A week of nails +

As per usual life has gone hectic on me. What can ya do right? But I do have images of my nails from the last week plus.

Got three mani's to post here. First up is my Green mish-mash. No I love the color green, however I hate that is almost always stains my nails even with a base coat. China Glaze- Entourage is famous for doing this to me, but I LOVE the color. Damn you pretty lime green for making me love and hate you at the same time!!!

Items used here- China Glaze- Entourage, Lemon Fizz, Blue Hawaiian, and White-cap. Konad Special polish- Olive and Green. Chez-Delaney- plate T40.

To achieve this all nails got two coats of Entourage. Thumbs and ring fingers then got a thick coat of Blue Hawaiian. (blue Hawaiian is a blue jelly based glitter) Next I stamped my pinkie, middle and pointer fingers with Olive, followed by taking a small brush and following parts of the design with Lemon fizz and White-cap. Finally I took the Konad-green and stamped the same image again. I love how it looks like a Monet painting. A bit blurry and softly focused.

I have some complaints about this mani I must confess. Blue Hawaiian does not like stay. After less than 24 hours I already had tip wear on both hands on just the two fingers it was layered with. After three days it had huge chips in it, which lead me to remove all of my polish. I have noticed all of the glitter collection are like this. They are a pain to get off, thick and no staying power. All of which does not make me a happy camper. But because they are so pretty, I keep using them.

Mani number 2 is a skittles look that I was going to stamp on top of, but just didn't have the time. Wore this for a week straight with very little tip wear. I seldom just wear solid colors, so it was a bit refreshing.

In order from pinkie to thumb: China glaze- sky high-top, Flyin high, Caribbean blue, For Audrey, and Sea Spray.

Ok mani number 3! Yay Halloween lines... *does a happy dance* I <3 <3 <3 Halloween so much. I was at sally's and saw the display and had to grab the two  favorites of the Halloween line. I just couldnt wait for pay day to place my online order, then wait a week for them to arrive. This is China Glaze Crimson, Near Dark was also acquired at the same time and will be my in next mani. When I put the color on this very much reminded me of OPI- Lincoln Park after Dark. I think Ill do a comparison of the two colors later this weekend (life willing no kid-catastrophes happen again).

So again used for this China Glaze- Crimson and Robotica. Konad- plate m79.

I used Robotica for stamping. I love the two colors together. Its really fall here and my mani so fits the gloom and wet outside.

Sorry for more picture spam, just couldn't bring myself to do separate posts. I have a back log of things I want to share from awhile ago to. Happy Polishing loves!

Chez-Delaney I Love you!

My title says it almost all. I love Chez-Delaney image plates for stamping. Now not all is sunshine and lollipops, but its close enough for me to squee with glee, possibly dance around some with a hint of pixie dust thrown in for good measure.

This post is massively pic heavy. Sorry in advance. I had to share though. I know the image quality is not the best, thus why I did not water mark these. Click them for full quality and detail.

So as you may recall if you read my every post, I had an Ah-ha moment and wanted to use Konad Image plate m66. Well I didn't own said plate and started looking at various plate sites to see what was new etc. This lead me back to the Chez-Delaney store. I had drooled over the plates on the site many times before, but was always too leery of ordering from some place that wasn't written in English. Well on a whim I started throwing image plates I needed (yea it was beyond wanted with a majority of these).

My whim fated me with 21 plates in my cart. Only one of them being a Konad image plate, my m66. The rest are documented below. So the great thing about these plates is that these have some amazing images that you are not going to find anywhere else, and even some kick ass logo's! The bad is that due to manufacturing some of the images do not pick up for beans.

I have not tested all of the images. So far I have come across three images on three separate plates that do not pick up all the way. I have not contacted anyone about this issue and really don't see the point in doing so. I have the same problem with a few bundle monster plates. Its always where the etching isn't deep enough for the polish to pool properly. One image on a plate of X many images will not kill me and with how awesome the images are, I say I have gotten my money's worth!

