Swirls!

Spring is upon us and we have warmer weather again, which means I'm going to be sharing a whole bunch of floral mani's, but before I do, I thought I'd share this swirl mani that I did one bleak day this past winter.  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Orly Synthetic Symphony, no top coat.

Topped with a coat of Glam Polish Sunset Surf, no top coat.

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped with image from Lesly LS-20 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate.

Topped with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

 Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Throwback; Day 2

Here's my day 2 mani for Digit-al Dozen week; I again did nails based on an older mani I had done for a past Digit-al Dozen week and then mixed it a bit.  I love those these turned out even though I wasn't quite sure how the colours would work out...a little on the fugly side but I think they work for fall!  Regardless, I like how this turn out; here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Color Club Je Ne Sais Quoi, no top coat.  This seems to be a staple to my fall nails this year; I've wore it so often!

After applying Girly Bits Border Patrol, did a sponged gradient using Color Club Je Ne Sais Quoi, Color Club Tribe and True and SpaRitural Clay, then added a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using an image from LS-20 on all nails, then added one from BM-XL204 on the thumb.

BM-XL204

I added a few more geese on the middle and thumb using same BM plate, then finished with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Here's the past DD mani that I updated and the post is here!

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

First of the Fall Mani's!

I've been resisting doing fall mani's for a couple weeks now even though I've seen a lot of them being posted lately.  The darker, muted colours traditionally used aren't my favourites as I'm definitely more of a brights person (one only needs to glance quickly at my Instagram or Pinterest account collages to confirm this!!)   The other problem is the weather has been beautiful and sunny the last few days....I still want to wear beautiful brights in this warm, sunny fall weather we are having right now!  But I have done a few fall mani's so they will be starting to pop up here and there over the next few weeks.  This is one I did last weekend in an attempt to think outside of the box and not stamp on a plain creme base.  It's not my favourite of the fall mani's I've done but if anything I've found since I've been blogging is usually what I like, no one else likes and what I think is a total fail, gets lots of loving.  You be the judge!  Here's what I came up with.

I did this mani in cottage country and only have natural daylight.  I started early evening and it was still sunny but when I finished, the sun and daylight was fading fast so lighting wasn't the best and lots of shading in some pix.

Started with a base of two coats of L'Oreal Safari Chic, no topcoat.

As I mentioned at the start of the post, by the time I had done this mani, I had done two or three fall manis, all on creme bases (acknowledging I haven't shared them yet here).  So I wanted to do something a little different.  I had picked up a boxed set of full size Nails Inc. polishes recently at Winners (score at $9.99!) and in the set was Nails Inc. The Donmar which is a flaky.  For little base interest, added it on top of Safari Chic.

Shade pix.

Can I just say, why can't every pix be like this one...half in the sun and half in the shade!  It was just a fluke; I doubt I could replicate it if I ever tried.  

Stamped using assortment of images; Lesly LS-20 (thumb and pinky), Messy Mansion MM19 (index and middle), Chez Automne001 (ring), MoYou Landscape Collection-02 (accent leaves).  For stamping, used Konad black special polish and assortment of Sally Hansen Insta-dri's.

Messy Mansion MM19

Gave the tree on the middle finger some fall leaves!

Top coated to finish.

This pix you can see the stamping best but unfortunately, full of fibres...story of my (stamping) life!

I really like the flaky interest on the thumb with the black contrast but too much going on with the coloured stamping even for my busy stamping style!  

What do you think...and if you're not a fan of it, please let me know and no hard feelings.....I got big shoulders lol!

Thanks for looking!

P.S. Isn't this the worst picture ever?  Looks like my nails are full of craters! 

Bonus pix of my right hand which is slightly different.....not too shabby if you can overlook the dry cuticles!

Another Canada Day Mani!

As I mentioned in the last Canada Day mani post a few days ago, there aren't too many Canada Day appropriate images but as I was going through my plate stash the night before July 1st, I seen a cluster of maple leaves on one of the Lesly plates and thought it would be a good image for another Canada Day mani. These were the nails I was wearing on Canada Day...nothing says Canada more than red, white and maple leaves!

Started with a base of two coats each of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Nicole by OPI Please Red-Cycle, topped with HKGirl quick dry topcoat.  

Stamped with maple leaves from LS20 using red and white Konad special polishes.  Added Canada to thumb from fauxnad m56.

Topped with HKGirl topcoat to finish.

