'Fugly' from the China Glaze On Safari Collex

This is the mani I did using a few colours from the China Glaze On Safari collex that I picked up last week.

Started with a base of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, two coats.  This pix has SV.

I can't believe I have this colour on my nails!  Of all the colours in the collection, I chose this one? I blame one of my nail blog friends and her love of fugly!  I don't want to say who this is, but I'm sure she'll know I'm referencing her as its a little joke we have between us!  I'm slowly turning to the 'fugly' side!  And as not to insult her or anyone else who may like this polish colour, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while this is what I'd consider *fugly*, I appreciate and respect that it may not necessarily be the opinion of others. (And to be honest, I don't even know if my nail friend is a fan of this colour.  Maybe not? I'll have to wait and see for her comments if/when she posts about the collex.)  Each to their own.....whatever floats your boat.....I know not every one's a fan of nail art and stamping as I've seen my nails out there posted on boards with less than favourable comments.  Some blogger on QVC once linked one of my manis...and most of the comments were "not loving them/ not a fan/too busy/not for me" and the like...OK with me, everyone has their own likes and dislikes, their own style and opinion.   And trust me, I encourage my nail friend's love of fugly, as she knows!  I try to send her fuglies, er, I mean pretties....along with our swaps! lol!  It's our running joke!  (Well, my joke anyways!) And even a 'fugly' like this has a need to be in my stash as I can see it as a base for some fall and Halloween stamped mani's so I'm not disappointed I have it at all.  Embracing all the fuglies!!!!!!

Stamped using m57 using black Konad special polish.

Filled in a few random spots using China Glaze Desert Sun.  (Another 'fugly' but interestingly enough, I found myself liking this colour even more than some of the more traditional colours in the collex.)



Filled in a few more dots using China Glaze I Herd That. (Love this glitter!!)

Are you a fan of *fugly* colours?  I'd love to know your thoughts!  And nail friend, I hope I didn't offend you...it's not my intention at all.  :)


Thanks for looking!



Yabba-dabba-do!!!!! It's The Flintstones!

We're into February and while I'd typically be doing Valentine's mani, this is what I decided to do last night instead.



Started with a base coat of OPI Osaka-to-me-Orange and OPI Bride's Bouquet.



Stamped using black Konad special polish using Konad m57 on the orange nails. Taped off a small section on the white and then stamped on the white base as well. Unfortunately, not all the stamping turned out that well on the white as I didn't stamp large enough of an area but I wanted to make sure I had enough space for Fred and Wilma.



Stamped Fred and Wilma, again black Konad special polish, using SdP 58.



Filled in a few spots using the same orange polish, OPI Osaka-to-me-Orange...tried to cover the mis-stamp over Fred's head but wasn't too successful! lol. Filled in a few spots using white Konad special polish.



Topped with SV.



My daughter thought this mani was adorable; I did her nails tonight just before doing this post. I only wish there was Barney, Betty, Bam-Bam and Pebbles to go along with it....and Dino! A Dino image would be awesome!



Off to do my nails....probably will do something Valentine's Day related! Thanks for looking!

Ode to A Beautiful Day!

What beautiful weather we had today! I woke up to the sound of birds singing in the tree outside by bedroom window, it was sunny, beautiful and bright and to top it off, I seen my first robin of the year when I walked out the front door!

The beautiful spring weather was the inspiration of this mani; wanted bright and fun and it to scream: SPRING IS FINALLY HERE!!!!

Two coats of Paints Chrysanthe-Mum's The Word stamped using IP XL F, and Konad m57, using Konad special polishes in psyche pink and white.

Here's mani in progress: FingerPaint Chrysanthe-Mum's The Word by itself.

Then the stamping.

I was going to leave it at this but decided to try my hand at dotting....haven't done a whole lot and kudos to anyone who does manis with a lot of dots as its not as easy as it looks! At least, it wasn't for me!!

I hope you are having a fantastic weekend and are seeing some nice weather like me!

Thanks for looking!

Another Leopard Konad....

