Hi Everyone! Happy Friday! I've got a lot of pep in my step today mostly because Messy Mansion has some new plates!!! I love Messy Mansion plates, they are always very original and they stamp like a boss! Julia and LilyAnna asked if I wouldn't mind doing quality assurance and then reviewing these babies and I said ABSOLUTELY!
First up quality check every single plate I was sent stamped just great! I really love how they do check them first before releasing them. Not all plate makers do that and they often rely on customers being their quality assurance which isn't always the best route to go especially when there are issues. Before Messy Mansion opened these up in the shop for sale they made sure they stamped well.
I received 10 plates in total for this new release and today I have manicures done with 3 of them. I will be showing off more mani's tomorrow and Sunday though as well. Naturally I'm anxious to use them and see what I can come up with.
First up I did my first ever blobbicure and paired it with the Dino Skeleton plate MM47
I used Rescue Beauty Lounge Footpath for my basecoat and the blobbed with OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest
This is a fun plate! The Dinosaur skeletons are soooooo cool!
Here's a quick collage
I love how my thumb turned out!
Here's the plate!
I can't wait to try something with the full images on the bottom! That's next up for my what I want to do with this plate.
Next I have a super cute cat manicure! Woot! You can't go wrong with cats. And the best thing about MM50 is it has skelly fish on it! Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely LOVE skelly fish!
This time I did some water marbling with some of the China Glaze Electric Nights neons. I did love how they turned out because I used a base of yellow instead of white, so stamping over them made it perfect!
How freaking cute is this??!
I water marbled with Daisy Know My Name, Treble Maker and DJ Blue My Mind
I really love this cat plate! It has a ton of cute cat images on it. Cat lovers NEED this plate!
My final mani to show off gave me a lot of trouble! I was trying to do a radial gradient and here's some things I learned about them. First off I suck at them and second they are NOT easy! I know many people think I have nice and wide nail beds but the reality is my nail beds and not that wide. I'd say they are medium or normal which honestly makes for trying a radial gradient hard for me. I tried for three colors--again from the China Glaze Electric Nights collection and in the end it only looks like purple and orange came out to plate when in fact yellow is supposed to be in there too LOL!
I went with the lovely MM46 which is a beautiful flower plate over my radial gradient of China Glaze Daisy Know My Name, Home Sweet House Music and Violet Vibes
Of course it rained all day yesterday when I did this so these are all indoor in the shade but still sort of need some light to be able to get good pics of freaking neons!
Honestly stamping over this gradient saved it I think
I absolutely adore this plate though and now I will use it a zillion times!
Here's the plate isn't is awesome??!
So where can you get these awesome plates? Well you have a couple of choices you can find them through Amazon.com or you can find them on Messy Mansion's site http://www.messymansion.com.au/. In all there are 10 new plates added to the MM series and believe me when I say there is something for everyone!
What do you think of these new plates? I would have to say as much as I love the cat plate my favorite mani I did with these three is actually what I thought was the biggest failure at first--my radial gradient. It just goes to show that stamping DOES make everything better!
Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!
Hi Everyone! A very Happy Easter to you all today. I spent the day with my family . We had a great brunch after church this afternoon and I got to spend some time with my grand nephew, Sean. He is SO MUCH fun! We played some Wii games and some tag in the house and then we watched the Dreamworks movie Spirit Stallion Of The Cimarron. I'm not going to lie I cried four different times in that movie.
I love spending time with my family and especially on this day when as a Christian I rejoice the day the stone was rolled away and Christ rose to Heaven. Someday I will join him there and be reunited with all my loved ones who have gone before me. A day to celebrate most certainly!
My Easter mani today is pretty simple. Nothing as stark and riveting as my Good Friday manicure but devout none the less.
I did a lovely gradient using Sinful Colors Sweet Tooth and Candy Coated along with China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le
My stamped heart is from Shany SH15 and my swirls are from VL3 and Mundo Lavender. I added some white doves from DRK Designer XL 1 to complete my Easter look for today
I really hope everyone has a happy and blessed Easter!
Hi Everyone!! Happy Monday! All of our snow here in Wisconsin is nearly melted. We can see tons of grass but still have those ugly brackish black mounds of snow stuck with debris hanging out. To me this is the worst part of the transition between Winter and Spring--that ugly brackish snow. We had a couple of days in the 40's but this week is supposed to be chilly for us again.
To stave of the blahs about the weather not being exactly what we all want it be be now I went for a few flowers to cheer me up. I didn't want to go Spring crazy though because we're not quite there yet. I settled on some lovely blue and brown to get me through the day
I'm wearing Sea Spray from China Glaze on my index finger and OPI What Wizardy Is This on my pinkie. I did a saran wrap mani with Sea Spray and White on the middle and ring and then stamped with Loreal Brownie Points--a great brown for stamping--with Lily Anna 06
I think it's a perfect little mani for that transition time between seasons!
