Nailz Craze Stamping with OPI Skyfall

A simple manicure to end the year! I recently got a few stamping plates from Nailz Craze and I just love these little nesting dolls on plate NC03. It looks like they have sold out now on Natalie's etsy page, but hopefully they will be restocked.

I used OPI Skyfall for the base color, and actually used OPI Skyfall mixed with Wet n Wild French White Creme for the stamping color! I just put a few drops of white on a piece of card stock, then added a drop of  Skyfall and mixed it together with a toothpick. It was enough to make the two accent nails on this mani and created a perfect complimentary stamping color. 

Here is another image from the same plate. I love the clean lines of this image, and it is a much bigger image than other plates like Konad and Bundle monster, so the design really covered the whole nail. :D

Have a wonderful New Year celebration! See you in 2013. 

Ugly Christmas Sweater Nails

Hi all! It's been a busy holiday season, sorry to have neglected the ol bloggy blog. Here are some nails I did yesterday. The base is OPI Comet Loves Cupid, and then I used Konad Special White Stamping Polish to make the designs. My sister got me the Konad Gold Stamping set last year and I totally love it!

I used the following plates to make these designs: bm225, bm319, bm214, m16, and bm316. I found that a lighter hand worked better when trying to lift the deer and ornament images. Otherwise you end up pushing the polish out of the plate.

Merry Christmas!!

Bloggers Against Bullying

Bullying is not funny.  It is not cool.  It is not right.  And more importantly, it is not okay.

Most of us are thankfully residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason.  Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer.  Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color and even to our polish application techniques.  To look down on anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that.  I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog.

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the anti-bullying movement.  Today, November 8, I dedicate my post  to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.

I used Zoya Lotus for the base and hand painted little hearts on my ring finger with OPI Rumple's Wiggin'. 

We have all had to deal with bullying, either as a witness or a victim of it. I am so worried for my teen aged step daughter because I know how cruel kids can be, but we need to all take a stand against bullying. Just like you talk to your children about safety from strangers, and the inevitable sex talk, it is also important to talk about bullying. And adult bullies need to grow up and practice kindness instead.

Happy Halloween!

A quick post to show off my mani today. This was done with one coat of Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, my go-to black polish. Then I painted little random sections of three of my Sonoma Nail Art Halloween polishes: Deadly Zins, Halloween in the Vines, and Here Lies Robert. Finally, I painted a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out and seal it in.

I love these! Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Gradient Graveyard

I've been a little bit behind on the Halloween Challenge posts. Sorry about that! I have been covering for coworkers and just did a major broadcast from Napa that required three trips to the site to get it done. I would prefer not to drive to Napa again any time soon, LOL.

Today I am combining two of the challenge topics together: gradient (today's challenge) and graveyard. They really work well together!

Creeeeeepy! It is supposed to look like the mist on a an overcast day in a sinister graveyard. And who is that specter amongst the tombstones?!?! Run! Save yourselves!!!!

I started with Essie Blanc for my base, then did a gradient using Essie Blanc, Zoya Dove, and a franken of Wet n Wild black and white. I searched through my stash to see if I had a dark grey that might work, but realized I only had light greys. And like 5 bottles of basically the same grey color. Don't tell my husband, ha ha.

Then I used white and black acrylic paints to make the graveyard and spooky ghosty guy. Making the items in the background lighter makes them appear to be further away. Be sure to check out the other people who did a Halloween Challenge today too! 

My next etsy sale is coming up this evening in about 2 hours, so if you were looking for my Halloween collection of polishes, this will be your last chance! Here is the link to my store. The sale will be at 6:30pm Pacific Time (9:30pm Eastern) today, October 22nd.

Zombie Nails, Rob Zombie Nails

I went there, oh yes I did. Today's Halloween Nail Art Challenge theme is Zombies. I wanted to do something a little different so I did Rob Zombie. HAHAHAHAHA!

Isn't he cute!?

Here's the pic I used as a model. This is Rob's 'happy go lucky' pose. 

I started with a base of OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam! and then I used OPI Can You Tapas That? for the 'blood' splatter, by dipping a small straw into the polish and blowing it out hard at my two nails. 

Then I cleaned up the blood splatters (wow, that sounds really bad out of context) and started to paint Rob's face using black and white acrylic paints. 

I ended up covering most of the blood splatters on my ring fingernail with Rob Zombie, but that's okay. If you look close, there are a few splats of blood showing in his beard and hair. I think he would approve. :) Of course, always topcoat your creation so that it won't get ruined when you are directing horror movies, or rocking out on stage.

