Halloween Skittles Mani

I'm so happy that I was able to create another Halloween-themed manicure to share with you today! Here is the finished mani:

The polishes I used were:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in 'Lightening' and 'Silver Sweep'
Konad Special Polish in both black and white
Sinful Colours 'Citrine'
NYC 'Black Lace Creme'
China Glaze 'White on White'

I wanted to use traditional Halloween colours, so I chose orange, yellow, black, white and silver. Overall, I'm happy with the colour choices. However, I feel that the yellow background on my right thumb stands a bit too much apart from the rest of the look.  I really wanted to have yellow inside the pumpkins to represent the glow from a burning candle, but now I really wish I had used black as the base, and perhaps used advanced stamping technique to fill the pumpkin's eyes, nose and mouth with the yellow.

The stamping plates I used were:
Bundle Monster plates BM-H06, BM-H07, and BMH08
Cheeky Jumbo Plate 6 'Happy Holidays'
Konad plate M13

Halloween Skittles Mani - Left Thumb

I`m quite pleased with how this manicure turned out. There is no shortage of Halloween themed plates in the world of nail stamping, so there are many cute, fun, and spooky images to choose from. I still have a few more plates that I didn't get a chance to use, so if I have the time, I just might do one more Halloween mani for the weekend. If not, the plates will just have to wait until next year!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Burgundy and Silver Halloween Manicure

Today I have a quick and easy Halloween manicure to share:

Burgundy and Silver Halloween Manicure

The polishes I used to create this look were Revlon's 'Divine', and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in 'Silver Sweep'. The deep red colour of 'Divine' kind of reminded me of the colour of dried blood, so it seemed perfect for Halloween. I chose silver as the stamping colour because of the sharp contrast it would provide against the base colour.

Polishes Used

I used Messy Mansion's Halloween Themed plate MM11 for the stamping. I really love the images on this plate - especially the spooky word collage on my thumb, and the monster heads on my pinky! I'm probably going to have to come up with some pretty creative reasons to be able to use this plate throughout the year!

Pink and White Pink Ribbon Mani

A few posts ago, I did a 'Navy Pink Ribbon Mani' in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In that post, I mentioned that I wanted to do yet another, more traditional, pink ribbon mani later in the month. Well, I finally got around to doing it!

Here is the finished manicure:

Pink and White Pink Ribbon Mani

The polishes I used were:
OPI polishes 'Mod About You', and 'The Power of Pink' from the 'Pink of Hearts' 2014 Duo
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in 'Presto Pink'
China Glaze 'White on White'
Konad Special Polish in White

OPI 'Pink of Hearts' 2014 Duo

The image plates I used were:
Bundle Monster plate BM-321 (full nail design on my thumb)
Vivid Lacquer plate VL 001 (pink ribbon on my middle finger)
Moyou London Hipster Collection plates 05 and 06 (plaid print on index and pinky fingers)

I also used a few nail art rhinestones in various shades of pink on my thumb

Pink and White Pink Ribbon Mani - Left Thumb

I really like how this manicure turned out. I especially like the pink plaid! I followed the same double stamping technique that I used for the 'Clueless Inspired' yellow plaid manicure that I did a couple months ago. I'm totally enamoured with the plaid designs on the Moyou London Hipster plates, and I can see myself using these quite often as parts of future 'skittles' manicures.

As for what's coming up on the horizon, I'm going to postpone the Moyou London Artist Collection Design Series for a bit, as I have a few Halloween ideas I'd like to do before October is through. I may only be able to do one Halloween manicure, as there are only 5 days left in the month, and really like the mani I just created, so I hope to wear it for at least a day or two! We'll see what I can squeeze in. Since Halloween is on a Friday this year, I guess I can sort of count the weekend as part of it, which gives me a full week to work with!

Purple and Gold Mani

I wanted to do a quick and easy polish change right over my previous ‘Metallic Green, Gold and Black' manicure, so I decided to design a manicure around a darker colour that would give full coverage in a coat or two. I've done this before using black, navy, and even with metallic silver, but I didn't want to use one of those options again. Enter Revlon 'Naughty': A beautiful purply-browny-grey shade that covers well in one thick coat!

Here’s the finished manicure:

Purple and Gold Mani

The colours I used were Revlon ‘Naughty’ and Sally HansenColor Foil in ‘Liquid Gold’ (one of my go-to stamping polishes).  I did the stamping with two different patterns from DRK Nails Plate DRK-A.

