It Girl Nail Art Enchanted Forest Plates

(Press samples and affiliate links ahead!)

Hello!


This month's Polish Pickup theme is 'Enchanted Forest', and It Girl Nail Art has created two mini plates for the theme, one exclusive to PPU, and a companion plate that will be available for purchase in her shop (which you get free if you buy the PPU plate--but more on that later!). Let's take a look:

It Girl Nail Art LE106

This first plate, It Girl Nail Art LE106, will be available only through Polish Pickup, between December 7th and 10th. My favorite things on this plate? The dragons and griffon are awesome, of course, but I have to go with the hedgehog and the Bigfoot. Because, seriously--how adorable are they??

It Girl Nail Art IG314

This second plate will be available in It Girl Nail Art's shop, and it's not limited edition, so you can grab it whenevs. But, if you buy the LE106 plate, you'll get a coupon to get IG314 FREE with any $25 purchase. And since she sells the most awesome cuticle oils and balms in addition to her plates and polishes, I could spend $25 in her shop in about a second flat.


I did four manicures with these plates, and I've already shown you the first, but here it is again:

It Girl Nail Art IG314 over Stella Chroma Flannel & Boots

It Girl Nail Art IG314 over Stella Chroma Flannel & Boots

This one I did over Stella Chroma Flannel & Boots, and I stamped with Girly Bits Cosmetics Little Black Dress.


For the next manicure, I had to test out that Bigfoot image: 

It Girl Nail Art LE106 and IG314 over Stella Chroma Mother Ginger

It Girl Nail Art LE106 and IG314 over Stella Chroma Mother Ginger

For this one, I started with a base of Stella Chroma Mother Ginger, and stamped with Messy Mansion Ivy, Forest, Carbon, Pudding, and Sterling. 


For my next mani, I wanted to create a dragon space opera! Here's the epic battle of the centaur vs. the dragons...

It Girl Nail Art LE106 over Stella Chroma Orion

It Girl Nail Art LE106 over Stella Chroma Orion

For this one, I started with a base of Stella Chroma Orion (a black-jelly based magnetic polish) and stamped my images with Moyra Silver.


And finally, for my piece de resistance, I created my own little enchanted forest:

It Girl Nail Art LE106 and IG314 over The Lady Varnishes Beetle Juice

For this one, I started with The Lady Varnishes Beetle Juice, which is also available only during Polish Pickup, and stamped with Messy Mansion Gingerbread, Pudding, Blue You A Kiss, Sterling and Chalk, Kaleidoscope Mint, and Sally Hansen Sand Storm.

Manicures with It Girl Nail Art LE106 & IG314

These plates are just plain fun. You can buy It Girl Nail Art LE106 during Polish Pickup between Dec. 7th and 10th, and It Girl Nail Art IG314 from her shop--and don't forget that if you buy LE106, you'll get a coupon for IG314 with any $25 purchase.


And in the meantime, you can check out It Girl Nail Art here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itgirlnailart/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itgirlnailart/

Facebook fan group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1706336266277419/

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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The Lady Varnishes Beetle Juice

(Press samples and affiliate links ahead!)

Hello!


This month's theme in Polish Pickup is 'Enchanted Forest'--how cool is that for December?! And today we're going to take a look at one of the PPU polishes for the month, The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice, a dusty, vintage fuchsia/rust/coral gentle multichrome with gold/lime/blue shimmer and tiny iridescent flecks, inspired by the gorgeous iridescent beetle shells:

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

Right out of the bottle, this polish has a satin matte finish, so I'll show that first: 

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

And here it is shiny:

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

Coverage: Two coats (which is what I'm wearing here)
Formula and application: Perfection--this applied easily, with no problems
Finish: Satin matte without topcoat
Other issues: Dry time on this was super fast!

When worn in its natural matte state, this is glowy and otherworldly. When worn with topcoat, the shimmer and the flecks leap out at you. This polish feels like it should be worn by some elf queen from Lord of The Rings lore, or, in light of the theme, some dancing forest fairy. It's ethereal, but at the same time, is an extremely flattering color for a range of skin tones.

The Lady Varnishes' Beetle Juice

You can buy this beauty during Polish Pickup's December sale, between December 7th and 10th. In the meantime you can check out The Lady Varnishes' other beauties, and can come hang out with the Polish Pickup Pack.

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas Plate

(Press samples ahead!)

Hello!


Let's start off with the most important part--UberChic Beauty has a HUGE Black Friday sale every year, and this year is no exception. It starts today at 11pm EST, and I don't know what exactly will be on sale or what the percentages are, but it's always good...


