Jessica: Indigo Glow

This is my under the sea mani for the Facebook stamping group I recently joined. I used two base coats of Jessica Indigo Glow which is a bright aqua shimmer. The formula was great and the color on its own was very bright and cheery. I stamped the fish and seahorses using Kleancolors Metallic Fuschia. I did the seaweed look by layering three polishes: 

Spoiled: Visually Slimming, Kleancolor Metallic Orange, Essence Lime up! all layered and slightly offset. It wasn't a bad mani, I just wish that the image I used as seaweed was only one piece instead of a cluster because it took up nail real estate :) It's my first Sunday challenge though so I'll let it slip by for now. 

GIVEAWAY!

Skull and Crossbones Nail Foils: Review

These are foils from Born Pretty that were pretty fun! They're literally a foil sticker. You cleanse your nail bed then peel the foil from the sheet and stick to your nail (measure/cut/trim) before if you need them more narrow. At the end you can file the tip off or, I just cut it with scissors because I was afraid of filing my nails all wonky.  What was cool about these was that they are easy to do and they are SUPER shiny so they're very very eye catching (reminds me of minx). The one thing I did not like about these was that to take them off you wash your hands with soap in warm water, then they peel off. Granted, the glue seemed pretty strong, but they still come off when you use soapy water. These would be great for a weekend you don't do dishes or shower LOL ...?  I'm not sure. They're $5.37 online at Born Pretty. It would be fun to wear these to a party and do your own nails rather than get them done, that's probably when I would wear them. 

My giveaway!

Essence: Wear Your Little Tutu and Hello Kitty!

I have a girly mani for you today... pink and Hello Kitty! I was sent Hello Kitty stickers from Born Pretty to review.  I think this is the most girly  mani I have ever done and I must say, I love it! I wanted to try out a few different combinations. First I started with two coats of Essence Wear Your Little Tutu which is a pearly soft pink. It applied well, was not quite opaque but good enough for nail art.  On my ring finger I actually stamped Hello Kitty using the plate from Born Pretty, using Revvvolution from Color Club and added the "HK" heart sticker in the corner.  The stickers are totally cute for this mani! I staggered two on each my index and middle fingers and a single bow on my little finger.  I took Wet N Wild's Black Creme and added dots with my dotting tool.  The "ribbon" on my little finger is done in Revvvolution. I like it but I'm not crazy about it, I like the polka dots better.  I would also do this mani as all stamped with the Kitty and my accent finger done like my middle finger.  I'm considering a full mani with two stickers on each finger and black polka dots, it's cheery and super feminine.

*stickers sent for review*

Kleancolors: Chunky Black Holo and Halloween

So this mani may look familiar to you... it's my twist on my earlier mani of this one. I used Wet N Wild Black Creme as the base and  topped it with one swipe of Kleancolor Chunky Black Holo. I stamped using the Bundle Monster skull in a gray polish, added red rhinestone eyes then did the Kleancolors around the skull. 

I really like the Kleancolors Chunky Holo Black because it lays flat and the color change is apparent.  You get the flashes of green, yellow, orange and a hint of blue, it's pretty spectacular.  So this one is similar to one I did before but really I wanted to show you an alternative do Behind Closed Doors since some people are having a hard time finding it.  This is an easy Halloween mani, I totally love the black background and the possibilities with stamping on this are endless. I will have to experiment more. 

Diamond Cosmetics: Teal Toes!

This is Diamond Cosmetics "Don't Teal my Heart Away".  It's a brilliant teal creme one coat polish that helps support ovarian cancer awareness.  Here's a bit more from Teal Toes :

Our mission is to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

How?  By painting your toenails teal, the ovarian cancer color.  By getting your friends to paint their toenails teal too, and then by talking with people when they ask about it, to make sure that they know the signs of this whispering killer.

Any time of year is good for teal toes, but we especially recommend September, the ovarian cancer awareness month!

There is a list on their site that tells you other brands of teal polish but not all donate to the cause. 

It is a great cause if you are interested in reading more about the organization and you can find them on Facebook as well. 

I stamped this mani with Sally Hansen Celeb City using a Born Pretty plate of tootsies!

Born Pretty Store: Stamping Kit Review

I received item a stamping kit  from Born Pretty to review. This was supposed to come to me back in March but there was a communication break down then, and they fixed the problem and sent it to me in July.  I wanted to stamp the large flower so I could put  a rhinestone in the middle of it.


I used Wet N Wild Black Creme and also Konad special polish in black.








You can see how it scraped and semi-transferred to the rubber on the stamper. I had a really hard time getting it to transfer.  I came to the conclusion that this design is not deep enough to easily transfer.


You can see some transferred OK and some partially transferred or smeared.  It's usable if you are patient but I found that at least with this design, you do not get consistent images.



I have to say though that I got in on their free Hello Kitty plate, and the Kitty image from that stamps well so I think it's more of a consistency issue of the images being deep enough and the stamp rubber being soft enough along with the scraper being gentle enough. I had trouble with the scraper, I don't think it is perfectly leveled. I ended up using my Konad stamper and scraper for the best chance at getting a decent image.  I've emailed them to ask if they had any recommendations for using their equipment but I did not hear back as of yet.  I prefer Konad, Mash and Bundle Monster plates because I want consistent imaging when I stamp.  They're a bit more expensive than this kit however but it really boils down to what you want in a stamp kit.



*products provided in exchange for an honest review*

China Glaze: Flying Dragon Neon and Stamping and review

I felt like getting my neon on the other day so I went all out on a full mani with China Glaze Flying Dragon.  Flying Dragon is a neon purple that has pink and blue glitter throughout it.  It is also a top coat eater so beware! It does need a top coat because it dries matte and gritty.  But once you add the top coat, it comes back to life and shines!



I received a rhinestone wheel from Born Pretty to review so I thought I'd stamp some flower vines and deck those out in rhinestones.  The rhinestones are awesome.  I was sent THIS wheel. As you can see it has so many different colors in it, I love it! It usually takes about 2-3 weeks to receive products to the US from Born Pretty but their prices are great. My rhinestone wheel had all round rhinestones and a great size for this mani stamping.



(There's a coupon code on the side of my page of "KKJ61" for 10% off with them if you order.. great deal for already low prices.)


Here's a close up of the rhinestones and you can also see the shimmer in the polish.  The rhinestones are super reflective and I think it adds alot to this manicure.  I can't wait to do more round rhinestone manis!!

You can visit Born Pretty HERE for great nail art supplies.









*some products used were sent for review*