No gradient you say? Yeah right! (HB9)

Hubby's Picks....from last week. As you saw from last post things have been chaotic? At any rate no fancy get up this time - too many kids running around like maniacs.

He picked things he didn't think I could do a gradient with. Silly boy....I can always gradient! We have Julep Oscar, Rimmel Rags to Riches, Sally Hansen Coral Reef, and Kleancolor Coffee Addict. The last looks familiar you say? Well yes. He's picked it before *glares*. Here it is on it's own:

Yuck! Kleancolor is cheap, smells AWFUL and dries in like six hours. I was determined though since I know he picked it because he knew it'd drive me batty. I added thinner and suddenly it started behaving! Then someone mentioned that Kleancolors are good for stamping. DER! Why didn't I think of that?

HA! HA! HA! Take that! It feels very fall like to me even with the super bright pink.

It's so shimmery and pretty. I was really stunned at how much I love this manicure!

Another hubby's picks successfully achieved! *smug grin*

Stepson, Summer in Oregon, and a baby shower

Whew! Hey, hey. If you've seen my Pinterest page you'll know my caption is Mommy Does...it all! Because she does. I have felt so insane this last month and my posting has been sporadic at best. A few updates: my stepson is here. There is an adjustment period with this and it takes a bit of time and patience to help a kid settle down and settle in. I just adore this boy though! He's a funny little guy <3

Also, apparently, no one told Oregon it was summer. So now I have a bored 7 year old, two 6 year olds, and a 3 year old all running around my house causing mayhem to help curb the boredom. Not sure who's going to survive honestly.

ALSO, getting to today's manicure, I took on a baby shower. I poured myself into it and totally forgot my camera to take a picture :( BUT here's the nails that matched the theme exactly:

Yes I said baby shower. Some tip wear since I took this after the shower. She HATES pink and girly and LOVES roses, red, white and black. So I went with damask to pair with the floral and it looked AMAZING!

I didn't think I'd be such a big fan of this one but it turned out so pretty! I used Sally Hansen White On as the base which is so stark. I stamped and then topped with Essie Pure Pearlfection to mellow it out and it did the trick!

For the take home favors I made these adorable Hershey's kisses roses and printed up Thank You tags in place of the leaves. They doubled as centerpieces in little vases with glass rocks. I love being creative in so many ways!

Thanks for stopping by - as promised I will have Hubby's Picks up...it'll just be tomorrow. It's been crazy!! Hope you are all having a great week :) Have to go as I hear baby girl crying for mama.

Hubby Says: Pinkie Pie

Sorry about it being days between posts. My cuticles and hands aren't transitioning in the heat so well and we just got my stepson which always makes things a bit chaotic for a few weeks since it happens right as school gets out. BUT here is Pinkie Pie as my next Layers Inspired by My Little Pony. Also... I will be posting Hubby's Picks tomorrow as well!! He was mean this week >.<

She's so super cute and bubbly with lots of curls and pink. We have Sinful Colors Easy Going which is a HORRIBLE formula and took three coats to get it non-streaky and gross looking. It's a very white based pink:

Yucky cuticles but oh wells - they don't love the heat and I still have to post so take that cuticles!

The pink is, I believe, L.A. Colors A Boo based on a quick Google search. I bought it in one of those packs of 7 that never have names *eyeroll*. The tips alternated in Essence Absolutely Blue and Julep Nessa. I topped it off with China Glaze Fairy Dust which plays so nicely in light but is a pain to photograph.

