Merry Christmas!

Hey y'all!

Merry Christmas!  I hope today brings each of you warm, full bellies and warm, full hearts, and maybe a few consumer goods you've been eyeing!  I don't have any new nail art to show you today, but I wanted to send you my best wishes and give you a whole page of exciting nail art from other artists to look at!

12DOC: Freestyle Christmas Tartan Plaid

Hey y'all!

Today is an exciting day for two reasons!  First, it is the final prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge which has consumed this month's blogging activity for me, and the second reason is a fairly big blogging milestone.  This is my 300th post!  Who would've thought when I started this journey just over a year ago that I'd have logged 300 entries into this blog?  It's very bizarre for me.  In any event, today's final prompt for this challenge is Freestyle, leaving it completely open to each artist's interpretation.  I took inspiration from another artist's design for the Red and Green prompt and while my attempt is nowhere near as sophisticated or chic as Natasja's of Love Life Lacquer, here are my Christmas tartan/plaid nails!

12DOC: Presents!

Hey y'all!

Happy first day of winter (officially)!  Seems a bit bizarre, given that I've been wearing a uniform of sweatshirts, long pants, and socks for months now, but I'm still a Texas girl at heart and it's bizarre that my flip-flops were retired for the year in October.  Today marks the penultimate prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas nail art challenge!  It's also the final assigned prompt, because Tuesday's prompt will be freestyle and open to all the artists' interpretations.  I find this prompt particularly appropriate though, because it involves something that I still haven't done and need to do quickly - wrapping presents!

12DOC: Ugly Sweater Nails

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  We've had a lovely past couple of days, as some heavy rains brought a bit warmer weather and I was actually able to leave the house in flats and no jacket!  Extraordinary!  I don't expect it to last, but I definitely enjoyed it while I could.  It's that time of the year when people pull out their Christmas sweaters (jumpers) and even go to parties dedicated to wearing the ugliest you can find.  In this spirit, today's prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge is Ugly Sweater Nails, and I had to dig out my flocking powder to create some for you!

12DOC: Silver Bells Glitter Gradient

Hey y'all!

Happy Wednesday!  Can you believe that in just ONE WEEK it'll be Christmas Eve?  Insanity!  I am truly sorry if you're still jostling around trying to get preparations made.  Thankfully, I've been able to stay on top of it all and am left with the luxury of enjoying all the decorations and fast-forwarding through the commercials because we only ever watch stuff on the DVR these days.  Speaking of decorations, I showed you some on Monday, and today I've taken the 12DOC Glitter prompt and turned it into decorations as well, sort of.  Here is my silver bells purple glitter gradient look.

12DOC: Christmas Decorations

Hey y'all!

Yup, it's Monday, again, and we're now halfway through December.  By now, neighborhoods should be filled with creative and festive light-up displays at dusk, where enterprising homeowners compete with one another for the most Christmas-y lawn display of the street.  This was the inspiration I used to complete today's 12 Days of Christmas prompt: Christmas Decorations.

12DOC: Red and Green Candy Canes

Hey y'all!

We are now in the final half of the 12 Days of Christmas Nail Art Challenge, and today's prompt is Red and Green colors.  I took inspiration from the colorful Christmas candy canes (and two of Barry M's Winter Silk shades) to create this striped design.

12DOC: Tenth Time Lord Leaping!

Hey y'all!

So, on Tuesday I geeked out a little bit with my prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas nail art challenge.  Today, I'm geeking out a considerable amount more, and I'm also trying a new-to-me technique, creating home-made water decals.  Our challenge was to pick one day from the 12 Days of Christmas song and use that as our prompt.  After hemming and hawing for a few hours, I finally decided to give in and go with my gut, and completely twist the challenge to fit my geek needs.  Ergo, I present to you the 10th Doctor (Time Lord), leaping across my nails!

12DOC: Hoth Camo!

Hey y'all!

Hold onto your seats for a minute... because my nail art for today's 12 Days of Christmas prompt contains 0% nail charms!  Are you so excited??  I totally am.  Today the Challenge Your Nail Art group is tackling the colors Icy Blue and White, so I decided I wanted to go Tauntaun hunting on Hoth, and was gonna need some camo!

Magical Mondays: Harry Potter

Hey y'all!

