Happy Birthday Bundle Monster: 5 Year Celebration & Nail Art Contest

Hey stamparistas,

Bundle Monster is turning 5 years old this June! How awesome for them.  I can still remember Bundle Monster was the first set of stamping plates I ever purchased almost 5 years ago.  Prior to that I had been buying the individual Konad plates and wondering when another brand was going to hit the scene.  Then along came Bundle Monster with a 25 plate set at such a good price.  It was game over and I was in love.  Now 5 years later I have every single set they have created and still love the brand today! Since Bundle Monster also wants to celebrate their anniversary and decided to host a 31 day birthday themed nail art contest.  Let's take a look...

The challenge will run from June 1, 2014 to June 30, 2014.  You can post your mani's on  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.  You just have to make sure to use the hasthtags #BM5thBDay and #BundleMonster and make sure to use at least ONE Bundle Monster product in your mani.  Pretty easy right?  The best part is once a week for the month of June Bundle Monster will pick 5 random winners to receive a mystery nail art prize package. Plus you can enter as many times as you want.  Not bad eh?  So get excited ladies and start thinking up some good ideas for Birthday themed nail art! Thanks for reading and see you nest post...

Stormy Weather

Hello polished prisoners,

Happy Monday my lovely ladies!  I hope you had a great weekend and are looking forward to the upcoming holidays. I am but I also have quite a bit of work coming up so things are gonna be hectic.  Well it is the holidays so I expect that.  In any event did you know a storm is coming?  Lightening strikes, moonlit sprinkles, and sunshowers ahead so beware and tuck all friable parts out of sight!

Mani-louge

Base: China Glaze Pelican Gray & Sinful Colors Cinderella

Sponging: OPI I Have A Herring Problem, Sinful Colors In the Mist, Darling Diva Polish Space Beetle, China Glaze Haunting, and Wet N' Wild Black Creme; Barielle Slate of Affairs, and Zoya Feifei

Stamping polishes: Konad Special Polish in Yellow, White, and Pastel Blue, China Glaze Millenium

Stamping Plates: Konad UK Charming Nails Plate Q1, Konad M79, Bunny Nails BuNa 01, BM01, and SH08

One of my favorite instagramers Storms and Stars was having a little contest with the theme storms and stars ;)  Initially, I had so many ideas but I loved the concept of starry showers and lightening the most and decided to go with that theme.  This one was actually another mani that was quite a bit of work but for several reasons including base complexity, stamp placement, and overall effect.  I've been told now for the umteenth time that I'm OCD and today I'd finally have to agree.  I will admit I couldn't settle well on this one and it took me a while to figure out what I wanted, but I love the final picture.

What do you ladies think?  One thing that bugged me is that I realized I don't have any plates with an image of the sun except for my BM01 plate and I have a lot of plates!  I would think the sun would be a common kind of image to put on a plate but for some reason it's not prevalent at least not in my collection.  Maybe I should buy more plates ;) ;)  Lol trust me when I say that's not it at all!  I already have too many and more coming.  I need to finish my stamping catalog one of these days and get that page up so you all can check it out.  In any event thank you so much for reading stay tuned for more fun!  Toodles...

Cooler Than Me?!?

Hey polished prisoners,

I used up all of my tricks.  I hope you like this, but you probably won't because you think you're cooler than me ;) Nah...who's cooler than me?!? Lol,  but seriously I do hope you like this.  This is my entry for Chalkboard Nails Cool or Warm Nail Art Contest.  Essentially the task was to create a mani around either warm colors - red, orange yellow, or pink or cool colors - blue, purple, teal, and green.  Talk about tough!  I pretty much love all of these colors so it was hard to pick a concept initially.  Anyway this mani's got a lot of me in it.  The lusciousness of purples mixed with the provocative allure of bling.  Yup you should have know it wouldn't be too long before bling started making a re-appearance around these parts. So I really do hope you like it...

Mani-louge

Base: Revlon Quick Dry

Base Color + Accents: Essie Liliacism, Elixir Lacquer's Bad Kitty, Cm Nail Art Sky Blue & Blac

Dots: OPI Alpine Snow

So What do you think? I feel like I could have done something far more complicated or outrageous but I don't know honestly I wanted a marriage of colors that played well together and ultimately that's what I think I got.   I'm really cutting it close to the deadline on this one! Lol what here is different from usual?   In any event wish me luck and thanks for reading, and I'll see you next post!  Toodles...

Iron Lady - The Polish Well Fashion Contest Entry

Hey polished prisoners,

I think this goes without saying given the title and all but this is my entry for The Polish Well's Celebrating the Thousands Giveaway and Fashion Nail Art Contest.  My entry is based around one of the big trends for Fall 2012 that was everywhere during NY Fashion Week.   Retro granny if you will lol!  I know that sounds totally hideous, but if you've ever seen Oscar de la Renta do retro you know it's awe-inspiring! Think lace meets tweed with bold accessories. It's easy to fall in love with that kind of loveliness, not that I can afford such a frock, but recreating a mani around his design isn't entirely out of the equation.  So here's what I came up with...

I'm really pleased with how this came out. 

Mani-louge

Base color: Essie's Blanc

Watercolor: Essie Blanc + Power Clutch 

Holo topcoat: INM Northern Lights in Gold

Stamping plate: Dashica Big SdP I

Stamping Polish: Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl

This picture is not color accurate which makes me a bit annoyed as the white here comes off looking a dirty brown when it's not IRL.

 Here's the inspiration I used to create this look - Oscar de la Renta's Iron Lady. Isn't this gorgeous?  I feel like I need this jacket in my life as I will admit I am also a coat whore ;) Wait who am I kidding? I need the whole outfit hahaha! (Note: This will never happen but I can dream right?)

Photo credit: Imaxtree

The watercolor was done using the plastic bag method which to be honest I prefer about a million times over the acetone + polish method.  It's messier but I think it creates a more realistic looking watercolor effect without the little "dots" that I always see left behind when using the acetone method.  I tape of my nails just like with watermarbling to minimize the clean up.

This was my first attempt at watercoloring and though this one is simple I love it!  I will be trying this again soon with more colors.  

The palette created by OdlR is just gorgeous!  I can imagine doing this in a different way as well using this palette and a yummy accent.  Hmm maybe I will ;)

The giveaway ends at midnight tonight so you can still enter to win polishes from the China Glaze Bohemian and On Safari Collection, the Orly Flash Glam Collection, and the upcoming OPI Germany Collection.   The top ten contest entries will be posted on Facebook and then voting will proceed.  Wish me luck and thanks for reading!  Toodles...