More Fall Air!

The leaves have been turning for a few weeks now so we are starting to see fall colour on the leaves, which is nice to see again.  Here's another fall leave mani that I did last year.

Started with three coats of Zoya Sam, no top coat.  I don't wear these dark colours that often because unless your application skills are spot on, it doesn't always look the best but that doesn't stop me from wearing it!

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Using a mix of polishes, MdU 42, 107, 107 and 114, did leaves from What's Up Nails B021, with MoYou London Fall In Love 04 shadow stamped on ring finger.

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

Thanks for looking!

 

Digit-al Dozen Does Accent Nails; Day 2!

I did these nails a year or so ago, just too many mani's, not enough time!  But I thought the Digit-al Dozen accent theme will be the perfect time to finally share them!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of FingerPaints Piece de Resistance, no top coat.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using images from Lina 4 Season-Winter 02 using CND Gold Chrome.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

And while the nails were very pretty with high gloss, I thought they would look pretty cool matte, so added a coat of My Indie Polish My Perfect Matte for another look.  I can't decide which one I like better??!!

Then for something a little different, stamped another image from the same plate on top for some 

double stamping.  Used FunkyFingers Gesso.   Like this look too!

Here's the other ladies day  mani's!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Marble; Day 2

I did these nails a couple weeks ago right after I had cut my nails down to nubs.  As I love the look of dark polish on shorties, I decided to go with a base that is darker than I usually wear!  This is what I came up with for Day 2 of the Digit-al Dozen marble challenge (and yes, there is marble in there!)

Started with a base of three coats of Nails Inc. St. Martin's Lane.  FYI, two coats is fine coverage IRL; only did three as the lighting showed a few bare spots that weren't noticeable to the eye so I ended up putting on a third coat for blogging picture purposes.

Stamped with Forever 21 Gold Metallic using image from Lesly 35.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on top.



While I didn't mind the look of just the marble stamping, I wanted a bit more.  So double stamped using another image from same Lesly 35 plate using MdU 101.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

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

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Digit-al Dozen Does Vampy; Day 5

I'm super late for Day 5 of the Digit-al Dozen vampy challenge; while I had my nails done in time as I did them last Thursday night to share on Friday, at first I was too busy on Friday to do a post.  Then when I had time, my internet was down and then when I finally had internet, couldn't narrow down the pix to post. (Exactly how many pictures are too many to share?)  As I type this post and then edit it, I guess I'll see how many I cut out but I took maybe 200 or so pictures of this mani as I love the holo web sooo much and how holo it looks but I know no one wants to see THAT many pictures so I'll try to keep it down to a reasonable level! Here's what I came up with!

Holoooooo!

Started with a base of two coats of Kit Holiday in Spain.  This is probably the vampiest my nails have ever been!  I see in the pix that there are some thin spots; they weren't visible IRL and I'm surmising that its from the lighting but I do wish I had have done three coats for darker coverage regardless because it irked me seeing the bald patches in my pictures!  This is probably the best I've every applied a dark, vampy colour like this!  Because I know that clean up can still show lots of red tinge, I was super careful with my application to try to keep it at a minimum and didn't do too badly!

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top before stamping.

Wanting a stamping polish to add some umph to the nails, stamped using Colors by llarowe Sparkling Diamonds Stamping Polish using an image from Handy 2 with accent of HK-11.  I couldn't get the strand to stamp well so added it with a brush.  

Love!

On the blurry side but you can see the holo so well!



Finished with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly to Top to finish.



This many was part of the duo I did last Thursday night as two challenges due on the same day!



Hopefully that was a tolerable number of pictures!  Here's the other ladies Day 5 vampy nails!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!

Another Valentine's Day Mani featuring EDM14

Here's another Valentine's Day mani that is perfect for any time of the year!

Started with a base of two coats of Ever After Polish Devil in a Sunday Dress with accent of Colors by llarowe Chasing a Unicorn (two coats of base and one coat of the holo tc).  Shown with no top coat. (Please note that Ever After Polish Devil in a Sunday Dress is a Hella Holo Custom polish made exclusively for the HHC FB group so you won't find it for sale on the estore, sorry.) 

Added a coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash TC.

Stamped with an image from Emily de Molly EMD14** using FunkyFingers Gesso.  What I really like about this image is even though I'm sharing here as a Valentine's related mani, this image isn't all heart overkill or sickening sweet so good for use anytime of the year.  (As I type this, I envision this image stamped over a deep, dark navy, even a jelly glitter, which I think would be stunning!)  The image also has the added bonus of being an interesting image while leaving enough void to see the beauty of the base shine through.  So many possibilities!

Emily de Molly EDM14

While I had originally wanted to do exactly the same image on the accent stamped with Ever After Devil in a Sunday Dress as I thought it would be dark enough to stamp with, unfortunately when I test stamped it (aka on my right hand), the image was faint and light purple looking.  It wasn't the look I was going for.  Then I thought of using a heart stencil and filling in with the Ever After would be cool but alas, had no heart stencils. After some pondering what to do, I remembered seeing needle drag manis where the dots dragged looked like hearts, so I decided to go with this.  At least the Ever After would be used on the accent to match anyway.  Now, I've never done this needle drag method before, so after I googled it, discovered I had to have a wet base coat so had to add another coat of colors by llarowe Chasing a Unicorn (top coat bottle only).  While it was still wet, did three dots of Ever After Devil in a Sunday Dress.  Then did the needle drag through the middle of the dots.  It really didn't turn out right but hopefully you can make out the heart shape enough anyway.  

