Digit-al Dozen; Tape Mani's, Day 4

Another tape mani for the Digit-al Dozen challenge.  

Started with a base of two coats of China Glaze I'm not Lion; topped with SV.

I took a few pix of how the mani was done.  Sectioned off half the nail with tape.  There's so many fingerprints on the tape as I read that if the tape isn't super sticky when you place it on the base, then it's less likely to pull the base off when pulling the tape off.  As I only waited about 15 minutes for the base to dry before taping off, I didn't want this to happen!

After picking an image, stamped as normal over the nail. I used HD-B and black Konad special polish.

Immediately remove the tape after stamping.

This is the finished look once all nails are done including cleanup. In retrospect, I should have used an image that was a little more clustered together in the stamped area to make the polished-only area pop!  

Decided to stamp the other half of the nail; used black Konad special polish with plate HB-49 for the cat on the middle nail and Chez Animaux 01 for the paws on the rest.  Topped with SV to finish.

I'm still using Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter-A-Peel for easy glitter removal.....makes glitter removal a breeze!

Here's the other Digital Dozen Tape Mani's!

Hope you're having a great week; thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen;Tape Mani's, Day 3

It's back to Digit-al Dozen mani's this week; I have a few mani's finished but unfortunately, haven't been able to post them due to being too busy or having no internet due to storm systems.  Then, I finally got some time...and the internet is working.... then Blogger was being an arse, giving me an error code to my posts and wouldn't let me add any text or do any type of editing to the pix...anyway, I seem to have figured it out, so finally joining the group posts today!  Here's what I came up with.

Started with a base of two coats of Layla Softouch Effect 06, topped with SV.  (Those in FB Adventure's in Stamping will know that this weeks challenge was doing a mani using the colour of your birthstone...I have an August birthday, my stone is peridot and this is the start of the mani I did for the challenge...just didn't get around to posting it!)

Stamped using white Konad special polish using Cheeky Jumbo 10 Plate, Happy Hands.  (I topped the mani with SV and wore it for a day like this, but as this post has so many pix, no pix shown at this time. )

The next day for the Digit-al Dozen tape challenge mani, I added various pieces of tape over the stamped base and then applied Color Club Pink Flame to the tape void area.  This green and pink combination is one that I love and I wear this colour combination fairly often; although, I'm not sure how many of the mani's have been posted though!  

My taping skill (lack thereof, actually!) is to be desired so the end result wasn't the best.  The pink on the index finger is all blotchy as I nicked the pink while putting tape on the middle finger so just brushed over top of it to fix. And, well, you can clearly see the rest of the mistakes!

Once Pink Flame was dry, stamped using white Konad special polish and added a row of hearts and lips from plate SdP 120.

I got to looking at my nails now and thought the mani is looking a little off as there is stamping only on two fingers and decided more stamping was needed.  I decided to see if  I could challenge myself and get some itty bitty stamping onto those itty bitty pink stripes on the index finger; so added stars from SdP 49 and a flower from SdP 77; also added a couple more flowers from SdP 77 to the pinky. I was surprised that I was able to get a few images on somewhat OK on that thin pink strip!

Topped with SV to finish.

This actually turned out better than I thought; a little on the girly side and really on the busy side...but that is pretty typical of my nails!  It was a good time saver that I was able to use a mani for two challenges, too!

Here's the other Day 3 mani's of the Digital Dozen; again, so much talent in this group!

Thanks for looking!

Happy (Belated!) Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians!  Unfortunately, I'm a little late in getting this post up as I spent most of Canada Day either in airports or flying home and didn't arrive home into the GTA until the evening on Canada Day.  I was in Las Vegas for a few days meeting up with some fellow nail fanatics!  More about our getaway will follow in other posts; you can also check out KarenD of Frazzle and Aniploish's post here!  The only nail plates I took with me were to do Canada Day nails for the trip home as I was flying home on Canada Day....but we were so busy out shopping for polishes and seeing the sights and shows.....aka having a great time!..... that I just couldn't fit time in to do my nails while I was away! So better late than never in doing my Canada Day nails so am sharing now!  While this pix isn't the finished mani, I thought it was a kinda cool in progress as it looks like the Canadian flag.

Started with a base of two coats of OPI Bride's Bouquet and Duri Taming of the Shrew; topped with SV.

Stamped the red maple leaf on middle nail with red Konad special polish using plate OB-M (I bought this plate specifically for this maple leaf image but was a little concerned it wouldn't fit as the images on the plate generally are on the large size; it's a tight fit but it did!)

Added accent of Girly Bits Canadian, eh? on thumb and pinky; topped with SV.

Stamped tips using white Konad special polish using Mash-26.

How everything looked together at this point.

While I was pretty happy with how this looked at this point, I thought I'd add a little more to it, so added the I Heart Canada using the I Heart image from plate Chez Animaux 01 and the Canada wording from fauxnad m56.  Also added more maple leaf french tip images from Mash-26 twice to fill in the ring finger.  Topped with SV to finish.