Check out some of the other Zombie nails today! Happy almost Halloween!

UPDATE: Whoops, I am jumping the gun. Zombies is the theme for NEXT Monday. I am all mixed up. Oh well, I will do Ghosts then instead. I have zombie on the brains apparently... wait, did someone say BRAINNNNNSS??

Eeeeek! A Water Marble

Today's Halloween Challenge is water marble. yay. i just looooove water marbles. not.

But I did them anyway, and my first nail tricked me into thinking that it just might not be so bad this time, but no, it turned out bad. Sighhhh. So I only did three nails, and I turned them into monsters and put a little scream on my pinkie to show my frustration with water marble nails. Oh and to be afraid of the monsters.

Yeah, not so great. I like the index finger, but of course, as soon as I finished it, and went to do the middle finger, I totally bumped it and took a little gouge out of it. Arrrrg!

I started with a base of China Glaze Electric Pineapple. Great color! And this was light enough to act as a good base for the other colors. At least I got THAT right.

Then THIS happened.

Without the monsters and the scream. But it needed the scream, trust me. LOL The other polishes I used in this manicure are OPI Funky Dunkey and Tangerine Scene, Wet n Wild Black Creme, and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Be sure to check out the other challengers who are WAAAYYYY better at water marble nails than me. :)

Also: my next etsy sale is today. The Halloween collection and Scooters 4 Hooters will be for sale at 1pm Pacific Time, 4pm Eastern. These usually go fast, so good luck!

Halloween Challenge: Horror Movies

I am taking part in another Halloween Challenge this year! I did the 31 Day Nail Art challenge last year at this time, but it was VERY time consuming and I just don't have to capacity to do that much this year. So this challenge will hopefully be more manageable and still be just as fun! Today's theme is Horror Movies. I chose one of the scariest movies I could think of: Poltergeist.

When I turned 12 years old my mom let me have my first boy-girl party and I chose this movie for us to watch. I have no idea why my mom let us watch this, it is terrifying!! The pool! The meat! The CLOWN! OMG, the CLOWN!!! Seriously, I am scarred for life because of that movie. Little Carol Anne could not be any creepier. Gah, I have goosebumps just thinking about it. 

I started with Zoya Skylar for the base. This color sort of reminded me of the blueish glow in a room when the tv is on a static signal. 

Then I used acrylic paints to make a static tv screen. This is a combination of white and blues. I used a dotting stroke to try to mimic the static blips on the screen.

Next I painted the little darling herself. Carol Anne in front of the tv screen, communicating with people only she can hear. Heebie Jeebie time FOR SURE!! I used white to outline her hands and head, so that there is a glow around her. 

Here are the other challenges I will be trying this month. It is a fun list of ideas!

And be sure to check out the other people who are trying this challenge. Maybe you should check them out with the lights ON. ;)

TOUCHDOWN!

I actually did these nails on a whim, but I am so happy with how they turned out. Even if you are not a sports fan, you are probably aware of the whole mess with the National Football League and the referee strike. On Monday Night Football, the fill-in refs apparently made terrible calls, and everyone and their brother complained about it on Facebook. On Wednesday I painted my nails this lovely shade of green from Cult Nails (called "Deal With It" ha ha), and on Thursday my hubby wanted to head downtown to watch the game. I couldn't leave the house without SOME kind of nail art (my friends pretty much expect to see something on my nails, and I hate to disappoint, ha ha), so I got out my paints and did this:

HOME RUN FOR THE SEAHAWKS! (oh wait...)

I started with a little white body and hat for the ref. I used acrylic paint to do this part and the other art in this manicure.

Then I added ref stripes and the black wrist cuffs and collar. Look ma! No head!! (Ironic, much?!)

Finally I used some peach toned paint mixed with white and black to make the hands and the head and facial features. I also added a little whistle for him to blow. That's right dude, you blow. Heh, heh. 

And I would like to point out that the placement of the little ref on my middle finger was no accident. ;-)

Halloween Collection Winner and Swatch

Congrats to Ina of mynailpolishonline.com. Ina won a set of my Halloween Collection in celebration of my one year blogiversary. :) And here is a quick swatch of one of the Halloween colors: Halloween In The Vines.

I painted my nails with China Glaze No Plain Jane and then added three coats of Halloween In The Vines to my ring finger with a black french tip. It is a fun way to wear this polish!

