Guest Post at The Nails!

I have some exciting news to share today.....I'm doing my first ever guest post today over at The Nails .....those who have been checking out nail blogs for a while now may remember Ivana from Ivana Thinks Pink; The Nails is her new blog!

Here's the mani I did for the guest post; please visit The Nails here to check it out!!

  Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Texture; Day 1

Welcome back to Digit-al Dozen week; this month's challenge is texture! I did this mani a few weeks ago and have been chomping on the bit waiting to share it......I think it is one of my coolest mani's ever....but if history is any indicator, what I find cool, no one else does and what I think is meh, people love!  I guess we'll see!

Started with a base of two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and topped with SV (no pix as have shown before).  Added Zoya Godiva at tips for sand.

Added images from Infinity 18 using FUN black stamping polish.

Using Mundo de Unas 22 (brown) and 37 (green), added palm tree from Infinity 18.

Added additional images from Infinity 33 (ring and middle).

A quick look at plates used; here's Infinity 18**.

Infinity 33**.

Using the LeadLight technique, filled in images using assortment of jelly polishes.  Polishes used were L'Oreal Jolly Lolly, L'Oreal Miss Pixie, OPI I'm Never Amberrassed, OPI I Can Teal You Like Me, New York Summer Hot Sky Blue, New York Summer Hot Green and American Apparel Redondo Beach.  I also added a few birds; on the thumb, they are stamped from Infinity 33; on the middle, I hand drew it in.

Filled in the sky using a brush and more polishing.  The skin tone is The Kit Nude Jude.

Just before adding topcoat, I added a few more layers of polishes on the sky and water to give a darker hue; not sure how noticeable it is in the pix!  For top coating, I only top coated all but the texture polish and left it all gritty.  

So what do you think....cool or meh?

Here's the other ladies Day 1 texture mani's.....the group also has welcomed a few new members, so be sure to check them out!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

**products sent for review; see disclosure policy for further information.

Lead Light Stamping

As I mentioned in my post here, there's a new method relating to stamping, Lead Light technique which is suppose to be the effect of stained glass.  The end result is like a stamper decal in that it has an assortment of colours, but instead on making a decal and placing it on your nails, you stamp like normal and then fill in the open areas of the image using jelly polishes. LeadLight Lacquer is the line of polishes by Messy Mansion and this is how the term was coined, but you can do it with any jelly polishes. Here's what I came up with not too long ago.

Started with a base of two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, top coated with SV (no pix as have shown before).  Stamped using FUN black stamping polish using an image from CICI & SISI 10.  I chosen this image because I was going for a hand painted look and these flowers looked hand drawn to me!



I gathered a bunch of known jelly polishes that I had in my stash.  Some I had used before and others, I had not.  (I also forgot to include the American Apparel Sheers too which are jellies, not to mention that there are other jelly polishes such as Revlon Royal).  I did testing of these polishes to see which ones I liked best on my right hand and decided upon the ones that I thought would work for this design.  I didn't end up using them all simply because some were close in colour and some colours didn't fit the colour scheme I was going for but I did use a good many of them.



I started to fill in with a brush using the polishes.  I dipped my art brush into the polish brush as needed and cleaned in between as I changed colours.  Polishes used were L'Oreal Mango Mamma, L'Oreal Jolly Lolly and New York Summer Hot Pink on thumb; L'Oreal Miss Pixie on index, L'Oreal Bananarama Love, OPI Be Magentale, New York Summer Hot Purple and L'Oreal Mango Mamma on middle, New York Summer Hot Atomic Red on ring and OPI I'm Never Amberrased on pinky.



There certainly is a technique to this which I didn't really do too well until I painted my ring finger (and that was after doing thumb, index and middle).  The jelly polishes are sheer and you can have more interesting shading or even contouring if you do a combination of layers or heaviness of the same polish, which is most noticeable on the ring finger shading as above.  It's still OK to do it all one uniform colour if you wish; I just think more interesting with a combination of lighter and darker shades of the same polish! As I was going for a hand painted look, and for some interest, I wasn't worried if some of the white in the petals was visible for example, or if I went outside the lines.  I'm sure there will be times when I will want to stay in the lines and fill in everything, but it wasn't the look specifically I was going for here.

Filled in a little bit more using same polishes.



Did more fill in.



I had stamped my right hand and used it for testing on the thumb when I was trying to decide which polishes to use.  While I was waiting for this hand to dry before top coating, I chose my fave of the lot, L'Oreal Miss Pixie and filled in as best I could using my left hand.  I should point out that I loaded the brush pretty good so I wouldn't have to do several coats and again, wasn't that concerned if it was perfect but I didn't turn out too shabby considering it was painted with my left hand and I'm a righty!



Once the polishes were dry, top coated with SV to finish.





This is my other hand top coated and you can see my tester thumb too!