Okay, on to the subject of this blog post, this year's UberChic Beauty Christmas plate, called Happy Christmas. I did a video review of the plate:

And here's a still shot:

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas

UberChic's full nail images are always 1.7 x 2.1 cm, and here's a look at the smaller images:

Here are a couple of sample looks I did:

And now on to the manis! My first is stamped over Zoya Astrid, with Girly Bits Cosmetics Little Black Dress:

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas over Zoya Astrid

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas over Zoya Astrid

My next mani is a stamping sammich using Stella Chroma Sugarplum Fairy, and Girly Bits Cosmetics White Wedding:

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas in a stamping sandwich with Stella Chroma Sugarplum Fairy

Next I stamped with Messy Mansion Soft Gold over Stella Chroma Perseus, and dotted with Messy Mansion Forest and Royal Purple:

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas over Stella Chroma Perseus

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas over Stella Chroma Perseus

And my final mani is a skittle over Zoya Hannah and Sally Hansen Get Mod, stamped with Messy Mansion Soft Gold, Forest, and Red-y Or Not: 

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas over Zoya Hannah and Sally Hansen Get Mod

UberChic Beauty Happy Christmas over Zoya Hannah and Sally Hansen Get Mod

You can buy this plate now in the UberChic Beauty store, but I gotta admit, if it were me, I'd wait a few hours for that sale...


Happy Thanksgiving!
M. xoxo

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Black Friday special: Stella Chroma's Constellations Trio

(Press samples ahead!)

Hello!


I'm back with one final trio from Stella Chroma that will go on sale this Black Friday: The Constellations Trio, which is a gorgeous set of multichrome magnetic flakie polishes--and if it has multichrome and flakies, I'm IN.

All of these polishes are black-jelly based, and so can be either worn alone (opaque in 2-3 coats), or can be worn with just 1-2 coats over undies. I'll do a comparison of those two methods with the last polish so you can see both options.


Let's jump in with Stella Chroma Gemini, which is a black jelly magnetic polish with flakies that shift green-gold-red, or, in my opinion, olive-gold-rust:

Stella Chroma Gemini

Stella Chroma Gemini

Stella Chroma Gemini

Stella Chroma Gemini

Stella Chroma Gemini

Coverage: 2-3 coats; I'm wearing two in these pictures.
Formula: Excellent formula and application.
Other issues: Great dry time, easy-as-pie removal.

I was interested to see how a black-jelly based multichrome would perform as a magnetic; as with most multichromes, in some lights you get mostly one color, but in other lights you'll get a completely different color--but, you'll see that color shift within the area that your magnet has highlighted, which is very, very cool.

Gemini has a tiger's-eye feel that I love--I've always been partial to that gemstone and this really reminds me of it. I love the olive-rust-gold interplay, especially this time of year it makes me think of renaissance Christmas tapestries.


Next up is Stella Chroma Perseus, a black jelly with gold-red-violet shifting magnetic flakies:

Stella Chroma Perseus

Stella Chroma Perseus

Stella Chroma Perseus

Stella Chroma Perseus

Stella Chroma Perseus

Stella Chroma Perseus

Coverage: 2-3 coats; I'm wearing two in these pictures.
Formula: Excellent formula and application.
Other issues: Great dry time, easy-as-pie removal.

I included a picture in this batch that shows the polish in light that highlights the main color, to show you that the magnetic slash is really there and forms well--when the duochrome hits, the camera shows the awesome color shift but doesn't differentiate the magnetic shift as much.

This makes me think of a gilded vineyard--I don't know what that even is, but this polish looks like it. Gorgeous deep green vines with deep violet grapes, dusted with sprinkles of gold. So pretty any time of year, but so festive for the holidays!


Next we have Stella Chroma Orion, a black-jelly polish with violet-blue-green (amethyst-sapphire-emerald) shifting magnetic flakes:

Stella Chroma Orion

Stella Chroma Orion

Stella Chroma Orion

Stella Chroma Orion

Stella Chroma Orion

Stella Chroma Orion

Coverage: 2-3 coats; I'm wearing two in these pictures.
Formula: Excellent formula and application.
Other issues: Great dry time, easy-as-pie removal.

I love all three of these polishes hard-core, but this one is my favorite. These colors are so differentiated, they're like gemstones dancing on your nails, or like the most amazing little universes! I love staring at the polish, and I love staring at these pictures. Love, love, LOVE.


Okay, so I also want to show you the difference when you put this over undies. For this I only used one coat of Orion over a black base:

Stella Chroma Orion over undies

Stella Chroma Orion over undies

Stella Chroma Orion over undies

Stella Chroma Orion over undies

As you can see, just one coat still gives a strong magnetic effect. The plus of putting the polish over undies is that the magnetic effect is sharper--and, of course, your bottle of gorgeous polish lasts longer (and I'm not gonna lie, I'm cheap economical like that). But, wearing the polish on its own gives a more saturated magnetic effect with more depth, one that's more spread out over the nail. So it's really about which look you prefer.


This trio will be available in Stella Chroma's store on Black Friday at noon EST; you can purchase each separately for $13 or the set for $36, through December 7th. And, from Black Friday--Cyber Monday, she's offering free domestic shipping with any purchase of $25 or more--no code required. She'll also give a free upgrade to domestic priority shipping from Dec. 14-19, since the 19th is the last day to ship in time for Christmas.


And a portion of the proceeds of all the polishes that Stella Chroma sells during the last quarter of 2018 will be donated to GirlStart, a non-profit based in Austin, Texas that helps young girls develop interests in STEM.


And in the meantime, you can find Stella Chroma all over the interwebs:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/STELLACHROMA/

Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/stellachromatics/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stellachroma/

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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