Digit-al Dozen; Red, Gold and Green; Day 2

I did this mani shortly after visiting the Girly Bits display; you can see that post here.  One of the polishes that really captured my attention was Girly Bits Eggnogoholic; I didn't buy it at the show as I knew I already had it in my stash from a prior purchase, but after visiting the display and seeing it again, I wanted to wear it right away....I couldn't believe it was still an untried! After picking out an image from my plate stash, I knew how I could incorporate it into a Digit-al Dozen challenge mani; here's what I came up with!

Started with a thin base coat of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and topped with one coat of Eggnogoholic on all fingers except thumb, which is two. (Unfortunately, these pix were taken at a time that I was having terrible cuticles, so I edited the ouchies a little, this is the only editing completed to the pix other than cropping, but thought I would disclose as I do know some are turned off by photo editing.  Looking at these pix, if I was an editing pro, I would have adjusted the red hand flare-up so I think its pretty obvious no other touch ups have been done!)

Stamped using Pueen 15 using Barry M Gold Foil Effects.  I think this is a stunning combination even if the pix don't portray it lol! Unfortunately, my lens didn't know quite where to focus so the pix isn't as clear or sharp as it could be.

Pueen15

I decided to add little glitter berries to the flowers to get red and green in the mix along with the gold to make it challenge appropriate.  Because I'm not a polish maker, I didn't have any small loose glitter on hand, so (and don't think I'm crazy!) I fished out the very small glitter pieces from KBShimmer Kringle All The Way and placed them individually as berries.  You cannot imagine how long this took .....!

The end result. 

Topcoated with HKGirl QD to finish.

This is one of those mani's that can't be really appreciated unless you see it in real life; it really is much more than these pix portray...at least I think so!

Here's the other ladies Day 2 mani's.

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Red, Gold and Green; Day 1

It's Day 1 of the Digit-al Dozen monthly challenge; this month's theme is Red, Gold and Green. This is the mani I came up with.

Started with a base of three coats of Layla Special Effects 02.




I really wanted the stamping I was going to be adding to stand out so decided to matte this; added a layer of OPI matte.




Stamped using Sally Hansen Insta-dri Jumpin' Jade using images from W232 (wreath), Sugar Bubbles special 02 (tree), Sugar Bubbles special 01 (ornaments), Chez Xmas 001 (mistletoe) and MoYou Festive Collection-03 (string of lights).




Added assortment of

glitters by fishing them out from polishes, mainly from KBShimmer Kringle all the Way.

A quick look at MoYou Festive Collection-03.






Added topcoat to finish.





This mani is doing double duty; my weekend was too busy with my DD's birthday and other holiday related items that I didn't get a change to do something specific for the Nail Polish Canada week 2 contest so it's my entry for this week.  Here's all the entries if you want to check them out and vote for your favourite!




Thanks for looking!

Out of Africa!

I just found out about MoYou's pinterest contest a couple days ago and did a mani that night to enter. My entry with this mani is here if you have pinterest and would like to pin/share (the contest is based on a point basis; two points for every share and one point for every like; I had already added a few other entries on the board too of past mani's too); the MoYou board is here if you would like to check out and pin/like your favourites from the other entries.....there are lots of incredible entries if you want to browse the board for mani ideas! 

Started with a base of two coats of China Glaze Happy Go Lucky.  No topcoat as I waited for it to dry as I knew I would be sponging.

Sponged Sinful Colors Citrine.  In the interest of time and because I knew I was sponging again, I didn't do cleanup, sorry!

Sponged on Duri Taming of the Shrew; this is before cleanup.

After cleanup!  Waited for it to dry a bit for stamping (although I could have top coated and stamped it right away but liked the texture look).

Stamped using black Konad special polish using MoYou Explorer Collection 10.

Then fixed up the bottom a little!

Added a sun using a big dotter and then just expanded it a little to make it a little bit bigger, using yellow Konad special polish.  I really like how it looked right here; very simple but effective. But decided to add a few birds from the same plate to finish.

