Springy Steampunk Manicure

Hello my sweeties! Happy Friday! Anything exciting going on for you this weekend? I’ve planned a thrilling weekend of binge watching Season 3 of House of Cards. SO excited about that!! Do you watch that show? If not, you NEED to – it’s amazeballs! And sometimes it kind of makes you want to detach from society and live in the woods… in a good way? Anyways, here comes the manicure of the day!

I saw a post from Love Varnish with this amazing manicure combining the fanbrush technique and stamping, and I just adored it! I knew I needed to try it at some point. So when I was brainstorming for my next manicure, I remembered Deborah’s post and decided to do my own version!

My version of the fanbrush stamped manicure

I decided that I wanted to use a monochromatic base in different shades with a contrasting bright stamping polish. So I chose blues and pinks, and it totally screams spring colors! I had a difficult time picking out the stamping image and I was debating between this, a crosshatch geometric image, and a floral image. I actually wish that I had chosen a floral image with slightly more coverage because the pink is so pretty that I want more of it! But I had yet to use that steampunk plate from Messy Mansion, which is why I chose it.

Springy steampunk manicure

And a closeup:

Closeup of my springy steampunk manicure

Products used:

• Base color: China Glaze Secret Peri-Winkle… I haven’t worn this much, but I love it every time it goes on my nails! It’s a perfect pastel periwinkle, and the formula is great!
• Using a fanbrush, I dragged KBShimmer Low & Be Bold across each nail… Low & Be Bold is one of my favorite blue polishes ever. It’s a perfect bright almost neon cobalt blue.
• Stamping plate: Messy Mansion MM43
• Stamping polish: Rica Pinky Promise… This is a perfect bright pastel pink that leans toward Barbie pink. I love Rica’s stamping polishes so much! Right now, she has some pastels, black & white, and metallics. I hope she puts out a million more because the formula is perfection! Plus, you can wear it on its own too (which can’t be said for most polishes that are marketed primarily as stamping polishes).

What do you think? What kind of image would you have chosen to put over this fanbrush base? Have you tried Rica’s stamping polishes? You could spend the weekend stamping to your heart’s delight while bingeing on House of Cards!

Holo Humpday: Philly Loves Lacquer Smelly Pirate Hooker

Hello sweetie and happy Holo Humpday! I’m so excited to share this one with you, primarily because it’s one of the most amazingly named polishes I own. SMELLY PIRATE HOOKER! I mean, how could you not love that?! Plus, it’s a pretty polish too 🙂

Philly Loves Lacquer Smelly Pirate Hooker

Smelly Pirate Hooker is (obviously) an homage to Anchorman, and it’s a part of a monthly collaboration between Philly Loves Lacquer and Mishka of Accio Lacquer. It’s also one of my favorite insults! And sidenote – I love reading Accio Lacquer’s posts… she’s a super fan of everything nerdy, which makes me so very happy. Because I’m a nerd. Obviously.

Philly Loves Lacquer Smelly Pirate Hooker

The second picture is more color accurate than the first. My camera hates these coral/ pinky shades and really wanted to change this polish to a neon. In real life, it’s a medium shade of coral-pink with a  very subtle scattered holo and some golden shimmer. It reminds me of fruit punch! Like a slightly darker version of the pink Starburst.

Closeup of PhLL Smelly Pirate Hooker

I love this polish! The name is amazing, the color is gorgeous, the formula is perfect, AND it’s holo! This polish wins on all accounts! And c’mon, who doesn’t want to yell out “SMELLY PIRATE HOOKER” when someone asks you what you have on your nails?

I think the polish is currently out of stock on the PhLL site, but if you can find it or if it’s restocked – you need it!

What do you think? Are you excited for brighter colors to emerge in the spring and summer polish collections? I could use some bright when it’s this cold and grey!

Black and purple sparkly skittlette

Hello my sweeties! Did you stay up late watching the Oscars last night? I definitely did! I always like watching award shows… the husband and I love going to movies, so it’s nice to see what the experts think of our favorites. Also, I thought Neil Patrick Harris was a great host didn’t you? Anyways, onto my manicure of the day!

Black and purple skittles

In the vein of recent award shows, I decided I needed some glitz and glam on my nails. I picked out some older polishes that haven’t gotten love in a real long time and added a PixieDust to offset the shiny sparkle.

