Liebster Award 2.0

I can feel the love today!  Over the two days I have received 3 nominations for the Liebster Award.  I have done this before, but because I like feeling loved by all my readers, I am going to do it again!

So what is the Liebster Award?  It's an award given out to bloggers with less than 200 followers.  These ladies are cutting it close as I'm getting more and more every day :)  This award is basically to find out more about the person behind the blog, and I love that!  It makes it so much more personable :)  So let's jump right in!

Let's start with the rules:

1.  Post eleven facts about yourself.

2.  Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create eleven questions for people you have nominated.

3.  Choose eleven people to give this award to (with fewer than 200 followers) and link them to your post.

4.  Go to their page and tell them.

5.  Remember, no tagbacks!

Alright, 11 fun facts about me...

1.  I hoard pens at work.  Seriously, there are days I have 4, 5, maybe 6 pens within arm's reach.  I have a U-shaped desk.

2.  I hang my shirts in my closet by rainbow order.

3.  I own over $1000.00 worth of printed books and about $300 worth of eBooks.

4.  I have an "extra" vertebrae in my spine -- one of my tailbone vertebrae is not fused with the rest.  This causes me to have more movement in my lower back.

5.  I have a seriously unhealthy addiction to pasta.  I can smell it cooking and start drooling because I want it.

6.  I wish I could have a polar bear... a real-live polar bear.

7.  I love wrapping presents, to the extent that my family will ask me to wrap their gifts for them... but they won't let me wrap the ones they got for me.. jerks!  Hehehe :D

8.  I prefer to talk to people via computer than on the phone or in person.  The only thing I don't like is that it is harder to tell emotion and tone that way.

9.  I tend to jump into projects with both feet and then "abandoning" them half way through.

10.  I have a short attention span when I am at work.

11.  I am deathly afraid of needles.  I can't go to the dentist to get a cavity filled without needing laughing gas because I can't handle them putting the needle in my mouth to give me the freezing to drill and fill the cavity.  Even those "small cavities" that are a quick fix and they use a syringe with the solution freaks me out.  Don't even get me started on going to get shots or blood taken!

The first nomination I received was from Danette at No Bottle Left Behind.  Her questions are:

1.  What is one major gift you're hoping to receive this year for the holidays?

I was hoping that Tyler and I would have our own house by now, but I don't think that is going to happen before Christmas seeing as we haven't started looking yet.  That's really it :)  I'm more of a "gifter" than a "giftee".

2.  If you could only have one drink forever for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I'm going to have to go with Orange Pekoe tea with milk and sugar.  I know, pretty boring and old-ladyish, but it's a comfort thing for me :)

3.  What is your favourite TV show?

Big Bang Theory, all the way!

4.  Do you want/have any kids?  If so, how many?

I keep trying to convince Tyler that we should just have dogs because every time we go into public, there are always screaming children everywhere!  I'm only kidding though, my max is two kids, preferably one boy and one girl :)

5.  If you had to move and choose to live somewhere else forever, where would it be?  And why?

I would move to the North Pole.  Winter is my favourite season and Christmas is my favourite time of year, what better place to live than with Santa Claus?!

6.  What's your favourite accessory?

I'm not an accessory-type gal.  I hate leaving the house with naked nails, does that count??

7.  If you won the lotto, what would be the first think you buy?

I would definitely buy myself a house!  Then maybe a 2012 Dodge Charger in orange :D

8.  What's the one thing in your make-up bag you can't live without?

My deodorant.  Seriously, it's in my make-up bag because I usually spend the weekend at Tyler's mom's house, so it's so much easier to remember everything when it's all together :)

9.  What made you decide to start blogging?

Lauren from Living Lovely posted on the Julep Facebook page that she was starting a blog and I thought "I can do this too" and jumped right in!

10.  How many kids do you have or see yourself having?

See question 4 :)

11.  Sun or snow?

Snow, no question about it!

