Today I have another mani for you made with UberChic Beauty Texture-licious 03, this one in a fall theme also using UberChic Beauty Lovely Leaves 02.
I started with a base of Zoya Olivera. Next, I stamped my Texture-licious 03 image, one that looks to me like falling rain, in Hit The Bottle Polish My Suitor Wears Pewter (also available at Beautometry.com), to look like rain lit up by moonlight. Then, I stamped my leaves first with either Hit The Bottle Polish Copper-Haired Girl, Drop Red Gorgeous, or It Mossed Be Love, and then stamped my second layer with Hit The Bottle Polish Everyday I'm Truffling. Here's how it came out:
UberChic Beauty Texture-licious 03 and Lovely Leaves 02 over Zoya Olivera
UberChic Beauty Texture-licious 03 and Lovely Leaves 02 over Zoya Olivera
What do you think? This is one of my very favorite manicures I've done this year. It captures the serenity of a soft rain on a cool autumn evening. And I have to say, I love how reliable Hit The Bottle Polish stamping polishes are--I always know they'll show up beautifully over my dark colors.
I love this mani so much, I'm so glad I made a tutorial for you as I went:
I hope you're having a lovely fall! Happy stamping,
M. xoxo
What I love about this brand: Lina does a great job of creating a selection of images that mix and match in countless combinations. For whichever icon you choose (anchors, seashells, ropes), there are a ton of images you can put together without guessing if anything is going to be out of proportion. She also adds a textural image or two and plenty of isolated images to add to your design. All of this makes Lina the queen of effortless mani building. What I love about this plate: I love the stripe/word combination image, and the octopus is awesome. I love the water image with the crest at the top, but which can also double as texture or an animal print depending on the colors you use. I love that she gives you a little underwater scene to work with, and OMG, pirates!! And I love how well this plate plays with Born To Sail 01.
The full-nail images on Lina plates are 1.7mm x 2.2mm, and here's a shot with a ruler so you can judge the size of the little 'uns:
How about quality? I've always found Lina's plates to be excellent quality, and this one is no exception:
These were stamped with Sally Hansen Plummet, and a clear stamper--and look at that detail!!
This plate came right as I was out the door for a romantic weekend at the beach with my husband, so you know I had to hurry on up and make a manicure for the trip. I started with a gradient of Girly Bits Cosmetics Robin Me Blind and Denim & Diamonds, then stamped the wave image and the seagulls image with Messy Mansion Sterling and Chalk. Here's how it came out:
Lina Nail Art Supplies Born To Sail 02 over Girly Bits Cosmetics Robin Me Blind and Denim And Diamonds
Lina Nail Art Supplies Born To Sail 02 over Girly Bits Cosmetics Robin Me Blind and Denim And Diamonds
I love how this captures the look of the beach in the late afternoon when the sun's going down and the remaining light captures the crests of the water with a silver glint.
For my second mani, I wanted to do a mix-and-match mani with some of the sweet seashells on the plate. I started with a skittle of Zoya Sawyer and Zoya Sonya. I did one smoosh nail with these two colors and Zoya Journey for a little shimmer, then stamped my image with Messy Mansion Carbon; then I did a double-stamp with leadlight technique using Messy Mansion Sterling and Carbon, and a blend of Zoya Journey and China Glaze Fairy Dust in between. I stamped starfish on my pinkie and thumb with Hit The Bottle Polish Let's Go To The Peach, and topped it all off with a stud on my index finger:
Lina Nail Art Supplies Born To Sail 02 over Zoya Sawyer and Sonja
Lina Nail Art Supplies Born To Sail 02 over Zoya Sawyer and Sonja
Lina Nail Art Supplies Born To Sail 02 over Zoya Sawyer and Sonja
I made a video tutorial of this mani so that if you love it as much as I do, you can follow step-by-step:
I love how the colors in this mani play together with she shimmers to create a little softness for the seashells, but still with bold summer colors. :)
Today we're gonna take a look at MoYou London Circus Collection 01 and 02, the regular and XL version of the same image plates. Here's the video I made reviewing and comparing them:
MoYou London often releases both a regular-sized version and an XL version of their themes. Which you buy generally depends on the size of your nails and what type of mani you want to do:
If you have longer/wider nails, and if you want to be sure your nail to be completely covered, you probably want the XL plate.
