Which do you prefer?

Hello!

So I did some simple tropical stamping over Allan Gardens Affair.

It looks great, but I bore easily! To up the vintage, well-worn tropical print vibe I decided to add a bit more colour - nfu-oh jelly syrups in yellow and pale green.

I topped it off with Essie Matte About You.

Which do you guys like better?!?

-L

31DC2014 Day 16 - Geometric

beep, boop, bleep!

When I think geometric I often think of modern, tech-y aesthetics so this prompt inspired me to do a circuit board theme.

I started with a base of Elevation Polish Carlit (Alpine Heights), the perfect shade of green for a circuit board. Using MoYou Sci-Fi 05 I stamped with Maybelline Color Show Bold Gold, an awesome stamping polish! So few things to list, but such an awesome impact these few ingredients have made!

 

 -L

31DC2014, Day 3 - Yellow

Hello!

Ok, full disclosure. Part of the inspiration for this mani was just a total and complete cop out.
I know it was only day 3, but I felt like my skin was already getting burned out from all the acetone.
Til now I was painting both hands. For this, I decided my Orange Citrus mani went over so well, I would do a Lemon Yellow mani and not have to repaint my right hand as it would still be a cohesive look.

WHOOOAAAAA! I don't really know what I was thinking when I was editing this photo, the details are way too blown out to really see. What also fails in this mani is the white base. My orange mani really worked because the base wasn't white, so when you stamp with white there's more contrast (duh).
The white base is Sally Hansen (Xtreme Wear) White On, and then Sally Hansen (Insta-Dri) Lightening. My index and pinky are also featuring one of my favorite glitter toppers, Elevation Polish Huangshan. The images are from MoYou Tropical 08 and Bundle Monster 308.

Silly me. I should have edited this shade shot instead. buh.

-L

31DC2014, Day 2 - Orange

Hello!

Day 2 - Orange is ... Orange.

Gah! I was kinda like, uh, I suck, not really thinking outside the box with these challenges; roses are red, oranges are orange - but hey! I ended up loving my citrus mani and I got a lot of positive feedback, so WHATEVA.

AHHH, what a shame I didn't create this mani when we were in the height of summer, but Toronto experienced an usual late heatwave so I was really feelin' these!
The base is bondi nyc Central Park Blossom which is a super pale peachy shade, but in this mani almost gives the illusion of white (you'll see why this is important in my next mani: yellow). In the gradient I used bondi nyc Chasing the Sun and Cult Nails Ay Poppy!

I used MoYou Tropical 08, Bundle Monster 308 and Konad m55 in combination with white polish for all the images.
I actually managed to get my right hand to look pretty awesome too, which is so rare so that definitely gave this mani some bonus points.

-L

She's CRAFTY - plus starting the 31 Day Nail Challenge

Hello!

I know I sound like a broken record, but I've been so busy it's been hard to keep up with posting on the blog. But get ready for a landslide of posts because I've decided to try my hand at the 31 Day Nail Challenge!

Before we get into that, here's a look I did with MoYou Fashionista 01.

The purple is OPI Funky Dunky and the red is bondi nyc Strawberry Fields. I'm sooo in love with those scissors! My bestie (and CANVAS lacquer business partner) gifted me a necklace years ago with a scissor pendant that I absolutely adored. I was so heartbroken when it broke!

These buttons are super cute but I found very difficult to stamp. I had to use a very light hand (and several attempts) to get the image not to flood and smoosh all over the place when I was picking it up from the plate. The more and more I use the rectangular squishy stamper, the more I think I was simply meant to use the harder Konad style - I have a heavy hand I guess! I'm too often warping the images with the softer stamper. Lesson learned!

-L

Vacation Nails with MoYou Stamping

Hello!

Ok, so I didn't go on vacation. But let's say I did, I'd definitely rock something like this for a tropical trip.

I started with a base of OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around. I then used a makeup sponge to add the 3 colours: bondi nyc Teal Magnolia, OPI I Can't Cope-acabana, and OPI Live.Love.Carnival. It was meant to be a pie-shaped gradient, but I like the looser randomness of the final result.

I then added the tropical foliage images using Konad Gold Black and MoYou Tropical 12.

I love bright and tropical themes (can you tell?), but after a day or two I got restless with it. I was too busy at the time to do another mani, so I added a glitter topper!

Yay! Elevation Polish Haba Xueshan is one of my all-time favourite glitter toppers. Not sure why the black and white combo always makes things look a bit more 90's to me. Perfect, since I'm seeing a 90's esque topical trend everywhere this summer.

Do you prefer with or without the glitter?

-L

MoYou Sailor 08

Hello!

*happy dance* I have been coveting MoYou London plates for what seems like forever (but more like a year). When I heard they started offering free shipping to Canada I just HAD to treat myself.

I bought 6 plates, and this is my first mani. I also bought the squishy rectangular stamper and so far so good! I do find the image transferring has worked really well, but since I haven't done a whole nail design yet I haven't decided if this shape helps me align the image better, or if it reduces warping. My only complaint is that MoYou forgot to include a scraper, so I don't know if that would have been any better or not since it's plastic, and my Konad is metal.

Anyway...

Too often I forget to take pictures of bases before I start doing everything on top. Sorry!
The gradient is subtle here but more apparent IRL. In any case, it was a coat of bondi nyc Blue Skies, then I dabbed on with a sponge Nails Inc Baker Street, Motives Tahiti Surf, and Quo by Orly Prepster.

Using MoYou London Sailor 08 and Konad White, Red and Gold Black I stamped on different coral images. I also used OPI Amazon...Amazoff for green seaweed, but it's not a stamping polish and didn't appear as opaque.
I used the leadlight technique to fill in the fish images with Nfu-Oh Jelly Syrup 20 (yellow), 25 (red) and 03 (gray).

It didn't turn out quite like I pictured in my head, but I'm still satisfied with my first MoYou experience (minus the missing scraper).

-L

Nail Mail!

Hello!

I've been on a no-buy for quite some time, times have been tight so I've been pretty well behaved.
However, sometimes one just needs to indulge a little. I was dying for the Pueen Encore Collection, and then I also found out MoYou offered free shipping - so I went on a spree!

Expect a lot of stamping in the next few weeks!

-L