The second nomination I received was from Amber at And Then There Was Polish.  Her questions are:

1.  What is your favourite brand of polish?

That's a tricky one, there are so many great ones!  I'm going to have to say Zoya, or China Glaze.  My favourite indie brand is Elixir Lacquers :D

2.  Do you have any pets?

Technically, I have a dog however to me, he's a son.  He is my baby, and always will be.  His name is Owen and aside from Tyler, he is the love of my life!  I also have 3 fish and a plecko in my fish tank.

3.  How many polishes do you own?

Oh jeez, are you really gonna make me do this??  *busts out the calculator and begins counting*  I currently have 197 polishes, 5 nail art polishes, 1 nail art pen, 46 polishes on their way to me *hangs head in shame*, and 15 base and top coats.  Yep, that New Years Resolution No Buy is definitely necessary!!

4.  What is the colour you want most right now, but can't have?

That's a good question... I would love an Ozotic polish, but they are so expensive :(

5.  What is your favourite TV show?

Big Bang Theory, for the win! ;)

6.  Favourite food?

Does "all of it" count?  Hahaha!  I love any type of pasta and any type of dessert.  I also love turkey dinner :)

7.  What is your worst habit?

Oh, this is a good question.  I would have to say... peeling the layers off my nails when they begin to peel.  I'm sure I have one that is a lot worse, but I'm not sure what my faults are.  Tyler could probably answer this better than me ;)  Buuuut we're not going to ask him, hahaha!  :D

8.  What is your dream career?

Lottery winner!  Hahaha!  I'm kidding.. sorta.  If I could choose anything, I would love to do something with interior design, but I don't like dealing with people.  Customer service is not a good field for me to be in, but that's what I do for a living right now :(

9.  What is the strangest talent you have?

Ooooh another good one!  I have to say that I have a really good sense of smell!  I pick up on scents a lot faster or easier than other people around me.  For example, my parents just got new carpet installed and as soon as I walked into the house I said "it smells like new carpet in here!" and both mom and dad couldn't even smell it.

10.  What is your favourite song?

Hmm.. so many to choose from.  I am a country girl, so I love all country music.  But you want my favourite song... hmm... one of my favourites is Country Must be Country-wide by Brantley Gilbert.  He is one of my new favourites.  I also like his song She's My Kind of Crazy.

11.  Who is your celebrity crush?

I don't have a ccrush on a celebrity, just a fictional character -- Edward Cullen :D

The third nomination I got was from Tabitha at Laque Enthusiasm.  Her questions are:

1.  What is your favourite polish-related memory?

When Nicole from Elixir Lacquers told me that she may have to dub me her biggest fan when I told her that I would officially own all polishes currently in her shop!  <3

2.  What is your favourite sweet/dessert/candy?

Because I can't bundle those all together in one category, or pick JUST ONE, I will give you all 3.  My favourite sweet is cookies - anything as long as it doesn't have coconut in it.  My favourite dessert is all of them!  Haha! If I had to narrow it I would have to say baked cheesecake and my grandma's apple pie.  My favourite candy (chocolate) is Ferrero Rocher and (other) Fuzzy Peaches.  I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to anything with a sugar content, as long as there is no banana or coconut flavouring in it.

3.  What's the weirdest food you have tried and liked?

I'm not very adventurous when it comes to food.  For me, the "weirdest food" I like is corn on the cob with Cheez Whiz, and cucumbers with peanut butter.  My family doesn't eat "weird food".  I have tried sushi but don't really like it.  And it was the stuff with cooked meat in it, I refuse to eat raw fish, and I'm not a big fish person to begin with.

4.  If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

The North Pole.  I love winter and Christmas is my favourite holiday, so what better place to live??

5.  As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

The only thing I remember wanting to be was a personal assistant/organizer, and that when I was in Grade 10.

6.  In your opinion, where should everyone go at least once?

The CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario (and you HAVE to stand on the glass floor!) and out to breakfast at Cora's!

