MoYou London Tropical Overlapping Nail Art + Tutorial!

Hey stamperistas

Purchased by Me

I've been wanting to try these overlapping plates from MoYou London out for a while now.  In fact I purchased two of them as soon as they released, but I just didn't have a chance to pick them up and break them out until recently.  They've been sitting at my bedside just staring at me begging to be used so I decided to put them to good use and I'm totally pleased with how fun and tropical this mani came out :)

Valentine's Day 2016: Heart Gradients on Gradients Nail Art + Tutorial

Hey loveristas,

Still hanging in there.  My soul is not completely shriveled and I'm giving it my full gusto all about the love all about the bling bling heart thang.  Ok that's a lie, but whatever for those that follow me on Instagram you know I just got my new MoYou London Festive plates for Valentine's Day seriously in the nick of time for some V-day nail art.  I'm also very seriously considering how to work my own style into 2 different V-day looks, but time is closing in.  I should have started doing these the last 2 weeks of January because now I'm finally starting to get lots of cool ideas.  Alas!

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. ~ Charles Schulz

Christmas 2015: Holographic Snowflakes and Candy Cane Swirls + Tutorial

Hey stamp champs,

As ever every year I don't get to do nearly enough Christmas nail art.  I wanted to do so much more this season and look its already the 22th! Gah!  This might be the most productive I've been over the christmas season.  Lots of tutorials - I've shot more than I've released so hopefully I'll be able to get a few more up before the holiday season ends.  However today I'm doing another MoYou London nail art using their Festive plates this time.  Honestly Festive 03 gets a heavy workout from me every season - namely because the patterns on this plate are so freaking classic!  That swirl for the candy cane gets me every time however todays mani is definitely not the classic mint twist you might be expecting.  Please definitely tell me what you think in this alternative take in the comments below!

Christmas Simples: MoYou London Candy Cane Swirl Nail Art + Tutorial!

Hiya stamperistas,

How is everyone's weekend? It's amazingly warm here in mid December on the east coast which pretty much means the end of days is coming, but it also means the weather is utterly decadent!  I don't know whether to be happy or scared.  Lol in either case it doesn't really feel like winter however we are moving on with the Christmas Simples series.  This time candy canes.  I actually had another one planned, but they popped off before I could get photos :/  In any case candy canes are classic and cute for christmas nail art.  This time I created them using a twist of the Illusions Collections rather than a straight out candy cane plate.

Starbucks Fall Limited Edition Paper Cup Inspired Nail Art + Tutorial

Happy Friday stamperistas,

Fall never tasted so good right? Lolol!  Every fall I look forward to a few things religiously - pumpkin beer particularly the Blue Moon variety, PSL and SCM drinks from Starbucks, sweet potato cupcakes, and the wearing of hoodies with shorts.  Oh yes I am a lover of fall.  In fact I'd wager fall is my favorite season.  So when I saw the new cups that released this Fall from Starbucks I felt like I had to make an attempt to recreate this look with stamping.  I scrambled through my collection until my UberChic Beauty plates came calling.  After that the art just came straight together!

New Year's Eve Holographic Watermarble Nail Art

Hey stamperistas,

Ring a ding ding its almost 2015! Or some jazz like that right? Lol the new year never excites me.  It reminds me of drunken brawls, inappropriate behavior, and mechanical falls with simultaneous lacerations.  Yeah all of that and let me tell you now I'm not talking about my own personal experiences rather those of the people I take care of.  Lol, but New Years does offer me the opportunity to post theme related nail art so of course I gotta love that!

Color Club Abtract Skittlette Nail Art

Hey varnished vixens,

Today I thought I'd do a super simple mani as well as a little ode to a lady who always seems to have just the right knack of creating simple elegant nail art - Martha of Chit Chat Nails.  She also happens to be the queen of skittlelets.  So while thinking of how to execute a elegant and simple look I thought I'd take a nod at her style and go for the skittle mani.

MoYou London 31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day 12 OOTD

Hey lacqueristas,

Who thought of OOTD as a challenge? Ugh I am seriously not one to complain about my work attire because I love what I wear everyday on the other hand nothing is inspirational about scrubs.  I mean nothing.  It's like wearing pajamas to work everyday comfy, but certainly not fashionable.  I was a little at a loss unfortunately then I decided to take my two most frequently alternating scrub colors and create a gradient and a nautical theme to match my gym bag that gets carried to work.  Lol. What a mess but whatever works right?

