Dixie Plates Nail Gems 01!

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Hello!


Today we're going to take a brief break from holiday manis to look at Dixie Plates Nail Gems 01, a plate designed to help you create 3D-nail art with all your awesome gems, but can also make beautiful designs without them. Here's the video review I did of the plate:

And here's a closer look at the plate:

Dixie Plates Nail Gems 01

What's special about this plate: Settings for jewels!!! Use them for actual rhinestones and 3D gems, or make decals to create your own jewelry. My particular favorites are the flowers with the spaces for a little rhinestone or half-pear to accent them.

The images are all different sizes, so here's a shot with a ruler to help you decide if it'll work for you:

Hey, how about quality? Let's take a look:

 

These swatches were done with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Plummet, and my clear stamper. Fine lines, thick lines, a combination of the two--great quality images. :)


For my first manicure, I wanted to do a manicure to show off some awesome turquoise-y gems I've had forever...I started with a base of Sally Hansen Teal Good, then created a marble to match the gem with Dixie Plates' Marbled 01 plate and Messy Mansion Carbon and Chalk. I stamped my gem setting with  Messy Mansion Sterling, and filled it in with Shinespark Polish Moondust (a holo topper) to give the illusion of crushed diamonds:

Dixie Plates Nail Gems 01 over Sally Hansen Teal Good

Dixie Plates Nail Gems 01 over Sally Hansen Teal Good

I love how this came out--like a gorgeous piece of turquoise jewelry right on my nails!


For my second manicure, I wanted to try something a bit different with that gorgeous dragonfly image. I made a promise to myself recently that I'd free up space in my line-up to get back into nail art challenges--I love them so much, but never seem to have time to do them anymore. So this is my jump back in--the 26 Great Nail Art Ideas group has 'bugs and insects' as its theme this week, so I jumped all over that dragonfly image!


I started with a skittle of The Lady Varnishes Broken Carousel and Dragon (over Sally Hansen Blacky O undies), then stamped with Messy Mansion Sterling and Soft Gold. Then I accented two of the dragonflies with half-beads in gold and silver: 

I am soooo happy with how this mani turned out! It's like magical creature in an enchanted forest. Can somebody please make me a dress with these colors and patterns?!?!!!! But if dragonflies aren't your thing, check out the manicures done by the other participants, linked below. :)


You can find Dixie Plates Nail Gems 01 at Lantern and Wren if you're in the US or Canada, and can check sourcing for other locations on the Dixie Plates site. And don't forget to follow them around the interwebs here:

Dixie Plates Facebook Fangroup: https://www.facebook.com/groups/461694520667496/

Dixie Plates on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dixie_plates/

Happy stamping!
M. xoxo

An InLinkz Link-up

Before & After: Who doesn't love a 3D spider? Oh, wait...

...pretty much nobody likes a 3D spider, if it's alive, anyway! I'm an exception to that rule; except for poisonous spiders, I love spiders, because they get rid of all the other creepy crawlies that try to hang out in my house. For the most part, I live and let live when it comes to my eight-legged friends. :)

Today I'm merging two challenges that are occurring a week apart, and have decided to post the manicure in between the two. So that means that I'm extremely fashionably late for the one challenge, and fairly early for the other, lol. :)

The one I'm late for is the Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33 Day challenge theme of '3D'. I've been trying to make every challenge this month as Halloweeny as possible, so I decided to combine this with the Crumpet's Nail Tart's Halloween challenge theme of 'Spider/Webs'. And here is what I've come up with...

I started with China Glaze's Bump In The Night, one of the polishes in their 2013 Monster's Ball Halloween collection. This is a textured flat-black polish, and while I normally prefer the textured polishes that have a little bling in them, I think this is absolutely the perfect polish to have in a Halloween collection. It makes me think of the dirt in a cemetery at night, where you'd find a freshly dug (or dug up!) grave:

China Glaze Bump In The Night, one coat, artificial light

I wanted the polish to have more of a gloss than a flat-ish finish, so I added some Seche to it:

China Glaze Bump In The Night with Seche Vite, artificial light

Next, I stamped my webs. First I tried doing that with Konad Red and Bundle Monster BMH07, but the red didn't show up as vibrantly as I wanted it to. So I stamped again with Konad White, leaving the red in place for dimension and creepiness. :)

Next, I built my spider. I used a nail gem for the body, and a stud for his head; I used two black rhinestones for eyes and purple teardrop-shaped rhinestones for the legs. I had the legs splay over several fingers for maximum creepiness:

How do spiders communicate?

They use the World Wide Web!

Ha hahahahhahahaaa ha ha haaa

Well, at least I crack myself up...

So what do you think?? Is it ickily spookalicious?? It definitely creeps me out a bit looking at it...But if I were to do it again, I think I'd pick a different colored gem for the body portion. :)

Don't forget to check out the other 3D manis below, and tomorrow there will be some cool spider manis to check out, too! :)

Hugs and fly-free homes,
M.