Contrary Polish Looking Up

One of my must have polishes from the September 2017 Polish Pickup was Contrary Polish Looking Up. Even though I'm just sharing this mani now, I wore it soon after I receiving it.  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Contrary Polish Looking Up.  

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped with images from Apipila p.01 (dots) and Apipila p.02 (waves) using FunkyFingers Gesso.  My intent here was some simple yet effective stamping but with enough voids that you could see the shimmer and flakes in Looking Up. 

Finished with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Thanks for looking!

A Little Pick Me Up

I did these quick and easy nails not too long ago when I needed a little pick me up so went with something to brighten my day after a day that just wasn't the best. Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of Colors by Llarowe Coral-dly Yours, which was part of the February 2016 A Box, Indied.  Shown with two coats, no top coat.

Added a coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC before stamping.  

I didn't want to cover up this gorgeous shade too much so went with an image from Apipila P.2 using Funky Fingers Gesso.

Added small square stud to accent.

Topped it all off with Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC to finish.

Thanks for looking!

Citrus Looking Marble

I should preface this mani by saying a couple things; this was one of the first mani's I did after my recent episode of swelling hands when they finally didn't look like little fat sausages and I could finally hold a polish brush...somewhat.  After the swelling went down, I then had subsequent skin peeling around my nails so the skin is all funny and pretty red from the shedding.  Also, during the time I wasn't able to do my nails, I guess my daughter visited my nail room and adjusted all the lighting so it's just not as I had it.  While I know my lighting system has never been perfect, I do know it was better than portrayed in these pix!  So I'll slowly have to work on my hands and lighting, but in the meanwhile, I was just so happy to finally be able to do my nails again that none of that matters to me right now!  Because I still don't have a whole lot of strength in my hands as they still aren't 100% and because they are still sore from swelling and peeling, I'm sticking pretty much with cremes and holos to make sure I have somewhat easy removal, but all in all, I was pretty happy how this mani turned out all things considering!

Started with a base of China Glaze Lemon Fizz (no pix as have shown before).  Then sponged on Nubar Green Tea and Revlon Alluring Amber randomly.  

I have to admit, I wasn't too thrilled with the results of this colour combination even though it was one I had in my mind for a while now.  But I thought I would carry on and worse case if I didn't like the end result, it's just a little remover and a new canvas!  Decided to add OPI Don't Speak which is from the Gwen Stefani Holiday 2014 collex for some interest.

Still not terribly impressed; it wasn't looking good lol!

For stamping, used an image from Pet'la Aloha on all fingers except accent which is Apipila P.2 , using FunkyFingers Gesso.



Pet'la Aloha




Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.


Oddly enough, I really was happy how the mani came all together although I really wasn't too sure it would!

Just before I removed it, added a coat of OPI matte; liked the look of this too!



Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Floral; Day 5

I seen a stunning mani over at Sassy Shelly's blog a month or ago here and as soon as I seen it, I knew I had to do something like it as I adored it so much!!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of NYC Love Letters; this is two coats, no topcoat.  Very, very sheer but I knew I would be stamping on top of it (and not sure even if I did 8 coats it would be opaque!) But two coats gave lots of shimmer interest for the stamping that was to come!

Stamped using Apipila P.2 using FUN black stamping polish.

The pix below, the stamping isn't that visible but the shimmer is gorgeous underneath.

A closer look at Apipila P.2.

Top coated using KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Another pix of shimmer!  

After 5 or so minutes, added french tips using scotch tape as guides; same FUN black stamping polish was used. Top coated to finish.

Here's the other Digit-al Dozen Day 5 floral manis! The mani's this week have been off the charts as usual....the ladies in the group have so much talent; I hope you had a chance to check them out during the week!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Freddy Krueger (and Vote Over at Harlow & Co!)

