BL Slapper + Nail Polish Canada Giveaway Reminder

I was looking through some pictures of when I was in St. Lucia a few years ago as someone on a nail board I belong to had asked about vacationing there.  I was taken back by the colour of the water which was this amazing shade so unusual compared to the bodies of water in my area.  The pix gave me some inspiration for my latest mani as I was thinking, hmmm, I think I have a polish that shade!  Butter London Slapper, which I had received from Nail Polish Canada not long ago.

This is two coats. How beautiful is this?

Isn't it amazing to think that water exists in this colour? Here's a pix from my holiday.

Butter London Slapper is pretty close to the water, eh?

Another pix of Slapper. This is without topcoat. Shiny. Beautiful. Application and cleanup was a dream. I was thrilled to see I didn't have any staining as sometimes happens with some greens and blues. 

To add to the water effect, I topped BL Slapper with a coat of Zoya Maisie to give the mani some depth and interest. 

 I'd like to thank Nail Polish Canada for sending me Butter London Slapper* (which reminds me, I still need to order Trout Pout and Disco Biscuit!)  This is a reminder of their current giveaway for the entire Butter London Spring/Summer 2012 collection simply by filling out the ballot, which is offered here.

And you know I stamped it! I'll show you what I did in my next post!



Thanks for looking!

*Please see disclosure policy.

Essie She's Picture Perfect + Giveaway Reminder

Sorry to have been MIA for a few days...I planned on posting yesterday but thanks to seeing KarenD's post about new Salon Express stamping plates being available at CVS...I had a few hours free so instead did an impromptu trip to the US in hopes of snagging them before they sold out!  I was planning a mani in my head before I even had the plates in my hands!  I was lucky to snap up the last package at the very last CVS I visited so I'm sure I'll be posting a mani soon!  Thanks, KarenD, for the info! 

Anyway, before my giveaway ends next Monday, I thought I better do a reminder just in case any one's not aware of it!  I don't want anyone to miss out on them!  I've been checking Cheeky-Beauty's Amazon store for the XL plates to see if they are in stock yet, but they aren't so I guess I won't be able to order them and do a mani to highlight them before my giveaway ends.  The XL plates they provided for the giveaway are very close to other series of XL plates offered...not 100% but close.  They have slight variations....enough that I'm going to order the Cheeky XL A, B, C and D even thought I already have other XL plates.  So I thought I'd show you a mani I did with XL C...not the Cheeky-Beauty XL C as offered in the giveaway which is close; this plate I bought from Magnonails. I wish I already had the Cheeky XL plates so I could do a stamping comparison, but that will have to wait until I'm able to get them.

I have to say, that this mani started OK, ended OK but was a terrible mess in between!  This was another mani that I couldn't stamp right down to the tips to save my life as you'll see from the pix.  Anyway, here's the end result.

This is how it started, which was OK too....two coats of Essie She's Picture Perfect.  I wish all that shimmer as seen in the bottle was more apparent on the nails.

Stamped using XL C using Konad Royal Purple special polish.  Miserable stamping fail on so many levels! I really botched the index finger.

I took the Konad Royal Purple polish and brushed in the bare spots to cover.  I decided I needed a distraction from the stamping fail so added a few white dots using Konad special white.

Decided I needed to add yet more white dots.

Added a little silver glitter using random striping polish and topped with SV.  The end result is OK too.  Not super fantastic...just OK.

Thanks to everyone who has entered the giveaway so far...I think the last time I checked, there were 265 entries.   But if you don't want to miss out, please make sure you go here!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Easter! Plus a Yummy Bonus!

Happy Easter!

I'm just getting around to posting this now and the day is almost over! I was busy in the morning with my family, left my house around 1 pm to go to extended family, had dinner and am just getting home now! This is the mani I've been wearing all day. Click to enlarge if you want to see some larger rainbows!

Started with a base of two coats of FingerPaints Black Expressionism.

Stamped using China Glaze OMG using A35 (thumb), T21 (words on middle and basket on index), and XXL Big SdP-01 (middle, pinky and ring). (See the knick on my thumb? That was the "Easter Bunny" opening a bag of eggs last night to hide while her nails where still wet and the scissors slipped a little putting a gouge in her mani!)

Added a few random dots to finish it off using China Glaze DV8 and IDK.

 Topped with SV.  This morning, I took a pix outside in the sun with a Cadbury egg I borrowed from one of my kids baskets!

This was my mani contribution for the Adventures in Stamping challenge this week too.

For something a little different, I just thought I'd share the dessert I took to our family dinner. Yummy Brownie Triffle in my bunny bowl! Its not only yummy as can be, but easy as pie.

These are the ingredients you need...brownies, chocolate pudding, Skor chips and whipped topping.

 Make brownies and pudding according to directions. When cool, cut brownies into bite size pieces, layer in bowl. Add pudding on top of brownies, add whipped topping on top of pudding, sprinkle with Skor chips. That's it!  For a double batch, you will need one more box of brownies and one more pudding box, but the large size of Cool Whip is enough as is one bag of Skor Chips.  For a couple batch, do two layers of each in a large bowl.  It's best if it sits overnight, keep refrigerated.  I had a large bowl and was feeding a lot of people so did a double batch so used double the ingredients which makes a lot! But it makes a lot even without doubling it. And in a pinch, I've used those store bought bite-size brownies too.

Hope you had a great day! Thanks for looking!

Disney Easter Nails

  

I try to come up some not very typical mani's for themes and holidays....and I don't think this is a *typical* Easter mani! lol!  This is what I came up with last night.

Started with a base of OPI Hopelessly in Love as underwears along with four coats of China Glaze Innocence. Five coats of polish and you can still see VNL! Urghhhh!

