Last Lazy Days of Summer

Yesterday's FB Adventures in Stamping Challenge was Pulsating Pink or Purple.  I've been having some fun on the board the last couple weeks and when I seen the three options this week, which were Pulsating Pink or Purple, Obnoxious Orange or Last Lazy Days of Summer...well, I voted for last lazy days of summer as I've reallyyyy wanted to do a summer mani....just needed a little incentive!  When it wasn't the winner, I said I'd be doing a Pulsating Pink and Purple, with Obnoxious Orange, Last Days of Summer mani....and I did!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Orly Wet Your Popcicle (thumb), Orly Beach Cruiser (index and ring) and China Glaze Under the Boardwalk (middle and pinky).

Stamped using CH36 (sunglasses on index, sun image on a few different fingers), SdP 57 (beach theme on middle, fish on index, butterfly on thumb), SdP 75 (bare feet and boat on thumb), Soft stamp A30 (swimsuit on ring) and SdP 1 (ice cream on pinky...except I took small brush and removed face image before I stamped it so it was just a plain ice cream cone!)

Added random dots throughout using the same three polishes.  I double dotted most of the dots so they would be more opaque and visible.

As bright as this is...and it IS bright, I thought it needed a pop of colour.  I remembered that I had been ROAK'd a bottle of FUN neon yellow stamping polish with my FUN plate and polish order...so added a few random dots using it.

Topped with SV.

I sure hope that there's more summer yet over the next few weeks...but if not, this may be one of the last lazy days of summer mani's indeed!

Thanks for looking!

Another Year Older

Today's mani.

Started with a base of Jade Holografico Delirio Rosa, two coats, no topcoat. 

Took a few pix...even after I've had holos for a while now, I'm still fascinated by them.  

This was the first time I've wore any of the Jade holographics and I must say, I was impressed!  Application went on like butter and the holo was magnificent even in artificial lighting!  If only the bottle was bigger....!

I was having a brain freeze as to what to actually stamp on my nails.....couldn't decide what  images to use nor what stamping polish but ultimately decided to keep it simple as I was going to a family bbq today.  Used fauxnad XL K (index, ring, pinky and thumb) and W204 for middle using FUN white stamping polish.

Another pix to highlight the holo a little better. Unfortunately, when you can really see the holo....you can't see the stamping as well.

Added a little filler.  The different size stars were from isolating single stars from an image on fauxnad K, as was the Happy Birthday on the ring finger (the image said Happy Birthday to You...I just polished and scraped the Happy Birthday portion and stamped it.  I need to look up which plate this was as I didn't jot it down for some reason!)  The random flowers are from SdP 77.  Even thought I'm holding a SV bottle, the topcoat I used was SH Diamond Strength Diamond Flash Fast Dry topcoat as it doesn't seem to dull the holo's as much as SV, which was a tip I had picked up from a nail board. 

A pix this morning in the sunlight.

All in all, it was a good day.  Busy, but good.  My brother, who lives in Japan, just arrived yesterday and is here visiting for two weeks.  Today, my parents hosted a family bbq and it was nice to see all the relatives.  My bro brought me a few nail polishes from Japan, which I'm sure will be posted here some time.  My family will be spending a few more days with him, along with my parents, later in the week in cottage country and it will be good to visit with him a little longer before he heads back.

Hope you're having a great weekend...thanks for looking!

Piggy Polish at Sunset

I guess I'm glad for once I'm behind posting because for some reason, I can't upload pix in Blogger right now....haven't been able to for a few days.  In the meanwhile, here's a mani I did a few weekends ago. 

Nothing super fantastic here, but hey, they can't all be super fantastic, can they? lol!  It was the nearing the end of the day and I felt like a mani change for something to do, so quickly did this before the daylight faded. 

Started with a base of three coats of Piggy Polish Dream Out Loud.  This polish would probably be pretty cool layered over black, but I did it alone.

Shade Pix.

Stamped using black Konad special polish, using SdP 37.  Topped with SV.  The pix shows the golden hues of the sun starting to set versus the brilliant sunlight during the day.

Pix in the shade.  This is more true to colour IRL.

One final shot before the sun went down.

This was the sun setting over the lake and I quickly took a pix before it set.  It was a beautiful sunset...well, if you're into that kinda thing, which I happen to be!  But this pix will give you an idea why my nails have a golden hue to them in the above pix!

I'll be away on vacation for 10 days or so, up to September 4th; my internet connection is always iffy in cottage country and I'm not sure if I'll have time to do a few scheduled posts or not...hopefully, but if you don't see an updated post in a while, you'll know why!  Not to mention not being able to upload pix to Blogger....I guess I'll see if I can figure out why too.  Otherwise, it will be archived posts until I do...if I get connected, that is!

Thanks for looking!  Have a great weekend!

Magnetic Freakin' Violet

If you seen my comments a few posts ago, you'll know that I think Magnetic Freakin' Violet is Freakin' Amazing....and I haven't changed my opinion since then!!  I'm finally getting around to posting the mani I did a few weeks ago.

