Review: Spellbound Nails Easter 2016 Quartet

(Press sample)

Hello!

Spring is springing and Peter Cottontail is hop-hop-hoppin' down his bunny trail of awesome, and whatever you have planned for your seasonal activities, I have a sweet, fun quartet that'll keep your fingernails happy along the way: Spellbound Nails' Easter 2016 Quartet.

Spellbound Nails' Easter 2016 Quartet

There are four polishes in this collection, each a play on the spring pastel palette, with glitter thrown in for a fun little kick. Let's jump in with Bunny Butt (love the name, btw), which is a baby pink crelly with hot pink glitters:

Spellbound Nails Bunny Butt

Spellbound Nails Bunny Butt

 

Spellbound Nails Bunny Butt

Spellbound Nails Bunny Butt

I'm fairly picky about crelly glitters, especially those that are cousins of the milky ilk. Everybody has their own preference about these things, but in my opinion, a top-quality glitter of this kind meets a couple of standards. One, I want a smooth finish, not something that looks lumpy and glumpy. Two, I want to be able to see the glitters well. I want the top coat of glitters to be visible, and the glitters from lower coats to just have a difference in shade, like a pond manicure. I don't want to see tons of polish just sitting on top of the glitters, with only their little edges sticking out. These glitters meet and exceed those criteria; the glitters show through beautifully and the surface is pristine.

This is three coats; I had a little bit of unevenness on the first couple with this one, so I'd recommend three thin coats rather than two thick ones. Formula was excellent.

I love the shades she put together here (and in the other polishes). The softness of the pink crelly is jazzed up by the hot pink of the glitters, and the hot pink is smoothed by the softness of the crelly. I also love that the glitters have nice density and cover well without fuss. Is it weird that this combo makes me think of peppermint?


Next up is Hare-Brained, which is a powder blue crelly with bright, almost cerulean, blue glitters:

Spellbound Nails Hare-Brained

Spellbound Nails Hare-Brained

Spellbound Nails Hare-Brained

Spellbound Nails Hare-Brained

Spellbound Nails Hare-Brained

This is two coats, great formula and application. The gentle blue with the blue speckle on this one one makes me think of robin's eggs; it's feminine and has that quintessential spring feel.  I love how that blue just jumps out at you--how can this not brighten your day??


Then we have Peep Show, a dusty lavender crelly with plum glitters:

Spellbound Nails Peep Show

Spellbound Nails Peep Show

Spellbound Nails Peep Show

This is two coats with excellent application and formula. Oh-My-Gosh, how pretty are these colors together?! This is my favorite of the four, and I can't say enough about the combination of the dusty base with the deep glitters. This has a flirty, happy feel to it that just makes me smile--I didn't want to take it off, and I can promise you'll be seeing this on the blog again soon.


And to cap off the quartet, we have Who Cracked One? a dusty light sage with kelly green glitters:

Spellbound Nails Who Cracked One?

Spellbound Nails Who Cracked One?

 

Spellbound Nails Who Cracked One?

This is three thin coats; I had just a titch of unevenness with the first coats so I'd recommend three thin coats rather than two thick, and you should be fine. This is a close second favorite for me; I love that she chose a more subtle green for the base and I think that really plays up the deep green of the glitters--they just pop right out at you. This makes me think of Ireland and moss and heather, so not surprisingly, I think this is also a great look for St. Patrick's day. Maybe I'll be back with a St. Paddy's nail art look for you...


What do I think of the collection overall? I love the quality of these glitters, smooth and beautifully layered, and I love that the combinations of colors jazzes up the traditional spring pastel offerings. I adore the Easter egg feel (they also make me think of the special speckled whopper eggs you can get at Easter time, nom nom nom), they're a subtle, serene way to celebrate the season, bright and fun without going over the top. Spellbound Nails is quickly shooting to the top of my favorite indie brands list.


The targeted release date for this collection is March 1st, although this may be delayed for a day or two (for a medical procedure). You can find the Spellbound Nails shop here, and don't forget to follow on Facebook for news and updates.

Happy polishing!
M.

Review: Born Pretty Store Rectangle Plate Holder

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Hello!

