional colors and tools -
Glitter - China Glaze - All That Glitters
Zoya - Gilty - 18k Gold Top Coat
Stripes - Random gold striper
Stamp - Konad M60- Stamped with Color Club Winter Affair
Wet & Wild - Blacke Creme
Scotch tape
Fan Brush
Hole reinforcement stickers (for hole punched paper)
2 different sized dotting tools
Make up sponge

Left Hand Run Down:
Index - Scotch tape mani - 'Cosmic' purple base, China Glaze 'All that glitters', gold stripe
Middle - Color Club 'Winter Affair' with 'All that Glitters' gradient. 
Ring - Konad M60 stamped with 'Winter Affair' over black. Sponged on 'Cosmic' and 'Camouflage' around the edges. Sponged on a tiny bit of 'All That Glitters'
Pinky - Fan brush with 'Cosmic', 'Camouflage' and 'Winter Affair' 

Left Hand

Left Hand

Left Hand

Right Hand Run Down:
Index - OoOo I just realized I forgot which stamping plate I used. I'll look this up and get back to ya'll. Anyway, stamped the scroll design with black and gold over 'Cosmic' base. Sponged 'Camouflage' on top. Added a teeny tiny bit of gold glitter (Color Club 'Sultry Diva') on top of the green.
Middle - 'All That Glitters' over 'Cosmic Base'
Ring -  Half Moon Mani - 'Winter Affair' base. I used one of those hole reinforce stickers for paper to create the half moon. Painted the tip blacked and used 2 different sizes of dotting tools for the dots.
Pinky - Scotch Tape Mani - half stamped with Konad M60, half glittered with 'Glitter All The Way'. Added the gold stripe for kicks.

Right Hand

Right Hand

My thumb turned out way better than I had expected. I have always admired these checkerboard type manicures but it always seemed like such a hassle to get everything to line up right. And it was, kinda, but not  nearly as bad as I had imagined. My only failure was not waiting long enough for the base coat to dry before I put tape on it so I had to redo it. I top coated it with Zoya's Gilty to complete the Green/Purple/Gold theme.

These nails were so outside the box for me but I ended up really liking them. Definitely something fun and different for a holiday that is exact that; fun...and different.

TL;DR
- Thank you to the guys who pushed my car out of the snow this morning!! <3 <3 <3 
- I am so ready for spring...out with the snow!
- There is a baby opossum living under our deck.
- And baby bunny prints all over the backyard! Yay!
- Shout out to Jess at Too Cute-icle because shes awesome and shes had a rough couple of days. Love you!

BONUS: Too Cute-icle and Fox Claws Valentines Day Promo! From now until Valentines Day we will include an exclusive, limited edition, 'love' inspired polish by Too Cute-icle with every rack order! You may get a mini, you may get a full size, but you will NOT get this polish ANYWHERE else! (Promo runs from 1/16/2013-2/14/2013. Not valid on orders placed before 1/16/2013) You can find our Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FoxClaws

Daring Digits - Girls Night Out

Oh...em....wow.

So anyone who knows me knows I'm a 'pink' girl. Pinks are by far the most prevalent color in my collection, followed by other lighter, natural type colors, then reds. I don't generally go for darker colors unless its October-ish or its a special occasion that warrants stepping outside the box...BUT...

Some time ago Ashley from Daring Digits did a free shipping sale thingy on Etsy and Jess at Too Cute-icle was raving about 'Girls Night Out'. Admittedly I hadn't seen it before, but the bottle shot looked nice so I gave it a go and snagged a mini GNO, and Mini Ice Age (as well as a couple others for Jess that I need to mail her....oops. They're coming I SWEARS it!)

Anyway, work has been kind of rough lately so I was sitting at my kitchen table, wanting to paint (and at the same time not wanting to do anything) and feeling uninspired, I reached for some random pink polish that was sitting in my stash. I finished my mani, started to take photos of it, and then it hit me. I WAS JUST NOT FEELING PINK TONIGHT, and I was not going to settle. I took it off.

I've been dying to try 'The best one coat black evaaar', Wet & Wild's Black Creme so I figured I'd give Girls Night Out a shot. I did 2 thinn coats of Black Creme (it really is a 1 coat black though, I was just playing it safe), and 2 thin coats of GNO, which is kind of a dark, sheer grey when it comes out of the bottle. (For kicks I tried a coat of it over white and just made the nail look 'dirty' LOL) The formula is nice, it covers evenly and isn't too runny, or too thick. I was very happy with the application of Girls Night Out. It was just easy!

I'm not even kidding you...I finished my left hand, put a top coat on, raced upstairs to my fiance and said, "OH MY GOD ISN'T THIS THE FREAKING PRETTIEST POLISH EVER?!?!?!" He just raised his eyebrows, obviously too overwhelmed by my enthusiasm. Even my 13 year old step-son took notice, "WOW its got purple, and blue, and green, and yell-gold. Hey...caaaaan boys wear nail polish?" Yell-gold. Yes - It's a color. Also, could you imagine this as the background to a galaxy mani? Gorgeous.

It was kind of liberating for me. So 'rebellious' with the black, plus the gorgeous bling factor of all the micro shimmers...Its just....AHH. Its perfect, and a color that I will most definitely reach for again.  If you don't have it, get it. Its a MUST have in the stash IMHO. I hope the photos do it SOME justice (they won't, who am I kidding). And for the life of me I couldn't get a decent bottle shot. GRRRRRRRR. Ah well, if you're interested in picking up some Girls Night Out (or any of her other amazeball polishes) you can visit the Daring Digits Etsy Shop, or on Facebook.

TL;DR

- Girls Night Out is a MUST have.

- W&W Black Creme is a 1 coat black.

- Fox Claws fails on lack of decent bottle shot (anyone have one they want me to feature?)

- Yell-gold.

Don't forget you can still submit answers and questions for YOU ASK / YOU ANSWER. Click the link for more information.

Our nail polish racks are now available! Visit me on Fox Claws on Facebook for more information. New sizes and styles are being produced as we speak. Got a custom request or suggestion? Feel free to ask me and we'll see what we can do.

 Kitten Rack - Holds 52 large (CG/OPI), 64 small (zoya/essie), and 96 rectangle (Butter London) bottles placed front to back.