What is great is you can use jelly polishes that you already have on like I've shown here, but if you don't have any jelly polishes, Mentality Polish has a new line that will be released soon if not already.  Messy Mansion also has a line available; however, is still making distribution arrangements because of the strict Australian shipping restrictions so not available for shipping outside of Australia but Julia is working on it.  You can also create your own jelly polishes by adding clear to ones you already have, so lots of options!  I personally found that L'Oreal jelly polishes worked really well and I think they were my fave of the bunch but they were released last year so may not be that easy to get.  But great to use if you have them or can snag them! I liked one of the OPI Sheer Tints but surprisingly found them on the thick side (but had been warned of this in Frazzle and Aniploishes review of them here).  Sally Hansen also has a new line of jellies being released but can't say how they will work as I haven't seen them available for sale in Canada yet and they look really, really sheer from Frazzle and Aniploishes review.  But at least there are lots of options if this is a technique that appeals to you!  I also want to point out that if you are careful, you can do something similar to this with any open image; I did the same fill in with a dotter in a mani here with glitter and here with holo.  The jelly makes it more interesting as you can see the base stamping but this could be done carefully with a creme or holo polish or other sheer polishes with the right design and a steady hand! (I also wish I had have thought to use glitter in the centers of the polish in hindsight....maybe next time!)

What do you think?  Do you think you will try Lead Light stamping?  To me, it is just another way for stampers to expand our stamping options for more interesting nails and I don't think we stampers can complain about this!  There are a lot of 'open' images like this one too that lend themselves to either stamper decals or this jelly fill in technique.

Thanks for looking!

P.S.  The first name chosen for the recent Sally Hansen Prize Pack didn't respond but a second name has been chosen and an email sent!

Update:  The second winner has responded!  Congrats Summer!

http://canadiannailfanatic.blogspot.ca/2014/02/sally-hansen-prize-pack-giveaway.html

Light Over Dark

This weeks FB Adventures in Stamping challenge was light stamping over dark.  Here's what I came up with.



Started with a base coat of New York Summer Hot Purple, three coats, no topcoat.



This is two coats for comparison.  I probably could have left at two coats if I wasn't taking pix as it did have pretty good coverage IRL and the VNL wasn't as obvious.



Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Hex Appeal.



This is Hex Appeal bottle pix.



Stamped with light gray Konad special polish using VL 001.  I chose this image specifically so the glitter from Hex Appeal would be visible underneath.



While I didn't mind the look of this, I decided to add random flowers on top using pink Beautiful Scratchers special polish using XL F; topped with SV.  Even with the additional flowers, you can still see the glitter underneath which was cool!



I got my bottle of KBShimmer from Harlow & Co. as KBShimmer does not offer international shipping of nail polish.

Hope you had a great weekend....thanks for looking!

Yep, I Entered the BM Contest...

Did you?

I'm beyond excited that Bundle Monster is coming out with new image plates...you've probably seen the posts around the blogesphere that new plates will be available at the end of the month. The sneak peaks that Bundle Monster has been releasing sure looks like some great images will be available...plus with larger designs for those with longer or larger nails.

Here's the pix I entered, using IP BM 20.

To give my entry a thumbs up, please click here!

While I'd be especially happy and appreciative if you'd like my entry and give me a thumbs up, please feel free to like your favourites!! That's what the contest is all about!!

Another pix taken this afternoon in the brief sun we had. Used GOSH Holographic for stamping. First time ever cracking this baby open!! Will deninately have to use this for a mani soon!

This pix shows the stamping a little better in the overcast light.

Last but not least, here's the base I used, New York Summer Hot Purple by itself...this is one serious purple jelly! Unfortunately, it does photograph on the navy blue side, but purple it is. This is four (!!) coats.

Thanks in advance and good luck if you entered in the contest too! It sure was generous of Bundle Monster to have 25 sets of these for the contest!

Thanks for looking!

So Many Coats of Polish!

I cannot believe that by the time I finished this mani this morning, I had so many coats of polish/basecoat topcoat, on! 10 on most fingers; 11 on the one with the stamp. Started with a quick coat of SH Nail Quencher as I wanted to see if there is any nail improvement using it; then my usual coat of Instant Artificials, then an unbelieveable 4 coats of New York Summer Hot Sky Blue polish-this is so sheer! I would have used underwears had I known! Next time will do nude underwears for sure...then a coat of SH QD in red bottle, then one coat of Revlon Galaxy. Wasn't happy with one coat as some fingers had no hex glitter so second coat just to get a few. Topped with another coat of QD. Here's what it looked like when I was done.

Here's a couple different images. This is four coats the four coats of NYS Hot Sky Blue by itself. It dries kinda matte.

Then added a coat of QD to give a bit of shine.

Two coats of Revlon Galaxy. I really only wanted a little glitter as I planned on stamping it afterwards but didn't get any hex glitter on some nails the first time so had to do a second coat. I'm pretty sure this is when my nails got really thick. Look there-its like I got acrylics!! I had to laugh at myself. Added one last coat of QD and then off to bed.

Thats some serious layerage! LOL!!

This morning, I stamped before heading out the door. I was amazed how much shrinkage I had, given I used the red bottle of SH QD and didn't use SV at all! I've been using SH QD for a few manis now and haven't had any shrinkage so was really surpirsed. Still kinda disappointing when you see this when you wake up. Anyway, quickly did a stamp on accent finger with Nicole by OPI Postive Energy using IP XL F.

I really liked the NYS polish with the jelly finish but would use underwears for sure as I'm not too fond of VNL plus don't have time for four coats of polish for a mani. But all in all, I don't mind the look of it-really like the tealish blue of the polish with the glitter-just wish there wasn't so much shrinkage. Oh well, just an excuse to redo my nails tonight!

Thx for looking!