Added another coat of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash TC to finish.

Emily de Molly stamping plates and vinyls can be purchased via their store here with international shipping from Australia. There is also a US Emily de Molly estore here that also ships plates and polishes to US and Canada. Emily de Molly products are also available via these stocklists with many offering international shipping!

Thanks for looking!

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

Matte Mani

This weeks FB Adventures in Stamping Challenge was a mani with some aspect of matte.  I had picked up a few bottles of a new to me brand of matte polishes over the summer and decided to use one of them for the challenge; here's what I came up with.

Started with one coat of Lioele No. 9 (Merry Pink Wine). 

A couple of bottle shots.

I had picked this up at one of the stores at Pacific Mall in Markham over the summer.

Stamped using black Konad special polish using the different parts of the full size rose image from SdP 16 and a single rose image from SdP 56 on the bottom thumb; the top image on the thumb is SdP 16 as well.

Another pix that shows the stamping slightly better; however, the base is lighter than IRL.

This is a little...a lot...darker than I'm used to wearing but it was great stepping out of my polish comfort zone for a change. I may have to try a few more of these darker shades! 

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

A Leafy, Comparison, Plate Review Post!

Yesterday's FB Adventures in Stamping challenge was 'leafy'.  When I set out to do my nails for the challenge, after picking out a polish to use, I thought I do a little polish comparison at the same time with a few others in my stash.  And heck, while I was at it, show a few pix of the new LeaLaC A plate.  But before I get to the comparison and plate pix, here's what I came up with for the leafy challenge.

Base polishes before stamping.  Can you guess which polishes I used?  They will be listed below during comparison part of the post.  (Feel free to click on these pix for a better view of these beauties!)

Stamping polishes used were FUN Gold and FUN Green Metallic using A20 (thumb) and LeaLaC A (or LLC A as it's noted on the plate) for rest of the fingers. 

Topped with SV to finish as shown in first pix. 

I'm sure curiosity is killing you as to which polishes I used, so here's another pix again just for good measure before I list them.



Polishes used were OPI German-icure by OPI (thumb), OPI La Boheme (ring finger and index) and Sally Hansen Ruby Emerald (middle finger and pinky), all two coats.  Did you guess correctly? 

The above pix is all the same polishes, but one coat.  OPI German-icure by OPI (thumb), OPI La Boheme (ring finger and index) and Sally Hansen Ruby Emerald (middle finger and pinky),  I must add that the thumb is one very generous ( and sloppy!) coat.

The above pix is another one with two coats, no topcoat.  OPI German-icure by OPI (thumb), OPI La Boheme (ring finger and index) and Sally Hansen Ruby Emerald (middle finger and pinky),  

There's been some comments out there in the blogesphere if OPI German-icure by OPI is a a close to or dupe to OPI La Boheme...and it clearly is not.  A great fall shade, but close to or dupe it is not.  OPI La Boheme and Sally Hansen Ruby Emerald on the other hand, are pretttttyyyyy close, probably even dupes to me.  I didn't notice any negligible difference.  If you have one, you wouldn't need the other, recognizing that if you don't already have them in your stash, they will be pretty hard to come by, sorry.  I bought OPI La Boheme a few years ago on eBay before prices skyrocketed; I know there are couple versions out there and to be honest, I don't know if I have the good or the bad one, but the pix below is what my bottle looks like.  While there is this awesome flash in the bottle, I couldn't coax it onto my nails unfortunately.  But it is gorgeous on the nail none the less!  Heck, so is Sally Hansen Ruby Emerald!  The only comment I'd have is that I wouldn't 'waste' La Boheme or even Ruby Emerald in the future if I was going to just stamp on it anyway because all the awesomeness of them was pretty much lost when stamped over as you can see from the pix above.  Maybe next time, I'd do a little french tip or a small design. 

I did say I did a little a plate review in this post too, so here are couple pix of the new LeaLaC A plate that arrived last week. 

These are truly some of the largest designs I've seen on plates!  SdP V, which I'll soon be reviewing too,  is really the only other plate that is even close in size to these images.  However, as you can see from the pix below, some of these images are too big for my nails. I can still extrapolate parts of images to place on my nails, but some will be lost on me, like this one unfortunately.

My largest nail, my thumb, is simply far too small to fit this cool dot design on it.  But I will have to come up with a cool way to use it as it is awesome!

The picture above is my thumb nail up against the image from LeaLaC A that I used for the mani for the leafy challenge, just so you get an idea of how large the design.

Another view of it up against my nekkid index finger! These designs are very large.  So large that they in fact will not totally fit onto the XL stamper as I discovered when I was testing them. 

The above pix shows the XL stamper up against the image.  It's close, but the image is larger than the stamper.

The same image compared to Konad stamper.

I wonder if in fact there's going to be a new stamper out on the market soon to accommodate these large images as they do not fit entirely on the XL stamper....maybe an XXL stamper?  But one things for sure.....you can tell that I sure won't be needing it!  I'm good with the Konad size stamper!  In fact, the only reason I even have the XL stamper is that it picks up some images better than Konad stamper and I need to use it on occasion because of plate manufacturing variations.  But if you have long or wide nails, you may wish to look into LeaLaC A and B, or SdP V, which I'll be doing a comparison post soon too!

LeaLaC A and B are available via llarowe; also listed in the tab Where I Get my Stuff on the homepage.

Hope you had a great weekend!   Btw, a winner for the impromptu giveaway that I had last week has been picked as determined by random.org; I'll announce it next post!

Thanks for looking!