Digit-al Dozen Does Whimsy; Day 4

These whimsical nails are for day 4 of Digit-al Dozen whimsy week!

Started with a base of two coats of Pahlish Menthe Glaciale, no top coat.



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



Stamped using an image from Big SdP C using FunkyFingers Gesso.



Dotted flowers using Love, Angeline Rhythm in Aquamarine which has the same colours but in glitter form which I think was a nice compliment to the creme.



Decided I wanted a little bit more bling so dotted some of the leaves on the smaller flowers then dotted centres with white as needed.



I was going to add some metal studs to the accent but then thought I would do some line striping using the same Love, Angeline polish.



Finally did something OK looking with nail vinyls!



Then got to thinking that some round studs might fit in the area left and they did so added them to make the accent stand out a bit more.  Go big or go home!



Topped everything off with a final coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC.



Here's the other ladies Day 4 whimsy nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Pahlish Ace of Fours

Another blue mani in support of Autism Awareness Month; this time, Pahlish Ace of Fours which was part of the Portal - Fall 2012 collex. 

This is one coat of Ace of Fours, no topcoat.

Two coats, then topped with SV.

Bottle pix of Ace of Fours.  As described on Pahlish's Etsy shop, Ace of Fours is "inspired by Wheatley; this shade is a sheer soft white base with faint silver shimmer, blue micro flakies, and sparse iridescent charcoal micro flakies".  I have no idea who Wheatley is, but I'm sure its associated with Portal...er, somehow!  I'm sure this is a generational gap thing! (I actually googled Ace of Fours, Wheatley, Portal...seen why I know nothing of this...the last game I played with is Super Mario!) Obviously I didn't buy the collex for my inner gaming geek!

Decided to do some blue on blue stamping.  Picked an image from Big SdP C which had lots of areas that the base polish could be seen through (and an image I'm sure to use again as I love it!), then added an accent stamp using XL B.  Konad special blue stamping polish was used.  I actually like the textured look of this more so than when it was top coated.

But I did topcoat it, below topped with SV.

Pahlish polishes are available via Etsy here!  As to any information on Portal, Ace of Fours, etc....you're on your own!

Thanks for looking!

NCLA As If!

Last night when it came time to do my nails, I thought, well, tomorrow is the first day of spring; I have these NCLA polishes sent to me to review from Nail Polish Canada that I haven't worn yet and they look like spring colours, so I'll do a mani with one of them.  Here's what I came up with.

Started with a base of two coats of NCLA As If!  The pix below has no topcoat.

Decided to do a glittery funky french so added a light layer of Cover Girl Boundless Color Amethyst Mist on tips.  I didn't realize it when I was picking out the polish, but there was a faint tint to the base, which created a slight gradient, which was an unexpected bonus!

Added a layer of Essence Nail Art Twins Troy on top.  

Stamped funky french tips with Konad white special polish using Big SdP C, topped with SV.  The index finger is how the image looks when used as a full length image, but I only polished and scraped half of it to create french tips on the other fingers. 

When I got up this morning, I seen that Mother Nature must have forgot today was the first day of spring.  Instead of warm temperatures and sunny skies, this is what greeted me from my kitchen window and on my drive to work.  Had I known, I think maybe my stamping would have included some snow flakes!

NCLA As If! is part of NCLA's Life's a Beach Collex and is available now at Nail Polish Canada**; they are also carrying an assortment of NCLA's polishes here.

Thanks for looking!

**polishes were sent for review; please refer to disclosure policy

Stamping Polish Comparisons

As happy as I am with the stamping results using Konad black special polish, I'm not generally happy with the cleanup, which is rarely 100% plus it has a tendency to drag probably more than any of the other Konad polishes. I've been wondering if there are other black polishes that work well for stamping. I took note of various comments on my blog (thanks Bunny Nails for mentioning KleanColor because I never would have thought about this one!) as well as seen what some others were using for stamping polishes; either swapped or bought them and decided to see if there was an alternative to Konad.



For this comparison, I used (left to right below) black Konad special polish, KleanColor Black, Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris, FingerPaints Black Expressionism and Essence Stamping polish.



For this stamping experiment, I used FingerPaints Blue Raspberry Taffy (blue) and Misa Without Airs Orange (orange) as the base. Initially, I was planning to do an Aztec theme but when I discovered that the Misa had a shimmer, I wasn't too keen on finishing it for some reason....this is why the plates you're going to see are Aztec themed for the stamping comparison as I already had them picked out for the mani! This is two coats of FingerPaints Blue Raspberry Taffy from their Gumdrops and Lollipops collection and three of Misa Without Airs Orange. (As a side note, I did have skin staining with Blue Raspberry Taffy; if you decide to pick it up, you may wish to be careful with removal.)