I had a great day yesterday hanging out with my friend Emily. We tried to do some water marbling and it was a huge FAIL but we did a couple other ideas using techniques we've seen and those were great successes! I'll be sharing them with you all this week!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a fantastic day!
Hi Everyone! Happy Weekend! Here in Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest we are buckling down and bracing ourselves for the coldest weather we've had in decades. Starting Sunday and going into the week we are expected to see record low temperatures--Monday and Tuesday we are looking at a negative number norm with an even higher windchill negative. They are talking up to 40 degrees below zero with the wind chill
Why this is bad--HOLY COW this is cold! Temperatures this low cause frostbite to skin if it is exposed for ten minutes. Temperatures this low cause damage to your lungs if you aren't breathing in the air from something covering your mouth and nose first
Why this is good--we play the San Francisco 49er's on Sunday in the wildcard play offs! Woot! Come on up boys we'll show you some weather you'll never forget in our OUTDOOR (cuz only real men play football outdoors and not under a dome) football field!
Today it's not super cold yet, it's actually quite warm out there for almost 10 am with a temp of 28. I'm going to be venturing out today in search of the new Maybelline maple kiss lipsticks and possibly a trip to the bakery for some good rye bread to go with my spinach dip I have made up. But after that I'm buckling down for the duration.
My sweet friend Gina from Red Dog Designs sent me an awesome Christmas package this year and in it she had a polish that's been on my wish list for a long time! The delicious dark blue metallic Rodeo Fanatic by China Glaze. I decided to do a cute little holiday sweater mani with it using my MoYou Festive 06 plate. I think it turned out super cute!
Here's a nice pic under the kitchen light and then this one with the flash
As you can see Rodeo Fanatic is just a gorgeous blue! The best part about it is how much Gina knows I love cowboys so I'm all about the rodeo anything!
If you are in the path of this cold weather front PLEASE BE CAREFUL! Make sure you are prepared for anything and everything that could occur during this time. And honestly don't go out unless absolutely necessary UNLESS you are a Packer fan headed up to Lambeau--then you may go out and enjoy the game! I'll be watching you having a blast there from the warm comfort of my home as we root on our boys! Go Pack, Go!!!
Hi Everyone!!! Happy Monday!!! On Saturday of this weekend I went and hung out with my friends Stephanie and Danielle. We spent 10 hours, yes you heard me, 10 hours hanging out doing nails and eating some delicious food!! Over the Labor Day Weekend I met both Dani and Stephanie IRL for the first time and a lasting bond was formed. It's great to meet people who share you love for nail polish and nail art. I didn't even bat an eye at the bazillion polishes and plates Stephanie had--okay that's a lie I was definitely batting my eyes. She was kind enough to me let me use some of her plates AND because she did I was able to do this little gem to kick off Skittles week with the Digital-Dozen
I used Sinful Colors Innocent, OPI Need Sunglass, China Glaze Grape Pop and Zoya Paz for my fun colors! I stamped with MJ XIV plate and boy is this a fun mani to start the week!!!
I wonder if anyone else beat me to the Skittles punch???!!!
Hi Everyone!!! Today's theme for the Adventures In Stamping Sunday Challenge is over a nude base. Yikes! Nude is like the kiss of death for me. I'm definitely not a nude fan at all UNLESS it's in the form of a hot cowboy--then I'm all about the nude!
I try to do every Sunday challenge so I didn't want to let it beat me. I grabbed my Zoya Farah which is a really very lovely beige creme and decided to try the nail decal method for the first time. I chose a couple images from my DRK-A plate and then used China Glaze Astro Hot, Take A Trek and Infra-Red
The result is pretty. It has some nice color but at the same time seems quite subtle
I learned about the nail decal technique via Messy Mansion, basically you stamp your image onto your stamper--they say it's best to use a squishy type stamper but I've also seen results on the Konad hard stamper. You color you design in with polish and then apply a nice generous clear--don't use quick drying clear. Wait a few minutes, I waited about 20 minutes and then you peel the design off and apply it to your nail. My nails were dry. I simply smoothed the image out and then applied my Seche Vite to it
The result is a lined in white design with multi colors--something you can't really do with straight on color stamping. While it takes longer and is a bit more detailed than just stamping, it still wasn't hard to do at all
Here's the LINK if you'd like to check it our for yourself.
It's a super pretty day out today! I'm thinking about taking a walk around the zoo!
Thanks for stopping by!! I hope you all have a fantastic day!
Hi Everyone!!!! Happy Friday!!!! Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of days but I've been working a lot of overtime and I've just been so tired! I've been doing 10 1/2 hour days so when I get home all I really feel like doing is eating and going to bed! UG it sure is a big difference from being 20 to being 50! Back in day I would get 2 hours of sleep and still be good to go for the day--not now LOL!
