My Halloween Costume Nails!

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Hello!


Since today is Halloween, I thought I'd show you the nails I'm doing with my Halloween costume. I actually already did this once, for a party I went to, so I have all the pics ready to go!


I went (and am handing out candy) as a voodoo priestess:

I wanted a manicure that played up the feathers and the animal skulls in the costume, and of course included a voodoo doll...

Voodoo Priestess Nails

Base Polish(es): Zoya Chantal, Kinsley, and Foster
Stamping Plate(s): Clear Jelly Stamper H-39, Dixie Plates Halloween 2019, and UberChic Beauty Fabulous Feathers
Stamping Polish(es): Kaleidoscope Black and White, Girly Bits Fire-Engine Red and Silver Bells, Moonflower Polish Cavernos del Rio Camuy

I love how it came out--the feathers add a gorgeous texture and the skulls are just creepy! I also love the little pop of red. This is when I love nail art the most--when you can create something truly original to make a cool day even cooler.

Happy Halloween!!
M. xoxo

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Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone plate

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Hello!


Today we're going to take a look at a recent release in Lantern & Wren's stamping plate line, Lantern & Wren's Dab To The Bone, and adorable Halloween plate.


Here's the video review I did for the plate:

And here's a still of the test looks I did in the video:

Alright, let's take a look at that baby up close and personal:

Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone

Difficulty level: Easy to intermediate--most of the images on this plate are going to be super easy to pick up and work with. Watch out for the chevron and the gravestone--scrape them from an angle to make sure you get those big solid areas nice and complete. And if the little fine line images give you a hassle (they shouldn't--they worked super easily for me), scrape gently.


This plate is a fast way to get cute, fun Halloween nails that you can mix and match--she gave a ton of little images that match up to the full-nail images beautifully. And this is a great plate to try out your lead-lighting or reversed stamping skills on. There is also huge potential here for building scenes with the little images she gives.


On to the manis! For the first I wanted to use one of the fun words she gives on the plate:

Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone over Girly Bits Funky Town

Base Polish(es): Girly Bits Cosmetics Funky Town
Stamping Plate(s): Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone
Stamping Polish(es): Kaleidoscope White and Black

That full-nail image is just fun, and I love the pop of black making those letters jump right out. A quick way to capture the fun side of the Halloween season.


For the next mani, I HAD to use those adorable dancing skeletons:

Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone over mystery Supernatural Lacquer polish

Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone over mystery Supernatural Lacquer polish

Base Polish(es): Supernatural Lacquer ?? (This polish will be revealed shortly...)
Stamping Plate(s): Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone
Stamping Polish(es): Kaleidoscope White

Seriously you guys, I could wear this manicure all year long, lol! Those dancing skeletons just make me super happy. And this is also a super easy mani that's almost fool-proof, even for beginning stampers.


And for my last manicure, I love the little mini scene I did in the test looks so much I couldn't resist building a little scene:

Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone over mystery Supernatural Lacquer polish and Zoya Ashton

Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone over mystery Supernatural Lacquer polish and Zoya Ashton

Base Polish(es): Supernatural Lacquer ?? (This polish will be revealed shortly...) & Zoya Ashton
Stamping Plate(s): Lantern & Wren Dab To The Bone
Stamping Polish(es): Hit The Bottle Holo There Beautiful, Kaleidoscope White, Moonflower Polish Apple, It Girl Nail Art Mimosa

Because the Supernatural Lacquer mystery polish is a black jelly, I used the pond manicure (stamping sammich) technique to put a couple of the little ghosts in the background, and then stamped one on top to be up close and center. I also used a reversed stamping technique for the candle. This is my favorite Halloween mani I've done this year, and I hated to take it off!


Dab To The Bone is on sale now in the Lantern & Wren shop, as are several of the stamping polishes I used here.

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

Follow me all the places! 

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Check out The Dancing Girls, my debut novel, here!
And the 2nd Det. Jo Fournier book, Taken to the Grave, here!

UberChic Beauty Take Me Out To The Ball Game

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Hello!


Can you believe 4th of July is this week? I'm not ready. Nope, time needs to slow down, now!


Today we're gonna take a look at UberChic Beauty's Take Me Out To The Ball Game plate, which is all about baseball, which I think is perfect for 4th of July week, because baseball is considered to be such a symbol of America!

UberChic Beauty Take Me Out To The Ballgame

I did a quickie video on the plate, which you can find here:

And here are some test looks I did:

(You guys--how cute is that heart-shaped baseball image?!?!!!!)


