Wintry Brocade with Colors By Llarowe & Messy Mansion

I love me some stamping. And now that I have the basics down I feel like I learn exponentially every time I sit down to stamp. I have been dying to try the brocade design on my new-ish Messy Mansion plate MM18, but it seems like every time I just failed miserably and gave up. But not this time! These might be "duh" things to some of you, but I'm serious it was an epiphany to me. 

First lets check out the nails. My base is Colors by Llarowe Coal In My Stocking, a dark gray crelly with silver glitter. I should have took a swatch photo, sorry.... it's amazing though and I got a few compliments at work! For the stamping I used Messy Mansion MM18 and Sally Hansen Ista-Dri in Silver Sweep. 

Wintry Brocade Nails
Colors By Llarowe Coal In My Stocking
Messy Mansion MM18
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep

I used two big squishy stampers for this design, this one from LeaLac and this one from Vivid Lacquer. I used the Vivid Lacquer stamper on all of my nails except my thumb, which is huge so I used the XL LeaLac one for that. After fiddling around for an hour I realized the following:

1. Forget those plastic and metal scrapers, use an old gift card.
2. Pick up the image by pushing the stamp straight down onto the image. Same for when putting the image on your nail.
3. My nails are very curved, so using the big squishy stampers were better for me. My favorite sweater nails I noticed were a little warped and not straight lines because I was previously rolling the image onto my nails with a less squishy stamper.
4. I stamped my right hand first to get into a groove. Move on to stamp my left hand... failed 7 times in a row trying to pick up the stamp. WTF. I took a five minute break and capped my stamping polish. When I tried again I picked it up on the first try. I think my stamping polish was getting a little dry, I will be capping and shaking between hands from now on.
5. Breaks are good. 
6. Practice is a must.
7. Perfection sucks the fun out of nails. My stamping is not perfect, but it is good enough to be enjoyable!

Wintry Brocade Nails
Colors By Llarowe Coal In My Stocking
Messy Mansion MM18
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep

I hope this encourages any of you who have been thinking of stamping, or of quitting haha. It is so rewarding and worth it! What is one of your favorite stamping tips or tricks?

Selected Products:
Messy Mansion
Llarowe... new website in process!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

It Starts: Valentine's Day Mani with Love, Angeline & Vivid Lacquer

It's time for Valentine's Day manis! I love enjoying pinks when the doldrums of winter start to set in--where I'm from it's been known to snow in April. My husband and I never really celebrate this holiday. First of all, we are usually working. Cats would eat our flowers, at the very least knock them over and make a mess. We used to do cards but I've banned those this year because they are just way too freakin' expensive. Would it be wrong to order in and watch Shameless? Clearly I am not the romantic one in this relationship teehee.

So here's what I wore today!

Love, Angeline Ta-da!
Butter London Trout Pout accent with image from Vivid Lacquer 009

White Base: Cult Nails Tempest
White Crelly: Love, Angeline Ta-da!
Accent Nail: Butter London Trout Pout with image from Vivid Lacquer VL 009 stamped with Konad Special White

Love, Angeline is a new-to-me indie, and I might be in love. Ta-da! is a perfect white crelly with pink and gray glitters in a variety of size, shapes, and finishes. I did a little fishing and dabbing, which I figured I would need to do so I used a base of one coat Cult Nails Tempest (a great one-coater white for undies). I topped it off with two thick coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top for a glassy smooth finish. I have one other Love, Angeline polish to try right now but I'm sure it won't be my last!

You already know how much I love Vivid Lacquer. When stamping a fine line image like this I paint the whole image with the polish to make sure it's all filled in.

Selected Products:
Love, Angeline
Vivid Lacquer

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Colors by Llarowe: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

You know those weeks where you have the best of intentions but ultimately you are a big fat fail? Yup, that was me this week. I have to work a couple weekends a month at my job, which means I only had one day off this week. I decided to watch brainless TV and made a half-ass attempt at cleaning hahaa! I plead the fifth on what I binge-watched. So anyway here is a lovely polish I wore last week.

Colors by Llarowe Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is a gorgeous deep blue jelly with silver glitter. It's pretty much a dead-on dupe for Essie's Starry Starry Night. Normally I would be a little upset about this duping. However, since Essie hasn't figured out by now that they could re-release Starry Starry Night as an LE for $12 a bottle and make billions of dollars because everyone wants it so badly... I really have no sympathy for any duping case one might want to make with this. Your loss, Essie. Your loss.

