Lest We Forget

Today is a Canadian Nail Fanatic first.....first time ever for two posts in one day (please don't get used to it as I doubt it will happen that often! lol).  I already posted the Digit-al Dozen Day 1 mani, which is a mani I did a few days ago in preparation of the weekly challenge.  But it's also Remembrance Day here in Canada; Veteran's Day in US.  This is the mani I'm wearing today.



Started with a base of one coat of Duri Taming of the Shrew, with an accent of Sally Hansen CSM Greige, no topcoat (or cleanup).  For the red nails, I was adding stamper decals but wanted a base coat of polish in case my stamper decal wasn't that opaque as I didn't want to see bare nail underneath.



Added a layer of Hare Swanky Soiree on accent, topped with SV.



I had made a series of stamper decals earlier in the week in preparation of doing the mani using red and black Konad special polishes.



Applied the stamper decals.  The full size decal is made from an image on Apipila P.01 and the individual ones are from Big SdP E.  The Konad double ended stamper also has a small poppy on it.



After I got all the stamper decals applied, I had a d'uh! moment.  The full size image on Apipila P.01 is clear underneath...which means I could have just stamped it onto a red polish base!  All this work (and terrible cleanup!) for nothinggggg!  Grrrr!  I had a plausible reason for making the stamper decal at the time but now for the life of me, I cannot remember why.  Practise, I guess???!!



Added one of the small decals from Big SdP E to accent.  I know one thing for sure is that I much prefer applying the smaller decals versus the full size ones which are a pain to size, clean up, etc.



I had a few of the small decals left so added them to my right hand, which I did a little different.



Please honour and remember those who died so that we have the freedom we have today.

Thanks for looking (for the second time today!)

Digit-al Dozen; Day 1, Black n White

This month's challenge for Digit-al Dozen is black and white.  How can something so seemingly easy be so hard?  For me, the colours black and white are easy enough; the problem is trying to come up with something different for each of them only using black and white so that they don't all look the same!  I guess we'll see how it goes as the week progresses as I haven't finished them all yet!  Here's the first mani I came up with.

Started with a base of one coat of FingerPaints Black Expressionism and two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales walls, no topcoat (with terrible cleanup, I see!)

Stamped using white and black Konad special polish using FUN 7 (thumb, middle and pinky) and OB29 (ring and index).

Topped with SV to finish.

A look at OB29.  Why is there no five....I guess you are suppose to be talented enough to stamp a little dot in the middle of the four or double stamp the two and three perfectly!

Here's the other ladies Black and White mani's including a couple new members too!!!  Can't wait to see all the awesome mani's everyone comes up with...and read their blogs to see if they had a hard time with the challenge or it is just me!

Thanks for looking!

Enabler Alert!

There's been a burst of colour shift/duo and multi chrome polishes released lately, not to mention holo versions too! KBShimmer, Crowstoes , ILoveNailPolish and GirlyBits just to name a few.  I decided to use an oldie but goodie duochrome that I have in my stash to help me decide if I need to order any of the newly or to be released ones.  After wearing this, I placed orders (or am waiting to order a few as they are being released today...refresh, refresh, refresh!)  This is Sally Hansen Garnet Lapis.  I took at least 150 pix of Garnet Lapis and uploaded 56 for this post to see which ones I wanted to post.....as I type this I'm not sure what the final count of posted pix will be but I'm sure the post is going to be picture heavy!  Here's the various faces of Sally Hansen Garnet Lapis, three coats, no topcoat, in different lighting.



























Stamped using assortment of images from Big SdP U using CND Gold Chrome.  I had a hard time getting the shift to be visible through the stamping but did manage a few.  Here's various pix in various lighting; I had a little polish smudge at the corners on a couple nails from not enough dry time...in fact, even when this was top coated with SV, it still took forrrrrrrrevvvvvvvver to dry.














The enabler in me wants to share that Dashica Beauty has discounted stamping plates 30% until November 12!!!  Email your order to dashicabeautyshop@live.nl; make sure you mention DASH30%OFF in the subject line and in your email for the discount.

This is great news; I've never known Dashica Beauty to have a sale so if you have never order any of the plates....or want to add to your plate stash.....now may be a good time to check it out!  I have 95% of the plates made (only a few of the last release I don't own) and I'm ordering them by the 12th to take advantage of the discount pricing.

Also, Dashica is releasing a new series of image plates called Infinity Nails.  Here's a preview of three plates of those scheduled to be released and there are plans for a total of 50 (!!!!!) .      

