NOTD: Vineyard (featuring FingerPaints Harvest Hues, Zoya Ness, + UberChic Beauty 11-01)

(Press samples ahead!)

Hello!


Today I have a quick NOTD to show you--okay, it wasn't quick to make, but I'm going to show it to you in a quick post. :)


I started with a base skittle of FingerPaints Harvest Hues and Zoya Ness, then I used the advanced stamping technique with the image that looks like grapes on UberChic Beauty 11-01:

I colored in the grapes with Literary Lacquers Soul Within Me Burning to get some awesome purple holo going, and with more Harvest Hues. Here's how it turned out:

UberChic Beauty 11-01 over FingerPaints Harvest Hues and Zoya Ness

You may notices some of the lines came out wiggly when I rolled the images over onto the nails--what I learned from this is if I'm going to use images with fine lines like this, it's better to make decals rather than just the advanced stamping technique, because if you roll the image onto the nails, it's much, much harder to keep those little lines from breaking off. So, make decals, and they'll stay put!


Still, I don't mind that it doesn't look perfect--I still think it came out beautifully. What do you think? Do a couple of imperfections make it look more real, or ruin it?


Happy stamping!
M.

Review & mani: UberChic Beauty Zombie plate

(Press sample;affiliate links)

Hello!

Back when I showed you the new UberChic Beauty Halloween and Sugar Skull plates, I told you I was also excited about a new limited edition zombie plate they'd put out--and excited doesn't quite cover it. Obsessed. Over the moon. Amped. Stoked. Chuffed. All that rolled into one, and more.

If you want to hear exactly how excited I am, check out the video review I did of the plate:

And let's take a look at some stills:

UberChic Beauty Zombie Love 

UberChic Beauty Zombie Love

UberChic Beauty Zombie Love

Omg, omg, omg, omg, omg. If you are a zombie fan, this plate is super amazeballs. But if you are a Walking Dead fan, this plate is everything. EVERYTHING. I mean, just...just...just...images of Daryl. Images of Rick. Brains in every shape and size. Entrails. More zombies than you can shake a machete at--freshly dead zombies, advance decay zombies, zombie silhouettes, detailed zombie faces. There is even a girl zombie! And let's not even talk about the 'look at the flowers' image...the less said about that, the better, except for AWESOME.


The images vary in size, but here are shots of the plates next to a ruler so you can get a feel for what will fit on your nails--most of the smaller images should fit unless you have very small nails, and the full-nail images should fit unless you have very long nails:

So does the plate stamp well?

Dude. Seriously. Look at the detail on those images. Even those little brains have all the sulci intact (yes, that's right, I am a trained brain scientist).

You know I had to do a mani with this as soon as I got my little paws on it!

I started with Zoya Dree on all of my nail except my pinkie--I used Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow there so I could make myself some biohazard tape. I stamped that with Eat Sleep Polish Sheets Of Empty Canvas, and I messed up my pressure at the very top--but I didn't redo it, because I figured in a zombie apocalypse, the biohazard tape would get frayed and icky.

Next  made a decal with the zombie head and the zombie hand; I stamped with ESOC again, and then using the reversed-stamping technique, filled in with a mix of China Glaze Cha Cha Cha and Finger Paints Hue Brighten My Day, a green-gray glitter (did you know you can do reversed stamping with glitter?).  For the hand, I stamped with Julep Ledi and filled in with HBMD alone. When I applied my zombie head to my nails, the edge stuck up a little; normally I'd just press down and cover with topcoat and it would be fine. But I thought it would look cool to have some texture on a grody zombie head, so I let the edge stay bumpy.Finally, I stamped the words with Sally Hansen Rapid Red.

What do you think? Is it creepily, grodily, zombie-licious??

You can buy the limited edition Zombie Love plate now in UberChic Beauty's store. If you want it, grab it fast, not only before it sells out, but because The Walking Dead premiere is Oct. 11th...

Happy stamping,

M.

Before & After: Glittered purple mums (Bunny Nails BuNa-C)

(Press sample)

Hello!

I told you I'd be back with manicures from each of the new Bunny Nails plates, and here I am! Let's take a look at a manicure from Bunny Nails BuNa-C .

I started with a base of Zoya Lidia:

Zoya Lidia

 Then I added a coat of Finger Paints Dance Floor Diva; I stamped with BuNa-C using Sally Hansen Silver sweep.