7.  Cats or dogs?  And why?

I have wanted a cat since the day I was born but was never allowed to have one because my mom doesn't like cats, but I think I am more of a dog person now because I could never live without my Owen :)

8.  Funniest/weirdest name you've ever given a pet.

I had goldfish when I was younger, like 5, and they were named "Goldie" and "Orangey" .. yeah I wasn't an overly creative child... :)

9.  Funniest/most embarrassing pet name/nickname you've given a person.

My sister's nickname is "Pookie" and my car is called Petunia.  I have a 2008 Dodge Charger and when I tell people they say "that's not a good name for a Charger!  You need something more MANLY!"

10.  Worst school memory.

When I overheard some "popular" girls laughing at the way I dressed (mom-ish jeans, baggy t-shirt tucked in).

11.  What scent makes you nostalgic and why?

There was a perfume I was wearing when I started dating Tyler.  I don't know what it was, it was a knock-off of an expensive brand and I only ever found the one bottle.  I actually kept the empty bottle for a long time because the scent reminded me of when Tyler and I first started going out :)  How's that for romantic ;)

WHEW!  That was a lot of work!  Haha!  Now I have to come up with some questions -- what hasn't been covered yet??

My questions to all of you:

1.  What is your favourite movie?

2.  What do you do for a living?

3.  If you could rename your favourite polish colour, what polish would you choose and what would you rename it?

4.  What other hobbies do you have other than polishing?

5.  What movie or TV show best describes your personality?

6.  If you could have a fictional character as your best friend, who would it be?

7.  What is the one thing in life you wish you could do-over?  Why?

8.  What is your staple product for hand and nail care, something you can't live or leave home without?

9.  What is your favourite song from a movie?

10.  What is your favourite type/style of nail art?

11.  What super power do you wish you had?  Why?

Alright, now I'm off to find some bloggers... Please hold... *plays "on hold' music while you wait*

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1.  Punky's Polish

2.  See Jodi Polish

3.  Life's Little Blessings

4.  Manicured Slayer

5.  Painting Awareness

6.  Muffin Nails

7.  Janet Planet Nails

8.  Polish Insomnia

9.  Southern Sass and Sparkle

10.  The Nail Nerd

11.  No Naked Nails

I hope you have enjoyed learning more about "the girl behind the polish".  I love learning more about the people around me, that's why I love people watching ;)  If you aren't on this list, feel free to answer any of my questions in the comments below :)  I would love to get to know you!

November Nail Art Challenge Day 10

Good evening lovely ladies!  I hope everyone has had a good week so far.  I'm really tired so I'm planning on going to bed tonight, we'll see what time I actually go to bed.

Can you believe that we are already wrapping up the November Nail Art Challenge??  Where has November gone?  Before you know it, Christmas is going to be here and gone, and the countdown will have to start all over again!

I want to say congratulations to all of the ladies who made it through the whole month with me!  We've had our "challenges", but what's the fun of a Nail Art Challenge without learning something new and trying things in the world of nail art :)  Make sure to keep an eye open for a new Nail Art Challenge in either January or February.

Day 10 of the Challenge is Recreate Your Favourite.  This could be a design you want to do again because it's a favourite, re-try because you want to improve it, or re-create a design created by another participant of the Challenge.  I decided on the last option.

I chose to re-create Amber's Day 3 Inspired by a Tutorial mani.  As soon as I saw this I HAD to try it!  So I stopped on over to my local dollar store to see if they had some loose eyeshadow.  I don't wear a lot of makeup, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on it.  I found some LA COLORS loose eyeshadow, they had about 20 colours, so I got a goldy coloured one in case I decide to try it as an eyeshadow sometime.

For this I used Julep Keira and then LA COLORS loose eyeshadow in Honeysuckle.  This was so easy to do, and I am absolutely in love with it.  Let's just say I want to polish tonight but I don't want to take this off!

