Before & After: Nostalgia is nostalgic for a reason...

Hello!!

Recently my friend Jenna over at Inky Whisker's Musings introduced me to an eBay site where you can buy all sorts of discontinued polishes from the 90s (and other times)...She has a passion for Sally Hansen Chromes, and I have a passion for Sally Hansen Prisms. I still have one that I bought back in the day...but that's a story for another time. The point is, I scooted on over and bought myself two.

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. You look back, you sigh, you think of simpler, better times. You cuddle a kitten, you have a cry, and then you get up and wash the dishes. Some times you remember things worse than they were, sometimes you remember them better than they were, but you never get it 100% right.

These polishes reminded me of that. One was much better than I remembered, and the other one...wasn't. Not because of the polish itself, exactly, because it's beautiful; this is Sally Hansen Lapis Amethyst:

This is a silky, icy, light blue-dusty lavender purple duochrome. So why do I say it wasn't as great as I remember? Because there are at least three other polishes out there that are dupes for it, and the formula isn't as great as modern polishes. That doesn't mean it's not a great polish; it just means there's not a need to go out and hunt it down. As soon as I am able to unpack all of my stored polishes (darn pipe replacement!) I'll do a comparison for you with the others I have, if you'd like. :)

For my nail art, I decided to compliment the blue and the purple; also something about the icy feel to the polish made me want a geometric pattern (maybe it's that Superman man-cave thing, lol). So I used Sally Hansen Brisk blue and Lively Lilac, with MoYou London's Artist Collection 04. I added a little rhinestone for emphasis:

Here's the part of the plate I used:

What do you think?

Hugs,
M. :)

Before & After: Splodgy Binx

Hello!

Today I'm moving away from skittles, and turning to splodges. I've loved the splodge look since I first saw it on The Crumpet, and I love it best with a word pattern over it. But I'm getting ahead of myself. :)

First, let's look at the base, Zoya Binx; this is one of the new 'holo glitters' from their Summer 2014 Tickled & Bubbly collection:

Zoya Binx

Zoya Binx

Zoya Binx

I have very mixed feelings about this polish. It's pretty for what it is, but I don't feel it's really what was advertised. It's a little more pink and a little less orchid than I expected it to be (their site actually says 'orchic', which I assumed was a typo, but maybe it's just a more pink form of orchid, lol :P ). Also, I found myself really underwhelmed with respect to the 'holo' aspect--I really didn't see any holo to speak of. It's shiny, for sure, but I didn't get any linear or scattered holo, unfortunately.

That said, I do love the mix of coral-gold glitter, blue-purple glitter, and pink. It's very visually appealing, and even though I'm not a pink lover, it's something I'll wear again because of the visual complexity. Also, I was very pleased that removal was fast and easy, despite the glitter. :)

To pick my splodge colors, I pulled out the colors in the polish itself. I used Sally Hansen Going Grape!, which is a blue-purple iridescent shimmer, and Orange Impulse, and orange creme that leans coralish. Then I stamped over the whole thing with Pueen 50 using Barry M Gold Foil:

Splodgy Binx

Splodgy Binx

I think this is a good example of how you can use different part of large images or collage-style plates to get a different look on each nail; take a look at the original image on the plate:

I love looks that have a random feel, and splodge is the queen of that! Hope you like it, and I hope your week is going well. :)

M.

Before & After: Dwimorberg Hydrangea

Hello!

This month's theme in the Nail Challenge Collaborative is 'skittle', and I've been having a blast with them--I've been in a skittle mood for a while now and this gave me an excuse. I'll have a few more for you even though this is my last official challenge skittle. :)

For my base on this one, I used a recent acquisition from The Lady Varnishes: Dwimorberg. Kirsten has a gorgeous line of duochrome mattes, and this is one of them; predominantly a sage green, it also flashes medium blue and dusty lavender:

The Lady Varnishes Dwimorberg

The Lady Varnishes Dwimorberg

The Lady Varnishes Dwimorberg

Then I went to town and created my skittle. The inspiration I drew from was one of the Nayll glitter toppers I recently created, which I named Hydrangea; it has lavender, sea green, and dusty blue matte glitters, so I decided to pull those colors:

Dwimorberg Hydrangea

Dwimorberg Hydrangea

Dwimorberg Hydrangea

Here's what I did:

Index: Stamped with Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac (Pueen 38)
Middle: saran-wrap background of Sally Hansen Going Grape; stamped with Sally Hansen Blue Away (Pueen 29)
Ring: added a coat of Nayll Hydrangea (my creation)
Pinkie: Stamped with Zoya Envy (Pueen 38)

So what do you think?

Hope you're having a great weekend!
M.

An InLinkz Link-up

NOTD: Urban Skittle (with BPS nail wraps and Impulse Cosmetics Eat My Shorts)

Hello!

Today I have a NOTD for you, which is a combination of two things I found that I love:

Add caption

While shopping at one of my favorite spots for lipstick, Impulse Cosmetics, I found an awesome glitter topper--Eat My Shorts (purchased with my own money). I used it for the accent nail, over a base of black polish. The topper also has black glitter in it, but that's hard to see because of the undie I chose. The topper applied well, and I adore the combination of colors. She has some other interesting combos too, so check her out.