Added a few more birds using the same plate.  That big dot of yellow polish for the sun took a while to dry (you can tell from the pix below that it looks like a big blob!) so had to wait a bit longer before stamping it.

Finally was able to add the birds over the sun on the ring ringer once the big yellow dot had dried (the pix below is the mani I used for the contest).

While I really like how this looked, I have a need to topcoat everything so added a layer of SV to finish.

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

Blogger Meet Up!

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting up again with the ladies from Frazzle and Aniploish and nailxchange. We met in Leamington to visit the Girly Bits display, who had a booth at a show.  We unfortunately missed meeting Pam, the creator behind Girly Bits who was in California at the time, but we did meet Tara, who was lovely and didn't mind our numerous visits to the display or the length of time we spent oohing and ahhing over all the Girly Bits!  The show was held at the Leamington arena and, in addition to visiting the Girly Bits display and hanging out with the other ladies, there were a lot of quality crafts and products there. I was pleasantly surprised to see a Konad display there too! I felt that overall, it was a fantastic show!  This was the mani I wore for the meet up; a Girly Bits polish which I felt was appropriate!

Started with a base of NYX 103, Ink Heart, two coats no topcoat.



Added one coat of Girly Bits Daddy's Girl, no topcoat.



Stamped using white Konad special polish using MoYou Princess Collection-14 with an accent of MoYou Roxy Collection-09.



Topped with SV to finish.



MoYou Roxy Collection-09




A few shots of the Girly Bits display at the show.  It was fantastic to be able to look at all the polishes in one place and see what they looked like in real life versus a computer screen or mani pix from the internet as the norm...the only downfall was they all looked so awesome in real life, it just made us all want to buy them all!





We had a break from shopping to have lunch and at this time, we did the obligatory blogger meet up hand pose.  nailxchange's mani is at the top of the screen, Frazzle and Aniploish is to the right side and mine are bottom of the pix.



It's always fantastic meeting the ladies.....it was too bad our visit was short before we had to head home. Hopefully, we'll be able to get together again soon!

Thanks for looking!

P.S.  Here's Frazzle and Aniploishes post on our meet up including more pix!

P.S.S  Ironically, MoYou is having a contest for their new collection over at their Pinterst board; the winner will be determined by likes and repins...myself and many others have several entries there!  Here's my entry of this mani but please take a few minutes to browse the MoYou Contest Board and if you have a pinterest account and you are so inclined, like and repin your favourites!  Good luck everyone!

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!

Let It Snow!

This is my very late entry for the 2013 Holiday Nail Art Challenge by Nail Polish Canada.  This weeks theme is snow; this is what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of China Glaze So Blue Without You, no topcoat. Love this blue foily finish; it is so bold and glowy with lots of shine!  China Glaze So Blue Without You is part of a trio of polishes in the China Glaze Dash of Dazzle Set** currently available at Nail Polish Canada, who provided this set for review. Sometimes the polishes in these sets aren't full size but these are three, full size bottles and are currently for sale for $15; that's $5 each which is less retail in my area.  

China Glaze So Blue Without You is almost a one coater.  In fact, with a slightly thicker coat and little bit more careful application, it would have been good.  

Stamped using white Konad special polish using Sugar Bubbles special 02.

I had a hard time getting a clear pix of the stamping because of the glowy reflection from Blue Without You but managed a couple. 

Added China Glaze There's Snow One Like You to mimic snow.

I thought it needed a little more so added loose glitter after topping it with clear to make it stick.  I think this was a good decision because it looked like loose, fluffy snow at this point!  Topped with SV to finish. 

At this point, the snow drips looked like melting snow and I thought that was pretty cool too!

Please go here to see the fantastic entries for the Nail Polish Canada contest entries and vote for your favourite! Good luck to everyone!

Hope you had a great weekend; thanks for looking!

**polishes provided for review; please refer to disclosure policy