I love my nails at this length, I think I will try to keep them this long from now on.  It's a really good length for typing, texting, etc. but still looks long and beautiful :)

Come check out what everyone else has done for Day 10!

1.	Kelli	5.	Erica's Nails and More	9.	FingerFood Nails	13.	Patricia @ Polished and Glittered
2.	Nails Love Polish (Sandra Bickel)	6.	Danette @ No Bottles Left Behind	10.	Nail Engineer	14.	Janet @ Janet Planet Nails
3.	Polish Insomnia	7.	Polish Gone Crazy	11.	Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Lacquer
4.	...And Then There Was Polish	8.	Kara (Never Gonna Give You Up)	12.	Shea Caithaml

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

November Nail Art Challenge Day 9

Good afternoon lovely readers!  I can't believe it's the end of November, and the 2nd last day of the Challenge :(  Not sure what I'm going to do when all this is over.. though I'm sure I will come up with something to fill in my free time in December :)

Day 9 is Water Marble.  This is the one that I have the most fun with, I love water marbling, I just wish I had more time to do them more often.  I'm sorry for all the girls that have had a hard time with this design :(  I promise that once you get the hang of it, it's fun!

For this, I didn't know what colour combination to do, so I posted a question on the Facebook page and Patricia suggested navy and pastel pink.  I love this idea, so here's what I did.

Alright, so this wasn't my best water marble to date, but I will definitely be doing this colour combination again!  If I had time I would definitely redo it for the Challenge, but today's the last day to link up for Day 9, so I will just be happy with this one :)

I knicked my middle finger off the edge of the table I was working on when I was applying my top coat .. whoops! >.<  Note to self - work at a thinner table top.  Our kitchen table is about 1-1/2" thick and with the lighting it's tricky to see what you're doing, so I put the finger I'm working on on the table surface and the rest under the table top.

Looks like there was a water bubble on my pinky too.

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On as my base colour, I was going to include white in the design but decided against it after I got my nails painted, so that's why the white is showing through the design in some places.  Then I used Julep Carrie (pink) and Eloise (blue) in my marble.  Next time I will definitely paint my nails with Carrie and then do my water marble, that way the white won't show through the pink :)  Plus, then I think that Carrie would be a little bolder in the design as well :)

My favourite nail is my index, just because there is nothing wrong with the design -- no thin polish in the marble causing white to show through, no water bubbles, no knicks, no smears :)

Come check out what everyone else has done for Day 9!

1.	Kara (Never Gonna Give You Up)	4.	...And Then There Was Polish	7.	Erica's Nails and More	10.	Janet @ Janet Planet Nails
2.	Kelli	5.	Danette @ No Bottles Left Behind	8.	Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Lacquer	11.	Polish Gone Crazy
3.	Patricia @ Polished and Glittered	6.	Nail Engineer	9.	FingerFood Nails	12.	Polish Insomnia

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Different Dimension Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty

Hey everybody!  Sorry I'm so late getting this post up.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend :)

I had a request from Kara at Never Gonna Give You Up to swatch my Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty from Different Dimension's Big Bang Theory collection.  So to make at least one reader happy, I was happy to do it :)

These pictures are 2 coats of Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty over 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On. The glitters (grey-blue metallic medium hexes, white metallic large hexes, random shaped white metallic) are in a really pale grey jelly polish that has a slight micro shimmer.

For those of you who aren't fans of the show Big Bang Theory, firstly -- what rock do you live under?!  :D  Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty comes from the song that Sheldon's mom used to sing to him when he was sick.  Now that he is not at home he gets Penny to sing it to him :)

"Soft kitty, warm kitty
Little ball of fur.
Happy kitty, sleepy kitty
Purr purr purr."

The glitters are a little tricky to place, but overall it's a good polish :)  I'm not sure how often I will wear this polish though, just because of the "work" it takes to get it on and the work it will take to take it off :(  However, I don't know if I can break up the collection... :S  Oh the issues of being an OCD polish-a-holic!