Mani-louge

Gradient: Sinful Colors Savage and Color Club Age of Aquarius

Glitter accent: Butter London Scallywag

Stamping polish Mundo de Unas #30 and Orly Rage

Stamping plates: MoYou London Pro XL 01 and Sailor 01

One thing I have to say about this challenge is that my Pro plates are getting a workout.  Of all the plates halfway through this collection I would say the Pro are the most versatile hands down offering you lots of combos to create a very of nail art.   This came out like gangbusters! In short it ended up being a lot cuter than I thought it would given all my dismay and hemming and hawing about how my daily outfits are nothing to write home about lol.  What I got were some awesome #nautical #nailart!

So what do you think? Not bad for a set of scrubs and a gym bag right? I got style I got class ;) ;)  Note to shelf must use more of my Butter London polishes.  Isn't Scallywag divine!!!  Thanks so much for reading and see you next post...

#nautical #nailart #MoYouLondon #stamping #lacquerlockdown

Bestie Twin Nails - Blasian Color Nation!

Okay ladies long time no post again!

Today I have a special post!  Did you know that I'm very good friends with the lovely Vicky A of Boombastic Nails?  In fact I named her blog back in the days when she was just thinking about blogging.  I may have goaded her into it because she had some of the best swatches and pictures I've ever seen how could she NOT blog!!! Lol I sound insane but she's talented and she also happens to be my nail polish/nail art bestie for today's post. 

As you know I love my Instagram and there are always tons of tags running around over there one of which is the theme - bestie twin nails.  In short you and your nail art buddy pic an idea and colors and without showing the other create some nail art.  Vicky chose the theme - using tape in nail art and then I semi chose the colors - rainbow (but then we decided on full color spectrum).  So where does the "blasian" part come from? Lol - I'm African American/Black and Vicki is Chinese.  So there we are anyway without futher ado some bestie nail art...

Mani-louge (by finger):

Reds and Oranges: Orly Cherry Bomb, OPI A Good Mandarin Is Hard To Find, Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Cardinal, Essie She's Pampered, Claire's Little Dipper, Essie Tart Deco, and Sinful Colors Orange Creme

Greens: Color Club Artsy Craft, Essie Mojito Madness, Milani Neon Fresh Teal, China Glaze Starboard, Spoiled by Wet N Wild I'm so Jaded, and Orly Green With Envy

Blues: Orly Snow Cone, Orly Sweet Peacock, L'Oreal Royally Yours, Essie Mint Candy Apple, Essie Avenue Maintain, OPI Orge The Top Blue, and Essie Bikini So Teeny

Purples: Color Club Puccilicious, Essie Play Date, Essie Boxer Shorts, L'Oreal Lacey Lilac, Orly Velvet Rope, L'Oreal Royalty Re-Invented, and Essie Go Ginza

Black and White Marble: L'Oreal I Will! and Orly Liquid Vinyl

Pretty cool right?  Even though neither of us knew which exact colors we were using it turned out so similarly!  Lol I guess we are besties after all.  Vicky's came out so perfectly I feel a little embarrassed to even put my art up next to hers *waaahhh* She is so talented!  You can see more details of her art on Boombastic Nails.

Now I know you are thinking where did YOU use tape in your mani??  Well I did.  I put down one water marble (the black and white) and then taped off sections of it and water marbled on top of the taped off sections creating a double water marble!  Crazy cool right.  I used over 30 polishes to create this manicure, and at least 4-5 different colors and 3-4 brands for each "color" of the the spectrum.! My my how overly ambitious!  Anyway I hope you enjoyed this happy un-Easter edition of Lacquer Lockdown.  May candy bunnies rain from your skies and happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it! 

Tamira :)

Ring-a-ding-ding 2013..On Sundays I Stamp!

Hello polished prisoners,

I hope everyone has been well and enjoying the holiday season.  It's that time of year everyone is all a-flutter with excitement for the new year.  Lol as I read that back I realized it sounded as though I wasn't and to be honest I'm not sure.  Twenty twelve was supposed to be my year of triumph yet the heavens rained endless mental and physical challenges on me throughout the year culminating in a personal coup d'etat of epic proportions.  Well I'm still alive and I'm grateful, but I am earnestly hoping for a more sedate year ahead.  Ahem anyway let's onto the art...

