Sizzling Hot!

It's a sizzling hot here in the GTA today; how about some sizzling hot UP nails to go along with it?  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Zoya Reagan, no top coat.  Shine for days; this is straight out of the bottle, no top coat.  Love!

Topped with Nail Pattern Boldness Boop-Oop-A-Dupe, one coat.  Sorry for all those collectors of all things UP but this is long gone, no longer available.  I don't even see it come up for sale in blog sales, so sorry if this is now your latest lemming.  #sorrynotsorry

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

For stamping, I didn't want to pick an image that covered the base polish too much so stamped with an image from Lina Twirls & Swirls 01 using MdU 1.

Here's Ms. Cindy who is a bit different as this is my test hand usually.  Did same base of Zoya Reagan, then added a coat of Cult Nails Clairvoyant on all nails, with extra coat of the Nail Pattern Boldness on the thumb.  It wasn't the look I was looking for so that's why you didn't see it on my posted nails...but pretty cool none the less!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

Thanks for looking!

Different Dimension Da Ba Dee

I recently read on a FB group not too long ago that the large glitters aren't as much on trend now.   I guess I didn't get the memo because a few days before reading the group comments, I had ordered a few other large glitter polishes including this one.  This is a newly arrived Different Dimension polish, Da Ba Dee.

DD Da Ba Dee (blue; as it was noted on my bottle; not sure why...I even went and looked in the DD shop to see if there are other polishes like Da Ba Dee green or Da Ba Dee purple but couldn't see any!) is a tinted blue jelly with an mixed assortment of glitters including the large round glitters.  I wasn't sure how many layers of polish it would need for full coverage (and just because I'm not a big fan of VNL on me), so did an underwear base of Orly Shock Wave; this is two coats, no topcoat.

Added a coat of Different Dimensions Da Ba Dee (blue).

While normally I wouldn't mind the look of this, I didn't have any of the big circle glitters on my nails which I wanted.  So added a second coat and had more success on snagging a few of them after a good shake up to see if some would surface!  The second coat added more glitter overall making the nails a little bit more interesting too, I think.

Top coated with SV.



Gorgeous!  On trend or not, I love this!


In hindsight, I don't think the underwears were needed as the coverage is pretty good.  Perhaps three coats would have been needed, but it does look like it would have covered nicely. As jelly looking as this is, I'm sure it would have been even more translucent without the blue base.  Next time!



For stamping, wanted an image that you could see the gorgeous base polish underneath; decided upon MoYou Sailor Collection-05 using white Konad special polish.



MoYou Sailor Collection-05






Topped with SV to finish.







The next day, I took a pix in natural daylight; the glitter was a little bit more obvious.



Still using Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel!



Different Dimensions can be purchased via her Etsy shop here or llarowe.

I don't follow trends too much unless it is something new and exciting and I'm on the look out for it as I wear whatever strikes me at the moment I decide to do my nails. Whether that's big circle glitters, sands, or any other finish (cough cough magnetics or crackle!) that happens to be trendy...or perhaps has faded.  (I seem to recall reading not too long ago too that nail art is a trend on it's way out....just more proof I will never follow fads because I cannot imagine doing my nails and not stamping them!)  We should wear whatever makes up happy on our nails even if it's not trendy; don't you think?

Thanks for looking!

Antique Looking Valentine's Day Mani

Another Valentine's Day mani; this one's isn't overly traditional nor overly funky.... antique looking to me...and I love how it turned out!



Started with a base of one coat of Chanel Taboo, no topcoat.  While one coat had pretty good coverage IRL, the pix don't do it justice and I should have done two for ....I'm just not a fan of the very sheer coverage at the tips and two would have been a better choice.



Layered with one coat of Shimmer Lorene**, no topcoat.



These pix have topcoat.





Stamped using CND gold chrome using Big SdP A.



Topped with SV to finish.  I think this mani looks pretty antique-y looking...which will be a good fit for the start of next weeks Digit-al Dozen theme; the posts will start on Monday.



While this pix isn't in focus, I like how all the sparklies show through it!



Still using Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel and it's still working like a charm!


This picture is during the day in overcast skies; it high lights the glitter/stamping contrast best although not the best for my skin tone lol!



