Stamping Saturday: Fuzzy Houndstooth

Purchased By Shelby Lou--Emily de Molly, MoYou London 
Press Sample--Zoya

Hi guys! I am happy to report my week has gotten better and I was excited to do my nails again. My husband and I have been watching The Americans on Amazon Prime. It's pretty good! We seem to agree on spy shows. The lead woman is played by Keri Russell--remember her from like 1999?! I am happy to report this role is pretty kick-ass for her. Not gonna lie though, I seriously still miss Michael and Fi from Burn Notice. I have also been watching Cosmos on Netflix. Neil deGrasse Tyson and I are besties now. However I have decided that Science gives me an existential crisis so we agree to give each other space from time to time. And that is my exciting life lately. I worked 6 days in a row this week and rounded it out with a night of on-call for the Red Cross, TV was the only exciting thing I was up for :-P

Today's Stamping Saturday mani is a blurry or fuzzy houndstooth. I just ordered Emily de Molly Lace Man from Color4Nails, so I had to put that on right away when I got it on Wednesday. I really like Color4Nails. I don't find their website the most user-friendly but they always have a lot of great polish, no crazy restocks, prices are fair, and shipping is cheap. Lace Man is a gray jelly with all kinds of amazing shimmer and flakes. I am so feeling this for winter and the shimmer is not shy!

Shelby Lou Nails - Stamping Saturday
Emily de Molly Lace Man
Zoya Geneviev & MoYou London Fashionista 09

Friday night I stamped it with Zoya Geneviev, my go-to stamping gray, and MoYou London Fashionista 09. I chose a blurry-looking image and the gray because didn't want the stamping to contrast too much and the shimmer to still shine through. I finished off this look with Rica Glossy Glam. I am actually pleased with my stamping placement on the angle for this one!

What are you watching lately? Check out some of the other looks below for more Stamping Saturday!

Products:
Zoya

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Hump Day HARE: Cotton Candy Crush

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Today is an extra crummy hump day for me. Not only was work a really tough day on Tuesday (left late and completely drained me of all emotional energy, ugh), when I got home technology wasn't working AND our water was broken. I pretty much decided to quit life and had a glass of wine last night (I rarely drink alcohol, so that ish was serious). I wasn't even motivated to retake some washed out mani photos for today. Blah. Okay, I'm done whining.

Today's Hare is an exclusive polish called Cotton Candy Crush. It is a dusty lilac jelly with pale pink satin and bright blue matte glitters along with some gold flakies and shimmer. This is so deliciously sweet! I did three thin coats, glorious formula as always. I used two thick coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top for a glassy finish. Usually I show a photo without flash... but I didn't like any of them so here's two.

Shelby Lou Nails
Hare Polish Cotton Candy Crush

For my accent nail I kind of just didn't know when to stop adding polishes. I started with a powder blue base (Sinful Colors Sugar Rush). Then I added a Nail Nation 3000 blue-tinted holo topcoat. Not quite happy with that, I decided to stamp some purple clouds using Nailz Craze 03 and SquareHue Groovy Love. I felt like it didn't "go" enough with Cotton Candy Crush though, so I added a coat of OPI Be Magentable With Me, a pink tint which made it the perfect shade. Then I cut myself off haha! Hope everyone else's week is going better than mine.

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Stamping Saturday: Red Lacy Things

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Three posts this week, woo! I am killin' it as far as I'm concerned with blogging. I was on call for the Red Cross last night and it was -5 before windchill. I totally lucked out and did not have to respond to anything, which is also awesome because no one had any fires either. But mostly I'm happy I got to stay warm in my bed! In other news my Christmas tree is still up and I turn the lights on everyday. In protest of this bitterly cold weather I will take it down when it decides to stop snowing. Okay but that might be May... at least by March 31st. It's snowing right now...

For this Saturday's stamping mani I started with a base of Polish My Life Nude Lace. I am addicted to this brand already! I always drooled over swatches from @lacquerloon on instagram, but I swear she could make me love even a truly fugly polish so I wasn't sure at first. Nude Lace is a warm nude creme. It is fabulous. I only needed two coats! I have decided to own as many of these cremes as I can, they are just perfect.