Colors by Llarowe
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

I used two normal coats for this polish. You can see some VNL in the photos, nothing that shows in real life though.  I don't know why it appears waxy in the lower photo especially, I couldn't figure out what was causing it. It is super-shiny and the shimmer is mind-blowing!

Colors by Llarowe
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

I actually got several compliments on Twinkle Twinkle at work. It's not uncommon for me to get a compliment or two on any given day, but this one got me several. One gal even took down the name and Llarowe's website while listening to my polish monologue about indies. It is that good.

I love Colors by Llarowe but it makes me sad how hard they are to get. You can try your luck at stalking restocks on Llarowe's website.

Have you loved you cuticles today?

Llarowe's A Box, Indied for January 2013

Since I missed reviewing the December box I wasn't sure how helpful this swatch posts would be for something you can't easily get anymore. However I sort of feel it is my duty to do the swatches for those few that see a bottle on a blog sale and want to know what they look like. I took these pictures on different days a week apart from each other. It's kind of interesting to see how long my nails grow in a week (with filing!) by the end of the post though. Anyway, here are the polishes from Llarowe's A Box, Indied for January 2013.

First up is Freak Show Polish Fire In The Sky. I wasn't thrilled by the last one I tried (Harvest Hayride) so I wasn't sure I'd like this one. It seems like this brand puts bars in everything, too, which you know how I feel about bars. Personal preference aside though it is a pretty nice polish! Glitter spread easily, nice color combination, and the short bars make it more bearable for me personally haha.

Freak Show Polish
Fire In The Sky over OPI Tomorrow Never Dies

Freak Show Polish
Fire In The Sky over OPI Tomorrow Never Dies

Next is Wicked Polish Dropping Balls. Love! I used three thin coats. Tons of glitters in here and nice coverage by the jelly base. And the name is awesome which is always a bonus.

Wicked Polish
Dropping Balls

Wicked Polish
Dropping Balls

Liquid Sky Lacquer New Beginnings might be my favorite from this box. I used three thin coats for this glorious polish. I love the subtle scattered holo, the pale blue, the assortment of glitters... sigh. The perfect winter polish. 

Liquid Sky Lacquer
New Beginnings

Liquid Sky Lacquer
New Beginnings

Dollish Polish Auld Lang Syne is a lovely green-tinted gold metallic holo. I wasn't sure about this one at first as far as being a color I could pull off, but I ended up loving it. Bonus--work appropriate! I used three thin coats. 

Dollish Polish
Auld Lang Syne

Dollish Polish
Auld Lang Syne

Lastly is Different Dimension Frozen Fairy Floss. This is definitely a fish and dab polish... but look how pretty! So delicate and so many awesome glitters including snowflakes. I used Essie Who Is The Boss? for my undies. Love.

Different Dimension
Frozen Fairy Floss

Different Dimension
Frozen Fairy Floss

Overall I feel like this is the first A Box, Indied that blew me away. I am perfectly in love with the polishes and they scream January to me. You can purchase your own box at Llarowe, looks like there might be some left still, too!

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Dollish Polish Poor Unfortunate Souls Skittle

I haven't been able to wear as many skittles as I used to since I changed jobs. I have found I don't need strictly traditional work-appropriate polish, but I think the skittle mani might concern patients haha! Here is one I did for a weekend. Poor Unfortunate Souls is one of those polishes I HAD to have, which is hilarious because it took me forever to finally wear it.

Pinky: China Glaze Bump In The Night
Ring & Middle (& Thumb, not shown): Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Lilac You, Dollish Polish Poor Unfortunate Souls
Index: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure I Lilac You, stamped with Nailz Craze NC02 & Mentality Scoundrel

Remember how to put together a skittle mani? Pick your undies (I Lilac You) for your glitter (Poor Unfortunate Souls), use a neutral from the glitter for pinky accent (black), then stamp the neutral on the index (black swirls). Show me your skittles on my facebook page!

Selected Products:
Dollish Polish
Nailz Craze

Have you loved your cuticles today?

How To Paint A Jelly featuring Chaos & Crocodiles Narwhals Are Unicorns Too!

