Ok, due to the abnormally large number of ANONYMOUS votes, which could be the same person over and over, I am amending the voting to ONLY count votes from a non-anonymous source, meaning they have to be from a GoogleID account, or whatever you use to legitimately follow blogs on blogger.

Sorry to be a party pooper, but it’s gotta be fair. If you want your friends to vote for you, they have to use their account, NOT anonymous, because I will NOT count them if they don’t.

Thanks,

Melissa

Tonight is the season premiere of Weeds!! I came across this show after a recommendation from a friend and was instantly hooked. So hooked, in fact, that I watched the entire first 5 seasons in less than a week. :-D It’s horrible, but oh so good! :) Favorite character is Andy, with Nancy being a close second, I love her dry remarks. In honor of tonight, I did a Weeds manicure!  Guess what else today is?!  My sister’s BIRTHDAY!!  I would love it if everyone wished her a super happy birthday!!! :)

I used L.A. Girl Army Green as a base, with Nubar Forest for the logo and with Bundle Monster plate BM07. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Another fun thing today is that I got to meet Keri B., one of the MAC Sr. Artists! :) She was in Las Vegas teaching an airbrush class, so I met up with her after she was done! She was super nice, and it was fun to meet another twitter friend!! :) I think we need to all do a Nail tweetup… in Vegas? lol :-D

Keri and I:
Photo courtesy of Keri B.
My eyeballs of the day: 
I used MAC Chrome Yellow, MAC Orange pigment, and MAC Basic Red pigment with MAC blacktrack to line. 
and lastly, my ‘niece’ Mira, and my ‘nephew’ Yukon, he is barking because he wants the frisbee! :)
Photo courtesy of Stacey Osburn

…no evil thing will.

I’ve had this idea on my list for ages, and thought with the chatter about MAC’s upcoming collection Venomous Villains, that it’d be a great time to do Cruella nails. :) I must say, I LOVE the packaging (read: boxes, not compacts) for this collection- with the sketchy one-color drawing of each villain. I guess I like the compacts, tubes, etc. too, but not as much as the boxes. I hope I can snag some of this collection when it comes out! :)

I used Essie Bone Chilling White as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the spots, Nubar Sexy Red for the red of the collar and her lips, A Beautiful Life Poison to shade the collar. For the dog tag, I used China Glaze 2030 from Khrome Collection, and mixed it with American Apparel Hassid to paint the ’101′ on it. For Cruella, I used Eyeko Nude Polish for Perfect Nails for her face/neck, with Pure Ice Wild Thing for her green eyeshadow, China Glaze Flyin’ High for her earring, a mix of American Apparel Manila and American Apparel California Trooper for her coat, and American Apparel Hassid to outline everything. For the background, I used Nubar Sexy Red. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

And my eye’s from my roommate’s birthday party last night. I had a goofy look on my face and my eyes are huge, but it showed off the makeup the best. :-P

Ok, there are a LOT of entries- in the 40-50 range, but I’m letting YOU guys pick who wins!! All you have to do is comment with whose design you like the best!! :)

Andrea Camarena- Places that significant family events happened: Disneyland, Golden Gate Bridge, Hollywood, the beach, and the state of California.
Annette Borg- Her childhood home, her dog, the local personality ‘The T-shirt lady’ who wears only a t-shirt and flip flops, a cigarette butt for the local smoking ban, and the path she’s traveled from northern to southern California.

Areshu- Her mother’s food (from thumb- pinky: hamburger with tomato, eggplant, mac and cheese, strawberry, and blueberries)
Art of Nail
Ashlee- because her father was a police officer

Ashley Rautenstrauch- the silhouette of Buffalo, her hometown, the the Buffalo Sabres game chant
Becky-  bad/cloudy weather
BoonDY- Her mother’s favorite flowers, Sunflowers

Cherie_Jayla- drawing funny faces on paper in her kitchen to make her two year old laugh

Jackie L- her family, (l to r; her sister, her, her dad, and her mom)

Coresdaju- her room, so she did the wallpaper pattern

Courtney – Philidelphia Flyers logo

Debbie- all the Philidelphia teams, plus the LOVE park statue

dr4g0nf1y- sitting on the lawn looking at her mother’s flowers

Duyen- home means the world to her, with Miami beach, the blue driveway that greets everyone to her home, sleeping in her bed, and her dog who greets her when she gets home.

