Simple Valentine's Day Mani - Take 2!

     Today I have another simple Valentine's mani to share. Out of sheer nostalgia, I chose to stick with the stock red/pink/white palette for the first VDay mani of the year. This one still has a nostalgic feel (at least for me!) but incorporates a different color scheme. Using MASH 15 as an inspiration and a memory of some pottery my grandmother has, I created this simple manicure.

 Special Guest Appearance By: My Elusive Thumb Nail!

    I wanted to have a French included in my Valentine inspired manicures because I have not had one in ages, but didn't want to give up the accent nail that I have been addicted to having. To add a modern twist to a timeless classic, I reversed the colors and worked in a sponge French before stamping.

Items Used

Main Fingers

• Base Coat - 2 Coats Zoya - Lucy
  Zoya describes Lucy as : A soft, milky neutral off-white sheer creme. Ideal for French manicures or to be worn alone for a nail-brightening effect.
• Accessories - Blue Striping Tape
  After waiting on Lucy to dry, I started placing the striping tape. I unrolled about double of what I needed to cover the width, and placed it on top of my nail in the center. (The free edge becomes much less tacky the more it is touched, so I tried to keep from putting the bits that i had held between cuttings directly on the nail.) Starting from the center where I placed the tape, and working inward toward the roll, I pressed down and rubbed a few times before cutting. Leaving a little length on the side, and wrapping what was left over onto my finger. Then I would do the same to the free edge side that wasn't attached to the roll. After much pressing and smoothing on the tape to make sure it had gotten a good seal, I cut as close as safely possible to the sides of my nail. I used a pair of manicure scissors because the blades let me get really close, taking any unwanted bits that poked my fingers from the sides.
• Tipped With - Wet n' Wild - French White Créme (& a nail art brush)
  I didn't trust myself to use the handle brush in the bottle, nor a bottle of striping polish because of the excess amount of polish that runs down the bristles. I chose a small nail art brush, and had the easiest French tipping experience to date.

Accent Finger

• Base Coat -  Sally Hansen - Diamond Strength
• Sponged With - Wet n' Wild - French White Créme & Alessandro - Blue Lagoon
  I painted strips of both of these, just barely touching, on a cutting of a make-up sponge. Then dabbed the color onto my nail, working slightly up and down for a not-so-prim effect to counter the crisp lines of the other fingers.
• Stamped With - Konad Blue Pearl & White
• Plate(s) - MASH 15 (Kissing Swans) & Pueen 18 (Floral Pattern)

Top Coat on All - Seche Vite

     While looking for a picture to describe the pottery I had in mind, I ran across this beauty. It looked exactly like what I had in my head when I found the nail plate that had the image of the kissing swans. It is currently for sale, a bargain at under $10- and absolutely gorgeous. It makes me realize that I missed by a little in the color department, and fell short of the cobalt that I needed. Oh well, I had fun doing it, and enjoyed it while it lasted.

*The item(s) in this post were purchased by me, but features an image that is not mine. I was given permission by the Shop Owner to use the image. It has been watermarked with their Shop Site using my stock font to keep uniformity.

Quasi-Valentines Mani/Review/Swatch SuperPost!

 I am sitting on a couple of other posts, but I absolutely had to share this one first. Wanting to stray from the usual Valentine's theme shades, I decided to change it up.

Items Used

Main Fingers

• Base Coat -  None. 
• 2 Coats - Color Club - Harp On It
• Stamped With - MASH Black Stamping Polish & XL Stamper
• Plate - Pueen 02

 

Accent Finger 

• Base Coat - Sally Hansen - Diamond Strength
• 1 Coat - Wet n' Wild - Black Crème
• Stamped/Dotted With - Color Club - Harp On It & XL Stamper, XS end
• Plate -  Pueen 12 --- the same bow can be found slightly larger on Cheeky 01

 

Pueen Image Plates 

    This manicure is more fancy than it is Valentine's. I had a "dress/tuxedo date night" look in my head. I probably should have used a different print for the full nail stamping. There are plenty in this collection with hearts, and yet I chose dots. It makes no difference, I am in love with it all the same.