Today's challenge was anything New Years and celebratory related.  In my mind this immediately meant the use of holographics...lots and lots of them.  Thus I instantly reached for my Zoya Ornates and my Color Club Holo Hues. Mmmmm donuts ahem I meant holo's....

Mani-louge

Base/Top Coat: OPI Natural Nail Base Coat and Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Topcoat

Base colors: Zoya Storm and Blaze

Stamping polishes: Color Club, Blue Heaven, Harp On It, and Cold Metal (Foiled Collection), China Glaze Millenium & Passion , Essie Blue Rhapsody, and Konad Special Polish in White & Black

Stamping plates: Sugar Bubbles Special 01 and 02  

Accent: 2mm clear rhinestones 

Gorgeous - everything about this collection is so lovely way to go Zoya!

Holo-llejah!  Lol :)  Capturing holos is so maddeningly difficult but look at all that fire!

How do you ladies feel about the New Year - excited, fatigued, apathetic?  I'd love to know really and yes I'm still stuck like glue on these Sugar Bubbles plates.  They are so so good!  They and many other plates (ahem Apipila) did not get nearly enough love this holiday season luckily Christmas time comes again and again oh and for me also in July.  So here we are.  I plan to do a few more holiday mani's before wrapping it up for the year moving onto some different nail art and I still have that Sugar Bubbles review on the back burner.  I probably won't do any kind of summation of my must have's but who knows.  Lol I sound so noncommittal please forgive me my world is a bit in flux right now so I'm trying to wrap things up before insanity ensues oh and make it to the post office (ugh holiday hours)  >_< Thanks for reading as always and I'll see you next post!  Toodles

Snowstorm Ahead...On Sundays I Stamp!

Happy Sunday fellow prisoners,

Is it just me or are the days going by faster? Not a bad thing but it means things can sneak up on you. But this is a season for that though...carols, shopping, upping your OCD meds, you know the usual... ;); Lol well today I have another entry for my Adventures in Stamping challenge. This weeks' theme is Winter Themed. I wanted to do a play on this challenge but I lost the sun and wifi. Honestly I've been holding back on doing something blue and sparkly for a while now but today I got an odd feeling of wanting to capture something different.

Ugh smudge town :( 

Mani-louge

Base color: Zoya Paloma jellied with Elevation Polish Froze To Death

Accent: China Glaze Fairy Dust and Confetti Ice Ice Baby

Stamping polishes: Konad Light Blue & White, Color Club Luminescent and Blue Heaven

Stamping plates: Bunny Nails HD05

I'm actually not very happy with how this mani turned out.    I wasn't at home and missing some tools so it didn't turn out quite how I'd envisioned it but its pretty in its own way. So thoughts? Berry was a odd color to do a snow storm over, but I love the unconventional effect it created. I think I'll have to give this another go later in the month :) Thanks for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

Thanksgiving KBShimmer Style

Happy Thanksgiving polished prisoners!

Is the stuffing flowing, gravy sensational, and turkey flavorful or are you partaking in the local football game and fun with friends? Lol hopefully you aren't like my good friends on call with only half a shift and bed to look forward to rather than the comforts of good eats! My favorite thing about T day besides the food? Fall weather perfect for frolicking outside oh and of course the nail art ;)

Mani-louge

Base and topcoat: CND Stickey and Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat

Base color: OPI Somoan Sand and Orly Satin Inspiration

Accents: KBShimmer Quantum Leaf

Stamping polishes: Nars King Kong, China Glaze Passion, Color Club Hot Like Lava and Ho Ho Holly, and Konad Special Polish in Red and Yellow

Stamping plates: Bunny Nails HD 06

I had so much fun creating this mani! Mainly for two reasons - my KBShimmer Quantum Leaf polish and Bunny Nails HD plates. Quantum Leaf is like fall in a nail polish in a bottle all golden and red and oranges with yellow deliciousness crammed in for good measure.  If you don't have this polish you should!  No excuses it's just brilliant! Get them here and stalk her upcoming creations on Facebook.  Now onto the other amazing part of this mani -  Bunny Nails, girl you are killing me.  Shall I say it again? Bunny Nails girl you are KILLING ME!!! Her plates are awesome awesome awesome and the recently released HD holiday series are breath taking.  Prepare to see more of her stuff around here plus a review on these plates.  If you want to order from her go to her blog here or her ecrater store. 

