Pond Mani

I've been participating in the Little Mermaid Mani Challenge this month and loving it!  Today was Pond Mani and since I've never done one, I had to Google.  Turns out I have done one.... way long ago.

What a Pond Mani is is a sheer polish layered over several images to build layers within the translucency.  Since I can't freehand for anything, I used a stamped image in white and then layered my sheer over it and then applied a final stamped image over top.  It's almost exactly what Shelsea an I did with our Minsky Manis!

• Apply a base coat.
• Using your mask of choice, wrap off the edges of your nails.  I'm using a sample I got from Glitter Daze.  This makes clean up so much easier.
• Using a white polish (I used White Out from Just Rica) stamp your base image.  This will be the one that will be in the background.
• Let it dry or it might smear, jellies are not like top coats and do not float.
• Once it's dry, load up your brush and apply two even coats of your jelly.  In both manis I used sheers from Doctor Lacquer.
• Once it's dry, this polish actually gets a little matte, stamp your top image.
• Apply a top coat.
• Tidy up!

You can of course use any combination of images for whatever effect you're looking for.  I stayed within the aquatic theme with mine!

With Glitter and Gratitude,

First Impressions!

My long awaited order of Mundo de Unas stamping polishes arrived and I ripped into that box as soon as I could!  I thought I'd sit and write out a quick first impressions review!  You an order them from Llarowe.com, however, I ordered mine directly from Mexico.  I ordered on 16 November and they arrived on 22 December.  I do have a domestic US shipping address, so this is probably the average wait!

First thing I noticed?  Other than how sharp the colours are, is the smell.  

I asked an expert, though, and she assures me this is normal!

I would describe it best as a strong plastic smell.  It's exactly like the smell of the weird rubber tiles they sell for the floors of nurseries and stuff.  You know, these things.

Once you get over that, though, you're left with the thickest, richest, most opaque polish ever.  And it's not clumpy or goopey at all.  I don't think you'd want to pint your nails with it, but you could.  It is so richly pigmented that it stains your fingers when you wipe it off with acetone, so don't get it all over if you can manage.

They have both  14ml full sizes (3.50$) and 5ml minis (1.65$) to chose from as well as a variety of sets.  I grabbed colours ala carte, sort of with certain designs in mind.  I ended up with 10 full sizes and 6 minis, with one duplicate.  

It's thicker than I'm used to working with, so I had to be a little careful in applying the polish to the plate, you don't need nearly as much as I'd normally use.  The thinnest lines came out crisp and clean.

The best thing, the very best thing, about this polish is that it did not smear or move at all when I applied my top coat.

I cannot recommend this polish enough!

Born Pretty: A Review

My long awaited Born Pretty stamping plates arrived yesterday.  I ordered set 02-10 and it cost $14.39, shipping was free and I applied a discount code.

Sadly, they are nothing like I expected.  They are so disappointing in so many ways!

The designs are not as pictured.

Not only are the discs arranged differently, some motifs are missing all together!  You can see that best in the plates shown below.

The designs are tiny compared to the picture!

Some of them wouldn't even fill the shortest of nubs!  It seems like they shrunk the designs so to fit as many on a plate as they could with no regard to quality or ease of use at all. 

Many of the designs are missing all together!

Most of the designs I had most looked forward to ended up not looking anything like pictured on the site!

The designs are poorly etched.

Many of the designs are wobbly when stamped because some parts are deeper than others.  The fine motifs are very hard to print, the details hard to catch because they're uneven.

I am so disappointed in not only the excessive time it took to arrive to the fact it's not what I had hoped for.  I cannot recommend these plates at all.

 

Squishy Face Polish: A Review

I've been sitting here the last ten minutes trying to remember where I first saw Squishy Face Polish.  I'm sure it was on Instagram, but for the life of me I can't figure out who's page I saw them on!

I do know that as soon as I clicked over to the shop I ordered two of their three polishes, Where's My Tiara and Princess Polish.  I had to, you see.  I love holos and GITDs and hence, had to.

One of my main complaints with ordering anything from a Big Cartel shop is that you have no idea when things ship.  There is no notice, no transaction history to check.  My order came quickly enough, although without any invoice or anything inside.  The polishes were carefully wrapped and undamaged, so that's really all that counts.

Princess Polish is a glow in the dark pastel pink crelly with gold and lavender shimmer, also packed with micro glitters and iridescent glitters. 

The formula is wonderful.  A lot of times light crellies like this are gloopy and apply very patchy.  Princess Polish is very smooth.  The above swatch is two thin coats and a top coat!  The glow is very lovely and the flecks of iridescent glitters makes it more dimensional.  It would be a great everyday, there but not there, not-so-nude shade.