Gabriella
Isadora- home for her is wearing her Haviaianas! :)

Amoeba- memories of eating fresh fruit while sitting on the porch with her parents

jmlopez95- watching Sesame Street when she was younger and carefree

Kim S- (thumb-pinky: the Wizard of oz, spending time with loved ones, being happy at home, her dog, and picking strawberries with her mom. 

Kathryn- rooting for the home team- the Seattle Mariners

ladyninja333- the mountains of New Mexico, the eternal question: red chilies or green chilies? and the NM state flag.

Larissa [pinck]- marine life near her home

Lauren- Home is where the heart is.

Lindsey- home makes her think of milk and cookies!  (yum!)

Lunuland- JERSEY SHORE! GTL – (t-p: laundry, I<3 NJ, tanning, GTL, and barbells)

Megan S- home makes her think of LOVE. :)

MaRyya- Looking at her father’s flower garden

Meg- the beach because her family goes there in the summer

Memerrill007- the ditch that used to run through the property when she was younger, and the times she spent enjoying its bounty

MJ- her bedroom (t-p: the glow in the dark stars on her white ceiling, a pillow on her bed, sleeping in her bed, her bedspread/comforter, and her pink iPod that she always listens to in her room)

naluma- music, family, her cat leo, love, and dreams of motherhood

Nicole M.- (t-p: Georgia peach logo, her son’s baby footprint, lace from her wedding dress, high school class colors and class of ’07, and love)

ocjbeachbum21- wizard of oz

Phoebe- rural area

Pretty- Bay area  rainbow, Golden Gate bridge and fog. 

princess_bernadette- the unique yellow buses around her house that let her know she’s home

shinylittlestar- the rug that her parents bought her

Simply Rins- the colors represent her family, yellow- dog, blue- dad, green- mom, red- her, and pink-her sister.

Soffio di Dea- the scenery near her home

Sonoma Bento – wind country with the vineyards and grapes!!

Swaafie- love, the country roads near her house, her parents’ house, and the garden of daisies

Teresia- beach/water theme, because she spent most of her childhood in the water during her summers by the sea, and feels at home in the water no matter where she is

Tara F- the rich, bold colors of her dad’s house that make her think of home, classy and classic.

Thifa- the Brazilian flag, and a beach scene.

Thriszha- a hot air balloon event that she went to with her family 
That’s all folks!!  Voting ends Wed, August 18, at 11:59 PST

I’m sure that a lot of you have noticed that a good portion of my ideas for nail art come from things going on in my daily life, today is no exception! I do a lot of cross-stitching, which is kind of nerdy, I know, but I’ve done it since I was a kid, I love doing it. I am currently working on a cool cross-stitch project that I’ll show you all when it is completely done. I like it, and it goes against all traditional cross-stitch. :-P For today’s nail art, I decided to go old school, and do a simple floral border type cross-stitch pattern.

I used Color Club Coastal Creme as a base, with A Beautiful Life Poison for the red, American Apparel Manila for the yellow, and Nubar Forest for the green. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Also, today is my friend Boz’s birthday and tomorrow is my roommate Maris’s birthday, so everyone wish these two awesome ladies a Super Awesome Happy Birthday!! :)

Today’s nail are my interpretation of paint swatches, except I didn’t do rectangles, like they usually are, I thought it’d look cool as a dot gradient. :) I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head for a couple of weeks now, and today I thought I’d do it! :) My favorite is the orange one- I think it turned out the best. :-D (plus orange is one of my FAVORITE colors…sooooo yeah, that might be why)

Despite today being Friday the 13th, I had a surprisingly good day. I had an interview for a design job, I got an awesome deal on zippers–only 50¢ each vs. $1.50+ each. (sounds odd, I know, but the cosmetics bags I sew need zippers!) Plus, since my 16 year old sewing machine died, I was able to get a new machine!! (My parents got it for me- how awesome is that?! Thanks mom and dad- you totally didn’t have to, but you know I appreciate it!!)

I used Essie Bone Chilling White as a base, with CND Electric Orange for the first row of the orange, then Zoya Jancyn for the second row, then mixed with Essie Bone Chilling White to make the rest of the shades of orange on the thumb. For the blue nails, I used CND Anchor Blue for the first row, then mixed with Essie Bone Chilling White for the rest of the blue shades. For the magenta, I used Essie Foot Loose for the first row, and again, Essie Bone Chilling White to make the shades lighter with each row. The first row of green is Nubar Forest, with L.A. Girl Army Green for the second row, and mixed with Essie Bone Chilling White for the remaining rows of lighter green. On the pinky, I used American Apparel Manila for the first row of yellow dots, then mixed with Essie Bone Chilling White in varying amounts for the remaining two rows. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

I’m all dotted out. I only slept 3.5 hours last night, I think I was anxious/excited for my interview! :) Time for bed, kids…as my mother used to say when I was a kid, ‘Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite!’