If you have shorter nails, or want to be sure an entire image fits on your nail--for example, the clown images below--you might want to get the regular sized plate.
The regular-sized plate usually has more images than the XL plate, so be sure the image you want appears on the plate you order.
Here's a closer look:
Circus Collection 01 (Regular version)
Circus Collection 02 (XL version)
In this case (it isn't always the case with MoYou London plates) the scale of the images are the same size, it's just there's more of the image on the XL plate. So for example, the ballerinas are the same size on both plates, there are just more of them in the XL image.
What sort of size difference are we talking about? The XL images (plate 02) are 1.5 x 2.0 cm. The regular images (plate 01) are 1.2 x 1.5 cm. If your brain thinks in inches like mine, here's shots with an inch ruler for each :
How do they stamp? I've yet to have a MoYou London image plate I struggle with, even with the clear stampers:
These plates are no exception, and you can see in the side-by-sides the difference in length of the images on the two plates.
The vintage feel of these images inspired me to bust out my sharpie pens and try out the Sharpie watercolor technique with these plates, and I made a tutorial to show you how easy and pretty this technique is:
For the mani I started with a base of Girly Bits Love Yourself First and Irreplaceable (both from her Warrior Goddess collection), and then stamped with Girly Bits Silver Bells and Little Black Dress. Then I colored in using my Sharpie ink, and topcoated:
MoYou London Circus 02 over Girly Bits Love Yourself First and Irreplaceable
MoYou London Circus 02 over Girly Bits Love Yourself First and Irreplaceable
I did a second version with different colors and images (same base polish and stamping polishes):
MoYou London Circus 02 over Girly Bits Irreplaceable
The first version has a more tone-on-tone feel, where the second shows you more of a the range of colors you can play with, especially on the ring-finger acrobat. Which do you like better?
UberChic Beauty Op Art Magic over Zoya Sunset polishes
UberChic Beauty Op Art Magic over Zoya Sunset polishes
UberChic Beauty Op Art Magic over Zoya Sunset polishes
What I did a little differently this time was stamp a vertical gradient on my ring finger, and a horizontal gradient on my other nails, and then stamped the image in corresponding directions. Here's a closer look at how I did it:
Tutorial: UberChic Beauty Op Art Magic over Zoya Sunset gradients
What do you think? I think it's trippy and happy at the same time. I love images like this when you want a fun, happy mani.
Charlie's Nail Art Black Colour Stripe nail decals
Charlie's Nail Art Black Colour Stripe nail decals
When I see the word 'sticker', I think of the peel-off and stick on concept, and I've reviewed that type of nail wrap before, so I jumped right in. After about three minutes of trying desperately to figure out how to get the decals to peel off the backing, I finally figured out that they were water decals!
I've worked with water decals before, but only as part of a nail design--this was my first time trying water decals for a full-on wrap. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing, but I learned from my mistakes as I went along, and have a few tips to share with you, because these are a very inexpensive way to get a fun nail look that you might not want to try to create by hand.
Step 1: Measure the decal.
Step 1: Measure the decal
You'll notice that while there's some variation in size options, mostly the idea here is for the wrap to be bigger than your nail, and then for it to be cut down/cleaned up down to size. So take a look at the size closest to your nail and measure off what you're going to need to trim off. For the purposes of this test, I just trimmed the length, not the sides.
Step 2: Trim.
Step 2: Trim
Cut the decal down to the size you need.
Step 3: Submerge under water.
Step 3: Submerge under water
You only need to do this for a few seconds, although that might vary with the particular set...
Step 4: Slide off the decal.
Step 4: Slide off the decal
...but you'll know you're done when the decal slides off with gentle pressure; just slide your finger over the top of the design and it will slide off the backing when ready.
