Before & After: Paper clip seriotype (Zoya Urban Grunge Seriotype + UberChic Beauty 11-01)

(Press samples ahead!)

Hello!

Today I have a quick before & after for you--I started with a seriotype of Zoya Urban Grunge polishes:

Seriotype with Zoya Urban Grunge Polishes

And then I stamped this geometric image from UberChic Beauty 11-01, with Messy Mansion Sterling:

UberChic Beauty 11-01 over seriotype with Zoya Urban Grunge Polishes

Then I matted it, because, of course: 

UberChic Beauty 11-01 over seriotype with Zoya Urban Grunge Polishes, matted

UberChic Beauty 11-01 over seriotype with Zoya Urban Grunge Polishes

UberChic Beauty 11-01 over seriotype with Zoya Urban Grunge Polishes, matted

Which do you like better? Matted or not?


Happy stamping,
M. xoxo

Before & After: Easter Chevron Seriotype (featuring Born Pretty Store chevron tape and Zoya Petals polishes)

(Press sample; affiliate links)

Happy Easter!!

I wanted to do an Easter manicure this year that wasn't super-Eastery (no slew of bunnies or eggs this year), but still had Easter influences. I decided to put together a seriotype using the Zoya Petals collection (see my review here), and then try out the new chevron striping tape Born Pretty Store sent me for review.

I think the chevron tape is pretty darn nifty; it works like any other polish striping tape, but allows you to get crisp chevrons:

Born Pretty Store chevron striping tape

Down the center of these rolls, you'll see a stripe of chevron: 

Born Pretty Store chevron striping tape

Born Pretty Store chevron striping tape

There are a few ways you can use this tape. You can just use it as is, to put a chevron stripe over your nails; in this case, you're probably going to want to cover with topcoat to keep the edges from pulling up.

You can also use this to mask off an area you want to paint with a different color; you could put a stripe of this just below the edge of your nail, for example, and paint the top to get a funky french manicure with a chevron edge. You can put several strips and paint in between, or you can paint over and remove the tape to show the color underneath.

But don't forget that the actual chevron stripe isn't the only part you can use--above and below the actual stripe are two other sections you can use as well, each with one straight edge and one jagged edge. Don't just throw it away, use it!

For my sample manicure, I started with a seriotype made from most of the polishes in the Zoya Petals collection. I started with a base of Zoya Tulip, then sponged on some Laurel. Then I layered on some Azalea and Zahara, and finished with little sponges of Leia for some extra shimmer:

Seriotype with the Zoya Petals collection

Next, I put two stripes of chevron tape at the top of each nail:

Step one: put on your stripes of chevron tape

I sponged over this with gold polish (I used Barry M Gold Foil Effects):

Step one: sponge polish over the tape

Then I cleaned up and added topcoat:

Easter chevron seriotype with Born Pretty Store chevron tape and Zoya Petals polishes

I think this look has an Easter feel without being too in-your-face about it--the stripes look a bit like decorated eggs and the colors bring a nice spring palette. You could also do this with a contrasting color, like purple or blue, for a bolder look.

You can find Born Pretty Store chevron tape here; don't forget to use my code for 10% off your purchase:

Happy Easter weekend!
M.

Before & After: Holiday Seriotype! (Or, nobody expects the white poinsettia)

(Press sample, affiliate links)

Hello!

Today's theme in the Crumpet Nail Tart's challenge is simply 'Christmas', so I thought I'd take the simple theme and go the extra mile by giving you several looks.

I started with a holiday seriotype featuring Zoya Aspen, Zoya Amal, Zoya Honor, and Zoya Sue, all from their 2015 Matte Velvet collection (full review here)--I've been using these like crazy this season because I just adore the holiday colors, and mattes are so great to work with for nail art.

If you've never done a seriotype, I highly recommend them--they are super easy, you just sponge your polishes one at a time over your nails randomly until you get a look you like. I suggest using latex around your cuticles to ease clean-up, because they can be messy.

Here's how mine turned out, first in matte form:

Holiday seriotype featuring Zoya Aspen, Zoya Amal, Zoya Honor, and Zoya Sue

Holiday seriotype featuring Zoya Aspen, Zoya Amal, Zoya Honor, and Zoya Sue

For my first look, I went all out. I wanted to do a baroque sort of look, and I wanted to include the poinsettia from UberChic Beauty's Christmas 01. But, I wanted to do something a little different and special, so I decided to go with the oft-ignored white poinsettia instead of the typical red one. So I made a poinsettia decal with Zoya Honor and Sally Hansen White On; then I stamped scrollwork using UberChic Beauty 6-01 with Barry M Gold Foil and Sally Hansen White On:

Here's how it turned out:

Nobody expects the white poinsettia

Nobody expects the white poinsettia

There are things I like about this mani--I love how the layered scroll work in white and gold go well together and create an old-fashioned Christmas look. However, I can't decide if I like the poinsettia--the white feels a bit stark, and I'm not sure if that's because I'm just not used to white poinsettias, or because it's just too stark. Overall, I'm happy with how it came out.