Where's My Tiara is a bright pink linear holo with lavender shimmer.

I wouldn't say it's the strongest linear holo, but it's such a gorgeous colour!  The formula is also outstanding, it's opaque in two light coats, which I love.  It's also great to stamp with, which I love!

 I used Mo You London Princess plate 11 for the hearts in the mani below.  It's so subtle and so dainty.

Over all I'm very impressed with the two polishes I bought!  I'm really hoping they will release more, I'd love to see what else they come up with!

To Infinity and Beyond!

I discovered Infinity Nail plates while surfing nail blogs about a month ago on a site here in Europe called Dashica Beauty Shop.  I was excited to discover that they had a HUGE variety of plates in stock and that they were all very unique.

Each plate is listed as €4.99 however I did manage to order during a special.  With 105 different Infinity Plates to chose from, it was hard to narrow it down, but I wanted to place a small order first, just to test the waters. They do ship worldwide and there are instructions in English in how to order!

I ended up picking 78, a mendhi like design with skulls, and 11, an aquatic/mermaid themed plate that will be perfect for an upcoming polish collection I'm really looking forward to.

 The plates are the exact size as the plates from Mo You London, with the same plastic safety backing, although they do not come in cardboard sleeves.  Those metal sheets are freaking dangerous so I was pleased these had the edging.  The designs are deeply etched and stamp amazingly clean and crisp, so they would be great for beginners.  You can see some samples below, using the a variety of stamping polishes from Just Rica.

Something I also appreciate about the Infinity plates is that several feature popular cartoon characters, although I'm sure there is some legal nonsense about copyright I don't know enough about to mention.  Another nifty feature is that most plates feature matching left facing and right facing designs so that you can customize your manicure and have a mirror image on both hands.  You can click on the images below to see more detail.

 

The larger designs on the plates are big enough to fit onto long nails, but easily work with a more manageable nail shape.  The small designs are easily placed and even the fine details stamp well.  I would have to admit that if you have very short nails, though, the designs might be too big all together.

Cleaning deeply etched plates is tricky.  It's best to use a lint free wipe or an actual cloth soaked in acetone.  Anything with any oil in it leaves a residue that will effect the crispness of the next stamp and anything like a cotton round or puff will leave about a million little fuzzies stuck in the designs loops and edges.  Since these plates are both well etched and detailed, you should take care between stamps to make sure you don't get smudgey fuzz in your polish!

I used plate 78 along with Gold Foil from Barry M to stamp on top of this polish from Black Sheep Lacquer which I just got in my latest mystery box.

Stained Glass Nails: A Tutorial

Although this is titled a Stained Glass tutorial, this technique is actually also called Reverse Stamping.  You can follow these directions using any opaque polishes to make a wide variety of designs and decals.

• Chose your design.  For these nails I used the Mo-You London Gothic plate 09.  When starting out it's best to look for designs that are less detailed.
• Using a good black polish, I used Black Out from Just Rica (my HG, go to stamping polishes), stamp the design in black, leaving it on the pad of your stamper instead of applying it to your nail.

• Let it sit a moment so it doesn't smear and seal it with a fast dry top coat, keeping the layer thin and even.  Carefully remove the pad from the stamper so you can lay it flat on your work space.

• While it's drying, set yourself up a palette of the sheer jellies you'll be using.  I prefer Just Rica's Squishies, they are the same as OPI's Tints (although a lot nicer) as well as the sheers from companies like Polish Pusher, etc.

• When the top coat is dry you can fill in/paint the design using the Squishies, mixing colours as needed. 

• Apply another thin layer of top coat to seal it all and create a decal.

• While that dries, prep your nails by applying a white polish to them and let dry until just a very bit tacky.

• Very carefully peel the design off the stamp pad, making sure you keep it in one piece.  It shouldn't be too thick or impliable.  I think I just made up that word.

• Carefully place it over your nail as desired, centering the design, good side up!  Since the base is still tacky, you can't really play with it too much, but the tack will hold the design in place once you're settled.  Using the pad of your thumb press it into place without rubbing it, the heat will help it mold into the curves of your nail.

• Trim the edges off using a cuticle pusher, folding the top over and pressing them clean.  Some people file the tops off, but I find that leaves a small gap of the design.
• Once it's trimmed, apply a quick dry top coat.
• Tidy up, if required!

If you're inspired to try any of my tutorials, please tag them with #00Inspired on Instagram!

PS - I'm so buggered that it smeared!