Giveaway!

**GIVEAWAY CLOSED**

Here's another mani I did using Red Angel plates which are part of my current giveaway, the details are below!



Base is OPI Don't Know...Beets Me, two coats.



Stamped using Konad white special polish using RA-102.



Added a few black dots using Konad black special polish.



Then a swipe of random silver glitter.



Lastly, a few more black dots and topcoated with SV.



Now onto the giveaway**! There is only one prize for this giveaway which looks like this:



A 21 piece set of Red Angel image plates, which can be seen here; five image plates (S2, S3, S6, S7 and S8) graciously donated by Beautiful Scratchers as seen here (my next post will include an unposted mani I did using only these plates at Halloween) and 11 polishes which are China Glaze Snow Globe, Glittering Garland, Twinkle Lights and Ring in the Red (from the 2011 Let It Snow Collection); China Glaze Ick-A-Bod-y, Mummy May I, and Zombie Zest (from the 2010 Halloween Collex in case you missed out), and lastly, Sally Hansen Glow in the Dark, Orange Pumpkin, Goulish Green and Black Cat....love these for the names if nothing else!

Here's the 'rules' of the giveaway, which are simple. Please read in full before you post your comment, which is your entry ballot and provide all info in one comment reply!

The rules are as follows:

1. You MUST be a follower of my blog under Google Friends Connect. In the comments section below, outline your GFC follower name and our email address that you may be reached for one entry.

2. If you post about the giveaway or add it to a sidebar on your blog, or tweet about it, or post the giveaway on your Facebook, provide link in the comment section and get another entry for each.

3. If you add Canadian Nail Fanatic (CNF) to your blog roll, provide the link and get another entry.

4. That's it! The giveaway will be open until Wednesday, December 21st. I will tally the info and contact the winner shortly thereafter; the winner will have 72 hours to respond or another entry will be chosen (I've increased the hours from 48 to 72 as I'm sure that time of year will be hectic and I don't want you to miss out if you happen to win!!).

5. The giveaway is open internationally and there is only one prize.

6. Good luck!

**Please note that I paid the retail price for the Red Angel plates, which are new. The Beautiful Scratchers plates being offered in this giveaway are new and were donated by them specifically for a prize for this blog, which is graciously acknowledged and appreciated. I do have my own separate set of these image plates that were paid in full by me. All of the polishes offered for this giveaway were bought new by me specifically for this giveaway. Please note that I will mail the prize postage prepaid to the winner, take pictures at the post office, keep the postage receipt/customs declaration and pack it well for travel; however, I cannot be held responsible for undelivered or lost packages, broken polishes in transit or any associated custom fees to enter your country. I have no affiliation with Red Angel, Beautiful Scratchers, China Glaze or Sally Hansen.

Illamasqua Now Sold in Canada!

Over the weekend, I went to Sephora at Yorkdale Mall to pick up the new nails inc. duos with the flakies (Windham, Donmar and Old Vic collections) and while I was browsing the store, low and behold, they had Illamasqua nail polish in stock. While I've been lucky enough to swap for a few of them, this was the first time I ever seen them offered for sale in a retail store so I was awfully surprised to see them sitting there. While they didn't have the newly released colours from the Theatre of the Nameless collection, or Raindrops either, it seems like they had a good selection of what I assume is their core line: Milf, DWS, Viridian, Collide, Phallic, Jo'mina etc. I picked up Illamasqua Viridian, this is the mani I came up with.




I used my new plates from Red Angel, this is IP RA-102.

Stamped using Konad white special polish; used some silver glitter for a bit of interest.

Here's Viridian before stamping; two coats.

I was at Sephora at Eaton's Centre in August and didn't see any Illamasqua's sold in store then; not sure if they are in stock there now or just at Yorkdale. They retail for $18.

Lastly, I knew my LAST post said that my NEXT post would be my giveaway; but I'm still getting everything together (really just trying to decide what polishes to include!) so my giveaway should be announced any time now! Sorry for the delay. Edit: Here's the link to my giveaway, up now!

Thanks for looking!

Edit: If you are checking out my blog from Illamasqua's Facebook site, thank you for stopping by! I seen shortly after I posted that I was having all these hits from Facebook and seen that Illamasqua had put my post on their wall!

New Red Angel Plates!

I was surfing through Amazon a couple weeks ago and stumbled upon Red Angel stamping plates here. While I loved the designs, their website indicated that they only ship to the US. I emailed them anyway and asked them if they would ship internationally but they emailed me back indicated that they only ship to the US.

