Monday, March 23, 2015

Everything is coming up roses!



Good evening!

So, it is officially spring here in SWFL, even though most of up north is still experiencing winter weather. I'm kinda jealous of that, winter didn't last long at all here. There are many times I wished further north :P

The first mani I want to show you I'm quite proud of. It was for a Monkey See Monkey Do challenge for Advanced Nail Stamping. I had a hard time picking one to copy; there were several I loved, but I decided on this one:




I don't know the specifics of ^^^that mani, as far as colors and stamping plates used, so I pretty much winged it. I started with a base of OPI's Alpine Snow, then a coat of Seche. The closest colors I have for the water marble were, I thought, OPI's In My Back Pocket and I Just Can't Cope-cabana.

My butterflies came from Messy Mansion MM42, stamped with MdU black. For the glitter, I used Zoya Alma and a dotting tool. Everything was topped again with Seche.









This week's Stamping Sunday theme was purple and orange. This was tricky, because unless you're really into Halloween (I'm not, not like a lot of people I know lol), purple and orange can end up looking very Halloweeny. 

I chose to keep my base colors light; I used Zoya Dillon with Zoya Hudson for accents. Over the Hudson accents, I stamped an Easter image from Bundle Monster BM-H08 and MdU orange, and finished with Seche.

I actually didn't really care for this mani, but a lot people on IG seemed to like it lol. 








Textured Friday was an oldie, but a goodie. Zoya Arabella graced my nails.








Thursday's mani was another Easter-y one. The base for this one was a new to me yellow, Morgan Taylor's Ahead of the Game. Now, I love this yellow. It has a subtle silver shimmer that adds depths to it. The formula isn't great, since it is yellow, but it's not horrible either. My base was three coats, followed by a coat of Seche. My ring and middle fingers served as accents, and received a sponging of Candy Lacquer's Candy Confetti. The others were stamped over with Messy Mansion mm08 and MdU white. Everything was topped with Seche again.







Wednesday was a matte flakie kind of a day. I chose a vampy red for my base, Zoya Mikka. I received Mikka as a GWP, and I like it :) My flakie of choice was KBShimmer's Rainbow Shield. A coat of Seche, then a coat of Wet 'N Wild matte topcoat.







And now, my simple but pretty St. Patrick's mani. Colors used were Zoya Sage and Tomoko.







Monday, March 16, 2015

Getting there!



Good afternoon! Did y'all have a good weekend? Mine wasn't bad, busy with cleaning and stuff, nothing special.

At the time of this post, I have just a small basket left of untrieds to get through. As in, less than 20! Yay! Of course, that can change any time, but not until next month with Zoya's much anticipated Earth day promo. I think nearly every mani I have for today's post are untrieds, so enjoy!

Let's start with last Tuesday's mani, which I know for sure were untrieds. It was just 3 coats each of Zoya Leah and Ana. I know many people have complained about the formula of the Satins, but I find that they aren't much different from the Matte Velvets.







Wednesday featured not only a new color, but a new plate too. I'm a little disappointed with how this mani turned out, but it was mostly error on my part. I should have used undies with ILNP Atlantis, but I wanted to see what it looked like on its own. Because of that, it appears that I have chipping/tip wear when I actually did not. Also, my stamping didn't show up because the color I used to stamp with wasn't bright enough. The plate I used, Bundle Monster BM-718, stamped beautifully, though.

I also had a hard time capturing the beauty of Atlantis, but these are the pics I have.







Thursday wasn't new colors so much as a new technique that's been taking the nail art community by storm. I first read about it last month, but only just got to try Sharpie marbling. I don't know why I waited so long, it's incredibly easy to do and fun. You literally can not screw it up, unless you completely take off your work lol.

Most people start with a white, or light, base, which I did. My base was 2 coats of Zoya Purity, then topped with Seche. I let that dry, and then scribbled on that with one of my chosen Sharpie colors. I dabbed it with a brush moistened with 91% rubbing alcohol until I got the effect I wanted. My first color was lighter than I wanted, so I added another, and was happy with it.

