Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Michael Jackson Tribute Mani

Today marks the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death (June 25, 2009), so thought I'd do a Michael Jackson mani.  I have to admit that this looked better in my head than it translated on my nails, but oh well, here it is!


Started with a base of two coats of Sinful Colors Cool Gray; top coated using HK Girl topcoat.


Added backdrop using China Glaze OMG using Handy 4 plate.


Stamped using black Konad special polish using Chez Divers 001 on all fingers except ring finger; SdP 111 was used for it.


Added a few random music notes from SdP 111 (and another plate that I didn't mark down for the stars on the index finger; unfortunately the topcoat smear makes them look like just a blob of dots!) and topped with HK Girl fast dry topcoat. 


The weather was very humid and even though I waited a few minutes to do the top coating after stamping, I had quite a bit of polish drag....bummer as I didn't take pix without SV.  *sigh*  Oh well.  Only noticeable in macro!  The topoat used was HK Girl topcoat; its obvious it does smear stamping as you can see.  I had heard before that it doesn't smear stamping but that's obviously not the case!


You will never believe this but it's true....Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror was playing on the radio when I was putting on the finishing coat of SV on this....freaky, eh?

Thanks for looking!  



Monday, June 24, 2013

Funky French Tips

This weeks FB Adventures in Stamping challenge was a french tipped mani; this is a funky french that I came up with!



Started with a base of two coats of OPI Magazine Cover Mouse, no topcoat.


Stamped using white Konad special polish using Betina B10 and Betina B13 on accent.  (I also used a brush and filled in the circles closest to the cuticles as I didn't like the look of it half done!)


Topped with SV.


Pix in the sun.



Betina are a (new to me) series of plates.....I purchased my set here!  They also have a FB account here.

Hope you had a fantastic weekend....thanks for looking!

P.S.  Be sure to check back for a new giveaway coming soon!




Friday, June 21, 2013

Gradient Holo

While I reallllllyyyyyy wanted to do my 70's inspired nails a couple nights ago when I did this mani (yes, I'm still going to do them even though I'm very late for the FB AiS challenge), I know that are going to be very bright and funky (well, that's what I have planned in my head; hopefully, bright and funky translates onto my nails too!), I thought they wouldn't be that appropriate for a work meeting I had to attend, so decided to do nails somewhat more subdued.  My first thought was a neutral holo with subtle stamping which is how the mani started.... but I went a little further.....this is how they ended!


Started with a base of two coats of Aly's Dream Polish Unbleached (#61).


While this is pretty enough and like I said, I was just going to do some simple stamping on top of it, I decided to do a holo gradient so added two coats of Aly's Dream Polish Copper (#64) two on two thirds of the nail.  (If I had have had more time, I would have sponged these gradients on for a more subtle line of polishes and a more blended in look, but I knew I'd be stamping over it and didn't have the time to wait for drying, etc. for the sponging.)


Added two coats of Aly's Dream Polish Cherry Coke (#32) at the tips.  This has no topcoat, nor was topcoat used in between layers.


After waiting about 15 minutes (including 5 minutes under a hand dryer), I stamped with black Konad special polish using SdP 92. 


Topped with SV (after terrible cleanup, I see!).


Here's the mani in different lighting.  I'm still wearing this mani today; these pix are more accurate in colour but don't show the holo as well.


A pix taken outside the next day.  The holo is much more pronounced than shown though.  Not a very good pix unfortunately.


Aly's Dream Polishes are sold here! 

Even though these may not be ultra professional....or even a business neutral nail, I work in a somewhat relaxed business atmosphere so can pretty much do anything for work.  In any event, I'm sure these nails would have been more subtle than the bright and funky 70's I wanted to do!

Have a fantastic weekend...thanks for looking!


Thursday, June 20, 2013

OPI Solitaire Stamped

This is the first mani I did with OPI Solitaire even though I've shown another mani using it earlier here.  I was a little disappointed as based upon the pix I had seen online, I expected it to be whiter and not have the little black grit glitter though it but even so, it's still a polish I've used quite a bit.


Started with a base of two coats of OPI Solitaire, no topcoat.


I had been reading good things about Mash black stamping polish so decided to use it for this mani, using Pueen 46 with an accent of Pueen 39.  (I've since done a comparison using black Mash versus Konad, which will be posted soon.)


Found this a little on the boring side so added random dots using red Konad special polish for a splash of colour.

I do hope a whiter liquid sand with more glitter (not the black grit kind, but like the glitter in OPI Get Your Number) is released eventually as I can think of so many different uses for it either as a base or in nail art. Until then, this one will have to do!

Thanks for looking!


Monday, June 17, 2013

Jade Mystic Gold with New Plates!

I had planned that today's posted mani would be some funky cool 70's nails for the FB Adventures in Stamping challenge, which I planned on doing last night.  But my normal 1.5 hour drive from cottage country turned into almost 3.5 hours because of an accident on the 401....and when I finally made it home, I had to make a salad and dessert for my daughters end of school class luncheon for today....by the time I had a chance to do my nails, it was well after midnight and while I could have easily done them time wise, the pounding headache I had most of the day was still present and I just wasn't in the mood to do my nails.  I do plan on doing it as I already have the plates set aside....and hopefully it will turn out funky cool!.....but maybe later in the week....for now, thought I'd share a mani I did last week instead.