If you're crazy into stamping like me, you probably have a bunch of plates of different sizes and you aren't quite sure what the heck to do with them. My stamps are stored all kindsa crazy ways, and I'm always on the look-out for a good way to bring order to my chaos.

Enter the rectangular plate holder from Born Pretty Store. I made a video where I pull and tug at it and all kinds of stuff like that:

The case is attractive; it comes in any color you want, as long as you want hot pink (+1 humor if you get that joke), and it has Born Pretty embossed on the front:

Born Pretty Store rectangle stamping plate holder

To my mind, there are two main issues I care about when it comes to a plate holder; I want to know it will fit most, if not all, of my rectangular plates, and I want the quality to be good so it doesn't fall apart as soon as I use it. 

Inside it has 20 plastic sheets; you can fit two plates in each section (even the ones with plastic backing), so you can fit in 40 plates: 

The plastic is thick and seems to be fairly durable: 

And it fits all of the different kinds of rectangular stamping plates I own:

Born Pretty Store plates: 

Of course it fits Born Pretty Store plates...

MoYou London plates:

It fits MoYou London plates

My Online Shop plates:

It fits My Online Store plates

Sugar Bubbles:

It fits Sugar Bubbles plates...

It Girl Nail Art:

It fits It Girl Nail Art plates

The rest of the case is also made of durable materials; the snaps and brads are strong and set well into the leather and plastic; I tug on them in the videos and they didn't show any signs of coming apart:

Thick leather and a mega snap

Sturdy brads in thick leather!

There's also plenty of space built into this case; you shouldn't have any problem snapping it closed once you fill it on up with all your stamping lovelies.

Overall: I'm very pleased with the quality of this case. The materials seem durable and the design is smart, made to hold plenty of plates without stressing the holder. I do wish they had other colors, but pink is pretty universally loved, so if you have to go with just one, that's not a bad one. I'd definitely buy more of these.

You can find the by clicking here, and you can use my discount code for 10% off of your non-sale purchase:

Happy stamping!
M.

Before & After: Love is in the air

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Hello!

Today I have a quick before and after that I didn't get a chance to squeeze in before Valentine's day...

I started with a base of Potion Polish Cranberry Fizzy, a fun deep red jelly with gold glitters:

Potion Polish Cranberry Fizzy

Potion Polish Cranberry Fizzy

Potion Polish Cranberry Fizzy

Then I stamped two images from UberChic Beauty's Love & Marriage 02 plate, with Barry M Gold Foil Effects:

Love is in the air

Potion Polish Cranberry Fizzy + uberchic beauty love and marriage

Potion Polish Cranberry Fizzy + UberChic Beauty Love and Marriage 02

What do you think? I love the way the strings with the hearts look like spun sugar, and I think it looks so cute with the little filigree scrollwork.

You can find Potion Polish here, and the UberChic Beauty Love & Marriage 02 here.

Happy Stamping!
M.

Review: UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends plate (or, Happy Valentine's Day from mah furry brood!)

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Hello!

I believe that Valentine's day is a time to celebrate everyone in our lives that we love, not just our romantic relationships. And for me, a big part of that is the kitties and puppy that make every hour of my day brighter.

So, I want to share with you UberChic Beauty's Furry Best Friends plate, and a special manicure I did with it to celebrate my wee beasties.

Of course I did a video review:

And here are the still shots of the plate:

UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends

UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends

UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends

How adorable is this plate?! The hipster cat and dog alone are worth having, for sure. And those little kitties!! And that pug!! There's a ton of cute fun to be had with this one, and lots of mix-and-match potential.

Here's a look at the relative size of the images:

UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends

UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends

And let's see how it stamps:

Some warping from my stamper, but otherwise pretty darn good. :)

So for my sample mani, I started with a skittle using Zoya Dillon, Color Club Riviera and Green Piece. Then I stamped images from the plate with Barry M Cotton, and colored them in using China Glaze Sexy In The City, Zoya Eden, and Zoya Cala.

Kitty Love with UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends

Kitty Love with UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends

What do you think? I think the kitty images are soooo adorable! I picked the blue for their eyes to match the glitter, but I think it's a little too dark, and makes them look a little like baby lemurs! Still 100% cute and I love how it all came out. :)

You can find this plate in UberChic Beauty's shop, and don't forget to follow them on Facebook!