Now ONTO the images!

A22- full nail designs, flamingos, palm tree and sun, what look to me like cat eyes but could be feathers or even something else and dragons

A34- Lacey full nail prints. Slur! The four corners remind me of fishnet and flowers.

A37- Halloween images! Full print web, vampire moth, skull and cross bones, spider, pumpkin faces, bats and a stitched wound

D01- Christmas themed plate: wreath, snow flakes, tree, holly leaf, present, ornament, sleigh, reindeer and Santa

D03- Halloween themed plate: Spider, pumpkin, jack-o lantern face, skull, witch face, witch on broom stick with bats, witch on broom stick, Frankenstein, jack skeleton's head, ghost, and Halloween in creepy writing.

D04- Another Halloween themed plate (i love holidays!): Jack skeleton with web behind him, spider, BOO!, cat, spider in a web, pumpkin treat pail, witches face, vampire face, skull and cross bones, witch on broom in front of the moon and Trick or Treat in huge letters.

D07- Christmas Themed plate: three full nail prints- snow flakes, holly, and what could be confetti or streamers. Xmas, package, 2 sizes of merry Christmas over a set of bells, merry Christmas over a tree, single snow flack, bells, snow man.

D08- Awareness ribbon, and then we have a bunch of silhouettes of various celebrities. I do not know who all of them are but this is a fun plate.

D10- Unicorns, Faeries, Lydian, dragon... just a mix of mythical creatures.

D13- This plate isn't really themed. Mickey and Minnie on the moon, eight ball, soccer ball, flowers, dice, playing card, a print design,

D22- Pirate themed plate... lots of skulls, skull and cross bones and even jack sparrow for good measure! Arrrr

D25- Cartoon themed plate. Or at least that's with this reminds me of. V for vendetta, Ghost busters, thunder cats, batman and a few others I don't recognize... but then 4 flower vines. A bit of an odd mix.

D26- tweety bird, a cat very similar to the baby phat symbol, dove, turtle, bear, lizard, full nail print and a few others which I cant really define.

D29- The wild west meets the girly. We have an assortment of wild west images here... bulls head, cowboy, cactus, totem, feathers of a headband.. even a native American themed print... then we have barbies silhouette and hello kitty.. and a bands famous mouth symbol.

D46- cute creatures in various seasons. a bear in leaves, penguins, a cat, peacocks.

A24- three full nail prints, little devils, and a few images i don't know what they are supposed to be but look to me like things coming out of flames.

T29- ANOTHER Halloween plate. This is pretty self explanatory. Click the image to see it larger.

T34- And ANOTHER Christmas plate. Again a self explanatory image. Just click it.

T37- Another Christmas plate... but this one leans toward winter as well. Lots of star images, snowman, snow flakes, Christmas trees.

T40- Tooth, Lady bugs, dove, paw brings, various swirly images. Click to see the images better.

All of these plates can be viewed here at Chez-Delaney's webstore. I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment with what to use first. So many fun images to choose from.

As always Happy Polishing!

Rockin Facets of Fuchsia

I was walking through the makeup section of Target a few days ago when this shiny and dark polish caught my eye. I had to have it. The blue one next to it had my attention as well, but I passed on it worried about how this was going to apply. I am really wishing I had grabbed them both now.

What color am I talking about here... Revlon- Facets of Fuchsia. I applied this in one coat over China Glaze- First Mate. Then I used bundle monster plate BM03.

I really wish we had sunshine.. its been cloudy for days. If I am lucky I will get to photograph this pretty color in the sun before I get tip wear and have to remove it. (as the pictures show since I started typing this and then didn't get to post this right off we did finally get sun.)

And here we have my kids fingers... they got into polish wearing again. My oldest shocked the crap out of me when he demanded I paint his nails too. In all honesty I think it had more to do with the new image plates and me having a Thunder cats logo to stamp than anything else. Can't help but love that he asked. At nine years old he is at that in between phase where he is starting to act more mature but still has a ton of kid in him. I am lucky that he still wants to hug me in front of his friends.