Well here we are another fun holiday mani down.  Thoughts, ideas, gushing compliments ;) ? Stay tuned for some upcoming things on this blog including the seven days of Crowstoes Christmas featuring the new holiday collection polishes! I'm excited about this one! Ok I'm off to enjoy some macaroni and cheese and Cajun style turkey (yeah my family is awesome) and after I've glutted myself I will be watching the Redskins tear the Dallas Cowboys apart  - ugh I wish I had tickets to this game!  Thanks so much for reading and happy Thanksgiving to all my readers where ever you may be.  Oh and before I forget today I am most most thankful for the gift of life something that I was so close to losing only a scant 4 months ago!  I have a lot to be appreciative for this year! Thanks again and see you next post :)

Gray Matter Abstracted...

Hey lacquerista ladies,

Having seen the yumminess of Pound of Glitters' Gray Matter I knew I had to create a little magic on top of such an amazing polish!  I think I might slightly be getting over my phobia of stamping over glitters and it's really for the best.  I should have listened to NailsIT about this long ago.  Oh well.  I did find however, that stamping over a polish like this requires a bit of pickness about the colors for stamping since this polish was overwhelmed really easily when I tried it with darker colors,

Lord look at the depth on this!  Love it!

Mani-louge

Base color: Pound of Glitter Gray Matter

Stamping Polish: China Glaze TTYL and Color Club Cold Metal

Stamping plate: Konad M63 & M64

Fire! The subtle way TTYL is peaking out is awesome :)

So thoughts?  I absolutely adore the way this came out, but I may be a bit biased ;)  I ultimately chose to layer a holographic polish over this holographic glitter and then use a foil to contrast.  For those of you that don't know the Foiled Collection by Color Club are some of my most reached for bottles when it comes to stamping along with the China Glaze OMG Collection.   Amusingly these two Konad plates were my first real stamping plates.  I fell in love with the patterns and had to have them thus began my obsession.  So my love affair with stamping and holographics continues.  Speaking of holographics those who follow my Instagram might know a little about what's up my sleeve next ;)  Thanks for reading and see you next post!  Toodles...

Falling Leaves...On Sundays I Stamp!

Hey polished prisoners,

Aigoo I am so behind schedule! Yesterday I had every intention to post up day 2 from the challenge, but I had an unexpected visit from my mum so that got blown to bits lol!  And today the AIS challenge for a Leafy mani almost stumped me.  I've told my friend Vicky from Boombastic Nails that I still have fails 9 out of 10 times when I go to stamp and today it went exactly like that.  I sort of realized these fails are the result of poor color choice, and so I'm going to be making an effort to make sure I put my stamping colors and base colors together with a bit more care in the future to prevent frustration when the colors don't show up as I've imagined them. Okay so enough rambling...let's get onto the art!

Orly's Buried Alive...wait I have to do this and then I can talk about the color.  "I shall leave you as you left me.  Buried alive...buried alive."  "Kaaaahhhhhhhhnnnnnn!!!! (echoes...echoes).  LOL!!! I'm sorry I had to and yes I'm a huge dork!  Anyway, Orly's Buried Alive looks like it should have debuted in the fall instead of the summer.  It is so rich so rich I knew when I saw the theme for this weekend that it had to be the main color for the mani.  And because I made this choice this is exactly why my first few attempts at this mani resulted in fails.  It's so dark and beautiful holos and lighter colors, even my beloved cG Passion, got sucked into its depths and disappeared never to be seen or heard of again! It took me a while to realize metallics and foils were going to be the only type of finishes that would work on this polish.

I ended up changing the base color of the water marble.

