The Crumpet's Daughter's Birthday

Today, over at FB Adventures in Stamping, we did mani's to celebrate The Crumpet's daughter's 9th birthday....this is what I came up with.

Started with a base of OPI If You Moust You Moust from the OPI Vintage Minnie Mouse collex.  I almost passed on this polish because I thought it seems similar to other pink cremes I already have in my stash....but I couldn't resist!  The pix below was taken outside in overcast skies; it is slightly brighter than this IRL.  This is two coats, no topcoat.

Added a layer of Deborah Lippmann Sweet Dreams.  One coat, no topcoat.  While this may seem uneven and bumpy from the pix/angle, its smooth as glass and so much more beautiful IRL!  I want to add Sweet Dreams to every pink polish! 

Another view.  This pix was indoors at a window; the one above was outside in overcast skies.  The weather was just terrible while I was away for the weekend; I have no great lighting source when I'm not at home other than whatever Mother Nature provides!

Stamped!  I didn't take a pix of this but used fauxnad XL K light pink Konad stamping polish and stamped confetti on the thumb and stars on the middle finger.  Some of this shows up slightly in the pix; just added for some layering interest.  Used Konad white stamping polish for main stampings, using fauxnad XL K (balloons and happy birthday cake), SdP 62 (girl), SdP 66 (comb and perfume), SdP 77 (flowers on middle finger and scattered elsewhere), SdP 32 (present and star), SdP 67 (bow), SdP 71 (castle and butterfly), SdP 65 (sunflower) and Sdp 57 (starfish and shell). 

Added a few yellow dots for flower centres and a few other random dots scattered using yellow Sally Hansen Instadri.

  

Topped with SV.

SdP's can be bought here and I got the fauxnad XL K plate here!

I hope the lil Crumpett enjoyed all the mani's in her honour...it was a lot of fun putting it together!!

Hope you had a great weekend and thanks for looking!

Barry M Cobalt Blue Layered

I had two polishes I reallll-lllyyyyy wanted to use.  Looking at them, I thought they may go together so thought I'd do a little layering....this is what I came up with.

Started with a base of one coat of Barry M Cobalt Blue.  Gorgeous and one coat?!  Unbelievable!!  I usually do two coats on most base polishes but knew I was going to be layering it, so left with one but the coverage was still good. You'll know that by no means am I one to call dupes or do a lot of comparisons, but  I'd say this is veryyyy close colour wise to nails inc. Baker Street; you can see my mani with it here.   However, Baker Street had more shine and while the colour is close, I wouldn't say the finish is the same.  Shine may be achieved by adding a layer of clear topcoat but because I knew I was going to be layering it, I didn't go that route.  Perhaps another day. But at half the price of nails inc. Baker Street, Barry M Cobalt Blue is a less expensive option if you are craving this shade of blue! 

Added two coats of Essence Confetteria that I received from my European swap pal as part of our massive polish swap.  I was sooo anxious to swatch this!  Hex and small round silver glitter in a navy jelly base....*swoon*.   

Of course I had to stamp this, but didn't want to hid the base too much so opted for a simple white flower coaxed into a french tip from fauxnad m12 using Konad white special polish.  The pix below doesn't have SV on it but the very first one does....just made it more squishy! 

After the terrible staining I had after removing MAC Blue India, I'm always a little hesitant in removing blue polishes for fear of having smurf nails but was happy to report no terrible staining occurred.  A little blue was on my skin, but it easily came off with remover and if one was really careful in removal, that too could be avoided. 

For those of us who don't have easy access to Barry M, Harlow & Co sell their products.  And if you don't have easy access to the full range of Essence products like me, and you want a bottle of Confetteria, I'd highly suggest hooking up a bottle with a friendly swap pal or you'll miss out on this beauty! 

Thanks for looking!

Summer Skittles

What awesome weather we've been having!  This weekend, the weather was perfect...beautiful, warm and sunny!  My nails were screaming for something bright and fun in the sunshine...this is what I came up with!

Base polishes used, starting from thumb and working clockwise are:  Essie Lights, Essence Wake Up!, Essence Lime Up!, Essence Walk on Air and Essence Wanna be your Sunshine, all two coats. 

Stamped using CH12 using white Konad special polish.  I can't believe I reached for this plate again when I have so many options...but it's my most favourite full nail flower image right now!  I say right now because of all the different image plates being released soon, that may change!

I had picked up a few of these Xtreme Nail art pens not too long ago at Rite Aid....and they happen to match the colours of the skittles bases I was wearing so thought I try them out.

The yellow, blue and orange worked perfectly for dotting; however, the pink was a little too sheer for good dots.  It looks like I forgot to do some moisturizing and cleanup before taking these pix...oops!  Please overlook that nastiness!  lol!

I know its a long weekend in the United States and if you're one of the lucky ones off today, enjoy the rest of your day!  Hopefully everyone else had a great weekend!

Thanks for looking!

