Gemma & BM 202

Hello Dear Readers,

Here is last week's manicure.  I started with the lovely "Gemma" from Zoya.  Two coats form the base of this mani.

 (click on pics to view larger images)

Then I added the pattern from Bundle Monster plate 202. I used Konad Special Black for the stamping.

If you look at the thumb/pink, you can see I had a few problems keeping the pattern from breaking up or stretching, but I still like how it turned out, overall.

Hope you are having a great week.  Please leave me some feedback, if you have a minute.

Thanks,
glitterM

"Stone Cold" Stamped

Hello Dear Readers,

Here's another stamped mani I wore recently.  I used Orly's "Stone Cold" from their Mineral FX collections.  It is an amazing bright blue colour!

(click on the image to see a larger version)

I added a design on the tips using China Glaze "Millennium".

Hope you like this mani. I love hearing from you, so please leave me a comment, and I'll be sure to respond!


Have a great day. :-)

Stunning Stilettos with Stamping

Hello Dear Readers,

I have a stamped manicure for you today. I am behind in posting!

For this manicure, I used Finger Paints "Stunning Stilettos" as the base colour.  I bought it and then realized it was pretty close to the Barry M "Grey" I already bought awhile ago. Oh well...I'm sure you all have some dupes in your stashes too! Am I right, ladies?

(All images are clickable for a more magnified view.)

Then I added the curlicue design from BM 225, in China Glaze "Millennium", which I use often as a stamping polish.  It really stands out against a darker background, but it dries super fast, so you gotta hustle with it!

I wear a lot of silver or white gold accessories, so this manicure worked well with many different looks.  The neutral grey/silver makes it an easy manicure to wear, in my opinion.  

I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend, and I wish you all a great week.  Please leave me some feedback, as I love to read your comments.

Do you try to avoid buying dupes or near-dupes, or do you buy them anyhow...just can't resist?

EOTD - for a change

Hello Dear Readers, 


I need to do another manicure this week, but for now, here's a post of my makeup today. I usually would do a smoky look with either silver or gold, but not both. Today I tried a combo and I like how it turned out.

I was wearing a top that was sort of grey with some gold and black details, so it inspired this look.

I used a piece of tape along the outer corner when I applied the eyeshadow to get that clean angled edge.  I've been using that technique lately, and I think it works great!

I used some Inglot shadows and the gold is Urban Decay "Half Baked".  I fill in my brows with MAC "Coquette".  For a base I use UDPP.

Please leave me your comments and tell me what do you think of silver, grey and gold together?

Snakeskin Manicure - My take on it

Hello Dear Readers,


I finally got time to do a stamped manicure, and I wanted to try my hand at the snakeskin look I'd seen on a few blogs.  I got inspired by Once Bitten's blog (scroll down the page) and The Nailsaurus' version is awesome too.

(all pictures are "clickable" for larger version)

Here is my try... I used Finger Paints "Purple Pinstripe" as the base and then added some random splotches of Sally Hansen "Lacey Lilac" and China Glaze "Purple Panic".  On top I stamped the snakeskin pattern from Bundle Monster 215 in Konad Special Black.

I did this one late at night and couldn't really tell how the colours worked together until I saw it in daylight this morning. I am pretty stoked with how it turned out after all.  

Have a great week, everyone.  And please leave me your comments, because I really love reading them!

Rock Solid Rocks - One Week Later

Good Morning Dear Readers,

I cannot believe how long it has been since my last post! Going back to work (school) has really been the focus of the last two weeks, as has getting my own kids back into the routine of going to school.  But alas, one cannot go without a manicure...so my nails have been painted, just not photographed or posted about in a timely fashion.

Here is what I've been wearing for the last week.  I know you have all seen swatches from this collection already, but here are pics of my manicure anyhow... It is still in pretty good shape considering it's been on for a week already!  A bit of tip wear shows, but that's about it.  I used two coats of Orly's "Rock Solid" from their Mineral FX collection.