I've had 'Naughty' for a while, but I don’t think I've ever worn it. I really love complex colour mixes that are hard to describe in a single word. I guess that first and foremost it would be classified as a purple because of the purple flash that you see over the “purply-browny-grey” base.  The flash on my camera is making this polish look a bit lighter than it does in real life, and it also makes it appear a bit more purple because it is bringing out the purple flash in the polish.

Polishes Used

For an impromptu mani, I really like how this turned out. This is the reason that I love nail stamping so much. You can polish your nails, and then easily bump your manicure up to the next level by adding some stamped images or patterns! This simple 10 minute mani looks like something a lot more complicated and time-consuming to do. 

I've only been nail stamping for just over 10 months now, so I still find it absolutely amazing that with this simple technique, I can do beautiful home manicures on my own, in very little time! 

Metallic Green, Gold & Black Mani - Using Moyou London Artist Plate 7

This is the 8th official manicure I've done as part of my Moyou London Artist Collection DesignSeries. I purchased this plate within the last few weeks, so even though I was trying to present the series in numerical order for the plates that I owned, this manicure is out of order because I didn't own the plate at the time I finished the manicure for plate number 6.

Here’s the finished manicure:

Metallic Green, Gold & Black Mani

The plate has an Egyptian theme, but I wanted to create something that played with the patterns on the plate, and not just the images (which would have been the obvious choice). My manicure for Artist Collection Plate #4, which was based on the artwork of Gustav Klimt, was designed the same way.

The colours I used were:

Wet’n’Wild Wild Shine in Caribbean Frost

Sally Hansen Color Foil in Liquid Gold

Konad Special Polish in Black

I absolutely love the vivid colour of the green, but I found it kind of slow drying with more than one coat. I learned this the hard way after unsalvageably smudging my twice-coated nails, and having to start again! Luckily, the polish gives pretty decent coverage with one coat, so I didn't mind the slow dry issue so much - the second time around!

Overall, I like the design of this manicure, although the execution could have been a bit better. If I had to do it over, instead of the black dots on the thumb and ring finger, I would have used 3 or 4 black rhinestones in a half moon pattern – but I didn't think of that until after I had already applied the black dots. However by this point, after the troubles I had with the polish drying time, I wasn't in the mood to start over!

Verdigris Mani

Today’s manicure was inspired by ‘rusting’ copper. If you've ever found an old penny that had been exposed to a winter’s worth of melted snow and rock salt, perhaps on the ground or on the floor of a car, you may have noticed the pretty shade of light blue-green patina that forms on its surface.  This is called verdigris, and it’s one of nature’s more beautiful forms of destruction! I've always loved the combination of copper and light blue because of this phenomenon.  Here’s the manicure I created based on it:

Verdigris Manicure

To create this look, I used Revlon Brilliant Strength in ‘Captivate’ as the copper base coat, Color Club ‘Blue-Ming’ as the verdigris, and Konad Special Polish in White as an accent. To create the ‘splotch’ effect on my nails, I used a full nail image from Bunny Nails' (Halloween-themed) plate HD-C, and the crest on my ring finger was done with a decal image from Messy Mansion plate MM18, ‘Shabby Chic’.

Polishes Used:
Revlon 'Captivate' and Color Club 'Blue-Ming'

This is my favourite verdigris manicure to date. Around 3 years ago, I tried to do a similar mani using China Glaze’s Crackle Glaze in ‘Crushed Candy’, a blue crackle polish, and Zoya’s ‘Penny’. I actually went back and found the picture to do a comparison.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I took a picture while it was fresh, so the one I found has major chipping and wear. Also, this was well before I had started stamping, and learned very many nail art techniques. 

Verdigris Manicure Comparison: Original vs Current Versions

Back then, I remember being thrilled about the manicure, which is why I wore it so long, and took a picture! Over the years, I've always remembered it as one of my favourite looks from the past.  I’m so happy to be able to improve upon it with some of the techniques I've learned over the last few years (but mainly in the last 10 months or so since I started stamping).  Who knows, as I continue practicing and picking up more skills and techniques, maybe I’ll have to revisit this mani in a few years time to showcase even more improvements! 