Black and purple sparkly skittlette

Since the base color for my index & middle fingers is so shimmery, it was difficult to capture the contrast of the purple glitter. I had painted a vertical half moon, and in most lighting it’s very subtle. Here’s a pic at a different angle so you can see it better:

A different angle of this black and purple skittlette

And a closeup of the purple glitter accent:

Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle

Polishes used:

• Index & middle fingers:
  • Base color: Sally Hansen Black Diamond… a VERY old polish of mine. This is a black polish with a million silver shimmery particles that gives it an almost charcoal look.
  • Accent: Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle… Pink-purple microglitter in a blackened jelly base. This beauty is full coverage in 2 coats! This is another really old polish of mine – I think I bought it about 4 years ago.
• Ring finger & thumb: Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle
• Pinky: Zoya Dahlia… this black PixieDust is another that I recently picked up when I heard Zoya was discontinuing the line. I love this one! I love how the silver sparkle pops despite the matte textured finish.

What do you think? Too much sparkle? Or is that even possible? 😉 Did you watch the Oscars? If so, did your favorites win?

Koi Stamping Decal Mani: February’s NCC #4

Hello sweeties! For my last February NCC look, I decided to attempt a stamping decal. I tried it once before and it was only a so-so result. I have some larger stamping images that I’ve always thought would be perfect as a decal, so of course it was high time I tried this technique again!

Koi manicure using a stamped decal

So the application came out a little crooked and didn’t line up perfectly across all nails and the face of the Koi fish smeared a little, but I’m really happy with the end result!

Odd finger position trying to line up the stamping decal 🙂

Painting the decal was easy enough, but transferring from the stamper to my nail was definitely more difficult. I watched YouTube videos like crazy, but that transfer remained hard!

I also took a closeup to show off the sparkle that Zoya Remy & China Glaze Fairy Dust gives:

Closeup showing off the base colors – Barry M Damson, Zoya Remy, and China Glaze Fairy Dust

And now, time for a mini rant… I used a stamping polish from Mundo de Unas. I purchased a bunch from them awhile back when I first got into stamping and heard amazing things about how they perform in stamping. And that’s right – they stamp better than anything I’ve tried so far. BUT they stink SO bad… like give you a headache/ eyes tearing bad. And this one had a lump of congealed polish at the tip of the brush that wouldn’t go away. Also, I’ve heard time and again about the controversy on MDU not releasing their ingredients based on their agreement with their production team. With all of that, I plan on not using them ever again and trying to get rid of the ones I own. If you know of anyone who is obsessed with MDU and has no sense of smell, let me know 🙂

Products used:

• Base
  • Base color: Barry M Damson… this is a GORGEOUS bright cornflower blue that has an amazing formula!
  • I dabbed Zoya Remy over Damson with a piece of saran wrap… Now I previously have worn Remy on its own, and I didn’t think it was a bad stainer. But when I dabbed it on with saran wrap, it naturally was messy and got all over my skin. AND my skin was tinted blue until I scrubbed it with some toothpaste! So I recommend being careful with Remy since it’ll stain your skin.
  • Topper: China Glaze Fairy Dust… to give the background an almost shimmery/ sparkly water feel.
• Stamping plate: Messy Mansion MM29
• Decal
  • Stamping polish: Mundo de Unas Orange (13)… great color and fantastic to stamp with, but see all the above issues!
  • Koi details:
    • Illamasqua Purity… a beautiful almost flesh-toned light peachy orange.
    • Formula X Uber… a darker red-orange polish. This one was a little thin for detailing, but it ended up alright.
    • Rica Whiteout… my go-to white for nail art
  • Top coat: an old drugstore top coat… I think I used NYC’s top coat.
  • I stamped the image onto two stamper heads, cleaned up excess, and then dabbed on the above polishes for the detailing. I let that dry for awhile, then painted the top coat over. Once that was all dry, I peeled it off the stamper head and placed it on the nail (obviously not perfectly) and generously coated it with more top coat.

If you have any suggestions on how to make the stamping decal work easier, let me know!! Have you tried it before? What are your thoughts on Mundo de Unas?

Check out more animal manis from the NCC ladies:

Holo Humpday: Glam Polish Welcome To The 60s

Hello sweeties! I have a quick post for you today. A bit ago, I had just gotten into Glam Polish and made multiple purchases. This beauty is one of them! Welcome To The 60s is from the Hairspray Collection, and I adore it!

Glam Polish Welcome To The 60s

Welcome To The 60s is a light yellow gold holo/ microglitter interspersed with small white and pink-toned hexes. As you can imagine, it’s super sparkly!

Glam Polish Welcome To The 60s

When looking at this from afar, all you really see is the gold holo/ microglitter. But looking at it up close, the hexes come through and make it more interesting!

Here’s a bottle shot:

Glam Polish Welcome To The 60s

And a closeup:

Glam Polish Welcome To The 60s

This polish was full coverage in 2 coats, but I dabbed on a third… for no good reason. I think I just wanted to keep going haha! 🙂

What do you think? Do you like holos with other glitter in them?