I bought three of the colours from this collection, and they are all impressive.  Fully opaque in two coats and one coat of Seche Vite QD pretty much smoothed out any roughness.  I always use Orly Bonder as my base coat. The other colours I purchased are "Rococo A-Go-Go" a purple and gold combo, and "Stone Cold", a dazzling bright blue.

Just look at all the glittery goodness! This is a perfect colour for the fall season. Grey but with something special.  It matches with everything you wear, too!

These polishes are more pricey than the average Orly polish, but coming in at around $10, I still think it's worth it, for the amount and quality you get.  So if you haven't purchased these yet, I'd say grab a few while you can.  I got mine at Sally's, and in Canada, I find if you don't snap up items from new collections right when you see them, they are gone, and we don't get many of each one in stock, sadly.

What's your experience snagging polish in Canada, fellow Canadian bloggers?

Have you been rocking "Rock Solid"?  

Hope you have a great weekend! TGIF!

It's been soooo long!

Dear Readers,

Sorry I have been away so very long.  We were away on a great family holiday to Turks and Caicos, right before the hurricane hit! Here is a pic I took while we were away.  My hands are so dry - sorry for the flaky skin! Anyhow, I figured, better late than never....

This is a stamp from BM 212 in Avon Mirror Shine "glisten" over Finger Paints "To-teally Chic".

Even though I swam and applied lotion to the kids and then swam some more, re-applied lotion, did snorkelling, jet-skiing, laundry, etc., this mani lasted almost the full two weeks we were away! (My pedicure wasn't quite as resilient, so no pics of the toes.) I think that Seche Vite topcoat is awesome and combined with Orly Bonder base coat, it's a winning combination!

Hope you are all enjoying the last few days of summer....

BM 221 - Yellow Flowers

Dear readers,

Hello, everyone. Today I want to share this cheerful manicure I did to go pick up my son who was returning from his first month away at sleepover camp. I missed him so much! I thought this would be a sunny manicure to match my happy mood. Believe it or not, even he noticed it right away and liked it a lot.

The base colour is China Glaze "Happy Go Lucky" from their spring 2010 Up and Away collection. It  is a lovely colour, but one I find a bit hard to apply evenly. It is actually a bit warmer than it appears in these pics. I used two coats and it was still a bit streaky, but when you stamp a full nail pattern it disguises many flaws.

I added the floral pattern from Bundle Monster 221 Image Plate.  It lightened the overall look of the yellow and is kind of subtle because the white doesn't show up that much. Sadly, dragging duffel bag, scrubbing someone's dirty feet before he was allowed in the house, and doing tons of laundry has made this manicure start to wear off a bit at the tips already. Oh well, guess I'll have to do another manicure. (fakes sadness)

Well, after finding my images used without permission on a Russian website that sells nail stamping products, I decided I should probably watermark my pics.  Do you find it distracting, or not too annoying? I guess it's a necessity, sadly.

Have a great week! And remember to leave me your comments, because I love reading them!

Blue Bundle Monster 201

Dear readers,

Here is the manicure I've been wearing for the past few days.

I used Orly "Royal Navy" (2 coats) for the base colour.  Here's a pic in front of my bookshelf. I arranged my books according to spine colour.  I'm so conflicted about my books... I love books, but in the last year I've been reading off my beloved Kindle.  Books.  Kindle.  Books.  Kindle....they each have their pros. Kindle is much more practical, but there's just something about holding a book and looking at the cover and seeing them stacked up on your shelf...ah, I'm getting way off the topic of nails, aren't I?!

 I added stamping from BM 201 in "Millenium" by China Glaze.

In this one you can see I tried a different design on my pinkie first, but I changed my mind because that pattern, while pretty, didn't leave enough of the blue showing for what I wanted this time.

Holding a weird part of a phone case.  I like finding odd props for my photos.

That's it. You made it to the end of my post.
Have a great week everybody. Please remember to leave me your comments. I love reading them!

Blue Bundle Monster 201

Dear readers,

Here is the manicure I've been wearing for the past few days.