Started with a base of two coats of Magnetic Freakin' Violet.  Two coats still had VNL visible when I took pix, but I don't think it's terribly obvious in this particular pix.  (I highly recommend clicking on these pix for a better look....but beware that lemmings may be created!)

So I added a third coat.  While it did cover the VNL better, the polish layering resulted in a much darker hue, and while it was still beautiful, I much prefer the colouring achieved of two coats.  Next time I'll do some layering over a base polish, or just leave at two (because the VNL was only visible in the pix; it wasn't visible IRL). 

Pssstttttt!  See that bottle gorgeousness? 

Topped with SV.  Unfortunately, because I had already put SV on, then added another layer of Freakin' Violet then SV again in very short time, my SV did react a little on the negative side as it was really not liking so many layers in such as short time, so it dried a little off, but was beautiful none the less.  Only obvious in macro shots! lol!

I had to post both these pix as you can slightly see the green effect more in the one below. 

Stamped using XL 35. 

Didn't do too fantastic job of stamping on the middle finger near the tips, so I took a brush and tried to fill in the lines a bit more.

Topped with SV.  What was interesting to me is that the white Konad stamping polish did not turn colour as I've sometimes experienced with dark blues and purples and I was expecting it....which is a good thing!  I'm not a fan when the weird chemical reaction changes the colour of the stamping polish. 

I don't think my pix are necessarily the best to show off the absolute gorgeousness of Freakin' Violet, but I can say it is a special polish indeed...IMHO anyway.  It's one of those polishes that is so much nicer IRL and pictures just don't do it justice! Please refer to my tab of Where I Get My Stuff on my home page if you are interested in online links as to where Magnetic polishes and XL 35 can be purchased. 

Thanks for looking!

Fall Nails featuring Oopsie Daisies Ganache

Those over at FB Adventures in Stamping will know that I was none too happy with the winner of this weeks challenge, Can't Wait for Fall.  Really, it was all in fun, but it was verrryyyyy hard to get into the spirit of doing a fall related mani when the weather here almost every day is beautiful, warm and sunny.  But when I received a package from Cathryn at Oopsie Daisies and one of the polishes was simply screaming fall, it got me in the more in the mood to do a fall mani for the challenge.  Here's what I came up with.

Started with a base of two coats of Zoya Dea.  This has no topcoat. Dea is slightly darker IRL.

Added one coat of Oopsie Daisies Ganache, topped with SV.

Ganache is beautiful!  Lots of glitter interest and perfect for layering either over your favourite brown or on it's own. Ganache is unique and unlike anything I have in my stash. And will be so perfect for more fall (and layering!) mani's!

Bottle shot. 

Stamped using FUN gold stamping polishing, with MASH 27.

This pix is more true to IRL colouring than pix above.  Ganache is a tinted jelly so it does darken Dea ever so slightly.

Decided to double stamp the accent finger.  Used same french tipped leaf pattern on Mash 27 to fill in remainder of accent finger.  Topped with SV.

The next morning, I took a couple of pix outside in sunlight; love how the gold sparkle shines through!.

All in all, considering I soooo didn't want to do  fall related challenge mani, I was happy with how this turned out.  I had said on the group that I would have to come up with something fabulous considering all the whining I did...not sure if it's *fabulous* ....but I was pleased how my ongoing layering-and-then-stamping-on-top-to-show-the-polish-layering-underneath turn out.   

Thanks so much to Cathryn of Oopsie Daisies ** for trusting me with your creations! Cathryn was also generous enough to send me a few more of her beautiful polishes, which I'll also be featuring in upcoming posts.

Hope you're having a fantastic weekend...thanks for looking!

**Polishes were received for review.  Please refer to my disclosure policy.

Are You Tired of Layered Mani's Yet?

I'm not going to talk about doing layering experiments anymore....but I will be posting a few more layering-with-glitter-then-stamped mani's in the future!   Right now I'm doing more layering because there are so many cool indy glitters I've loving at the moment...yet, can't stop stamping 99.9% of all mani's I wear...so I'm trying to live in the best of both worlds!  Anyway, here's another layering mani I came up with not too long ago.

Started with a base of two coats of Icing I Like the Nightlife that I picked up at Icing recently.  It dries on the matte side...but that's OK as its easier to see the glitter interest shine through!  This has no topcoat.  I think this is a cool polish....don't have anything like it in my stash and it's beautiful IMHO!  If you're a blue fan, you'll need to run to your local Icing store and pick up a bottle before they're all gone!

Speaking of indy glitters I'm loving at the moment, added a coat of Girly Bits Wet Bikini and topped with SV.

Stamped using FUN Bubble Blue using QA 16. 

While I initially had plans to do a different accent nail for this mani, I decided to do all the same for some simple stamping as I thought the layering had interest enough in the mani.

Topped with SV.

This is probably one of my favourite mani's I've done in a while.  Simple, but interesting.

Please check out the tab at the top of my homepage if you are interested in knowing where online to get QA stamping plates, Girly Bits polish or FUN stamping polish. 

Thanks for looking!