Digit-al Dozen Winners Have Been Picked!

The winners of the Digit-al Dozen mega giveaway have been chosen!!  A complete list of winners is on the Digit-al Dozen FB page and I believe they are also noted on the raffleopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Emailed are in the process of being sent out!  Congrats to everyone who won.....and thank you for everyone who entered!  Special thanks too to all our awesome sponsors.....The Digit-al Dozen appreciates your support!

Tiger Stripes!

This is a mani I shared in a blog post post I did for the Digit-al Dozen featuring animal stamps but hadn't shared on the blog yet.  (Please check the post out here if you are interested in seeing lots of stamped animal mani's!)

Started with a base of two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (no pix as have shown before). Stamped using FUN black stamping polish, all from Infinity 12.

Infinity 12. Everything you need for various animal prints...all in the convenience of one plate!

Added green eyes just for a pop of colour and topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

Thanks for looking!

First of the Fall Mani's!

I've been resisting doing fall mani's for a couple weeks now even though I've seen a lot of them being posted lately.  The darker, muted colours traditionally used aren't my favourites as I'm definitely more of a brights person (one only needs to glance quickly at my Instagram or Pinterest account collages to confirm this!!)   The other problem is the weather has been beautiful and sunny the last few days....I still want to wear beautiful brights in this warm, sunny fall weather we are having right now!  But I have done a few fall mani's so they will be starting to pop up here and there over the next few weeks.  This is one I did last weekend in an attempt to think outside of the box and not stamp on a plain creme base.  It's not my favourite of the fall mani's I've done but if anything I've found since I've been blogging is usually what I like, no one else likes and what I think is a total fail, gets lots of loving.  You be the judge!  Here's what I came up with.

I did this mani in cottage country and only have natural daylight.  I started early evening and it was still sunny but when I finished, the sun and daylight was fading fast so lighting wasn't the best and lots of shading in some pix.

Started with a base of two coats of L'Oreal Safari Chic, no topcoat.

As I mentioned at the start of the post, by the time I had done this mani, I had done two or three fall manis, all on creme bases (acknowledging I haven't shared them yet here).  So I wanted to do something a little different.  I had picked up a boxed set of full size Nails Inc. polishes recently at Winners (score at $9.99!) and in the set was Nails Inc. The Donmar which is a flaky.  For little base interest, added it on top of Safari Chic.

Shade pix.

Can I just say, why can't every pix be like this one...half in the sun and half in the shade!  It was just a fluke; I doubt I could replicate it if I ever tried.  

Stamped using assortment of images; Lesly LS-20 (thumb and pinky), Messy Mansion MM19 (index and middle), Chez Automne001 (ring), MoYou Landscape Collection-02 (accent leaves).  For stamping, used Konad black special polish and assortment of Sally Hansen Insta-dri's.

Messy Mansion MM19

Gave the tree on the middle finger some fall leaves!

Top coated to finish.

This pix you can see the stamping best but unfortunately, full of fibres...story of my (stamping) life!

I really like the flaky interest on the thumb with the black contrast but too much going on with the coloured stamping even for my busy stamping style!  

What do you think...and if you're not a fan of it, please let me know and no hard feelings.....I got big shoulders lol!

Thanks for looking!

P.S. Isn't this the worst picture ever?  Looks like my nails are full of craters! 

Bonus pix of my right hand which is slightly different.....not too shabby if you can overlook the dry cuticles!

Anniversary Nails...and Giveaway Reminders!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately; life has gotten in the way, which happens occasionally!

Last week, I celebrated my wedding anniversary; hard to believe I've been married 21 years now (feels like 41 years to be honest - joking...well, maybe not, lol!)  These were the nails I was wearing when the hubs and I went out that night for dinner!

Started with a base of F.U.N Lacquer Snow White, two coats, no topcoat.  Snow White is part of the recently released LE Princess 2.0 Collection.  

Added assortment of images using red and black Konad special polish.  Infinity 23 (index), Chez Amour001 (thumb, middle and ring), HD-A (pinky and heart on thumb) and Nailways Back to Basics 123 ABC (numbers over ring).

Closer look at Chez Amour001.  I was happy I was able to use these wedding/engagement themed images and turn it around to work for my anniversary; lots of these images too would be suitable for Valentine's, too.

Thanks for looking

P.S.:  There's a couple giveaways that I'm involved in that are ending soon; The Digit-al Dozen has an amazing giveaway; here's the link....and the fantastic giveaway offered by Hobby Polish Bloggers is here; please take the time to check them out if you haven't already....if you want a chance to win som awesome prizes, that is! 

Hobby Polish Bloggers Giveaway!!!

I belong to the Hobby Polish Bloggers group on FB who have assembled a fantastic giveaway that opened today!! There are 3 cash prizes; the contest is from September 17, 2014 and ends September 30, 2014. Entrants must be 18+ to join, please see additional terms and conditions on the raffleopter.

