Those Who Can't Water Marble, Stamp!

I love the look of water marbled nails; I see the awesome water marbling and have bought all the polishes that are suppose to yield good results, I've tried tap water same temperature as polishes, distilled water same room temperatures as polishes and watched countless youtube videos but still can't seem to grasp it!  My very first attempt was somewhat successful and every attempt after wards has been a fail.  I do hope to one day sit down and see if I can get better results but in the meanwhile, I thought these stamped nails imitating water marbling turned out pretty darn good if I don't say so myself!   I'll stick to stamping until I can water marble better! Here's what I came up with!

Started with two coats of Fiendish Fancies The White F.17-03, no top coat.  As soon as I seen this at Indie Expo Canada I said to Laura, the owner of Fiendish Fancies, that this will be the perfect base for nail art and it was one of my very first mani's after IEC 2018! All nails have the same number of coats and as you can see in the middle and ring, they are opaque but I'm surmising the way the light hit the index and pinky, they don't seem as opaque.  What I love about this polish is the hint of white shimmer and the silver holo glitter that combined with the sheer consistency of it make it so pretty!  It's too bad my pictures don't pick it up better.  

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top before stamping.

Did a stamped gradient using Moyra SP 19, MoYou Pink! and Moyra SP 01 with an image from Kelly Negri KN17.  I was happy that all three colours gradiented well even on my shorties!  This is why I still do my nails even though they are short!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

Hopefully soon you'll see some successful water marbling mani's, in the meanwhile, I will stamp on!

Thanks for looking!

Shark Week!

It's Shark Week on Discovery this week and while I have meant to do a themed mani for years now, I never got around to it.  But when I sat down to do my nails a couple nights ago, I thought tonight is the night; I'm doing it (well, that was after I spent the night before looking through all the plates to find theme appropriate plates and images...that probably took longer than to do these nails!).  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a sponged gradient using Zoya Blu, China Glaze Bahamian Escape, LA Girl Disco Brites Funkadelic and LA Girl Disco Brites Dance Studio.  I think this is one of the first times that I was able to do a quad gradient and you can actually see all the colours in the gradient.  Yay me!  Even on my shorties!  As a side note, the LA Girl Disco Brites worked really well for the gradient and what was good about them is that they are highly pigmented but thin so worked well for the gradient and the cleanup was easy and clean with no dark blue ring at the cuticle, if you know what I mean.  Even though I did use latex barrier, rightttt up against the cuticle still usually has polish and it removed easy peasy on the thumb as it was thin.  I hope I remember this for future gradients!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

It might not look like it, but this mani was a lot of work! I made a stamper decal for the index finger with the the top half of an image from Creative 51 after shrinking image using a really squishy stamper head.  I did try to double stamp it onto another stamper to correct the way it places like the stamping plate but that was a no go. Applied it to index, then stamped the lower portion of the nail with the wave image from Creative Shop 28 using MdU 3.  Middle image is from Creative Shop 85 again using MdU 3.  Stamped thumb using Painted Polish Stamped in Clay but it was too faint, so stamped on top (not quite a mirror image but I'll call it that anyway; it wasn't intention, just necessity to see it!) using an image from Creative Shop 02 and MdU 2.  On ring, stamped image from Cheeky CH38 using Painted Polish Stamped in Clay, then mirror stamped using same image using MdU 2.  Lastly, on pinky, stamped waves from Creative Shop 28 using MdU 3, then singled out an image from BFF 17 using Painted Polish Stamped in Clay, then mirror stamped using MdU 2.  For added interest, stamped birds twice on pinky using Painted Polish Stamped in Stone using image from Infinity 58.  I'm sorry I didn't do my step by step pictures as I usually do but hopefully you can appreciate that this mani took a long time do do as well as plan out, pick out stamping colours, etc. and it was 1:30 amish when I finished so it was late and I just wanted to get it done so picture taking took a back seat, sorry.  Oh, and I also spent some time setting up new lighting and then I tried 3 different lighting areas each time I did take pictures so that took some time too, in my attempt to get better images and less lobstery looking hands!  I swear, my hands do not seem this red in real life lol!

