Disappearing Birds In Flight Nail Art (Sveta Sanders Inspired) + Tutorial

Hiya lacqueristas

Press Sample

Purchased by Me

Today I'm doing a mani very much inspired by the awesome and severely talented Sveta Sanders.  If you don't know who she is go and check out her Instagram I promise you won't be disappointed.  In any case she's pretty much the sole reason I found out about Bow Polish and its thermal topcoat and since then I'd been dying to create "disappearing" stamping nail art.

Holographic Leaves feat Colors by Llarowe Stamping Polish + Tutorial

Hey stamperistas,

Press Sample

Purchased by Me

Get ready for it today! Usually I will post my mega reviews of a new product on my blog first but in this case I have so many polishes that are so irresistible that I felt I had to at least do a quick mani for these pretty babies. Plus two of my nails popped off so...  Yup I got the new Colors by Llarowe stamping polishes that will be releasing on the 19th of March for preorder.  These polishes are beautiful and double up a regular polishes too.  I can't wait to share them all with you, but for now here's a taste of what's to come.

Pueen 2014 Stamping Buffet Geometric Gradient Nail Art + Bubblelina Signature

Lacqueristas,

Happy Sunday! Guess what?  I freaking finally got my new Pueen 2014 Stamping Buffet plates!  Yay it took so long even though I ordered them what feels like dog years ago from Amazon.  In any case they are here and I am happy and so I am spreading that happiness from me to you in the form of some gradient nail art. Btw you may have noticed but my pictures are changing around here as I get the hang of my new camera and editing software.  I'm hoping for some big improvements on all of my sites in terms of photo quality, but please pardon my inexperience while I'm getting things perfected.

I chose to break out a new indie brand that caught my eye on Instagram Bubblelina Nail Polish.  This lady knows her way around a thermal and so I ordered 3 polishes including the one I'm wearing today called Signature.  Signature is pink to purple thermal with extremely hard to see blue microglitter.  It's pink when warm and purple very reminiscent of Color Club's Puccilicious when warm.  What blew me away with this polish is that formula is amazing!  Smooth like butter, self leveling, and essentially a ONE COATER.  You know how excited I get about those, but I put down 2 to make sure I had a extra layer for stamping mishaps.

Now for the Pueen Cosmetics plate.  I can tell already this collection is going to be so tricky for stamping newbies.  Why? Because it was tricky for me and I already have a tons of tricks up my sleeve to deal with difficult to stamp plates.  Not that it's difficult, but I noticed if I was aiming for a distinct pattern on the plate I would often pick up the borders of other designs that were unwanted.  Another issue some of the designs within the plate weren't long enough for my nails.  That said the quality of this plate is nothing short of the excellence I have come to expect from Pueen.  I won't bother with a review since I've seen about 10 out there already, but I think a Youtube troubleshooting video maybe be necessary.

 So thoughts? I love the shift of Signature layered with the gradient effect.  I had a lot of fun putting this mani together! Stay tuned for my review of the Loja BBF plates on the horizon they arrived on my doorstep yesterday and I was like YAY! Lol as I think my instagram followers can attest too.  Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next post!

PolishTBH Anniversary Collection Review

Lovely lacquer ladies,

I had an honor bestowed on me these days! You know I am fairly humble when it comes to blogging and my nail art too.  It's because I look around and everywhere I see ladies with some crazy and amazing talent.  It's hard even think I match up so when a polishmaker takes the time to send me some of their products or ask me for opinions I take it really seriously, and I'm also extremely touched to be chosen.  Today I have that privilege as I'll be sharing a very special collection with you from PolishTBH from Chrissy's one year anniversary collection.  Just a warning this post is pretty pic heavy!

I discovered this brand thanks to Mimi of MakeupWithdrawal.  Because of her swatches I've clicked "add to cart" more times than I can count, and that's how I discovered the awesome splendor of the PolishTBH Diagon Alley Collection and the amazing cuticle oils she makes.  See my Harry Potter inspired nail art here.  I have a few more coming down the pipes so stay tuned, but today I'm just totally blown away.  I have three unique beauties for the 1 year bash and each one is somewhat a homage to the incredibly talented and still shockingly sexy (yes I said it) Britney Spears.

First up is Teal the World Ends.  The name is a a play on the song Til the World Ends.  This is a teal creally-ish polish sprinkled with white and black matte bar and hex glitter with holographic teal hexes interspersed throughout with spare holographic microglitter.  You want to know the greatest part about this polish (even though Chrissy has hit on two out of my four polish turn-ons right now) it's a THERMAL!!!  This little pretty transitions from the deep teal color to a pale blue when warm.  I honestly own nothing like this in my collection and I have a lot of thermals!  Opaque in two coats and stealing my heart in transition.  Thin coats with time to dry in between works best to minimize glitter drag.

