2nd Year Blogversary!

Wow! Two years! Honestly, when I started this blog I didn't think I would keep it going this long or that I would have followers who care! But I did and I do! Thank you so much for all the comments and support over the past two years!

I have made many close friends during these past two years through the glorious polish world. I am grateful for all them (you know who you are!). They are brought me through darkness and helped me see the better! Thank you so much.

My blog has changed quite a bit since I began. I love my new look so much! (Thank you Missy from Gnarly Gnails). I've done many challenges (and actually completed some!) I am part of a fabulous group of ladies who make me want to be a better blogger, a better person, and a better nail artist (The Digit-al Dozen).

I have had the wonderful experience of reviewing many gorgeous Indie polishes! I am in awe of those ladies that can create so many beautiful polishes! Thank you!

Here are a few photos of posts from the past two years! Photo heavy!

Here is my first photo on my blog, from my first post! Not too bad. Hopefully since then I think I have gotten my hand position better and lighting/coloring better. :)

 Ah, my Inspired by a Song post. The song is Breakfast at Tiffany's. Well it all looks good except for the poop bacon! Hahhaha!

 Inspired by Fashion: Steampunk! I still love these nails although not practical!

 Rainbow nails! These were the first ones I was so totally pumped over! I loved these! My other hand just had the blue and glitter! It was really funny! :)

 Inspired by a Tutorial. The first owl mani makes it's appearance on the blog, and it wouldn't be the last! :)

 This post is my most visited post of the entire blog, almost 12,000 views. And even thought this was back in February of 2012, it is still get daily page views! It is also my most pinned photo! I had no idea when I did this mani that it was going to be so popular! I was just happy that my two color stamping worked on the first try!

 Ah, Halloween! This was based on The Zombie Song by Stephanie Mabey. I love it!

 Ah the Gore mani! Disgusting but awesome!

My first Doctor Who inspired mani!

And that brings us to 2013 which I showed you many posts yesterday! 

You've stuck with me through absences and nubbins (nubbins to debut again! Lame weather) Thank you all for your continued support and friendship! Here's to another year at Geeky Owl!

Oh hey it's me! Tardis phone...check.....HoneyBadger shirt.....check! :)

Best of 2013!

Today we are going to look back at some of my favorite manis of the year and some of your favorites too! Be warned.....picture heavy! :)

My first attempt at gradient nails! I was so excited to do something that I had deemed unachievable!

Violet Nails. These were my first real attempt at reproducing an art piece that actually looked like the work of art!
 

 This was for The Digit-al Dozen Does Love & Heartbreak. And I loved how these turned out because the ampersand symbol means a lot to me.

 Can't forget my Birthday Mani! Favorite polish, Orly Nite Owl and owl stamps! Win!

 The Digit-al Dozen Does Animal Week gave me a few of my favorite manis of the year. This Liger was my first use of acrylic paints and I was impressed at how well they were to work with!

Part of the Animal Week. I wanted to create this little guy from Labyrinth and didn't think I could. I was so pleased how he turned out!

 The Digit-al Dozen Does Book Week brought some of me best free-hand nail art. This is Owly and I am so pleased with him! This is possibly my favorite free-hand I have ever done! Ever!

 Book Week again and we have Pigeon! I was so happy that he actually looked like Pigeon from the books!

 Ah yes, this mani is possibly one of my best stamping manis and best pairing of colors! And you all seemed to like it too! :)

This list wouldn't be complete without a Doctor Who mani!

 A proper Dotticure! I love the vintage feel of this! And this was the first post with my new watermark!

 These Fall Feathers for The Digit-al Dozen Week of Skittles are a favorite of mine. I love the colors, so rich and warm.

 I love these Indian nails, one of the first times using MoYou plates! These plates are fabulous!
 

 A tape mani for The Digit-al Dozen! A friggin' tape mani that worked!

And finally we end with The Digit-al Dozen Red, Gold, & Green Gradient. Started with a gradient, ended with a gradient!

So these were some of my favorite from the past year. I hope it covered some of your favorites too!

Blog Sale over at Store Envy!

Need to spend some holiday cash?

I've created a blog sale over at Store Envy with over 160 polishes! Yikes! Go check it out!

click photo to be taken to store!