Note: After a few days of wear I am still loving this color. Only thing I would change is the base color I used underneath. I think when I wear this again I will make sure to use a purple or black. The blue is pretty noticeable in the sunlight. On my boys fingers I didn't use a base and though it took more than one coat, I like it more than the blue hints peeking out.


Oh and I did end up going back to Target and grabbing the blue formula of this. I couldn't help myself. Once I saw how amazing this applies with one coat over a base color, I HAD to have the blue. Couldn't let it become a lemming. No no no, that just would not do. *grins* Since I am attending a funeral tomorrow, I think I will change my polish to the blue tomorrow night once all is done. The current deep black/ purple/ fuchsia thing is rather fitting.

On another note, check out my new hair. Stripped out the dark brown and am now sporting Magenta locks. In the debating stages of if I want to add in a few plum low lights. If I do it images will come forth for sure.

As always Happy Polishing!

Naaarthing to see here

I may finally be off my tea kick... but don't count on it. Still today's mani was not inspired by a tea box... as a matter of fact it was inspired by a joke.

How much does it cost a pirate to get his ears pierced? A buccaneer.

This joke has been in my head since I read it on a group page off facebook. Some of the responses before the real answer were quiet funny. Like "Naaarthing" and "A fight with captain hook!" Still it sat with me and when I got a lovely box in the mail today (which will be a post in the next day or two) I had to bust these babies out.

Used for this mani: OPI- Ogre the top Blue, China Glaze- Blue Sparrow, Konad Special Polish- White, Yellow and Pastel Blue. Plates from Chez-Delaney- A37 and D22.

 
Again I sponged a color over another color. This time it was to somewhat create the effect of glittery water. My nail in fluorescent light don't really show it off well, but in the sun its pretty and shiny. Ogre the top blue in two coats was applied first, left to dry and then I sponged Blue Sparrow just at the tips. I am kind of leaning toward the idea that a light blue than ogre would have really made this pop more. Live an learn.

I absolutely love my new plates. Sadly I now need to find something else to store my image plates. The photo album I have been using to store them is completely full for one, and two doesn't lay flat when closed. Its very over stuffed. I would rather not have more than one storage system so I shall see what I can find in my area.

Happy Polishing my loves! And stay tuned :)

Mandarin Orange Green Tea

I still have tea on the brain. Can't help myself. The stuff is so good and tasty. As I was brewing a pot of Mandarin Orange Green Saturday night I was just staring  at the box lost in thought, when I suddenly got the "ah-ha hey wonder if" idea again. So while the coffee pot was still doing it drip thing I grabbed my book of stamping plates. I didn't have what I was looking for, but came up with this. I could have sworn I had Konad plate m66, but sad day I fear it was only on my wish list. So this mani was born in place of what came to mind. I fear a shopping bug bit me after realizing my lack of said plate though... but that will be fruit of a post in the future. Lucky for you, sad for my pocket book.

For this look I used OPI- Skull & Glossbones and Mermaid's tears. Konad special polishes in white and black were used for stamping. Bundle Monster plate BM06 and Faux-nad plate m51 were used for stamping.

To get the faded green into grey, I used a makeup sponge and sponged Mermaid's Tears half way up each nail. I focused more color on the tips and did lighter pressing as I went up. The stamping makes it so you can't really see where the two colors end and begin, but the sponging also comes into play so there isn't a harsh noticeable line.

Did you notice I said I got inspired Saturday night... yea didn't actually do my nails until Sunday since I got so lost in shopping that I was staring, or shall I admit to drooling over nail plates and such that I was on the computer for over 2 hours straight before I hit the submit button to order. Left no time for polishing. Sunday was however very boring sitting at the inlaw's house since my car had to be worked on. I was smart enough to bring my supplies with me.

