Review: Winstonia second generation plates 201-222

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Hello!!

You asked for it, so you got it! I'm back with a review of the Winstonia second generation plates, 201-222.

You know I did it--I always do it--you know you'd miss it if I didn't--here's the video:

And next, still shots of each of the plates:

Winstonia 201: Some geometric stuff, my favorite is the one that looks like stacks of books

Winstonia 202: I love the skeleton leaves and the stripes look like a monster shredded something

Winstonia 203: I've been told that the little image on the bottom right, which I called a pot belly stove, is a pagoda. Thank you for helping me! I have to admit it still doesn't look like either one to me, really...

Winstonia 204: lots of images that make me think of movement! Plus, a princess phone at no additional cost to you!

Winstonia 205: Love the map-esque image to the left that would make great distressed backgrounds. So would the cracked earth looking one on the right

Winstonia 206: Unicycles are cool! All the cool kids own them!

Winstonia 207: Even I, the person who doesn't adore heards, loves that top image. :)

Winstonia 208: Fairy tales and Strawberry Shortcake houses...

Winstonia 209: Let's go to the circus...

Winstonia 210: I've been told the central image is a fish from Finding Nemo. I have not seen this movie (I know, I know) so I will have to trust you. It definitely isn't the otter or manatee I thought it might be...>.<

Winstonia 211: When the chilis start to dance, you know it's a party

Close-up: that blue spot is from the film that was over it, and I removed it with a bit of acetone. :)

Winstonia 211: Possibly the coolest butterfly wing ever...

Winstonia 213: Ah...dreamcatchers...Where was this image when I was doing my WoW druid manicure...

Winstonia 214: Love the bison/buffalo and the skull

Winstonia 215: Princesses and castles and knights :)

Winstonia 216: Disco is not dead!!

Winstonia 217: that moon + sun image is just gorgeous...I have to do a night sky manicure with that...sigh...

Winstonia 218: The Netherlands! With a fence that doubles as train tracks if you want!

Winstonia 219: Russian nesting dolls are amazing and adorable and I loves dem

Winstonia 220: I do love the dinosaurs, but the volcano is highly exciting

Winstonia 221: Stir that cauldron little Witchy-Poo! Or that grim reaper will come for you!

Winstonia 222: Possibly my favorite Christmas tree image ever

And next, I have the comparison with a standard Konad plate for you:

As you can see, the full-nail images are a bit larger than the Konad images, so you have a bit more wiggle room to cover your whole nail if your nails are a bit larger. :)

So how do they stamp? I did a quick test manicure with 218 to see (the clouds are from MoYou Landscape/Mother Nature 06). I'm showing you the first attempts at stamping the images, no trying to get it perfect; I used Sally Hansens and Barielles for the stamping polishes:

You can see I had a teeny bit of trouble with the edges of the windmill; I think this was due to the fact that I moved a bit slowly, and I think it would be fine in another go round. I double-scraped the orange tulips and you can see my edges are not clean. But the red and green came out beautifully (I stamped first in yellow, but it didn't show up well enough for you to see the image). So I would say these work well, but they aren't completely error-proof if you're going fast and furious with them. Of course, not many plates are. :)

You can buy the plates here. I hope this has been helpful, and I hope you're planning a wonderful weekend!!

Hugs and loves,
M.


(The plates in this review were purchased with my own money.)

Monday Blues Polished Pairings: Sally Hansen Black And Blue + Pahlish Little Charlotte

Hello!

I've been meaning to show you this polish for ages, and I finally have a good chance. :)

Sally Hansen Black And Blue is a gorgeous duochrome that flashes through shades of teal, midnight blue, and deep purple:

Sally Hansen Black And Blue

Sally Hansen Black And Blue

Sally Hansen Black And Blue

Sally Hansen Black And Blue

Sally Hansen Black And Blue

I wanted to add a little touch of ethereal fairy dust to the midnight-sky look, so I brushed on one coat of Pahlish Little Charlotte:

This pairing reminds me of the planetarium show I went to see on a field trip when I was a little girl...I hope it triggers something pleasant for you, too, on this beautiful Monday.

Hugs,
M.

Comparison of XL and Regular MoYou-London Images (Explorer 02 vs. 17)

(Products in this post purchased with my own money.)

Hello!

Today's review is a little bit different...Of course I'm going to show you some cool nail images (how could I not), but the main purpose of the review is to help you determine which size of MoYou-London images will work for you.