Stamped images in same order; starting at thumb: black Konad special polish (Big SdP C), KleanColor Black (Big SdP C), Wet n Wild Ebony Hates Chris (Big SdP B), FingerPaints Black Expressionism (Big SdP F) and Essence Stamping polish (XL A)...in hindsight, I guess the fairest comparison would have been using all the same image plate...unfortunately, I didn't think of this at the time!



So you could see how dark the stamping polish is, I purposely left it without cleanup. I also wanted to apply the topcoat fairly fast to see if there was any topcoat drag so didn't want to take the time for cleanup at this point to see if they did drag while relatively wet...the only delay was the time taken to snap a couple pictures. I used SV, which is the topcoat I use 99% of the time. Pix below is with topcoat.



I didn't see any visible signs of SV drag on any nails.

The above pictures are on my left hand; on my right hand, I alternated the base colours but kept the stamping colours in the same order, just to see if there was any stamping colour difference, but the results appear to be consistent with the left (ie WnW is still faint).



These are my comments/observations generally on all the polishes I tried:

Konad: I generally buy Konad online for $6.99 as it is $10-$12 at local stores; however, its not that handy for me to buy (flea markets in other towns). Stamping results: Konad stamped crisp, clear and the darkest image of all polishes tested. Cleanup: While it seems I didn't do too bad of a job clean up in this pix and there doesn't seem to be any leftover residue of stamping polish on the skin, I know this always isn't the case from past results as sometimes no matter how much time I spend with clean it up, it stays in the small fine lines in my skin...it also took the most amount of time to clean up in this pix but at least it cleaned up well! Drag: no visible drag in this test (but prone to drag from past experience). I usually wait a bit before topping with SV to ensure stamping polish is good and dry before applying SV to hope to eliminate drag...but even then, sometimes it happens!

KleanColor: Pricing was $2 in my area for a bottle. Availability: There's only two stores that sell KC in my area; the one didn't have KC black in stock; second one did and its pretty close to my house. I'm guessing KC should be found easily online too at reasonable pricing if needed. Stamping results: Stamped dark and fairly crisp, just a smidgen less in darkness and crispness than Konad. Cleanup: No issues at all with cleanup. Drag: No issues with drag. (Additional comments: I wonder if the bottle was left with the lid off for a bit if the polish would thicken to see if stamping results would be better? Because this polish is thinner than Konad, slightly better results may be achieved if it sits on the plate momentarily to dry which sometimes helps with better stamping results. Also, would like to monitor for SV drag because it would be a great plus not to have to worry about drag when applying the topcoat. I also have to recognize that while there is missing pieces of the stamped image on my finger, this may be the design plate and not to say I wouldn't have the same results with Konad as it happens with Konad polish too...sometimes this is remedied by just scraping side to side or down to up.)

Wet n Wild: Pricing was $1.49 for a bottle. Availability: locally sold at Walmart; lots in stock. Stamping results: Stamped the faintest of all polishes; wasn't even dark. Cleanup: No issues at all. Drag: No issues with drag. Additional comments: I have to say I was surprised the most with the results...or lack thereof...from this polish as I've read so often about gals using this for stamping polish but the stamped image is not very dark at all. Terrible brush; wouldn't even want to use this polish as a base polish. Maybe if I need a black to ever franken with I might use this polish. This would be my last choice ever because its just not a good dark stamped image. In fact, if this was my go to black stamping polish...I'd pick another stamping colour.

FingerPaints: Pricing was $5.99 for a bottle (slightly less with Sally's card). Availability: locally sold at Sally's; part of core line; usually in stock. Stamping results: fairly faint for a black but passable. Cleanup; no issues at all. Drag: No issues with drag. Additional comments: Wild card here; I actually bought this as an alternative to black base for manis as I heard it was a one coater and was pleasantly surprised that it stamped OK....maybe a good polish to take on holiday as serves two purposes for base and stamping! On the thin side; maybe another polish to try again if the lid is left off to let it thicken again? The stamped image shadowed which is because its a thinner polish; may be remedied by the polish sitting a bit on the image plate before scraping which sometimes helps.

Essence Stamping Polish: I don't actually know pricing as I received this in a swap. Availability: Not available in my area at all. Stamping results: OK for a fairly thin polish; not as good as Konad or KC. Cleanup: no issues at all. Drag: no issues with drag. Additional comments: Surprised it stamped so dark given that it is a fairly thin polish. Small sized bottle. Probably will never have another bottle as not available in my area at all so probably out of luck once this bottle runs out!



Results? I guess it will depend if stamped image is more important or the cost of the stamping polish! I think that based upon stamping results, availability, pricing, quality of stamping image, etc, the best overall polish would be KleanColor Black....that being said, I'll probably stick to Konad strictly because personally, I'd rather pay the extra and order online for the crisp clear stamping results of Konad! Also, while Konad cleanup takes longer and sometimes stays visible in my clean up pix, keep in mind that this isn't nearly as visible to the human eye as people aren't looking at your nails in macro view and immediately after stamping! As I take these pix mainly late at night, by the time I shower the next morning, there's little stamping polish left visible. All this being said, and as this is the first and only time I've used KleanColor to stamp, I'm going to use it more for stamping to get a good feel with how it stamps...because its available locally and less than a third of the price of Konad...and if I can get it to stamp well and it has no drag, it may be my next go to stamping polish...unless I find something better in the next round of comparison stamping that is!