If you have the bundle monster plates, and know which design I used, then you know I was not able to achieve this look with just one stamping of it on each nail. Most of my nails have two or three stampings of the image to get it all the way across each digit. Only one stamping of the faux-nad was used. I have to say I usually stay away from my china made faux-nad plates for the reasoning that the plates are so deep, the images tend to  blur/ bleed and not look clean. I did a few test runs on my mixing palette with the polish before I went to my nails. I found that if I let the faux-nad design dry for about 10 seconds after picking it up off the plate and then pressing it the surface to be stamped, it transferred much more smoothly with fewer blowouts of the image. If you have any of these deeply etched plates I would love to hear what you have done to make stamping work better them. I have had such a hard time with them that I ignore them. I spent the money and don't want to just throw them away.

Beware the Tea fiend here... it may inspire again. Happy Polishing!

A taste of Chai Tea

This here is a super simple mani. But I have had tea on the brain lately, and Chai has been in heavy rotation. As I was flipping through my stamping plates I saw this print and had an "ah-ha!" moment. This print reminds me of oriental rugs and spices. Which is what Chai tea reminds me of. I am sure you can see where this lead.

So for this I used China Glaze in Classic Camel and stamped with Konad special polish in Chocolate. Plate used for this Konad- m83.

Hope you all are having a wonderful last week of August. I know I am enjoying the time I am getting with my boys before they return to school.

Happy Polishing!

FOTD: Corpse Pinup

Boredom struck again. Today (yesterday as of posting this) I bring you corpse like makeup.

All images are clickable for more detail or a better view.

Now a true corpse would be more toward the grey side of blue, lighter in shade and without bright fun pops of color... but common pinup needs some jazzing up.

Similar to the Zombie pinup look, I used my basic foundation and brushed pigment powder over it to set and color. Then I came back in with more shades of blue and blackened blue to amp everything up.

Again with the pigment I made a custom shade. This time it took four different products to get this exact color. Not even going to try to tell you what I used or how much of each. It was just a lot of mixing.

Love this lipstick color. Its a Mac color. Very pink but not over the top when used with everyday looks... here on the other hand its hello pink lips.

I have on false lashes here, and my bottom lashes line has lashes drawn below it with black liquid liner. For the slight pink tinge of the cheeks I used Sugarpill's Dollypop with a blush brush very lightly.

Yeah.. I made a bunch of weird faces... and check out the missing tooth. Yes that is real. Part of my adventures while I was away. If this were a blog about my life I would have pages to write, thank goodness its just a beauty blog.

Colors used for this look: Mac- Plumage, Pink Nouveau. Sugarpill- Royal Sugar, Bulletproof, After party, Dollypop. Coastal Scents- Lagoon Mist. Elf- lashes, black liquid liner. 

Okay I went pic happy... hope no one minds my goofiness. After I darkened my eye socket area with plumage, I went back in with Royal Sugar over a glitter primer. If you haven't guessed already I was somewhat inspired by Time Burton's Corpse Bride here with the eyes. Though Elf lashes suck ass... they are cheap $1 lashes I bought for a hair show I participated in. My model needed to wear 3 pairs of lashes (double top/single bottom), and since lashes usually are expensive for personal use (but reusable) and I had to supply all of my own make up, tools and even hair stuff, I went for the cheap-o's. Was not about to spend over $30 on a single use false lash look. I bought a few extras in the case of a mess up. Putting them on someone else was easy. On myself not so much. Elf''s lashes do not keep shape and its a bit hard to keep one eye closed and the other open. Ending rant now.... *huff huff pant pant*

Yes you can see really well above where the lash adhesive pulled the make up away when I had to adjust them. Makes me frown... but whatever. Perfection is not always needed. Most of my images you couldn't even see the line... yay for bathroom lighting picking it up. Darn those vanity lights =P


Hope you enjoyed this... as always, Happy Polishing and maybe even make-up brushing loves!