BFF 17

Creative Shop 85.  There's also another shark image on this plate but it was too cartoonish for the look I was going for but maybe another time, I'll use it.

Creative Shop 51

Bundle Monster BM-503 (even though I didn't end up using it, it might be used for reference if someone is looking for shark images).

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

I haven't watched Shark Week every night this week but have seen some of the shows; notwithstanding this, I do have a great interest in general of shows involving sharks (and whales, orcas and marine life in general) and have watched my fair share of shows in the past.  One thing is for sure; I certainly do hope I never encounter one in the wild!

Thanks for looking...and enjoy the rest of Shark Week!

Regency Blue IEC 2018

This stunner, Regency Blue IEC 2018, was the polish that all the attendees at the polish making seminar at Indie Expo Canada 2018 made!  More or less, our polishes look the same but interestingly enough, just a tad more of this or that, intentional or not, resulted that we all didn't have exactly the same polish, even though we were all following the same formula.  I guess that's why makers have the disclaimer each batch might be different....or why opps batches show up from time to time; I can easily see how this happens as a result of making just this one bottle as I had my own oops moment when I added why more of one ingredient than probably everyone else there as the scale went from not reading any quantity to oops, you added way too much!  Anyway, this is my post on the polish making session at Indie Expo Canada 2018! 

Here is Pam of Girly Bits Cosmetics at the seminar mixing up some polishes; I believe she made the same polish we did as well as a few one of a kinds for the silent charity auction the next day.

The list of ingredients for our group custom; this is after adding the base as well as the spectraflair.

Stir, stir, stir!  And try not to sneeze, spill, or get any on you!

Added the ultramarine blue.

Here's where things went south for me and I don't even think this was the picture when it was at it's worse!  I added a mountain of metallic microflakes.....the scale went from 0 to way too much in no time flat!  

In the background Leah Ann of Cbl, Bea of CbL, Cynthia of Alter Ego Polish and Tara, Girly Bits assistant extraordinaire!

Adding the last ingredient (I believe).

Progress as I was going along on the nail wheel then pouring of the polish!

The end result; Regency Blue IEC 2018!  Love it!

We were also able to make our own polishes; I pretty much had no idea at all what I wanted to make except I wanted some unusual polishes that I didn't necessarily have in my collection. I found that by far, the easiest part of making the polish is making the colour; the hard part is oohhhhh, all the glitter, flakies, to make it holo or not part!  So much selection and just the addition of one thing or another could just turn it in one direction or another!

I had always wanted a cornflower blue; this is the perfect shade I was looking for.  Well, in hindsight, I might want it a little dustier, but that is easily done!

The three polishes I made plus the one group polish.  I'm not entirely sure if we were suppose to make 3 and the group custom or 2 and the group custom; I was told both by those who were there.  But I had the time on my hands as I made my polishes pretty readily and still had enough base in the bottle provided and had been told we could make 3 of our own creations, so went for it!  

Can't wait to wear this!

Thank you again to all the makers who were present at the event for your valuable insight and input.  It was just a pleasure to listen to everyone talking about their journeys and listening to the tidbits of inside their polish making life that made it truly such an enjoyable session!

For my mani, started with a base of two coats of Regency Blue IEC 2018.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped with an image from Creative Shop 88 using FunkyFingers Gesso.

Creative Shop 88.

Added a couple accent studs for interest.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

The polish making session was just one of the sessions offered at Indie Expo Canada 2018.  A real highlight of the show IMHO; if you have that illusive polish that you have wanted but couldn't find; the makers will help you create it.  Or have just the most interesting polish in your head but have never seen it for sale; the makers will help you create it.  Or inspired by a great painting or picture that you have seen; the makers will help you create it.  Looking for the perfect hue to match bridesmaids dresses or that delicate bridal look and can't find quite the right shade; the makers will help you make it! 

