Purple Snowflakes

Here I am, still sharing snow flake manis!  This is from last year and with the light snow we've had the past couple days or so makes me feel the need to share another snowflake mani again!  

Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of DND 572, no top coat.

Topped with a fiarly thick coat of Polished for Days Pixie Dust, no top coat.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using image from Lina 4 Seasons-Winter 02 using MdU 101, 111 and FunkyFingers Gesso.  I really like how the muted stamped image turned out.

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

Thanks for looking!

Bees!

I haven't been out much in the last few weeks but I was at Shoppers Drug Mart last weekend and while I was there, seen this display of Revlon Ultra HD Snap! polishes.  The display said they are one coat, quick drying.  While the colours weren't overly unique compared to others that I had in my stash, I was intrigued that a one coat yellow existed, so picked it up and tried it later that night.  Here's what I came up with!

This is two coats of Revlon Ultra HD Snap Marigold Maven, no top coat.  Yes, it is two coats, not one.  One coat just wasn't a good enough base to me; there were still patches and the coverage needed to be better, so did two as normal.  I suppose this is still pretty good as some yellows need three coats to opaque but I do have to admit that I was disappointed that I had to do two.  Maybe if you do one coat heavy handed, but it definately needed two for me.  But it is beautiful at two coats; nice and shiny,  opaque and levelled nicely.  The best part of this polish to me was the brush.  Loved the brush; application was good, hardly any cleanup and fit my small nails.  I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked the brush tbh.  But I really did!

I cannot say if it dried fast as claimed because I top coated it like normal; topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using Painted Polish Midnight Mischief using images from Creative Shop 177.

Creative Shop 177

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

While this is a pretty polish and it did give good coverage with two coats, myself, I probably wouldn't buy it again unless it came on same for $4.99 or something along those lines.  It is on the smaller size, 8 ml, and at Shoppers, the regular price was $8.49 (maybe even $8.99) so this is pricy given it's around half the size of 15 ml polishes, even if they are $13.99 or more.  I suppose if you needed polish in a pinch, say, you forgot to polish your nails and you needed it to match your outfit for an outing, or you were away for the weekend and wanted a quick polish change, it might be OK as it was shiny without any top coat so you could just polish and go and fairly quickly as it is suppose to be quick drying.  But for me, doing my nails, with quick dry top coat readily available, etc. already on hand and with other options, it would be a pass.  (Except I bought 3 other polishes including this one, so you will probably see more of them on the blog!)  But again, I won't be buying more until they come on sale or I need to use up Optimum points or something like that.  

Thanks for looking!

Pond Snowflakes!

It's been a hot minute since I posted a snowflake mani and I have quite a few still to share, so thought there's no time like the present!  This is yet another BlaFri sale purchase (IIRC the sale was a few days before BlaFri) but Zoya had a good promo and I took advantage of ordering a few of them too, including this sheer beauty that made me decide to do my first pond mani.  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Zoya Juvia, topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.  Now to be honest, had I known that this polish was as sheer/jelly as it was, I wouldn't have bought it because I'm just not a fan of VNL on me.  But I already had it on and thought how can I make a purse out of a pigs ear with this mani.  So decided to go pond mani.

Stamped using image from Creative Shop 42 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate.

Added another coat of Zoya Juvia.  (If you have eagle eyes, you might see that the index mani stamping has changed.  This is because when I topped it with Juvia it smeared like no tomorrow.  So had to remove everything, polish, stamp, etc. so it is slightly different than the image above.)

Stamped again using Painted Polish Blanc Slate and Creative Shop 42.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

 I think this is OK but I also think I could have created the same mani just using blue base, light blue stamping and then white stamping.  But good use of a sheer polish anyway!

Thanks for looking!

Anyone Else Still Getting BlaFri Mail?

Some of my BlaFri sale purchases are still being received including an order I made with Rogue Lacquer that arrived earlier last week.  This polish was calling to be used first so I did this mani a couple days after it came home.  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Rogue Lacquer The Gallery, no top coat.  Love all the interesting things happening here!  

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

I don't know about you, but while I love all the polishes with the gold fleck, I find it hard to pick a stamping polish because not only do you have to find a colour that looks good with the base, it also has to look good with the gold fleck.  And not every colour goes well with it.  Or at least not to me.  I ended up going with MdU 33 that is a light grey, and stamped it with Apipila 12, which gives the nails just enough interest but lots of void space so you can see the beauty of the polish base.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

I still have a few BlaFri orders to arrive but I'm not stressed about it.  Mail is delayed with all the BlaFri sales, Christmas, just everyone shopping on line generally and I know packages will show up eventually.  In fact, as I type this on a Sunday afternoon (doing a bunch of post dated posts), I got a package delivered by Canada Post - they are still delivering on Sunday's even after New Year's, never mind Christmas!  Everything will get delivered in time!

Thanks for looking!

First Nails of 2021!

Good morning!  

This was the first mani that I did in 2021 and I think it was a pretty good start to the year!  Here's what I came up with! 

Started with a stamper smoosh base using assortment of polishes.

I didn't keep track of them all but they are the first two rows shown here.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamped using Mdu 52 using image from Beauty Big Bang XL-02.

Using same image from Beauty Big Bang XL-02, stamping again using Painted Polish Midnight Mischief.  I didn't really shadow stamping but tried to get it close.

Beauty Big Bang XL-02.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

I hope your 2021 is off to a good start; at least nail wise!  I know we are living in a crazy world with so much going on everywhere but at least we can control what is on our nails.

Thanks for looking!

Winter Vibes!

We've had a mish-mash of winter weather lately.  Snow.  Freezing rain.  More snow.  And then a little bit more snow.  So with that in mind, sat down to do another snow related mani when I did these nails.  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of three coats of Girly Bits Go Ask Alice, no top coat.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Did a gradient at the cuticle using Glam Polish Hawaii Kai, no top coat.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on top.

Stamped using Sugar Bubbles SBS17 with accent nail of MoYou Noel 11 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate.

SugarBubbles SBS 17

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

Thanks for looking!

Flying Reindeers!

We made it to 2021!  Let's hope that 2021 is better than 2020!  On so many levels; I don't even want to get into it.

I didn't make any resolutions but one thing I do want to do is to do more nail art especially holidays, events, etc as I felt I didn't do as many as I would have liked to.  And to do more regular blog posts.  Two nail related goals anyway.  I guess time will tell if I succeed!

I did these nails when I was going Christmas nails but needed a break from Christmas nails if you know what I mean lol.  Still somewhat Christmas related but non holiday enough I could post any time.  And the time is now!  Here's what I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Cupcake Polish Lilac Skies over a base coat of Cupcake VNL Blur, no topcoat.

Topped with a coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Delaney Noel A004

Beauty Big Bang XL-093

Stamped using Delaney Noel A004 and Beauty Big Bang XL-93 using Painted Polish Blanc Slate.

Topped with KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish.

The next day, took a few pictures outside in overcast skies.  I think this is when the mani really shined!

Thanks for looking!