I've loved baseball my whole life, it was one of the ways I was able to spend time with and connect with my step-father. I was lucky enough to grow up in an area with two baseball teams, the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants, so I decided to do two manis, each featuring the colors of one teams. First up, the San Francisco Giants colors:

UberChic Beauty Take Me Out To The Ball Game over Stella Chroma Hug The Road

Base Polish(es): Stella Chroma Hug The Road
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Take Me Out To The Ball Game
Stamping Polish(es): Kaliedoscope White and Black


And here's the mani featuring Oakland A's colors:

UberChic Beauty Take Me Out To The Ball Game over Girly Bits Saffron, Saffroff

Base Polish(es): Girly Bits Saffron, Saffroff, Sally Hansen Get Mod, Moonflower Polish El Yunque
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Take Me Out To The Ball Game
Stamping Polish(es): Moonflower Polish El Yunque, Girly Bits White Wedding and Saffron, Saffroff

What about you? Are you a baseball fan? Is there another sport you prefer, and would love to see in a plate?


You can find this plate on sale now in UberChic Beauty's store.

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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Dixie Plates Summer 03 and Boho 01

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Hello!


How are you guys? This week has flown by--I've been trying to catch up on everything I let slip while I met my deadline and I feel like I've only accomplished half of it, and it's already Friday! So much to do, so little time...But, I vacuumed, and that's the main thing, lol.


Anyway. Today we're going to take a look at two new plates from Dixie Plates, Summer 03 and Boho 01: 

Summer 03 is a fun blend of images to get you through all your summer and vacation fun, and Boho 01 has a ton of lovely henna type images that make it easy to create jewelry for your nails.


Let's jump right in to the manicures, 'cause we all know that's the best part!


For my first mani, I wanted to do something bright and fun and summery. I first sponged coordinating colors over white, then stamped my images in a range of citrus colors:

Dixie Plates Summer 03 over Sally Hansen Get Mod

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Get Mod
Stamping Plate(s): Dixie Plates Summer 03
Stamping Polish(es): Sally Hansen I-Rush Luck, Lightening, Orange Impulse, sponged with Zoya Bee, Tiana, and Sawyer



For the next mani, I went for Miami Vice meets Hawaii Five-O:

Dixie Plates Summer 03 over Sally Hansen Persis-Tint

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Persis-Tint
Stamping Plate(s): Dixie Plates Summer 03
Stamping Polish(es): Kaleidoscope Pink & Mint


For my third mani with the Summer 03 plate, I wanted to go a more elegant direction:

Dixie Plates Summer 03 over Sally Hansen Molten Mauve

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Molten Mauve
Stamping Plate(s): Dixie Plates Summer 03
Stamping Polish(es): Colour Alike Grenadine


I also had to see how this looked glossy, since that would bring out the holo of the stamping:

Dixie Plates Summer 03 over Sally Hansen Molten Mauve

For my first Boho 01 mani, I wanted something dramatic to really give a 'nail jewelry' feel:

Dixie Plates Boho 01 over Stella Chroma Hey, Sailor

Base Polish(es): Stella Chroma Hey, Sailor
Stamping Plate(s): Dixie Plates Boho 01
Stamping Polish(es): Colour Alike Hot Sand


I loved these colors and images together so much I did a second version, this one with an image from Summer 03:

Dixie Plates Boho 01 and Summer 03 over Stella Chroma Hey, Sailor

Base Polish(es): Stella Chroma Hey, Sailor
Stamping Plate(s): Dixie Plates Boho 01 and Summer 03
Stamping Polish(es): Colour Alike Hot Sand


For my final look I wanted to go a little softer:

Dixie Plates Boho 01 over The Lady Varnishes Make It Rain

Base Polish(es): The Lady Varnishes Make It Rain
Stamping Plate(s): Dixie Plates Boho 01
Stamping Polish(es): Moonflower Polish El Yunque

What do you think? I love how easy Boho 01 makes elegant looks, and Summer 03 is surprisingly versatile for a plate dedicated to a summer theme, which is always a good thing. :)

Both plates are available now in Dixie Plates' store, and anyplace Dixie Plates are sold. :)

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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UberChic Beauty Beach Please and Modern Tropical (and The Digit-al Dozen Goes on Vacation!)

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Hello!


It's time for this month's Digit-al Dozen week! But, I have so much going on this week that I can barely breathe, no joke. So I'm going to do this a little bit differently...


On May 29th, UberChic Beauty came out with two new plates that are perfect for the vacation theme: UberChic Beauty Beach Please and Modern Tropical. Here's the video review I did of the plate:

Here's a look at the plates:

UberChic Beauty Beach Please

UberChic Beauty Modern Tropical

And here are the test swatches I did:

So what I did was, I challenged myself to do ALL of my Digit-al Dozen manis for the week from these plates, so I'm including them all in this post for you, and will link to the other ladies' posts throughout the week.


Let's jump on in:

UberChic Beauty Beach Please over Sally Hansen Rose Flush

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Rose Flush
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Beach Please
Stamping Polish(es): Colour Alike Grenadine, Aquarium, and Purple Mojito; Moyra Gold

I've always wanted to go somewhere where I could snorkel among beautiful coral and tropical fishes, so I had to do with for vacation day one!

