Digit-al Dozen Does Childhood; Day 3

A Sunday night staple at our house when I was a kid was watching the Disney movie of the week at 6 pm. You have to keep in mind that I lived in small town Ontario growing up; we only had a hand full of tv channels and there was no movie theatre without driving almost an hour, no VCR's, DVD's, netflix (heck, no one had a computer or cell phone then!), satellite dishes or cable service (in our area anyway). What few channels you got was from an antenna and rotor that you dialed to pick up what you could and if you were really lucky, the station wasn't snowy. (Maybe this is why we spent so much time outdoors playing as kids?) I think maybe satellite dishes were on the market when I was a teen if I think about it; those huge monstrosities the size of vehicles sitting in the back yard of a few homes (aka, you were rich!). Anyway, the Disney movies on Sunday night were never missed; they were watched after the special Sunday dinner of roast, then a bath before watching the movie which was the close to the weekend before school the next day.  I remember it is The Wonderful World of Disney; which is what today's Digit-al Dozen Day 3 mani is based upon.  Here's what I came up with.

For the base, I decided to use a recently purchased bottle of Pretty Serious Eye of Copernicus; then thought at the same time, I would see how close it is to Essie Starry Starry Night and Colors by llarowe Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Bottle pix; left to right:  Essie Starry Starry Night, middle is Pretty Serious Eye of Copernicus and ring is Colors by llarowe Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  They look pretty close to one another in the bottle.

For swatching, this is one coat of each polish; index is Essie Starry Starry Night, middle is Pretty Serious Eye of Copernicus and ring is Colors by llarowe Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  

Two coats, same order.  It is clear to me that the other two polishes aren't dupes to Essie SSN if this was the makers intent; in fact, they are closer to each other than Essie SSN. Both are too dark and blackened to be dupes IMHO.

Different angle just in case lighting is different to throw swatches, but nope.

For the purposes of doing my nails, I did the rest of the fingers in Colors by llarowe Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as preferred it over the Pretty Serious.  I actually preferred Essie SSN but need to conserve it lol!

Top coated all with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.



Stamped using Mundo de Unas 11 using Big SdP D (stars) with accent using Big SdP Y.



Big SdP Y














Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.


Here's the other ladies Day 3 childhood mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Dance Legend Fresh Collection - 78

I have a sneaky suspicion that blue has become my favourite nail colour versus the more mainstream pink that I favoured years ago.  It's no secret I have a large amount of posts in archives as I've stated it before and my posted nails vary in length, some have hangnails, then the next day they don't!  So when I was sorting through them to figure out what to post, a good 80% of the drafts are blue in some hue or another.  I'll try to mix it up but otherwise, be prepared for a lot of blue over the next while! I probably have enough blues to do only blue posts in April for Autism Awareness like I did a a couple years ago; I might have to consider that again! Not that it matters; they are all pretty enough, it is just I do try to mix things up a bit!

Started with a base of Dance Legend Fresh Collection - 78, two coats then topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top. This looks very similar to what I have in my stash; in retrospect, I wish I had have added it to the comparisons I did with Different Dimension Wave if You Sea Me and Sinful Colors Blue By You here. 

Stamped using white Konad special polish using Lilic's Rendas.

Lilic's Rendas

Fixed a couple of the dots, then top coated to finish.

To see how similar these three polishes are, here is Different Dimension Wave if You Sea Me is on top; Sinful Colors Blue By You is on the bottom from the comparison I did before.

As pretty as Dance Legend Fresh-78 is, I'm kind of mad at myself for having three polishes so similar.  It was bad enough having two...but three?  Not necessary.

Thanks for looking!

Blue Valentine's

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I thought I'd share some themed mani's. Here's one I came up with not too long ago!

Started with a base of two coats of Different Dimension Wave if You Sea Me, two coats, no topcoat.

Before stamping, added two...yes...two layers of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  I knew I would be stamping with white stamping polish and blues (and purples and reds for that matter) sometimes have a tendency to have the base colour bleed through so wanted and then effecting the stamping polish, so wanted to (try to) make sure I had a good shield of topcoat between the base and stamping.  

Stamped using SdP 10 with an accent of SdP 72 using Funky Fingers Gesso.