    I finally got to use the Pueen plates properly, not just on a piece of paper. They preformed just like I had expected. Wonderfully. The etchings are not so shallow that you scrape everything off without trying, and not so deep that polish stays puddled up in the center after the transfer.

   I had some small issues with the size, on my thumbnail. The image was not wide/long enough, and I tried to stretch it across to compensate. It almost worked. The next time, I will do a tape-up mani on my thumb for a half- accent nail to match whatever is on my ring. Crisis averted.

Color Club - Harp On It

 My love affair with Holographic polishes have been running rampant lately, and this one is no exception. There is not much I can say about this Silver beauty that hasn't already been said by every NailGirl ever, except maybe, if you don't have it- scoop it up before prices sky rocket. That reason in itself is why this new collection of Linear Holos are my first samplings of a nail addicts staple. Seeing swatches (and prices!) of things like O.P.I - DS Desire makes me want to kick myself for not having been collecting sooner.
 Although I absolutely love this polish, I don't see me using it on its' own very often. My skin tone + the color of the polish when there is no light hitting it being the main factors in that decision. I was pleasantly surprised at the stampability (NWotD) of Harp On It, and am looking forward to trying it with a full nail design. No photo can do a holographic effect any justice to seeing it in real life.

Random Bits

• Being a Baby Nail Blogger is tough work when you have a years worth of "unpublished posts" in your head from before you buckled down and created one.
• I think that I may have to start doing a few posts a day when I have time, and save them to the queue to publish for me until I can get caught up a little. Blogging is new to me, Nail Polish and manicures are the obsession.
• I am excited to have found out a little bit more about the Color Club polishes that I recently got, and look forward to seeing more swatches from The Fiesta Collection.

 Have you gotten the Pueen stamping plates? If you have, are you as in love with them as I am? And has the Halo Hues Collection been dominating all of your free time as well?

*The item(s) in this post were purchased by me.

Konad Polish Swatches & XL Stamper Review

Hey, you two birds- meet this one stone!

 I recently got an XL Stamper, and was having a bit of a time trying to figure out why my luck with it was nowhere near that of others. So, I sat down with full intentions of making it work. It took little to no time to realize that the problem I was having was caused by the included scrapers, and not the stamper itself.

 I am not one of the Nail Girls that use a Shopping Card as a scraper, I have never been able to get the same results as with metal ended ones. But if you are skilled with one, these may be a better option for you- as they are very solid and will not bend. The plastic is probably a whole lot better for the condition of our plates, but I have never had a metal scraper scuff a plate beyond the point of being able to discern the image. While testing the stamper with the plastic scrapers, I noticed that I was pulling too much polish off of the image. No matter what angle I held the scraper at, I wound up with open gaps where polish should have been.  I swapped out for my Konad metal scraper and the difference was enough to make the XL stamper my new best thing. 

 The larger White end of the Stamper is very squishy and pliable. And also somewhat different in what it picks up and leaves behind. It attracts lint and dust like none other, but doesn't seem to leave it behind when transferring. It picks up less polish from around the design lines, leaving crisper images, but it deposits ALL of the polish you pick up. Unlike the Konad stamper, which always has a faint outline of the design left on it, the XL stamper had nothing left after the transfer. Which made for a more pigmented stamp.

 That being said, with the exception of black and white, here is my budding Stamping Polish collection, done with both the Konad and the XL stamper. I chose to do them on paper to save my hands from so much remover. I would rather test them on my hands over something other than black and white, so if you have any suggestions/requests leave them in the comments!  

The Konad is on the Left, and the XL is on the Right in both the black and white bases. 

Both scrapers had been filed.

The Image is from the Pueen 25 plate.

 Pastel Orange

 Move over, Black, we have a new contender for Halloween stamping! See the difference in color on the white paper? That (and all of these) are not from my camera. They are like that because of the layer of polish that stayed behind on my Konad stamper.

 Dark Orange

 I had to stamp this one a couple extra times, just to make sure that the fault was not my own. (Too slow on the transfer, pressing to hard.... a number of things could have made me to blame.) But alas, it was the Konad stamper. I couldn't believe that this one showed up on the dark base, with or without the cool new toy. There really isn't a whole lot of difference between this and the Pastel Orange as far as color goes, in fact I have a pretty hard time telling the bottles apart because they don't have stickers. But when the bottles open, the Pastel is the clear winner.