Happy Monday!  Today I'm stepping outside of the 12 Days of Christmas challenge to bring you the first of a new collaboration series that I'm starting with Catriona of Belle Glamour.  If you've been around a while, you'll have heard me mention Cat in the past - she is the first British blogger friend that I made after starting Fixin To Faff, and what began as a business arrangement has blossomed into a friendship that I truly cherish, as she provides me with almost daily giggles and regales me with stories of her wee Sophie.  Among our other common interests is a love for all things Harry Potter, so we've decided to set aside the first Monday of every month to bring you two nail art looks centered around a common Harry Potter theme.  Of course the only theme we could possibly choose to christen our new collaboration is the boy who lived himself, Harry.

12DOC: Santa!

Hey y'all!

Happy Sunday!  We've officially put the first week of December in the bag, and as such, today's prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art 12 Days of Christmas Challenge should bring a few very familiar faces to you, because today we're doing Santa and/or Elves!  I know you'll be shocked by this, but I have *another* nail charm for this prompt!

Hey, Swatch It! OPI Red Fingers & Mistletoes

Hey y'all!

Happy Saturday!  Since the currently-running "12 Days of Christmas" challenge is running all month and falls every other day, this will be December's only Swatch It, which I had to post because it's so seasonally appropriate.  I thought I'd show you a pretty little polish that I picked up from the Gwen Stephani Holiday 2014 collection, which called to me from the bottle with its fire-y orange shimmer - I just couldn't walk away!  While most of the collection was easy to overlook in the store, Red Fingers & Mistletoes definitely wouldn't let me!

12DOC: Snowmen

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  Can you believe we've already made it through the first week of December, and Christmas is only 3 weeks away?  Sometimes it feels like the first half of the year drags on and takes forever, then as soon as September hits, everything whizzes past!  Marching right along in the 12 Days of Christmas challenge is today's prompt: Snowmen, so I turned once again to that trusty pack of nail charms I bought at Poundland, and added some freehand nail art to flesh out my look.

12DOC: Christmas Trees

Hey y'all!

I'm back with the second prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge, and today we're covering Christmas trees!

12DOC: Snowflakes

Hey y'all!

Happy 1st of December!  We're on the countdown now to Christmas and New Years, and that means a LOT of seasonal nail art from all of your favorite nail artists.  It seems like we only just finished last month's Challenge Your Nail Art series, and here we are starting a new series today.  For the next 3 weeks, we're going to be visiting the Twelve Days of Christmas, with prompts every other day.  Since this schedule runs roughshod over my usual M-W-F-S posting schedule, I'm going to abandon my normal schedule and hold off swatch posts (with one important exception this weekend), so that I can get all this nail art done and still have time to get my Christmas stuff in gear.  All that said, let's get into this challenge!  Our first prompt is Snowflakes!

Hey, Swatch It! Black Cat Lacquer Aries

Hey y'all!

Happy Caturday!  Okay, so I'm never the cat meme girl to be honest, but I had to do it in honor of today's Swatch It brand - Black Cat Lacquers!  A couple months back, I did some clearance retail therapy online and found some great US indies through UK stockists.  I went back and forth on this particular polish because it's not *really* my shade of red, but ultimately I broke down and got it because it was so pretty and because it was created for my particular astrological sign.  This is Black Cat Lacquer Aries.

Holo Leopard nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy Black Friday!  Today I have a quick and easy nail art look for you that will sparkle and shine without requiring too much effort from your food-coma'd state.  This leopard print is done in autumn/fall friendly shades, and doesn't take an art degree to pull off!

Fall-ing for Nail Art: Traditional Thanksgiving

Hey y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving!  To my US readers, I hope you're all stuffed to the gills with yummy food and in the company of loved ones.  At the very least, I hope each and everyone one of you can find something for which to be thankful, and that goes for all of you, regardless of your national origin or geographic location.  Today's final prompt in the Fall-ing for Nail Art challenge is Traditional Thanksgiving images, and I bounced back on forth for this prompt for several days, trying to find something that wasn't too cliched or that hasn't been seen a million times already.  I've got a very untraditional take on traditional images, and it was inspired by my shopping trip today where I was really overloaded with all the Christmas decorations and sales going up in November.  It seems to happen earlier and earlier with each passing year, and here in the UK I was actually seeing Christmas sales going up before Halloween!

Fall-ing for Nail Art: Elegant Gold and Purple

Hey y'all!

Happy Humpday!  Today's prompt for the Fall-ing for Nail Art challenge brings us to Fall Inspired Colors.  Now, most people tend to think of reds, oranges, yellows, and browns when it comes to fall colors, but I went a different direction to create this look.