So, you want your own bottle now??  You can find them over at Different Dimension's shop, along with all the other great polishes she has :D

Simple Nail Art Tips Pure™

Good evening my lovely readers :D  I hope you have all been enjoying your weekend!  Did everyone survive Black Friday shopping?  I managed to get some deals on polish, and even managed to snag some mini indies for future giveaways :D  Who's pumped for that?!

Today I have a review for a product that was introduced to my by Lustrous Lacquer -- Simple Nail Art Tips Pure™ Nail and Cuticle Oil.  That's a mouthful, but let's take a look :)

Ana at Simple Nail Art Tips (Facebook page, website) developed her own nail and cuticle oil because she is allergic to almond, and most of the nail and cuticle oils on the market have almond oil in them.  Big problem for someone with allergies :(  For all the background information, visit here.

So when I saw Lustrous Lacquer posting about this, I investigated as I am always trying to find great products to keep my nails healthy and looking beautiful :)  I'm a little vain about my nails now that I am a non-biter ;)

When I saw Ana's before and after pictures, my first thought was "holy man, I want those nails!!!"

Ana's Nails
Source

So I went ahead and ordered myself 3 pens.  I was unsure how many I would need, so I just went with 3 to start :)  Little did I realize until after I had received the pens and was just checking out the site again did I notice that she had "US Only" on it... :S  However, she didn't message me back and say "sorry, I only sell to US residents right now" so I figured I was ok :)

Then I messaged her on her Facebook page to tell her I had received her shipment and told her that I would be willing to do a review of it for her and she was so happy :)  So here we are!  I'm going to warn you right now that this post is going to be VERY PICTURE HEAVY!

First off, let's take a look at what I got in my shipment.

The 3 pens were in a snack Ziploc baggie so that they didn't leak all over the place if something happened in transport.

For size comparison, here is a pen side-by-side with a standard-size Sharpie permanent marker.

Ana also included 2 little baggies with new scents she will be releasing.  Unfortunately, these leaked during transport so they both smelled the same.  However, I have faith that they smell just as wonderful as the "Crisp" scent (her first-released scent).  These scents will be available later -- Spring will be available near the end of winter, and Summer near the end of Spring :) can't wait!!

And a Thank You card came with it as well, with the instructions on how to use the oil inside.

When I first read the 3-day steps I thought "oh no, can I still use this while wearing polish?!" because I know I would not be able to not wear polish for the rest of my life!  So I posted on her Facebook page to ask and she assured me that it is just for the first 3 days that you shouldn't wear polish to get the full effect of the oil.  After that, you can still wear polish while using it :)  WHEW!!!  Dodged that bullet!!

So I had these for almost a month before I was able to get to using it, because of the 3-day start days with no polish I had to make sure I didn't "have" to wear polish (for a nail art Challenge, etc.).

First things first -- scent.  I know this important to a lot of people because scent is probably one of the things most of us notice about anything.  This oil has a really nice scent that is there, but not overly noticeable.  It's kind of a sweet smelling scent, but woodsy at the same time, if that makes any sense... I'm one to really be put off by products (and food) if I don't like the smell, so trust me when I say this is a winner!  If I didn't like the smell I wouldn't be using it :)  For those of you who have the Julep Cuticle Oil, Pure™ has a much lighter scent.

October 28 - BEFORE USING PURE™

I know my cuticles aren't that bad, but you'll be surprised how much oil I used just on the first day!

October 29 - AFTER 1 DAY OF USING PURE™

I applied Pure™ 9 TIMES on the first day!  Yep, you read that right, 9 times!  I couldn't believe it!  I feel that even after only one day of using Pure my cuticles look much better, even though I got a paper cut on my middle finger -- *sigh* the war-wounds of having a desk job!

