NOTD: All Men Are Created Equal

(Some polishes originally sent for review; affiliate links)

Hello!

Just a quick post today to show you my 4th of July nails!

Nail polish is my happy place, and I assume it is for others, too; so I generally keep politics and things like that off my blog. However, sometimes things happen that you just have to celebrate.

The Constitution of the United States of America states one of our most deeply held beliefs in its second paragraph:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

About a week ago, the U.S. Supreme Court made it possible for all men and women to marry, regardless of whether or not they are marrying someone of the opposite or the same sex. I believe this decision is a great step forward in our efforts to live up to the claim that we do hold those truths to be self-evident.

To celebrate this I did a slightly different type of 4th of July manicure than I normally would. I took the rainbow flag, pulled out the red and the blue for the 'stars' section of the U.S. flag, and left the rest of the colors in a rainbow for the 'stripes' portion:

We hold these truths to be self-evident

That all men are created equal

For the rainbow portion, I did a gradient with Zoya Darcy, Zoya Thandie, Zoya Jace, and Zoya Keiko; the red is Zoya Demetria and the blue is Zoya Talia, both from the Island Fun collection (click here for my full review).

Then I stamped with Drk-A for the stars, and Winstonia 107 (see my full review of the set here) for the stripes, both with Konad White.


I hope you have a happy, healthy, and safe 4th of July!

Happy stamping,
M.

Throwback Thursday: Lonesome Bamboo

(Affiliate links)

Hello!

That's right, it's another edition of Throwback Thursday, where I pull something out of the vault that I like, but for one reason or another haven't shown you before. Today it's a quick NOTD that I like, but that came out a bit blurry and icky--I think I was trying to show the sprinkle of holo in the base polish and it just didn't quite work in terms of picture quality:

Lonesome Bamboo

Here are the deets:

Base polish: Ruby White Tips Lonesome Pine Trails
Plates used: Konad m66, Drk-C
Stamping polish: China Glaze Mahogany Magic

The base polish really is so much prettier than it looks in that picture, so here's a pic that shows the color and the holo splash:

Ruby White Tips Lonesome Pine Trails

So there we go. I don't think Laura makes this polish anymore because it isn't currently in her shop, but if you ask her nicely, she just might...:)

Happy polishing,
M.

Before & After: Inspired by Frida Kahlo

Hello!

It's time for the next installment of my Llama Nail's group 'Inspired by artists' challenge, and this week we're all inspired by Frida Kahlo.

I'd seen Frida Kahlo's art here and there, and knew that she was a rare female artist (for that time and place) who celebrated her Mexican culture within her artwork; for a long time that's all I really knew. But when wandering around Vancouver on a vacation, I stumbled on an exhibit featuring her work (and the work of two other influential female artists) that highlighted a different aspect of her art. Kahlo did not have an easy life, and suffered from illnesses and accidents, one of which ultimately damaged her fertility. She also had a very tumultuous relationship with the love of her life, Diego Rivera. The exhibit focused on the artwork that expressed her deep struggles and pain, particularly with being a woman that couldn't bear children. Much of it is extremely moving, even deeply disturbing, and it changed the way I viewed even the 'typical' self-portraits that are normally pictured when someone refers to her.

For my manicure I chose to focus on the beautiful celebrations of typical Mexican attire and bright, saturated colors, but wanted to be sure to set the stage with that context. :)

Just realized I forgot to put in a picture of Kahlo's artwork! Here's where I pulled my colors from:

(Source)

I started with a base of Julep Stella, a mustard-y yellow with an orange-brown tone to it:

Julep Stella, indirect sunlight

Next I sponged a gradient on top of Julep Stella and Color Club Mamba onto the nail. I stamped over the border of this using Color Club Mamba and Drikk plate Drk-C. Finally, I sponged a border on the side of each nail with China Glaze Holly-Day:

It's a very different manicure, and I really love it. I love how the stamped pattern shows even over the red part of the gradient because of the subtle difference in color (because the sponging was done over the yellow base);it's almost as though something hidden is peeking out. Also, I love the play of the colors together. Something about it is very energizing to me. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs and love,
M.

Nail Plate Size Comparison Chart

Hello!

For ages, I've been promising to give you a post comparing the relative size of different nail plate images. I don't know why, but I keep having some mental block about it and keep forgetting to post it. So right now, while I'm thinking about it, before I can forget, I'm going to schedule it. :)

First, a wonderful, awesome, amazing fellow blogger made the job so much easier for me; she created these comparison charts and gave me permission to post them here. Please, if you like them, show her some love by visiting her blog by clicking here:

These give visual comparisons and centimeter measurements for most of the well-known nail-plate brands. You can use this in several ways:

1) Visual inspection: if you know that Konad will fit your nails, you can do a quick look to see which are the same size or larger.

2) If you know the length of your nails, you can find an image size here in centimeters that is long enough to cover.

3) If you're looking at a new brand and have the image size dimensions, you can look at this to see which it's closes to before buying.

There are three brands that I routinely review which aren't included here. One is LeaLac, and they have the biggest images in the business (that I've found so far). By my measurements, they are one inch square, which converts to 2.54 cm on each side! So you can see how much bigger that is even than Fun 1&2 shown above. The other brand is Drikk; these are 7/8th of an inch tall (2.22cm) and 6/8th of an inch wide (1.90cm). Finally, I have reviewed plates I got from Magno Nails (you can also find these other places, but I refer to them by that name since that's where I bought them), and they come in at 7/8ths tall (2.22cm) and 5/8th of an inch wide (approx. 1.60cm); so they are about the same size as the Nail Craze images, but a titch taller.

