I'm back today with a manicure I think is fast and cute for a New Year's Eve or other party sort of look...It's a little more subtle than my last look, but still has plenty of wow.
I started out with China Glaze Rendezvous With You, a sugar-plum concoction of fleck-y sparkle:
China Glaze Rendezvous With You
Next I stamped an image with Nfu-Oh 61 and Cici&Sisi 19, then I sponged on some Bling! by Colores de Carol:
I like that this is a simple, fast look that delivers style and just enough bling to make you feel special at that awesome party. A sprinkle of holo glitter will catch that hottie's eye--and I have no doubt you'll be able to take it from there.
So you might have noticed that this post went live a little prematurely--my apologies!!
Anyway, this manicure is about a look I love for New Year's Eve. You may remember when I got my last batch of Incocos to review, one of them had been punctured and didn't apply well, but was still very beautiful:
Incoco Stars Align
Incoco Stars Align
I love the glitzy look of these, and wanted to see if I could come up with a design that would be fun for New Year's and also took the eye away from the wrinkles in the appliques. I chose an image from UberChic Beauty 6-01 that has a kaleidoscope feel:
I stamped with Barry M Gold Foil Effects, and added little half-beads in the center:
Cosmic Discoball
Cosmic Discoball
What do you think? I think it has a cool cosmic disco ball effect that's perfect for ringing in the new year!
Christmas day, for me, is the calm after the storm. The presents are purchased and wrapped. Cards have been sent. The decorations are up, the cooking is done, the stockings have been filled...and now it's time to enjoy it all with family and friends. It's peaceful and soothing. My Christmas day offering for you is my attempt to capture that beauty and serenity.
I started with Zoya Sue, an almost-white gold matte with soft, frosty white shimmer:
I think poinsettias are elegant, understated, and beautiful, all of the things I wanted this mani to be. I've been waiting to have my pretty red poinsettia since I first saw this image on the plate.
I apologize that two of my nails are a little wonky in terms of shape--they're casualties of all the nail-destroying cooking, cleaning, and wrapping of the season! And I wouldn't change a bit of it.
I hope your Christmas is warm and happy and filled with the beauty of love.
Even though I don't always show it to you, I like to do a nativity manicure every year, usually for Christmas Eve. I like to use a polish that has a night-sky look, but also has a touch of magic to it. This year, the instant I saw The Lady Varnishes Evil Like Me (from her Maleficent collection; see my full review here), I knew this is the one I wanted to use this year:
The Lady Varnishes Evil Like Me
The cool serenity of the polish, along with the spray of gorgeous shimmer, has a more 'adult' than 'child' feel to my mind, so I decided to go with the more adult version of the nativity scene from UberChic Beauty Christmas 01:
UberChic Beauty Christmas 01
I stamped the images on each finger using Barry M Gold Foil; on the star, I put a dot of Orly Mirrorball:
Simple. Serene. Magical.
I hope your Christmas Eve is all of these, and more.
It Girl Nail Art has put out a new set of top-notch quality plates, and I have two of them to review for you today!
First, as always, is my video review:
Let's look at some stills. This set is inspired by textiles, and IG 105 is inspired by multicultural textiles:
It Girl Nail Art IG 105
I love that there are several of each different style--some Asian-influenced, some African-influenced, and some Native American-influenced; that way you can use a single pattern if you want, or mix and match the patterns.
IG 106 is inspired by brocades and lace:
It Girl Nail Art IG 106
I'm impressed by the variety of looks she got on one plate, all representing this type of textile. The one in the upper left has a snowflake-wintery feel to me, there's a stained-glass piece of lace art, all the way down to an art nouveau masterpiece in the lower right. And yet, there are still repeated themes, so that some of the images can be used together to create a more diverse mani that still looks cohesive.
Hey, how big are those images?
It Girl Nail Art IG 106--size
Each images is roughly 1/8th of an inch short of an inch on each side. Big enough to cover all but the super-longest of nails with ease, and there is enough detail in the images to work with shorter nails, too.
But most important of all: do they stamp? Here are a few swatches, warped by my clumsiness, but excellent nonetheless:
And given the holidays, I couldn't resist doing a holiday mani for you with one of the Victorian patterns...