I used Orly "Royal Navy" (2 coats) for the base colour.  Here's a pic in front of my bookshelf. I arranged my books according to spine colour.  I'm so conflicted about my books... I love books, but in the last year I've been reading off my beloved Kindle.  Books.  Kindle.  Books.  Kindle....they each have their pros. Kindle is much more practical, but there's just something about holding a book and looking at the cover and seeing them stacked up on your shelf...ah, I'm getting way off the topic of nails, aren't I?!

 I added stamping from BM 201 in "Millenium" by China Glaze.

In this one you can see I tried a different design on my pinkie first, but I changed my mind because that pattern, while pretty, didn't leave enough of the blue showing for what I wanted this time.

Holding a weird part of a phone case.  I like finding odd props for my photos.

That's it. You made it to the end of my post.
Have a great week everybody. Please remember to leave me your comments. I love reading them!

Sigma Brush Set Giveaway

Dear readers,

Just a quick post to tell you about an amazing opportunity to win this cool Sigma Make Me Up brush set in your choice of colours. This great giveaway is being hosted on a blog I love to follow: Konadlicious. She is giving away the Sigma Make Me Up brush set in your choice of colours.

Here's what it looks like in black, but follow the link to her blog to see the variety of colours available, and to enter, although, of course I'm hoping I'll win the set myself! :-)

Have a great day, everyone. And good luck!

Bundle Monster 211

Hi dear readers,

I wanted to post this manicure I did last night. Do you ever do your nails late at night and feel like you can't see that well due to using artificial lighting - and near exhaustion?!  The colours and stamping always seem to look a bit different in the daylight!

This is a base of Avon Mirror Shine in "glisten", a metallic, quick drying light blue.

The stamping design comes from BM211. I like the oval spotted pattern. I used Konad Special Polish in Blue.

Man, this macro lens shows flaws I didn't even know were there! Some of the stamping shows up a bit smudged or doubled but you can barely notice it in real life.  Unless someone had my hand really, really close to their eyes, it wouldn't actually show.

I really like using a cream over a metallic, or the other way around when I do a stamped manicure.  What about you?

Bundle Monster 206

Hello dear readers,

I'm up early today because we are taking our son to board the bus to sleepover camp this morning for his first time away for a whole month...Let's just say I'm a bit freaked out!!!!!


Anyhow, here is another green manicure.  I don't know why I was in the mood to use green again...

For this manicure I used China Glaze "White on White" as the base colour. I only used one coat, which was a bit streaky, but I knew it would mostly be covered with this full nail pattern from the newest Bundle Monster plate 206.

I used Konad Special Polish is green for the stamping.  Then I used my dotting tool to apply small dots of a neon pink, aptly, if not very creatively, called "Pink" by Sinful Colors.  I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry, as I always do!

The only thing I really don't like about how this turned out is that some nails have a white border that shows around the cuticle. You can see it on the thumb in the photo below. Oh well...

Enjoy your long weekend, everyone!  (Can you recognize what kind of soap I'm holding? I bought a huge package of these bars, but both of my sons hate it!)

Remember to leave me some comments because I love hearing from you all! ;-)

Snakeskin BM Manicure

Dear Readers,

I finished marking all of my exams and doing all of my report cards so I had time to do a really elaborate manicure, and here are the results of more free time...

I painted diagonal stripes, roughly, using Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Grass Slipper"  - a lime green that applies nearly opaque in 1 coat, and S.H. Insta-Dri in "Blue-Away"- a powder blue that applies similarly.  I randomly applied a few thin streaks of China Glaze "L8R G8R" - a holo olive green - to add some dimension.  Then, I stamped the pattern using Finger Paints "Evergreen Dream" (in the photo above) which is a shimmery dark green that is quite thin, but, surprisingly, it worked great for stamping!

Just in case that wasn't enough going on, I added a coat of Inglot 203, and holographic flaky polish.

I really think this has the look of snakeskin, and the texture too - just not sure if a snake this colour exists in nature!?

Have a great weekend, everyone, and let me know what you think of my latest design.

Pink Wednesday - Pink Voltage (neon) with Bundle Monster Stamping

Dear Readers,

I've noticed many polish and beauty bloggers wear pink on Wednesdays, so I thought I'd post my pink manicure today for you to enjoy as well.

