After Christmas Mani and NYE nails!

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Ok I had to make 2 posts so I don't overload you on pics in one post. So here is my mani I did after Christmas since I wanted to do something other than red, even though I totally loved my festive reds. I am going to wear them out at Valentine's Day and probably 4th of July too.

For my first step I put one layer of this duo-chromey purple from Rimmel London Lasting Finish Pro called Violet Metal. Its such a pretty purple. I do have a couple others like it in my stash, but the formula on this one is better than the Sally Hansen one I think. If I wasn't going to layer over it, I probably would have gone with another coat. Don't you just love the blue shimmers?

Then I put Butter London's Black Knight over it. Admittedly, I thought BK was going to be less opaque, which is why I wanted the bottom color, but it really didn't need it. You can barely see Violet Metal underneath. BK is so gorgeous. I put this on because I thought it would be good to wear out for NYE if I didn't have time to come up with something else before we went out.

However, we got back from Grandma's and dropped the kids off with my baby sister and had a few hours to get ready before our dinner reservations. New Years Eve is also our Anniversary and so we wanted to go to an adult only dinner and then head to my favorite piano bar to ring in the new year. We decided to go eat at this Brazilian grill where they bring meat around to your table on huge knives. OMG it was delicious. The meal special that night came with a glass of champagne and a yummy chocolate dessert. Hubby took these pics of my nails from across the table.

I used these gorgeous nail strips by KISS.  They are so awesome! I still have them on and its almost 4 days later and not a single chip. I had to put Seche on the edges because they had little rough spots that were snagging stuff and I didn't like that. They are not smooth over the whole nail at all. They are bubbly but not rough. Does that make sense? I have even done dishes and laundry and they are holding up so well! Still look like the day I put them on!
I don't want to take these off but I have decided to join a few challenges for 2012. The first one is on a facebook group called Purple Crumpet Fairy Challenge. It seems like the perfect group for me to fit into. They have a friday challenge and this week is an animal print. So I am not sure if I am going to do a zebra or a snakeskin. I am not an animal print kind of girl. I did paint the cougar spots and the owl on my sister but zebra is the only thing I have ever worn on my nails. I don't even own anything with animal prints. Thursday will be a sad day when I take my blingy NYE mani off. :(
The second thing I want to join in is another weekly challenge I saw on http://www.jennafroggy.com/2012/01/challenge-week-1-make-it-sparkle-mani.html and I think Jenna saw it somewhere else and so forth but it looks awesome and I am going to try to do these two mani's a week. That should be reasonable right? Two posts by friday of every week. I guess I can put that on my list of resolutions.
It seems like everyone has a list but I really have just a few...
Minimum of 2 blog posts a week.
Post more scrapbooking stuff.
Save money so we can take a trip to Orlando next Fall.
Eat healthier. Not nearly as much fast food!
Get my migraines to stop or severely decline.
Keep my house cleaner.
Declutter and organize.
Pay all bills on time.
And be the best mom and wife I can be.

If you haven't posted your resolutions yet, feel free to leave me a comment and let me know if you are striving for something that's not on my list or something that IS!

Here is a pic of me with my dessert too. I forgot to put on my jewelry before we got to the restaurant. I am usually finishing up my final touches before we walk into our destination. My jewelry just slipped my mind and I felt naked without it!

Here is a pic of my total look with jewelry after we got back home after our date. You can barely see the top of my favorite sexy boots.

I'm also trying to find a cool closing phrase for my posts, but everything sounds too cheesy...so Stay Beautiful!