Mani-louge

Base coat: Revlon Rapid Dry Base Coat

Base colors: Orly Buried Alive (stamping) & Essie Sand Tropez (Marble)

Stamping colors: Color Club Art Club Name Unknown (green), Color Club Antiquated & Hot Like Lava, Essie Good As Gold & Nothing Else Metals, Sally Hansen Snappy Sorbet, and Konad Special Polish in Yellow

Marble colors: Color Club Artsy Crafty, Orly Buried Alive & Night Owl, OPI Big Apple Red & Lemonade Stand By Your Man, and Milani Juicy Glo

Stamping plate: BM04

Holy smokes right?!? So many freaking polishes! In my defense fall is very color rich and so even this amount of polishes doesn't quite cover the spectrum of all the beautiful colors that abound at this time of year.

I love the shimmer exploding all over this mani!

You may be asking why the water marble?  Well it was a last minute decision.  One of the things I love about marbles is that they very effectively capture the transitions of colors and fall is really all about transition.  So what do you think?  Even though this challenge pushed me and I had multiple fails I'm very happy with the final results.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for my vintage mani for day two of the LDTTW challenge!  Toodles!

50:50 Color Club Age of Aquarius & Orly Glitz & Glamour

Hello dollies!

I hope your weekend went well.  It feels like the summer is winding down really quickly. I'm one part ready for the transition and another part nervous about it.  It's just as well as I've learned whether you are prepared or not life changes and you just have to go with it.  As one of my favorite teachers would put it - "Don't fight it!"  I also missed my AIS posting since I've been feeling a bit run down and haggard lately :(  Oh well there's only so much I can do at any one time given my health limitations.  Okay so I know you're like enough rambles what about the nails girl? It's super simple today.  I did this one quickly this morning to keep my right hand from being naked.

Age of Aquarius by Color Club is seriously one of my favorite turquoise polishes!  The formula is smooth and effortless and the color is dead on to the bottle.  What's not to love? Because I'm still falling all over myself in lust with the color gold I've got another Orly gold colored polish today.  This one is called Glitz and Glamour.  It has an almost texturized effect that gives this polish such a rich feel.  Whenever I wear this one I always keep looking down at the gold shimmer.

I finished this off with a simple lines using a Kiss Nail Art Striper.  This is so easy I feel like a cheated, but I love the overall feel of the manicure when it came together.  I mean I'm all for elaborate nail art but sometimes it really is clean execution and simple tricks that win me over.  So I hope you liked this one! Anyone have any exciting plans for the week? I'm going to try and get a new tutorial up on my Youtube which has been a bit neglected of late (hangs head in shame).  Thanks so much for reading and see you next post! Toodles...

Swatched: Vivid Lacquer Polishes

Hey polished prisoners,

Happy Saturday! First let me start by giving a HUGE shoutout to Missy from Gnarly Gnails for helping me make my blog look legit! Hahaha - she can personally attest to my poor ability to understand the intricate workings of making my blog look "pretty", but she really helped me out a lot. I hope you like it as much as I do! And best of all now you can find all the ways to subscribe to me in one neat location under my header just clicky clicky ;).

Alright today I'm going to be showing you some swatches of a few polishes from the indie brand Vivid Lacquer.  You may remember me gushing about this brand once before when I first got her plates and then again when I did the duochrome butterfly mani.  To date that is still one of my favorite nail art creations!  Well I also had the pleasure of receiving three mini's from Anni the creator of Vivid Lacquer to test out for review. So let's get started!

How I rate:
Formula (3 pts), Color (2pts), Brush/Bottle (1pt), Wearabilty/Durability (2pts), Ease of Application (2pts).

Waltruad

This polish was inspired by the favorite colors of Anni's mom. Waltraud is a shimmering pale green jelly base chock full of rainbow of matte glitter. I layered one coat of Waltraud over one thin coat of Orly's Green Apple.

The Good: Damn this color is pretty! What wasn't apparent to me from the bottle that I quickly realized when it was on my nail is the darker green shimmer that caught and reflected light at certain angles.  I kept looking down at my nails and then moving them about to see the shimmer.  I also loved how the multicolored glitter added an extra punch of pretty to the manicure.  The formula on this one was also excellent and I was able to get even coverage in one coat without fishing for glitters.  To be honest this polish snuck up on me.  I didn't expect to fall in love with the shade, but ended up walking away with Waltraud having stolen a little piece of my heart.  

The Bad: Perhaps only of minor note that the polish required a good shake beforehand to disperse the glitters that were settled toward the bottom, but this is typical for most glitter polishes and didn't pose any problems for me during the manicure.

