Rimmel Marine Blue and stamping

Here's Rimmel Marnie Blue... go ahead and stare.. it's worth it.I picked this one up at the CVS mega clearance sale for cheap! It is a really pretty teal with a shimmer to it.  This is two coats and a clear top. I stamped from my Mash plate using Konad white special polish. I've been wanting to use this bow design for a long time but just never got around to it until Marnie Blue was on my nails and it screamed for the bow! I had a dotting tool and Wet N Wild Through the Grapevine handy so I used that as the center of the bow.  I really love this bow design and I used it again for a holo (stay tuned for that!).This is also a great stamp for short nails because nobody says you have to put the bow at the tip of your nail, you could do it diagonally or even in the middle or vertical if you wanted to.

I do want to take a moment to mention the brush on this polish. It is flat and short, which is fine, however the bottle neck is VERY small so it feels like it barely fits into the bottle when I dipped it in.  I actually missed the opening once or twice and got polish on the outside of the bottle. I wish they'd fix this.  Sally Hansen's Lavender Cloud has the same brush and a bigger bottle opening and it's much nicer to use.

I could live with it for now though because the color and formula are really great.  Here's a close up of the shimmer for you, it's quite the pretty teal. 

Revlon: Ocean and nail art

I kind of failed at taking pictures without the nail art, so sorry for that! This polish is yum though! I recently won ColoresdeCarol's giveaway and Revlon's Ocean was in it.  It's honestly been so long since I've tried any Revlon nail polish so this was a super great surprise.

Meet Ocean: a teal shimmer/metallic that goes on incredibly smooth, this was two coats, and dries even quicker! I used special white polish with a bundle monster plate because the little whispies off the stars reminded me of crested waves.  I then rocked out the mani with star rhinestones.  I topped it off with a generous coat of SV.

I wore this mani for probably 4 days and I must say that I did not have any chips, just normal tip wear, and there were no rhinestone fatalities.  You may see this mani soon on a fellow blogger's site as I submitted to be a guest blogger (will keep you posted).  This mani was fun.

For those who have never used rhinestones or wonder how they stay on, I used Sally Hansen's top coat as a little dot in the middle of the stamp then placed the star on top of it.  Since I sealed it all with a generous coat of SV, the stones and polish went nowhere :)


Don't forget to enter TMM give away! (I have a special treat coming to this soon)!! I just added another goodie as well :D

Revlon: Guava and stamping

♥ Happy Easter ♥
(\ /)
( . .)
C('')('')

Happy Easter Everyone! Hope the bunny was good to you  :)



This is Revlon's Guava and she's beautiful! This is another polish I won from Colores De Carol's giveaway. Guava has such a great formula- it's creamy and opaque, you can't see any brush strokes when it dries. It's a cross between an orange, pink, peach and coral.  Horrible description huh!

I seriously do not own anything like this color so it's great to have it! I like the Revlon brush and handle too by the way.  It doesn't dry super glossy or anything but it does dry quick, which is a huge bonus! With a quick dry top coat like SV, you can easily be out the door sooner than other polishes.

I then stamped over it using China Glaze Harmony (purple), konad special black and white polishes then dabbed a little glitter from NYC (another polish in the giveaway!).  It's a bit hard to see the glitter but it's there :DI liked the layering in this mani, only thing I may do differently is start with the black stamp so that the darker color is on the bottom and the lighter ones can stand out over it.  Layering stamps for the win!

PS- don't forget my giveaway!

China Glaze: Awakening and butterflies

Sometimes a simple nail stamping is good... like when you're making a tutorial on how to stamp! Recently my little cousin and I filmed me doing this mani for the new Manicured Monkey You Tube Channel.  Check it out, it's pretty awesome :D

This is two coats of China Glaze's Awakening.  It's a mauvey pink frost with flashes of gold and copper, it's quite pretty!

The pictures were taken under a daylight bulb and in my light box, you can see the gold flashy fun.  I stamped M15 with special white polish in hopes it would show best in the video.  It actually worked out pretty well. I didn't worry too much about centering the images because it was all about the concept of stamping and how it works.


One of the things I forgot to say in the video was that I used a top coat of SV.  For those who want to try stamping, this top coat works well and doesn't streak the special polish if you are generous and light touched with it.  It also makes your nails feel like glass :)

There are more tutorials to come, what would you like to see?

Giveaway Update: I've decided to start the 200 follower giveaway once 190 followers is reached because my followers are THAT awesome :)

Orly: Sapphire Silk

 This is Sapphire Silk from Orly's Precious Collection from Spring 2011.  Look at it.... just look.... admire it.... it's a deep teal creme that is opaque in one coat if you have a steady hand.  I used two coats and a top coat of SV.  The formula is not a real thick creme, it's rather a thin one but yet it still stays on the nail and is easy to apply.

One of the things I really like about Orly's Precious collection is they aren't your typical pastel light colors for spring.  They're a diverse bunch of highly pigmented cremes and shimmer. I also really like the Orly Gripper Cap because it contours to your fingers. This dusty teal is an absolute winner for me. 

To add a little more spring to this mani, I added a flower stamp in Konad white special polish from plate m21.

Also I recently won a giveaway from Painting Rainbows. I got so many goodies I'll be swatching the polishes soon.  Thanks Megan, it was an awesome giveaway!!





