LDTTWC Day 4: Lights, Camera, Action

Hey polished prisoners,

Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It'll do magic believe it or not
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

My guess is based on the title of this post and that little snippet of a classic Disney movie you can see where I'm heading yes?  Welcome to Day 4 of the Let's Do The Time Warp Challenge devoted to all things nostalgic!  And what could possibly be as nostalgic and as quintessential to my days of youth as Disney movies?  Well excepting She-ra, Playstation, and R.L. Stine not much!  My god how I have dreamed and dreamed and fantasized about that glass slipper, the clandestine dance in the garden by the fountain, and the final strike of the clock at midnight.  As the glimmering shoe was left behind my soul filled with anguish.  "Not the glass slipper!", is what I always thought.  Cinderella was irresponsible! A crowbar couldn't have pried those things off my feet!!!  Note how I never mention the castle, the mice, the fairy godmother, or prince charming himself? That's because they were all incidentals.  I wanted those freaking shoes! Alright enough ranting and onto the art...

These really need to be seen in natural like to show the holographic sparkle of INM Northern Lights.  I'll try and update tomorrow with a few more pics when the sun is up!

Inspiration for these nails was of course the clock with it's hands at midnight, the glittering and awe inspiring pumpkin-turned-coach, and the swirls of magic dancing about Cinderella as she received her glass slippers oh yeah and the rest but I only care about the slippers.  Initially I did try to create the glass slippers on my nails but it looked crazy no matter which why I did it.  A glass slipper only becomes a shoe when it is bestowed upon the princesses foot.  Until then it's just a pretty piece of clear glass yes?  The color of Essie's Blue Rhapsody to me was a perfect allusion to Miss.  Rella's dress.

Mani-louge

Polishes: Essie Blue Rhapsody, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Freeze!,  LA Colors Gold Glitter, Color Club Jingle Jangle, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Konad Special Polish in White, Essie Head Mistress, Yellow No Name Striper, Cm Nail Art in Black

Stamping Plate: T38 (chez delaney)

So here we are having taken another trip down the twisty and insane path that is my nostalgia.  Oh and just in case you didn't know it Disney is celebrating there Blue Ray release of Cinderella this year in an all out fashion including, gasp, twenty pair of limited edition Christian Louboutin swarovski encrusted butterfly adorned shoes inspired by the glass slipper themselves.  And I will leave you with this picture to drool away over!

Source

Right now I'm cursing my fate that I'm neither Dita Von Tease or Mariah Carey who were already slotted to own one of the twenty coveted pair.  Alas to be a commoner and poor just like Cinderella.  Lol!

How Much Is That Doggy In the Window? On Sundays I Stamp!

Hello polished prisoners,

It's Sunday Sunday Sunday and we know what that means round these parts ;)  Adventures in Stamping time!  Hehe - can you tell how much I love these challenges? This week it's all about 2 for 1 i.e. using two different stamps in a manicure.  I do this all the time at least when I'm doing abstracts so I thought for today let me see what I can do without relying on double layering my stamps which I have done a lot before historically.  I wanted something feminine, slightly whimsical, and cute.  Here's what I came up with...

Cute, cute, cute!

Mani-louge

Base colors: Essie Sand Tropez and Barielle Welcome Ohm

Stamping polishes: Konad Special Polish in Black Pearl & White, Barielle Welcome Ohm

Stamping plates: M57 (lace), KD11 (dog), NCO1 (hearts), BM19 (dots), RuiZ02 (paws)

Accents: Kiss Nail Art Stickers (upper lace), Kala Animal Love Nail Art Stickers (bones), 2mm clear rhinestone

For some reason here Welcome Ohm is pulling purple, but it's a deeper berry pink than shown here.

There is so much to this manicure I don't even know where to begin.  Initially, I posted up to my Instagram with just the french tips and accents thinking this would be a relatively simple manicure.  All I knew is that I wanted to use a combination of nail art stickers and stamping and the rest just fell into place.

I love how the nude comes into this manicure in such a subtle way like the supporting role to everything else.

All of a sudden I had five or six stamping plates pulled out from all sorts of different collections.  This is the kind of manicure that's a nightmare to do a tutorial on hahaha!

Do you think the princess will capture her bones?

So what do you think - isn't this just so cute? I have to say Princess Fifi La Fleur (yes I named the dog) is looking good with her little bling accent ;)  Well never let it be said that I can't mix and match stamps with the best of them.  When I see this manicure it reminds me so much of my Giesha girl inspired mani I did many yore ago.  In any case I hope you enjoyed reading about this challenge as much as I did creating it.  Thanks for reading and I'll see you next post!  Toodles...