I started out with a gradient of The Lady Varnishes Hatred & Revenge (an evergreen holo) and Mistress Of All Evil (a blackened plum shimmer with green and gold glitters), both from the Maleficent Collection:
Gradient with The Lady Varnishes Hatred & Revenge and Mistress Of All Evil
I love the rich greens and plums together, and the little gradient spread a little bit of the holo and a little big of the glitter all throughout for shines and glimmers everywhere.
Then I stamped with one of the brocade images from IG-106, using Konad Golden green, to keep the vintage feel going:
Victorian Christmas with It Girl Nail Art IG 106 + The Lady Varnishes polishes
Victorian Christmas with It Girl Nail Art IG 106 + The Lady Varnishes polishes
Victorian Christmas with It Girl Nail Art IG 106 + The Lady Varnishes polishes
There's your Victorian Christmas right there--next year when I go to the Dickens Christmas Faire, I'll be wearing these nails, you can count on it!
I'll be back with a separate manicure for IG-105, and I'm sure more from both plates.
You can find these plates plus another newbie available for pre-sale in the It Girl Nail Art Etsy or StoreEnvy store, so you can be sure you get something you want even if Santa doesn't bring you quite the right gift! You can also keep up with It Girl Nail Art on Facebook.
Now, if it's okay with you, I have a crap-ton of food to cook and gifts to wrap, so I'm outta here!
And then I decided to stamp on it using UberChic Beauty 5-02 and Sally Hansen Copperhead. Now, none of the products themselves are a fail--they're all awesome, and admittedly, I didn't fully expect Copperhead to stamp well. It certainly wasn't the bold metallic stamping polish you might want, but I was pleasantly surprised with the subtle copper effect I ended up with:
And then I stamped using the two off-setting snow images from UberChic Beauty Christmas 01:
UberChic Beauty Christmas 01
I stamped with Konad White; here's how it came out:
Deep Space Snowfall
Deep Space Snowfall
I love the way this looks over the glitter--enough glitz glimmers through, and the colors have that cool winter feel. I love complementing images like this--they make it easy to mix up the look of each nail while still having cohesion.
Remember that one time when I spent three years learning how to stamp well, line things up correctly, get my placement just right, and BAM! somebody came out with a product that made all that time I spent practically unnecessary?
Yep, that would be the Clear Jelly Stamper. It's a stamper that's clear, so you can see through the end all the way to the tip and see exactly where you're applying your stamp.
If you think you can't stamp, or think you can't stamp well, or can stamp okay but have a hard time placing things where you want them, this is the stamper for you. Even if you're an expert, you probably mess up your alignment more often that you'd like to admit, and this stamper will help you, too.
Of course I did a video review to show you the stamper and test out if it actually works the way it claims to work:
And here are some pictures of the little beauty:
Clear Jelly Stamper
Clear Jelly Stamper
You can see that the stamping head is completely clear. And, on the other end, it looks like something is missing, but it isn't--there's nothing there so you can see down the barrel to exactly where you're placing your image:
Clear Jelly Stamper
Clear Jelly Stamper
Yes, there is actually a head on the far end of the stamper, I swear! See how well you can see through it!
Each stamper comes with a replacement head, and scrapers:
He are the miracles this stamper makes possible:
1)) It allows you to place an image exactly where you want it.
2) It allows you to layer stamped images to get multi-colored effects (especially with the plates below).
3) Allows you to repair images that didn't transfer completely the first time
4) Allows you to check your reversed-stamping work for any bald patches or areas where your polish is to thin
5) You can apply your reversed-stamping directly without having to create a decal, 'cause you can see exactly where it's gonna go.
6) I'm sure tons more I'm gonna discover as I play.
Now, the head on this stamper is hard, and it's fragile. Don't get too freaked out about that warning, though, it doesn't mean the stamper's gonna self-destruct just because you had garlic for lunch. But it does mean you can't smoosh it and squoosh it and jab it and stretch it the way you can other stamping heads. So you aren't going to do any shrinking techniques with this stamper, you can't push your nail down into it hard like you would with a marshmallow stamper, nothing like that. For techniques where you need to do those things, use a different stamper. She has a video which explains how to care and feed your CJS, and make sure it lives a long and happy life:
But what it boils down to is this:
No acetone, please; regular remover with a little acetone is okay. If you get polish on it that you don't want, you can swipe with a little polish remover, gently scrape with a nail (super gently) or gently use tape that isn't too sticky (scotch tape worked for me).
No priming, please; just swipe with alcohol or polish remover and you're good to go.