UberChic Beauty Beach Please over Sally Hansen Rise Up

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Rise Up
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Beach Please
Stamping Polish(es): Girly Bits Silly Daffodilly and Ker-minty Frog Here

One of the best vacations I've ever gone on was when I went to Hawaii, and pineapples always make me think of Hawaii!

UberChic Beauty Beach Please over Zoya Bee, Cam, and Robbie

Base Polish(es): Zoya Bee, Cam, and Robbie
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Beach Please
Stamping Polish(es): Kaleidoscope White

My favorite places in the world to visit are beaches, especially on vacations. I love wandering along them and hoping I find a shell or two...

UberChic Beauty Modern Tropical over Zoya Josie

Base Polish(es): Zoya Josie
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Modern Tropical
Stamping Polish(es): Color Alike Purple Mojito and Kiwizz, Moonflower Polish El Yunque

I also love anything with a tropical setting. Jungles, islands, whatever! So this is my abstract tropical island. :)

UberChic Beauty Modern Tropical over Sally Hansen Get Mod and Colour Alike Polishes

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Get Mod, Sally Hansen Smokey Silver, Colour Alike Kiwizz and Aquarium
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Modern Tropical
Stamping Polish(es): Colour Alike Kiwizz and Aquarium

This one is my abstract kelp in the ocean--one of my favorite places to go for a getaway is Carmel, where, if you're lucky, you can see otters frolicking in the kelp beds.

You can buy these plates now in UberChic Beauty's store...and there will be a new plate revealed each day starting today, June 10th, through June 14th! I will be showing the new plate each day in a video review, so head on over to my YouTube channel to check it out!

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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Lantern & Wren Eggscellent Easter Plate :)

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Hello!


Today we're gonna take a look at Lantern & Wren's Eggscellent Easter plate! This plate is all kinds of Easter eggs, all the time:

Lantern & Wren Eggscellent Easter

Plate: Lantern & Wren Eggscellent Easter
Skill level: Intermediate, bordering on advanced
My thoughts: I love that there are three layers to this egg, so you can have your backround color and two other colors. They style of the images is whimsical, and the layers don't perfectly fill up all the space, which amplifies the effect. And those bunny ears!! So fun!


On to the manis! For my first, which I already showed you in another post, I wanted to do a play on an Easter egg hunt. For this mani I used the smaller egg images:

Lantern & Wren Eggscellent Easter over Lantern & Wren Midnight Glow

Base Polish(es): Lantern & Wren Midnight Glow
Stamping Plate(s): Lantern & Wren Eggscellent Easter
Stamping Polish(es): I made the grass with Moonflower Polish Apple and El Yunque; Kaleidoscope by El Corazon Pink, Mint & White; Girly Bits Cosmetics Eggplant One On Me, Forget Me?! NOT! Sally Hansen Blue Away

My favorite part about this mani is the pair of bunny ears in the grass!


For my next mani, I wanted to turn my nails themselves completely into Easter Eggs, so I used the larger images, and I only used two of the layers, since I was already counting the base polish as one color:

Lantern & Wren Eggscellent Easter over pastel skittle

Base Polish(es): Lantern & Wren Illuminate, Moonflower Polish Apple & Mango, Sally Hansen Racing Rose
Stamping Plate(s): Lantern & Wren Eggscellent Easter
Stamping Polish(es): Lantern & Wren Illuminate, Moonflower Polish Apple & Mango, Kaleidoscope Pink & White, and Sally Hansen Lightening and Racing Rose

You can find this plate on sale now in Lantern & Wren's store, and if you live in the US, there's definitely time to receive this before Easter--her shipping is lightning fast!

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony plate (Plus The Digital Dozen Does albums: Day 1!)

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Hello!

Today we're gonna take a look at UberChic Beauty's Cultural Harmony plate, which has awesome patterns to use on their own, or to combine with other images:

UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony

Plate: UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony
Skill level: Beginner
My thoughts:  If you're a beginner, this is a great plate to start off with--you almost can't go wrong with most of these patterns. Then, as your skills grow, this plate will grow with you. You can play around with multiple colors of stamping polish on an image, or little bits of reversed stamping. And if you're already an advanced stamper, these images will also help you get extra miles out of your other plates.


Okay, on to the manis! For the first look, I wanted something simple and dramatic:

UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony over Sally Hansen Beet, Pray, Love

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Beet, Pray, Love with Miracle Gel Matte topcoat
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony
Stamping Polish(es): Moyra Silver


For the next mani I wanted something springy:

UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony over Sally Hansen Out of this Pearl

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Out of this Pearl plus Miracle Gel matte topcoat
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony
Stamping Polish(es): Moyra Silver and Kaleidoscope by El Corazon White


For the next mani, I wanted a subtle pattern that would play up the beautiful colors in this multichrome base:

UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony over The Lady Varnishes Don't Worry, It'll Blow Over

Base Polish(es): The Lady Varnishes Don't Worry, It'll Blow Over
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony
Stamping Polish(es): Girly Bits Cosmetics Eggplant One On Me and Forget Me?! NOT!