Out To Lunch - Hello Kitty Style Nail Art

Hey polished prisoners,

Today I have a little mani inspired by a Hello Kitty lunch tin that was given to me by my mother.  Yup! I'm way too old to have things like this, but I use it for storage so that's my excuse.  The truth is I feel like girls are never too old to be girls and things like Hello Kitty are timeless like Barbie who btw I also love. In any event yesterday I was looking at the tin and then I thought wouldn't this be so cute on my nails.  The rest as they say is history...

Mani-louge

Base color: China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Paint drips/fenches: Orly Passion Fruit

Birds/Outlines/Clouds: Orly Liquid Vinyl, OPI Alpine Snow

Duckie: China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
Hello Kitty/Heart : Fauxnad plate KD1

The lunch tin that inspired the mani - way too cute right?

cG Flip Flop Fantasy is so neon my camera freaked out trying to capture it. This is dead on to the color IRL.

I love creating drip manicures - they are so easy and somehow come off looking harder to create than they actually are.  I need to do more of these in the future yes?

I'm definitely not 100% satisfied with my execution.  I need to keep working on my freehanding, but I do think the end result is pretty adorable.  I'm having a lot of fun these days doing silly but cute nail art.  I guess this is also due to cutting down my nails because when my nails are longer I do tend toward blingy style/"adult" mani's.  Which do you ladies prefer - my bling or my cute or just whatever goes? I'll see you next post and thanks for reading! Toodles...

Indie Polish Haul Bottle Spam + Ebay finds!

Man there are a lot of great indie brands out there and more coming every day.  However, it can be a bit overwhelming - polishes in limited supply due to hard to attain base for polishes as well as glitters and pigments, limited staffing/personal time, long wait lists, and stalking stalking stalking.  It can be exhausting and annoying, but it can also be extremely rewarding when you finally get your hands on a hard earned lemming.  I mean - I'm still dying inside for some Nailventurous and Dollish polish and a few others but I know when I get them it'll be worth the wait.  My recent haul includes some real beauties too as well as a few Ebay finds so let's get this post rocking!

 Red Carpet Lacquer
I recently posted about the my incendiary lust for CTD especially when combined with deep bloody red glitter - which is exactly what Toro for me was (see post here).  In any event I also took the opportunity to grab up some Mastermind and Mrs. White with a couple more awesome polishes on my radar.  Jaime, the creator behind this brand, has some beautiful packaging and the polishes come in a lovely organza gift bag packaged in silver confetti wrap - classy.  Best yet these polishes are packed with glitter and have easy spreadability.  I haven't struggled to get the glitter fully mixed with the base as I have some other brands.  Overall this brand's a winner.  Check her out on her Etsy store here for more great polishes - just leave some for rest the of us!

From left to right: Toro, Mastermind, and Mrs. White

 Lush Lacquer
Damn damn damn!  I don't have words for this brand.  I literally got knocked speechless. Karen and Lexi of LL have so many great polishes it will make your head spin!  Endless combinations of glitter and shimmer enough to spark any lacquerista's imagination.  Certainly, they grabbed my attention with some of their wonderful creations. I picked up two great polishes Salt N Peppa and Party Rockin'.  I haven't done any swatches yet, but stay tuned. They are both insanely dense glitters with moderate to easy spreadability and no settling issues here!  I have great plans for Party Rockin' and Salt n' Peppa is an instant winner.   You can  find these polishes and more  here on Etsy.

Left to right: Party Rockin' and Salt N' Peppa

Tina and Lucy
This creator is sweet with excellent communication.  I ordered two polishes from her and there was a mix-up with inventory.  She noticed immediately and sent me an alternate plus two smaller samples one of which I was really lemming.  I have to say that good customer service and communication goes a long way with me and this creator has both.  However, a couple things drove me crazy in a not so good way.  First, one of the polishes I got sent looks completely different from the photo's posted in the shop.  I mean it's entirely 5-6 shades darker than the listing.  Second, the glitters in these polishes seem to settle and I mean settle heavily making application frustrating and more than a bit annoying.  Applying Jade I would shake until everything was mixed up.  The instant I stopped shaking glitters were settling deep into the bottom of the bottle and unfortunately the color began separating too - not fun!  I'm still on the fence about these polishes and I'll have to try out a few more before casting a final decision.  It is worth saying though that she has some truly beautiful neutral shades in her range which is unique for indie glitters.  Find more polishes and info here on Etsy.

Stamp Stamp Stamp - Ebay Finds :)
I found these cute little plate while searching around on the 'bay for something oh so Hello Kitty cute!  These fauxnad plates are adorable KD01 and KD03.  I can't wait to do something fun with these check out the cute little bunny kitty on  KD01!

Thanks for reading and please let me know if you've also found some cool indie companies or products that you're trying out!