Christmas Sweater Skittle

Hi, all! So, I finally felt inspired to do a Christmas manicure. For this one I started with a regular base coat over a school glue base. I thank all the ladies who shared the glue tip with me...I've been wearing glitter nearly every day since! Here's what I came up with.

The main polish for this mani is from a new-to-me brand called Glitz 'n Glimmer Polish. This brand boasts a 5-free base, and I stumbled upon it in a Facebook group that I frequent. I used two thin coats of Christmas Sugar Cookie, a white crelly with multi-colored glitter. The glitter is most prominently red and green, although I think I spotted some yellow, pink, and blue, as well. It covers beautifully, and I think it could have been a one-coater if I'd been as heavy-handed in application as I normally am. With glitters, though, I am finding I prefer thinner coats, because I like the way the particles look suspended in the different layers of base. See, I've been learning. :) The wear time is quite nice. Before I attempted any art, I wore it solo for a few days with only minimal tip wear. For this look, I stamped a pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-603 on two nails. For my index finger, I used Revlon Top Speed in Emerald, and on my pinky, I stamped with Wet n Wild Megalast in I Red a Good Book. On my ring finger, I added a coat of Emerald, then sponged on a glitter gradient using an other brand I hadn't tried before, Barielle Goldfinger.

While I (clearly) haven't yet mastered the art of stamping, it still turned out better than I expected. I found myself a squishy little Vaga stamper on Amazon and have had slightly better luck than with my much firmer Konad stamper. I thank you for stopping by, and I wish one and all a Merry Christmas if you don't hear from me before then!

My Thanksgiving Manicure

Hello, all! I hope all of you who celebrate it had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm still recovering from my turkey-induced coma. :) As you can tell, as a beginner I'm sometimes too ambitious with my nail art. This time is no exception. I've shown you proof that I'm just no good yet at stamping. That being said, what did I try on this attempt? Double stamping!

For this look, I used a base of Wet n Wild Megalast in Under Your Spell, which is a rich, vampy burgundy that's full of red shimmer. I then stamped it with a wood grain pattern from Bundle Monster's 2014 CYO collection, plate BM-608. For this I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Bittersweet, which I'd describe more as a creamy milk chocolate color. After a top coat, I stamped a leaf pattern from plate BM-617 using Sally Hansen X-treme Wear in Golden-I. I love this color for stamping because of its super shiny foil finish. I finished it all off with a matte top coat that I got months ago from a Cult Cosmetics buy 1, get 2 free sale.

So, while it's by no means perfect, (some gaps in the stamped images, I flooded a couple cuticles with acetone rushing through clean-up), I'm actually quite happy with how this manicure turned out. I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks so much for looking!

Bundle Monster 2014 CYO Stamping

Greetings! Today, I have Burning Embers from the Colors by Llarowe fall 2014 collection. Sadly, it is no longer offered, as it was one of their limited edition shades.To me, it's perfect for fall and I was lucky enough to grab one before they were gone. It is a gorgeous multichrome that shifts through copper, black, and magenta and contains tons of red and gold shimmer. It reminds me of my absolute favorite thing about fall, the changing leaves.

 
I just love CbL's formulas! The few I've tried have applied like a dream, and Burning Embers was no exception. It was a little thick, so I added a few drops of thinner, and applied two syrupy smooth coats over Nubar Foundation, then topped it with Glisten & Glow's HK Girl.

I'd gone four (chip-free!) days and decided it was time for a polish change when the mail arrived...containing my Bundle Monster CYO 2014 collection! This is my first Create Your Own collection (and only my second ever stamping plate purchase), and if you're not familiar, it's a stamping plate set filled with designs created by fans. I'm new to stamping (as you can clearly see), so it's exciting to have plates designed by bloggers I follow and whose art I admire so much. So, I immediately reached for my Konad white. The first design I tried was created by the talented Eva over at Flight of Whimsy. Her design can be found on plate BM-607, and my attempt does it no justice.

I also tried another image from the same plate, and here you'll have a rare look at my right hand. I keep the nails on this hand trimmed much shorter, mostly because it's my dominant hand and I just cannot grasp the fact that I'm not supposed to use my nails to do things. They grow just as well as on the left, but I always end up hurting myself. I chose a more forgiving design for these since I'm not at all adept in the use of my left hand.

These Bundle Monster plates are amazing! My only complaint is that the full sized images are a little too small. I currently use the firm double-ended Konad stamper. I'm waiting for what I think is a squishy stamper to arrive. I understand beginning stampers have better luck with the squishier ones, so I'm hopeful. Until then, I'll keep trying. Thanks for looking!