The thought that new image plates existed and I couldn't get them was driving me crazy!!! Not to be defeated, I emailed them again, begging them (I think the word I used in my email was grovelling!) to ship internationally being the nail fanatic that I am! I happened to mention that I wanted two sets of image plates, one for moi and the other for a giveaway for my blog. They emailed me back, thanking for my interest in their image plates and that they had set up an international shipping option just for me! (Well, I'm sure it was for me and everyyyyonnnnneeeee else that I knew who would will want to order them!). So international gals, if you are ordering these plates, you have me to thank! They also asked for some pix of my stamping for their Amazon site, so you may see my nails up there...they have my permission! I felt it was the least I could do after they relented and decided to ship to me...and anyone else who is international!

My plates arrived on Monday and since then, I've done a little sampling. Here's a couple manis I came up with.



While I would generally post a few pix of the mani in progress, I think this post is going to be long enough! The base colours used were OPI Bride's Bouquet, WnW Black Creme and OPI Don't Know...Beets Me. Stamped using Konad white and black special polishes using IP RA -13 and RA-109.

I did this mani last night using the Red Angels plates. I call this Dancing Fairies in The Grass! (I wish there were two more fairy images so there'd be one for each finger! Could probably take from other series plates for the next time.)



Base is OPI Sapphires in the Snow, tips are Orly Prisma Gloss Gold and Nubar Golden Glow, using image Plates RA-111, RA-112 and RA-113, stamping polish is CDN Gold Chrome.


The fairy on the pinkie finger isn't too obvious so here's another pix so you can see it does stamp well.


And a couple more images to share regarding the plates. The images are the same size as Bundle Monster as you can see here.



I guess I've been a little spoiled with A series, SdP series, H series, etc but these images don't quite fit length wise on my nails nor width on my thumb (but I kinda posed my thumb so you can't tell!)as you can see here. But they are a smidgen bigger than Konad full size images.




Here's a pix comparing all the plates for size wise.



The plates starting from left are SdP, Bundle Monster, Red Angel, Konad and one from H series.



This image, left to right, shows SdP, Bundle Monster and Red Angel.

So far, I've probably sampled 10 image plates and haven't had an issue with any of the images. Good news too...the plastic is a breeze to peel off! You may recognize some of the images from other image plates but there are plenty of new designs for old die hard stamping addicts like me! After I did some sampling, I emailed them yesterday with a couple suggestions if they were to consider doing any more image plates. One was to make the full size images slightly larger as I did have issue getting them to fit on my nail (and I have small nails both in width and length). The second was to re-evaluate their international shipping rates for anyone who may be wanting to order. They emailed me back promptly, thanking me for the suggestions, adding that they will consider both of these suggestions at an upcoming company meeting.

Red Angel image plates are available via Amazon here. A 21 set of image plates retail for $11.99 USD and if you live in the US, shipping is $3.99. (I seriously cannot believe that 21 plates are available for $16!) If you are international like me, even paying the $15.99 shipping rate, the total is still close to the same price of Bundle Monster image plates when you tally in shipping, or less than the price of 5 (or less) Konad plates. This set is fantastic if you want to see if you want to start stamping as the initial investment isn't that high if you decide that ultimately stamping isn't your thing, or fantastic for someone like me who's always on the lookout for new stamping plates-it's an all around win-win situation for anyone interested in stamping!

I seem to have mentioned that I bought a second set of plates** for a giveaway.....watch my next post for the details!

Thanks for looking!

**Please note that I paid the retail price for both sets of these plates including those being offered in CNF's giveaway. While I did a lot of grovelling to get them, I'm not affiliated with Red Angel in any manner!

Edit: January 18, 2012: I've been contacted and told that that Red Angel plates are no longer shipping internationally. I went online to Amazon and seen that the international shipping option was removed; I also email them and unfortunately, they confirm that they are no longer shipping internationally.

This is terrible news if you happen to live outside of USA...I've also read that since the initial release of the plates, the fairy wings have been removed off the fairies, some of the plate designs have changed and heard about stamping issues with some plates.

I sure hope for all of us stampers that they get their issues sorted out regarding the plates....so we can hopefully one day see some new designs from them (I'm guessing from their FB page that they planned on doing this at least at some point because new plate designs are alluded to) and start shipping internationally again!

I'll update the post if there are any change of events I become aware of!

Revlon Modern Grace

By sheer fluke, the mani I did after wearing Orly Cashmere Cardigan was Revlon Modern Grace. I try not to wear the same colour one day after the next, but for some reason, my eye was drawn to Modern Grace, which happened to be sitting at my table as I had just bought it over the weekend. By gosh, I think I *may* have stumbled upon dupes. This is Revlon Modern Grace.