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

**product sent for review; please refer to disclosure policy for more information.

Digit-al Dozen Does Monochrome; Day 5

I'm a little behind in posting DD's Day 5 challenge because I decided to do an unplanned cross border trip to USA yesterday afternoon when it seemed like there was a break of good weather, so a day late in getting the post up. I hope this mani is challenge appropriate but my thought was that brown, gold and copper are in the same family making this theme appropriate!  If not, I apologize to the ladies in the group for breaking the rules, but this is what I'm going with for the Day 5 post.  (While I posted 5 monochrome mani's, I probably have another 5 that did that didn't get posted but may show up some day!) Anyway, here's what I came up with....I love it a lot which is very odd for me because brown is not one of my favourite colours!



Started with a base of one coat of Revlon Brilliant Radiance Dominate; no topcoat.



Added one fairly liberal coat of Shimmer Crystal; the pix below is without top coat. Shimmer Crystal** is loaded with an assortment of brown and copper glitters; I see a few other colours like teal too. I've used a few of these Shimmer Polishes now and what I'm loving about them is how easy they cover and their versatility!  You can layer them over a complimentary base (or a contrasting base too!) and use a thin coat for some glitter interest, or a fairly liberal coat like I have, yet the base polish shows through.  The glitter is also dense enough that with two coats, there is sufficient glitter coverage that no base coat is needed if you are wanting to do a glitter bomb.  Regardless how you wear them, you can't go wrong!






Added one coat of Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter Food, then topped with SV.





It's always a challenge coming up with an image to stamp on top of glitters; one that is interesting enough on the nails, but let's the beauty of the base polish and glitter shine through.  I ultimately decided upon using an image from Lily Anna 10, stamped with CND Gold Chrome.



Topped with SV to finish.



I took this pix outside shortly after finishing my nails...love this pix!


The next day, I decided to matte the mani, so added two layers of OPI Matte top coat.



This concludes monochrome week! As always, it was a challenge, but I think the ladies nailed it! Here's the other ladies fabulous Day 5 mani's!


Hope you are having a fantastic weekend....thanks for looking!

**item received for review; please see disclosure policy for more information

Digit-al Dozen Does Red, Gold and Green; Day 5

Day 5 of the Digit-al Dozen challenge!  Made it!  I think I always say this at the end of every DD challenge as the challenges are always a challenge.....at least to me anyway!  When I was looking for a polish to use for this last mani, I thought I've already used green and gold for bases for challenge mani's, why not use red for a base for the last one? I remembered that I had ordered a few Shimmer polishes** as part of the Black Friday promotion, including Shimmer Cindy to use for holiday themed mani's as it seemed to be a perfect holiday colour.....not to mention being glowy and sparkly as well...aka, perfect for the holidays!!  This is what I came up with.

Started with a base of two coats of Shimmer Cindy and Shimmer Tracy, topped with SV.  (I've shown in a couple different lighting situations; the darker version is more colour accurate). 

When I was applying Shimmer Tracy, one coat looked to be the right amount to use as a sparkly gold topper over a base polish.  (It would also would be great for glitter interest at tips for funky frenches, which I love to do!)  But fantastic that full coverage is achieved in two easy coats! It's the best of both worlds!

Keeping with the red, gold and green theme, added a few random dots using piCture pOlish Kryptonite, no topcoat.

Lastly added a few small accent dots using CND Gold Chrome.  This pix has no topcoat.

Topped with SV to finish.

Here's bottle shots of Shimmer Cindy and Shimmer Tracy.





Both of these colours are perfect for the holiday season!

Edit on Dec 16, 2013:  I used NPB Glitter A-Peel as a base; the removal of all this glitter was a breeze because of it!

Hopefully you have enjoyed all the DD's Red, Green and Gold mani's!

Here's the other ladies Day 5 mani's!



Thanks for looking!

**In the interest of disclosure as I will be doing reviews for Shimmer Polish, I purchased 9 Shimmer polishes via the Etsy shop (including both of these polishes) to take advantage of the Black Friday discount being offered.   A few days prior to that, I had been contacted by Shimmer Polish and asked to do reviews for the brand, which I had agreed (with lots of excitement I must add as I had always admired them but didn't own any...they were even on my w/l!)   Shimmer Polish sent many polishes to review..... .needless to say, there will be lots of Shimmer Polishes showing up here between my purchases and those sent for review! There was an overlap in what I bought and what was sent for review; I have two bottles of four different polishes as I did not know what polishes Shimmer was sending.  At this time, I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the ones I purchased that I now have two....giveaway perhaps or ROAK to nail friends....however, there may be some Shimmer Polishes that have a review disclosure and others that do not as they were paid for by me. I've done a special Shimmer Polish disclosure in my disclaimers page.