Top coated with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish....and held my breath to see if the white stamping would change colour....but it didn't!  Unfortunately, I don't know if it was because of the two coats of top coat in between or if this happen to be a base that doesn't have the issue as not every blue, purple or red do this.  But none the less, I was happy the white stamping held fast! 

Different lighting; can see a bit more of the shimmer in the base a little better.

A couple days after I did these nails, I was organizing my stash a bit and came across Sinful Colors Blue by You and thought it looked close to Different Dimension Wave If You Sea Me, so decided to do a comparison.

It's hard to compare as the light hitting the swatch sticks isn't the same but they aren't 100% dupes, they are thisssss close; the shimmer in the Sinful was more abundant and the shading is just a smidgen different. (Well, smidgen to me; there might be those who have a better eye for this who say they aren't even close!)  

Sinful Color on the left; Different Dimension on the right.

Different Dimension on top; Sinful Colors on bottom.

Thanks for looking!

Comparing Yellow Sand/Texture Polishes

I don't do too many comparison posts....I usually have the polishes but don't always get around to wearing them, never mind finding ones that may be close to's or dupey, then do swatches for comparisons.....I also think there are others out in the blogesphere (cough, cough Frazzle and Aniploish) who do it so much better! Speaking of Frazzle and Aniploish, there was a post recently when she had queried if she needed Nicole by OPI Gumdrops Lemon Lolly when she had Sinful Colors Crystal Crushes Face the Facets. I mentioned in the post comments that I could look for the NOPI for her if she decided she needed it.  A few days later, I happen to find a full display of the NOPI Gumdrop collex including the two Canadian exclusive colours at Shoppers Drug Mart and had tweeted that if she still needed Lemon Lolly, I for sure could get it for her, and offered to swatch them to help her decide. She said that she had found one of the exclusive colours in US, but not Lemon Lolly but that swatching would be great, so I did and sent her the pix.  The next night when I sat down to do my nails, I seen them still sitting out on my desk from the swatch and I decided to do a mani using them. This is what I came up with.

Started out with two coats of Nicole by OPI Gumdrops Lemon Lolly and Sinful Colors Crystal Crushes Face the Facets.  No topcoat.  Can you tell which is which?

The thumb, middle and pinky have Sinful Colors Crystal Crushes Face the Facets.  Index and ring have Nicole by OPI Gumdrops Lemon Lolly.  The middle finger looks slightly different than the rest (even though it and the thumb are the same) but I think it's just light reflection.  If you look at thumb and ring for example or ring and pinky, there is no difference.  

Here's side by side bottle comparison.

Swatch sticks.  NOPI on the left; Sinful on the right.

After I did these swatches, I happen to notice Kiko 269 that seemed similar to these two.  While I didn't swatch it to compare against the Sinful and NOPI, I did take a bottle pix.  While I can't confirm without swatching, the Kiko too looks close to the other two (but is not a texture polish).

I've had an image plate sitting to the side for some time, waiting for a time that I was wearing yellow polish as base colour.  Used it as I think this flower image on it is perfect with yellow; Chez Floral 001, stamped using FUN black stamping polish.

Topped with SV.  (Do not ask me why I insist on top coating all these texture coat polishes, but I do!  I think because it seems unfinished to me....I'm not sure.  While I love all the textures, I always seem to topcoat them!)  

My final thoughts on these two?  Sinful Colors Crystal Crushes retail in US for $2.99; NOPI Gumdrops for $10.99 in Canada.  The Sinful was quite thick and I ended up thinning it after I did the swatch sticks to make application easier.  I personally liked the formula and brush on the NOPI better, but is it $8 better? I believe the bigger problem is this....Sinful isn't overly available in Canada**.  So if you live in Canada, you won't be able to get it unless you make a cross border trip or have a kind swapping buddy.  The same is true for those in USA; accordingly to Frazzle and Aniploishes post, NOPI Lemon Lolly is a Canadian exclusive, not found in USA (however, the other Canadian exclusive colour, NOPI That's What I Mint, was found by her, so perhaps these two were just exclusive in initial releases and later stocks, they were released to US?). Regardless what side of the border you are on, if you find one, you have a dupe for the other; I don't think you need both....unless you collect full collections or do comparison posts or something along these lines! 