Have you tried these polishes? Are your results the same or not? Just curious.....its always interesting to hear what others think...just like one person may prefer Poshe topcoat and the next SV if you know what I mean! Do you use any of these for stamping? If not, do you have any other suggestions? There's still a few black polishes I've yet to compare being Beautiful Scratchers black, Sally Hansen Black Out, Wet n Wild Black Creme and CND Blackjack. I think Fab Ur Nails also has a black stamping polish; I'm probably going to order it too whenever I get around to placing my order as I want to try a few of those stamping polishes.

I have a few different white polishes to try as well; KleanColor white, Sally Hansen White Out, Beautiful Scratchers white, Essence stampy white polish...do you know of any others that work well and may be an alternative to Konad? I'd love to know your thoughts!

Thanks for looking!

Sampling My Franken!

I frankened a stamping polish!



I've been thinking about manis I have kinda tucked in the back of my head and was looking for a stamping polish that had the glow of Nicole by OPI Give Me the 1st Dance, but a darker, more charcoal colour. I couldn't think of polish in my stash that had the look I was wanting (maybe Chanel Graphite, but do you really want to be doing a whole lot of stamping with a $30 bottle of polish? And speaking of Graphite..I'll have to check my bottle to see if I accidentally duped it...hmmmm.....) So anyway, I decided to attempt a franken. It's in the bottle I'm holding in the pix below.

I already knew I liked the sparkle of the stamping from Nicole by OPI Give Me the 1st Dance and knew it stamped well, so poured about a third of a bottle into an empty one. Then added WnW Black Creme a few drops at a time until I got the desired colour I was looking for. Voila! A franken stamping polish is born! I was pretty happy with the results. And while I was at it, I decided to attempt a red version....my first attempt looks a tad darker than I'm wanting, more raspberry than red at this point, so its still a work in progress. I bought more polishes to use for frankening to see what else I can come up with....also switched the silver base to SH Celeb City as it has the same glowy sparkle but a fraction of the price....it doesn't stamp quite as well as Nicole by OPI, but the results are decent enough...especially when you're only wearing your mani for a day or two!

Because I spent half most of my free time making the frankens, I quickly did this mani to test drive my stamping polish. Started with base coat of OPI DC Charged Up Cherry; two coats.

Stamped using Big SdP C with my charcoal franken (I'll call it Franken #1 as I'm not terribly creative!). Its a plate I've used before but was mainly just wanting to do a mani quickly to see how the franken looked for stamping.


Lastly, jazzed it up a bit with some dots using Konad black special polish.


The next morning at the crack of dawn, I took this pix. This is pretty much how it looks IRL. I love how sparkly and glowy the stamping polish is....can't wait to use it again!


I know this is pretty simplistic compared to the beautiful polishes that more serious frankeners come up with, but it seems like it will be perfect for what I have in mind for stamping...and I hope I can replicate the glowy results in other colours!

Thanks for looking!

More Layering Using OPI I Lily Love You

I've been experimenting with layering a little bit; this is my latest attempt using FingerPaints Amethyst Atelier and OPI I Lily Love You. Used WetnWild Metallica for silver stamping with SdP Big C plate and then some random coloured dots.



Before I started this mani, I thought I would try a little experiment to see if it would matter what order I layer/stamp in. So here's progression both ways on my left and right hand as well as end result.

Here's the base; two coats of FingerPaints Amethyst Atelier (won't show right hand as you'll see enough hangnails with the other pix! lol!!) I don't know if there are any bubbles evident, etc. but I applied this in a room with a/c on full blast as it was too hot to turn it off nor could I stand the heat outside, so if you see any bubbles, you know why!

Then added one coat of OPI I Lily Love you.



Then stamped using WetnWild Metallica.

Lastly, few random coloured dots; here's end result.


On my right hand started with same two coats of FingerPaints (no pix; enough said earlier). Then stamped using WetnWild Metallica.



Then added a few random dots.

And lastly, one coat of OPI I Lily Love You.

When comparing the nails, the only visible different is that the white dot on the right hand has a very slight pink tinge from the base of I Lily Love You; otherwise, it didn't seem to matter what order base, stamping, layering, dots, was done. Just thought I would try it out anyway to see if it mattered but in this case anyway, not too much. (All these pix were taken outside either in direct sunlight or shade).

My layering experimentation is very limited but I know for sure that I will be running out to get a back up of I Lily Love You as it is just awesomeness in a bottle - the rainbows from the flakies are super cool-to me anyway!

Thanks for looking!