 Pastel Blue

 Here is the only other from the Pastel line that I have, so far. I have used this one over a few different colors, and it gives wonderful results. 

 Blue

 This Blue is obviously not a good choice for darker bases. The sheered out stamp from the Konad stamper probably wouldn't work very well over anything but the lightest shades.

 Blue Pearl

  However, this Blue... Completely makes up for it. It is metallic, and gorgeous. Again, the XL Stamper really gave a bigger bang on the transfer.

 (Not So) Psyche Pink

 This one, and the Blue Pearl came in the Coraline Set A kit that I got from Amazon a while back. As you can tell from the bottles, this one is nowhere near the Psyche Pink that is advertised. I am thinking that it might have came from a bad batch, as I have read reviews that shown others had the same problem. It is less than visible over anything light, but looks elegant over darker shades- which is why I have kept it around. 

 You will notice that there are 2 stamps facing downward on the dark base. They are both using the XL Stamper, but the left I used the plastic scraper. It left bald spots on the petals, but depending on the color combination it may look nice.

Psyche Pink

 Now, This is Psyche Pink. This is another shade that will look good over both light and dark shades, and is very metallic. I have a feeling I will be using this one within the next week.

 Green

 Green has no shimmer, and like the Blue the transfer from the Konad stamper left it a little too sheered out to really cover many darker shades.

 Red

 Red was a lot creamier than I expected, and like the Psyche Pink- I foresee it being put to use in the near future.

 Yellow

 This one was another that surprised me on the black paper, I thought I would have to wait to get the Pastel Yellow to have one that would cover a darker shade. That is obviously not the case.

 Light Gray

 Light "Gray" is almost a  little too purple for my tastes. I need to try it out over some other shades before I decide whether I like it or not.

Violet Pearl

  Violet Pearl is another of the metallic finish set. It doesn't look as pronounced over the black base as the others, but it is still gorgeous.

Chocolate

 The formula on Chocolate is flawless, it stamps wonderfully. I've used this one a few times as well. It was one that I knew I would use as much as a black or white, and that's why I chose the Princess size bottle of it. I got this on Amazon a little cheaper than on their website.

 Black Pearl

 This one also came in a prepackaged Konad kit, along with a White in the same large size. (French Manicure, Set F I do believe.) It doesn't come off as metallic as the other Pearl finishes, but it is still there. I enjoy this one when I am wanting something more than just black, ha.

Final Thoughts

Tips & Tricks 

• Do file your stamper. (Lightly, with a fine grain.)
• Do keep your scraper very clean.
• Don't apply too much pressure.
• Do practice/test swatch before committing yourself to an entire mani.
• Do shop around before spending money. Some kits offer more bang for your buck. Some stores/sellers offer a better deal than others.

XL Stamper Set

 Though I will not be using the plastic scrapers, that does not mean you shouldn't test them out. Especially if you are accustomed to using Gift/Shopping Cards, because as I mentioned before- they do not give or bend. (Unless you like the bendy?)

 The XL Stamper itself is where the true gem lies. I do believe that I have found my favorite stamper, and have already been testing (on paper, for now.) regular polishes with it. I have had more wins than fails with my picks to try with because of the simple fact - it leaves nothing behind. 

 I am going to be putting the XS stamper on the opposite end up to the MASH dual ended stamper, I do not have the Konad of that version.

Pueen Cosmetics Plates

 I tested others while trying out other polishes, and like this one- they were wonderful. Not too shallow, and yet not too deep. The full nail images are large, and all have the option of a french end. I had no problems with what stamp swatching I have done. I haven't used them in a full manicure yet though, so more on those at a later time.

*The item(s) in this post were purchased by me.

Pueen Cosmetics 2013 Nail Image Plates 1-25

Although I haven't actually tried these plates yet (the blue film is a dead giveaway. I leave it on until I decide to use a plate for the first time now.), I must say that I am very impressed with them. There aren't as many of the same designs that run rampant in most starting plate collections. Comparisons and looks to come.

 
 Will you be ordering the first collection by Pueen? Which are your favorite designs?

*All items in this post were purchased by me.