Started with a base of two coats of Jade holografico Mystic Gold, no topcoat.  Couple different lighting options.  Mystic Gold leaned more green on my skintone than told; the pix above is more accurate in colour (the pix below shows better holo though!)


Stamped using LS-20 with an accent of LS-19 using black Konad special polish.


Topped with SV; again, a couple different lighting options.


Here's a couple pix of the plates...notice my new hightech plate background? lol.  Better than the mess of plates and polishes that were in previous pictures!


The Lesly series of plates are available from Stamping Nail Art on FB.  Pictures of the rest of the 20 piece set, as well as a newly released 10 piece set, can be seen here.  There's also a Pinterest site of mani's here!

Hope you had a fantastic weekend; thanks for looking!




Friday, June 14, 2013

Digit-al Dozen, Books; Day 5

****WARNING - SEXUALLY EXPLICIT IMAGES ON POST **** 

The Day 5 mani is based upon Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James.  I'm posting this warning at the top of the page because my mani is sexual in nature; therefore, if this type of mani/post offends you, or you are on your computer and there are minors present, you have warning before the post is clicked. 



This is what I came up with!


Started out with a base of assorted greys; all are two coats and topped with SV.  Starting at thumb and going clockwise, the polishes are Sinful Colors Cool Gray, Kit Grey Pearling, Barry M Grey, Dance Legend #1, and Ulta Concrete Evidence.


Stamped with black Konad special polish using MJ II (ring), LS-03 (index) and Handy 36 (thumb, middle and pinky).  MJ III was used for the chains on the index and thumb.


Added a few random dots using red Konad special polish throughout; the gray on the middle is Sinful Colors Cool Gray.


Topped with SV.


I'm glad that the book challenge gave me a *valid* reason to use the Handy 36 plate as these images are ones I'd usually put on my nails otherwise!  lol!

Here's the other ladies Day 5 mani's.....so much creativity!!!





Have a great weekend....and thanks for looking!



Thursday, June 13, 2013

Digit-al Dozen, Books; Day 4

Another mani based upon a book I finished not too long ago....can you guess which book this mani is based upon?


It's a book I've had for a while even thought I just finished reading it recently.  I also have the DVD that was based upon the book too, but haven't watched it yet.  I'm kinda funny when it comes to movies that have been based upon books in that I won't watch the movie until I've read the book.  This is for a couple reasons but mainly because I find the book more entertaining than the movie so I want to read the book first so I'm not privy to any spoilers by watching the movie first.  Another reason is there are so many times I've watched a movie and then read the book only to find so many liberties have been taken in the movie that I'm disappointed when I read the book because I'm expecting something else to happen...or maybe this means I'm disappointed in the movie.....if that makes sense!  Sometimes too I have great expectations in the movie as I loved the book and then, the movie is a let down.....looking at you, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown...loved the book...the movie was just so so.  So if I know that a book has a movie based upon it, I generally always read the book first and then watch the movie/DVD.  So this means that I've never watched the Twilight movies (I have the books, just haven't read them yet), Harry Potter series (same...but I have to admit I've seen snippets of the movies here and there while my kids have watched the DVD's), I just finished Time Traveler's Wife last month and while I've had the DVD for ages, just haven't watched it...as I wanted to read the book first!!! lol (makes me sound nuts even typing this!).  In the case of the Time Traveler's Wife; I hope the movie is better than the book! 

So....did you guess......


Started with a base of OPI Bride's Bouquet (two coats) and FingerPaints Black Expressionism (one coat); topped with SV.


Stamped using black and white Konad special polishes using Apipila 03 (ring and thumb) MJ II (pinky), FUN2 (index) and MJ VI (middle).


Topped with SV.


I plan on watching the DVD of The Help over the weekend now that I've finished the book...I hear its pretty good!

Here's the other ladies Day 4 mani's!






Thanks for looking!




Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Digit-al Dozen, Books; Day 3

This is quite a change from the last post!  From blood and gore to sweet and fluffy!


My mani is based upon a book of nursery rhymes that I used to read to my three kids when they were little including the rhyme Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Unfortunately, my kids aren't that little anymore and its been a while since I read from the book so I couldn't locate it readily so I'm using this image from Usborne Books at Home.



Started with a base of two coats of Zoya Shelby (pink) and one of the OPI Liquid Sands, Solitaire; no topcoat.


Stamped using Cheeky Jumbo 9, Wild at Heart and Chez Xmas 001 (accent) using black Konad special polish.


Added a few random dots.


Topped with SV.



In hindsight, once I did the topcoat, I wish I didn't topcoat OPI Solitaire to keep it more grainy-like/rough to mimic the look of the texture of wool, but hindsight is wonderful, and I'll keep it in mind if I ever decide to do a sheep/lamb mani again!  (I'm guessing this mani would be good for Little Bo Peep, too!)


Here's the other ladies Day 3 mani's!




Thanks for looking!