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for your sweet birthday wishes! It’s so nice to see these birthday wishes all across social media – I feel so loved!! Thank you! 🙂

Lisa Frank Zebra Mani: February’s NCC #3

Hello my sweeties! Guess what tomorrow is?! It’s my birthday! I’m still such a little kid when it comes to my birthday – it’s like its own holiday for me. I would celebrate it for a whole month if I could. So for my upcoming birthday, I wanted some bright and cheery nails! In keeping with the animal theme for February’s challenge, I decided to do neon zebra print nails.

Lisa Frank Zebra Manicure

This was my first time painting zebra print on my nails, and I had to go with a neon rainbow to keep it cheery in this cold frigid snowy PA weather. The minute I saw the finished product, I thought LISA FRANK! Please tell me you remember Lisa Frank – the amazing neon cartoon animals were all over folders, notebooks, trapper keepers, pencils, EVERYTHING! I was ALL about the Lisa Frank life!

Classic Lisa Frank 🙂

Like ^ that! I figured a neon zebra would fit in perfectly with the Lisa Frank world! Don’t you think?

I really like how it turned out. It’s fun and bright and cheerful – exactly what I needed amongst all the dreary cold. I could always use a little work on my freehand lines, but I think they are acceptable for this! 🙂

Another pic of my Lisa Frank zebra mani

Oh, and I got an early birthday present – an Ott light! I’ve been wanting one forever since I’ve heard it makes your pics look a million times better. And I’m really liking it so far. I feel like my pics are sharper and more crisp, plus the color accuracy is improved! My camera actually picked up on the neon goodness of this mani under the Ott light!

Polishes used:

• Base: KBShimmer Eyes White Open… this is the new white creme from KBShimmer’s Spring 2015 collection, and I am officially obsessed! It’s opaque and even in 2 coats, and the formula is perfection!! Side note – I keep wanting to say Eggs White Open, not sure why. Maybe I’m hungry 😉
• Zebra stripes:
  • Essie Strut Your Stuff… a beautiful aqua blue creme
  • Formula X Radioactive… an almost-neon green. This is a bit sheer, even over white. But I love it with multiple coats!
  • Orly Glowstick… a perfect neon highlighter yellow
  • China Glaze Pool Party… one of my favorite neon coral pink/red! My camera didn’t freak out as much under the Ott light! Especially on my ring finger!

So what do you think? Have you done freehand zebra print before? (who am I kidding?! I think I’m the only one who hasn’t!) What do you like to put on your nails when it’s nasty outside?

Check out more animal manis from the Nail Challenge Collaborative:

KBShimmer Iris My Case

Hello my sweet readers!  As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’ve been real busy with work the last 2 weeks. I usually like to have some fun nail art on my Friday posts, but today I’m just wearing a beautiful springy nail polish.

KBShimmer Iris My Case is actually one of the very first KBShimmer’s I ever bought! For some reason, I’ve never worn it. I have no idea why because it’s stunning! I was really in the mood for something lighter and feminine. It’s getting colder and more snowy again, so I wanted to wear a nice springy polish for Valentine’s Day!

KBShimmer Iris My Case… for some reason, my camera turned my skin jaundiced, but the polish color is accurate!

Iris My Case is a light pastel purple, almost periwinkle crelly packed with fuchsia, purple, copper, blue, and white glitters. It’s really sheer on the first coat, but it’s opaque in 3. I actually really love crelly glitters that are on the sheerer side on the first coat because it allows the glitter from the base coats to show through.

KBShimmer Iris My Case

Oh and as you can tell, I’ve had to file down my nails. I was driving home from work yesterday, and I looked down to see a crazy jagged break on my middle finger. So yeah, time for nubbins! But I don’t mind shorter nails… it just takes a little getting used to.

Closeup of KBShimmer Iris My Case

I love this polish so much! I am a huge fan of purple polish in general, and light purple is one of my favorites. Add some glitter to it and it’s a big winner in my book.

Also, I broke out my semi-new top coat – Digital Nails Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That. I am such a big fan of that too! It’s super glossy and dries as fast as Seche Vite (but without the shrinkage!). I’m sold… so sold that I just purchased the ginormous refill bottle.

What do you think? Do you own this KBShimmer? What’s your favorite springy polish color/ finish?

Holo Humpday: Glam Polish You Can’t Stop The Beat

Hello sweeties! I’m working on very little sleep – I just realized that I lost one of the posts from this past Friday. Maybe I deleted it or wrote Monday’s post over it? I have no idea… it’s just gone. So since I’m wandering around in a sleep-deprived trance, I’m going to let the pictures do the talking for this post!

This is Glam Polish You Can’t Stop The Beat!

Glam Polish You Can’t Stop The Beat

This polish GLOWS in person! There’s a pinkish orange leaning red holo base with golden and blue microglitters interspersed throughout.

Glam Polish You Can’t Stop The Beat

It is just SO gorgeous in person!