Below is Orly Cashmere Cardigan. It's obvious that they aren't dupes, not by these pix as Cashmere Cardigan obviously looks lighter. But close.



Because I just posted Orly Cashmere Cardigan, you can compare by scrolling down to see how close they are. I haven't compared these polishes on nails side by side or even bottles beside one another, but it sure looks like they are close! Close but not exact. Cashmere Cardigan is lighter. Come to think about it, I'd say this also looks mighty close to OPI Parlez Vous OPI or maybe even Zoya Caitlyn, which I have too. (I'm not going to do a comparison post as I know there are others out there in the blogesphere who can do this soooo much better than I, who have a more keen eye for comparisons, shade variation, better photo comparisons etc etc...I'm looking at you KarenD!!) But this is good news for anyone who may have missed out on Cashmere Cardigan a few years ago....no need to search for it as Revlon Modern Grace is on the shelves now (at least in my area!).

Anyway, here is the mani I came up with using Revlon Modern Grace.



Stamped using Konad white special polish using fauxnad SdP D-17.


Added dots to the flower centres using Konad black special polish.



Then a couple whirls of random silver using striping pen. This is one of those times that less is more and I probably should have left the mani alone and not added the dots and glitter.



I really need to be more on the ball about buying dupes, or rather, close to's! My stash is overflowing and I don't think I need a couple polishes that are thisssss close...never mind potentially having 4 bottles thisssss close!

Thanks for looking!

Sparkly Tips and Stamping

I recently seen a pix of a funky french tipped glitter kinda mani here and really liked it so thought I would give it a try. I didn't want to copy the mani 100% so decided to use silver and then added stamping. Here's what I came up with.

Started with two coats of Orly Cashmere Cardigan.

Put a thin layer of Sally Hansen Celeb City on the tips (like I was french tipping them). Right below the line of Celeb City, I added Orly Tiara. On top of this, added OPI Servin' Up Sparkle.

Then stamped with Konad special polish in Royal Purple using XL E.

Lastly, added a few pieces of loose glitter, Glam and Glitz, Magic Potion 146 which is holographic hex glitter, in the centres of the flowers as well as here and there on the tips. Lastly, topped with a coat of SV.

While I didn't capture the look of the mani that I had seen posted, it was good practise and I'm sure I'll be trying something like this again at some point as I think the mani in the post is so cool!

Thanks for looking!

Who Needs Stamping...

...with polish this unique!!

No stamping on today's mani.....I was the lucky recipient of Lynnderella Connect the Dots, thanks to a swap recently. This is the mani I came up with.



Lynnderella polishes were created by the uber talented Lynnderella (Lynn) and have been seen on blogs fairly often recently as they are pretty awesome polishes, but oh, so elusive. Until recently, unless you were in the inner circle of Lynnderella and fortunate enough to be the recipient of one of her custom made polishes, you were pretty much out of luck in obtaining any of these creative, gorgeous, super unique polishes. However, recently she started selling them online and you can buy the polishes via her blog. Unfortunately, her e-store is only available for very brief periods of time until she closes her doors until the next sale....on top of this, delivery is not available outside of USA. Unless you are lucky enough to swap like me, or be part of a group order organized by a gal in US, unfortunately, these aren't that readily available for international sales. (There's also a five bottle minimum order).



This is Sally Hansen The Real Teal with a coat of Connect the Dots on top. I can't really say its a 'coat' of CtD as I had to kinda blob on the glitter ....there is a little bit of learning curve to applying the polish and I'm not sure if I've mastered it yet or not! But I absolutely adore this polish.....it is truly unique and there is nothing like it that I know of in my little part of the world. Every finger is different and little pieces of art...so cool!

Here is Sally Hansen The Real Teal. This is gorgeous all on its own. Click to enlarge to see the beautiful shimmer.



The first couple of times that Lynnderella opened her estore, I missed out on any part of a group order or anything. Then I was lucky enough to swap for a bottle and it arrived last week. About a week or so ago, her estore opened briefly and I was able to jump on part of a grouporder so I have a few more of these beautiful polishes on the way. Lucky for us international girls, there is now an etailer, Llarowe, who does ship worldwide that will be selling Lynnderella polishes starting December 2011. I hope to order a few more then, along with some other polishes not that readily available to me like Hits, A-England, etc.

I haven't seen a mani that I personally didn't like with Connect the Dots. It looks fantastic over top of pastels, skittles, neons...I've even seen it used as a gradient/kinda french tips and it was awesome as well. It is truly unique and I feel fortunate to own it!