Shelby Lou Nails
Red Lacy Things
Polish My Life Nude Lace
A-England Rose Bower
MoYou London Fashionista 12

I chose to stamp my nude nails with A-England Rose Bower, a bright holographic metallic. I'm still stuck on Valentine's colors--I'm a seasonal snob. I chose the pattern from MoYou London Fashionista 12. I'm not sure what this pattern is supposed to be, embroidery or lace? I like it and my obsession with the Fashionista line from MoYou remains strong. Rose Bower stamped so amazingly in these teeny lines and I really must stamp with my A-Englands more often. I'm not 100% happy with my image placement but I enjoyed the mani overall--I need to not nit-pick. Make sure you check out the other stamping manis this week! Has anyone else tried Polish My Life yet?

Products:
A-England
Polish My Life
MoYou London

Have you loved your cuticles today?

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Hump Day HARE: My Log Has Something To Tell You

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

I believe that Hell hath frozen over in my neck of the woods. Yesterday I woke up to a temperature of -6. Fahrenheit. I am not amused. The worst part is slogging through so much snow whenever I leave the house. I can't even imagine how our homeless population is handling it, we've had a few frostbite cases come in over the extra-cold weekend. Ok, I'll stop whining now. But seriously I am so over winter.

Today's Hump Day HARE is My Log Has Something To Tell You from Part 2 of the Welcome To Twin Peaks Collection released for Winter 2014. Not gonna lie, I wasn't super excited with this one when I first saw it, but the metallic flakes in that gray jelly just got to me. The flakes are gold, silver, blue, and reddish-copper. I quite like the primary colors and it feels like such a cozy color, does that make sense?

Shelby Lou Nails
Hump Day HARE
Hare Polish My Log Has Something To Tell You
MoYou London Fashionista 04
Rica Blackout

I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I stamped this graphic arrow pattern from MoYou London Fashionista 04 with Rica Blackout. I think this will definitely make a reappearance, I love this pattern! I am addicted to that whole MoYou Fashionista line and of course Rica makes me fav stamping polishes.

How's the winter treating your town? No bragging if your average temp is above 10 degrees! :-P
What do you think of this week's edition of HDH?

Products:
Hare Polish
MoYou London
Rica on Etsy

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Renaissance Cosmetics: Sweet & Sassy Duo

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Hi guys! I hope everyone had a fun Valentine's Day. Since the hubs was working I actually had more of a Galentine's Day with my cousin (and fellow polish addict) and one of her friends. We braved the blizzard and spent the afternoon in a couple classes making some yummy chocolate cherry bread and then a stained glass heart with local artisans--you can see my heart on instagram. Otherwise Sunday was so cold (it stayed well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit all day and was even colder at night) that I pretty much just hibernated all day and played with polish. I am trying to let my nails grow out in their natural shape, but not sure how I'm liking the flare at the end... but maybe I'll break my corners less? We shall see.

This year Renaissance Cosmetics came out with the Sweet & Sassy Duo for Valentine's Day. I love these because while they are lovely for this holiday they are usable in all different ways all year! They also feature those amazing multichrome flakies. Let's take a look!

Shelby Lou Nails
Renaissance Cosmetics Sugar and Spice
from the Sassy & Sweet Valentine's Duo

First up is Sugar and Spice, the Sweet half of this duo. It has white satin and holographic rose glitters along with a generous helping of multichrome flakes. I can't get enough, it is so beautiful and delicate! For this mani I started with two coats of Polish My Life Pink Sandals and three on my accent nail. I did just one coat of RenCos Sugar and Spice, dabbing just a few of the larger satin and rose glitters where I wanted them. I did not have to do any fishing and everything spread so nicely. I added the Pegasus charm from Hex Nail Jewelry as my accent. Sweet enough for a toothache!