I stamped a design from one of my new Bundle Monster plates (BM-203) over China Glaze "Pink Voltage (neon)". I used Konad Special black which always produces a crisp dark design. I think it looks cool, but the dark overall design really covered the beautiful colour and made my nails look almost purple from a distance.

So when my mani chipped, I took it off and reapplied "Pink Voltage" to enjoy just on its own. This is what I am wearing today.

This is a great colour by one of my favorite brands - China Glaze. "Pink Voltage" has an awesome blue flash you can see especially in the sun.  And luckily I had lots of sun today! It applies thin - I used three coats - but it dries quickly and leave no VNL.  It does dry matte, but with a coat of Seche Vite QD topcoat, it really sparkles and comes alive!

I have "Pink Voltage" on my toes too, and I love it for a summer pedicure!'

I know this isn't a new colour, but I have never used it before, and I'm really loving it, so I hope you love it too.  Have you used this polish before?

Have a great day, everyone. And remember to leave me your feedback. :-)

Last week's mani with BM stamping

Good Morning Dear Readers,

Here is the mani I wore last week.  It features Finger Paints "Curator's Coral" (2 coats) as the base colour. I really love this bright reddish-orange for summer!  

Then I added the full nail pattern from Bundle Monster's new plate BM-224.  I used Konad Special White polish for the stamping design.

As usual, I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite Quick Dry Topcoat to seal the deal.

The colour doesn't look quite right in either pic, but this colour does look different depending on the lighting.

Hope you all have a super weekend.  Please leave me some comments because I read every one, and I really love hearing back from you!

Skullz - BM 225

Dear Readers,

I am really excited because I finally got the new Bundle Monster plates, and they are the first BM plates I've ever had.  I only have tried one plate so far, but I am impressed with the quality.  I am also glad they fit in my Konad IP holder.  I am sure you'll be seeing many future posts featuring the designs from these plates!

Here is China Glaze "Purple Panic (neon)" which is a gorgeous colour!  I used two coats, and it looks more like a hot hot pink than a purple to me.  I am sure I will use this colour a lot - it's right up my alley! It does dry matte, but after a coat of Seche Vite QD topcoat, it has an amazing shimmer!

I added the skull and crossbones design from BM 225 in Konad Special Polish (black).

Then, to add some depth, I stamped the same design again, a bit off, using China Glaze "Millenium".  I scraped a bit of the silver off to give it an aged, rough look.

I think this is a really cool design.  It was one I was really looking forward to using!

With an orange background, it would be great for Halloween! :-)

Hope you enjoyed this post, and have a great weekend! 

Please leave me some comments and follow my blog if you don't follow me already....   :-)

It's Not Valentine's Day, But...m83

Okay dear readers,

I know it's not Valentine's Day, but this manicure is all about the love!

I went a bit overboard with this one. In fact, I don't really like it, and I'll probably take it off as soon as I finish this post! My husband wrinkled up his nose and shook his head when I showed this konadicure to him. Ha ha ha!

I kinda like the thumb and ring finger, and wish I did all the nails the same way instead of having so many different designs.

Well, what do you guys think of it?

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Blue on Blue - Konadicure m83

Hello dear readers,

("Ooh...I'm ready for my closeup!")

(Now...let's try this upside down...)

For this konadicure, I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blew Away" which is a pretty pastel blue.  It becomes rather opaque in one coat, but needs a second coat to smooth out any of the dragging you sometimes may experience with colours like these. I have a love/hate feeling about the Insta-Dri wide mop-like brushes.  They do cover a lot of ground, but sometimes it's difficult to spread the polish and get a nice clean edge up near the cuticles.  Anyhow, I love blue nail polish, and this is a cute one for spring/summer.

(The colour is a bit pale in this shot!)

(Hey, now I see that my middle finger stamping got a bit

 smudged when I applied Seche Vite topcoat.)

I used the m83 plate for the design, and I stamped it with Konad Special polish in Blue, both of which I just got from ocnailart. They always get it shipped super fast to Canada, where I am.

So that makes my last two manicures based on the colour blue.  Do you love blue polish?  Which blues are your favourites?  Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and please leave me your comments....