Fall-ing for Nail Art: Cinnamon Apples

Hey y'all!

I'm back today with another look for the Fall-ing for Nail Art challenge, and this time the prompt is Fall Foods!  I had a good long think about all the ways I could interpret this prompt and finally settled on a combo that creates one of my favorite fragrances of autumn: cinnamon and apples!

Fall-ing for Nail Art: Fall Leaves

Hey y'all!

This week, the Challenge Your Nail Art group is back with another week-long challenge, this time centered around Fall/Autumn and Thanksgiving.  We'll be running daily nail art through Thursday this week, which should lead you all right into Black Friday and money-spending madness as we headroll into the Christmas season.  Today's prompt is Fall Leaves and/or Trees, and I've created this stamped look for you.

Hey, Swatch It! ILNP Black Orchid

Hey y'all!

Happy Saturday!  Last week I showed you Iconic, ILNP's rose gold holographic polish.  Today I have another holo from the Fall 2014 collection, and this one's a personal squeeing favorite.  Black Orchid is a dark eggplant holo gem that I just couldn't stop staring at!

Peacock fantasy nail art

*** This post contains items which were sent for review and affiliate links. ***

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  Today I've got a quickie post for you, to show off some nail art created with a stamping plate from bornprettystore I received for review.

Hey, Check it! Square matte glitter nail art

*** This post contains items which were sent for review and affiliate links. ***

Hey y'all!

Well, my shopping expedition on Monday was a bust.  The shop we were going to for my leather jacket closed on us, and I just wasn't successful finding anything in the other places we looked, so we came home and I'm back to shopping online to find what I'm after.  Jacket troubles aside, however, I've got some more new nail art goodies from bornprettystore to show off today, in the form of some thin plastic matte square "glitters" that I used to create this red and black checkered nail art.

Art Gecko Nail Art

*** This post contains items which were sent for review and affiliate links. ***

Hey y'all!

Monday's here again, but luckily Mr. Faff is off work today, so we're going to indulge in some retail therapy... mostly because I need a new leather jacket, so we're off to the shops.  However, I can say that my nails will look fabulous doing it!  Today I have the cutest nail charms to show you, which I received for review from bornprettystore, and I'm calling this look... art gecko. :)

Hey, Swatch It! Octopus Party Nail Lacquer Ink or Swim

Hey y'all!

Happy Saturday, once again!  Can you seriously believe we're already halfway through November, and Christmas is less than 6 weeks away?  I just don't even want to think about it!  Now that I've put that cheery thought in your head, how about I show you a gorgeous indie polish?  Octopus Party Nail Lacquer came on my radar earlier this year, and it appears that I was not alone.  Dave has a knack for mixing absolutely gorgeous colors and glitters, and I have truly felt lucky to own the ones I have, including this shiny pretty, Ink or Swim.

Texas Traveling Nails

Hey y'all!

Happy Friday!  I've been gearing up behind the scenes to power through the rest of the year, and hopefully to start posting to my neglected YouTube channel again on a weekly basis.  My hope is that I'll be able to do nail polish swatches and art here on the blog, and use my channel to do tutorials for polish nail art and... acrylics/gels!  Since taking my tech training, I've been gathering supplies and practicing with them so that I can hopefully start those weekly videos before the end of the year!  I'm waiting now for my gel supplies to arrive, along with a training practice hand, which I'll use for the videos since I've decided I'm rubbish at keeping my own hands in frame while I'm working on them.  In the mean time though, I've still got a lot of polish nail art to show you, and I'm starting with the nails I did last month before setting off on our trip to Texas.  I wanted something sparkly and burnt orange and white (because I'm a Longhorn, afterall), and threw these together the night before we left (in a rush because I still had to pack!).

Guest Post: Jenni of Nail Art Novice

Hey y'all!

Today's post ends this round of Faffy guest stars, and I could not have picked a sweeter blogger to fill the spot than this lovely lady.  Written by yet another of my UK nail blogger buddies, Jenni's blog has been incredibly good to me, as I believe I have won at least 3 prizes in various giveaways over the last couple of years.  Beyond just being a great giveaway piñata, she's a fellow geek and loves playing with new colors and techniques as much as I do!  I happily present to you, the Nail Art Novice!

Hello Fixin' To Faff lovelies! My name is Jenni and I blog over at Nail Art Novice. Ali kindly did a guest post for me whilst I was in Australia this summer, so I thought it was about time I returned the favour!