Don't forget: my next restock of the Halloween colors is tomorrow, September 20th, 2012 at 4pm Pacific Time (7pm Eastern). There will be full sets of the Halloween Collection available for $38 and there will also be individual bottles of the Halloween colors as well. The sets are one per person only. Here is the link to my etsy store. 

Rubber Duckie Nails and Giveaway!

Here are some Rubber Duckie nails I have entered into Chalkboard Nails nail art contest. Sarah said we couldn't use acrylic paints, so I didn't, but DANG it is a lot harder to do nail art with nail polish. Sarah's contest is for either warm colors or cool colors, so I went with warm. :)

My technique for this art was similar to working with acrylic paints (but more of a pain in the butt), and I used the same small nail art brush I normally use. I painted white silhouettes of duckies on my nails first to make sure the colors would pop.

Here are the polishes I used in this manicure. The base color is Essie "Orange, It's Obvious!" Love that color! And I don't remember the names of all the others, but there you go.

I just hit my ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY for Sonoma Nail Art. Yay! So to celebrate, I am giving away one set of my Halloween Nail Art polishes. :) I will do a simple Rafflecopter giveaway. This is open INTERNATIONALLY, so everyone can enter. I do ask you to be a follower of my blog, and you can get an additional entry for following my facebook fan page. Deadline for entry is 9/19/12 and winner will be announced on 9/20/12. Please make sure you leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And finally! This is also the 120th post on my blog. Every 20 posts, I make a donation to Women's Recovery Services in Sonoma County. They help women transitioning out of addiction, and I think this is a great way to have my blog do a little bit of good. We all know that a pretty manicure can really boost your self esteem, and I want to help empower woman in my community to feel good about themselves and improve their lives. If you would like to make a donation, click here to find out more about Women's Recovery Services. 

Cloud Gradient

Here is a manicure that I recently entered in the Birchbox contest. I have done a cloud design before, but I think this one turned out great! If you would like to vote for my entry, click here. Thanks!

There is a little seagull silhouette against a sunset sky with fluffy little clouds floating by. I used the gradient sponge technique by The Nailasaurus to do this mani. Then I applied acrylic paints for the clouds and bird. 

My base color for this manicure is butter LONDON Sprog. I am such a sucker for periwinkle colored polish. I have many bottles, and each time I buy one I think, "Wait, don't I already have enough of this color?" And then I just laugh at myself. Of course I don't have enough periwinkle polish. Silly me!

P.S. I just passed the one year anniversary for Sonoma Nail Art! I will have a fun giveaway planned this week, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!!

Deadly Zins and Danke Shiny Red

Today's nail art is a quick manicure I did before my recent trip to Seattle to visit family.

I painted my nails with this awesome OPI color called Danke Shiny Red, and then added a bit of nail swirly stuff (a la Robin Moses), and then dabbed my new Halloween color Deadly Zins on the tips. Hotsy totsy!

Here is a shot of my new Halloween polish Deadly Zins. This pic was taken by Sarah Waite of Chalkboard Nails. Deadly Zins is one of four polishes I am releasing for Halloween. The labels for these polishes are super fun, like they are oozing down the side of the bottle, LOL.

Here are the polishes I will be selling on etsy tomorrow! Sale time is 5pm Pacific (that's 8pm Eastern). My polishes are $10 each, U.S. shipping only. I am really excited about these and I hope you are looking forward to them too!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SonomaBento

Petaluma National Little League

Today's post is in honor of a Sonoma County team competing in the Little League World Series today! Go Petaluma National Little League!!! It is very exciting for our county to have a team in the Little League World Series, everyone has Little League Fever! :D

The nick name for Petaluma is "P-Town" so that is what I have on my thumb, plus a little baseball on my middle finger. 

The Petaluma National Little League team is wearing green and gold at the World Series, so those are the colors I chose for my geometric gradient. I used pieces of tape to mark off the stripes, and then used a sponge technique (see The Nailasaurus for the tutorial) to make the gradient. I used China Glaze Happy Go Lucky as my base, with Orly Fresh and OPI Who The Shrek Are You for the gradient colors.

Here you can see a detail of the baseball. I did the baseball with white, black, and red acrylic paints. After the artwork was done, I topped it with Seche Vite topcoat.

This manicure also fits into the geometric manicure theme that a few of my friends are doing. You can see more fun manicures below. Petaluma plays today at 5pm Pacific time! GO PETALUMA!

Hello Kitty Nerd

Sorry about the gap between posts, I was covering for a coworker and I also had a polish sale, so sadly I did not have time for fun manicure. But I am making up for it with this cutie patootie mani! Hello Kitty Nerd!!  I was able to use a new technique I have never tried in this manicure, and I am thrilled with how it turned out.