Fall Colours Mani

Yesterday, I did a Thanksgiving manicure. Now that Thanksgiving is over, (and I've had enough turkey for the time being!), I wanted to neutralize the look to take all traces of the holiday out, while keeping some elements of the original manicure. So without further adieu, here is what I am now calling my 'Fall Colours' manicure:

Fall Colours Manicure

I ended up keeping only the nail polish on my thumbs. My thumbnails had previously been stamped with a full nail leaf image from Bundle Monster plate BM-H11, and then each of the leaves had been coloured in with various jelly nail polishes. I decided to expand on the leaf concept, by using the rest of the fingers to complement the image on my thumbs.

I painted each of my remaining nails with one of the polishes used to colour the leaves on my thumbs. Then I added a caramel-coloured nail art rhinestone to my ring fingers.

Polishes Used:
Konad Special Polish in Black
China Glaze 'White on White'
China Glaze 'Ravishing, Dahling' (index finger)
Essie 'Capri' (pinky)
NFU JS20 (Egg Yolk Yellow)
NFU JS34 (Forest Green)
NFU JS39 (Caramel)

This was a relatively quick and easy update, which enabled me to get a little more use out of some detailed work used on a previous manicure.  I'm all for reusing elements of a previous mani if you can get away with it! Especially with the amount of time and energy it sometimes takes to create certain elements of a manicure. My philosophy is that if it still looks good, and I still like it - I'll keep it!

Thanksgiving Themed Skittles Mani

Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, and to celebrate, I have a Thanksgiving-themed manicure to share with you!

Thanksgiving Themed Skittles Mani

Polishes Used:
Konad Special Polish in Black
China Glaze 'White on White'
China Glaze 'Ravishing, Dahling'
Essie 'Capri'
NFU JS20 (Egg Yolk Yellow)
NFU JS34 (Forest Green)
NFU JS39 (Caramel)
Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Yellow Gold'
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 'Silver Sweep'
OPI 'Samoan Sand'
DRK Nails 'Metallic Brown' Stamping Polish

Plates Used:
Bundle Monster BM-H11
Bundle Monster BM-H13
Winstonia W119

I used mostly jelly polishes, since parts of the images were coloured using the leadlight technique. I tried to use fall colours for an earthy, autumnal feel, however I feel it still seems kind of bright, due to the white background!

I was a touch disappointed with my selection of Thanksgiving plates, because I hadn't realized until now that I didn't have anything that specifically said 'Happy Thanksgiving'. After doing a bit of research, I don't even think there is a readily available 'Happy Thanksgiving' plate on the market right now!? I did see a Messy Mansion plate with a collage of Thanksgiving related words, but that's the closest so far.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Overall, I like how this manicure turned out. I especially love the grain of wheat on my ring finger! I'm going to have to see if I can work that into future, non-themed manicures! LOL!

Anyways, I want to wish a very happy Thanksgiving to all of those who are celebrating today! Enjoy your day!

Navy and Silver Dot Design Mani

This has been a week of impromptu manicures!  I managed to do 4 different manicures this week. My first manicure, 'Church Themed Mani', was quite labour intensive, but the three that followed were basic stamping mani's that took very little time to do. Here's a picture of the fourth and newest manicure:

Navy and Silver Dot Design Mani

I applied another coat of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in 'Dark Huemoor' right over my previous 'Navy Pink Ribbon Mani', and then stamped an image from my DRK Nails DRK-B plate, using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 'Silver Sweep'.

I love this image! In fact, it was the main reason that I bought this particular plate. This is actually the first time that I have used it, so I was thrilled to be able to take it off my 'untried' list!

Polishes Used

Anyways, I think that this Sunday, I will forego doing another installment of my 'Moyou London Artist Collection Design Series', as I usually do. Instead, I hope to do a special Thanksgiving Mani on either Sunday evening, or Monday morning, since (Canadian) Thanksgiving is coming up on Monday. I have quite a few Thanksgiving themed image plates that I only get to use once a year, so I'm probably going to have to do some sort of crazy skittles mani to try to use all of them in one shot! LOL!

Navy Pink Ribbon Mani

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I really wanted to do a pink ribbon mani to show support. Recently I was in the mood for another quick polish change, so I decided to do an impromptu pink ribbon mani. Here's what I came up with:

Navy Pink Ribbon Mani

The polishes that I used to create this look were Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure 'Dark Huemoor', and Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Pink Platinum'.  The stamping was done with Bundle Monster plates BM-321 (pink ribbon full nail design), and BM-H23 (rose decal). I also used a few white nail art studs.

