CANVAS lacquer Beyond the Wall

I have another CANVAS lacquer polish, Beyond the Wall, to share today. Beyond the Wall by CANVAS lacquer** is the the kind of glitter I love for top coating; loads of glitter and shimmer in one coat to provide lots of interest, perfect for layering as the base is sheer so lots of options when using it as a top coat on an opaque base  plus the added bonus of being perfect to use as some interest at the tips for funky frenches that I have a thing for!

Beyond the Wall by CANVAS lacquer is lightly tinted, it is one of those polishes that is used best as a top coat for added interest.  Started with a base of two coats of Dermelect Above It, no top coat.  (For Canadian gals who may be looking for Dermelect, this was a polish I picked up at Ulta on a cross border shopping trip.)

Added a coat of Beyond the Wall by CANVAS lacquer.  No topcoat in this pix.  Formula was good, application was easy and one coat had good coverage.  Two coats may have had more glitter but I thought this was pretty with one!

This is after a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

One coat of CANVAS Beyond the Wall swatched. 

Stamped using an image from FUN 5 using a couple different blue stamping polishes; Mundo de Unas 30 (thumb, middle and pinky) and 3 (index and ring).  The stamping covered a bit more of the base than I wanted but still pretty!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

I have a funny story to share about these nails!  After I finished my nails, I headed to bed (as I do my nails very late at night 99.9% of the time).  I had brushed my teeth, used the loo, set the phone alarm, turned out the light and was getting comfy in bed, fluffing the pillow, getting the blankets just so.  As I'm settling in, I noticed blue flashes here and there in the dark; it was kinda of freaking me out as I couldn't figure out what these blue flashes were.  I looked outside (as there is a window above the headboard) to see if there are lights flashing outside or lighting......nothing.  I couldn't figure what it was until my hands quit moving and there glowing in the dark was my nails...and I mean, 10 nails a-glowwww-ing!  CANVAS Beyond the Wall is glow in the dark!  And this isn't your typical "have to put your nails in the light" to charge glow.  I did no charging of the polish at all other than the standard take-a-few-pix-once-done-under-the-lighting as I didn't even know that the polish was glow in the dark (I'm being honest here!  I didn't know to take pix but will share another time).  The blue glow was very bright and lasted quite some time.  Added bonus to a really pretty polish....now that you know, it won't freak you out like it did me!

CANVAS lacquer is available via their etsy shop here.

Thanks for looking!

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

Mentality Brute

I think that sometimes, the simplest of designs can be the most effective and think this is one of those times! Here's a mani I came up with using Mentality Brute not too long ago!

Harlow & Co. recently started to carry Mentality polishes; I ordered this long time lemming not too long ago. This is one coat....one!....on all fingers except index and middle which I didn't apply very well and they have two. No top coat to keep the matte of the polish. 

I should point out the I was a little surprised on how dark Brute is; the pix above is more like a lot of the online pix I have seen are....however, I found it to be darker IRL like the pix below.

 

Stamped using white Konad special polish using Betina B18 on index and ring and FUN 5 on the rest of the fingers. I had a little mishap as I banged my nail against my desk just before stamping and I guess my nails weren't fully dry so the polish kind of wrinkled and shrunk back from the tip a bit but it wasn't that obvious IRL so just left it as opposed to repolishing.  





While I loved how the mani was looking at this time, if you have been following me for a while, you know it's my style to add a few accents or pops of colours to most mani's; added yellow dots using yellow Konad special polish to finish.





Believe it or not, I didn't topcoat this mani....yep, I left it as it was matte even though every fibre in my body says you must top coat!  Ok, to be honest, I tried a finger on my test hand and when the polish was top coated, I didn't love the look nearly as much so left the rest of the fingers.  One of the reasons I usually top coat all mani's is to prevent chips and wear but even without, this mani stood up well even though I spend a great deal of my day banging a key board.  I can't say how extended wear time was because I only wore it for 24 hours but there was nothing obvious at the end of the work day which was great news!

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Brands; Day 4

Day 4 of Digit-al Dozen does Brands.  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of CND Oilslick (thumb), OPI This Gown Needs a Crown (index and ring), OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls (middle) and Sinful Colors Cool Gray (pinky).  Topped all but the silver with SV.  I must say this is the first time I wore OPI This Gown Needs a Crown and I love it!  Love the sparkle/matte look, easy clean up and it's not gritty at all.  New fave go to silver!

Added assortment of images from various plates; MJ XXIII test (middle), MJ XXV (computer on index), FUN 6 (ring), MJ XXI (thumb) and QA 18 (pinky and index apples).  Stamping polishes used were black Konad black special polish and CND silver chrome.

Decided to add a few random dots using same base polishes and black and white Konad, as well as added an additional apple on index finger.