I'm not terribly into scary movies and have to admit that I've never seen any of the A Nightmare on Elm Street movies.  For some reason, I thought they were associated with Halloween but when I googled it to get some insight into Freddy, discovered they are just scary movies and not really tied around Halloween at all (other than later released movies). So I'm going to go with Freddy is a pretty scary guy and Halloween can be pretty scary, so I'm going to post this as part of Halloween mani's anyway; here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of NYX white, topped with SV (no pix as there's enough in this post and nothing haven't posted before!)  Stamped using red and black Konad speical polishes using Sugar Bubbles SB010 (thumb), SB008 (index), Apipila P.02 (middle) SB001 (ring) and Chez Halloween 001 (pinky).  I'm not even 100% sure that the image on the index finger is Freddy appropriate, but it looked gruesome and seemed that it should fit, so used it!

Added bats to the ring finger from an image on BM305 and red splatters from Apipila P.02.

Just thought I'd share a couple pix....here's the itty, bitty bat image that was stamped three times on the small end of the double ended Konad stamper....aka, anyone who says stamping takes no skill can go suck it!



A small portion of Apipila P.02 was stamped and placed numerous times for the splatter around the index and ring fingers.  My intent was to keep it off the face but I messed up at bit on the thumb (aka, have no stamping skill!), then tried to remove it which I think made it worse.  In restrospect, I should have left it because blood splatter on the face of Freddy is probably appropriate!  Anyway, it's only obvious in macro!



A closer look at a few plates used.

Sugar Bubbles SB010.


Sugar Bubbles 001


Sugar Bubbles 008


Topped with SV to finish.




Lastly, a collage of Freddy's!



I finished this mani the night before the Harlow & Co. Halloween mani contest ended so decided to enter it here.  There are lots of fantastic entries and please vote for your favourite!

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen, Books; Day 2

Day 2 mani!

My mani is based upon the book I read entirely this past weekend, Live to Tell.  This was the first time I read any of the D.D. Warren stories and I must say, I'm going to hunt down a few more as it was one exciting...but gruesome....read!   In fact, there were a couple times early on that I thought I couldn't continue reading the book...not because of the killings but some of the graphic description of the actions of one of the characters harming others.  I'm not usually fan of these suspense type of books but was glad I stuck with it. 

Started with a base of two coats of OPI Bride's Bouquet; topped with SV.

Stamped using VL009 (thumb), Apipila P.2 (index), Apipila P.01 (middle), MJ XI (ring) and Chez Halloween 001 (pinky) using red Konad special polish.

Added body from MJ XVIII on index, gun from VL007 and knife from Cheeky Jumbo 7, Home Sweet Home plate using black Konad special polish.  (The first time I stamped the knife, it only transferred a bit so I had to restamp it and try to align it...did so so job but that is why there are two top lines.)

Topped with SV to finish.

I have to say that I generally never would have did a mani like this without the challenge...but glad that the challenge took me out of my stamping comfort zone...this is so often the case with the Digit-al Dozen challenges; I do a lot more mani's that I wouldn't have done otherwise!!

Here's the other ladies Day 2 mani's....they are utterly fantastic!  So much talent!

Thanks for looking!

Over An Orange Base

Today's Adventures in Stamping Challenge was over an orange base...this is what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of OPI Bride's Bouquet and Revlon Alluring Amber; topped with SV.

Stamped using Apipila P. 02 using Konad black special polish.

I had made a stamper decal using plate 12-56S for the thumb so added it.  This time, I tried it using acrylic paints and it worked well except I found the paints a little slower to dry than stamping or regular polishes.  But they did work! 

I smudged the stamper decal when I was applying it so it kinda smudged there at Fred's arm.  So I added a few random dots using black Konad special polish and CND orange.  Fixed up Fred's arm a bit with  bit of paint and a brush.  Topped everything off with SV.

I only did one stamper decal so this was my right hand...I used the same image of Fred but with plate 12-56 for the hand below.  The images are larger as you can see; Fred doesn't fit all the way on the nail.  I posted some differences in the plates here if you want to read further.

I'll be interrupting blue mani's for Autism Awareness for the Digital Dozen challenges over the next five days starting tomorrow....and don't forget to enter my impromptu giveaway here if you're interested!

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