Konad image plates have been around for a while so we'll probably all seen the leopard IP 100's of times...but when I applied Zoya Richelle recently, it seemed appropriate to use...plus I wanted to practise my tip stamping skills! I so love stamped french tips on others but they never seem to suit my nails!

Zoya Richelle, stamped with Konad black special polish, Konad IP's m44 and m57.

Here's Richelle all my herself:

I don't know why I keep on buying these bronze/goldy colours, but I do!

And just to be a little different, I shattered my right hand, using OPI Black Shatter.

I love crackle polish-it is so cool!

Please look away from the terrible cleanup-I'm right handed! Its almost embarrassing to show these right handed pictures but it is what it is! LOL!!

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Lippmann Waking Up in Vegas...

So when it came time to change from my Halloween nails, I got to thinking-what colour haven't I wore in a while ....and then remember I just got Lippmann Waking up In Vegas so thought I'd give it a try.


This is a little darker than in it true shade as taken in wee hours of the morning under artificial light.

When I first went to get Waking up in Vegas a few weeks ago, they were sold out - apparently all the rage with Lady Gaga on the cover of Vanity Fair made the polish sell out in a frenzy-so the sales lady said! So I had to patiently wait about a week til the next shipment arrived and when the SA called to let me know it arrived, I went to collect it.

If you click on the image to make it larger, you can see the stamp and holo-I promise!



This subtle colour is a little blah for me as I love colour but was a nice change from the brights and bolds I normally wear and may be appropriate if one worked in a conservative workplace-good for me, I don't have one of them jobs! These two pictures are stamped with China Glaze IDK using fauxnad IP H14. The stamp is pretty much only visible in the sun, that did peak out enough to get a couple of quick shots.



This really is too conservative for my tastes, so less than 24 hours later, stamped using Konad Special Polish Black Pearl, IP M57. The holo from IDK is slightly visible under this stamp but as the sun didn't peak out this day, I couldn't pick up the holo or sparkles in the pix.


Thanks for looking!

All Matted Up!

So I picked up my new Alice & Olivia (by MAC) polishes and was dying to try them out. But before I did, I thought I'd play with my last mani by adding some matte finishes. I've had the Orly for Men matte product for a while and picked up Essie Matte About You as part of a two pack with Wicked. I had originally sourced out the Orly for Men matte as I had read on another blog that it sueded polishes but honestly, despite two coats, it barely took the shine off.

So I pulled out my Essie Matte About You and got the finish I was looking for. (As I did my mani at 1:30 am the only pix I could take were under artificial lamp light so these appear a little darker than original). This mani was four days old, so thanks SV (topcoat) and Instant Artificals (base) as wear was minimal and could easily could have pulled this off for a few more days (but too many polishes are untried...)

I loved the matte results with Essie. Too bad I took the mani off about 5 minutes after the pix so I could try A & O....

Thanks for looking!

"Your Nails are Stunning"

This was the very nice compliment I got on this manicure from the cashier at MAC when I was by today picking up the new Alice & Olivia polishes that I had on hold from last week (but that will be another post!). I'm guessing its because she had never seen stamping before and the fantastic results from it as there are so many more ladies out there that have much nicer nails , apply polish much better and are soooo much more skilled in stamping then I!

Anyhoo, on to the mani! Revlon Top Speed, colour is Bubble. Exact dupe of the Revlon scented polish, colour Bubble Yum - exact but no scent. Two coats, topped with one coat SV.

As I just got my nails filed square I also thought it perfect time to try a Konad tip stamp (well, made it into a tip stamp!) and used Konad IP m57 and m68, black special polish.

Unfortuantely, my stamping skills alluded me and not stamped very straight but not too too bad. Pictures are a little dark as it was overcast when they were taken. An no unstamped image as this mani was done in the wee, wee hours of the am while surfing the net and looking at all the fantastic nail blogs!

Thanks for looking!

PS: I am not conceited and I fully acknowledge that there are bloggers out there with much nicer nails and manicures than mine - just repeating the compliment!