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Purple

    31 Day Challenge, Stamping, Uncategorised

    Day 15: Delicate Print

    Here we are at the halfway point and I’m still loving the challenge!

    A friend of mine visited Canada this month and I asked her to pick me up a bottle of Sally Hansen Whirlwind White. Since I saw it on Marta’s blog here, I’ve had a lemming for it and Marta reminded me to ask my friend to grab me a bottle. So now I finally have a really, really good white stamping polish and it really is a weight off my shoulders!

    Don’t forget to check out Cristina and Rie‘s challenges too!

    No7 Lucky Lilac
    Konad Plate M71
    Sally Hansen Whirlwind White

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    31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

    Day 9: Rainbow Nails

    Today was a tricky one! Say the words ‘rainbow nails’ to me and my mind starts running wild! I was thinking stamping, dotting and striping all in one mani I decided reign in all that jazz and take the simple chic approach with rainbow stripes which I am absolutely over the moon with. Think ‘Sammy and the Amazing Technicolor Manicure’!

    Don’t forget to peek at Cristina and Rie‘s rainbow creations today!

    Polishes used
    All on a white base coat
    La Femme – Red Cherry
    Miss Sporty – 323
    George – Buttercup Shine
    Collection 2000 – Spangles
    Barry M – Cyan Blue
    Barbara Daly – Purplicious

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    31 Day Challenge, Swatch, Uncategorised

    Day 6: Violet Nails

    Today’s criteria is Violet Nails but that seems a bit narrow compared to previous days so I took it to mean purple in general. I really don’t want to do too much talking today. I want to let you all soak up the pure beauty of this W7 Polish!

    This is a colour that I find myself reaching for time after time when I just want to wear something simple and pretty. I don’t know how to describe the finish, my best guess is shimmer. What category would you slide this polish into?

    Visit Rie and Cristina‘s blogs to see some amazing nail art!

    2 Coats of W7 Purple Paradise
    Top Coat of NYC

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    Freehand, Uncategorised

    So! FashioNAILble

    Today’s nail art comes straight from the catwalk at New York Fashion Week. I’ve decided to recreate a few of my favourite nail looks from NYFW Spring 2012 this week.
    Even though I’m sure this design didn’t originate at fashion week, CND’s Wanda Ruiz used this checkerboard pattern to decorate the models’ digits for the Nicole Miller show using a Raspberry Pink and Navy Blue.
    I used No7 Lucky Lilac as a base. With a liner brush, I drew a cross on my nails and then used a small nail art brush to fill in two of the four sections with Primark’s Yes Cyan!.
    I don’t know if you can see in the pictures but my top coat has bubbled a little. This could be because I used 3 coats of the stuff, or because I tried to thin it out with Nail Polish Thinner. The consistency definitely improved with the use of the thinner but it has now gone cloudy and apparently bubbly so I’ll just move on to a new bottle. Not to self: don’t use thinner in your top coat!

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    Stamping, Uncategorised

    Snakeskin Nails… Take Two

    We are switching internet providers tonight so I’m currently
    sat on the floor of my brother’s bedroom with my computer plugged in to his
    ethernet cable. For some silly reason it’s only the wireless that isn’t
    working and apparently I’m the only person in the house who utilises the
    technological miracle that is wireless internet!

    I have some more ‘take two’ nails for you today featuring
    one of MUA Cosmetics’ new nail shades. MUA has definitely risen in my
    estimations a lot over the past few months. Each item from the basic line is only £1 so I suppose
    it’s the UK’s version of Essence. One can be forgiven for being a bit sceptical
    about the products at first because of the bargain price tag but since first trying
    them over a year ago, I can’t see a reason to pay more than £1 for an
    eyeshadow! If you are in the UK and you haven’t tried MUA yet, why on earth not?!

     Anyway, I digress. Here are some more snakeskin nails for
    you!

    Plate: BM215
    Base Colour: MUA – Shade 22
    Stamp Colour: Barry M – Berry Ice Cream andSally Hansen Chrome – Anemone
    Top Coat of NYC

    Thanks to Kari again for the inspiration!

     
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    Stamping, Uncategorised

    Thicken Up

    I know it’s well documented that polishes will thicken as they get old and used but I definitely notice it most with Barry M polishes. When you first buy them, they are fairly runny and nearly all of them need at least two coats for full coverage but after just a few months, they are thick enough to use for stamping. 
    Great for those of us who are always on the lookout for stamping polishes, but perhaps not ideal for people that want their polishes to last until they need to scrape the stuff from the walls of the bottle!
    The weather here was kind of crappy today and I could really tell that winter is setting in. Unfortunately that means more pictures with this crummy lighting will be coming very soon as the days get shorter and generally more morose. I got some advice from Cristina about her lighting and I think I need to get some white fluorescent lighting from somewhere so I too can have pretty, colour correct pictures!

    Plate: Bundle Monster BM208 and BM209
    Base Colour: Cult Nails – My Kind of Cool Aid
    Stamp Colour: Barry M – Bright Purple
    Top Coat of NYC

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    Review, Stamping, Uncategorised

    Born Pretty Plate M73 and White Stamping Polish Review

    As you may have noticed, or read here before, I never use Special polishes for stamping. This is partly because of the price tag but mostly because I have been lucky enough to find plenty of regular polishes that work well for stamping. You can see my list here, although it needs a bit of updating!
    The white I use for stamping from Stargazer isn’t 100% opaque so I wanted to try a special polish to get the extra oomph!
    From the Born Pretty Store, I ended up ordering a white stamping polish [here] and the duplicate M73 plate [here]. 
    I’ve written a quick post in the past with my thoughts on the BP plates [here] and everything I said still stands.
    The image of the musical notes is not very well ‘carved out’ at all, there is next to no definition so I don’t think I will be using it. But this is clear in the picture on the product page so at least you know with BP that what you see is what you get and they aren’t using pictures that misrepresent their products.
    I went ahead and decided to use the white polish with the swirly flower design which is the one I was most excited about and I cannot express how disappointed I was when my mani turned out like this!
    My stamper hardly picked up any of the design and I’m inclined to blame it on the plate since my stamper has worked perfectly forever and the polish worked (albeit not that well, but we’ll get on to that later) on the geometric design.
    I don’t think this white qualifies as a stamping polish. It’s actually less opaque than the Stargazer White I use currently which you can see stamped here.

    Konad Plate: Born Pretty M73
    Base Colour: Collection 2000 – Hot Purple
    Konad Colour: Born Pretty White Stamping Polish
    Top Coat of NYC

    So to sum up, I am disappointed with these two prodcuts from Born Pretty. If I was desperate for a white stamping polish this would probably suffice but I don’t think I’ll be using it. I’m going to leave it on my windowsill with the lid off for a few days to see if it works any better then. Also, the bottle is very small. I can’t find exact details anywhere on the site or on the bottle but I would guess it’s about 5ml.
    If you are looking for a white polish for stamping, take a look at Marta’s post here. She uses Sally Hansen Whirlwind white and it looks incredible, completely opaque! If anyone knows where to get this and would be willing to send it to me, please get in touch because I need it in my life!

    As you can see, I only tried two of the designs from the plate. The scattered square design works great but the flower one isn’t usable. It’s no devastation because I only paid a few dollars for it but still, you expect your designs to come out no matter how much you pay. If the designs don’t work, is it even an image plate or just a slice of metal?

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