Application of this is really easy, even with your non-dominant hand.  Basically you twist the end to get the oil into the bristles and swipe along the sides of your nail, along the cuticle and even under the nail.  **NOTE** when you first use the oil, you will have to twist the end to get the oil to come out.  If you have an air bubble in your pen, hold the pen bristles up and twist to force it out (Ana's analogy is "like a nurse with a needle" .. *shudder* I hate needles!), your oil will follow.  If you don't do this, I found that it didn't dispense the oil as well.

October 30 -- AFTER 2 DAYS OF USING PURE™

I applied Pure™ 8 TIMES on Day 2.  Yep, even though I applied so much on Day 1, my cuticles were still thirsty!!!  These pictures show my fingers with the oil on them.  That is the only downside to using an oily cuticle treatment.  I am finding that I leave little oil smudges on papers at work, hehe!

October 31 -- AFTER 3 DAYS OF USING PURE™

On Day 3, I believe I applied Pure™ 5 or 6 times.  I did have all this written down, but have lost the paper :(  When Day 3 rolled around and I was getting really anxious to paint my nails, not going to lie.  It was killing me walking around with bare nails for 3 days in a row, lol!  We had a bit of a "casualty" on Day 3, my index nail decided to have a corner break off, so I had to file it down to even it out.    Here are close-ups of my break pre-filing.

Poor nail :'(  My nails peel in layers, and I'm terrible for not leaving well enough alone and I always peel them apart.  This causes the peeled section to become weak and break off like this :(

November 5 -- AFTER 1 WEEK OF USING PURE™

So within a week my nails have grown out quite a bit (sorry they are so yellow!), except for my poor index nail.  My cuticles look really nice, that papercut healed nicely, definitely loving the results so far!

November 12 -- AFTER 2 WEEKS OF USING PURE™

After another week, I have gained even more length :)  This is a really good thing for people who are trying to grow their nails out!  I really love it!

November 19 -- AFTER 3 WEEKS OF USING PURE™

So after 3 weeks, I'm looking at my nails and thinking "ok, it's soon time to hack these bad boys down!" because they are starting to get in the way for typing, and it sure is tricky to blog (and use a computer for my job) when you can't type.... I do have a little hang nail on my index finger, but again, I'm terrible at leaving well enough alone.  If I see a hangnail starting I pick at it rather than clipping it off.  I think that comes from when I was a nail biter.

November 24 (today) -- AFTER 25 DAYS OF USING PURE™

Today was the last straw!  I wanted to hold out until Monday (the 4 week mark) but I couldn't!  My nails were starting to get too long to type even for the smallest amount of time (I type with the ends of my fingertips rather than the pads of my fingertips) and it was actually getting painful, so they had to be cut down!  I took these pictures before I did and holy crap!  I can't believe how long they are!!  I really wish I could deal with my nails being so long, I would have kept going.

As I was taking these pictures I was also working on a chart of sorts with my progress, but the pictures ended up being really small so they are a little hard to see the progress, but here it is :)

So!  If you are interested in purchasing some of your own Simple Nail Art Tips Pure™ Nail and Cuticle Oil, you can do so by following this link (http://www.myblisskiss.com/#aid=4116).  Ana has incorporated an affiliate link to her products, so by clicking that link, you can help me make a little cash ;)

I also meant to show you how much of the oil I used, but I wasn't planning on hacking my nails till Monday, so I didn't bring my used pens with me to Tyler's for the weekend.  I have used almost all 3 of the pens I originally purchased (I have since purchased more :) ) and they each contain 2ml of oil.

Nail Polish Canada Challenge Week 1

Hello happy readers!  I hope all my US readers had/are having a wonderful Thanksgiving, and those of you who are out shopping in the Black Friday madness are being safe, and finding some awesome deals!!