Stamped some dotted french tips using CH22 with Konad black special polish. Didn't do too bad of a job lining up the french tips!  They are my nemesis...middle finger wasn't the greatest but not bad all in all!

Added Mickey and Minnie using SdP 40 for Mickey and SdP 16 for Minnie.

Then stamped in the super adorable Mickey and Minnie Easter Egg using W211, which was the one plate I wanted to use for this mani.   I went through my plate stash looking for other images to go along with this one image alone to come up with a Disney Easter theme.  Kinda, anyway....the bunny, while cute, isn't Disney but he screams Easter....I am going to try to fit him in another mani before Sunday as I think he is cute beyond belief!  The bunny is from XXL Big SdP-01 and the egg on pinky is W211.

Random dots using Konad Red and White special polishes. 

Topped with SV and done!

 I'm probably wayyyy too old to be wearing these Disney Easter nails but I adore them...they are an 11 out of 10 on the cuteness scale! Good thing age is just a number, right? lol!

Have you done an Easter mani yet?  Are you planning on doing one if you haven't yet?   

Thanks for looking!

   

Easter/Spring Mani

I can't believe Easter is just a few short days away and I'm just posting an Easter mani now! This is what I came up with last night.

Base polishes used starting from thumb are Orly Snowcone, Orly Green Apple, Orly Pixy Stix, Orly Lemonade and Orly Cashmere Cardigan; all two coats.

Plates used for stamping: SdP59 (chick on thumb), W211 (rabbit on ring), RA126 (flowers on index), SdP 57 (butterfly on index), fauxnad m80 (lamb on ring) SdP35 (dragonfly on thumb), A35 (basket of eggs on middle), T21 (chick and egg on pinky) and HB38 (bunnies on index, bunnies on pinky and bunnies on thumb). Stamping polishes used were Konad Royal Purple, Pastel Yellow, Magenta and Orange Pearl.

I decided to add some random dots...same stamping polishes were used except I also added a few green dots using Konad Green Apple. Topped with SV.

When I was going through my plate stash, I was surprised how many image plates there are now that have Easter/Spring themed images on them. 

I hope to come up with a couple more Easter manis in the next few days...hopefully incorporating more of the images from other plates now available to us stampers!

Thanks for looking!

Hippity Hop

This was my contribution to the Adventures in Stamping weekly challenge on April 1st which had the theme...no stamping. What a challenge! Do a mani and not stamp it? Maybe it was a joke?! Anyway, I wasn't nearly as creative as the other gals who did some awesome water marbling, freehand designs or decals, which proved fairly popular but I never thought of it to be honest...I just thought I'd do a little layering (with the thought I'd stamp it later and not just post it! ha!).

With Easter quickly approaching, I was eager to use a polish I received a couple weeks ago from Girly Bits called Hippity Hop to start some Easter mani's. Here's what I came up with.

Feel free to click to enlarge for a better view of the shimmer and glitter!

Started with a base of Ulta Cream of the Crop. This is three coats as it was pretty streaky and thin; three coats was needed to get good coverage and to even it out.

This is one coat of Girly Bits Hippity Hop over Ulta Cream of the Crop. 

While this was pretty, I was really looking for a more glitter goodness to add to this mani so added a second coat which can be seen below. Now we're talking!  For me, two coats was good...just enough to add lots of sparkle interest while clearly leaving the base polish visible.

Hippity Hop is just full of surprises!  Beautiful shimmer!  Blue, pink, purple, green AND holo glitter in  a variety of sizes.  Gorgeous!  I hope my pix do the polish justice!

Here's a bottle pix.

Hippity Hop is the creation of Pam, the founder of Girly Bits**, a fellow Canadian gal...you can check out her blog ...and order this polish... here.

I always had it in my mind that I was going to stamp this mani and thought this would be a good kickstart to some Easter mani's...but wasn't thrilled with the results. I think it was poor choice in stamping polish which wasn't very dark.

Image plates used were Big SdP A (thumb) Big SdP F (index) Big SdP A (middle) XL A (ring) and XXL Big SdP-1 (pinky) using violet pearl Konad stamping polish which was didn't stamp opaque at all...wished I had have used Sally Hansen Royal Purple Chrome or something that didn't look so wishy washy.  Thank goodness stamping failures are easily fixed with some cotton and acetone...and just another excuse to do my nails again!

Thanks for looking!

**Please note that I paid the invoiced amount in full for this polish. I do not endorse nor promote this website/etailer other than I am passing on the info of where I got the polishes to those who may wish to know. I have no affiliation with this company and received no compensation for promotion of these products, nor am I promoting them...just letting fellow nail fanatics know where they may be obtained should they be interested!

Autism Awareness Day Mani

Today is World Autism Awareness Day. This is the mani I came up with to support awareness for a cause that is near and dear to my heart.

Base polishes used starting from thumb are Essie Borrowed & Blue, China Glaze Bahamian Escape, OPI No Room for the Blues, Nubar Boyfriend Jeans and Nubar Dark Wash Jeans.  All two coats except No Room for the Blues which was three.

Image plates used are Big SdP F (thumb), Big SdP L (index), XL A (middle), Big SdP F (ring) and XL A (pinky) using an assortment of Konad special stamping polishes except pinky which was Sally Hansen Instadri Blue-Away as I was less than thrilled with the stamping on the ring finger.  I hoped that when I topped the stamping polish was SV that it would even it out a bit, but it never.

I've had this idea of a mani in mind for a while and had hoped that the new Lilic plate I ordered a couple weeks ago would have arrived to I could include the puzzle pieces on it as then I'd have five different images for all five fingers...but I guess its still in transit!

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