No pushing down hard, please; you barely need to apply pressure when you pick up your image, just gently roll with a flick of your wrist.
And no man-handling, please; grasp and remove the head gently if/when needed.
Basically, pretend it's like your relationship with your mother-in-law: think before you do something you'll regret. A little caution goes a long way.
That said, I was skeptical it would pick up images well. But I was wrong--you really do just need to roll over it with a quick flick, barely any pressure, and your image will come up no problem. You also don't have to worry nearly so much about how quickly your image dries as you do with a regular stamper. I'm sure there must be a limit to it, but I took forever on my first try in the video, and the second I touched the image to the nail (accidentally), it still transferred. So you have longer work time on your side.
There's also a line of plates designed to work with this stamper; the plates feature images designed to be layered over one another to create a multi-color designs. She sent me three of these for review:
CJS-02: Roses and water lillies!!
CJS-C-03: winter and penguins!
CJS-C-01: Merry Christmas!
I tested them out in the video, and yes--you really can see exactly where you're applying your image:
You really can see where you're stamping with the Clear Jelly Stamper
You really can see where you're stamping with the Clear Jelly Stamper
This is my second attempt at layering the stamps (I had premature touchage in the first attempt):
Second attempt to layer images
And this is my third attempt:
Third attempt to layer images
I call that pretty good results for my second and third try, and I promise you when you're looking at the images from a regular distance instead of in super close-up, you don't see the small errors.
I did find one thing tricky, though. When I was doing my first try with the rose, I forgot which side of the image was which once I put it on, because the shape isn't very distinctive, and wasn't sure exactly how to orient the second layer; so just keep that in mind when working with your shapes. For the penguin, the first shape was very distinctive, so I knew exactly where to place the next layer. And it's an easy problem to avoid if you keep it in mind when you apply the first image--which I did not, I just slapped it on there, and then went 'Huh. I wonder which side is which?' Yeah, not so smart.
So let's take a look at my very first every mani I did with this stampers, done right after the two tries above, with no other practice. The moment I saw the Christmas tree plate and the penguins plate, my mind instantly went to my favorite scene from my favorite Christmas movie: the penguins' skating party from Muppets' Christmas Carol. So I decided to create a tribute to it:
Penguins' Christmas skating party
Penguins' Christmas skating party
A few things to note here. These aren't perfect--I learned that when I roll from left to right, I end up with a little gap on the right side of my image, so I'm going to correct that on my next try; from a normal distance you can't see the gaps anyway. Also, I tried to put my hats on at cute rakish angles, and didn't do too well with that--I need to master putting them on in the right position first before I get creative, sigh. But I still think they look cute.
I purposefully put only half of a snowflake on one of my nails, and then tested to see if I could 'fix' the error by lining up a second stamp over it. It worked!! So you can use this to repair an image that doesn't go on completely--Can you tell which snowflake it was?
I was really annoyed that the polish I chose for my tree, Sally Hansen I-rush Luck, didn't show up very well against the background, and threw everything off. So I redid that nail with Zoya Honor. I think it came out much better the second time, even though I went a little nuts with the ornaments!:
Penguins' Christmas skating party, now with improved tree!
Penguins' Christmas skating party, now with improved tree!
Seriously, how cute it that!!!
Here are the polishes I used; For the background, I did a stamping sammich with Turtle Tootsie Polish Air Clearance, and used Barry M Cotton to stamp the snowflakes; for the snow, I sponged on Zoya Aspen; the penguins were stamped with Konad Black, Barry M Cotton, and Sally Hansen Rapid Red. The tree was stamped with Sally Hansen I-rush Luck (in the first attempt) or Zoya Honor (second attempt) along with Barry M Gold for the garland and star, Hit The Bottle Polishes Everyday I'm Truffling for the trunk, and Colors By Llarowe Pirates of Penzance for the ornaments.
So, after my tests and my mani, what do I think? I can't say enough good things about this stamper. My very first tries were good enough that from a normal viewing distance, my images looked flawless--I think with a little bit more practice, they actually will be flawless. And I tried out some of the hardest images--the penguins need to fit together perfectly with a lot of angles, while the flowers and such are a bit more flowing.
I would absolutely recommend this stamper for all skill levels, from beginning to expert. In a dream world the head would be less fragile, and maybe future versions will find a way to do that. But in the meantime, don't let that dissuade you. If you've ever had an issue placing a stamp where you want it, this stamper is for you. It's a game changer.