These are the blogs that have kindly sponsored the giveaway:

A Little Polish http://alittlepolish.blogspot.com

acidicice http://www.acidicice.co.za
Addicted to Polish http://addictedtopolish.blogspot.com
BeginNails: Every Journey Has A Beginning http://www.beginnails.blogspot.com
B'Nails http://boomernails.blogspot.com/
Canadian Nail Fanatic http://canadiannailfanatic.blogspot.ca/
Carinae L'etoile's polish stash http://www.carinaeletoile.com
Copycat Claws http://www.copycatclaws.blogspot.ca
Doctor Crafty https://doctorcrafty.wordpress.com
Fashion Footing http://fashionfooting.blogspot.com
I Feel Polished http://www.ifeelpolished.com
Imperfectly Painted http://www.imperfectlypainted.com/
LacqueredGeek http://www.facebook.com/lacqueredgeek
Lavish Layerings http://www.lavishlayerings.blogspot.com/
Les essais beauté de Schette http://schette08.free.fr/essaisbeaute/
Lit From Within http://beautylitfromwithin.blogspot.com/
Lustrous Lacquer http://www.lustrouslacquer.blogspot.com
Manic Talons http://www.manictalons.com
Manicure Addict http://www.manicureaddict.com
Pamper with Polish http://www.pamperwithpolish.com
Peer Pressure Polish http://www.peerpressurepolish.com
Plump and Polished http://www.plumpandpolished.com
Polish Galore http://www.polishgalore.com
Polished and Glittered http://www.polishedandglittered.com
ProcrastiNails http://www.ProcrastiNails.com
Sammy Gail's Nails http://sammygailsnails.blogspot.com
Sassy Shelly http://www.sassyshelly.com
Shelby Lou Nails http://shelbylounails.blogspot.com
The Dalai Lama's Nails http://www.thedalailamasnails.com
The Polished Hippy http://thepolishedhippy.blogspot.com/
The Polished Mommy http://www.thepolishedmommy.com/
The Sparkling Hoard http://www.thesparklinghoard.com/
xoxo, Jen http://xoxojen.com

Please see here to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Digit-al Dozen Does The Terrific Two's; Day 5

It's late, but here's my Day 5 Digit-al Dozen post! Day 5 is our choice of one of the prior themes this week, so one of pairs, cotton, sapphire or china. I chose sapphire; here's what I came up with!  (Note:  I took an insane number of pix of this mani trying to capture the holo stamping; while I didn't post the insane quantify of pix I took, this post is heavier than normal!)

Started with a base of two coats of Julie G Dance in the Dark, no topcoat.  (I did these nails last weekend in cottage country; I don't have a good light source so pix are daylight.  Pix taken in sunlight, shade and then, fading sunlight....which actually got some of the better holo shots!)

Shade.

Stamped using China Glaze GR8 with an image from MoYou Pro Collection XL-21.








In the shade.


Close up of MoYou Pro Collection XL-21




Added a few accent dots using China Glaze DV8.




Shade pix.



Blurry!





The next day, I took some pix in the bright sun.



Here's the other ladies Day 5 free choice mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

It has been another fantastic Digit-al Dozen challenge week!  As usual, the ladies in the group did fantastic mani's....very creative and some outside thinking for sure....always interesting to see what everyone comes up with!

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does The Terrific Two's; Day 4

Have you been enjoying the Digit-al Dozen Anniversary week?  The ladies mani's have been off the charts!  I discovered yesterday that I think I'm the only person on the internet that hasn't seen Chalkboard Nails tutorial on how to create a gemstone mani!  When I was visiting everyone's blog posts yesterday, I seen at least 3 ladies mentioned it in their blog posts and two of them did manis using the technique.   Never heard of it until yesterday- probably because my freehand nail art skills don't exist!

Day 4's theme is china being the modern 2nd Anniversary gift.  Here's what I came up with.

Started with a base of two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (no pix as shown before).  Stamped using MoYou Mother Nature Collection-11, using Mundo de Unas stamping polishes #6 (red), #7 (dark green) and #11 (yellow) .

While the roses on this weren't too bad, it wasn't the full look I was going for to mimic the china pattern I was going for, being Royal Albert Old Country Roses.  So using the same polishes, filled in a bit to make rose blobs.  Then used same colours to accent using a brush. Also used Mundo de Unas #48 which is a lighter green for some leaf shading interest.  In hindsight, I probably should have watched a tutorial on this method just because I've seen many roses with much better result, but all in all, I didn't mind this look at all and not too shabby for my first attempt!

Inspiration pix.

Photo credit to RoyalAlbert.

Photo credit to Barb's Vintage Finds on Etsy.

Finished with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Here's the other ladies awesome Day 4 china mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Don't forget to enter the MASSIVE Digit-al Dozen 2nd Anniversary givaway here!

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does The Terrific Two's; Day 3

It's Day 3 of the Digit-al Dozen The Terrific Two's.  Today's theme features Sapphire, being the birthstone for September.  Here's what I came up with!



(Different lighting; probably more sapphire in colour!)



Started with a base of Dance Legend Sahara Crystal 44 Earth.  This is two coats, no topcoat.  One coat is good coverage for this polish but I had a few thin spots so decided to add a second coat.  Unfortunately, when I added the second coat, I didn't get the texture effect like on my other hand that only had one.



So I added one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top. The nails were slightly rough at this point but I knew I'd be adding stamping and another coat of top coat so left them.



My right hand.  I'm not sure how well this translates in pix but one coat clearly has much more texture than two.



Of course, I had to do some stamping!  Decided to make these nails nautical; added images from Marianne n.42 (pinky), Marianne n.31 (ring) and Wistonia Absolutely Nautical (index, middle and thumb) using white Konad special polish.



My right hand (I cannot believe how well I stamped this hand!!  I was pleased how it turned out!)



Marianne n. 31






Marianne n. 42




Wistonia Absolutely Nautical


Added KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.



(The thumb image is officially one of my favourite images ever!)

One coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top on the right hand.  It was still on the gritty side but I left it.



Here's the other ladies Day 3 Sapphire nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!