 Warm

The gradient here is Essie Sweet Talker and stamped with Essie

No Place Like Chrome using Dashica SdP 47 and Fab Ur Nails Fun 2 plates

Transitioning

Almost to my nadir

Cold (or the natural state of my nails)

Brithday Tutu.  Is a pink gelee glitter topper packed with iridescent pink hexes and microglitter.  This one was a bit tough for me because I couldn't figure out what kind of base to pair with it.  Ultimately I think it worked best in a jelly sandwich layered to show off its beauty.  Pictured here layered between and over Colorama Espuma.  A little goes a long way with this one as the base was thicker than I expected.   It's necessary to be patient between coats otherwise you may not achieve the seemingly delicate effect I got here. I love how this one turned out the best!

I stamped over this polish using Color Club Eternal Beauty and Konad Special White for the Ballerina.  I used Konad plates M63 and S8

Finally I think I saved my favorite from the collection for last! Fantasy Anniversary Edition made me gasp when I took it out of the wrapping.  Liquid fire in a bottle! Almost too hot to maintain eye contact with.  This is one of those complex polishes that will flash fire at every angle that you move your nails.  Fantasy is a brownish-blackened jelly polish crammed with gold holographic hexes and microglitter.  Opaque in 3 thin precise coats.  Fantasy you are my everything.  I could not take it off nor did I dare create art over top of it!

So now you have my honest thoughts on this collection.  I think if you could only afford a couple you must definitely get Teal the World Ends and Fantasy Anniversary Edition.  Although in all honesty I think Birthday Tutu is the most versatile of all three.  Chrissy said TtWE will likely be her last thermal polish, which I think is a shame, so don't hesitate to pick it up!  The Anniversary Collection has already released.  You can purchase PolishTBH  here.  And while you're over there seriously consider trying the cuticle oils.  I loved the mini I got when I purchased the Diagon Alley collection so much that I immediately went back and bought 2 in the full size! Thank for reading and stay tuned for some awesome follow up nail art!

In case you didn't get it above these polishes were sent to me for review.  My opinions however are entirely my own!

Protect The Tatas!!! Ahem I Mean Breast Cancer Awareness Mani Ahead...

Hello lovely ladies and possible gentlemen,

As you know in the lovely month of October we raise awareness to protecting ahem the tatas.  Ok so here's the deal-e-o.  I'm going to take this opportunity to educate because this is actually the arena that is a familiar domain for me in a professional sense.  So here we go!

Breast cancer, like prostate cancer for males, is the leading cause of death for women in the United States.  If you are a lady with lovely lady humps you owe it to yourself to regularly think about your breasts.  I rarely share this side of my world but I have a lot of experience with breast cancer patients.  I have scrubbed their mastectomies and the subsequent repairs.  I have held their hands while they have agonized with these decisions and unfortunately had a very close friend diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25.  If you are a female aged 50 and over you need to have an annual mamogram.  If you are experiencing abnormal discharge from your nipples i.e. clear, greenish, blue, black, or brown you need to be evaluated.  Surprisingly bloody discharge is less likely to be a cancerous/malignant process.  If you feel a lump or mass that is NOT painful but constant and possibly growing over time you need to be evaluated.

What are things that increase your risk of breast cancer?  Earlier age of menarche (menses), age over 50, age at first childbirth (can offer protective benefit against breast cancer), personal history of abnormal biopsy such as ductal carcinoma in situ or lobar carcinoma in situ, first degree relatives (think mother, sister, brother, father) with breast cancer, breast density, estrogen and progesterone use, smoking, history of radiation to the chest (very pertinent for girls who had a childhood history of lymphoma or other types of cancer), post menopausal obesity and many more.  Let me say clearly these risk factors are completely inappropriate to gauge your possible future risk of developing breast cancer if you are a BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene mutation carrier.  African American ladies we are also at increased risk of developing breast cancer and having it detected at later stages with worse outcomes.  Be attentive!

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat:  CND Stickey/Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat

Base colors:  Essie French Affair and Fancy Gloss Barbie Girl

Stamping polish:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Fuschia and Konad Special Polish in White

Stamping plates:  BM 315 & 321


 
 

Ok.  I'll stop there I don't want to turn this into a sermon, but this is a serious matter and should be taken as such.   My goal in life is proactivity not reactivity so there we have it.  Now interspersed through this little preaching session is my mani.  I wanted to step it up this year.  I went to my tried and true bundle monster plates and holographic polishes.  Thoughts?  I hope I didn't scare anyone here and if you want to know more information about breast cancer and your possible risks there are tables that can help you with risk stratification that you can check out this article here.  It's a bit science heavy but is one of the guidelines standard to current clinical practice!  If you want to skip all the jargon and just get to the meat and potatoes click here for a risk assessment tool provided by the national cancer institutes.

 I know I didn't talk much about this mani but.  The accent features an pink to white transition from Fancy Gloss.  It's opaque in 2 coats and has a very slight holographic shimmer than you can see faintly in the sunlight.  Despite my best attempts I couldn't really capture it.  You can find Barbie Girl by Fancy Gloss here.  In any event thanks so much for reading and protect the tatas!  See you next post