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...

3R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Hey polished prisoners,

I am a testament to the fact that indeed old dogs most assuredly can learn new tricks - lol.  Um of course by that I mean my penchant for not wanting to decorate over glitter nail polish has at last been broken! Remember those glittering nails polished by DDP's Red After The Wolf that seduced me so quickly away from stamping? Well they got a little upgrade...nothing is friendlier to the environment i.e. my cuticles than recycled nails (smiles).

The red looks bottomless under all that stamping!

I stamped using BM312 and BM313 using China Glaze Passion and Revlon's Copper Penny respectively.

For some reason this look strikes me as very "Russian" can't put my finger on why though..

What do you ladies think - to stamp over glitter or not to stamp? I mean is it better to just enjoy the sparkle without the distraction of more or to create something fresh after a little bit of one dimensional bling?

Still so in love with this mani!

 For me I think looking at all the glitter peeking through the gold swirls made me love this manicure even more, but I'd love to hear more opinions.  In any case thanks for reading and I'll see you next post!  Toodles :) 

Darling Diva Polish Red After the Wolf....And My Heart

Hey lacquer ladies,

I sat down with every intention of doing some bad-ass stamping today and in preparation painted my nails and then promptly fell in love.  I fell so hard I'm still knocking twigs and rocks out of my clothes lol.  It started innocently with Spoiled Breakfast in Red and Pumping Gas.  I bought these polishes with the intention of stamping on them for QCing my plates, but didn't expect much in terms of formula etc. However the formula was flawless and smooth as butter.  I almost stopped after seeing how insanely pretty this combo was together, but I knew this would make perfect undies for Darling Diva Polish's Red After the Wolf.

Isn't this gorgeous? Despite the curling seen here the application of this glitter was like butter and it went on very smooth. 

These are the Spoiled undies that almost seduced me away from applying RATW.  The formula on these was flawless. This is three coats pictured below.

My nails practically glowed from Breakfast in Red.  It is truly a beautiful color, but I love Pumping Gas just as much as I do have a weakness for brown polishes.

DDP's RATW is a glitterbomb packed full of red large and small hexagons and crystal glitter in a clear base.  It reminded me of looking into fire!  These pictures were all taken without topcoat so you can see the finish on this glitter is quite smooth. 

Even in the shade you can still see all the depth of RATW.

When I did finally apply topcoat all the hexes laid completely flat and uncurled which made me happy because tacoing is the devil.

I'm still very much in love with the slogan for DDP's bottles :)

What do you think of the final product? As you can see no nail art made it onto my nails, but I couldn't be happier! If you are interested in Red After the Wolf you'll have to contact Darling Diva Polish via her etsy since I haven't seen it listed there for quite a while.  You can also check out some of her other amazing polishes as well.  Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next post! Toodles!

Darling Diva Polish Bazinga! Jelly Leopard Manicure

Hey lovely ladies,

Lately the indie polish world has erupted with some serious drama that has left me feeling a bit unhappy and bummed out.  I'm a big supporter of these independent lacqueristas, but I can't stand drama at all.  The first sign of trouble and I'm out! So I was feeling a bit down and wanted to create something playful, lighthearted, and easy to lift my spirits a bit.  Enter leopard print and DDP's Bazinga! Bazinga! is a creamy white jelly polish loaded with multi-colored hexes small round and bar glitter.  It is yummy and reminds me of candy, ice-cream, and all things sweet!  I used Essie's Marshmellow, a squishy white jelly, as the base and then used three layers of Banzinga! to reach opacity.  I probably could have done it in two but I wanted to make sure I didn't have any VNL like I did with my last mani.  I used a more subdued color, Essie's In Stitches, for the base of my leopard print.  It's a very rich deep colored rose creme polish that is opaque in 2 coats.  The leopard pattern was freehanded with China Glaze's Passion and Orly's Liquid Vinyl.  Check out the final results below.

See what I meant about the Banzinga! just being layers and layers of milk and sprinkles? I really love this effect of jelly finish polishes!

Bottle shot of Bazinga! It looks like melted ice-cream with tons of sprinkles.  Yum!

This is a picture I took before I started adding the leopard print - indoor lighting.  You can see how In Stitches adds a bit more somberness to the festive quality of Banzinga!

I think the extra metallic quality of CG Passion that I used for the leopard spots really added a 3rd dimension to this manicure and really made the pattern pop.

Quote on DDP labels: "The Prettiest Girls are the Happiest Girls.  Be Happy! I love that!

I really like how this turned out and can't stop looking through all the layers of Bazinga! to see the glitters underneath all the jelly base!  I think polishes like this are so fun and easy to wear.  You just layer it up and it's instant art by itself.  Also because Banzinga! is so packed full of glitter I didn't have to do any fishing at all just strategic placement of the glitters as I added layers.  While I don't enjoy the drama behind the indie scene these days I will always be a fan of innovative and unique polishes, and I'm so glad I've had the opportunity to buy so many awesome polishes!  If you're interested in Bazinga! or want to see more Darling Diva Polish you can find her shop here on Etsy.  The seller is super sweet, super responsive to emails, and always happy to set up custom listings. 

Theme Song of the Moment: Ruin by Cat Power.  All about traveling, heading home, and complaining when you have lots and others have nothing.  I like this song because a) it's utterly dancible, b) it makes me grateful for what I have and gratitude can keep you balanced when other things are falling apart and c) because it's Cat Power and she hasn't released an album since 2006's The Greatest.

Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next time.  Toodles!