2. I actually have this picture hanging in my room. I LOVE this manicure. It is an early version of Cruisin' Nude, before we added the shimmer to it. But my nails here! WOW! I just love the length and shape! I just reshaped my short nails towards this shape, and am in the process of going back to this length.

 3. This is what happens when you let the above shape continue to grow! These were daggers for sure, but I let them grow like this so I could do something funky for the Lady Gaga concert last April. In the end I ended up with this glitter fade manicure because I felt the nails were enough on their own! LOL!

4. Messing around mixing some green polishes, I went for this very understated stamping manicure. I really can't pull off these types of greens, but I loved this manicure!

5. This was another stamp creation. I painted my nails yellow and then topped them with a stamp in orange. I really loved the effect of the "reversed" stamp look! It's perfect for the summer!

 6. My rocker girl manicure. I LOVE this one. I keep wanting to redo it, and never do. I think this will be my first manicure after the new year! This was supposed to be inspired by the snake print manicures, but I think it came out more rocker chic instead!

7. The snake print manicure. This one really came out closer to the snake print look.  Loved this manicure!

 8. The gilded in gold manicure. I took Blackout and mixed in some greenish gold shimmer. (Which may one day make it to a Cult Nails polish.) Then I placed gold flecks down the middle of my nails. I love this manicure, my nails are a bit shorter now, but I think this will be my New Year's Eve manicure!

What do you think of my choices? What were your favorite manicures of 2011?

I do a lot of virtual shopping with my friends. I guess I love shopping enough, that I am the go to stylist for my friends. I have to say I absolutely love it! I love going shopping with my friends, but when I can't be there, I love that they want my input and text me from the mall. With John being in the military, I get to go shopping with friends at all crazy hours and locations thanks to the phone! I have been asked by a few friends already what they should wear for New Years Eve. So I thought this would be the perfect thing to share with all of you as well!

Right now I am totally obsessed with a sequin jacket I found at Macy's for $44! It is a cropped blazer loaded with sequins. A friend just went to Macy's looking for it and found it on clearance for $22! Lucky girl! I have already worn mine about 4 times this holiday season and if we decide to go to a friends for New Year's Eve, I will wear it one last time to ring in the New Year. So of course, my outfits all go around the sequin jacket!

I can't find a mani picture of vicious! Guess I'll have to do this one again!

What a year it has been! Next month, we celebrate the one year anniversary of our launch date! Can you believe it? I had a collection planned for Jan 2012 and it was the collection I was waiting on. It is very different than my previous collections, this collection is a collection of nudes with a twist. We will still have this collection, but with a delay, it won't be ready for Jan as originally planned. It isn't like the planning happened over night, we have been planning this for at least the last six months. So it's a bit dissappointing to see this delay when I have been so looking forward to our one year anniversary. But we will see it none the less.

Here's the deal, I try to be as open and honest about running a business without boring you all with the details. I try to keep things mostly positive, with some careful frustrations being vented here. But the truth is a business doesn't just happen. Starting a business takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It takes hours of hard work, and more sacrifice than you thought you were capable of giving. I can't even begin to tell you how hard, yet satisisfying this year has been. It has been exciting yet exhausting, exhilerating yet stressful, joyful but full of emotion. It has been so hard, we still have so much to learn. I feel like there just isn't enough time. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

I know I need to do more, devote more, but sometimes I feel like I just can't. I have a full time job that helps support my family and I'm just not ready to give that up. Cult Nails is not to the point where it can take over the support. But maybe with a little more sacrifice it can be? But I'm all about sacrifice, but is it fair to my kids? Is it fair to tell them that they can't do that after school sport or activity because I am sacrificing? Is it fair to put them at that disadvantage for college because I wanted to sacrifice to make a dream come true? For me, they are not worth the sacrifice, they always will come first. So I work 40 - 50 hours a week for my day job, and then I work 50+ hours a week for Cult Nails. John also puts in as many hours working for the military and then for Cult Nails. Sometimes I think John puts in more hours for Cult Nails than I do. Sometimes I know for a fact that that is true.

Last Friday after another lab delay, I lost it. And when I say I lost it, I mean I really lost it. I screamed and cried and screamed and cried some more. I laid on my bathroom floor crying for more than an hour and decided this is it, I quit. I can't be Cult Nails anymore. I have to choose, support my family working a day job and be there for them at night, or sacrifice and try to make this dream a reality. I quit! I quit! I quit! Of course, unfortunately the person on the receiving end of my screaming was John. I think it hurt him to see me so hurt, I could see it in his eyes. But he said no. He just looked me in the eyes and said "you are not quitting on your dreams!" What a jerk! At least at that moment, that is what I felt. Now with a few days behind me and some perspective, I realize it was just pent up stress that I was feeling. I'm not a crier, so for me that is huge. I'm not a quitter, so to feel so defeated is scarey. I mean honestly, it's just a small delay right? right? That's what I keep telling myself.

Anyway, so thanks to John, I don't quit. But the emotions are still raw. But I am still standing and more determined to grow this cult in 2012. I have the best Culties in the world! I have never imagined the amount of support and encouragement I would receive from you guys! You guys are helping make a dream come true and pushing me along the way! I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am to all of you. So really thanks to John and you guys, I don't quit.

The reason I share all this, which to me is extremely personal, is this: 2012 is a New Year. It is a new beginning. My struggles are nothing compared with the struggles others are facing. But there is always hope. So let's make 2012 the year of dreams. Let's all work towards making our dreams come true! Let's push each other forward to make them happen. Nothing in life worth having is worth having without hard work. So we will work harder and hopefully smarter. We will make it the best year yet. Thanks for sticking with me through the downs of 2011 and the many many ups! Next year I want to see Cult Nails in magazines, I want to see Cult Nails in stores, but mostly, I want to see Cult Nails on you! Let 2012 be the best year yet! We got this!

I used to watch Cribs on MTV back in the day, and I always thought it was so cheesy that everyone would say "This is where the magic happens" when they showed their bedroom. But  here I go! LOL

You might be thinking: "What you talkin' about Maria?" So let's get to it. For the last 16 years of my marriage, (Read: my entire marriage) we have had a lovely bedroom set. (I'm being kind) Actually truth be told, it wasn't THAT bad. Juan picked it out and he was so proud of himself and so there it was. It was somewhat ornate and very Edgar Allen Poe Old English style (Edited to add: Juan has corrected me and let me know that EAP was from Baltimore! Um I think you all know what I am talking about though - right?). It was dark cherry wood and it had so much detailing and it so wasn't my personality at all. Oh how I wanted to get rid of that bedroom for years! Of course with each military move, the movers gauged the dining room table I loved, ripped a couch, broke my daughters brand new dresser, and the figurines Juan and I bought on our honeymoon, but never did they break a piece of our bedroom furniture. I mean honestly, if they had to break something, couldn't they at least do me a favor?

Needless to say when Juan had an assignment where he had to leave us for a year, I saw a window of opportunity. I thought I could get a new bedroom before he returned home! But I wasn't working yet and had time on my hands and those darn shows on HGTV had me convinced I could refinish my own furniture and make it look new. I wish I took some before pictures before getting rid of it! It was BAD! But new furniture costs money and so we lived with it that way for 2 more years!!!

Then early this year, I bought a dresser online on sale. Just a dresser, nothing else. But little by little, pieces started coming together. Well actually what had happened was the bed I wanted from ZGallerie was just way to expensive but I wasn't about to give up on having the bedroom of my dream! 2011 would be the year I redid my bedroom darn it - even if it meant buying one piece at a time!

