Snow Day!!

I had another snow day today!  While I often feel overwhelmed with work, I am very thankful to be working for a company that puts the safety of their employees first.  

Since I had an unexpected day off, I had some time to do my nails and try out some new polish.  I also purchased some stamping plates before Christmas and have not had much of a chance to play with them either so today was the day! 

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud on all except my middle finger.  My bottle seems a bit wattery so I actually used 3-4 thin coats then topped it with Seche Vite.  My middle finger is 3 thin coats of Julep Love from the February box.  I used Pueen plate 35 for the design on my ring finger with nails inc. victoria for the stamp color.  Finally, I added some studs from Born Pretty Store that I painted with victoria so they would blend in with the look.

Let the Challenge Begin! #33DC

The time is finally upon us for the 2013 Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33 Day Challenge!  I am excited about getting back into the swing of things but also a bit apprehensive, hoping I can keep up!  I always love seeing what everyone else comes up with for the themes as well, that is half the fun.  Please don't forget to check out the links below and see what the other participants come up with!  As always, don't hesitate to leave feedback or ask questions!
 Now on to the nails....
Today's theme is Dots.

I had an image in my head of how this would turn out and while it isn't exactly as I had planned, I was satisfied with it nonetheless.  I hoped the two tone dots would "swirl" a bit more (sort of like the middle on the yellow/green finger) but it didn't exactly turn out that way.
I started with a base of Milani White on the Spot, then moved on to the colors.  On my work space, I dropped a drop of Zoya America and Sinful Colors Big Daddy next to each other (touching) and started with one shade, then the other, then dipped my dotting tool in the middle where the two colors met for the middle dots.  on my middle finger is Julep Catrina and China Glaze Starboard, ring finger is Nails Inc Baker Street and OPI Roadhouse Blues.  On my pinkie I had intended to just use a "violet" shade but Zoya Pinta ended up looking almost black so I went back over with dots of L'Oreal Paparazzi Pleaser a bit offset of the others then topped it all off with a coat of Seche.

A Different Kind of Swatch and Compare

Last week at Target I stumbled on the new Maybeline Color Show Vintage Leather colors and thought they looked interesting so I picked one up in Vintage Violet.  I swatched it without base or topcoat with Nails Inc Leather Effect in noho on my ring finger to compare.  Mind you, nothing about the display made me believe they would be textured as well as matte finish but I just wanted to compare the two.

The color is much darker on the nail that I expected it to be.  You can see in the bottle that there are some flakies in there but they don't show up much on the nail either.  I wanted to see what it would look like shiny so I added topcoat to my pinkie finger in the pics below.

What do you guys think?  Is this a polish you would pick up?  Shiny or matte?

I'm Back...In Black!

Sorry for the long absence guys, life has been insane lately!  I hope things are finally starting to settle down now and that I can get back to a regular posting schedule.  This one is fairly simple, but after such a long absence, it had to be black, right?
This one is from a couple of weeks ago.  Nails Inc in noho.  Shown here with two coats, no topcoat.  I didn't expect to love this as much as I did, and it wore very well for no topcoat!

Inspired by a Pinterest Find

I have been spending more time on Pinterest lately than I probably should....it is so addictive!  I had stumbled across this pin a while back and thought it was amazing but never had the time to try it out until today!  Credit for this design goes to A Girl and Her Polish, the original post can be seen here, while you are there check out the rest of her super-amazing blog!

 For the base of mine, I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Ion the stamped with Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart.  Red dots are Nails Inc. Charing Cross. Such a fun design!

Nails Inc Houses of Parliament Magnetic Polish

I was up way too late again last night working on homework after spending the evening with the hubby and my dad for a belated Christmas with him so last nights mani is fairly straight forward. I stumbled across this polish at Sephora before Christmas and had to add it to my collection! These polishes are so awesome! It is a magnetic polish that features a magnet in the over cap. You basically brush on your basecoat (I use Orly Bonder) and then paint one coat of the polish as normal. Then on one nail at a time, you paint on the second coat and hold the magnet over the nail for 10-15 seconds and the pattern appears. It is really a very simple process that doesn't take that much longer than a typical mani but looks amazing. It is really hard to capture in the photos but when you move your nails the pattern sort of "shifts" making it look almost 3D. I get a ton of compliments when I wear this color!

Beautiful color even in the bottle!

Here is a pic of the top of the over cap, it has a little "lip" on it to help keep you from smudging the wet polish.

Here is the finished product with one coat of Seche Vite.