I hope to see you there in 2019!

Thanks for looking!

Cuter Cuticles IEC 2018 Exclusive Trio

press sample

Lemon is one of my favourite scents; it's so refreshing and pure!  Not too overpowering either which is something I like when I'm looking (or sniffing!) for a scent!  You wouldn't believe how excited I was when I heard that Cuter Cuticles Indie Expo Canada 2018 exclusive trio was lemon scented butter barrier, lip balm and cuticle oil!  While I received the trio to review, I also picked up a back up set...good thing I did as my daughter promptly claimed a lip gloss while at the expo!  All this lemon scents deserved a coordinating mani; hopefully you enjoy it!  

The cute yellow organza packaging that the trio came in! You know, yellow....cause of lemons!  It's nice to see Sammy goes all matchy-matchy like I do!

The goods!

Cuter Cuticles butter barrier in Lemon Cupcake!  For those who have purchased Cuter Cuticles products before, you will know that this scent has been offered in past; in fact, it was one of the first scents ever released! I checked back to my purchases and had picked it up back in 2016.  One of my faves!

Are you like me: having cuticle products in your purse, in your car, at the night stand, at your office desk, at the end table where you watch tv, in the bathroom at your weekend spot?  Cuter Cuticles has been a cuticle saver for me; you only need to look at my blog posts prior to 2015ish to see that I have way less hangnails than I did since I started to add the barrier butter as part of my regular routine!  Don't get me wrong; I still get the occasional one but that's just because I've been too busy with life to apply it on a regular basis. That's when I turn to oil for some heavy duty moisturizing!   This picture is a little misleading; it's not that this is a super size of the barrier butter; it's the regular size...it's just I have small hands!

The packaging is a convenient size; not so big that it takes up a lot of room in your purse, on the desk, or on the shelf, but big enough that it's not too hard to find in your purse, on the desk or on the shelf!

Here's my naked nails soaking up the butter barrier!  Cuter Cuticle products are listed on the estore; the Lemon Cupcake scent is currently being offered here but even if it's not and you are craving it, you can always ask for it to be made in a custom order!

In addition to butter barrier, Cuter Cuticles also has a wide assortment of yummy scented cuticle oils.  

How great is the steel balled applicator?  I've tried a lot of different oils but to me, the application is just so much easier with the ball type of applicator!  While I'm a big fan of the butter barriers, I turn to the cuticle oils at night or when needed (like when I've been neglecting my nails) for extra moisturizing.

The Lemon Cupcake lip gloss was an IEC exclusive, but Cuter Cuticles has a wide assortment of lip balms in playful scents!  

As I mentioned earlier in the post, my daughter had attended IEC with me and she quickly claimed the Cuter Cuticles Lemon Cupcake lip gloss; this was the last I seen of it!  The one I'm holding above was in the second bundle I bought!

Here's the coordinating mani....with my nails soaking up the butter barrier.  If you've never used Cuter Cuticles products, you will see that they look 'oily' right after application, but it soaks right in I want to say within five minutes or so and lessens down to a moisturized look versus that glare that you see here.  It's not like you can't touch anything for 3 hours because your hands feel greasy; not the case by any means! I would normally wait if I had applied it to my nails before taking a pix for swatching purposes, but because this post is a product review, wanted everyone to see the moisturizing in action!

Here you can see it has already absorbed better within a few minutes of the photo shoot!

Links:  Cuter Cuticles, Facebook, Instagram

Cuter Cuticles was established in 2014 and is owned and operated by Sammy, a long time nail art fan and polish lover.  Based in Oshawa, Ontario Canada, Cuter Cuticles ships worldwide; see the Cuter Cuticles estore for more information!

Thanks for looking!