This is a combination of an amazing gradient technique which I learned from The Nailasaurus, some hand painted nail art with acrylic paints, and my very own glitter topcoat called "My Three Glitters!"

I started by painting my nails light pink with Butter London Teddy Girl. It was a little bare in spots with two coats, but I didn't mind since I was going to do a gradient over it anyway. Click here to see a great tutorial by The Nailasaurus on how to accomplish this easy gradient technique. I was able to do this on my very first try!

Here are the colors I used for my gradient, and oops, they are in the wrong order. Butter London Teddy Girl, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Speedy Sunburst, and OPI Elephantastic Pink. I actually used them in this order: Teddy Girl, Elephantastic Pink, Speedy Sunburst. This made for a very gradual gradient with lots of oomph!

Then I started on HK herself. Here you can see the white and black parts filled in on her head and body. Using acrylic paints makes it much easier to get smooth lines and to fix errors. 

Next I added facial features (the few she actually has), whiskers, and her little buttons on her dress. Then I turned her into an adorable little NERD!

This is a sticker of nerdy/1950s era Hello Kitty. She's got big ol glasses on and cute tenny runners. I found this sticker at the Sanrio store in San Francisco's Japantown. I LOVE that store, and I have to be careful when I go there or else I come home with an empty bank account, LOL.

Finally, to add dimension and fun to this mani, I topped all of my other nails with my Sonoma Nail Art glitter topcoat called "My Three Glitters". It is a black and white topcoat with white squares and black diamonds and has a fun retro feel to it. Then I topped everything with Seche Vite. 

My Three Glitter is inspired by one-time Sonoma County resident Fred MacMurray who had a ranch here. One of his most popular roles was the dad in the television series My Three Sons. My friend Sarah from Chalkboard Nails helped me design this label and I really love it! I do have more bottles of this polish available from my last etsy sale. You can buy them here if you haven't picked up this color yet. I like the way the fun squares and diamonds in this mix make the polish a little different than the other black and white topcoats out there. Have a great week polish friends!

Blue Gradient Dots and WINNERS

WOWEEE! I cannot believe the amount of entries in my 1000 Facebook likes contest! You guys are so cool, thank you for your awesome support. Here are the winners who will each get 1 bottle of "1000 FB Likes" the commemorative polish I made to celebrate my big milestone:

Lori Hill Shadow
Shalon Bell
Molly T
Paulina Mayhem
Nicole Drong

Each of these winners has until Friday to get me their mailing address info, or I will select another person as a winner. Congrats to all the winners, and I can't tell you ALL how much it meant to me to read your awesome comments about where you live. It made me feel really connected and happy about how we are spread all across the globe, but we can all have this great connection. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing with me!!! GROUP HUG!

Here is a manicure I did a while ago as an entry for a Rite Aid contest. I didn't win (click here on the winner tab to see the winning manicure), but I do really like how this turned out. It is fairly simple and works with just stripes and dots. I used mostly Color Club polishes to make this design. Have a great day polish friends!

1000 Facebook Likes Giveaway!

I am excited to announce that I hit 1000 facebook likes on my Sonoma Nail Art facebook fan page this week! So I am having a giveaway to celebrate! This is a limited edition polish. I will only make 55 bottles of this polish, five are for this giveaway and 50 will be for sale in my etsy shop. I will split the sale of these bottles into two parts. The first lot of 25 bottles will be in my etsy sale tomorrow and the remaining 25 bottles will be for sale in about 2 weeks from now. And now, here is the special commemorative polish, cleverly called "1000 FB Likes!" LOL

TAADAAAAA!

"1000 FB Likes" is a glitter top coat with a mix of periwinkle, blue, white, and purple glitters in a shimmery blue base.

This is one coat of "1000 FB Likes" over Color Club Hydrangea Kiss. You can see the silvery blue shimmer as well as the fun mix of glitters.

Here are the polishes that will be for sale on Friday (tomorrow) July 20th, 2012 at 5pm Pacific Time (that is 8pm Eastern). Here is the link to my etsy shop.

One of these could be yours! All you have to do is enter my drawing below. Each of the bottles (the ones for giveaway and the ones for sale) will be numbered, so this will truly be a fun limited edition polish and a collector's keepsake. :) This giveaway is open to everyone, including international fans. The winner will be announced next Wednesday, July 25th, 2012. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway