Saturday, April 9, 2016

April Showers...Snow Showers, That Is.

I wore this manicure a few months back, in February, but never got around to posting it anywhere.  Apparently, I must have been subconsciously saving these pictures for April, because Winter just made a comeback in the Northeast, people!  It's supposed to be Spring, but for the last week it's been high 20's, low 30's, and snow flurries.  Who knew that when the temp hit mid 70's on April 1st, it was just Mother Nature saying, "April Fool's, suckers."  So let's hope posting this mani is kind of like exercising the demons, it'll appease Mother Nature and we'll chase away the cold weather until at least October.

Rica Arctic Circle, Rica Decorate! Decorate! Decorate!, MoYou London Festive Plate 02

This ended up being an all Rica Polish look.  I first did a look similar to this in early 2015 with Orly Mirrorball as my base.  I never took any pictures of it though, so I was originally planning to just recreate that exact look this year.  But I had also just received two new polishes that I had purchased from Rica's Etsy shop, and I ended up reaching for those instead of using Mirrorball again.

Rica Arctic Circle, Rica Decorate! Decorate! Decorate!, MoYou London Festive Plate 02

Rica Arctic Circle, Rica Decorate! Decorate! Decorate!, MoYou London Festive Plate 02

I started with two coats of Rica Arctic Circle, which was part of Rica's 2015 Advent Calendar Collection.  I topped that with one coat of a microglitter called Decorate! Decorate! Decorate! from Rica's Doctor Who Christmas Collection.  Over that combo, I stamped some random snowflakes from MoYou London Festive Collection plate 02, using Rica Whiteout.  And then I used a dotting tool and Rica Whiteout to place a few dots on my nails, just to fill in some of the empty space around the snowflakes.

Rica Arctic Circle, Rica Decorate! Decorate! Decorate!, MoYou London Festive Plate 02

Maybe next Winter, I'll try this out with Orly Mirrorball again, because I honestly can't decide which version I ended up liking more.  Now, bring on the warmer weather, please!

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Valentine Blues

Somehow I ended up with blue hearts on my nails last week.  I was already wearing 2 coats of KBShimmer Blue Topaz and had every intention of using the top image from Pueen plate 16.  But then I spotted the hearts images on the right side of the same plate and the next thing I know, blue hearts all over my nails.  I ended up spending Valentine's Day itself sporting naked nails, so this turned out to be the closest thing to a Valentine manicure I did this month.

PUEEN16

I really like this mixed hearts design from Pueen.  I'm not usually a fan of heart-themed items, except when it comes to my nails it seems.  I've ordered many a stamping plate solely because of a cool hearts design that I saw and decided I had to have.

PUEEN16 KBShimmer Blue Topaz

To stamp the hearts pattern, I used Robin's Egg Blue from Rica on Etsy.  I had pulled out both Robin's Egg Blue and the blue pastel Konad Special Polish as possible stamping colors.  Robin's Egg Blue was just a touch more pale than the Konad and I thought it paired with the KBShimmer polish better.

PUEEN16 KBShimmer Blue Topaz

PUEEN16 KBShimmer Blue Topaz

I do love a good monochrome manicure.  I don't know if I just prefer the way they look, or if it's because I kinda suck as mix-n-matching colors when stamping!  Maybe a little of both.

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year!  I kept it pretty simple again for New Year's.  Just a quick stamping mani using images all from MoYou London Festive Plate 05.

MoYou London Festive 05

The base color is KBShimmer Black Pearl, from their new Birthstone Collection, available today.  Black Pearl was provided for review, regular swatches coming soon.  All the birthstone polishes are a combination of flakies and holo.  This is 2 coats of Black Pearl, which went on very smoothly.  It wasn't thick or lumpy, and dried to a fairly smooth finish that needed very little top coat to be perfectly smooth.  The flakies in Black Pearl give off a gold look, so I thought it would pair perfectly with Essie Good As Gold for the stamping.

MoYou London Festive 05

MoYou London Festive 05

Starting at the index nail, I used a fireworks design, then a clock striking midnight on my middle finger, champagne flutes on my ring finger nail, and a streamers/confetti design for my pinkie nail.

MoYou London Festive 05

I also used a different design for my thumbs, which I just now realized I don't have any pictures of.  The design I used though is sort of a fireworks burst/shooting stars type look.  On Festive Plate 05, it's the design to the immediate left of the clock design.  I kind of slapped it on my thumbs, not sure of which design to put on them, and I was really surprised with how much I liked it.  I want to do a full nail look now with just that one image.  I think it would work well as an abstract, everyday look.

