Nars 2010 Vintage Collection + HB Plates 16-20

So a while back, I had preordered the Nars 2010 Vintage Collection. You know the one, with the eagerly anticipated Zulu. Wellllll, it came in Tuesday and I was at Holts first thing Wednesday morning-they told me I was the first to get them in the store!

Feel free to click on image for better view!


l to r above- Full Metal Jacket, Midnight Mission, Mash, King Kong, Zulu

Sorry the images are not that good as overcast here most of the day!




I love Midnight Mission and King Kong best, but decided to do my mani in Full Metal Jacket.



Then topped with OPI ds shimmer.

And stamped, of course! Used Konad black special polish, HB plates 17 and 18. I absolutely "Love" the large star image in this mani. And can't wait to use "Love" more around Valentine's Day.

Oh, I almost forgot the image plates - hb 16 to 20!

Feel free to click on image for better view!

Thanks for looking

Plates HB11 to HB 15+China Glaze 2010 Holiday Collection.

Onward to the next five plates-hb11-hb15. While there are some cool plates, none are screaming to me to use now, especially when two of them have winter/Christmas themes - good for then, but not in warm weather now when I'm still wearing shorts....

Then I thought, hmm, I just picked up some of the China Glaze Holiday collection, why not use use them for my mani and stamp some snowflakes from hb11...so thats what I did.

First of all, the plates. Please click onto image if you want to see better view of the plates.












Here's the five polishes I picked up from the China Glaze 2010 Tis The Season to be Naughty or Nice Holiday Collection.

This is Cheers to You and Midnight Kiss (l to r). I haven't swatched these but I'm hoping they may be good for stamping...will have to try that soon....





And Mrs. Clause, Mistletoe Kisses and Party Hearty (l to r).



I used Mshengji, unknown red (found at dollar store) under Mrs. Clause and Revlon Top Speed Emerald under Party Hearty and Mistletoe Kisses.















And the stamping...used fauxand hb11, one snowflake design on one hand and another on the other, using Konad white special polish.

And they say sunlight shows image pix better but the shade pix are much more accurate than this....

And you have the pleasure of seeing for the first my right hand which has the green polishes...but it was only way I could think to show the most colours at once, especially given that I'm not going to be wearing this mani for many days when its shorts weather here! But I can't wait to see what designs I can come up with in the winter and around Christmas time!

Thanks for looking!

HB Image Plates 6-10

Here's the next five hb plates, 6 to 10. Feel free to click on pix to see images better!

It was tough trying to decide what to stamp from these 5 but I ended up using hb 6.

I had recently got Sally Hansen royal purple chrome in the mail and really wanted to try it out so I did a neutral nail for the base. Glad I chose this one as I think I found my perfect nude....Misa High Waist Hue. This is two coats and there was minor VNL only in bright sun shots. Would still be good for go to base coat for sheer polishes. Honestly, this is little on the boring side for me as I like more bright colours but I guess if I ever needed a work appropriate nude, this would be good! I'm very fortunate that I can wear anything I want now....

Then stamped using Sally Hansen royal purple. Love this chrome and I was so happy to get it for stamping!

Then spiced it up a little with random black, purple and holo glitter.

The above pictures were taken in the wee hours of the morning in artificial light; the finished ones the next morning in sunlight so colour variation. Please excuse the ragged cuticles as I was taking pix as I went along and its not a good idea to moisturize before you stamp as image doesn't adhere that well-at least my experience!

The finished result of the butterflies can be seen a little better if you click on the images.

Thanks for looking!

Meet My New Little Friends!

These beauties just arrived in the mail on Friday!

If you read my comments with Susie1955, I have a little bit of an image plate hoarding disorder! I had ordered the newly available 40 plates a couple weeks ago and they just arrived. I'm always on the lookout for new plates and those plates that I don't have (ie the illusive Hot Topic Image Plates-my number one lemming!) (edit: please note that I had originally posted that they were a set, but they are not, they can be purchased seperately!)

I urge you to click on the images to see better pix of the images!