The scheduled release for these plates is early December.  I'll be sure to let Santa know that these will be on my wishlist and hopefully they will be under my tree come Christmas morning!!!

Lastly, followers will know that occasionally I do the odd random out of the blue giveaway for those who happen to see if when they read my blog posts regularly and happen to see it mentioned in my ramblings.  So this is one of those times!  There are a couple of the newer released Dashica plates that I haven't ordered yet and I'm going to add three Dash plates of your choice to my order for one lucky winner of this impromptu giveaway!  But there's even better news....especially if you like duochromes!  I happen to have extra bottles of a couple of the old Sally Hansen's prisms and I'm also going to include both Sally Hansen Garnet Lapis and Sally Hansen Golden Cinnabar as part of the giveaway!  So the winner of this giveaway will receive three Dashica Dash plates of their choice as well as both Sally Hansen prisms!!!!





The rules for this giveaway are simple.  Comment on this post only over the next 48 hours and you will be eligible.  The prize will be your choice of 3 of the Dash plates (these are the small rectangular plates...and you can pick any three from no. 1 to 60 (in case you want one of the previously released ones; must be in stock as I need to place my order by November 12!) as well as the two Sally Hansen Prisms shown.  I'll add the winners 3 picks to my order; and will ship to you when I've received them from Dashica.  I'll cut off the entries 48 hours from the time I publish this post and the winner will have just 24 hours to respond to the email sent (in case another needs to be drawn as my order has to be placed by November 12th!). You can see the plates here.  Just note in the comment section of this post your GFC follower name, your choice of the 3 Dash plates and an email address for contact purposes. Open internationally, see Giveaway Policy for any further details (except special 24 hour response needed). This giveaway is sponsored by me! I will not be advertising this impromptu giveaway any place but on my blog (edit and CNF's FB page!) and there's no need to announce it on your blog, or on facebook, or start following me on pinterest or any other forum as there's no extra entries to be obtained, just one comment will be permitted for an entry.  This is simply a thank you for those that regularly take the time to check out my blog! I do appreciate it!

Thanks for looking!

Edit:  The winner of the giveaway was turtlechick12; her package was mailed out and she confirmed receipt on December 28, 2013!

Dandelion Fluff!

My cuticles appear to be on the mend since my peel episode from last week...now, just have a little hangnail which hopefully will heal up in a few days. I cut down my nails quite a bit over the weekend too because they seem to go all wonky when they reach a certain point, and even though I've read Loodie Loodie's care tips and tricks for wonky nails several times, I can't seem to correct mine enough once they reach that wonky lenghth, so cut them down.  I embrace short nails...it's the time I can use all those nail stamping images that are too small when my nails are longer.  I also like to do funky frenches with my shorter nails so don't mind the shorter length at all!



For this mani, started with a base of two coats of Pretty Serious Viscious Vampire, no topcoat.



Stamped using MoYou Pro-09 (middle), Pro-06 XL (thumb, ring and pinky) and Pro-04 (index) using white Konad special polish.



Topped with SV to finish.



Here's a look at a couple of the plates used.

MoYou Pro-09






MoYou Pro-06 XL






Is it weird if I post pix of dandelion fluff I took last summer? I tried so hard to get a pix that looked like a perfect globe and didn't have any fluff missing as well as get it centered, etc.  So pretty for a weed!

Thanks for looking!

Live Long and Prosper, Leslie!

Today is a sad day for the Digit-al Dozen....we are saying goodbye to Leslie at work/play/polish. Here's the Digit-al Dozen blog post about the sniffle send off.  Today, the ladies in the group are doing tribute mani's based upon a mani that Leslie completed during one of our previous challenges; here's what I came up with.

Base polishes used, starting at the thumb, are FingerPaints Blue Raspberry Taffy, Sally Hansen Butterscotch and Duri Taming of the Shrew; all two coats and topped with SV except the Duri, which is three. 

Stamped using black Konad special polish and CND Gold Chrome using an image from Sugar Bubbles SB 014 and topped with SV. 

SugarBubbles SB 014

Here's Leslie's mani that was the inspiration for my tribute mani.  She did it by freehand but I have no freehand skills to speak of so did stamping.  

I don't think I can compliment Leslie enough; her flawless polish application skills along with the creativity and execution of her mani's are beyond anything I could ever dream of, never mind accomplish.  At least we will still see her amazing mani's over at her blog work/play/polish.  

Best wishes to you, Leslie!  Live long and prosper! 

Here's the other Digit-al Dozen tribute mani's!

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