*Some polishes were provided for honest review.  Review contains only my personal opinions.*

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Christmas 2015 - Ugly Sweater Nails

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  I can't believe it's over already.  I only did one Christmas themed look this year.  And actually, I ended up doing it twice.  The week of Christmas got a little hectic.  I needed to redo my nails, I had already been wearing the design for a week, so they were starting to look a little beat up.  But I just didn't have the time, or energy, to play around with a new look.  I still had all the same supplies out, and since I liked how they came out so much the first time, I just decided to redo the same design.  

MoYou London Festive 06

The base was sort of a recycled look for me.  I had used this same tape mani combo several years ago during the holidays, but for a snowflake look instead.  I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Poinsettia, then one coat of China Glaze Ring In The Red.  I top coated with Seche Vite and made sure it was completely dry before taping off my nails on the diagonal with just regular scotch tape.  Then I applied a thicker coat of China Glaze Glittering Garland, top coated and let dry before stamping.  The sweater stamp is from MoYou London Festive Collection 06, and I stamped the design with white Konad Special Polish.

MoYou London Festive 06

MoYou London Festive 06

I also gave my nails a little trim this month because of a few broken corners.  I wasn't thrilled with the idea of making my nails shorter, but in hindsight, it really worked out to be good timing; I don't think this stamp would have fit as well on my nails at the length they were before I filed them back.  

MoYou London Festive 06

I was really happy with how this look turned out.  I only had to redo a couple nails each time I wore this, because I thought I stamped the design a little crooked a time or two.  I always top coat my polish before I stamp, that way I have a little barrier of protection over my base polish in case I need to re-stamp a nail.  I can carefully wipe off the stamping polish with polish remover and a q-tip, without completely messing up the polish below.  And I was happy to pull out Ring In The Red from my melmer for the first time in a while.  That is still probably one of my favorite China Glaze glitters.

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Happy Halloween 2015!

Halloween nails

Happy Halloween!  Just one mani for me this Halloween.  The orange polish is Zoya Arizona, and the gradient is Pansy-Monium and My Life's Porpoise, both from KBShimmer.  Everything was stamped using Rica Blackout stamping polish.  The skulls is a design from MoYou London Biker Collection plate 08, while everything else is from Bundle Monster.  The bats design is off of plate BM-H08, both the text design on my ring finger nail and the spider web on my pinky nail are from plate BM-H07.

Halloween nails

Halloween nails

Going into it, I was originally planning to have all my nails be different base colors.  It wasn't until after I finished the two middle nails that I decided to scrap that idea and throw down a few coats of orange on my index and pinky nails too.  Otherwise, I would have most likely put the gradient on my ring finger nail as an accent, instead of my middle finger.  But really, there's no rules when it comes to accent nails, and I really like the overall look with the accent nail just where it is.  The gradient with bats stamp also went on my camera shy thumb nails.  I really love the look of the purple to grey gradient, I think I may need to use it for a full mani someday.

Halloween nails

Have a fun and safe Halloween weekend!

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Shangri-La Abstract Stamping

Bundle Monster BM-S105

For the past month or so, I've been in a nail art slump.  I just haven't felt motivated to do anything other than switch out the polish on my nails.  Seeing this look though, that I wore pre-slump, is reminding me why I got into nail art in the first place, and also that a manicure doesn't have to be super complicated to have it turn out to be one of your favorites.

Bundle Monster BM-S105


This mani was actually from back in July, I just never got around to using it in a post until now.  It had been a little while since I'd done any matte nails, and I was loving a look that Oooh, Shinies! had posted at the time.  It made me think about the China Glaze Romantique collection, which I had purchased online ages ago solely to use the polishes for stamping.  I also had just recently ordered the Shangri-La Master Set from Bundle Monster and was itching to try out one of the new plates in the collection.

Bundle Monster BM-S105

For my base, I started with a polish probably almost as old as the Romantique Collection, OPI Steady As She Rose.  Then I stamped part of the design from plate BM-S105 with China Glaze Joy.  I finished the look off with one coat of OPI's matte top coat.

Bundle Monster BM-S105

I need to remember to pull out some shades from the China Glaze Romantique collection more often.  They are great for stamping, and they look amazing matte as well.

Monday, September 14, 2015

KBShimmer Fall 2015 Collection

Press Sample

KBShimmer Fall 2015 Collection

It's that time of the year, lots of brands are starting to release their Fall collections.  This Tuesday, September 15th, you can add KBShimmer to that list when they release their 2015 Fall Collection.  There are 12 new polishes in the collection, and today I've got swatches of 7 of the 12 to show you.

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