Step 5. Dab off excess water.
Step 5. Dab off excess water
You're going to gently press your design where you want it over the curve of your nail; if your design is too wet, it'll slide all over the place when you're positioning it on the nail. But, if it's too dry, it won't cling to the nail. Don't worry, if you dry it too much, you can always dunk it again.
Step 6: Position your design.
Step 6: Position your design
If the decal is a little wet, it will cling gently to the curve of your nail. This isn't a strong bond--it will move if you hit it--but it will stay in place enough for you to put on topcoat.
Step 7: Put on topcoat.
Step 7: Put on topcoat
With single strokes (don't go over the same place multiple times), cover the decal. The topcoat will 'melt' your decal into place--you can see the tip melting in the picture. This will get out your wrinkles and will curl your tip--you may want to gently direct it under the tip, but be very, very gentle.
Step 8: Run around the outside with acetone on a clean-up brush.
Step 8: Run around the outside with acetone on a clean-up brush
Give the topcoat 15-20 seconds to dry, and then go around the edge of the nail with a clean-up brush dipped in acetone. I found that if I tried to do this before I applied the topcoat, I got raggedy edges that were just not cute (see my picture below). But once the topcoat had set a little, I was able to clean up just like a normal polish and get a much cleaner edge.
Step 9: Finish your clean-up.
Once you have the excess separated from the nail, you can probably peel most of the excess right up with tweezers or an orange stick. If that doesn't work, continue on with acetone.
And, you're done! You can add another layer of topcoat if you want/need to smooth things out further, otherwise, you're done.
Here is a picture of my final manicure, and you can see my learning curve: I started with the middle finger, and didn't apply my topcoat before trying to separate the excess from the nail--you can see the edge is really raggedy. I did the ring finger next, and thought I'd help the curling along by running my clean-up brush along the edge, and the acetone just ate up the color--so I didn't do that again, lol. You can see by my pinkie I was doing pretty darn well, and by the time I finished up with my index finger, I was rockin' those decals out!
My learning curve: applying water decal nail wraps
My learning curve: applying water decal nail wraps
So what do I think of water-decal wraps? They're a little bit more work than the stick-on version, but with a couple of tips it's not too bad at all--and for $1.18 a set, they're a very good option for those of us who have to watch our wallet. I've made a graphic to help you remember the steps if you want to try them out:
Tutorial: applying water-decal nail wraps
You can find these and lot of other designs in Charlie's Nail Art shop, and don't forget to use my code for 10% off your order: LOLAM10. You can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram for ideas and updates. :)
I got a lot of compliments about the Tropical Flowers manicure I did with UberChic Beauty's collection 4 plates, so I thought I'd put together a tutorial on how to get the look yourself. I made a pin-able graphic, but I also did something I've never done before: I made a quick video tutorial as well:
This is my first 'still' video tutorial, and I'd love any feedback you have on it.
Omg, omg, omg, I have the awesomest thing to hit the nail world in so long I can't even remember! It's the Uber Mat by UberChic Beauty, and it's designed to make manicures and nail art easier and safer (in terms of damaged furniture) than you ever imagined they could be. Yes, I absolutely love this product, and can't say enough about it.
I did a video showing some of the uses of the mat here:
And I'm going to walk you through it here, too. Take a look at the awesomeness:
Uber Mat by UberChic Beauty
The UberMat is made of some mysterious, magical silicone-like substance that makes it perfect for manicures and nail art; plus, UberChic Beauty has put on some awesome features that make it an actual tool to help you create your nail art, not just a mat that protects your table.
Why do I love it?
It's nail polish, acetone, and nail polish remover safe. So if you're like me and you constantly spill or set your acetone-soaked cotton pad on your table and pull off part of the finish, this is for you, and may even save your marriage. (Maybe that part's just me.)
It's huge, 16" x 12" so you have plenty of room to do your nail art, and if (or in my case, when) you spill your polish, you're gonna be safe.