*product was sent to me for review*

Color Club: Alter Ego Undercover part 1

UPDATE GIVEAWAY: few more followers to 130 and I add yet more swag to the giveaway! spread the word!

Preface: pardon my cuticles, I spent a week in Colorado helping friends move and in the process my cuticles hated me :)

 This is the first half of the Color Club Alter Ego Under Cover collection.  Up first is Ulterior Motive- a really pretty raspberry frosty color.  It has a little shimmer to it as well and the color is so pretty! This was 3 coats and it built up nicely.

You can see at some angles there is a bit of VNL but you have to look really hard and my tips are really white.  I think I will keep this in my summer rotation for a pedi!
I didn't want to stamp over this color and take away from it's prettiness so I put I Juggle...Men over the top. IJM is from the new OPI Cirque De Femme collection and is an overcoat that has flashes of green/pink/blue/purple glitters.  I think I will have to try this over a darker creme color to see more of the effect.  It did however spice up Ulterior Motive a bit but only if you looked really hard.
Ok, moving right along...

Total Mystery- yum!  This is a true blue glitter full of fun.  This was 2 generous coats.  It has this shimmer/glitter/foil factor to it.  It really depends which way you look at it and in what light.  May be that's the mystery :)

You can see a little VNL but I think that's just the finish.. it's more prevalent in the picture than it was in person.  It could have been my light box lighting my nail from underneath :) Come to think of it, this would be a cool color to do a french manicure with, using it for the tips. (hhmm.. things to try later)

Next up is masquerading.. and look, I stamped it for you! Masquerading is like a frost but applies like a metallic.  I used two coats.  It has gray and blue hued undertones and finished like a metallic- you could see the streaking if you paid attention.

My camera made it look darker than it actually is. It kind of reminds me of an almost there gun metal color.  It's not bad, I like how it's unique in color/finish.  I used Konad white special polish on M21 and topped with Color Club 0-60.


Next post I'll have: alias and secret agent- my two favoirtes from this collection.

Tronica: Ultra Violet

I've been contemplating the China Glaze Tronica collection for a while because I have alot of purples and I love holos but it was getting mixed reviews.



So I went in and looked at the colors again and grabbed Virtual Violet.. yes another purple.  :)  Hey! It looked like it needed a home!

The holo is much better in person but check it out in the pictures, it's still awesome.  The finish is smooth and it was opaque in two coats with no problem. 

At one angle it looks like a suede finish but shiny.. then you see the holos... click on the pictures, take a closer look.. It's ok, it won't bite :) 

I feel like I haven't done much stamping lately so I decided to try out a new one from plate M64 and I added a little holo sticker to it. My stamping job was kind of crooked but i think it was a nice accent to the polish. It's almost like it wrapped it up as a present for your eyes to oogle over!

I topped off with China Glaze Fast Forward and it did not smudge the Konad white special polish :)

OC Nail Art  still has a coupon code for my readers,  if you'd like to get into Konad stuff :)

Zoya's Intimate Collection Part 2

 Part 2 of The Intimate Collection is Dannii and Gemma (I posted a quickie of Jules in a different post.. I had put WNW Party of five glitters over it).  So I was away the week of St. Patrick's day and had to wait until I came home to swatch this collection. I was a little greened out from St. Patty's Day manis but still enjoyed Gemma.  It's an olive green with more of a yellow under tone and it shimmers with pink hues.  Gotta say, I like this green alot!
It was easy to apply two coats and top off with Color Club 0-60 (have you tried this top coat, it's really awesome).

St. Patty's Day is here!

This polish is from the 3 green Zoya promotion.  Ivanka is a delicious glittery green that has a gold shimmer to it when viewed from the side.  I did 2 coats of Ivanka for my sister in law.  The formula is really great- went on smooth and did not dry grainy.

I applied SV as a top coat then stamped with M15 stamped with white Konad special polish. This polish reminds me of St. Patty's day and a leprechaun with a pot of gold! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone :)

again, thanks to my sister in law for volunteering to pose :)

HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT MY GIVEAWAY?

Hawaii 5-0: Aloha... for now :)

Add caption

Well, Aloha for now Hawaii, as I will be back soon... For the flight home, I wanted something soothing to me (seriously hate flying because I get so bored).. my go to color, purple helps though.  This is OPI The Color to Watch, 4 coats (ya, it's sheer but builds nicely), stamped from Konad M29 in black and white Special polish (both from the kit OC Nail Art sent me.  If you notice the image on my index finger (sorry it's upside down, that's how I'm rolling today) I took just the flower from that and did my little finger.  I totally like this mani, we'll see if it gets any responses from the airport staff :)



My thumb is so wide that I thought I'd stamp a pineapple and a hibiscus again.  I absolutely love orchids and the vibrant hibiscus in Hawaii.  My hubbo and I got married on Oahu and my bouquet was purple and white orchids :) I love the leis too, I tend to get purple ones when we go ;) That was the inspiration for this mani, my bouquet from a few years ago.  That still makes me all smiles and giggles :)


I smudged the black polish on my other thumb but the rest of it was pretty darn great.  Once you get the hand of the special polishes, they seem like they may be worth it.

 Again, a big thanks to OC Nail Art for the great kit!