Thanks for looking!

P.S.  I can also confirm that removal on both of these polishes is a breeze; not nearly as difficult as more 'traditional' textures.

**I've seen select colours of Sinful Colors at various retailers in Canada such as Rexall and Target; however, I've never seen the Crystal Crushes at any location.  If you have seen them and this statement is incorrect, please let me know!

Review of Big SdP V

 I should rename this post...Those With Long Nails Rejoice!

One of the most common complaints out there regarding stamping is that the images aren't long enough to fit those with really long nails.  Shirley at Dashica took notice and one of her newly released image plates, Big SdP V, seems to have been designed with this in mind.  I must say that before Big SdP V was released, Dashica's images were already one of the largest out there but these are super long!  I can also say that other than the newly released LLC plates, there are no images plates out there that exist that are longer.  I comparison stamped most of the well known series of plates, recognizing that they aren't all here; however, if I've missed one and you are wanted to see, please comment and I will update accordingly...... there's a good likelihood I probably have one in the missed series to sample  :)

Here are some pix of paper swatches I did with most series compared to a few images from Big SdP V.  Unfortunately, I didn't stamp very straight; I'd suggest you click on the pix for a better view if needed!

I may have duplicated some of the images when taking the pix but this should be a pretty good indication of how large the images are for comparison purposes.  You will notice that DRK B is wider but not as long; Dashica also had another plate, Big SdP U, that also has reallyyyyy wide images on it.  

 As a stamper who can't line up images very straight...heck, I miss stamp a lot of images and then have to figure out a way to camouflage it.... I can only image how those with long nails find it trying to line up the image when they are double stamping onto their nails when an image doesn't fit fully...this looks like it would solve the double stamping issue for most....I guess unless you're nails are in the uber super duper length category!

Dashica** products can be found here. 

My next post will feature a mani that I did with this plate...thanks for looking!

**Big SdP V was provided for review.  Please refer to my disclosure policy for further information.

White Stamping Polish Comps over 515

Another stamping polish comparison post...using a different holo base...not nervous this time as I know if I drop or spill it, I can replace this bottle a little easier!    This is what I came up with.

Started with a base of Ozotic 515.  After my regular base, I did add a coat of Nfu aqua base, then two coats of Ozotic 515.

After Ozotic 515 was applied, I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamond Flash Fast dry topcoat (aka the one in the black bottle).  As I've mentioned before, I had read that this topcoat doesn't dull holo polishes...and so far, I can't complain with the results.

For this stamping comparison post, I decided to do a comparison between Konad white special polish and FUN white stamping polish.  While I'm happy with the results and cleanup of Konad white, I did this comparison more so just to see if FUN came close to the end result of Konad white as Konad does seem to be set the standard of white stamping polishes IMHO. The pix below is the stamping using both Konad and FUN stamping polishes.  Can you tell which one is Konad and which one is FUN?  Neither can I!

On the thumb, middle and pinky as shown below, FUN white stamping polish was used.

Index and ring finger were stamped with Konad white special polish.  I couldn't tell the difference between the two!

The image plate used for this comparison was the same as my last post, XL Y.  This plate quickly became one of my favourites because it has some great full size images and you can see the base polishes well underneath which is great for layering experiments.  I again topped with this mani with Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamond Flash Fast dry topcoat (aka the one in the black bottle); you will notice too that there wasn't any stamping drag using it on either of the stamping polishes.

The next day, I took a pix of Ozotic 515 outside in the sun.

I was really pleased with the results of the FUN white stamping polish.  When I ordered back in the spring, I ordered the small bottles because I wasn't too sure on how they would stamp.  I've since ordered a large bottle for when the mini runs out...along with larger bottles of most of their other colours as I've been happy with the results using the FUN stamping polishes generally.   The small bottle is 6 ml and when converted, sell for $1.69 US.  The 12 ml, larger bottles go for $3.13.

FUN stamping polishes and XL Y are available at My OnLine Shop and Fab Ur Nail.  Ozotic 515 (and other Ozotics) are available from llarowe and Harlow & Co.  All online links are provided on the homepage on the tab Where I Get My Stuff.

Thanks for looking!