Stampicure of the Day: Nude Sky

I think I have a bit of an obsession with layering metallic stamping over nudes :O

You be the judge!

Sorry for the blur, I didn't have my glasses on when checking the photos!

For my base, I used Essence Nude Glam in Cookies and Cream. I love this nude. It has bronzey metallic flakes in it that you can't really see in the photos. I stamped over it using Maybelline Bold Gold and Pure Ice Silver Mercedes using the Nailz Craze plate NC02. I have NC01 as well but I want them all O_O Darn low income :P

As you can see, I made a boo-boo on my ring finger here. The stamped image dried on the bottom before I could get it down, then it was put down in the wrong place! I was in too much of a rush I guess.

I also think that the lamp I have been using is too hot. It might be drying the images before I can get them down which is why there are so many missing parts to the stamping. I am thinking of buying a lamp that has a fluorescent bulb and a magnifying lens. It will help with beading, too :D

My other hand, which turned out better ><

I love the Nailz Craze plates. I just need to get the hang of stamping again, I have been too consumed by beading to bother. 

NOTD: Windestine Girl With the Best Smile

It is a gorgeous early spring day here in Central Indiana! Time for some finger-jewels :)

I fished in my mini polish box the other day because I have neglected them, ultimately. I found a franken I had made, inspired by OPI Thanks a Wind-Million and Zoya Bevin (the latter of which I have now) which is slightly more blue than those two.

I added Windestine Girl with the Best Smile on top (just one layer). If you have never tried a Windestine polish, what are you thinking?!?! Seriously, Jeweled Sand is a Holy Grail Glitter. It is amazing. So is this one, which is similar to Jeweled Sand but with pink, purple, and light green glitter.

Windestine's small glitter mixes look AWESOME over greyed colors. 

BONUS: Photos of Windestine Jeweled Sand over RBL 360, taken in August!

RIP Big Almonds :(

Anyhow, I <3 Windestine so much. I really want to buy her new polish called Wish Upon A Star which is a charity polish for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This charity sent my husband and his family to DisneyWorld when he was little. His brother received a liver transplant at 5 months old. I think they do wonderful work, lifting kids out of the gloomy world of medical problems and giving parents peace, knowing their child can forget about their problems for a little bit and enjoy themselves. 

I am proud to be a Windestine customer. She has wonderful polish that applies perfectly. It is also very well designed and feminine. 

Easter Bounce Back! Freehand Nail Art

Hello all! I have photos again!

Sorry for the long delay. I had to fix my camera. It is all patched up now and I am ready to post some manis :))

I painted with acrylic paint for the first time (on my nails, that is) and I didn't really like it to be honest. Not sure how people can stand it! It gets so gunky and goopy. Not my cuppa tea.

Thumb: Sally Hansen Barracuda with carrot

Index: NYC Lavender Cupcake with bunny

Middle: NYX Pastel Pistachio with a chick

Ring: Bettina Gladiola with quail

Pinky: Bettina Orchidea with chocolate bunny

I had a great Easter (or Bunny-Chicken Day as I call it) with my family. I hope yours was great!

Review: CrowsToes Orion - Pleiades Collection

Orion is a constellation that appears just above the horizon here in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter months. CrowsToes nail polish is made by The Polished Crow and she discusses the Greek mythology story behind her collection here: 

http://thepolishedcrow.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-post.html

NOTE: I purchased this polish myself from llarowe.com with my own money!

Bottle shots

Orion the constellation has personal meaning to me. When I was growing up in San Diego, our family would sometimes take a trip to IHOP to eat breakfast for dinner. I always got the chocolate chip pancakes! When we were out doing this one night when I was around 10, we all went outside to wait for my mom who was using the restroom after eating. I looked up in the sky and I seriously thought I had just discovered a constellation (because I had never learned it). It was Orion but I saw the main rectangular shape with the "belted waist" and I called it the Hunter Daddy constellation because my dad was a hunter (gun AND bow). I was a bit of a daddy's girl at the time. When I found out later that week that I had not made it up myself, I was devastated---until I learned that it was named the Hunter, too! I was right about something at least :)

Onto the polish! 

This is a really sparkly multichrome that goes from a green-gold to green to blue. It is not a drastic multichrome like, say, Ludurana Show but it is noticeable. I am wearing it over black in all the photos. 

Wearing a multi or duochrome over black is the best way, in my opinion, to bring out the range of color. This polish is fairly sheer and I hate wasting multichrome so one layer of Wet n Wild Black Creme and one layer of Orion means I get to wear it many more times!

This photo shows how blue it can get. Open up the image in another window to see it better!

See, I have been on the hunt for a multi or duochrome polish that has a base color of green (hunter green in this instance) and changes easily in the light. I think I have found it, which makes me so happy! No diss intended but the shots of this polish on The Polished Crow were not promising.

Open this photo in another window to see the particle sizes and the changes in color better.

The bottle does that thing that a lot of duochromes in rounded bottles do; they appear to be a MUCH more complex multi-chrome. Don't be fooled, this one only has about 3 distinct colors as far as I can tell.

I added the constellation Orion to my ring finger using Sally Hansen Gold Chrome and Petites 24k Gold

Now, I compared it to the only other two greenish duo-multi-chromes I have; Scherer Chameleon in Fandango and MISSHA HGR01

Bottle Shots

Reverse order from the above photo

Correct order

Correct order

As you can see, the MISSHA is a more dramatic multichrome but it never gets to the deep golden or forest greens of the CrowsToes. Fandango really only has two colors and it is a muddied and sort of frosty color.