This is the Z Gallerie bed that started it all, Gorgeous isn't it? So I made the mistake of going to see the bed in person. Once there, I thought, this bed is too color oriented. Dark brown and tan. I didn't want to be limited when decorating my bed. So I thought maybe I can change the color of the tufting? But then I thought, wait, can I just make this for about $500 instead of spending $1700 on a bed? Hmmmm....

Then while still at ZGallerie, I saw this little piece of heaven. I loved everything except the little curlyque thingy on the back. I love a mix of fancy with not so fancy, and that just took it over the top for me. And well the $1500 price tag did too. But now I knew I wanted a white tufted bed. I HAD to have a white tufted bed! I was SOOO going to make a white tufted bed! LOL!

So I had Juan almost convinced that we could make this the way we (I) wanted. When pinning him down to take me to Lowes to price it, he said "Seriously, can't you just find a cheaper one and buy it! Even if it's $1,000 it's cheaper that the one from ZGallerie and we won't have to worry about screwing it up!) Oh did he just say the magic words - $1,000! Off I went in search for a bed with a tufted headboard! ( I think if I did spend $1,000 on a bed, Juan might have actually disowned me.)



Needless to say I started my search online and eventually I found this bed on Overstock.com on sale for $343! (unfortunately it is sold out right now - but they have a Email me when it's back in stock option available for it.) This looked like the perfect compromise and left me with money left over to buy the new sheets to go with it! As soon as I saw this bed I knew I wanted an all white bedroom with just a punch of color. I was a little nervous buying a bed without having seen it in person, but I have to say I love it and it is better than what I expected!

I had some rebate money in my Overstock account and I found the perfect nightstands, and then eventually the perfect chair, so I put away a few dollars everytime I got paid and then the nightstand went on sale and I pounced, then the chair went on sale and I was able to get it at a steal! I had to constantly look at the site for updates, but I put the items I liked in my wishlist and piece by piece the bedroom started coming together.

Wow I got these on sale - just looked at them now and one is the price I paid for two! YIKES!

I also got this chair on sale. I kept waiting for a sale and for an offer and I hit for a steal compared to what they have it for now!

Then came the table this month to go with the chair and I found the perfect lamp at TJ Maxx and well, you know how it is! I now need to find the accessories for the dresser and the walls. But that will happen over time. I figure at this rate of piecing it together, I will have it done by the summer. I want to put a temp wallpaper over the wall behind the bed and some other ideas, but time will tell.

I'm just so excited to finally have a bedroom I love - I just had to share it with you guys! So here is where I am at so far.

The bed. It looks so comfy, I just want to climb in right now! LOL! See the cabinet on the right? All nail polish in there!

The table and chair. Can you see the wall? That is a huge world map with stars on every place Cult Nails has been! I need to put it in a nice frame or something if it's going to stay in my bedroom!

Bed close up. Juan made fun of me for the monogramed pillows. I wanted something a bit rustic looking so I ironed them on but didn't let the iron get too hot so it would leave gaps. It came out pretty nice.

Ah the dresser, this looks pretty sad. One day I will decorate it. Any ideas?

Another shot of the bedroom

So what do you guys think so far? Any suggestions? Have you undergone a major room redo? Did you do it all at once or in bits and pieces like me? I would love to hear how you do it!

I can't believe I have been sitting on this for so long! It has been so busy I haven't had a quiet moment to really post this. But finally today, I bring you a post from Scandalous Ange! WAHOO!

On the downside, some of these colors were very limited edition. But I will comment on her post along the way if need be. I'll put my comments in red so you know it's me. But now without further adeau let the Scandy begin!

