polish please | patriotic polish

Happy Independence Day! I hope that everyone is enjoying there holiday. I am enjoying a lazy day at home with the puppy waiting for the hubs to get home from work {he is finally getting to do doctor stuff now!}. 

For the special occasion, I went with some festive polish. Mike suggested red, sparkles and blue! 

The red is China Glaze Ruby Red Pumps, Savina Caribbean, and Essie Set in Stones is the glitter top coat. 

polish please | valentines

I went a little crazy this year, and put my Valentines decorations up two days after I took down the Christmas ones. This year you know I had to do more than just red nails. So I did some nail art to wear this week to help celebrate. I have used all of these colors before in a mani that could have been worn for Valentines, but I really wanted to make this scream love, romance, and all that crap. 

Here is what I have been wearing this week...

Like other manis from the past {like this, this and this} I used tape to create both the stripes and hearts on my digits. Instead of using scotch tape like I usually do, I opted for washi tape after viewing a tutorial on The Beauty Department, and I really liked the way it worked out. The great thing about washi tape {masking tape would work just the same} is that I could use the same heart "stencil" multiple times without having to worry about it ripping. I also cut small strips of washi tape for the stripes. I wanted bigger stripes than what striping tape can offer. 

After it was all said and done, I liked it, but would do it differently. In really life, as opposed to blog life, the heart on my ring finger does not show up well unless it is in the right light. My thumb on the other hand {who talks about a thumb like this?}, my thumb heart is AWESOME! I think that I would have painted light pink and dark pink stripes with a glitter heart for better contrast. Oh well, there is always next year! 

Tomorrow Mike and I actually have the same evening off at the same time! Nothing big this year, just dinner and greeting cards, we are saving for a wedding after all. 

What are you doing this year to celebrate?

ciaté calendar day twenty-four | enchanted rose

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

I have been wearing this mani since the 24th, but haven't had a chance to post yet. I went straight from work Monday to my grandmother's for Christmas eve. The last day of the calendar was the perfect color for the holiday, and red glitter called Enchanted Rose. I started with two coats of Mistress on my nails, and two coats of white on my ring fingers. I added two coats of Enchanted Rose to the red polish. I evenly spaced stripling tape across my ring fingers diagonally and added a coat of Mistress. Once it was dry I used a striping brush to go over every other red stripe with the red glitter. 

I have to thank Ayn one more time for such an awesome gift; I had so much fun with the advent calendar!

ciaté calendar day twenty-three | mojito

Day twenty-three, polish and a little nail art, but before I get to that I just have to say that I have the hole place to myself for the evening. I have a few little things to wrap up {literally}, and am participating in one of my favorite Christmas traditions... watching White Christmas!

Now to the nails! The color for day twenty-three was a bright green called Mojito. I wanted to something a little Christmas-y so a added an abstract tree complete with ornaments and tree topper. I used the set of nail art polishes that my sister had gotten for me to draw on the squiggly Christmas tree.

ciaté calendar day twenty-two | sundance

I can't believe that after today there are only two days left of the Ciaté advent calendar. I am a little sad. I loved all the new colors, the polishes are all amazing, and it was really fun to post everyday. Today was the last caviar pearls of the bunch called Sundance.I used Big Yellow Taxi and Headliner to pair with the micro beads.

ciaté calendar day twenty-one | fade to greige

Today's color is called Fade to Greige and is a pretty purple-grey. I love this color, it is one that I will wear a lot. 

ciaté calendar day twenty | magic carpet

Today was a very exciting day for probably many reasons, but for me it was because I completed my Christmas shopping! I love that I have everything done before the weekend. Saturday is going to be a day of relaxing, wrapping, and spending time with friends. Thank goodness. 

The polish color of the day was Magic Carpet, a purple glitter that I layered over Cookies and Cream. I did one coat on every nail, and three coats on my ring finger. I also broke a nail at work today {look at that weird shaped middle finger nail!} and had to chop them all down. Sad face.

 See you all tomorrow with my tiny little nails!

ciaté calendar day nineteen | cookies and cream

I had a wonderful day off today, and a well deserved break from the crazy, busy, exhausting love that I call my job. I love that we are in season, and constantly moving {all day long}, but retail in December can wear you out. 

Today I have a delicious lunch with my mom and grandma, and a fantastic dinner with my mega best friend. {So nice to catch up with Shawna after more than a week apart... seemed like years!} Between both meals Mike and I went holiday shopping and picked out some great stuff for our families. I spent the evening wrapping presents and watching this on TV. 