Blue Holo on Blue Base

My Canadian nail gal pal, nailxchange, does these amazing colour on colour stamping mani's (here and here are just a couple examples....in fact, the second one linked here, she posted on April 23rd and I did this mani on May 1...I'm so far behind in posting mani's!) and I thought I'd try out a blue stamping on blue base mani.....aka copying her!  You know what they say...imitation is the greatest form of flattery!  Well, this mani isn't exactly copying her designs (hers are so much more sophisticated IMHO!), but moreso using the tone on tone concept as she calls it; here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of Sinful Colors Cinderella.  Its pretty sheer so this is three coats and can still see some VLN.  The nail community was all ga-ga about Cinderella a few months ago...and now that I have a bottle, I know why!  I had been on the lookout for a bottle of Cinderella in my recent US visits but it was always sold out; however, I FINALLY snagged a bottle on cross border trip not long ago...even managed to pick up a couple extras for some regular European/UK swap pals and they are already on their way to them! 

And too many more pix just because that's how I roll!

Stamped with SdP 54 using Layla Ocean Rush (hmmm....I think I seen stamping with Layla's too on nailxchange's blog...even though I've stamped using China Glaze OMG collex, etc before, I wanted to see for myself how well these Layla's stamped!  Copying her again! lol!).

Again....too many pix.....

While over on nailxchange's blog getting some links, I seen she has a giveaway going on too...that's ending soon so you may wish to check it out here! 

And speaking of giveaways.....I FINALLY compiled the list of the giveaway entrants and have sent out an email notifying the first winner! The giveaway page will be updated as I notify gals/they respond and I update the page as the plates are spoken for.....until everyone's been notified which shouldn't take too long now...thanks for your patience again! I was thrilled that my first giveaway winner (pending she responds in the time frame anyway) has lots on her wishlist that I have access too...great to know that the concept worked so she will be able to obtain three of her wishlist lemmings!!!

Thanks for looking!

Summer Nautical Nails

Cheeky released yet another preview of their soon to be released Summer Collection, CH36.  Perfect for some summer fun!  Here's what I came up with!

This plate has a nautical/water summer feel to it, so I thought blue, red and white as soon as I seen it.  Started with a base of Sally Hansen White Out, Duri Blueberry Daiquiri and Odyssey Top of Universe, all two coats.

Odyssey isn't a brand I've used before; I had picked up a few bottles some time ago at a random beauty supply place and this was the first time trying any of them out....this polish went on like butter!   They didn't have much colour wise for selection or I'd go back and pick up a few more bottles.

I had a little misstamping here and removed one of the anchors and then stamped in a single one...still not perfect but better than the bare spot. 

Stamped using CH36 using white, red and royal purple Konad special polishes; the yellow is Fab Ur Nails yellow. 

 

Here's the new Cheeky plate previewed....

Cheeky is wanting a feel for how many gals will be ordering these plates..  so if you plan on getting them, please make sure you like their May 17th post!

Thanks for looking!



Louis Vuitton Nails

I was super excited to finally receive the newly released image plates from Fab Ur Nails!!!!  This is what I came up with.

Started with a base of Orly Pixie Dust, two coats.

Stamped with black Konad special polish using FUN2.  Both of these designs are on the same plate.

Added a few random dots for some colour interest.

Topped with SV. 

 

Please note that I got these plates here if you are interested!  Its always great to see new image plates available and there are some fantastic designs on them!  (The stamping polishes work well too...and are a great price!  I'll have a post showing how I used them soon!!)

Thanks for looking!

Ahoy, Matey!!

Not only did Cheeky release another image plate recently, they announced that they are offering worldwide shipping of some of their products including the much sought after 26 set series (for details, please visit Cheeky's FB site).  This is the mani I came up with using the last plate image released, CH49!

I had been thinking about this mani and was stumped on what base colours to use.  I knew I wanted it to be pirate related and for some reason, I could only think of black and white.  By the time I did my nails last night, I was no further ahead on what base to use, so black and white it was.  Alternated using FingerPaints Black Expressionism and Sally Hansen White Out for base (no pix as pretty basic).  Stamped using CH49 for all images except pirate skull on middle finger which was D22.  (Can you tell that I painted in most of the hat and the jaw line?  The set I had bought were the ones that didn't stamp too well and of this image, I'd say about 70% of it stamped and I put in the rest.  Good thing it was only a few lines as my free hand work doesn't extend much past dotting!)  Used Konad black and white special polishes.

I isolated the large and small wheels from the full size nail images and placed them randomly on a couple fingers.  I love this option that these plates give you...you can use them not only for a full size nail design, but can use them for single images too!

Black and white seemed pretty boring to me so I decided to add a few colourful dots.  I know this has nothing to do with pirates but I couldn't resist the added splash of colour.  In my head when it was done, I was calling this the Party Pirate mani   :)

Topped with SV.  Unfortunately, I had some drag as I did this reallyyyy late last night and didn't have the patience to wait long enough for the stamping and dots to dry.  Good thing its only noticeable in macro and tomorrow is another mani! 

Here's the plate from Cheeky's FB site.

So what do you think?  Are you excited for these plates to be released?  I can't wait to be able to share more of their designs!

Thanks for looking!