Another Spring Mani!

Here in Southern Ontario, we still are experiencing the typical indicators of spring; low temperatures and rain on a regular basis.  In fact, we've only had a handful of days when the temp has actually been warm!  And enough with the rain, OK!??! Although technically spring, we usually do have much warmer weather by now so I do hope it warms up soon.   The spring-like weather means I can still share spring nails, right?  Right or wrong, I'm sharing them anyway; here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Illamasqua Smash, no top coat.  I love how bright this is; an awesome spring colour! Or any time of the year for that matter!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

This was part of my floral phase; stamped using Lina 4 Seasons-Spring 01 using MdU 1.

Added glitter center dots using Love Angeline Alexandrite Apreggio.

Added a few more dots for colour and interest using CND Bicycle Yellow.

Finished with a final coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Nail Heroes; Day 1

It's Digit-al Dozen week!  This month's challenge is nail heroes; and you might recognize my Day 1 nail hero by all these dots on my mani today!  Yes, if you follow The Crumpet, you will have seen her big, bold dots and this is my tribute mani to her!  Thanks so much Debbie, for all that you have done in the nail community. Not only is she our fearless leader for the Digit-al Dozen, but I have bought more polishes than I care to admit from her swatches!  She also was the founder of Adventures in Stamping, an online facebook group and is also the founder another challenge group that I belong to, being Crumpet Tarts which is currently running the 40 Great Nail Art Ides.  What I have always admired about Debbie is her no nonsense, no holds barred on whatever the topic or polish it may be.  I also admire her writing skills; she can make me want a polish I didn't even know I had an interest in with her descriptive writing!  I also enjoy her non nail posts and her new blog which is more personal.  Thank you Debbie for allowing me into your inner circle of Digit-al Dozen members and thinking that I warrant a position in the ranks!  I know that Debbie has a lot on her plate personally and is at a nail blogging crossroads and as I commented on her blog, I hope it is just see you later versus goodbye!

Started with a base of two coats of The Fox & The Owl by CANVAS lacquer**, shown here with no top coat.   The Fox & The Owl is warm chocolate brown with gold holographic shimmer, red microshimmer, and a sprinkling of different sized red holographic hexes as described on their Etsy shop.  There were no application issues and even with the glitter and shimmer, the polish was smooth and shiny.  The Fox & The Owl other CANVAS lacquer polishes are available here via their Etsy shop. CANVAS lacquer ships from Toronto, Ontario, Canada to select countries. 

Bottle shot of The Fox & The Owl by CANVAS lacquer.  In my mind, I kept on comparing this to chocolate covered cherries with the chocolate brown of the polish being the chocolate, encompassing the cherries which is the red glitter and the gold glitter and shimmer being the glaze that always oozed out when you took that bite!

Topped with a coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC.

Started to add dots all with a dotter; the largest dots are piCture pOlish Beige, the holo ones are Darling Diva Champagne Wishes & Holo Kisses.

Added more dots using Love, Angeline Classical Citrine.

Finally, added a few small dots using CND Desert Suede.

Once I thought the dots were dry, maybe 10 minutes, finished with a coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC.

I sure hope we all see The Crumpet's nails around for a long, long time, but if not, I will think of her every time I do these funky dots!

Here's the other ladies Day 1 nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

**polish provided for review; please see disclosure policy

Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn; Day 3

It's Day 3 of autumn week; this is really dark to what I typically wear but didn't mind it for a change!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of L'Oreal Brownie Points with accent of two coats of Love, Angeline Amber Acapella; no top coat.

Topped L'Oreal Brownie Points with Girly Bits What a Rush QD Top Coat on all fingers except accent before stamping.

Stamped using CND Gold Chrome using an image from Chez Floral 002.  I wish I had a warmer gold for stamping; this is OK but a more golden one would have been better I think.  Any suggestions?

Added a couple studs to accent for interest.



Topped all with Girly Bits What a Rush QD TC.



I typically have to add top coat to the studs to help them adhere but liked the matte look better on that finger, so topped with OPI matte to finish.



Please check out the other ladies awesome Day 3 autumn nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

P.S.  If you are into these Love, Angeline microglitters, there's a few on sale right now here!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Hobbies!

I've joined a new nail art challenge group; New Crumpets Nail Tarts!  Of course, the biggest challenge is going to be keeping up with the weekly challenges but I'm up for it!  This is my inaugural post, with challenges most Friday's through to mid-February.  