Bunny Nails BuNa-C

I took different sections from the large image at the bottom to create a different look on each nail, but with a unified look over the entire mani:

Bunny Nails BuNa-C over Zoya Lidia and Finger Paints Dance Floor Diva

Bunny Nails BuNa-C over Zoya Lidia and Finger Paints Dance Floor Diva

Bunny Nails BuNa-C over Zoya Lidia and Finger Paints Dance Floor Diva

I love patterns like this stamped over glitter--the open sections let the glitters shine through, but there's still enough definition to get the flower feel. Also, I love that you could use the pattern on each nail for a full manicure, and get different looks--for example, use the same spot I used for the ring finger on each nail, and you'd get a very different look than if I stamped the pattern from my thumb on each nail. Lots of different looks.

See you soon--and happy stamping!
M.

Before & After: UberChic Beauty 4-01 and Fingerpaints Palette Of Perfection!

(Press sample)

Hello!!

I'm back with a manicure from the final plate in UberChic's three-plate collection 4! You can see my full review of the collection by clicking here.

I started with FingerPaints Palette Of Perfection, a rich, rusty red with a gold shimmer that's perfect for these intense August days as we transition into fall:

FingerPaints Palette of Perfection

Then I used UberChic Beauty 4-03, and stamped with China Glaze Passion:

For a final touch after stamping, I put diamond loose glitters in the center of the diamonds:

Renaissance diamonds

Renaissance diamonds

Renaissance diamonds

Renaissance diamonds

Renaissance diamonds

Renaissance diamonds

I love this mani. Love it!! It makes me think of those beautiful renaissance dresses with the lace-up corsets. I love hos the diamond glitters look like gems embedded into gold. Love. Adore. Live for!!

Hope you like it, too. :)

Happy stamping!

M.

Before & After: Frosty Swirls

(Polish originally sent for review)

Hello!

I have a super-quick before & after to show you today!


I started with Barielle First Class Ticket:

Barielle First Class Ticket

Then I added a coat of Barielle Shooting Star:

Barielle Shooting Star over Barielle First Class Ticket

Finally, I stamped some pretty swirls with Finger Paints Magenta Mural and MoYou London Mother Nature/Landscape 14:

Frosty Swirls

Frosty Swirls

What I love best about this is that when the purple part of the duochrome here catches the light, it matches the stamping beautifully--you can see it a bit in the bottm picture, which I left a little blurry to show it.


Happy stamping!

M.

NOTD: Deco Swirls

(Nothing to disclose)

Hello!

This is another manicure I did for the Nail Challenge Collaborative; the theme last month was to recreate another member's manicure, and as you can see, I'm running a little behind on it. :)

Here is the original manicure, done by Tina from Light Of The Moon Nails:

(Courtesy of Light Of The Moon Nails)

For this one, I went more along the lines of 'inspired by' than 'recreate'; I didn't purposefully set out to change it--I adore it just as it is, and would happily have recreated it exactly. but I didn't have the exact stamp she used, so I had to go for a similar overall look/feel. When I pulled out a plate that allowed me to do that, it called out to be done in purple for some reason (who knows why, teams of experts can't figure out how my mind works), so I went with it. Here is my version:

Deco Swirls mani

Deco Swirls mani

Deco Swirls mani

I used Finger Paints Magenta Mural for the index, middle and pinkie, and Pop-arazzi Down The Runway on my thumb and ring fingers. Then I stamped with those same polishes on the opposite color, using MoYou London Gothic 09.


Here are the sections of the plate I used:

MoYou London Gothic 09

I adore this plate--so many gorgeous designs hiding in plain sight. :) And I also have to rave about Finger Paints Magenta Mural--it's a stunning purple shimmer that also stamps, and you can't beat that. :)

So what do you think? Did I at least do her mani justice in spirit??

Happy stamping,
M.

An InLinkz Link-up

Before & After: Ice Princess

Hello!!

Today's theme in the Crumpet's Nail Tarts 31 Day Challenge is to do nail art over a glitter base. This is something I struggle with--both because I hate covering up gorgeous glitter polishes, and because it can be difficult to find a pattern or set of patterns that work with the beauty of the glitter and also show up well.

But every once in a while, something comes out the way you hope it would.

I started out with Windestine's Peacekeeper, a shimmery, glimmery, frostily delicious milky-based polish with silver and purple glitters:

Windestine Peacekeeper

 

Windestine Peacekeeper

Windestine Peacekeeper

Then I stamped my heart out with Pueen 49, using Finger Paints It's An Original!. Finally, I added some diamond-shaped glitters to the design:

What do you think? I think this is a beautiful winter look, and I love the way the art plays off the polish and comes together. If I had it to do over again, I think I'd put the diamond glitters on each of the nails. I love it, it has a mosiac-y, kaleidoscope-y feel, and made me feel like a beautiful snow princess!