Do you have any Lynnderella polishes? What's your favourite? I'd love to know your thoughts for when I (hope to) order in December!

Thanks for looking!

My Weekend Mani....

This is a very simple mani I did Friday night and am still wearing it today!



It's too bad that my camera can't capture this mani well but hopefully, you get the jest of what it looks like.

Started with two coats of WetnWild Black Creme.



Stamped using SdP 6 using Nicole by OPI Give Me the 1st Dance. I think my camera has a hard time focusing on the sparkly glow of this polish.



I used this SdP 6 image plate about a month ago on this mani.



Started with two coats of Borghese Castello Blue. I have to thank my friend KarenD over at Frazzle and Aniploish for tracking down this polish for me. By the time I decided I *needed* it, it was gone from my area; however, lucky for me, KarenD kindly tracked down a bottle.



Added a coat of Faces 299. I was going for a icy look as the image on SdP 6 kinda looks like snowflakes to me.....don't know if I achieved it.



Then stamped using SdP 6. Nicole by OPI Give Me the 1st Dance is on my fingers and Nicole by OPI Positive Energy was used on the thumb. While it had a sharper stamped image, I was going for a frosty ice look but just wanted to see how it looked using the different polish.



Hope you had a great weekend; thanks for looking!

Lest We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day here in Canada; Veterans Day in US. Here's the mani I'm wearing today.



Started with OPI Red by Fortune Cookie and Color Blast by Orly Reflection; two coats each. I used this red polish as I know that black stamping shows up well on it and it is slightly darker in real life more similar to the above pix; sometimes using a darker red polish, the black stamping isn't as visible.



Added full accent nail using SdP-D09 with Black Konad special polish.



Using Red Konad special polish, added three images for the poppies on accent finger; these are individual flowers found on Big SdP E in a variety of sizes; I used the second to smallest. I think its fantastic there's size options on some of these images found on some of the Big and XL plates...you can use the one that suits your nail size best or add a bunch of the same design in a variety of sizes.



Filled in the centres of the flowers on the full size nails using Black Konad special polish.



Lastly, added a coat of SV.



Please remember those who gave their lives and continue to serve so that we enjoy the freedom we have today.

Thanks for looking.

Essie Hot Coco, Layered and Stamped

This post will be short...just like my nails!



Two coats of Essie Hot Coco.



Yawn. Oh, so not me. So I added one coat of Anna Sui #709.



Now we're talking! Hello holo glitter! I seriously wish my camera could do a better job of picking up what the mani looks in real life (or maybe its user error?!)...the glitter is seriously more interesting than this....*sigh*.

Stamped! Used CND Gold Chrome with fauxnad IP SdP 38.



Thanks for looking!

Lise Watier Festive Chic

A couple weeks ago, I was walking through the cosmetic section at Sears and seen the new Lise Watier collection on display. It includes two polishes; Festive Chic caught my eye so I bought a bottle.



This polish is seriously gorgeous...not sure if it translates well in the pictures as the finish looks gritty versus the gorgeous shimmer that's in the polish, but gorgeous this polish is.





I wasn't sure what I wanted to stamp on it; ultimately decided upon China Glaze OMG using SdP 30. Not sure if this was the best choice, but the mani kinda looked funky cool anyway. Unfortunately, this camera lighting option reallllly gives me lobster hands lol! Thank goodness they aren't this red looking in real life!



After I had this polish about a week, I read that it was selling for $14 a bottle versus the regular $12 as the two polishes had a built in light. I never noticed this when I bought it; I checked my bottle when I got home and sure enough, it's there.



I had seen the rounded notch in the bottle when I bought it, but honestly thought it was just a way to better grip it...honestly! There's a little rubber button on the top of the lid you press in to turn it off and on.

My two cents is that I'd rather keep the $2 I paid extra for the light and put it towards my morning Timmies....the light served no purpose for me in fact, the way my polish station is set up, its more of a hindrance...this is why....



My main lighting is in front of my table; when I'm polishing the light casts a shadow on my nail (this is a pix of me faux polishing but you get the drift anyway)...hardly helping me do my nails....plus I don't know many people that polish their nails in the dark and need a light to apply it better anyway! On the plus side, I was impressed by the amount of light such a little light cast...I'll have to keep this in mind if the power goes off when I'm doing my nails....I'll keep my Lise Watier bottle at the ready to guide me to the candles!

Here's Festive Chic beside OPI La Boheme....not dupes by any means....but probably La Boheme is probably the closest polish I have to Festive Chic in my stash.



I bought my bottle at Sears but have since seen them at Shoppers Drug Mart. Retail for $14; built in flashlight included!

Thanks for looking!