My mani today is an autumnal skittle-I absolutely love Autumn, it's my favourite season, I love the colours and the weather and collecting conkers and scrunching through leaves and all of it! I grabbed a handful of autumn-y colours and sat down to do this mani, sort of winging it as I went!

Guest Post: Elicia of Deliciate Nails

Hey y'all!

Welcome back to another week of guest posters at the FaffZone (thanks, Anne).  Hope you all had a relaxing weekend and are getting all your bits and bobs ready for the coming holidays.  Today I'm handing over the reins to another lovely UK blogger with gorgeous nails and an eye for color which both make me quite jealous!  Bonus points, because we almost share a first name.  Please welcome the beautiful and talented Elicia of Deliciate Nails!

Hello Readers!

Big thank you to the lovely Ali for letting me pop over to share one of my manis with you all! I’m pretty new to blogging so appreciate being able to reach a wider audience and as a regular reader and fan of Ali’s blog it’s certainly an honour.

Little bit about me – I’m Elicia from Deliciate Nails, 28 years old (booo), live in Sheffield, South Yorkshire and have a mild obsession with nail polish as I’m sure most of you readers do too! I started blogging just this year and am still picking lots up and learning.

The mani I created for this post is probably not very appropriate for this time of year but I just love bold bright nails and want to wear brights all year round!

Hey, Swatch It! ILNP Iconic

Hey y'all!

Have you been enjoying the changing weather and the line of guest posts?  In the past week, I've definitely had to pull out my sweaters/jumpers and furry slippers, and cranking on the heat during the day.  Sadly, I also packed away all my flipflops and open-toed shoes to replace them with my boots.  On the plus side, this means I don't have to worry about shaving my legs for at least 4 months!  On the plus side, cooler weather also means that a lot of indie polish makers are releasing some fabulous fall and winter collections, and today's swatches are from just such a collection.  I picked up a few new ILNPs whilst we were in Texas, and today I want to show you Iconic.

Guest Post: Rachel of Nail Parade!

Hey y'all!

Today the guest post series continues, where I hand over the steering wheel to another UK nail blogger, Rachel.  This lovely young lady dabbles in a bit of everything on her blog beyond just swatches and nail art, including her life, her books, her makeup, and even scouting!  It's my pleasure to introduce you to the nails which lead the Nail Parade!

Hey everyone! My name's Rachel and I'm from the blog Nail Parade!  Today I'm bringing a cute little hearts design for your nails, which I have featured on my blog before, but that was quite a while ago now so I'm bringing it back!  And don't worry, you don't need to be super amazing at using nail art brushes (I know I'm not!) because it doesn't even require them! All you need is 3 nail polishes. 

Guest Post: Roz of Roz's Nail-Scapades

Hey y'all!

Today's guest feature is the lovely and talented blogger behind Roz's Nail-Scapades, whom I met through the British Nail Bloggers group on FB.  She is probably the most faithful TPT and GOT blogger I can think of, and her designs never fail to delight me.  Take it away, Roz!

Hi everyone,

I am so happy to be bringing you this mani. I would first of all like to thank Ali for giving me this opportunity to do a guest blog post on her blog. Thanks hun :)

What I have for you today is a watermarble extravaganza with the Kiko Milano Polishes I bought back in March. There is a store which opened in the next town over to me in Leeds and I just had to visit it. I bought 3 polishes when I was there and I want to show you today how they look when watermarbled and what my experience was.

Guest Post: Sam of FingerFood Nails

Hey y'all!

Today I am so happy to be able to share with you a guest post by an incredibly talented woman who I have been lucky enough to call a cyberbuddy.  Shortly after joining the ranks of the British Nail Bloggers, I was quickly drawn to her beautifully artistic work (she's the mistress of the flowy, abstract look), and her use of bold, bright colors is as much an identifying trait as her impeccable brush skills.  Please welcome Sam, the brains and the beauty behind FingerFood Nails.

Hello everyone! As Ali has hopped back over the pond for a while she has asked for some guest posts and being one of her biggest fans, not only as an awesome nail artist, but also as a lovely human being who I love chatting with over the interweb (our "Wizard of Oz" battle is still a favourite), I couldn't resist.

I wasn't sure where to start as I'm barely painting my nails these days, but about a month ago I finally caved and ordered some stamping polishes from Mundo de Unas. I loved the simple mani I created to try the first one out so much that I wanted to share it and this seemed like a good opportunity :)

Hey, Swatch It! ellagee LE Bling In The New Year Collection

*** This post contains items which were purchased at a blogger discount for the purpose of review. ***

Hey y'all!