This week, the theme is hobbies.  I have to admit, I don't have many hobbies other than nail art, which takes up most of what little free time that I do have!  There was a time when I did attempt knitting but I never was good at it; I couldn't grasp purling nor could I ever do the starter stitches so was stuck knitting scarves and even that was after someone set up my needles!  I wish I could have grasped it; I do love the look of those knitted sweater coats and wish I was talented enough to create them!  Unfortunately, the only knitting for me will be on my nails; this is what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats each of Love, Angeline Amber Acapella with accent of OPI My Vampire is Buff, no top coat.

 

Stamped using images from MoYou Fashionista Collection-02 and 03 using MdU 43.

 

MoYou Fashionista Collection-02




MoYou Fashionista Collection-03




Added image to the accent from MoYou Hipster Collection-03 using MdU 22, 43 and Funky Fingers Dark Knight.



Top coated to finish.


I didn't want to deal with glitter removal on right hand, plus this is my test hand to see how the images look; it's OPI My Vampire is Buff stamped with images from same plate with MdU 22.



Decided to go for the matte look; added coat of OPI matte.

Here are a whole lot more hobbies from other ladies in the group to check out!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Pansies!

One of my favourite types of glitter is micro glitter.  Also, really love big circular glitter!  Really big or really small; love them both!  Heck, who am I kidding; I love all the glitters!!!  But I do have a special fondness for micro glitter.  With it being so densely packed, it makes for an interesting stamping base (even though I didn't stamp on it here lol)   The use of peel off bases means that I've been wearing glitter more then ever!  So after buying a few of the Love, Angeline Harmonious Gemstones from Harlow & Co. earlier this summer....then buying a few more direct from Love, Angeline, has had me wearing quite a few mani's with microglitter of some sort in them!  For some reason, I have neglected to share any yet so thought I would now; here's what I came up with!   

Started with a base of two coats of Elevation Polish Grand Teton Station with an accent of two coats Love, Angeline Orchestrated Amethyst; both have no top coat.  I really liked that two coats of the microglitter had great coverage, no bald spots at all.  I have been using UNT peel off base for glitter lately (bought direct from UNT; they ship internationally and had free shipping but don't be fooled by that video; my experience has been that it only peels off like that when its still tacky which results in goopy, intermingling of polish and base coat, fyi).  You have to pop it off other products but it is the easiest product that pops off yet that I've found fyi.).  The only thing I would caution is that you wait a good 10 minutes for it to be good and dry. Otherwise, the glitter intermingles with the peel off base and then you got a goopy, bumpy, uneven mess. Which I have done more than once because I hate waiting for base or quick dry or glitter peel off or cuticle guard or whatever to dry.  

Topped all but the accent with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  The Elevation Polish, which has the formula with the top coat already built into it,  is one of those colour changers that will change slightly when you use your regular top coat on it.  I always do this even though it has built in top coat, so it  made the polish slightly darker (in fact, if you look closely, you can see where I applied top coat and where I missed the polish and the difference).



Stamped using and image from SdP 98 using FunkyFingers Gesso.


SdP 98


Applied top coat....and had top coat altering event when the polish base leeches into the stamping polish which is one of my stamping pet peeves. Grrrr! While I had no plans other than leaving the stamping white and maybe a stud to accent, I thought I would add to the pansies a little more just to see how it turned out.



I did some "lead lighting" for back of better words, using 10.1 Kiwi Delight and Plum-tastic.



Added a bit of the Love, Angeline Orchestrated Amethyst to the pansies for interest.



Added a few dots (in hindsight, wished dots were smaller and closer together, but hindsight is wonderful as the saying goes!)


Added gold stud to accent.  Complimented the gold in the microglitter nicely, I think!



While I prefer the matte look usually of the microglitter, I have a terrible issue with losing studs if I don't top coat them, so finished with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.




I wore mani, after mani, after mani of microglitter (I do this will all things that hold my interest for a few days lol!) but it makes for not so interesting blogging so they will be shared at some time!  So far, I've been using the microglitter mainly as accents but I'm sure that will change over the next little while too!

Love, Angeline is available via Harlow & Co. or their estore here.  They do ship to Canada; the shop also has a wide arrangements of other nail items such vinyls and cuticle oils; they also have Mani Crush Fizzies which I have bought and like to use too.  As the Mani Crush Fizzies comes in a crushed state, I can control the amount of product I use; even when I've bought the mani bombs, I always crush them up to extend them (being the thrifter, that I am lol - hey, it all goes towards more plates and polish so worth it!)

Thanks for looking!