TGIF: Lucky 13 Lacquer - Softening the Bad Things

Welcome to TGIF: Thank Goodness, Indy Indie Friday! And today I have a very special polish. This is Softening the Bad Things by Lucky 13 Lacquer.

When I saw this polish go up for sale, I had to have it. The inspiration behind the polish is Van Gogh's Sunflowers and the Doctor Who episode: Vincent and the Doctor.

This polish also represents the battle with mental illness. And as you know, I suffer greatly from depression and anxiety. I wanted this polish because it is gorgeous, and because it represents a part of me. Also, $1 of each sale goes to National Alliance on Mental Illness.

This polish is just gorgeous. I used a coat of Essence You Belong to Me as my base. This is only one coat of Softening the Bad Things with a coat of HK Girl Top Coat.

 And soften the bad things is what this polish does. It makes me happy and hey, it's a new polish!

Some Winter Sparkle for You!

Just a quick post for a quick and easy mani! I think it is very frosty and sparkly and perfect for this time of year!

I used two coats of Essie Marshmallow. I then lightly brushed on Orly Halo. Topped it off with NYC In a New York Color Minute Top Coat.

I was inspired by Glitter and Nails.

Super easy!

Merry Christmas!

I don't have a mani for you today, sorry. But I thought I would leave you with a few amazing videos to bring in the Christmas Spirit!

These are some of my favorite Christmas Songs! 3 serious ones, a classic one, and 3 fun ones! I hope you get a chance to listen to them! They always put me in a good mood! I wish you all a safe and happy holiday!

Technique Tuesdays: Santa Hats

So this isn't a major technique. But it involves free-handing a french tip, dotting tools, and applying jewels!

I have been seeing these hats all over the place (most recently by Sue from Creative Nail Design by Sue) and new I wanted to try it out. I think they are super cute. Now, mine aren't too perfect, some of the hat tail things are too big and look like they are bleeding but hey, I still think they are festive! Not bad for a first try! Hahaha! :)

I used Duri Rejuvacote as my base. I then free-handed french tips using Color Club Mamba and added the little "tails". Then I added a coat of China Glaze Ruby Pumps to add sparkle and festivness! Next I used my dotting tool and white acrylic paint for the fluffy part of the hat. Following that I dabbed a bit of clear polish on the tips of the hats and applied my jewels. I then topped it all off with NYC In a New York Color Minute Top Coat.

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday!

Neutral Mondays: Revlon Autumn Spice

Today on Neutral Monday I have a polish that I searched stores for weeks until I finally found it! This is Revlon Autumn Spice. It is part of their Parfumerie line. 

I've never had a scented polish before because a lot of times they are way too strong and perfum-y. But I heard so many good things about this one, I knew I had to try it.

This is two coats topped with HK Girl Top Coat. And yes, you can still smell the spice scent, even after a few days! I just love the color! It is gorgeous!

Funny story, while buying this polish (finally found it at Ulta!) the cashier said that this was the only good smelling one in the line. She said when they came in she sat there and smelled them all! Hahaha! 

I haven't tried any of the others. Have you? Do you like them?

TGIF: An Indie Christmas tree featuring Hit Polish - TMNT

Hey Owlets! Remember when I used to do TGIF: Thank Goodness, Indy Indie Fridays! Well I hope to bring them back! And today I am featuring TMNT by HitPolish! Can I just say how much I love this brand! And I am sad to hear that they are closing up shop. But they are having excellent deals right now!

First I started off with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Then, using Sally Hansen Emerald City I loosely created a tree shape.

Then I painted Hit Polish TMNT over the tree. Isn't this polish just perfect for this! Yes, I know it's inspiration are the Ninja Turtles but seriously how cool is it as a tree! I added some bling for the tree topper. And used HK Girl Top Coat for seal and shine! :)

Please go and visit HIT POLISH and show them some last support and buy some amazing polish! (they are not endorsing this. I bought TMNT with my own money, I just really really love their polishes! In fact while writing this I ordered two more!)

Trendy Holiday Mani? Or is it? Muwahahaha!

Here's a little off the beaten path holiday mani for you today. These aren't your typical holiday colors, but I am seeing them around more and more in the holiday decorations at stores.

I personally love these colors together. Now, my design didn't quite turn out how I planned it. It looks a bit more plaque and pustules (now there's a word I never thought I would ever use on my blog!) than I had planned. Well, way more, because that isn't what I had wanted! Hahaha! "Bring out your dead!" (gotta love Monty Python!).