With Halloween now past us, it's time to start looking towards the holidays and all the beautiful makeup and polish collections that come with them.  I have an exciting preview to show you for a collection that opens for pre-order TODAY!  While I was in Texas earlier this month, I connected with Laura of ellagee, and she gave me the opportunity to show you a trio from her new Limited Edition Bling In The New Year collection.

Beetlejuice Nail Art CYNA Halloween themed TV or movie inspired

Hey y'all!

Happy Halloween, and happy Friday!  October went by so incredibly fast, I almost cannot believe it!  October 31 is, traditionally, one of my favorite days of the year because I love dressing up and going out and seeing everyone else dressed up and having a good time.  The Halloween season also brings around some of my favorite movies, including the one that inspired me for today's prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art series, Beetlejuice!  As he says, "It's Showtime!"

Spooky French Tips CYNA Halloween Villains

Hey y'all!

Today marks the penultimate prompt for the Challenge Your Nail Art Halloween challenge, and the prompt is actually one that I suggested, so I knew I had to "bring it" with my contribution.  I opted to put a bit of a spin on these classic Halloween monsters by creating them as french tips.  Can you identify all the spooky species?

Jack-O'-Lanterns! CYNA Pumpkin Faces

Hey y'all!

I'm back with another Halloweeny nail art courtesy of the Challenge Your Nail Art Halloween linkup.  Today's prompt is the classic Pumpkin Face, so I've created a bevy of handful of wacky jack-o-lanterns for you!

Halloween Jumper Nail Art CYNA Classic Orange & Black

Hey y'all!

Happy Tuesday to you!  You may have picked up a few hints that I've been on vacation the past couple weeks.  Hubby and I returned from a trip back "home" to Austin on Sunday, and we're both still recovering from the trip.  On the plus side, I have a lot of new goodies to show you coming up, and I can't wait to get started playing with them!  Thankfully I've had a few really awesome ladies step forward to give me some guest posts so that I can focus on getting everything sorted while still providing you with some great nail art!  This week, though, I have a whole handful of Halloween-themed looks for you as part of the Challenge Your Nail Art group's October offering, so come back every day this week to see 4 great seasonal looks, and the linkup to all the other participating artists.  Today's prompt is Classic Orange & Black, which I used to create this fun Halloween sweater/jumper look.

Guest Post: Kirsten of Geeky Owl

Hey y'all!

Today I'm handing over the reigns to the super sweet, super talented, and all-around super woman, Kirsten.  I fell in love with her blog because she's so innovative and relatable, and I fell in love with her personality because we have so many things in common, from our mutual obsession with Joss Whedon and Doctor Who to our shared anxiety disorder.  In addition to being one of my favorite nail bloggers, she gets to preview some of the hottest new beauty products at her posh day job - I'm totes jelly!  I am so happy and honored to be able to call this woman my friend, and to be able to share her work with you all today.  Please welcome the brains behind the Geeky Owl!

Hey, Swatch It! Nelly Polish Polperro

Hey y'all!

Did you realize Halloween is just around the corner?  Yeah, me either.  It's been crazy to me seeing everything in stores "pumpkin spice" this, and "pumpkin filled" that.  I like pumpkin, but it's almost overkill.  However, today I have a pumpkin-y polish to show you that I don't think I could possibly get sick of!  This little beauty came to me as a gift from another blogger, and I have been saving it for the end of October because it's so seasonally appropriate.  This is Nelly Polish Polperro.

Guest Post: Kimberley of Little Red Loves

Hey y'all!

In order to free up some time for me to a) job hunt, b) gear up for an upcoming 31-Day-Challenge, and c) take a vacation, over the next few weeks, I'm going to be letting some guest bloggers take over the reigns here at Fixin To Faff.  Today I would like to introduce you to Kimberley, a lovely young lady here in the UK whose blog focuses not only on her really pretty nail art designs, but also other beauty/cosmetics reviews and some DELICIOUS-looking baking recipes!  Please welcome the genius behind Little Red Loves!

Hello to all of Ali's readers here at Fixin To Faff. This is my first ever guest post so do forgive me if its not the most amazing thing you have read, but its pretty tough to live up to the standard of the rest of the manis here. I'm Kim from Little Red Loves and I have been secretly following Ali's blog for a long time now, so when I saw she was looking for guest posters I snapped up the opportunity straight away!

