Light Blue Glitter Mani - Using China Glaze Liquid Crystal and Quo by Orly 'Liquid Crystal'

There's not really much to say about today's simple glitter manicure with subtle stamped stripes...

I wanted to try to use 2 of my 'Project Polish' polishes by stamping one over the other, but the darker colour, 'Night Sky' did not stamp very well. I initially assumed that since it had evaporated and thickened up over the years, it would work for stamping. Unfortunately, it doesn't. I realized during the process that 'Night Sky' seems to be a dark translucent base, with lots of shimmer particles floating in it. So when trying to stamp with it, the stamper would only pick up a thin line of dark purple jelly polish, and hardly any shimmer particles.

So instead of going with a bold negative space image (which would not work due to the consistency of the polish), I stamped subtle lines over the nail for a tiny bit of visual interest. 

Polishes Used

Polishes Used	Stamping Plate Used
China Glaze 'Liquid Crystal'	Winstonia Plate W205
Quo by Orly 'Night Sky'

I had to loosen 'Night Sky' up a bit with a little polish thinner, (and a lot of shaking!) due to how how thick it was originally.  The fill line of the bottle was originally half way down the bottle, though I don't recall ever using the polish! So apparently, half of the solvents evaporated out over the years, and left a thick, gloopy, non spreadable polish. I was able to salvage the polish, and it now works well as a regular nail color.  Now that it is fixed, I hope to use it as a base for my next manicure.

Muted Movember Mani

Today's mani was inspired by the start of 'Movember' - a public awareness and fundraising campaign where men across the globe grow moustaches during the month of November in support of Men's Health issues.

Muted Movember Mani

Polishes Used:
China Glaze 'The Giver' Collection: 'New Birth', and 'Five Rules'
DRK stamping polish in 'Metallic Brown'

I chose to make the background stamping very subtle for this manicure. I used muted colours, with very little contrast between them. This allows the moustache accent to really stand out.

Stamping Plates Used:
Moyou London Pro XL Collection 01
Moyou London Pro XL Collection 18
Winstonia Plate W109

China Glaze 'New Birth' (left) and 'Five Rules' (right)

Overall, I like how the manicure turned out, but it's a little too tame compared to my usual tastes. I ended up revising the mani the next day to add a bit more colour. Stay tuned for the revised version of this mani, during my next post!

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!

Flamingo Themed Mani - 2nd Attempt

Since I wasn't fully satisfied with the execution of my last flamingo manicure, I decided to try again. This time, I had the idea to use the cover of the Moyou London Tropical Collection image plates as the inspiration for the mani. Here's a picture of the cover:

Moyou London Tropical Collection Sleeve

And here's the finished manicure:

Flamingo Themed Mani Version 2 - Left Hand

Flamingo Themed Manicure Version 2 - Right Hand

I used a lot of materials for this mani - a total of 5 image plates, and 5 nail polishes (not including base and top coat). For the base colour, I used Essie's 'Turquoise and Caicos'. All fingers except for my middle fingers were stamped with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 'Mint Sorbet', using a wave image from Moyou London's Sailor Collection plate 04. I stamped my middle fingers with the flamingo pattern image from Moyou London's Tropical collection plate 06, using China Glaze's 'Flip Flop Fantasy'.

On my thumbs, I used the flamingo decal image from Winstonia plate W210, as well as one of the palm trees from Moyou London's Time Traveller Collection: Back to the 80's plate 04. On my ring fingers, I used the same flamingo decal from W210, but this time paired it with a tropical leaf image which was a part of one of the full nail images from Moyou London's Tropical collection - 02. I used DRK nails Metallic Brown stamping polish to colour the palm tree trunk, and coconut details on my thumbs and ring fingers.

***Edit: I realized well after publishing this post, that I forgot to include the name of the dark green polish I used for the palm leaves.  Unfortunately, I no longer remember which polish I used.***

Here are some images of the final result paired with the original piece it was inspired from:

I'm finally satisfied with my flamingo manicure! It took me a couple tries, but I'm glad I persevered.