Happy stamping,

M.

Before & After: Happy Chinese New Year!

(Press sample)

Hello!

Today I've got some art inspired by Chinese New Year!

I started out with a base of Spellbound Nails Mudblood, a deep red jelly with gold glitter, from her Harry Potter 2 collection (see here for entire review):

Spellbound Nails Mudblood

This is a great building polish, so I decided to do a stamping sandwich with it; I started with one coat, and then stamped my index, middle and pinkie nails with Barry M Gold Foil and It Girl Nail Art fashion plate IG105:

It Girl Nail Art Fashion Plate IG 105

Then I put on a second coat, and stamped my ring and thumb nails:

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

On all the nails but my ring finger, I centered the image so that the square part of the design stood out, and for the ring finger, I centered the circular medallion part. That way there are two factors that pop--the brighter gold on the accent nails, and the different design on ring finger.

I love the subtle dimension to this and the way the glitters glint through the design. Perfect for all your Chinese New Year celebrations!

You can find Mudblood in the Spellbound Nails shop starting on Valentine's day, and It Girl Nail Art fashion plate IG105 is available now.


Happy Stamping,

M.

Review: Tristaenia Love, Houses, and Baby plates from Messy Mansion

(Press sample)

Hello!

We all know it's Valentine season, love is in the air and on our minds, and I've got a set of whimsical, light-hearted plates to help you celebrate it all, by a line I've just been introduced to: Tristaenia via Messy Mansion. Many of these plates have names rather than numbers, so for my first review, I grouped together three plates that I think fit the Valentine theme: Love, Houses, and Baby.

'Cause you know--first comes love, then comes marriage (and often a house together), then comes the baby in the baby carriage!

*Ahem*. Okay, I feel better now.

You know I made a video to show them to you:


And let's take a look at some still shots, starting with Love:

Tristaenia Love

This one has a flurry of hearts, flowers, heart flowers, lace, and dot patterns: Everything you need to create a fun, happy Valentine's manicure.

Then Houses:

Tristaenia Houses

This one has architectural elements like windows, paths, fences, signs, and textile patterns: what I love about this one is all the textural elements you have to play with in admit the house images.

And finally, Baby:

Tristaenia Baby

This plate has everything you need to celebrate your little ones: totes adorbs faces, toys, prams, and frills. You're all set for baby showers, kid's birthdays, or any other bouncing baby business.

I have a couple of general notes about these plates, stylistically. I love that the plates have positive and negative sides of the same image, so that you can choose whether your stamping polish outlines the images, or you base polish does--that alone gives you a ton of options for easy, attractive manicures.

Also, I think plates like this can be overwhelming when you first look at them--there's a lot going on, and it can be hard to pull out ideas about how to use what for a mani. In these cases I recommend using a template to plan your mani--and by template I mean a piece of paper with a hole cut out of it in the shape of your nail. Take a look at my video review to see what I mean--this will really unlock the potential of the plates for you.

Let's talk size! Here are a couple of shots with a ruler to help you get a feel for how big the designs are:

And how do they stamp? I had pretty darn good results:

You know I had to do a Valentine's mani with one of these plates--I decided to go the most lovey-dovey route and used the Love plate.

I started with a base of Spellbound Nails Howler over Zoya Eden:

Spellbound Nails Howler over Zoya Eden

Then I stamped with Barry M Cotton; to show what I meant about the negative/positive sides of the plate, I played with that in the mani:

Sweet Valentine

Sweet Valentine

I used my Messy Mansion clear stamper (seem my review here) to line up the image right at the edge of my nail--look at the index, middle and pinkie, where I put the thin line right on the tip of the nail. I did mess the one on the middle finger up a little, but I could have easily swiped off that one bit and put it on again with the clear stamper. This is my first attempt trying to do something like a French manicure with a clear stamper and I LOVE how easy it was.

I love how this mani came out! It's lighthearted and fun, and that's coming from a person who doesn't normally do either pink or the traditional Valentine's style mani.

You can find these plates and the clear stamper on Messy Mansion's website, and you can follow them for updates on sales, giveaways, etc., on their Facebook page.

Happy stamping!
M.

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