You may know that MoYou-London has two basic sizes for the images on their plates (the non-collage ones); most of their plates are what I'm going to call their 'regular' size, but some have images that are XL. So which should you get?

Each have their own plusses and minuses, so it's just a question of what you need. If you have long nails, of course the XL images are probably going to be what you want. If you have really small nails, you'll probably want to run fast and far from the XL images. But if your nails are in between, things get a little more confusing, and it's more about how you plan to use them. Let's take a look at the images, and then I'll say more about that. :)

First, here is the video I made about the plates; I have on the manicure I did with the plates to show you what I'm talking about:

And now, on to the still shots! This will get a little confusing, because some of the images are exactly the same (other than size) on the two plates. So first I'll show you 02, the XL plate:

So much Egyptian beauty...sigh...

Aww...kitteh...

Scarabs and camels and death masks!!

And now for plate 17, which is the 'regular' sized images:

Sorry for the scratches!

These two plates share 12 images, but because plate 17 has smaller images, it has space for an additional 6 images. Score!


Okay, now let's compare those images:

MoYou-London plate 17 vs. 02

Plate 17 is on the left, and plate 02 is on the right; the XL images are about 1.5 times the size of the regular. And here is a comparison of the regular images with a standard Konad plate:

As you can see, the regular MoYou images are about the same size as a Konad image; in fact they are just a teeeeny bit smaller. So, if you have a hard time covering your whole nail with Konad and you want to be able to cover your whole nail, the regular images are not going to work for you, and you're going to want to go for the XL plates.

However, if you're hoping to use only parts of the images, like I did in my manicure (which you can see again my clicking here), you may prefer to have the smaller images to give you more flexibility; it will be harder to combine the larger images (although not impossible).

Keep in mind that in most cases, you won't have a choice to pick either XL or regular images; there are only a few plates that have a shared set of images in both choices. In most cases their images are one or the other, so you'll need to know what your intentions are to figure out if you'll be able to use a given plate the way you hope to use it. :)

Okay, I hope this this has been helpful, and I hope you're having a wonderful week. :)

Hugs and love,

M.

(Products in this post purchased with my own money.)

Tutorial: Distressed effect

Hello!

I got a request for a tutorial on how I created the distressed effect in this manicure, using Bunny Nails HD-A:

So I've put one together, and I'm back with it today. :)


1) Start with a dry base of your preferred color. I've changed them up a bit for the tutorial, and this time I'm using Barry M Silver Foil as my base polish:

Step 1: Base color

2) Place dots of the polish you want to use for your distressed effect randomly on the top of your image. Vary the height of the dots in order to create an uneven edge. In this case, I'm using Sally Hansen Mint Sprint:

Step 2: Place dots of polish at varying heights on the image

3) Scrape the polish off of the image, in a direction that leaves most of the image uncovered. In the picture below, I've scraped at a slight angle toward the left, but you can scrape it straight up or to the right; as long as you are preserving the random edge:

Step 3: Scrape up or slightly to one side of the other, preserving the lower edge of the dots. 

4) Pick up the image with your stamper. You'll notice my picture below doesn't match the edge on the picture above. This is because the polish dried while I was taking the picture, and wouldn't transfer, so I had to do it a second time. I scraped at a more dramatic angle for the transfer on the stamper, so you can see that you can get some really interesting effects. Play around and see what you get. :)

Step 4: Pick up the image with your stamper.

5) Roll the image onto your nail. Again the image below doesn't match the image above because the polish dried out while I was taking the picture, and I had to restart. (Note the cat hair on the upper left-hand corner of the nail...this will become sadly relevant later on.)

Step 5: Put the image onto the top of your nail.

6) Repeat the process on the bottom of the nail, if desired.

Step 6: Repeat if desired on the bottom of the nail.

7) Stamp your roses on top of your distressed effect. Here I've used Konad Black.

Step 7: Stamp your main elements over your distressed effect.

8) Finish off with your preferred topcoat to seal your design. (Fight back the urge to try to remove the cat hair you've just noticed, or you'll smudge your design. Ideally, if you live in a mini zoo like I do, you might want to check for such hairs before it's tragically too late.)

And there you go! All done and bee-you-tee-ful, but so easy! This technique can be used with any stamp that you like to create a partial or ripped-off edge look. :)


For ease of use, I've compiled all of the steps onto one image for your grabbing or pinning pleasure:

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a lovely Tuesday. :)

Hugs and loves,
M.