Testing! Attention Please! (feel the tension soon as someone mentions me?) Here's my ten cents, my two cents is free. A nuisance, who sent...You sent for me? Ok, earworm and (jokingly) inflated ego aside, I'm extremely thankful Maria offered to let me guest post on here. In the time I've stopped blogging a lot has changed. I've gotten rid of probably 80% of my stash, and that is part of the reason I'm here to blog for you today. If I were to post a photo of what remains of my stash the predominant brand you would see are Lippmann...and Cult Nails. Cult Nails actually now tops my Lippmann collection (lol see what I did there?). I emailed Maria to tell her she rocks my socks and she was super sweet and offered to let me come on here and tell you all why I'm a Cultie (everytime I say that I feel like I'm saying I'm some weirdo Branch Davidian or that I walk around in a cloak. I don't. Unless you count my sons' Buzz Lightyear Snuggies. Buzz Lightyear Snuggies, the new official cloak of Culties around the world). Whoa sorry for the derail, lets Get it On, shall we? Feel Me Up- This polish I would have bought just for the name, but for those of you who remember my blog, yellow is a color I can't turn down. Add in squishy jelly-creme finish to yellow, and I'm sold. I really hope this becomes a permanent color. I hope to make Feel Me Up part of our permanent line. It is just a timing and financial issue right now. Once I can figure out where to fit it in, I will bring it back! BlackOut- I can see why Maria didn't want to sell her whole stash of  this in the sale. I don't do black polish, but this slate grey is  phenomenal. This one will definitely be coming back - I just don't know when. Hopefully sooner than later! This is my all time favorite basic color! It's a creme even though in this photo it shows some  shimmer. Ange obviously has an amazing camera and photography skills. I can sometimes  see that shimmer in person, but most of the time it looks like a creme. Tied Up- This is another I would have bought for the name, but the  cornflower blue jelly had me chomping at the bit before I ever saw the  name. I'm quite picky about the blues I will wear. They either have  to be dark and VERY jelly or any finish in the cornflower area. Same as the other two. This one will probably come back sometime in the summer.  I guess timing is everything right?  Now, I know you've all been recently inundated with photos on blogs of  the new Super Powers collection, but I have to get in on this. I  pre-ordered two whole sets of this collection. Clairvoyant and Power  Thief were screaming my name. (I was one of the unfortunates who  found out Unicorn Puke was on sale *after* it sold out lol) so I made  darn sure I didn't miss Clairvoyant. I'm pretty sure Maria is using some kind of Super Power, because my  first full manicure from this set was neither of the ones I was most  excited about. Once I swatched Mind Control and saw that purple  glitter shimmer I went nutso. So, either Maria is really using mind  control, or this nasty weather has me going for colors way darker than  I tend to, either way I'm smitten. Sadly, I do have one polish that didn't have me head over heels: Time  Traveler. I know this one is going to be a crowd favorite, but in  order for me to not feel self conscious I need my dark blues super  jelly. Like I said, I'm very weird about blues. Ok, so there are my swatches, but what I really really wanted to talk  to you all about is Get it On. Y'all this stuff is the business.  Part of the reason I'm no longer blogging is my nail quality went to  the outhouse this past year. My health went wacky and my medicine  made my nails just complete and utter horsecrap. My beloved (and  ridiculously expensive) Launchpad wasn't even helping my nails. Most  of the time they were filed down to the quick from March until  recently. That all turned around when I got some of Maria's basecoat. My nails are clearly not what they were last year when I was blogging,  but when you consider that at Halloween, my nails were filed down to  the quick (for the last time to remove a bit more damage) I think you  all will agree that it has given my nails a complete turnaround. I'm  still struggling with damage on my thumbnail, some peeling and whatnot  that I'm not sure will ever remedy unless I change medicines, but if  that's the worst problem I have you better believe I'll thank my lucky  stars and continue to hoard Get it On. I want to thank Maria so much for the offer to guest post. I've  really missed blogging and talking to y'all but I'm just not up for  the committment of full time blogging. Walking away was hard to do, I  felt like I was letting you all down, but at the moment it was my only  option. Hopefully I'll be seeing you all on the flipside, and hurry  up and buy those special edition colors so I can talk Maria into  making them permanent! I have to say, I interact with some Culties via email, and I get many compliments on my polish and each time it is like the first time. I get so excited to hear what people  think. It pushes me forward on the tough days of making this business a reality. But reading  Ange's post, I really almost cried. I loved her blog, I was so sad to see it go. I love her  honesty and her sense of humor. So from the bottom of my heart - thank you Ange for guest posting on my blog! I hope to share this space with you again soon!