But sometimes you just gotta roll with it and say hey, who cares! This could be a great Halloween mani next year, or maybe there is a national CDC (Center for Disease Control) day that I don't know of and could do these again! Ooh! Yeah, I like that!

I used two coats of China Glaze Def Defying, dotted some OPI Solitaire, and used Lacquistry Winterberry as the accent nail. Also fished out some of the glitters to add to the other nails. I topped it off with HK Girl Top Coat. 

So what do you think: trendy holiday or CDC mani of the year? 

Hahahahaha!

Technique Tuesdays: Fan Brush

Welcome Owlets to another new feature that I want to try out: Technique Tuesdays! This is where I will try out those intimidated (to me at least) techniques that I have created a file of. And I will post them no matter the result! It'll kind be like those Pinterest Nail'd it photos you see (you know, where they actually really didn't nail it!)

I'm actually excited about this because if I don't completely succeed I am still going to let it be up on my blog. Because, gosh darn it, not everyone can do those nail arts perfectly! So some Tuesdays you will cheer with me when I succeed, other Tuesdays you can laugh along (or cry, there could be tears) with me! :)

So today is the fan brush. I used Neverland Nail Blog's: Fan Brush Gradient + Tutorial for reference. I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls as my base. Color Club Mamba and Sally Hansen I-Rush Luck were the colors I decided to use, trying to make a holiday gradient. I topped it off with Orly Prisma Gloss Gold and NYC In a New York Minute Top Coat. 

No I don't think this is a fail. I think my colors kind of muddied a bit. But I love the markings of the fan brush. So this is a win for me because I didn't totally botch it! :)

What do you think? Did I nail it?

Neutral Mondays: Essence - As Long As You Love Me

Welcome Owlets to Neutral Mondays! This is where I bring you the beautiful colors that I love: neutrals! So that means grey (or gray, however you want to spell it!), brown, beige, taupe, ivory, black, white, silver..etc.

Some Neutral Mondays may just be a quick swatch of a new neutral that I got! (Like today) And other Neutral Mondays will be how to spiffy it up, but neutrals are cool.......urm well, they aren't are they, they are neutrals (color theory humor for you). How about, neutrals are awesome! Yep, that works.

So today I bring you Essence As Long As You Love Me from the Beauty Beats Collection. 

Ok, so I was at Ulta looking around at the new collections and saw this grey. I knew I had to have it. But then I saw whose line it was......Justin Bieber! Ugh! I so didn't buy any of the NOPI of his line because I can't stand him! (Sorry for those of you who do, he's just not my type of music).

Have you ever not bought a polish because of the person the collection was associated with? I mean I know we've bought polishes for names alone, right? 

Bought I kept look at this polish and just gave a big sigh and sucked it up and bought it. It helps that the name of the polish is also a Backstreet Boy's song! Oh yeah, I liked them in high school! :)

This is two coats with HK Girl Top Coat. And like all my other Essence polishes, excellent formula! And look at the shimmer! It's a beaut! Definitely a keeper! 

Will add this to my pile of other greys. One cannot have too many greys, at least that's my motto!

So I hope you guys like this new feature where I get to feature my fav neutrals and prove I am the Neutral Queen (for nail polishes only, I am not a ruler in any way shape or form!) (Hahaha!)

The Digit-al Dozen Does Red, Gold, and Green: Dotticure Tree!

Happy Friday the 13th! Hope your day goes without any problems! :) 

Final day of The Digit-al Dozen Does Red, Gold, and Green, and to end it I decided to abstract dotticure Christmas trees. I say abstract because they sort of lost there tree shape a bit! Hee-hee! :)

I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps as my base (two coats). The dots are: Sally Hansen Emerald City, Sally Hansen Going Green, Sally Hansen No S-pear Time, China Glaze Starboard, and China Glaze Def Defying. I used Barry M Gold Foil Effects for the star all topped with HK Girl Top Coat. 

I had a lot of fun doing all these manis. I was surprised at how many greens I have and how many reds I don't have! Haha! 

Well, until next month, The Digit-al Dozen Week is done. But don't worry you can read our many different posts on our website: The Digit-al Dozen, come on, go check it out!

And don't forget to check out the other ladies and their manis!