For my second look, I decided to go a little simpler. I used two complementary images from the upper right of UberChic Beauty 6-02; this is one of the features I love about UberChic's plates, the images designed to play well together:

I stamped the full image on most of the nails, and the inset on the accent nails:

Serious swirls

Serious swirls

This second look has more of a whimsical look to it, and lets the underlying seriotype shine through.

I love both of them--do you have a favorite?

Happy stamping!
M.

An InLinkz Link-up

NOTD: Waterlilies (featuring UberChic Beauty 5-03)

(Press sample; affiliate links)

Hello!

I am so excited about today's mani--it's one of the ones that broke my heart to take off!

The beautiful waterlily image on UberChic Beauty 5-03 inspired me to do a take-off on a Monet waterlilies painting:

UberChic Beauty 5-03

I started with a seriotype, because they are the perfect technique to imitate an impressionist painting...I started with Zoya Hunter and Zoya Sia, to lay down an undercoat of dark blue and green. Then I went over it with Zoya Josie, Zoya Skylar, China Glaze Cha Cha Cha, and Sally Hansen Blue Away. To create the lillies, I stamped one full size (with Barry M Silver Foil) and shrank one, then filled them both in with Sally Hansen Lively Lilac and Wet n Wild Who Is Ultra Violet.


Here's how it turned out:

Waterlilies, featuring UberChic Beauty 5-03

Waterlilies, featuring UberChic Beauty 5-03

Waterlilies, featuring UberChic Beauty 5-03

This came out so soft and pretty and impressionist-y and Monet-y...And I love how well the flower image shrank down. Like I say, I had to force myself to take it off because I had other stuff to do...sigh...such is the life of the nail blogger!

You can find this and other awesome UberChic Beauty plates in their store, here.

What do you think? Would Monet be proud?

Happy stamping!
M.

Review & Test: My Online Shop JR-22 (Or, these are my ghost adventures)

(Affiliate link)

Hello!!

Have you ever seen that show Ghost Adventures? Actually, there's a bunch of different ones out there when people go into old buildings at night and try to get evidence of paranormal activity. I don't really watch them too much, except at Halloween time, they're kinda fun...And I thought it would be cool to do a ghost manicure inspired by them.

Luckily, I have just the plate waiting for Halloween to be reviewed: My Online Shop JR-22. I bought this a while back in anticipation of Halloween, and am so happy to finally use it!


Here's the video I made reviewing the plate:

And here are the still shots of the plate (sorry, I forgot to take the pic before doing the stamping test, so there is some scraping):

My Online Shop JR-22

My Online Shop JR-22

My Online Shop JR-22

And here's a shot of the plate next to a standard Konad plate so you can get a feel for the size of the images:

My Online Shop JR-22 vs. Konad

How does it stamp? Let's take a look at my mani...

I wanted to create the look of the dark rooms they show in the TV shows, when they have the night vision cameras and everything looks all gray and indistinct. So I did a seriotype with Julep Ledi, Sally Hansen Gone Gray, and Sally Hansen White On. Then I did some reversed stamping with the little ghostie; I stamped him with Eat Sleep Polish Endless Sheets Of Canvas, and colored him in with White On:

A ghost in the dark of an abandoned prison...

Definitely not a dust particle or a light anomaly...

These are my ghost adventures!!

I love love love how this came out! The floaty ghost is all comin' right for ya with his spooky mouth in the scary dark room! This is one of my favorite Halloween manis I've done. :)

You can find this plate here, in My Online Shop's online shop!

Happy spooky stamping!
M.

Before & After: Zoya Flair seriotype + UberChic Beauty Fairytale 01

(Press sample; affiliate links)

Hello!

This isn't exactly a Halloween manicure, but it's a manicure that would be awesome if you're dressing up as the Mother of Dragons for Halloween this year!

To start, I did a Nichole-esque seriotype mani (Nichole from Bedlam Beauty, that is) with some of the polishes from Zoya's Flair collection (click here to see my review); I chose Zoya Estelle, Zoya Giada, Zoya Tris, and Zoya Cinnamon:

Seriotype mani with Zoya Estelle, Tris, Giada & Cinnamon

Seriotype mani with Zoya Estelle, Tris, Giada & Cinnamon

I have to take a moment to rave about how much I love this type of mani. I never would have thought to do this myself--basically you just keep sponging the different colors onto one another until you're happy with how it looks, and I would have thought for sure the result would get muddy and nasty--but it's amazing and beautiful. If I hadn't seen so many beauties on Nichole's blog, I never would have tried it.

For my next step, I stamped the dragon-scale image from UberChic Beauty's Fairytale 01 plate using MoYou London Ginger Rust, and then topped everything off with the dragon image on my middle finger, using Hit The Bottle Polish Absynthe-Minded.

Here's how it came out:

Mother of Dragons manicure

Mother of Dragons manicure

Mother of Dragons manicure

In my mind, this is exactly the sort of manicure I can see Daenerys wearing, and if I were dressing up as her, I would absolutely wear this. I am completely infatuated with how amazing that seriotype looks under the dragon scales, and I kept this manicure on for several days longer than I really should have, just because I love it so much. Total swoonage.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy stamping!!
M.