I do have a cute mani to show you today though! Last year I got a package with some of the Funky Finger solar polishes from my sweet friend Holly. It was a nice surprise package for sure! I don't have any 5 Below stores here in Wisconsin so imagine my surprise when she sent me 4 of the polishes! I also picked up a couple of the feather effect polishes from China Glaze's Horizon collection so I decided to pair one up with my Funky Fingers
I'm wearing Funky Finger Lil Miss Sunshine which looks like it changes to orange outside but really changes to a sweet little yellow! I'm also wearing You're A Hoot by China Glaze. I decided to keep with the owl theme and stamped some owls from DRK-B
This is Lil Miss Sunshine indoors
As you can see I added some colored dots as well. I felt about like Sarah Smith LOL!
I do love the feather look polishes and you can easily stamp over them which I'm sure I'll be doing in the future!
Here's what Lil Miss Sunshine looks like outdoors
What a cute butter yellow!!!!
I took these pics outside my mom's condo the other night. The neighbors were out and I'm sure they thought I was quite mad LOL!!!
I do really love thermal and solar polishes! Can't wait to try out some more!
Thanks for stopping by!!!! I hope you all have a great weekend!
Hi Everyone!!! Happy Friday!!!! I stepped WAY outside my comfort level and ordered some studs from the Born Pretty Store a couple of weeks ago. It's always great to order from there because shipping is free and you just can't beat that.
I decided to pair some of my new black studs with some neon and I added a sugar spun twist to it. I've never done the sugar spun method before and i find I quite like it so more of that to come for sure!!
Placing the studs by hand wasn't too bad, although not as straight as they could be
I used China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy one of the first neons I ever bought for this mani
Even thumbie is styling!
I'm definitely a HUGE fan of this mani! I wore it yesterday to work and everyone loved it--BUT it's very bright and you sort of get stuck looking at your hands alot while typing LOL!
Not sure what's going on for the weekend. I've worked a lot of overtime this week and have been pretty tired at the end of the day. Today I'm working 6am until 4:30pm so most likely I want to sleep alot this weekend!!
Hope everyone has a great day, enjoy the weekend and thanks for stopping by!!
Hi Everyone!!!! Happy Saturday!!!! It is a GLORIOUS day out today!!!! The past two days we've had sun and it's been in the high seventies or low 80's so we haven't had to have the air conditioning on non stop which is awesome!! Today we have more of the same Woot! Woot! It's the company picnic today so I'll be heading out there to meet up with my coworkers who are also my friends (the best kind of coworkers) for a fun time. Some of them want to drive the big tractors today but I'm pretty sure I'll just be a observer for that one LOL!
My biggest temptation will be there today though--grilled sweet corn! UG! Let's hope I can keep it together and just have one ear of corn!
So all week last week I lamented the tape mani challenge in The Digit-al Dozen. I spent over 2 hours working on the mani for today ONLY TO DISCOVER the challenge only runs Monday thru Friday LOL! This is by far my best attempt to date so it couldn't go to waste!
2 hours!!! It took 2 hours to do just these 2 nails. But it their defense I wrecked the ring finger so had to redo it
My coworkers loved this one!
As you can see I carried through with the blue and coral as a skittle on the rest of the fingers
I used white, black, China Glaze For Audrey and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Snappy Sorbet for this mani
In the end it was totally worth it BUT for someone who changes their polish every day 2 hours is too long to spend LOL!
I must admit toward the end of the challenge I was liking some of the ideas i came up with. I need to step out of my comfort zone more often and do things I don't normally do--I think it will keep me on my toes.
I hope everyone has a great weekend!!! Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Everyone!!! Happy Hump Day!! We're on the eve of the 4th of July holiday here in the states. I've got the day off tomorrow and I'm not sure what I'll be doing. It's supposed to rain so I'm not sure if we'll brave the weather and go to the parade. Friends of mine are having a cook out but I've been doing really good on my low carb lifestyle that I'm not sure I should tempt fate. Maybe I'll just hang out all day playing with nail polish and reading--who knows!
It's Day 3 of Neon Week though and today I'm wearing a cool french tip. I really loved the neon gradient tip I did awhile ago for the AIS challenge so I did another one.
This is a gradient of China Glaze Pink Voltage and The Nail Junkie Blueberry
I think they are way cool together!
I thought about leaving it as it but that little bit of white sort of drove me nuts LOL!
I stamped over it to see if it would fix the little white stripe
What do you think??? Like it better with the stamping?
I really love it!
Another time where I think stamping adds to the gradient and doesn't take away from it!
For someone who doesn't really like neon I think I'm turning a new leaf! This bright manicures are really a lot of fun!
Wonder what the other gals came up with for today!
