Zoya Pandora + BM-201... And a little about my life!

Hi! I know, I know... Slacker! Z has been a time sucker (What, you mean being a stay at home mom is WORK? ;)  ), so I have barely been able to paint my nails, much less actually get a blog post together! I'm really trying, I swear!

First the nails, then the baby!

My first nail art in quite awhile! For this manicure, I used Zoya Pandora, and then used my Konad White polish and my BM-201 plate to stamp this pretty, swirly design. I wanted more of a lace design, but I didn't have anything that matched what I saw in my head. I love the way this turned out!

Now, for the baby!

Zoey is almost 9 months old now! Can you believe it? I can't! She is crawling, waving, and clapping... All milestones that she accomplished just this week! She is developing the sweetest little personality... She calls for "Mama" when she needs me, and says "Mama baba" when she's hungry... Which just melts my heart! She lights up when her Papa walks into the room, and she loves to flirt with anyone that will talk to her. :)

I will try to post again soon... I really need to get back on the blogging wagon! 

Essence A Lovely Secret & Passion For Fashion tape manicure

Hey lovelies! Sorry it took so long for me to come back... The Parker house got sick! My husband got it first, then Zoey, and then me! And let me tell you, being sick while breastfeeding sucks... You can't take any sinus meds without it affecting milk production! Horrible! Luckily, I'm starting to feel better now. Just in time, too... On Friday, Zoey will be going on her first family vacation to Europe! We will be visiting my husband's family in England, and we will also be taking a trip to Germany and France. We can't wait! It's been almost 2 years since we've taken a trip over there, so it's long overdue!

Here's a manicure that I did right after Christmas... It took a lot of time, but I think it turned out really pretty!

I started out with 2 coats of Essence A Lovely Secret... A really pretty lavender with pink/purple duochrome microglitter. It's such a pretty, girly color!

Then, after a good coat of Poshe to get it nice and dry, I made a ray design with some nail striping tape, and applied a coat of Essence Passion for Fashion. This was my first time using striping tape, and I really liked it! Much easier than cutting little tiny pieces of tape!

I love the way this turned out! :)

Now, as requested by a sweet reader Stacy on my Facebook page, here is some Zoey spam!

Zoey celebrated her very first Christmas:

She loved her first Christmas stocking!

She enjoyed being silly to ring in the New Year!

And just all around being silly:

Photo courtesy of Melissa Harris

Frozen peaches are one of her new favorite foods:

But she really likes ALL food!

Babywearing is one of her favorite things... Wrapped up with Mommy is her favorite place to be!

Oh, and we bought some new bows!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope 2013 is a great year! <3

  '

Baby Feet Friday: Zoya Mimi!

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!  I want to start something new and cute... hopefully I'll be able to do it every week!

I've been painting Zoey's toes since she was 5 weeks old... Who can resist sweet painted baby toes? Her very first pedicure was Zoya Jolene. Sweet baby pink toes! I get so many compliments on her sweet little feet that I figured I should blog them... So, here you go! Zoey's very first blog post!

This week, I did Z's piggies with Zoya Mimi!

Check back next Friday to see these precious toes again! :)

Rainbow Glitter Gradient

Hey guys! I hope you've all got your shopping done! I have one more present to pick up, and then we will be done. I want to pick up a few more things for Zo, but I think we're going to wait until after Christmas. We got her a My Pal Violet (super adorable! It says her name and you can pick the songs it sings... So cute!), a few kids books in French (my husband is teaching her French, so hopefully we can raise her to be bilingual), and a few other things. I can't wait to celebrate her first Christmas!

I have a super fun and cute manicure to show you today. I used TEN polishes to create this adorable manicure, which I will tell you about in a minute. First, PICTURES!

To do this pretty manicure, I started with 2 coats each of (starting at the thumb): Zoya Barbie, Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow, Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet, China Glaze Kinetic Candy, and Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac. Then, using a sponge, I applied (from the thumb): Zoya Gilda, Zoya Tanzy, Zoya Apple, Zoya Crystal, and Zoya Mimi. I love the way it turned out! My favorite combinations are the blue nail and the purple nail... I love the how the gold flecks in Crystal stand out!

I have lots of family stuff to do, starting tomorrow night, so this will probably be my last post before Christmas! Much love to all of you, and I hope you all have a safe and wonderful MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Water Marble

Hey guys! It'd been awhile since I had done a water marble, so I felt adventurous! I started it when I put Zoey down for the night, and of course, as soon as I did the fourth nail, she woke up. Typical life with a baby! But, I did finally get it done. :)

For this marble, I used colors from Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear collection. They have always worked great for marbling for me, and since they aren't too pricey, I don't feel bad about wasting so much when I marble!

I started out with 2 coats of White On, taped my fingers off, and marbled with Cherry Red, White On, and Going Green. After the marbling was dry, I topped it off with a coat of Essie Pure Pearlfection from last year's Lux Effects collection.

Here's my favorite nail out of all of them... My right thumb nail. The other thumb turned out kinda funky, so I didn't bother with a picture.

I love how Pure Pearlfection just gives a subtle, shimmery glow! I hadn't used it yet, and I was pleased with the effect it gave. Of course, the pictures do it no justice at all... The best representation of it is in the picture of my thumb nail.

I can't believe Christmas is LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY! Zoey's first Christmas is going to be so much fun... We can't wait! She has a ton of Christmas outfits.... Including this one!

See you again soon! <3

Nicole by OPI Wear Something Spar-Kylie + BM04

Hi! I hope your weekend was lovely! Ours was lazy... I didn't get much done at all! Just sat around and cuddled with my little Zoey bug. :)

Today, I have a pretty, girly manicure to show you! I've swatched this once before, but this is the first time I've done a full manicure with it. I completely forgot that I already took swatch pictures, so I took more! YAY! Here's Nicole by OPI Wear Something Spar-Kylie.

Beautiful sparkly pink! I love this because it only took 2 coats for dense, full coverage. To make it even more pretty, I added stamping with the cute filigree image from my  Bundle Monster plate BM04.

Love it! Now, I got to thinking... This sure does seem familiar! After a bit of searching.... I found this... I did this same manicure with different colors in March 2011! Oops! Well, at least I know what I like!

See you again soon! <3

Zoya Dove + Holographic Glitter Tips

Hello again! I have a pretty cool manicure to show you today... and surprisingly it was really easy! A few years ago, I picked up some micro glitter by a brand called Super Nail. I got it at Sally's, and it's called Silver Rush. It's a very fine holographic glitter. I haven't done anything with it, until today!

For this manicure, I started off with 2 coats of Zoya Dove, a beautiful light grey. Then, while the polish was still wet, I dipped the tips of my nails into the little pot of Silver Rush. I patted it down with my clean-up brush, and applied 2 coats of Poshe Topcoat. I normally only use 1, but the glitter was a little bumpy. Not problematic and probably wouldn't bother most, but it would have driven me crazy! The end result was really pretty!

Sunlight

Sunlight

Sunlight

Indoors with flash

Indoors with flash

Indoors - no flash

Neat, huh? I will definitely try this again, maybe over black! I think these might possibly be my New Years nails! I also am definitely going to stop by Sally's and see what other colors I can pick up.

What do you think of this technique? What color combos would you like to see?