For those of you who are curious about who Pinkie Pie is (it's a longish one but sooo dang cute!!):

Happy Father's Day...a little late *blush*

So I had this idea for a cute Father's Day manicure but spent all of yesterday cooking and baking for the love of my life. You've seen from past posts that my husband is incredible. He loves to encourage this passion of mine and contributes to my posts regularly. What you don't see is the love this man has for his family. He will sit and just let all of our kiddos climb all over him for hours! He's stern when he has to be and will be the first to say sorry when he does something wrong. He has the biggest heart and I am so blessed to have such a treasure in my life. My dad died when I was a baby and I grew up without a daddy. I always longed to be someone's princess and hurt so badly when my friend's daddys would pick them up, love on them, and adore them. I cried myself to sleep countless nights just wishing it could be different. My husband's arms bring that comfort and my most favorite thing is to watch him lavish love on our babies.

Hubby says: Fluttershy

So we apparently do not actually have this pony, but hubby insisted I do Fluttershy next so here she is:

We have OPI Teenage Dream on the bottom and Julep Nessa on top.

I went with the peekaboo style since she's pretty shy, but put the super sparkly pink underneath because there's a pretty brave and outspoken pony hiding behind that shy facade ;). For those of you wondering who this animal loving pony is:

Baby girl is off to 1st grade

So I pause Layers inspired by My Little Pony (to resume tomorrow) to tell you that I went to a kindergarten graduation yesterday for my precious baby girl. Oh yeah - they do ceremonies with full on performances now. Personally I think it's getting a little ridiculous. Going from P-K to K and K to 1st are now both graduation ceremonies. 5th to 6th is as well as 8th to 9th and finally 12th. The only one I get is 12th to be totally honest. I never had graduations for all those other ones - sure we did class parties but my word!
Well I knew the other proper moms would have their daughters out in full gala so I had to send baby girl up properly:

To match her pretty dress:

She was just sooo cute! Also I did a manicure just for the ocassion and hubby picked out colors he though she would love and reminded him of his little girl:

A funky french with OPI Teenage Dream over the top. I had forgotten about this shimmer gem and I am soo happy I pulled it out!

So here's to the onslaught of summer. God help us all.

Hubby Says: Applejack!

Layers inspired by My Little Pony Friendship Magic continues! Hubby said an orange to yellow gradient with red glitter would be perfect for Applejack. He was sooo right!

I LOVE Applejack. She's down to Earth and no frills while being such a great friend to all her other ponies. Right now the three year old is standing next to me excitedly saying Applejack over and over. He adores My Little Pony.

As it works out this combination is the PERFECT summertime manicure too! Lucky me <3 Base is Julep Hayden, then Zoya Creamy sponged down and topped off with the Snowman polish in Ori. Chunky.

For those of you wondering who Applejack is:

Hubby says: Twilight Sparkle!

So I was minding my own business just doing a pretty manicure. I show it to hubby who says, "Oh that reminds me of Twilight Sparkle." Me, "You mean the My Little Pony" Him, "Well yeah! You should some others. Like a yellow to orange gradient with red glitter for AppleJack." (You'll NEVER guess which pony I'll be doing next). Pretty my hubby is both the most awesome husband and daddy ever! So begins a series of layers inspired by My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic:

I put Julep Anne down first and then layered OPI Serving Up Sparkle over it and ta ha - pretty pony manicure.

LOTS of sparkle from this holo glitter topper. It's soooo gorgeous!

For those of you wondering who this pony is here's is some My Little Pony spam!!

Mistletoe in June

So I bought Orly Under The Mistletoe back at Christmas time (it's a part of the permanent collection) but never actually tried it. The sparkly green with darker green and golden flecks popped out at me the other day so I just to try it out:

I know I didn't do it completely up, but that's because I had other plans and didn't want it too thick. Three coats would probably bring it to full opacity. The base isn't quite jelly.

So pretty!!

Here's where things went wrong:

I saw a bright Sinful Colors peeking out of another box and an idea hit. It WOULD have gone right had I taped but I went with striping brushes *facepalm*. HOWEVER my daughter LOVED it and insisted I do it on her nails! It looked so cute on her...till she hit her entire hand on her dress before it dried or I could get pictures >,< Oh well...another day, another manicure. Hope your weekend was good :)