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.

Preview of coming events!

Hello!

Just a quick post to let you know some of the things I have planned for the blog in the next few weeks:

1) New feature: Polished Pairings--this is designed to highlight layering combinations, particularly with an emphasis on glitter toppers, but not just limited to that. Sometimes these will include simple stamping that accent the pairing, and sometimes I'll let the combination shine on its own.

2) Review of Drikk plate Drk-C, with video.

3) Review of Pueen plates, with video.

4) My favorites: blue, green, and maybe purple!

5) The return of Fix My FAIL, in a new-and-improved format to broaden options. :)

6) A new challenge from the Nail Challenge Collaborative, with a monthly-shifting theme.

7) Reviews of multi-shaped studs from Born Pretty Store, along with a new-to-me pick-up technique

8) My first manicure-based Dupe Or No Dupe, where I see if two similar polishes look the same when used as the base of a mani

9) And plenty of Before & Afters!

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs,
M.

Preview of coming events!

Hello!

The 31 Day Challenge has taken up a lot of time and posts, and I've had to put a number of things on the back burner. So I thought I'd do a quick post about some things I have lined up for you once February starts:

1) Dupe Or No Dupe shall return!

2) Nail art contest: I am partnering with a colleague of  mine to host a nail art contest for a good cause (and with a great prize!). Stay tuned for more details...

3) Born Pretty product reviews: I have three products to review for you from Born Pretty Store...You've seen a sneak peek of one of these already...hint, hint. :)

4) Fix My Fail!: I'm going to host an event on my Facebook page called 'Fix My Fail'...As you may be able to guess, this involves a for-fun opportunity for viewers to take a manicure I did that didn't come out very well, deconstruct it, and rebuild it in a beautiful way. :) If viewers like this feature, I hope to make it a recurring thing.

5) Favorite polish recaps: I'm going to start a feature, probably 1-2 times per month, recapping some of my favorite polishes grouped by color, brand, etc. Feedback from you on what you'd like to see is greatly appreciated.

6) Stamping plate size comparison post. Several weeks ago I promised a YouTube follower that I would do this, and it has been pushed back for too long, so I want to have this up soon!

And of course, plenty of Before & Afters, and NOTDs. :)

Thanks to everyone for hanging out with me and encouraging me through the 31 Day Challenge!

Big hugs,
M.

Preview: China Glaze's Wicked Collection

Hello everyone!

Now that China Glaze's Bohemian collection has hit shelves, I thought I'd post the publicity photo for their upcoming Halloween collection: 'Wicked'. Take a look: 

Something about this collection reminds me of the opening sequence for PBS's 'Mystery'--I used to love watching that. :) Here are the name of the colors, from left to right:

Cast A Spell

Immortal

Bizarre Blurple

Glitter Goblin

Roguish Red

Make A Spectacle

I'm not as excited about this collection as I have been for the other two, but there are several polishes I like here. Glitter Goblin looks like a lot of fun, and you know I have to have something called 'Bizarre Blurple'. I'm not sure how different Cast A Spell will be from Zombie Zest and It's Alive!, but let's fact it...I'll probably get it. :)

Keep 'em coming, China Glaze! :)

Thanks for looking,

M.