Finished mani by topping all fingers with SV except index.  I wanted to see if there was an obvious difference by top coating OPI This Gown Needs a Crown or not for future mani reference!

 

I must say this is the great thing about doing the Digit-al Dozen challenges; I doubt there is any other reason why I would put Steve Jobs face on my nails...but on the other hand, I'm glad that these type of stamping images exist as they give us so many different mani options and variety.

Here's the other ladies Day 4 mani's!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Trick or Treat!

It's hard to believe that Halloween is just around the corner!  Here's a Halloween mani I was wearing over the weekend.

Polishes used, starting a thumb and going clockwise are Barry M Bright Purple, Maybelline Orange Fix, Maybelline Go Go Green and Dare to Wear Ready for My Close Up; all two coats except the pinky.  All have topcoat except pinky which I left with the three coats as it looked like it was going to shrink badly at the tips without SV.

On the middle finger, did a taped mani using the orange and purple base coats and then added glitter on the index and ring fingers.  The glitter over the index is Claire's Pumpkin and Nubar Lime Green Glitter over the index. My tape mani's still need some I can see!

Stamped using assortment of image plates; W219 (index), SdP C-14 (ring), BM-H07 (middle and thumb) and FUN 5 (pinky).  The polishes used were black Konad special polish, Sally Hansen Lickety-Split Lime (pinky) and Mundo de Unas stamping polishes in 11 (yellow) and 13 (orange).



Added a few bats to the index finger using BM305 and spider to the thumb using BM-H07.



Topped with SV to finish.



I really wanted to add glitter dots here and there on the mani but I thought this was busy enough....but I did do it on my right hand.



Here's plate BM-H07.

This is the mani I posted for the AIS Sunday Challenge which was Halloween.  Hope you had a fantastic weekend; thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen DOES it All Again; Blue, Day 1

There's lots of exciting news for those of you familiar with the Digit-al Dozen!!!!

First of all, between today and September 14th, the ladies in the group will be re-creating a mani for each of the themes during the past year (almost every day; there's no posting on the 8th)....so I'm sure there are going to be many fantastic posts from the group over the next couple weeks! 

This in itself is going to be amazing as there is so much talent in the group and 12 days of posts is a lot of awesomeness!  But here's even more awesome Digit-al Dozen news....the ladies in the group are having a giveaway!!!!!

The giveaway prize is a $200US gift card to the etailer of your choice!!  This is open internationally; the winner will have 48 hours to respond to prize email or a runner up will be chosen.  You must confirm every follow option and email to be considered for a winning entry.

If you are interested in entering, please check go to the bottom of the post......and good luck!

On to today's mani......Day 1 is Blue mani's...here's what I came up with!



I knew I'd be doing a glitter bomb so did a base of two coats of Nail Pattern Boldness, then my normal base routine and lastly, topped with two coats of Pahlish Train Under Water.



Bottle pix of Pahlish Train Under Water; this is a darker version of it. (I have a lighter version too.)



Stamped using white Konad special polish using an image from FUN 5.



Topped with SV.





Here's the other ladies Day 1 Blue mani's.



Thanks for looking....and don't forget to enter the giveaway!


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Simple Sophistication

I know I mention this ALL. THE. TIME. but although I try to do my nails almost every night, there are a lot of nights that I'm pressed for time or it's quite late...so it's quick and easy to just pick a full size image to use for a mani, do the base prep and coat, topcoat, stamp, topcoat and voila...a mani change in no time flat!  I frequently use a holo base but this is one of these times when I was looking for something different; this is what I came up with.



Started with one base coat of FingerPaints Black Expressionism....yes, one coat!.....perfect for mani's when pressed for time......then topped with SV for more time savings so stamping can be done sooner with less dry time!



Stamped using Barry M Foil Effects 320 Gold using an image from FUN 5.



Topped with SV.




When I was doing this mani, I was going to do an accent nail with the opposite base and stamping polish.....I decided to do my right hand this way instead.



While I didn't mind this, I much prefer the black with gold stamping.  An accent may have been OK too...maybe another time.

Here's a look at FUN 5.















I was curious how this mani would look with a matte topcoat so the next day, topped with Essie Matte About You.



I didn't mind this look...but it didn't stay like this for long because I did this not too long after I took the above pix.



I didn't have a break or any real need to cut them other than there comes a point when longer nails slow down typing, plus a strong C curve on a couple of nails, particularly the middle finger, annoys me when they are long...so chopped them off!  This was just a few weeks ago...three, I believe.....and they are pretty much already at the length before I cut them.  Plus I like wearing short nails; I like doing mani's with funky frenches on them when my nails are shorter...plus gives me a chance to use stamps that don't fit when nails are longer.

I am so thankful that there are images like this one ..and polishes and fast top coat products.....that can create such a simple, sophisticated mani in no time flat!

Thanks for looking!