China Glaze Below Deck

This is a polish that I normally would not wear and had to go out and purchase when I fell in love with a stamping mani I found that used this. I just didn't own anything in my collection like it. It's not normally a color I would be drawn to and one that I didn't think would be flattering on me. I'm so glad I found that pin on Pinterest that mad me buy this though because I absolutely love. it.

Below Deck is a taupey-mauve color that I feel actually compliments my ultra pale skin instead of completely washing me out. The formula was great on this as well. I used two coats but it was almost a one coater. I had no problems with flooding either. The polish stayed exactly where I put it. For top coat I used one coat of Seche Vite.

Twin Mani

My friend Linda at Linda's Polish Emporium and I decided we wanted to do a matching twin mani so we started searching Pinterest for something cute and simple that we could do quickly and we found a cute mani a lot like the recreation you see here. For the ring and index finger I used a base of Bondi Lady Liberty stamped using Cult Nails Fetish and Shany plate 214. For the middle finger I used A England Dorian Gray topped with two coats of China Glaze Fairy Dust. My pinky I orginally wanted to do matte so I used Cult Nails Fetish but I ended up going for an overall glossy look so I topped it with a coat of Seche Vite.

Nail Art for Nubs Monday

This week this first real cold front came through and the temperatures dipped down below freezing so I thought a winter mani was very appropriate. I wanted to do something with snowflakes which reminded me of a this mani I saw on pinterest that I wanted to recreate here. I started off with two coats of Cult Nails Nevermore. I then added a layer of glitter with D&R Apothecary polish Aquarelle and then topped all that off with a layer of Butter London matte topcoat. For the snowflakes I used Barry M Silver foil effects and Bundle Monster H01, Winstonia W120, Gals GA1, and plate m59 from Born Pretty store. To finish everything off I added small light blue gems to the center of one of the snowflakes on each nail. I used nail glue for the gems so that they would last longer since I didn't want to use a real topcoat. I wanted to have the silver be shining and bright above the matte of the base and I think the overall effect is amazing.

Julep Winter

Julep Winter was a little bit of a mixed bag for me. I really do love the color and the end result but getting there was a challenge. Winter started off watery and runny and in the first coat flooded the cuticles on most of my nails even though I was being super careful. Winter was also pretty streaky and patchy on the first coat. On the second coat I noticed that as I moved from nail to nail the polish was thickening and actually becoming gloppy on the nail. I actually saw the polish becoming stringy at the opening when I was brushing excess polish back into the bottle. Overall, the formula of Winter is a total fail. I'm afraid of what will happen next time I reach for it because by then it could be the consistency of tar.

That being said though I do love the color of this polish. Winter is a medium cool toned grey that reminds me a little of sidewalks. Grey is one of the colors I seem to be lacking a good variety of in my collection so I will definitely be using it again. Let's just hope thinner is not required!

Pinterest Inspired Stamping

I'm strongly thinking about making Pinterest manis a weekly thing or something. I have been finding so many amazing pictures of nail art there lately and it has inspired me to try to recreate them. Last week I fell in love hard with this pin. I knew I had to try it out myself since of course I am on a huge matte kick plus I already had the right stamping plate. My problem was that I dug through two helmers and found out I had nothing that was quite like China Glaze Below Deck or Joy so I had to buy them both. Luckily they both showed up on the same day even though they were from different sellers. I don't think my polish has ever came off quicker than when I opened those packages.

To recreate the pin I started off with two layers of China Glaze Below Deck. Then I added a layer of Seche Vite to protect it and topped that with a layer of Butter London matte topcoat. I let that dry for a few minutes and then using Bundle Monster plate 312 I stamped the cloud design using China Glaze Joy. I am so in love with the outcome and the tone on tone effect. It turned out just like the pin and made me one happy girl so I call this mission a success!!

Nail Art for Nubs Monday

For nubbin Monday I decided to try out one of my new Juleps that came in the November box, Winter. For this I used two coats of Winter and then added a layer of Seche Vite. Then using Zoya Sam I stamped on some swirls and roses on the accent fingers using Bundle Monster plates 305 & 323. Next just using a regular black stamping polish I added some barbed wire over each finger using Bundle Monster plate 323. I cleaned up around my cuticles to give the stamping some time to dry before adding a final layer of Seche Vite. Please make sure you check out all the other great bloggers who are posting today as well!

NOTD Bondi Lady + NYPD

I decided to add a little bit of stamping to Lady Liberty and also test out if one of the other polishes I received from them would stamp. Plus I thought the dark blue and aqua would make a great combination and it turned out great in my opinion. NYPD stamped perfectly! The design I used came from Gals plate GA30. Then because I am on such a matte kick right now I added Bundle Monster matte topcoat. I really can't decide which one I like more so I am just going to say I really love how they both came out.

Seche Vite topcoat

Butter London matte topcoat

Bondi Lady Liberty

Today I have my first ever Bondi polish to share with you. There has been a lot of drama lately surrounding the Bondi company and my experience in actually receiving this polish was not the best ever but I'm not going to really go into that. I am going to review this polish based on the polish alone and not let any thing else influence my opinion. So with that said, I really do like this polish.

Lady Liberty is walking the fine line between mint green and aqua depending on the light you catch it in. In the bottle it definitely looked a little more like a dusty mint green but on the nail leans a little more aqua. That could just be due to my skin tone and could look more minty on someone else. The formula was pretty good with this. It was a tiny bit on the thin side but just barely. If you are careful you can avoid flooding your cuticles or if you just rush in quick with another nail like me or an orange stick you should be fine as well. Lady Liberty was opaque in two coats and I topped it off with a layer of Seche Vite.

Indoor lighting

Outdoor lighting although very overcast

Halloween Nails

October was not the best month for me for many reasons but I just realized I never posted my Halloween manicures here except for one. So here is just a quick post on some of the nail art I ended up doing in October.

Inspired by a post seen in Adventures in Stamping

Inspired by a pin on Pinterest

Inspired by Pinterest

Zoya Sailor + SOPI Traffic Stopper Copper

So lately I have been really loving the combination of glitter and matte top coat. For this mani I decided to keep it really simple. I started with two layers of Zoya Sailor as my base. Then I added one layer of Sephore by OPO Traffic Stopper Copper. There is just something about the combo of blue and copper that is just made for each other...I love it! Then of course I had to make it matte so I used my Butter London matte top coat. I am so happy with the results and as you will see soon it inspired another similar creation.

 

Nail Art Challenge - Glitter

For this first challenge I decided to go with Liquid Lacquer Blue Pistachio. I used to coats of this and then created stamping decals. For the birds I used Bundle Monster plate 401 and acrylic paints. I top coated everything with a layer of seche vite.

Zoya Sailor

Zoya Sailor is a dusty navy blue cream that basically applies itself. It was almost a one coater and some people will probably be able to make it a one coater but I am a two coat polisher by habit. The consistency was great and I had no trouble at all with pooling of the cuticles. This polish is going to be so great for fall/winter. I have already used it three times and I just got it a few weeks ago. I will be posting tomorrow a great glitter combo I found to go with this.