I was going through the apps on my iPhone earlier today looking for games to play to burn a few minutes of my day, and I stumbled upon a crossword app, and thought it might make a fun nail design. Mind you, I’m positively wretched at crossword puzzles. Give me Sudoku, Cryptograms, etc any day of the week, but crosswords? Never. I tried to incorporate some of my favorite brands of nail polish into the puzzle, but could only fit parts of some (I’m lookin’ at you China Glaze).

I used Essie Bone Chilling White as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the lines and filled in squares, and CND Anchor Blue for the pen/writing. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Now who knows how to fix sewing machines??!!?

No, no, no, not that Disney Channel show… I’m talking about the AWESOME suite… Adobe Creative Suite! :) Being a graphic designer by trade, the icons are something I’m fairly familiar with, and I thought they’d be a fun manicure! :-D From thumb to pinky are Dreamweaver, InDesign, Photoshop, Flash, and Illustrator. I think with all this free advertising, Adobe should give me CS5. lol *JUST KIDDING* <—(unless you work at Adobe and really want to send it to me, :-P )

 I used L.A. Girl Army Green as a base for the thumb, then mixed with Essie Mink Muffs and Nubar Forest for the gradient. For the index finger, I used Essie Foot Loose as a base, with Color Club Ms. Socialite for the gradient. On the middle finger, I used Orly Snowcone as a base, then mixed with Orly Cosmic FX Lunar Eclipse for the gradient. The base on the ring finger is Eyeko Saucy Polish for Naughty Nails, with A Beautiful Life Poison for the gradient. Lastly, the pinky was Zoya Jancyn as a base, with CND Electric Orange for the gradient. For all the letters, I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud, then topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Do you live the Suite life?

Disclosure: Eyeko Saucy polish was sent to me for consideration by the manufacturer. 

They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re all together ooky,
The Addams Family!

Today’s nails are special, some of the colors that I used to create them were created by Bebe Neuwirth with Essie polish company for charity! They’re part of a limited edition set called ‘Morticia’s Nails’. The set contains 3 polishes, Blood Curdling Red (dark red), Bone Chilling White (white), and Midnight Tango (deep metallic navy). The cool part is that 100% of the sale goes to charity… The Actor’s Fund to be exact. The Actor’s Fund is an organization that provides health and social services to any and all people in the entertainment industry (actors, screenwriters, stagehands, makeup artists, etc.) that are in need. This is a cool polish set with a good cause, and a must for Addams Family fans!!

Today’s nails were based off of the art on the theatre program for The Addams Family musical, which stars Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia! :) I did Uncle Fester on the thumb, Morticia on the index, Pugsley on the middle finger, Gomez on the ring, and Wednesday on the pinky. I plan to review these polishes on the Daily Nail: Reviews site in the next couple of days.

The inspiration:

The nails:

I used Essie Bone Chilling White as a base for all nails except Pugsley, which I used Orly Mirror, Mirror. For the dark blackish color, I used a mix of Essie Midnight Tango, American Apparel Hassid, and American Apparel Factory Grey. Shaded the white with that mixture mixed with some Essie Bone Chilling White. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Disclosure: Morticia’s Nails was sent to me for consideration by the charity.

I remember when I was just a youngin’ (think 12,13,14?) and I was just starting to get excited about nail stuff, and Cover Girl had a product out called ‘Crackle’ which, when applied over another polish (they say it has to be their own, but it doesn’t) created a crackled paint effect. Back then, the one I had was a royal blue color if I remember correctly. A while back, I managed to find and snag one from an awesome swapper on Makeup Alley, and today I decided to use it!! The crackle polish I have is an orangey yellow color, and I tried it over turquoise, which in my mind was amazing, but the crackle is super sheer and streaky, sooooo it didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, but I still think it’s rad. :-P It was SUPER hard to clean the cuticle edges up though- that Crackle doesn’t even dissolve in acetone!!

I used China Glaze Flyin’ High as a base, with Cover Girl Crackle Jack-O-Lantern over top. For the red line, I used Eyeko Coral Polish for Resort Nails, then I used American Apparel Manila for the dots. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

If you love Eyeko polishes, be sure to use my code to get a free gift when you order!!

The Eyeko polish used in today’s post was sent by the manufacturer for consideration.