How would I rate this polish on a scale of 1-10?

Uniqueness: 10

Do you see many forest green-based multi OR duochromes out there?! No, seriously, if you know any more, tell me! This is very unique to me!

Formula: 10

Like other duochromes, it has a really smooth formula and applies rather sheer. It is opaque in 3 coats but I don't like to use that much. I recommend it over a black nail polish like I recommend most other duochromes :)

Payoff: 7

I am only saying 7 BECAUSE...it is not a dramatic duochrome. That may bug some people. The other polishes in this collection seem to be a lot more dramatic. I think it is probably because of the pigment used in making a green duochrome and the type of pigment used. Maybe one day, I will get my wish of a wicked awesome, super dramatic and flashy green-based multichrome!

ORION rates a 9 for me by those standards

I really like this polish a lot!

Again, this was purchased by me (Nat) using my own money! No one knew I was going to review this polish or asked me to :)

Stampicure of the Week: Blizzard

I had a hankering to try Zoya Kristen this week because (as you may know) the Midwest was pummelled by a blizzard the day after Christmas. I thought that Kristen would be the perfect wintery weather blue and I was so right. I knew there was a reason I bought this a long time ago!

I had to add some snowflake stamps to it! I used the Bundlemonster 2012 set's full nail snowflake design and HB23, a cheapie plate I got from a Chinese company awhile back. 

I stamped all but the ring finger in Konad White and then did the ring with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes. I used the HB plate to add little snowflakes in the opposite stamping color over the full nail design. 

I am pretty darn proud of this one. My nails have been really suffering from my job and the holiday season (even before Thanksgiving) has been suuuuuuper busy and totally crazy. I hope to have more time to devote to my nails and blogging again!

Nail Stickers -- A Review

I bought some nail strips from ebay ohhhh 3 months ago and have just now decided to wear them. I felt like they were a trial-run type thing and I wanted to use them for a "special occasion" which turned out to be just another boring day. Oh well, I can accurately describe how they wore through a boring day and at work!

Here they are on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nail-Polish-Strips-Nail-Art-Stickers-Nail-Decals-Foil-6180-/130728046705?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item6422b91a7a

I got design J-074 which is an Eastern European type floral design. I LOVE IT! Reminds me of Russian art pendants.

The package:

Now, I don't usually like to make fun of poor English too much because I know that we Americans are not terribly good at foreign languages ourselves. I was a little confused as to what the protective layer was and then I realized it was the little sheet of plastic that had fallen off of them when I opened my package in September. ><

I began by laying down a thick base coat first. Please do this when using nail stickers. You don't want to pull up your nail when you remove these!

2 coats Seche (also, got this cuticle salve on Birchbox with a credit long ago and it smells SO GOOD even if it isn't terribly moisturizing)

They work really well, surprisingly enough. They aren't nail polish but stickers (unlike the Sally Hansen strips). You really have to burnish them as you lay them down and once they are on -- but it is easy to do. Once they were on (curvy side toward eponychium for me) I could push down the ends and then push them off with an orange stick or cuticle nippers. Then I buffed the edges to get the rest of the sticker sealed over the edge. I HATE when I see nail stickers put on with a weird gap or hanging edge near the free edge :( I just know they will be ripped off.

These will not work well for someone who has a C curve to their nails. I have no C curve at all unless I buff the edges of my nails downwards, which I do when I have bad peelies. 

The strips lasted about 2-3 days. I took them off after a shower by peeling them off when everything was moist and damp. The base coat I had used under the stickers was dyed HOT PINK. O_O I have no idea why. It was so weird. There was a faint yellow tinge to my nails when I used remover on the base coat but it went away. I had no nail damage but the stickers did bubble and start to peel off after 2 days. One chipped on the side in the 2nd day. 

Verdict: 

Not really suitable for those with a C curve OR for a multi-day manicure. I would only use these again for a special occasion. 

butter LONDON 2 Fingered Salute

I wanted to show you all a mani that is...well, not artsy in any way. I bought this polish from nordstrom.com awhile back (before it was sold out, apparently!) and just wore it last week. I LOVE IT. 

All photos are 2 coats with one coat of top coat. It is not gritty polish at all.

I thought it was copper glitter in a seafoam base but it is large shimmer like in RBL Halcyon in a seafoam base. Which is why it isn't gritty.

The shimmer is a rose/copper duochrome, kinda like Orly Space Cadet but in reverse. The copper is the most prominent color with the rose shining at odd angles. 

See, I don't always franken-dupe everything! I also buy a lot of polish!

The base also has a very very subtle shimmer. I am so happy that it is PACKED with large shimmer particles because in a milky/pastel base, you really need a lot of them to make it a real shimmer. I think this is why so many people were frustrated with Halcyon; it is subtle. 2 Fingered Salute is but also is not. O_o

See, it is subtle here.

And takes a very dramatic turn in low light. 

Flash

With the flash photos, you can see the contrast! This is why I had thought it was glitter going by early swatches.

Flash

Low light

Low light

I love the low light photos best. I think the subtle intensity of the polish really shines here. It almost looks as if I used a color changing top coat on it. A true chameleon of a polish.