Yes, that is a fake fire on my TV, with crackling log sounds and all. The best way to add a fireplace into your apartment. If anyone else wants to enjoy this beautiful scene all you have to do is watch it on Netflix! 

Now while all of these fun activities were going on I was rocking on awesome color on my nails! It's called cookies and cream and is a very pretty nude color.

 

ciaté calendar day eighteen | candyshop

Another caviar mani! I went a little bold for this one and applied the micro beads to EVERY nail. What do you think of this look compared to just an accent nail?

ciaté calendar day seventeen | power dressing

Day seventeen is one of my favorite colors so far. It is a very dark, navy blue. I used glass slippers as a topper on my ring fingers. 

I love this combo!

ciaté calendar day eleven | bumble bee

Day eleven was the second caviar manicure of my lovely advent calendar. This one is named bumble bee. I wore the black and yellow micro beads with the color from day ten ladylike luxe. The beads are fun for the first half of the day, but when you work with your hands and the beads start falling off, it doesn't take long until you start picking them off one-by-one.

They are super easy to apply, and are a fun look. They are perfect for wearing just for the day.

ciaté calendar day ten | ladylike luxe

Today's nail post actually involved a little nail art. It came from me not having enough time to re-do a full mani before work today. I'm not complaining at all, because I got to sleep in! It was well worth it, and it turns out that I got a pretty cool mani out of it. 

 I kept the red from yesterday {Mistress} and took scotch tape and placed it diagonally across my nails. On my ring finger and thumb I added the gold closer to my cuticles, and on all others I painted the "Ladylike Luxe" to the tips. I thought that it turned out pretty well, and it only took five minutes {no lie}, five minutes. 

See you all tomorrow!

ciaté calendar day nine | mistress

Another quick post today, maybe I will have a little more to post later. Here is day nine, the color is called Mistress {how risqué}.

I know that this picture is blurry, and I am sorry, but I lost all the light of the day. I should have taken a picture before work. Bummer. 
 

ciaté calendar day eight | vintage

This was a quickly painted, almost out the door type of day. Closing at work, and then back by noon gave me very little time to get the day eight mani completed. I pulled it out, and I am so glad that I did. This is my favorite color so far, and I got a ton of compliments on this amazing greyish green. 

I wish that I could leave this color on for more than just a day. I will have to revisit after Christmas. 

ciaté calendar day seven | cutie pie

I think that I mentioned before that Mike received an advent calendar as well. His is awesome, and he loves it, but he was been away for a few days on interviews. So while he was gone, not only have I gotten to enjoy my mini mani calendar, but I have also had the pleasure of dark chocolate every day as well. 

Today's polish is called cutie pie, and I thought that it was gorgeous; a pretty light pink. 

 

ciaté calendar day six | angel wings

Here is day six, angel wings:

Sorry this is so short, but I am just pooped from our busy night at work. Let m tell you, I'm not complaining. I love busy nights working retail, it just flies by so fast. See you here tomorrow for the day seven color!

ciaté calendar day five | cabaret

Day five might be my favorite color so far, big surprise, it's purple! Here it is, cabaret.

ciaté calendar day four | caviar pearls prom queen

Day four, and it is my first caviar manicure; this is what I have been waiting for. The mani was way easier than I thought that it would be. I used the day one color, cupcake queen, to pair with the prom queen caviar micro beads on my ring fingers. I am super nervous that the beads are going to fall off in a hot second, but they look so cool. So to get this look going you paint your base coat and first coat of color per usual. Then nail by nail paint the second coat and pour the beads over the wet paint immediately {remember to do this one nail at a time}, tap off the excess beads and lightly pat the beads to the nail. To finish it off add a top coat just to the tip on the nails. I did this at first, and then I thought that I would try to add the top coat to the whole nail, do NOT do this. The top coat smeared the colors from the beads all around, and looked hideous! So I took the beads off and re-did my ring fingers. 

Enough blabbing, this is how it turned out:

ciaté calendar day three | halo

Day three, and I am still going strong. This is pretty awesome, it does help that I have had the last two days off. It's pretty easy to keep up the cause so far. So here is halo, day three polish. 

ciaté calendar day two | dangerous affair

Day two is here, and I love this color! I may have to track down a full size bottle and buy Dangerous Affair.

{in real life, opposed to blog life, the color is a little bit more of a deeper wine red}