I managed one post last week and it seems the same fate is upon us for this week. I have to say we have been so busy. I don't think that is going to change any time soon! LOL I think I have been saying that almost a year now. I should be used it. But throw in the Holiday shopping that needs to get done along with the parties and I am just all over the place! Last night we did some more shopping, this time for the girls friends. Today during my lunch hour, I go armed to the mall to "finish" some shopping. At least I hope I can finish it!

One of the colors from the upcoming Let's Get Nekkid Collection in early Feb!

Tonight John has made me promise that we work on the site and get the shirts on there. Hey what am I going to do - watch him put them on there? I already took the pictures! Why is that man being so lazy? Ha! Totally just kidding, he has been as busy as I have been!

Our to do list tonight - post the shirts online. Since I only bought 1 of a few styles just for me and some people want those styles, we are working with the t-shirt people and are going to do a pre-order for a week and then place everyone's order at one time. The shirts are kinda pricey, so I don't want to over order and be stuck with a bunch of t-shirts. This way there is no risk of that or of selling out. I am in shock that you guys want our t-shirts! I think it is so awesome! I'm wicked excited about it!

When your at the Nekkid Beaches watch out for Toxic Seaweed! Yup we are keeping this one and releasing it with the Let's Get Nekkid Collection in early Feb

I think I'm going to do a small sale along with the t-shirt pre-sale. However, if I do that it will be seperate from the t-shirt sale. See we won't have the t-shirts before Christmas, so we can't guarantee delivery before the holidays. So if you order the polishes with the t-shirt and pay one shipping charge, then they will ship together. If you want the polish to arrive before Christmas, then you would have to order them seperately. Let's see how I can word that on the site!

Oh back to the to do list - John has to check his PA system and make sure its a go for my work holiday party tomorrow night - nothing like waiting til the last minute dude! Then we need to put songs on a thumbdrive for the guy bringing most of the music, so he can add our music to his music. That should take no time at all right? LOL!

Need my sneaks for all the running around I'm doing! OMG - are my feet really that big? WOW!

So hmmm seems like John's the busy one tonight! Well actually I have to get Scandalous Ange's post up, respond to some customer support emails, figure out where my daughter is going tomorrow night - still! get some other posts together, and there was one other thing....darn it I forgot what it was! Yikes! Hope I remember!

How about you guys? Are you crazy busy with the holidays too?

Haooy Holidays!

I have been trying to get a spare second to do a post since the weekend, it just wasn't happening. After the night I have had though, I figure I'm going to get it together and post.

Talk about a day of days though! It started innocently enough, John made a mistake on the QR code give - aways. He realized a little too late that he did 10 prizes instead of 7. Yay for you guys, but left me scrambling a little bit to get the additional prizes ready.  No biggie.

Then I had to pick up my daughter's back pack at a local Barnes & Noble, because she left it there the previous day! Fortunately someone turned it in and nothing was missing from her bag! Talk about a lucky kid!

Then I get home to my lab samples, and if you follow me on Facebook, you may already know, one of them was WAY off. The lab does this every so often. I don't know why, but they do. From what I understand it is a common issue, but it still frustrates me. It shouldn't though, because sometimes their vision is better than mine, but I'm ok with them sending me their vision as long as they send me mine as well. The nail polish industry has boomed significantly this year and as a result the lab is overworked, and hey if anyone knows mistakes happen, I certainly do! LOL!

What is on my nails is what I was expecting. What is in the bottle is what I received. Although what's in the bottle does look cool, it's not what I wanted. Boo! Hopefully they get it rate on take 2! Fingers crossed!