The second I saw this, I knew it would be perfect to go with these nail wraps, which I received for review from Born Pretty Store. Here they are in the package:

Born Pretty Store Nail Wraps K1017

This was my first time trying nail wraps from Born Pretty Store, and there are both pluses and minuses to them. At $1.99, they are very affordable. They're pretty, they adhere well, and they wear well. They aren't as easy to apply as some other brands, however; you can see on my index finger that they wrap didn't stretch as much as I was used to, and it split. Because of the nature of the manicure, that didn't bother me too much--an urban graffiti feel goes with the split. For another manicure, I would have redone the nail. So, use a little more care than you're used to with these, because they do tear more easily. Also, there is a smaller range of sizes than I've seen in other brands; if you have small nails, you'll need to cut them down, and if you have larger nils, you'll probably be set.

The magic question is, does the price differential make up for the other differences? That depends on your priorities and what you're using it for. If you're looking for something fun and funky, or for nail art purposes, definitely. If you're looking for something to take with you while you're traveling or for a last minute time-saver, you'll want to factor in the extra time you'll need to cut down the wraps and to apply them more carefully.

As always, here is the discount code for all of my readers:

Hope you like it, and hope you're off to a great start on your holiday weekend!
M.

Review and Before & After: MoYou London Suki 02 = Japanese Garden

(Contains affiliate links)

Hello!!

It's time for another MoYou London review, this time of Suki Collection 02. Let's start things off with the customary video:

And then some still pictures of the plate:

MoYou London Suki Collection 02

MoYou-London-Suki-Collection-02

MoYou-London-Suki-Collection-02

And to give you a sense of the relative sizes of the images, here is the plate next to a standard Konad plate:

MoYou London Suki Collection 02 vs. Konad

For my manicure, I started with The Lady Varnishes Dupicity, one of my favorite of Kirsten's polishes; it's a beautiful periwinkle purplish-blue with black and blue glitters and a lovely bright greenish-blue shimmer:

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

The Lady Varnishes Duplicity

Then I stamped some of the delicate cherry blossoms with Barry M Silver foil, some of the lanterns with Sally Chartreuse Chase and Blue Away, and the a pagoda with Mint Sprint:

Japanese Garden

Soft...serene...pretty. And adaptable to any color scheme you like. :)

Hope you're having a great week!
M.

(Disclosure: this website may be compensated for linking to other sites.)

Before & After: Foxy Ferns

(Nothing to disclose, products from personal collection)

Hello!!

Just a quick post today to show you a beautiful polish and a fun technique. :)

Here is Mentality Foxy, a raisiny-brown  polish with an stunning blue-green shimmer:

Mentality Foxy

Mentality Foxy

The shimmer in this is defies reason--depending on the light, it almost looks like a second polish has drifted to the top. :)

One of the reasons I bought this polish is from Mentality's 'stampers' line, polishes that are designed to stamp well (and it does). I've been wanting to try an idea I had that involves putting a textured saran-wrap effect over a base polish, and then stamping over it in the same color, for a subtle, layered effect.

On top of the base polish, I used saran-wrap to apply dabs of Enchanted Polish Hey Jude and Sally Hansen Chartreuse Chase. Then I stamped over that with Mentality Foxy on three nails, and with Sally Hansen Coco A-Go-Go on my accent nail, using MoYou London's Artist Collection plate 04:

Foxy Ferns

On the non-accent nails, depending how the light hits this, you get the blue flash from the Mentality polish, or the leaves shine through. It's sort of like an optical illusion that peeps out now and again. :)

I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Hugs and loves,
M.

Review: Keeping Incoco Nail Appliques for nail art

(Press sample)

Hello!!

Over the past year, I've been playing around with nail wraps, and falling in love with them. The main reason I'd hesitated about using them before was that I was worried about getting my money's worth--I'm a bit of a penny pincher. Some nail wraps, like Incoco nail appliques, warn you that because they're made of real polish, once you open the appliques, they will dry out quickly. That's good to know--if you come back a week or so later and expect them to be like day one, they aren't going to be.

But how much is their performance really affected? I've played with a few sets, but decided it was time for the ultimate test. I pulled out a set of nail wraps that I opened a year ago (their Love & Liberty set) and blogged about a year ago. I originally showed you a full mani, but I didn't show you how I played around a bit to see how they'd work for nail art.

Keep in mind, this mani was me trying things out, not meant to be presented as a finalized mani. But I played around with strips and cutting out shapes, and oh by the way, there is a almost a week of tip wear on those tips. Good durability.

I pulled out what I had left of those strips this week. They have been open for a year now, with a piece of scotch tape holding the flap down--but not airtight by any means. Here's what I discovered.

(1) The strips absolutely still adhere. They don't have the full mega seal they once did, but they stick, and don't come back off super easily. You can 100% use them for nail art purposes, even a year later. Especially if you plan to put a simple coat of topcoat on top of them.

(2) The strips rip much more easily, as advertised, but they don't just fall apart. So, if you're careful and start out with a strip cut to the right size so you don't have to stretch it, you can certain get an accent nail or two going strong. I just wouldn't count on being able to get all 10 nails covered well, because the odds are no longer in your favor, and getting the right coverage will be tricky.

So, from a nail art perspective, this adds a ton of value and flexibility to these strips for me. I can do a full manicure with the set, and then save the extras for nail art, either accent nails or to cut into shapes, etc. And, because I love skittle manicures, this means I can make several manicures like the one I showed you last time with one set, and still have some left-overs for other things. For a penny-pincher like me, this is great news!

Incoco just released their Metropolis Summer 2014 collection (I'll be showing you a few from this collection soon), and a Soccer Championship collection; they also have a neon collection which is very fun for summer. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and loves.
M.