Overall rating: 9/10

The Ice Queen's Lament

This is a pale blue frosty shimmer polish composed of blue jelly base, blue heart glitter, blue diamond glitter, and silver and white glitters.  Here I have layered one coat of TIQL over one coat of Color Club's Luminescent.

The Good: I love color of this polish to bits and pieces!  I am a sucker for blues and with the fall and winter coming I like the idea of such a pale blue in my collection.  Plus this kind of blue makes my skin look glowy and healthy which is huge WIN for me.  The formula on this was also quite good.  I was able to get the coverage I wanted in one coat.  I had a bit of difficulty getting the larger heart shaped glitters out but turning the bottle upside down with a gentle tap solved the problem without too much of a hassle.

The Bad: This is what I call a "tough polish" mainly because of the finish.  I don't really enjoy frosts for a couple of reasons including that brush strokes inevitably show through giving your nails an uneven appearance.  The one thing that really bothered me is the fact that the heart and diamond glitters didn't appear with the clarity that they should due to the frosted base overwhelming their color.  It was almost like the frost oversaturated the deep blue of the heart shaped glitters making it hard to see them within the manicure which was disappointing.

Overall rating: 7/10

The Harlequin's Adoration

This polish contains red and bronze flecks with black and white diamond, red heart, and fine black and white glitter in a clear base.  I layered a little more than one coat using the dab method over one thin coat of Orly's Luxe.

The Good: This was hand's down my favorite polish of the trio! It's so rich and fiery catching the light and bouncing all over the place. THA turns any polish it's layered over into an inferno and the heart shapes and diamonds add extra magic to the affair.  Formula on this was excellent I had no need to fish around for glitters since the polish was packed full of glitter.  While I ultimately chose Luxe to swatch this over I played with about 5-6 different undies and each of them ended up being super pretty.  I added an accent nail to this swatch using A-England's Avalon and stamping with VL-001 heart pattern using the primary colors of THA (i.e. gold, red, white, and black).  I love this one so much I'll be going back to get a full-sized bottle when I do another VL haul.

The bad:  It's worth noting that with THA less is more.  Because this polish is so jam packed with glitter it's really easy to overwhelm the base color that your painting over.  Dabbing with this one is definitely better than a full sweep over your nail as you would with regular polish.  I don't even really consider this a negative aspect but it just means one has to be careful with application here.

Overall rating: 9/10

Well I hope you enjoyed my little review.  If you are interested in purchasing any of the polishes seen here you can find Vivid Lacquer here on Etsy.  Anni also has a Facebook page where she keeps her fans updated on her latest creations and ideas.  You know I'm already a huge fan of her stamping plates too which are thus far one of a kind in the indie world and really lovely!  You can see my review of those plates here.  Thank you so much for reading and I'll see you next post!  Toodles...

These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer.  For more information please see my disclosure policy.

Abstract Shades of Blue...On Sundays I Stamp!

Hello polished prisoners,

Time for another Adventures in Stamping post! I'm just gonna jump right in - the theme for this week was using your favorite new stamp.  Saaaayyyy what?  Lol - yeah that's a tiny problem for me because I've gotten a lot of new plates recently including my Red Angel plates which arrived this week (stay tuned for the QC post).  So I decided to take these out for a spin this time around. I also had to do a big chop to my nails since I snapped the middle one on the way out the door yesterday - boo! Alas they will regrow and in the meantime I can use my smaller image plates without a need for double stamping which kinda rules.

I think this is so cute and easy!

I started with Sinful Colors Cinderella as the base color.  Cinderella is a beautiful blue sheer polish filled with bits of iridescent pinkish red and gold microglitter.  By itself it's a gorgeous polish, but it also worked well as a backdrop for my abstract manicure.  FYI, in case you didn't know Sinful Colors will be on sale for .99c at Walgreens til 7/28 so take advantage and pick up some lovelies on the cheap!

 I used plate RA120 and stamped using Essie Blue Rhapsody and Color Club Cold Metal. 

 This type of stamping where you are sectioning out colors within a single stamp is my favorite kind of nail art.  It requires a bit of attention, but when executed correctly has cool payoff. 

Omo - a little too much glare here, but I was trying to capture all the shimmer fro the 3 different polishes.