You don't have to put paper towels under your stamping plates anymore if you don't want to; any nail polish that gets on the mat can be wiped up with remover/acetone, or picked up with sticky tape.
There are nail guides right on the mat that allow you to plan out nail art.
You can make nail decals right on those nail guides.
You can test which polishes go together right on the mat.
You can test which polishes stamp over the polish you want to use, right on the mat. No more little flat marbles or nail swatch sticks.
So let's take a closer look!
Polish/Remover Resistant
The most universally useful thing about this mat, whether you do nail art or not, is the polish/remover resistance. You can do your full manicure on this without worrying about spills; whatever you spill can be wiped right up. If it's nail polish, you can wipe it up with acetone/remover, or if you try to limit your exposure to those chemicals (since I do my nail so often, I try to avoid acetone/remover whenever I can), you can let it dry and peel it off/use sticky tape.
This is especially useful when you're a stamper. We've all filled up countless paper towels when we scrape and wipe the polish from our stamping plates; with this mat, you can scrape right onto the mat:
Scrape that polish
Right onto that mat
Then wipe it on off
And you're good as new!
Now, for me personally, I will still use paper towels when I'm using bigger plates, so I don't have to worry about setting my plate on wet polish--that's just me being anal. But with smaller plates that I can just move over another inch each time I scrape for a new nail, I'll be skipping the towels from now on. :)
Make Nail Decals
The fingers printed on the mat provide a perfect place to create nail decals. Whenever I use ziploc bags or page protectors, I have a tendency to forget where exactly my topcoat ends on the sheet. This mat has the perfect guidelines already drawn out for you, and you can work on all 10 decals at the same time, and still have plenty of room to do other things on the mat while they're drying.
1) Brush on your topcoat. When I was playing around with this, I found out that some topcoats work better than others. My beloved Seche Vite doesn't work too well for this unless I put on a generous coat, but my Qtica topcoat worked perfectly with a single, light coat. So test your polishes out to be sure of what works.
Brush on your topcoat
2) Stamp your image. This is just like making decals on any other surface, just stamp once the topcoat is dry.
Stamp your image over your decal
3) Decorate as desired. This is also the same as on any other surface.
4) Peel off your decal. There are a couple of ways to do this. Bend the mat and the edges should just pop up--then you can grab the edge and peel off. If it's more stubborn and you need to be careful to avoid ripping it, you can use an orange stick or similar tool to loosen the decal.
Bending the mat will likely make the decal edges pop off
Or you can use an orange stick for more stubborn decals
And up it comes!
Testing polish combinations
You can test to see which colors look good together, or which polishes will show up when stamped over another polish. You can do this anywhere on the mat, but they've designed it with three circles set to the side for just this purpose. As a stamper, this is one of the coolest things ever--I can swatch my heart out and test polish after polish. LOVE.
Swatch 'n' stamp! I prefer the one on the left, don't you?
Then, when you're done, simply wipe off with remover/acetone; if you want to avoid those, peel off or use sticky tape:
Tape down
Pull off! Easy-peasy. :)
Other kinds of nail art
I love the nail guides not just for stamped decals, but also to plan out placement for things like rhinestones, striping tape, etc. I am forever starting a mani and misjudging the spacing or number of rhinestones I need:
Preplanning saves a lot of frustrated nail fails...sigh...
I haven't tried it yet, but I think this might be a great way to do other sorts of nail art as well. I know a lot of people struggle with decorating their dominant hand with their weak hand; you could use the same decal principle as above and do your freehand or fishbraids or whatever directly on the mat, then pop them off and put them on your nails.
I do have one warning: if a polish stains your nail stamper, it will stain the Uber Mat, too. So if you want your mat to stay pretty and perfect, don't use those polishes on it. Luckily, very few polishes stain in that way.
As you can see, I'm in love with this mat, I think it has so many awesome uses for nail fanatics; I rarely say things are must-have products because tastes differ, but I think this is a must-have for anyone who does their nails regularly, and doubly so if you're into nail art. :)