Shelby Lou Nails
Renaissance Cosmetics Sassy With A Vengeance
from the Sassy & Sweet Valentine's Duo

Sassy With A Vengeance is, obviously, the sassy side of this duo. It has matte black and fuchsia holographic glitters as well as those gorgeous multichrome flakes. This is the perfect Maleficent nail polish! For this look I did two luscious coats of KBShimmer Pansy-Monium. I did one coat of Sassy and dabbed some of the black glitters where I wanted them. Again, everything spread very nicely and it was easy to grab a few black glitters on the neck of the bottle for perfect placement. The bow is from Born Pretty Store. I love how dark but shimmery this came out.

The Sweet & Sassy Duo is exactly what I've been waiting for with the multichrome flakes. Make sure you check out my instagram for some amazing macros! Meghan, RenCos genius, does plan on restocking these towards the end of the month and Sugar and Spice is still available along with a Sassy-looking prototype.

Products: 
Renaissance Cosmetics
Polish My Life
Hex Nail Jewelry
KBShimmer

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Pahlish "Warmest Winter" Duo for January 2015

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

I realized I haven't shared some Pahlish on the ol' blog for awhile, which is a great shame I must rectify. Pahlish is easily one of my top favorite indies and every new release makes my heart race. The duo for this January is called "Warmest Winter" which I find perfectly ironic for Buffalo right now. On the plus side my nails are growing out nicely!

Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish Jaunary 2015 Duo
By Your Side

By Your Side is a dark gray base with gold, purple, and blue flake shimmer. This is two dreamy coats and hardly any clean-up. I want all of my polishes to be this perfect. I wore this for a day at work before adding the topper and it is just so chic! Dark but with a lil something special.

Shelby Lou Nails
Pahlish January 2015 Duo
Always Warmer

Always Warmer is the stunning holo topper of this duo with even moar flakes in gold, pink, purple, and blue. I died a little when I put this on. I can't even take the flakes with the holo. It definitely has a pinkish hue which you can see from the bottle and I'm dying to wear this over a nude. If you haven't already seen it on my instagram, here is a macro of this duo in all its glory.

This might be my most favorite Pahlish Duo yet-and I'm not afraid to admit I own every single one since they started in April 2013. I also love that the name labels also now have the month and year on them! A new duo for February releases this Friday and it features more stunning flakies, I can't wait!

Products:
Pahlish

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Cartoon Hearts

Purchased By Shelby Lou 

Hey guys! Buffalo is being pounded by more snow this week WHY GOD WHY. Anyway, may I shamelessly direct you to my Blog Sale? I am trying so hard to destash and keep the stuff I absolutely love... and, uh, make some money back to buy more things I absolutely love. I only sell things I have purchased myself, samples are donated or given away. Thanks!

I loved my Faded Hearts from Saturday so much I decided to use them again but for much different look. I just received Serum No.5 Sweet Nothings, an exclusive for February through an indie box. This is my first Serum No.5 and I was so delighted when I saw this lovely white crelly. It was inspired by conversation hearts and you can see all of those pastel satin colors, as well as metallic glitters and this amazing shimmer. I did three thin coats. For me the glitters tended to get stuck together at one end of my nail or the other so I had to smoosh them around a bit. I wore Sweet Nothings alone for a day so I finsihed it with two thick coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

Shelby Lou Nails
Cartoon Hearts

I used my heart image from Vivid Lacquer 009 stamping with my favorite black stamper, Rica Blackout. I love how bold the hearts are over Sweet Nothings--it looks like a Valentine I would have gotten as a kid in Elementary school hehe.

Overall I am pleased with my first Serum No.5 experience and I'm already plotting a proper purchase of their unique colors. When I went to bed the first night I wore Sweet Nothings I had forgotten about the most fun feature of the brand--glow in the dark! I was startled at how bright blue my nails were in bed. And I only lost like 5 minutes of sleep admiring them in the dark.