Glam Polish You Can’t Stop The Beat

This was another one of those “WORK IT GURRL” moments as I took these pics! This polish is a total winner! I wore it as the base for a holiday jelly sandwich, but I wanted to share it with you alone!

Bottle shot closeup time:

Glam Polish You Can’t Stop The Beat

You can see all those gold holo microglitters in that closeup 🙂

Glam Polish You Can’t Stop The Beat

So yeah… love this one! And now it’s time for me to hibernate for the rest of winter 🙂

Do you have this beauty? Or have suggestions for other Glam Polish items to pick up?

Sparkly Penguin Manicure featuring Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Terrific Twos: February NCC #2

Hello my sweeties. Last week was a rough one at work, so this weekend was a much needed break! I had a date night with the husband and I went to a concert, which definitely lifted my mood! I also decided I needed to add some sparkle to this next mani to keep this mood up.

Sparkly penguin manicure

Julie from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer sent me Terrific Twos for review, and I knew it would give this penguin manicure a little extra something. Julie made it for the 2nd anniversary of her blog. It’s teal, sky blue, aqua, and turquoise microglitter packed densely in a clear base. This is SUCH a gorgeous color glitter! And it’s fully opaque on its own in 2-3 coats. I could have gotten away with 2 coats, but I dabbed on a third to cover a few patchy areas near the tips.

Here’s a closeup of Terrific Twos:

Closeup of Terrific Twos

Apparently on the nail I just showed, I didn’t dab enough at the tips. But you can tell the rest of the nail is fully opaque!

Another pic of my sparkly penguin mani

And I think Terrific Two goes perfectly with the penguins! So let’s talk about these penguins 🙂 This is my first time doing freehand animals of any type, and I love how they came out! I wanted chubby penguins with cute little wings, and I think they more or less came out that way. I think I should have angled the wings down a bit since they could almost make the whole animal look like a duck with a narrow neck. But I see it as a penguin, and I hope you do as well!

How I did this/ products used:

• Index & pinky: BEGL Terrific Twos… SO gorgeous! I used 2 coats of top coat since it is a bit hungry for that.
• Middle & ring fingers:
  • Base color: BEGL It’s Almost After Midnight… this is a charcoal grey crelly with a strong blue shimmer. It’s difficult to see its beauty in these pics since it’s covered in nail art, but I swear it’s there! I’ll have to swatch it by itself for you sometime – love!
  • Then I used Rica Whiteout to outline the penguin shape.
  • I made the eyes with Rica Blackout and Whiteout using a dotting tool.
  • I drew the beak and feet with Marc Jacobs Snap! using a small nail art brush.
  • Then I drew on the wings with BEGL It’s Almost After Midnight using that same nail art brush.

So what do you think? Have you done animal nail art? If I didn’t say it was a penguin, would you have recognized it? Also, what’s your way to lift your spirits after a bad week/ day/ month? Here’s hoping for a better week this week! 🙂

Check out the other animal manis from the NCC ladies:

Holo Humpday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Void Stuff

Hello sweeties! I am slowly working my way through all the many polishes I bought from Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer‘s Doctor Who-themed collection (the It Got Away From Me, Yeah… collection). Today, I’m sharing one of my favorites – Void Stuff! I have a lot of pictures because my camera freaked out at its gorgeousness and I tried a bunch of different angles and lighting.

Void Stuff is based on my man, David Tennant aka the 10th Doctor. Specifically, “Void Stuff” is something that surrounds people who have traveled to a parallel universe and is able to be seen via 3D glasses. This is a part of the most heartbreaking episode that makes me curl up in the fetal position ugly crying EVERY time I watch it!

Anyways, onto the polish!

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Void Stuff

Void Stuff is a deep teal-green linear holo with subtle blue to red shifting flecks. In some lighting, it looks like a dark aquamarine (as in the above pic). And in other pics, it looks darker and slightly more teal.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Void Stuff

And the pic right there shows what it looks like in most lighting.

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Void Stuff

The pic above is in different lighting that unfortunately also makes my skin look super jaundiced. But it does show off some of the green-tinge to the holo.

And an obligatory closeup:

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Void Stuff

The closeup is probably the most color accurate pic I was able to get. Plus it shows some of the blue-red flecks!

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer Void Stuff

And I took a slightly blurry pic of the bottle to show off the blue-red flecks! I think that might have to be a new phone background for me!

So I adore this polish – it’s yet another BEGL win! And since it’s David Tennant in Doctor Who-themed, it’s a double win! The formula is amazing, the holo is strong, and the color is gorgeous. You can’t lose. When I saw swatches of this beauty, I guessed it was going to be my favorite. And I wasn’t wrong – this is definitely in my top 3 of the IGAFMY collection!

What do you think? Do you own Void Stuff? Are you as much of a crybaby as me when it comes to watching the Doomsday Doctor Who episode?