 The look ends up very simple the overall effect is complex because of the "layering" within the stamp along with the use of a metallic and foil nail polish on a cream base. I like to think of it as a "texturized" mani.

You can see all the pretty pink sparkle from Cinderella rising underneath the stamp - cool beans!

So here we are my second foray into AIS.  I hope you liked it and please comment below! I'll see you next post.  Toodles...

Pretty & Polished Hello Dolly Meets A Lunar Eclipse

Hello polished prisoners,

Today I've got some pretty to share - some Pretty & Polished that is!  I've had this swatch in my head forever - the deliciousness of Orly's Lunar Eclipse combined with all the luscious glitter in P&P's Hello Dolly.  Eventually, I couldn't resist the sweet allure any longer and had to make it happen, but of course I wouldn't be me if I didn't add a little spice to the mix (smiles). By now I think it's clear that I am not really a "swatching" kinda girl. I do enjoy them, but like M Night Shyamalan I love a good twist!

Hello dollies! Single coat pictured over first three digits and then sparingly dabbed over the water marbles.

Mani-louge

Thumb & Index Finger: Orly's Lunar Eclipse and Pretty & Polished Hello Dolly

Middle Finger: Essie's Jamaican Me Crazy and Orly Lunar Eclipse + Pretty & Polished Hello Dolly

Ring and Pinkie: Water marble using Essie's Jamaican Me Crazy, Color Club Puccilicious & Almost Famous with Pretty & Polished Hello Dolly lightly dabbed on.

As you can see I have a lot of techniques going on in this manicure.  This often happens when I'm randomly "creating" a mani with no idea or no focal point in my mind.  Even though I knew I wanted the P&P/Orly swatch the rest was just whatever I thought might be fun. 

I love that even in the shade/indirect light you can still see the inner fire of Hello Dolly.

 Shall I also tell you another secret? This was my first attempt at a water marble! I'd been dying to do one for ages, but never got around to it until just now.  The execution definitely was imperfect, but I think it came out okay for a first time attempt.  Clearly, I'm no Colette of My Simple Little Pleasures - she is amazeballs!  The hardest part was finding polishes that would spread out in the water and then creating a clear pattern.  Do you have any recommendations brand/polish-wise to make things easier?

I still need a lot more practice until my water marbles are "clean" but I still love the overall effect.

So what do you ladies think of the results? There are so many things I haven't tried yet on my nails I'm so excited and I can't wait to share.  I wonder what other techniques you ladies are interested in seeing or trying yourselves?  Please do let me know and thanks for reading! Toodles...

A Windestine Glittering Gorgeous Gradient

Hello lil' lacquer lovers,

 I am so souped not to be doing a mani in red white blue or any iteration therein.  I OD'ed on 4th of July themed manis.  I am therefore very happy to present something bright cheerful and utterly utterly me - a yellow and purple glittering gradient manicure.  Yay!

Loving this gradient!

I started with Color Club's Almost Famous - a bright yellow creme.  Let me say I'm seeking the holy grail yellow nail polish i.e. opaque in 2 coats with minimal streaking etc,  If you know of such a polish for the love of God leave me a comment below because Almost Famous wasn't even almost close.  It took four merciless coats before I reached appropriate coverage! Color me...annoyed.  I also used Color Club's Puccilicious, a creme based purple which I love, to create a beautiful purplely blended gradient.  I did hesitate a bit color choice wise as I didn't want to reach a gross weird gray brownish color in between the transition, but it came out beautifully.

I loved this but I kept feeling like something was missing when I decided to add the Kiss Nail Art Stickers.

I also gently sponged on Windestine's Pansies.  This is a sort of dark purple and gold microglitter mixed in a clear base that's adding the sparkling magic to this gradient.

I still got a bit of gray coming through the gradient in the middle, but I was able to keep it subtle.

The last step was adding some Kiss Nail Art Stickers that came in a little pack I found at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.  I am so happy with the final look here!

Lovin' the bling per usual!

 If you are interested in Pansies unfortunately no longer being made by Windestine due to some issues with her supplies, but you can still check out some of her other beautiful glitters on Etsy.  This seller is just so wonderful and a pleasure to work with and her formulations are amazing! Personally, I love the final effect here - simple but pretty.  What do you think?  Thanks for reading and please comment below!