Hope you're having a great weekend!
M.

An InLinkz Link-up

Dupe Or No Dupe: Finger Paints Hollydazzle vs. Zoya Nidhi

Hello!

It's been a while since I'd done a dupe post for you, so I have a quick one today, featuring two very pretty, semi-sparkly reds: Finger Paints Hollydazzle and Zoya Nidhi.

A while back I was pulling out some reds for a manicure, and realized that these looked pretty close in the bottle:

Finger Paints Hollydazzle and Zoya Nidhi

Intriguing, but there might be a difference...Let's take a look at them on the nail:

Finger Paints Hollydazzle and Zoya Nidhi

Finger Paints Hollydazzle and Zoya Nidhi

Finger Paints Hollydazzle and Zoya Nidhi

Hollydazzle is on the index and ring fingers; Nidhi is on the middle and pinkie.

Wow, these are close! In fact, in most lights, I couldn't really tell the difference, but in some lights where the flakies show through a bit more (see the middle picture), you can tell that Nidhi has a bit more of the flakie flecks in it...

Conclusion? No dupe, but possibly the dupiest no-dupe I've ever tested! You certainly don't need to have both of these in your collection; and while most of us (okay, maybe just me) are masters of justifying why we need similar-but-not-exactly-the-same polishes, you're gonna have to be a talented talker to get your significant other to agree you should have both of these, lol.

Which would I recommend getting? I personally love my flakies, so I'd probably go with Nidhi. I didn't find any real noticeable difference in formula, so I think you'll be fine either way on that front. With respect to cost, Finger Paints tends to be a little bit cheaper (unless you get in on one of Zoya's sales).

Hope this was helpful! Either way, you're getting a fun polish with a little bit of extra oomph. :)

Hugs and loves,
M.

Preview of coming events and Before & After: Tubular Wrap

(The products in this post were purchased by me.)

Hello!

Today I have a manicure for you that I did a while back, before the holiday season hit, and it didn't quite fit into the different holiday themes. It features a beautiful polish and some simple nail art.

Before I show you, though, I wanted to quickly mention my general plan for the blog in the next month or two :)

Plate reviews: I have a ton of plate reviews for you in the next month or so, many of them already recorded by awaiting editing and corresponding stamping tests. This includes 2 more Bunny Nails plates, about 10 more MoYou-London plates, and the second generation Winstonia plates. Yep, we're gonna be going on a stamping plate bonanza together, lol!

Got Polish? Challenge: Several of my fellow bloggers and I have realized that we have polishes that we love, but that get put to the side because we do so much swatching, etc. Of course we want to continue to show you new polishes, and no worries, we'll still be doing that. But we also wanted to find a way to make it a priority to use those other polishes we love in nail art, and to hopefully remind you of some old favorites you have collecting dust, too. :)

Monday Blues: I am very excited to be joining the ranks of the bloggers who show you  lovely blue polishes on Monday in honor of the Monday blues. Of course I'll be featuring mine with nail art. :)

Continuing challenges: I will still be participating in my Nail Challenge Collaborative, Llama Nails, and Kimber's challenges, and I will be trying to additionally challenge myself by combining as many of these as I can, to stretch my skills.

As always, please don't hesitate to ask for tutorials of anything you like, comparison posts you're interested in, etc. This really helps me now what you'd like to see, rather than have to guess! Right now I'm currently putting together a post on flakie polishes in response to a reader who expressed interest in that--so if you're a newer reader to my blog, I really do try to respond to any requests I get, if I possibly can. :)

Okay, on to today's manicure!

One of my long-time lemmings that I finally satisfied back at the end of summer was KBShimmer Totally Tubular. This is a vibrant turquoise crelly with purple and blue circle and hex glitters. It's a bottle full of fun and happy, and it completely lived up to my hopes in terms of beauty, application, and formula. Here are two easy coats:

KBShimmer Totally Tubular

KBShimmer Totally Tubular

KBShimmer Totally Tubular

KBShimmer Totally Tubular

As with a lot of high-quality color-based glitter polishes, this doesn't really need nail art to be special, and I didn't want to do too much to it, since I wanted to enjoy the polish as it was. But after wearing it alone for a while, I decided to do some simple nail art with it. I started by doing a little saran-wrap magic on top with a purple polish--I can't remember which...maybe Finger Paints Plum Startled?..bad blogger! Bad!!--and then stamped on the accent nail with Barry M Silver:

I think this adds just enough that it celebrates the beautiful elements of the polish without taking away from it. Sometimes less is more!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start. :)

Hugs and loves,
M.