Glittered jellies and crellies can be a pin to paint. At least theywere for me. I used to avoid these kinds of polishes altogether, but I was missing out on so many great colors. I used to use them only with a base color and then the jelly glitter over the top, but sometimes the base is just so unique I can't find anything to match. I've only recently found a method of application that works for me: super-thin coats.

I thought I would show you just how thin I mean. I used Chaos & Crocodiles Narwhals Are Unicorns Too. You can see how much the coats build up. For photographic purposes I should have done a fourth coat, but in real life this is all you need.

Chaos & Crocodiles Narwhals Are Unicorns Too
Index: 1 coat
Middle: 2 coats
Ring & Pinky: 3 coats

Very important: Before starting your next thin coat the previous coat should be dry to the touch. I do these thin coats for all my polishes and it really helps to decrease denting and increase wear. Keep practicing and you'll get control of those lovely glittered jellies and crellies!

Chaos & Crocodiles Narwhals Are Unicorns Too
Hex Nail Jewelry Unicorn Head No 1
A lovely blue with blue and gold glitters

Was it wrong to use the unicorn charm? It just went so perfectly with the polish!

Chaos & Crocodiles Narwhals Are Unicorns Too
Hex Nail Jewelry Unicorn Head No 1

What glittered jelly or crelly are you going to try this with?

Selected Products:
Chaos & Crocodiles
Hex Nail Jewelry

Have you loved your cuticles today?

a-england Ballerina Collection Swatches & Review

So remember how last time I posted we just had this polar vortex where I live? All that crazy snow we got in the beginning of the week was melted and gone by Sunday. It was 50 degrees when I left work today. This is the reason I call Don Paul (the local weatherman, he has an automated phone recording of his weather forecast every day) every morning before I get dressed to figure out what the heck I need to wear to work and bring with me... snow boots and rain boots in the same week is not unheard of.

a-england is an indie brand based in the UK. Adina, the maker, translates English myth, legend, literature, and art into the most beautiful polishes around. Her holos are unlike any other which is why I own all of them (ok, except maybe one or two). Her latest set, The Ballerina Collection, is inspired by the prima ballerina Dame Margot Fontyn de Arias and her partnership with Rudolph Nureyev.

I have done some adjusting to my lighting for a more color and holo-accurate photos. Bonus: less color-adjusting and editing for me!

a-england Dancing With Nureyev
Indigo metallic holo

a-england Dancing With Nureyev

a-england Her Rose Andagio
A blush of rose pink in a metallic holo finish

a-england Her Rose Andagio

a-england Fonteyn
A pale lilac metallic holo

a-england Fonteyn

Formula Notes:
All of these polishes were gloriously formulated. The ones I swatched could be careful one-coaters! These do have a somewhat metallic finish so you will have to pay a little attention to brushstrokes but it is nothing problematic.

The fourth polish in this collection is Encore Margot which is a silver metallic holo. I do own it (because, a-england) but these were my three favorites. Plus I misplaced a bunch of pearls and had to start a few swatches over, ugh. One of my best friends is getting married June 1st and Her Rose Andagio is in the running for her wedding day mani! Hence I played around with some pearls because I've got wedding on the brain.

Selected Products:
a-england

Have you moisturized your cuticles today?

Hare Polish Holiday 2013: Bohemian Holiday

So apparently my city is now out of this crazy "polar vortex" we've been in the last few days. It has been COLD. You know it's been bad when I consider our 25 degree temp today just lovely, no need for my Eskimo hood or anything!

Today I have a quick swatch of Hare Polish. I love Hare. Ok, I won't say it a million more times, promise.

Nikole came out with a really neat Holiday collection this 2013 called Bohemian Holiday. There are three rich and complex shades in this collection, here is Wonderland Wanderlust.

Hare Polish Wonderland Wanderlust from Holiday 2013: Bohemian Holiday

I used a SquareHue shade, Portsmouth, for some undies. I love how complex this dusty blue jelly is with the red and gold elements mixed in!

What do you think? I loved wearing this color. And I love Hare. Ha, said it twice :-P

Products:
Hare Polish 

Have you loved your cuticles today?
I am almost out of my older, not-well-lit photos!