And then, yes there is one more... I ordered my Alexander McQueen booties! WAHOO! I can't tell you how excited I was (& lightheaded) after ordering them! They were supposed to be here yesterday. But no what came instead was a notice that they did not in fact have them in inventory and I was not getting the boots after all! :( I almost cried! When I say I don't go for things that expensive and it is rare I want something that expensive, I am not kidding. I mean if I had money, maybe, but I REALLY have to want something. So it was a big big decision, not made easily or without guilt. But now they will not be mine afterall. At that point, I decided to call it a day!

Alexander McQueen Faithful Bootie in Size 8 - where oh where are you?

Anyway - all is good now, either way - there is so much more going right than wrong and these little bumps in life just make me appreciate the everything so much more, so now that I wrote it all out, it's time to let it go and move forward! Well I'm still on the hunt for the booties! I don't give up that easy!

If you follow us on FaceBook, then you already know the T-shirts are here! It was like an early Christmas! First off I have to thank our FB follower Courtney A who designed these shirts! She did an amazing job! I put a request on FB and Twitter looking for a Graphic Artist. Courtney was the first one to contact me and lucky me I didn't have to look any further! She is a student right now and yes we paid her for the design. But of course we are sending her a T-shirt and a bottle of UP to go with it as a Thank You! But I just wanted to say it here too - Thank You Courtney!!! You did an awesome job! I love that I was able to reach out to our community here and find someone! So cool!

If you don't follow us on FB, let's give you a little photo bomb of the shirts. First and foremost, I have to say, I took these using my phone in poor light. We were busy packing orders and that was priority. I will be taking great quality pics of these over the weekend for the site. And if all our sale orders are packed and sent, these will be added to our site over the weekend. They cost us $18 each to make! Yikes! But I wanted quality shirts with a quality job and we elected to have them done locally to help support our struggling local economy. I could have probably bought them cheaper online, but we felt good about our decision. So we will list these at I think $20 each . We have to factor in our listing costs, merchant costs etc so we break even on the shirts.

We also plan on giving away some of these as well - I'll be giving details on that soon!

The first one is a ribbed racerback tank. It is sheer, which I selected on purpose and the racerback is super thin. I think this is perfect for the gym over a sports bra! I can't wait to wear it. Of course today is my off day at the gym. Who knew a t-shirt could motivate me to work out! LOL! It's ribbed and super soft. I put a black sports bra underneath so you can see how sheer it is. Plus you can see my black gym shorts underneath too.

Wow - that's a crappy pic!

 Here's the basic T. It' a cotton fitted T. Nothing fancy, just your average comfy T.

My favorite of the bunch! This is the loose fitting off the shoulder semi-sheer T. This is how I like to wear my T-shirts. I love them like this! I am actually going to see if I can buy some of these in different colors with no logo, they are great and super soft! I'm in love with it!

I couldn't resist an off the shoulder semi sheer dolman sleeve one either! Super comfy and soft! I wanted to wear it to bed! Soo comfy!

The mans T. This one is a fitted mans T. I think guys look so much better with a fitted T personally. But at the same time, sometimes I like wearing his T's so I may wear it too! (If you missed all the fun yesterday, we gave Juan a hard time on FB over "how cold" he was when I took the picture! Still giggling when I think of the funny comments some of you made! Love it! Especially since at home usually I'm the one on the receiving end of the jokes, nice to see Juan on the receiving end for once! LOL)

Here is the back of the T. They all have this.

My kids want me to get them sweatshirts of this made now! Can you see us all coming down the road now all in Cult Nails shirts & sweatshirts! OMG - I couldn't think of a Christmas card pic - I think I have one now!!! Oh the ideas floating in my mind for pics! This will be funny! I'll post them on here too once we take them. Hopefully this weekend!

So what do you guys think? Not bad for our company shirts right? Now I just need some employees to help us with the mayhem we have going on willing to wear them!