Spooktastic Mani

Hello lovelies, today I'm rockin a simple Halloween mani using my new spooktastic orange polish that I received in my Julep Trick or Treat Mystery Box.

This is Julep Parker and it's a tangerine orange creme polish that was made for Halloween! Parker was thin so it took 4 coats for an even opaque finish. I taped off my tips and used Orly Liquid Vinyl.

Using Konad black stamping polish I stamped the creepy trees and bats using Bundle Monster plates #224 and 213. The spider was stamped with Mash plate #38. 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

Metallic Bubbles

Hi beauties! Today I have a metallic gradient with my all time favorite silver polish. I started with a base coat of Nicole by OPI Heavy Metal and then used Orly Sweet Peacock and Peripera P027 for the gradient. This is with one coat of Seche Vite to smooth out the bumpiness that can happen due to sponging the gradient.

Heavy Metal is a 'granular' silver metallic, which is the only way I can think to describe it. It is not granular in the sense that it's gritty, but there are visible particles rather than a smooth chrome like finish. Sweet Peacock is a bright blue 'granular' metallic and P027 is a green to blue duochrome.

Although I loved this sucker as is....I felt it needed some stamping. I busted out the stamping plates and decided I was feeling bubbly. I used Konad black stamping polish and MASH Plate #43.

Heavy Metal is an NOPI Classic Color. I've had her for....god damn...like 14 years or something. I remember being in high school when my sister bought it for me. Holy crap, realizing that I've had a polish for 14 years is kind of mind blowing! Not to mention it says a lot about NOPI considering this polish is still a great consistency and applies perfectly.   

Feedback time... I hoped that the pictures helped to understand, but did I make any sense in describing the finish of Heavy Metal?

~Linda

Energy Vs Hera

I've recently showed you some swatches of Jade Energy and Hits Hera which are both teal holographic polishes. Before getting my hands on Energy I assumed that they were going to be very close but taking a look side by side you can see the differences. The main difference is the underlying base color.

Energy leans more towards blue while Hera is more green based.

Jade Energy and Hits Hera

I have Energy on my index and ring finger, and Hera on my middle finger and pinky.

These are the pictures that most clearly showed the differences but about half of the pictures I took you could hardly see the difference. Lighting has a lot to do with that because indoors the colors are plainly different while outside the holo effect makes it more difficult to distinguish which was which.

Indoors taken by a window

I ended up stamping over this with Color Club Wild at Heart and MASH Plate #44.

Once I stamped over these you couldn't even see the color differences between Energy and Hera.

So which do you prefer, Energy or Hera?

~Linda
 

Flower Power

Today I have a gradient manicure with some stamping that was inspired by a recent trip to the Botanical Gardens in Chicago. I saw these amazing flowers that were a beautiful shade of orange with a electric crimson center. These were my favorite flowers in the Garden, so I decided to translate their beauty to my nails.

I started with two coats of Julep Eva which is a rich raspberry colored creme polish. The gradient started with SinfulColors Timbleberry, a coral meets bubble-yum pink and on the tips is China Glaze Riveting. Riveting is a stunning orange polish that's loaded with gold and bright orange shimmer and is from the Hunger Games Capital Colours Collection.

I stamped a floral design using Julep Harley, a silver metallic chrome and MASH Plate #45.

Unfortunately, my nails are rather wide and I have crap aim, so I do sometimes have a bit of trouble getting the images to fit properly on my nails. I'm my own worst critic so all I see are the f*ck ups, but I still think that these turned out pretty darn good.

Thanks for dropping by!

~Linda

Julep Renee

Today I'm bringing you some cute little stamping that has everyone going "Awwwww" when they grab my hands and take a look. 

I started with two coats of Julep Renee which is a light lavender creme polish. This polish had a pretty good formula, it settled itself perfectly and was not too thick. 

Next I stamped the vines/twigs on all my nails using MASH plate # 37. I went through and alternated between Julep Daphne, a rich earthy green creme, and Julep Taylor, a bright blurple creme. On my ring finger, I used the same MASH plate for the cute little owl face. I used a small dotting tool to add eyes and other dots throughout the leaves. I finished up with a layer of Seche Vite to seal everything nicely. 

Thanks for stopping by guys! 

~Linda

Pop Beauty Violetta

Happy Saturday Ladies!

Today I have on a Pop Beauty Nail Glam polish called Violetta that is a bright fuschia color. This polish has a good consistency and a great dry time. I noticed that the polish dries with a sateen finish but I always like my nails shiny especially with a baby this bright! This is 2 coats with top coat. 

 

Then I stamped with Julep Taylor using the new MASH plate #43. 

So I'm loving the 'girly' look of this mani! This is the first time I've used a Pop Beauty polish and I liked the formula a lot. Are there any Pop Beauty polishes that you love and think I should check out? 

Have a great weekend ladies! 

~Linda 

Rainbow Nails

Hiya! Today I'm rockin a gradient heartbeat mani using one of my new MASH Stamping Plates. I used two different colors on each nail in order to have a rainbow effect across my hand. With that in mind...I have 10 different stamping colors to list out as well as my base coat. 

Here we go....I started with 2 coats of Orly White Out and then stamped using these colors in the order shown (from pinky to thumb) with MASH plate #38. 

Funky Yellow, Mandy, Myrta, Bite Me

Fuchsa, Let's Talk, Prince Charming

Halley's Comet, Zuza, Four Leaf Clove

After putting on a thick coat of Seche Vite topcoat, I noticed some slight smudging of the colors, particularly the purple ones. Overall I'm very happy with the way this turned out and just in time for PRIDE this weekend in Chicago! Happy PRIDE! 

 Thanks for stopping by!

~Linda

MASH Plates 26-50

YAY....I got my new MASH Plates (26-50)! These plates are made from high grade stainless steel and have a paper backing to prevent scratching and it makes the edges of the plate less sharp. This collection came with 25 plates which each have 5 to 7 designs on them (OVER 125 IMAGES!) 

These are the first MASH plates that I've used and in comparison to BundleMonster and Red Angel plates, these are pretty darn good. I've used one of the plates so far (for the mani you'll see tomorrow) and I had no smudging! The designs are deep enough to hold the polish well, but not so deep that it's a pain in the arse to clean the polish out. One thing that drives me crazy about my Red Angel plates is that no matter what brand of cotton round thingies I use, the edges of the designs are so sharp that I always have these little bits of the cotton hanging on to the plate. Uugghhh  Can you say annoying?

These are some of my favorites. The reflective surface of these plates make it hard to take a picture without my camera and hands showing on the plate. Took a while, but I think I finally got some pics that show the designs quite well. Here's a link to the MASH site so you can see all the plates.

I bought these plates from Amazon for $12.99 and I am a Prime member so I got free 2 day shipping. OMG...my Prime membership is beyond amazing. It's a little pricey but if you are an Amazon-a-holic like me, it's paid for itself at least three times over! Free 2 day shipping on tons of products, free Kindle book borrowing, free Amazon Instant Video....aahhh...I could rant about it forever. I digress.

So these plates are pretty great. I rate them higher than Red Angel and on Par with BundleMonster. Do you have a favorite brand of stamping plates? Or favorite plate that you use all the time?

~Linda