For this is created a special Water Marble mani as I have always wanted to be as good at it as Ali is. Sadly I think I need a bit more practice but as it wasn't a total fail I decided to share the images anyway.

Romantic Roses and Diamonds nail art

Hey y'all!

I'm probably way late for most Homecoming nights, but that's okay, too.  Today I wanted to share with you some romantic roses over a sparkly diamond base that would be perfect for a formal event of just about any occasion!

70s Rectangular Pattern nail art

Hey y'all!

Well, what can I say?  Happy Monday?  To my American readers... I hope you're not freaking out about the ebola, but if you are, please take some time to educate yourself on how it's transmitted and what the actual risks are, rather than turning on the tv and getting your information solely from the idiot box.  *rant off*  Okay, with all that out of the way, let's talk about some nail art!  This week, the Pick-n-Mix Challenge prompts are 70s and grey+color - so I combined those into this funky rectangular look.

Hey, Swatch It! Orly Galaxy Girl

Hey y'all!

I've had today's swatchy beauty sitting in the back of my stash box for several months, waiting for autumn to come around because I think it's a color that screams falls.  This little baby came to me via a Geeky Owl blog sale, and let me tell you that rarely have I been so happy to take someone else's cast offs!  Today is all about Orly's Galaxy Girl!

Green Paver Stone nail art

Hey y'all!

It's FRIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAY!  Hope you all made it through the week okay, and you're ready to do some hardcore R&R this weekend.  Today I have these really fun green paver stone nails to share with you!

Metallic Wood Grain nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy humpday to all!  Today's nail art look takes a decidedly different turn.  I really wanted to play with creating a stamping gradient.  This is where you blend different polishes on the stamping plate as you swipe, so that your resulting image blends smoothly from one color to the next.  My results on this attempt were subtle, but I think the metallic wood grain makes a really cool effect.

60s Mod Negative Space nail art

Hey y'all!

Happy Monday everyone!  We're almost halfway through October and this is normally where I would start getting really excited about Halloween, but unfortunately I have no fabulous fun plans this year (or last year, for that matter).  The British don't celebrate All Hallows Eve the same way we do it up in the US - but it's always been my favorite holiday, so at least I can celebrate on my nails.  This week's themes for the Pick-n-Mix challenge are the 60s and matte or texture.  I worked really hard on a design that would encompass all of those themes, and came up with this kind of funky look, which I can tell you unequivocally, Mr. Faff *hated*.  I'll let you be the final judge.

Hey Swatch It: Laquerlicious In Like Flynn

Hey y'all!

As part of my recent clearance haul on Rainbow Connection UK I picked up a couple of gorgeous polishes from another new-to-me brand, Laquerlicious.  Today I want to show you this ultra-cool creation, In Like Flynn.

Matted oxblood flakies nail art

Hey y'all!

Wow... looking at the date today, and I'm instantly transported back in time four years, when I made my first trans-Atlantic trip with two girlfriends on our first big-girl vacation to Ireland.  We spent 10 days touring and eating and drinking and it was hands-down my favorite vacation of all time.  To commemorate the trip, we all got matching shamrock tattoos dated 10-10-10.  There's no point to that story, really - I just felt like sharing it.  LOL.  Today I have a nail art look created for the Inspire Me Nails group challenge prompt: Unusual, Untried, Unloved.  I've created a matted oxblood nail with flakies.

Black and White and Pink All Over

Hey y'all!

Happy Humpday! October is turning up to be a sort of surreal month for me.  It's a little too personal to share with the whole wide world, but suffice it to say that I'm going through some growing pains as an epat and as a wife.  I haven't been participating much lately with the Axis of Ineptitude, mostly because I just haven't felt like "writing," and the writing I have been doing is all nail stuff.  The "nail stuff" has pretty much consumed the last couple months for me.  I've thrown myself in to creating as much content as possible and for a few weeks there, I was posting new content 6 times a week!  That's an incredible pace, which I cannot maintain, so I'm slowing it down and will be trying to regulate my posting to Monday-Wednesday-Friday-Saturday.  That should be 3 days of nail art during the week, and swatching on Saturday.  I think that's a liveable pace and shouldn't rattle me too badly.  Today, I'm tying in to two different prompts - one for the Pick-n-Mix challenge, and one for the Axis, so I'll start by showing you the nail art, and then I'll do some faffing at the end for those who want to read it.