I like how great the pink metallic polish looks against the dark navy polish. The contrast really makes the stamped images stand out. However, next time around, I'd probably use a different image for my thumb. With such highly contrasting colours, I think that a full nail image would probably work a lot better there, rather than an image that only takes up half the nail, like the one I used.

Polishes Used

I still want to do another pink ribbon manicure using the traditional pink and white colours.  I also have a few polishes from Breast Cancer Awareness themed collections, so I'm eager to use these, too. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze another Pink Ribbon mani in this month - October's already seeming kind of full. With Halloween, Thanksgiving, and a few remaining Moyou London Artist Collection design series installments left, I'm hoping I'll have enough polish changes to squeeze in all of these ideas!

Green and White Mani

Today I have a quick and easy mani to share:

Green and White Mani

I used Sinful Colors nail polish in 'Vintage' as the base colour, and Konad special polish in white as the stamping polish. The image I used was from Lily Anna plate 10.

There's really not that much to say about this one, so in the spirit of the quick and easy mani, I will make this a quick and easy post to match!

Church Themed Mani - Using Moyou London Artist Plate 12

This mani is a continuation of the Moyou London Artist Collection Design Series that I started a few weeks ago.  Today's challenge was to design a manicure around Artist Plate 12. Here's what I came up with:

Church Themed Mani - Left

Church Themed Mani - Right

Polishes used:

China Glaze 'White on White'

Sally Hansen Color Foil in 'Liquid Gold'

Rimmel 'Black Satin'

Konad Special Polish in Black

OPI 'A-Piers to be Tan'

Plates used:

Cheeky Jumbo Plate 8 'Princess Charming' (background image on thumbs)

Moyou London Artist Collection 12 (images on ring fingers and middle fingers)

Moyou London Biker Collection 02 (large cross on thumbs)

Moyou London Hipster Collection 08 (full nail images on index and pinky fingers)

I also used a couple small red heart decals on my middle fingers.

Church Themed Mani - Right Thumb

I really like how this mani turned out. I'm getting a little better at centering my stamped images. Instead of rolling the stamper from right to left over my nail (as I used to do), I recently started applying decal type images by angling the stamper at the bottom of the nail, lining up the image, and then folding the nail down onto the stamper. 

Although this method has made it easier for me to center images horizontally, now I'm having a bit of trouble centering images vertically! You can see an example of this with the cross on my left thumb. Although the image is centered between the left and right sides of my thumbnail, it is a bit to far down to be centered between the top of the nail and my cuticle.  

My right thumb, however, came out centered in both directions. I've included a separate picture of it above. 

Halloween Themed Test Mani

Today, I have a test mani to share.  There are a lot of really great Halloween collections and plates out right now, so most of my latest purchases have a bit of a Halloween theme.

I was wearing my Red and Black Tree Mani from my last post, and decided to do some test stamps over it using my newly purchased Bunny Nails plate, HD - C.

The stamping colours I used were Konad special polish in black and white, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in 'Silver Sweep'. The base colour is China Glaze's 'I Love Your Guts' from their Halloween 2014 collection, and I tested a bit of a glitter polish I just bought from Sinful Colors' 2014 Halloween Collection called 'Cauldron Couture' (it's on my right middle finger). The tree image was from my previous mani, and was stamped using Bunny Nails plate BuNa-A.

Halloween Themed Test Mani -  Right

Halloween Themed Test Mani -  Left

I really love this plate! There's such a great mix of amazing images that I feel may have to do a week's worth of Halloween manicures this year, instead of just one!

Red and Black Tree Mani

Today's mani was a quick and easy. I had been wearing my previous manicure (Black Jelly and Gold Mani) for 5 straight days, and even though I could have kept it going for one more day, I needed a change. I slapped on a new polish I had just bought the previous day, right over the old mani, and then did some quick stamping on my ring fingers and thumbs.

Red and Black Tree Mani

The base colour I used for this manicure was 'I Love Your Guts' from China Glaze's 2014 Halloween collection. I used a top coat over it here, but it actually dries to a matte, slightly textured finish. I stamped the tree image from Bunny Nails' plate BuNa-A, using Konad special polish in Black.

Hurray for impromptu manis!