I hope this has been a help to you! Thanks for your patience waiting for so long for this while I continually forgot to post it. If there are any other brands that you have questions about let me know and I'll try to find out the information for you. :)

And thanks again to Posh Nail Art for the amazing chart!!!

Thanks for looking! Big hugs,
M.

Review: Drikk plate Drk-C

Hello!!

A little while ago I bought the third Drikk plate, Drk-C, and finally have a chance to show it to you! if you prefer to see the video of my review, you can find it by clicking on this link, or here:

Like the previous Drikk plates, these images are really big (btw, I will post my long-overdue size comparison of different image plates on Wednesday), so you don't have to worry about them covering your nails unless you have really long nails.

Let's take a little walk through the images...shall we? :)

I have to find some way to make that left image into a stained glass pattern...

Already used the one on the left...I'll link it below. :)

Pretty fans 

Love both of these, but the one on the right--love love love

Flags and flourishes...

I've already used the one on the left as you can see, lol--will link it below.

That left one is so fun!

The brick pattern is one of the main reasons I bought this plate.

The flounces are so amazing and the bamboo is so elegant. :)

Feathers!!

Geometric...but not...

Love these streaky suns

Yep, another one I've used already, lol...link below.

And I couldn't resist using these dragons, either...

I so want to do something awesome with those birds...

Puppies!!!

Love that flower pattern. :)

More antique flourishes and fun hibiscus flowers :)

Leaves!!

Yep...I've used those characters, lol

Really nicely detailed snake pattern and fun little elephants. :)

And here are a few tests for you, done with Konad Black special polish:

As you can see, except for the dog hair on the top image, crisp and clean and no problems! If you want to see the manicures I've done with these plates, you can find them by clicking these links:

Under The Sea manicure
Happy Chinese New Year manicure
Longing For Summer manicure
Travel manicure

Just like with the previous two Drikk plates, the quality of these images is top-notch. Extremely well etched, and easy as can be to use. I can't recommend these plates highly enough. :)

You can find the Drikk plates at Ninja Polish by clicking here. At the time of this posting, they sell for $23.50. You can also buy an extra-large stamping set there, and of course they sell a ton of gorgeous polishes (some of which you can stamp with and some not).

Thanks for looking! Big hugs. :)
M.

(I purchased this plate with my own money. I am not an affiliate of Drikk or Ninja Polish.)

Before & After: Longing For Summer

Hello!!

Today I have my penultimate prompt for the Let It Snow! challenge...and as winter is quickly coming to an end, the theme is 'Longing For Summer'.

I wanted to go with pretty, bold, summery colors (I'm gonna skip spring right on by with this one), so I started with a base of Zoya's Gloria, a glittery-looking fleck-finished magenta polish filled with orange flecks and summer joy:

Zoya Gloria direct sun

Zoya Gloria

Next I stamped a background design with Barry M Gold Foil using a design from Drikk plate Drk-C. Over this, I stamped a bright sun using Bundle Monster plate BM01, and Sally Hansen Orange Impulse:

I love how this came out! I would love to have a dress the color and pattern of the background, with that sun as a cool accent necklace. In the meantime, I'll settle for the mani. :)

Thanks for looking, and please check out the other participants' manis, linked below.

Xoxox,
M.

Polish Days: Vintage

Hello!

This month's theme for Polish Days is Vintage. If you've been following me for a while, you probably know I adore anything vintage--colors, patterns, fashions, you name it. So you know I was one hap-hap-happy lady when I saw the announcement for this. :)

I started out with a base of Misa Got It Made In The Shade, which is definitely a vintage-y shade of soft antique light sage green creme:

Next I sponged the tips of the nails with Color Club Nouveau Vintage; I discovered when I tested this out that it separates a bit into a metallic green with a brownish-pink at the edge, which is another perfect set of vintage colors. Then, I wanted to go for an antique-letter sort of look, so I stamped with Konad black on all nails; I used Bundle Monster plate BM311 for the lettering (unfortunately, the loop from the big 'love' on the plate shows up and I soft of wish it didn't...oh well), and Drikk plate Drk-C for the postmarks:

I love how it came out, and for once the Konad polish bleed actually works for the manicure, like it's been streaked by tears or some liquid over time. The only thing I'd change is I might stamp with a dark brown if I were to do it again rather than black, what do you think?

Thanks for looking! And please check out the other entries in this month's Polish Days challenge!!

Xoxox,
M.

Before & After: Celtic Glequins

Hello!!

Today I have my second St. Patrick's Day manicure, and I'm extremely excited about it because it features one of my favorite greens--InDecisive Lush. This is such a rich, pigmented, gorgeous polish (with a hidden bit of sparkle), and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it on the InDecisive site (you can get to it by clicking here; I think everyone needs to own this polish!):

InDecisive Nail Lacquers Lush

After a lovely base of Lush, which I had to battle with myself to decorate because I love it so much on its own, I stamped a Celtic braid design from Drikk plate Drk-A using China Glaze Passion. Then I lined the bottom part of the design with gold glequins, for added sparkle:

Even just writing up this post I find myself just staring at this green! And I think the gold looks subtle and pretty on it. :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Xoxox,
M.