Digit-al Dozen challenge week is around the corner and these Canada Day nails are an appropriate introduction to the theme challenge which is Countries and Cultures.....but I'm sure another Canada related mani will show up at some point during the week!

Thanks for looking!

Girly Bits #islandtime

Girly Bits created a fabulous trio of polishes as part of an exclusive release for Gloss48; this is one of them, Girly Bit's #islandtime.

Started with a base of two coats of Girly Bits #islandtime, no topcoat.

Different lighting. 

Stamped with white Konad special polish using LS-20.

Topped with SV to finish.

Thanks for looking!

Lick and Smooth Method Works!

I didn't have any intention of posting this mani.  I did it a couple nights ago simply to change my nails but because I'm feeling all crappy about the sad state of my cuticles and have been waiting for them to heal (see the ouchie still on the middle finger?  *sigh*), I was just going to do a polish change and not really worry about taking pix along the way to share as I usually do.  I took a few pix just in case it turned out OK, bad cuticles and all, but it really wasn't what I had in mind. Honest! In fact, I hardly took any pix of this mani; less than 30 in total (considering some mani's I take a couple hundred pix, this is low!) Anyway, I loved how this turned out so I'm glad I took a few pix to share.





I didn't have anything specifically planned or in mind when I started this mani; I realized I've been wearing a lot of blues lately (even though they have yet to be posted!) so wanted something different on my nails and just looked through my polish stash for the first polish that seemed to be calling my name (although I don't think I strayed too far from the blue spectrum with this choice!).  Did two coats of Elevation Polish Mount Cangyan, no topcoat.



While the base is stunning, I was less than happy with what's going on at the tips here so decided to do some layering on top of it.  I happen to see Pahlish Your Possible Heart sitting there handy at my desk and thought it would be an interesting cover, so added a light coat of it on top.



In different lighting; the pix below is more colour accurate.  No topcoat.  (Topcoat would have added greatly and if I wasn't going to stamp on top, I would have added it now.  But of course, I knew I was going to stamp on top of it so waited for it to dry.)



While my nails were drying, I was looking through my plate stash to pick out an image.  Unfortunately, the sticky from a clear plastic plate covering caught my still wet nails, denting then as well as taking a couple little chunks out of the pinky and ring finger polish when I peeled the plastic off.  As they were semi-wet still and I didn't really want to take off the polish on just those two fingers and reapply, I just smoothed them down with my finger (aka, the "lick your finger and smooth" method!) and then added another coat of Pahlish Your Possible Heart on top to even. Of course, had to wait a while longer for them to dry.  You can see that those two fingers, the pinky and ring, look slightly different than the other nails in the pix below as not as much of the base coat is evident underneath/you can see more of Pahlish Your Possible Heart as its now two coats on those fingers.  It's not that obvious of a difference in real life.

I didn't want to hide too much of these pretty colours so decided upon an image from LS-20; stamped with China Glaze 2030.





Topped with Sally Hansen Diamond Flash Fast Dry topcoat (aka, the one in the black bottle).





This is one of the more interesting layering combinations I've done in a while...and I'm glad I took a few pix along the way to share....just please excuse the ouchies as I didn't edit them out!

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen; Skittles, Day 4

Another fall mani for Day 4 of the Digit-al Dozen skittle challenge.



Started with a base of skittles.  Polishes used starting at the thumb are GOSH Blissfully, Nubar On the Radar, Sally Hansen CSM Butterscotch, Essence Do You Speak Love?, and GOSH Lazy Green; all two coats, no topcoat.



Stamped with China Glaze GR8 using LS-19 on all fingers, except accent.  Accent is LS-20, using Essence Do You Speak Love?, Nubar On the Radar and Sally Hansen Insta-dri Lickety-Split Lime as stamping polishes.



Topped with SV to finish.



Here's a fall pix I took around the same time of doing my nails.  I just thought it was interesting how the leaves fell on the steps!




The other awesome Digit-al Dozen Day 4 mani's are here!




Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen; Skittles, Day 2

Here's a pretty subdued neutral skittle mani completed for the Digit-al Dozen skittles challenge.

Polishes used, starting at the thumb, are Sally Hansen CSM Bandage, L'Oreal Greyt Expectations, L'Oreal Smell the Roses, Revlon Hot for Chocolate, and Essence Nude It! all two coats.

Stamped using black Konad special polish using LS-20.

 Stamped an accent of China Glaze GR8.

Topped with SV to finish.

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

Thanks for looking!