Another pix just because I like the look of these three nails together!

Hopefully you had a great Canada Day!  I didn't do any celebrating this year as I was in transit all day.  However, after my husband picked me up from the airport and drove me home, he took the kids to the local park where they watched an awesome fireworks display and my daughter seen Hedley performing.  At least the family was able to enjoy some festivities...I was simply too tired from my weekend away!

Hope you're having a great week....thanks for looking!

**Post edited to correct OM-B to OB-M!

Michael Jackson Tribute Mani

Today marks the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death (June 25, 2009), so thought I'd do a Michael Jackson mani.  I have to admit that this looked better in my head than it translated on my nails, but oh well, here it is!

Started with a base of two coats of Sinful Colors Cool Gray; top coated using HK Girl topcoat.

Added backdrop using China Glaze OMG using Handy 4 plate.

Stamped using black Konad special polish using Chez Divers 001 on all fingers except ring finger; SdP 111 was used for it.

Added a few random music notes from SdP 111 (and another plate that I didn't mark down for the stars on the index finger; unfortunately the topcoat smear makes them look like just a blob of dots!) and topped with HK Girl fast dry topcoat. 

The weather was very humid and even though I waited a few minutes to do the top coating after stamping, I had quite a bit of polish drag....bummer as I didn't take pix without SV.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Only noticeable in macro!  The topoat used was HK Girl topcoat; its obvious it does smear stamping as you can see.  I had heard before that it doesn't smear stamping but that's obviously not the case!

You will never believe this but it's true....Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror was playing on the radio when I was putting on the finishing coat of SV on this....freaky, eh?

Thanks for looking!  

Funky French Tips

This weeks FB Adventures in Stamping challenge was a french tipped mani; this is a funky french that I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of OPI Magazine Cover Mouse, no topcoat.

Stamped using white Konad special polish using Betina B10 and Betina B13 on accent.  (I also used a brush and filled in the circles closest to the cuticles as I didn't like the look of it half done!)

Topped with SV.

Pix in the sun.

Betina are a (new to me) series of plates.....I purchased my set here!  They also have a FB account here.

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

P.S.  Be sure to check back for a new giveaway coming soon!

Gradient Holo

While I reallllllyyyyyy wanted to do my 70's inspired nails a couple nights ago when I did this mani (yes, I'm still going to do them even though I'm very late for the FB AiS challenge), I know that are going to be very bright and funky (well, that's what I have planned in my head; hopefully, bright and funky translates onto my nails too!), I thought they wouldn't be that appropriate for a work meeting I had to attend, so decided to do nails somewhat more subdued.  My first thought was a neutral holo with subtle stamping which is how the mani started.... but I went a little further.....this is how they ended!

Started with a base of two coats of Aly's Dream Polish Unbleached (#61).

While this is pretty enough and like I said, I was just going to do some simple stamping on top of it, I decided to do a holo gradient so added two coats of Aly's Dream Polish Copper (#64) two on two thirds of the nail.  (If I had have had more time, I would have sponged these gradients on for a more subtle line of polishes and a more blended in look, but I knew I'd be stamping over it and didn't have the time to wait for drying, etc. for the sponging.)

Added two coats of Aly's Dream Polish Cherry Coke (#32) at the tips.  This has no topcoat, nor was topcoat used in between layers.

After waiting about 15 minutes (including 5 minutes under a hand dryer), I stamped with black Konad special polish using SdP 92. 

Topped with SV (after terrible cleanup, I see!).

Here's the mani in different lighting.  I'm still wearing this mani today; these pix are more accurate in colour but don't show the holo as well.

A pix taken outside the next day.  The holo is much more pronounced than shown though.  Not a very good pix unfortunately.

Aly's Dream Polishes are sold here! 

Even though these may not be ultra professional....or even a business neutral nail, I work in a somewhat relaxed business atmosphere so can pretty much do anything for work.  In any event, I'm sure these nails would have been more subtle than the bright and funky 70's I wanted to do!

Have a fantastic weekend...thanks for looking!

OPI Solitaire Stamped

This is the first mani I did with OPI Solitaire even though I've shown another mani using it earlier here.  I was a little disappointed as based upon the pix I had seen online, I expected it to be whiter and not have the little black grit glitter though it but even so, it's still a polish I've used quite a bit.

Started with a base of two coats of OPI Solitaire, no topcoat.

I had been reading good things about Mash black stamping polish so decided to use it for this mani, using Pueen 46 with an accent of Pueen 39.  (I've since done a comparison using black Mash versus Konad, which will be posted soon.)

Found this a little on the boring side so added random dots using red Konad special polish for a splash of colour.

I do hope a whiter liquid sand with more glitter (not the black grit kind, but like the glitter in OPI Get Your Number) is released eventually as I can think of so many different uses for it either as a base or in nail art. Until then, this one will have to do!

Thanks for looking!