Products:
Serum No.5
Vivid Lacquer

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Stamping Saturdays: Faded Hearts

Purchased By Shelby Lou
Press Sample (Zoya Only)

Oh man, I am really battling some seasonal depression here, guys. This week we got another ridiculous amount of snow that has been plowed into piles so high you can't see cars coming to pull out of the driveway. It has been so cold that it's even cold inside, not to mention the long and cold dreary days. I don't mind up to 6 inches of snow, just enough to cover grass and make a sparkling winter wonderland... this is a frozen wasteland and I am so done with it. I can't even make myself go grocery shopping because that would involve slogging through so much snow. There is just no where else to put it and every single parking lot is a mess. I slept most of today on the couch and binge-watched Big Love. Maybe all this blah inspired this not-so Valentine's mani haha!

Shelby Lou Nails
Faded Hearts - Without Flash

I was just not feeling inspired by all of my pinks so I went for a new, glorious pale blue I recently bought from Polish My Life called Cloud Blue. I've see lots of beautiful swatches of Polish My Life but bought just a few pastel cremes to see what all the fuss was about. Let me just say I've decided I need to buy ALL the Polish My Life cremes at this point!

Shelby Lou Nails
Faded Hearts - Without Flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Faded Hearts - Without Flash

Since I have become more confident in stamping I wanted to layer some images. First I used a diagonal stripe image from MoYou London Pro-XL 01 and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in OMGhost. Over that I stamped the hearts from Vivid Lacquer 009 in Zoya Geneviev.

Shelby Lou Nails
Faded Hearts - With Flash

Shelby Lou Nails
Faded Hearts - With Flash

I love the soft and faded look of this mani. I am not totally happy with my heart image placement, but alas I guess that's all these nubbins could take. What do you think? Anyone else suffering from the doldrums of winter?

Shelby Lou Nails
"Faded Hearts"

Have you loved your cuticles today?

Hump Day HARE: Hare Polish King of Carat Flowers

Purchased By Shelby Lou

Hey guys! I had such good intentions to get some swatching done this weekend but all I did was go to a Fleetwood Mac concert Saturday night--say what! I grew up listening to Fleetwood Mac since my parents were fans and have always loved them, especially my Stevie. My husband got me and his mom tickets for Christmas, which totally blew us away. I think this is essentially their last tour--they are pushing 70 now but they still rock it out like nobody's business. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience I will never forget. Thank you, hubby <3

Shelby Lou Nails
Hare Polish King Of Carat Flowers
Valentine-Spring Skittle

Okay, enough fan-girling, on to Hump Day HARE! I have been wanting to wear King of Carat Flowers ever since @swatchbucket, one of my nail buddies, posted this swatch on her instagram. I decided I needed something a little Spring-y since winter is really getting to me at this point. So a heart makes it Valentine's-y, too, right?

Shelby Lou Nails
Hare Polish
King of Carat Flowers Skittle (without flash)

Hare Polish King of Carat Flowers is a gray crelly with yellow, gold, and light purple glitters along with some magical blue shimmer Hare is famous for. I quite like how this skittle turned out! Usually I stay away from purple and gold since they were my grade-school's colors, but those usually ended up a weird royal purple and mustard... clearly these shades are much more lovely together.

Shelby Lou Nails
Hare Polish King of Carat Flowers (without flash)

Shelby Lou Nails
Hare Polish King of Carat Flowers (with flash)

Thumb, index, middle: Two coats Hare Polish King of Carat Flowers, two coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.
Ring: Two coats SquareHue Groovy Love (04/13), heart free-handed using Revlon Brilliant Strength Hypnotize and a teeny detail brush, all sealed with KBShimmer Clearly On Top.
Pinky: Three thin coats of Nicole by OPI Carried Away (texture)

Shelby Lou Nails
Hare Polish
King of Carat Flowers Skittle (with flash)

It is entirely possible I smashed too many themes into this mani. I still consider my nails to be in rehab at this point, but they are passable. This Hare is one that is periodically restocked, make sure you follow Hare for restock updates!

Products:
Hare Polish
SquareHue
KBShimmer

Have you loved your cuticles today?