I decided that I'd going to post 5 plates a posting, with a mani using one of the images from one of the featured plates.

A couple weeks ago, I picked up some LA Colors polishes (2/$5) when back to school shopping with my kids. They got new clothes, shoes, backpacks-I got polishes! As today was raining and overcast, I thought I'd do a mani somewhat feeling like fall. This is LA Colors Pink Sizzle. It has a gold shimmer that wasn't captured in the the picture by itself, which was taken in overcast skies.

Then topped with one coat of Nubar Opulent Pearl.

Then stamped with image plate HB3 using Konad black special polish. A word about these plates-some of the images are a little on the large side/others are a little on the small side. I think if the manufactuer ever decides to re-do them, they need to come up with a happy medium-make the larger ones just a tiny bit smaller and the smaller ones slightly larger. Any stamper with larger nails or longer nails would be happy with the large images, though, which is a plus! Unfortunately, some of the full size plate images too are just a little too small and are rectangular in shape versus square, but I'm sure all those talented bloggers out there will be creative and do something beautiful with them!

The reason my pinky is missing the image is I knew that the image would not fit on my teeny tiny pinky so I thought I'd go against the grain and leave it unadorned.

Even with the size issues, I'm still loving these plates! I can't wait to use them on Valentine's Day or Halloween, which is just around the corner!

Thanks for looking!

Edit: For those want to know, I did not get the plates on the site noted on the plates (hbnails.at). I actually did contact them when I seen these plates out on some other blogs but they failed to reply to my request to sell them/ship to me.

I then thought, hmmmm, what other company do I know in Germany/Austria that may have image plates....so I checked the website of nailart and mehr**, (who I have ordered from before) and low and behold, they had the hb21-hb40. I contacted them asking if they could get the hb1-hb20 (as I had seen them on the hbnails.at website) and they said yes, but the reason they weren't listing them on their website is because the images are too large. I ordered them anyway as I thought there were some really cool designs and could do diagonal designs, or half images etc but what I really found was that hb1-hb20 are just a tad too large but even so, they fit on my nails, even though my nails are on the smaller size and I have little length. I think that the hb21-40 images are a little on the small side so as I mentioned up above, they need more of a happy medium - make 1-20 smaller and 21-40 larger and then they'd be perfect!

In respone to susie1955's comment about pricing, please note that I ordered all 40 plates plus a few extras that I will using for be swapping, etc. The total price, including taxes, import fees, registered mail shipping etc., etc. was the equivalent of $5.78 per plate-less than Konad (but unfortunately not as cost effective as Bundle Monster!) They also have paypal. Visit nailart and mehr to see the plates.** And they are also selling them on ebay.** **Please note that I paid the invoiced amount in full for my plates. I do not endorse nor promote this website/etailer other than I am passing on the info of where I got them to those who may wish to know. I have no affiliation with any company and received no compensation for promotion of these products, nor am I promoting them...just letting fellow bloggers where they may be obtained should they be interested!

OPI Purple with a Purpose is Lovely-but does not photo accurately!

I do not want to say how many pictures I took of these manis trying to capture the true purpleness of this polish! It either photographed blue or a too dark shade of purple...purples are notorious for this....I did get one pix pretty close but I hate the picture cause my hands are all greased up with mango mend-trying to keep those frizzle hangnails at bay .....

This is a great purple in my humble opinion. Bold, solid, good for all seasons, a great all around purple creme polish

The first pix I took, it really shows blue-I could not get a better picture as skies were overcast all day.




Then stamped with Nicole by OPI Positive Energy using fauxnad image plate no. m72. For those who may have b series plates, b87 also has a very similar image.



Next day, thought I'd add a little bling. My BFF is always saying, "why don't you use rhinestones" so I thought I would. Used a clear rhinestone for the centre, a thin black striper for the base stripe then holographic glitter overtop. I'm certainly no expert with stripers and lets just say, less is more! Lesson learned for next time.





Here's a blurry picture so you can see the holo better. Pretty impressive for a striper!




Thanks for looking!