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