Villainy and Virtue

I asked Alison of Candied Apple Polish to create a custom Apple for me based on Alex Minsky's back tattoo.  If you recall, I've been inspired by it before.  I love the lines and the colours and so Villainy and Virtue was born.

This is the first design I've tried with it.

• Start with a good quality base coat
• Using a good opaque black stamping polish, stamp the design on the bare nail.  I used Suki plate 6 from Mo-You London.
• Let it dry.  For a while. Be patient!
• Once it's dry, apply two thin coats of V&V, adding glitter if you feel you need it.  The trick is to make sure the jelly coats are thin!
• Apply a fast dry topcoat.
• Tidy up if required!

 Another option I like to use with glitter jellies is to use a matte top coat.

Friday Favourites

This week I'm starting a new series, something to get me on a schedule! 

This week's favourites are: 

Sunny's On The Go Hand Lotion 

It's no secret Sunny's are my go-to nail and hand care products. This month she came out with a few new goodie to add to her line up, one of which being this On The Go lotion, a thinner formula in a tube for easy use. It's a great formula, absorbs very quickly without leaving a greasy mess or a film and really softens and moisturizes. I tend to be pretty sensitive to weird things in lotions so this simple formula is a God send.

The Mystery Polished Ladies

I discovered this little group on Instagram and knew I wanted to join in the fun!  It's a circle of polish enthusiasts who, every few months, sign up to send a 'mystery' box of goodies to another member. Each member fills out a little questionnaire, but the real fun comes in stalking the lady you're spoiling's IG page for things she likes, wants, might never have heard of in order to put together an amazing surprise for them!  I'm on my second round with them and am also a mentor and it's been so much fun.

China Glaze

From what I understand, China Glaze is a really popular and rather easy to get, inexpensive polish line!  Problem is, it's not available here in Italia and so every time I see swatches my little heart beats harder and faster!  Thanks to both Steph and Jackie I now have an AMAZING little collection of gorgeous shades to play with!

On Gratitude

I am so thankful and often overwhelmed by the community, support, and love shown by everyone I've come to know over the last few months... nearly a year since I've been nail art blogging.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to everyone.

Mani of the Month: February

Today I'm bringing you my monthly review of the Mani of the Month kit!

As always, it contains special limited edition items from Heather's Hues, Dream Polish, and Nails Redesigned.  And as always, you are probably going to kick yourself if you missed it because it's amazing.

Simply amazing.

It contains:

From Dream Polish

• A 5 ml Gem Stick Base Coat in Bed of Rose
• A 5ml Gem Glam Top Coat in Bed of Rose
• A 5ml Cuticle Oil in Bed of Roses

From Heather's Hues

• A polish mini in Bound By Your Love
• A full sized polish in Love Hurts (thermal)

From Nails Redesigned

• A sheet of vinyl hearts in various shapes
• A sheet of vinyl feathers
• A sheet of vinyl handcuffs
• An assortment of gems

Bed of Roses is probably my favourite scent from the box yet. It's a true, pure rose scent.  It's not perfumey, it's just the real clean scent of roses.  If you haven't already, you can read my previous review of the Gem Glam Top Coat and the base coats here. 

I'm crazy about the vinyls this month!  I just made some feathers for myself, so I loved getting these sparkly white ones!  Unfortunately my nails are trimmed to nubbins right now and the vinyls are a little too large.  I'm anxious for them to grow out so I can use the handcuffs!

I'm going to go ahead and officially name Heather's Hues as my favourite thermal polish maker.  I love thermals and I do have a lot of them.  There are some brands whose thermals are so thin they never quite get opaque and many many thermals don't really change colours as designed.  Every one I've gotten from Heather's Hues has been amazing.  In fact, I used Mucho Smoocho, a thermal not included in the box as the compliment for this mani and it's just as stunning.  There is an obvious shift and it really lingers so you can see the process.

 I've got a macro here, you can see the swirls underneath are Mucho Smoocho, the perfect pink accent for Love Hurts.

This month's box is another stunner, did you get it?  Have you pre-ordered March's?