Nail Polish Canada is having a Holiday Nail Art Challenge where bloggers can enter to win massive amounts of prizes :)  I saw originally saw this on Neverland Nail Blog while scrolling through my reading list on blogger.  I later found out the Nail Polish Canada sent out e-mails for this and was a little disappointed I didn't get an e-mail too, but I also haven't informed them that I'm a blogger so that may have something to do with it ;)

Anywho, the theme for the first week of the Challenge is Snow.  *sigh* I LOVE snow!  It's my favourite thing about winter.  I look forward to the winter season as soon as the last pile of snow is melted in the spring, and people around me, including my family, think I'm a little whacked.  I tell them "if you live in Canada, you probably should like snow" ;)  I really hate when people whine about it when the weatherman starts using the "s" word (snow) and the "f" word (flurries) when showing the forecast... you know where you live, you know what to expect :D

For this, I did some stamping.  I knew I had the perfect stamping plate for this theme - Bundle Monster BM-323, the full nail snowflake design :)  When I first got my Bundle Monster plates this is one that caught my eye (probably because of my obsession with snow ;) ).

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On and Julep Gunta (dark blue) as my base colours, and Julep Fina (metallic light blue) for the stamping.  I was actually undecided what colour combinations to use so I consulted with my youngest sister and my mom to decide.  My sister like the white with metallic blue flakes and my mom liked the dark blue with metallic blue flakes.  I decided to combine it and did my nails white with accent nails in the blue.

I hope you guys love this as much as I do :D  Make sure to head on over to the site to vote for my design, and all  your favourites!!

November Nail Art Challenge Day 8

Good morning ladies!  Thank God it's my last day of work for the week!  I need to be able to sleep in tomorrow, haha!

So I know that most of my US readers are going to be stuffing their faces with turkey dinner, and believe me, I wish I was there to join you!  I love turkey dinner, it's my favourite meal right behind a big feed of spaghetti!  However, the radio stations around here are starting to play Christmas music, so today I have started to wear my Christmas earrings!  I love wearing Christmas earrings, and if I could get away with it without looking like a complete fool, I would wear them year-round ;D

Today I have for you my nails for Day 8 of the November Nail Art Challenge... can you believe it's almost over :'(  This month has flown, I can't believe it's almost December, almost the end of the year!

Day 8 is Gradient Nails.  I know a lot of girls have trouble with this one, but I believe that practice makes perfect (well as close to perfect as humanly possible ;) ) so the more often we do it, the better we're going to be at it!  Heck, I have problems with it, but I just embrace it :D  Each time I do a gradient I get better at it :D  Gradients take a lot of trial and error and patience :)

I'm pretty darned proud of this gradient :D  For this I used OPI Fiercely Fiona for my base colour, from the Shrek Collection.  Then, with my trusty kitchen sponge (the yellow ones with the green scrubby on the back), I sponged on OPI Who The Shrek Are You?, also from the Shrek Collection :)  I think this turned out pretty awesome!  *pats own back*  Now, although Fiercely Fiona is a diarrhea/pea soup green, with some nail art (like gradients or stamping) it doesn't look so bad.  It would actually make for a really good slime colour for Hallowe'en nail art :)

The Shrek Collection is kinda tricky to find, and it's not normally cheap if you do find it.  So if you happen upon any of the collection for a good/regular OPI price, snag it if you want it! :D  I got these in a mini set from Tara from Kelara Lacquers (blog sale).

Come check out what everyone else has done for Day 8!

1.	Erica's Nails and More	5.	Danette @ No Bottles Left Behind	9.	Polish Insomnia	13.	The Colours in my World
2.	...And Then There Was Polish	6.	Partly Cloudy With a Chance of Lacquer	10.	FingerFood Nails	14.	Janet @ Janet Planet Nails
3.	Kelli	7.	Nails Love Polish (Sandra Bickel)	11.	Shea Caithaml	15.	Polish Gone Crazy
4.	Nail Engineer	8.	Kara (Never Gonna Give You Up)	12.	Patricia @ Polished and Glittered

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