I then stamped over it with images from BP-34 from bornprettystore. I had to have this plate when I saw it. My camera freaked out a little over the stamping color, which was MdU neon orange. Over that went a coat of Seche.








For Textured Friday, I used the very last "new" Pixie Dust I had waiting, Zoya Destiny. It still makes me very sad that Zoya has discontinued the Pixie Dust line; I own all of them, and love each of them.

This was 2 coats of Destiny.






Wow, didn't realize that my pics make it look like I'm wearing two different colors O.o Truly, it's Destiny in both, must have been the angle or something, because all I did was try to sharpen the first one.

Stamping Sunday's theme this week was, of course, St. Patrick's day nails. I did up another Sharpie marble, this time over Morgan Taylor's All White Now. The stamped images were from Messy Mansion MM03 and light gold from MdU.








I was aiming for a St. Patrick's themed water marble for today, but it fell a little short. The gold, unsurprisingly, didn't come through, but I still like it. The base is Zoya Purity, the marbling colors are Zoya Tilda and Brooklyn, Seche, then Zoya's matte coat.







Monday, March 9, 2015

Spring has sprung!



At least here in Florida it has! I think we've seen the last of winter as of last week =\ I'm not ready for the warm weather we've been having, but hey, what can you do?

Good evening! I hope you made through your Monday. Mine was rather busy, and with the cursed time change, I'm tired lol. I needed to get this post up before I decide to go to call it a night. Here we go!

Today's mani was inspired by this pretty green top I have that I got at Macy's. Let tell you, this top is more green in person than what it shows on the site. However, ^^^that pic is more what my mani should have been inspired by :P Either way, I love how it turned out.

The base color wsa 2 coats of Colors by Llarowe Thriller. I only just got this in the last few weeks; I really regretted not getting it when it was first released. Sadly, though, I think the Michael Jackson tribute collections are discontinued because they are no longer listed on the site. Glad I got it when I did! Stamped over Thriller were images from my FUN 14 plate and Mundo de Unas black. Seche to seal it.







The challenge for Stamping Sunday this week was black and white. For my base, I applied three coats of Morgan Taylor's All White Now. In spite of needing three coats, this white is pretty nice. Applied right, you could do just two coats. It's not horribly streaky or patchy, or too thick. The black was Color Club's Beyond, the image from Born Pretty Store bp-15. I'm a little impressed with how nicely this plate stamped, considering my first plate were from BPS, and they were crap.







A few weeks ago, I picked up a new to me texture from Formula X for Sephora. I recall hearing about a texture collection from them last year, but, since I live an hour from the closest Sephora, I never followed up on it. I found Galaxy in a destash sale and snapped it. It applied a little thick, but was opaque and gritty (lol) in two coats. I know my pics make it look black, but it's actually navy blue, and it stains a little. The gold sparkle in the bottle doesn't translate to the nail.






Thursday's mani was bright and fun, at least to me. It reminded my very of some the clothes I wore in 90's :P You could say it was Throwback Thursday mani. Anywas, the base was three coats of OPI's You Are So Outta Lime!, which was layered over 2 coats of OPI's Put a Coat On!. Over Lime went a coat of Salon Perfect's Rogh Around the Edges, then two coats of Seche.






I think Wednesday's mani has got to be my most favorite mani, ever. It's rather simple, no nail art at all, but it's just so gorgeous. The base was three coats of KBShimmer's Low and Be Bold, which is just.... wow. I don't have a blue even like this, and I have a lot of blues. The closest would have to be Nails, Inc. Baker Street, and it's more cobalt. It's nowhere near as vibrant as this. It's almost crelly like its formula, which is why it needed three coats. Over this beauty went two coats of Dark Matter, also from KBShimmer, then a coat of Seche, then Wet 'N Wild's matte topcoat.








Tuesday was another mani featuring KBShimmer, this one Funky Cold Patina. This crelly is so awesome! First, I just love the name. Funky Cold Patina= Funky Cold Medina :) Second, THAT COLOR!! Such a beautiful turquoise. Love! Formula was easy to work with; I needed three coats, but that was more user error than anything else.

I almost stamped over this, to make it more turquoise stone like, but I ran out of time that night. Seche smoothed it out nicely.