For my final look, I wanted to use the images on here that had a jungle feel to me...This month the Digital Dozen's theme is album covers, and when I started to do my manis for the theme, I realized quickly that it's a really hard theme--because most album covers are the artists, or people doing something. So I'm going to interpret the theme as not so much as recreations of album covers, but manis that pay homage to the theme of the album or a particular song. For this one, I'm going with the song Bungle In The Jungle by Jethro Tull, which was one of my favorite songs when I was a very little girl:

UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony over Moonflower Polish Lemon and Apple

Base Polish(es): Moonflower Polish Lemon and Apple
Stamping Plate(s): UberChic Beauty Cultural Harmony
Stamping Polish(es): Moonflower Polish Apple and El Yunque

What do you think of this plate? Any favorite images? Also, don't forget to check out the other Digital Dozen Album Cover manicures, which I'll like below, once I get the linkup! :)

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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PPU Alert! It Girl Nail Art Does Famous Artists with LE110

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Hello!


I have a final April Polish Pickup item to show you today, It Girl Nail Art's LE110, her limited edition celebration of Jackson Pollock and Piet Mondrian:

It Girl Nail Art LE110

I am SO excited about the ability to turn my manicure into a Pollock or a Mondrian, I can't even tell you...so let me show you!


First up, I wanted to play with white and silver over a dark color:

It Girl Nail Art LE110 over Sally Hansen Wine Stock + Miracle Gel Matte topcoat

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Wine Stock + Miracle Gel Matte top coat
Stamping Plate(s): It Girl Nail Art LE110
Stamping Polish(es): Moyra Silver, Kaleidoscope by El Corazon White


And then I had to do a spring look with the paint splatters:

It Girl Nail Art LE110 over Sally Hansen Get Mod + Miracle Gel Matte topcoat

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Get Mod + Miracle Gel Matte topcoat
Stamping Plate(s): It Girl Nail Art LE110
Stamping Polish(es): Sally Hansen Racing Rose, Moonflower Polish Apple, Lantern & Wren Illuminate


For the Mondrian grid, first I played with bold colors and holo:

It Girl Nail Art LE110 over Moonflower Polish Aguamarina & Sally Hansen Blacky O

Base Polish(es): Moonflower Polish Aguamarina, Sally Hansen Blacky O
Stamping Plate(s): It Girl Nail Art LE100
Stamping Polish(es): Moonflower Polish Aquamarina, Obsidiana

And then, of course I had to play with the ultimate Mondrian look, with a little reversed stamping:

It Girl Nail Art LE110 over Sally Hansen Get Mod and Zoya Hannah

Base Polish(es): Sally Hansen Get Mod, Zoya Hannah
Stamping Plate(s): It Girl Nail Art LE110
Stamping Polish(es): Kaleidoscope by El Corazon Black, Sally Hansen Lightning, Zoya Hannah and Sia

I'm enjoying having my very own Mondrian on my nails so much, I'm having a really hard time taking it off...so sad...;-)


This plate will go on sale during April's Polish Pickup from April 5th-8th, and a little birdie told me this may be Nicole's last PPU plate for a little while, so I suggest you go grab it! You can find her other beauties in her shop (she makes amazing cuticle balm and oil as well as plates and polish), and you can come hang out with the Polish Pickup Pack here for sneak peeks at the other offerings. :)

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections

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Hello!


This month's Polish Pickup theme is "Duos", which the polish makers are able to interpret anyway they like, and this month The Lady Varnishes' duo is 'sea and sky'. For the 'sky' half, she's created this beautiful polish, The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections: 

The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections

The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections

The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections

The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections

The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections

Coverage: 2-3 coats; I'm wearing 2
Formula: Excellent application, good dry time. Love!


You guys! The smoky purple shimmer in this against the sky blue and the silver flecks is *everything*. This is like an adult version of spring in a bottle. It has that magic, but isn't little-girl pastel. I LOVE this. :)


Here's a mani I did with the polish:

Dixie Plates Spring 02 over The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections

Base Polish(es): The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflections
Stamping Plate(s): Dixie Plates Spring 02
Stamping Polish(es): Moyra Silver and Moonflower Polish Amatista

The Lady Varnishes Sky Reflection will be available February 1st through 4th in the Polish Pickup store! In the meantime, you can find The Lady Varnishes here. :)

Big hugs,
M. xoxo

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