Pink Pop Flakes

Wow, it is so incredibly cold here in Buffalo I can't even take it. The thruways are closed and even my husband's retail store closed early (which he reports has never happened in the 10 years he's worked with the company). If you have any understanding of how nonchalant we are about weather in Buffalo (yeah we bitch about it, but we still go out like it's nothing), then you will understand how bad the weather must be to scare even us. I was going to do some grocery shopping this afternoon after a few errands, and then it was suddenly a white-out and I was like, I'M OUT. I'm wondering if I'll still have to go to the hospital tomorrow... I'm nonessential staff and if there is a driving ban I can't discharge anyone... hmmm.

So I thought this would be the perfect time to share some winter nail art I did a bit back. Ugh, not happy with the photo quality but I've been getting better with my lighting... this is all rather a bit warm and I had to do some major color adjusting which is a pain.

I started with a base color of Picture Polish Atomic which I wore for a day on its own. Love this color! It's metallic, icy, holo, and frosty in the most awesome way. It's one of those colors I've never seen anything else like so it was easy to justify the price tag.

I decided to use Mentality Sly for my stamping and accent nail. Sly is a pink holo stamper with blue flash. I painted my pinky nail with Sly and then stamped the snowflakes on my middle and index finger with Vivid Lacquer 006. Still my favorite flakes!

I decided I needed a little extra something so I added some small rhinestones on my accent nail. It's a very retro color combination that I really liked! I hope you get inspired to do a pink winter mani of your own :-)

Selected Products:
Mentality Nail Polish
Picture Polish
Vivid Lacquer

Show those cuticles some love today!

Glitter Guilty Pleasures Box: December 2013

I have some swatches of the December Glitter Guilty Pleasures Box. I have really liked this subscription and I feel like it is one of the best sub deals out there. Beautiful, seasonal, and unique polish plus a treat for only $16 including shipping.

You might notice a random snowflake added to these pictures. Well, I had a really nasty hangnail that turned into a nasty-looking wound. I needed to swatch though so I decided to take a leaf out of Kayla Shevonne's book and just cover it up with a graphic.... because no one wants to see that haha. I couldn't find a bandaid so I used a snowflake.

The Monthly Mini for December was Pine Cones and Holly Berries. This glitter topper has metallic gold, fuchsia, and magenta glitters in a variety of shapes including gold dots. I used this glitter topper over Essie Sew Psyched, which was a genius combination if I do say so myself ;-)

I really like how versatile this glitter topper is. The jewel tones make it more seasonally appropriate than a Christmas-only polish, which is nice because I'm sure not everyone subscribing to GG celebrates Christmas. 

My custom this month was Snowed In, a powder blue crelly with blue, silver holo, and satin white glitters along with SNOWFLAKE glitters! I used three thin coats letting each coat dry well before the next.

I fished and placed the snowflake glitters. I see now that I should have maybe placed a few of the flakes in between my second and third thin coats, but oh well, I'll have to keep that in mind for next time.

You can purchase the Glitter Guilty Pleasures Box for yourself here.

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Happy New Year! One Last Christmas Mani

I just had to share this last Christmas mani I did. One side of my family gets together after Christmas to celebrate the holiday, this is what I wore this past Sunday. This was done and dry in one hour, not bad! Read on to see my fool-proof formula for skittle manis.

Pinky: OPI Solitaire with one coat topcoat
Ring, Middle, & Thumb: Essie Going Incognito (base color) and I Love Nail Polish Something About Merry
Index: Essie Going Incognito (base color), stamped with Nailz Craze NC 03 (I can't quit the sweater stamp!) and Konad Special White

Christmas Skittles featuring OPI Solitaire, Essie Going Incognito,
I Love Nail Polish Something About Merry, Nailz Craze

ILNP Something About Merry is pretty much my perfect Christmas glitter, I think it's the white satin glitters that do it for me. I like to be inspired by the colors in a glitter for a skittle mani. I knew Something About Merry would be perfect over Going Incognito (have I mentioned you need to own this yet?). Then I took the basic color of the glitter, white, to stamp and use for my texture/glitter pinky.

This formula works really well for me:
(1.) Use your base color on all nails then glitter two or three of them.
(2.) Choose a basic color from the glitter or a complementary basic color to do a glitter pinky and
(3.) stamp one or to accent nails. Basic colors are black, white, silver, gold, and even browns and bronzes in metallic or creme finishes. Texture polishes are my preferred type of pinky accent ;-)

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Products:
ILNP
Nailz Craze

Have you loved your cuticles today? Who is going to take better care of their cuticles this year?