40 Great Nail Art Ideas - 3 Shades of Red/Orange

Hey there!  Today I have my weekly instalment of Crumpet's Nail Tart's 40 Great Nail Art Ideas.  This week's color prompt is 3 shades of red or orange which fit perfectly with my personal prompt of skittles.  I've read that skittle nails are defined as either the same pattern with different colors or different patterns using the same color scheme.  Since I already had to use 3 shades of orange or red, I went with the former.  I actually tried to use 5 shades of orange but some of them get a bit lost...2 look the same, one looks red.  Oh well, you're going to have to take my word for it that these really were different orange shades.

UberChic Beauty Coffee Addict Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  Just a few days ago I shared a design I did with the new UberChic Beauty mini Succulent stamping plate and today I have another one of the mini plates.  This plate is dedicated to all the coffee lovers out there - I know there's a lot of you!  I'm not a coffee drinker personally but even I know this plate is perfect.  I swear I really did put in a valiant effort into drinking coffee when I was an undergrad but all it did was make me jittery and weird.  So I'll stick with my good ole' Coca-Cola when I need a boost.  Luckily my nails did not have the same reaction to coffee as my brain did...no shaky nail in today's post!      

Creative Shop Ukraine Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  Last month Oksana, the creator of the Creative Shop Stamper messaged me asking if I'd like to try one of her new stamping plates and I jumped at the chance.  Knowing how good her stampers have been, I was willing to bet that she'd also be making plates of the same great quality and I was right.  The stamping plate I was sent is all about her home country of Ukraine.  Alberta, where I'm from in Canada, has a large Ukrainian population so I've always known some Ukrainian words and the food but not much else.  While I admit that I didn't know much about Ukraine before, I'm happy this plate made me do some digging to find out a bit more.  Keep reading to see the plate and the details about the couple of designs I used from it.

Celestial Cosmetics Rainbows & Unicorns Swatches and Review

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Hey there!  Today I have swatches of Celestial Cosmetics' new collection, Unicorns and Rainbows, currently available at Color4Nails.  These five shades were recently released and, in all honesty, the collection couldn't have a better name.  These are all holographic polishes (hence the rainbows part of the collection name) and, with the exception of Unicorn Fields, they're all pastel and shimmery and have an ethereal feel that really does feel like a world unicorns would live in.  Now, let 's get to all the details...

HPB Present Dusty Succulents with UberChic Beauty Mini Succulents Plate

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Hey there!  Today I have a bit of a 2-for-1 post.  When I saw the this month's Hobby Polish Bloggers' theme was Dusty/Muted Colors, I knew I wanted to do something with the UberChic Beauty Succulents mini plate that I had just received to review.  I love succulent plants, especially the ones that have that purple/green hazy look to them so that's what I've tried to mimic here with a smoosh marble for this months' link up.  I have no green thumb...like zero!  But when I was in grad school I did manage to keep a few succulents alive for a good long time.  I've always loved their squishy, firm look...and the fact that you barely need to water them, haha!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Animals

Hey there!  Today for 40 Great Nail Art Ideas, we have a fun theme.  Animals!  I've been itching to get to the cabin after a long winter away so I did some stamping of the great outdoors.  I've seen all the creatures I've put on my nails either at the lake or on the way to the lake (usually right in front of my car...yikes!).  Keep reading to see all the details.

UberChic Beauty Mini Itty Bitty Icons Stamping Plate and XL Clear Stamper Review

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Hey there!  Be prepared because today I have the cutest post I've ever done.  How, you ask?  Because my adorable 5 year old niece is being featured (with her and her mother's permission, of course).  When Brittany from UberChic Beauty told me she had designed a mini plate with small images and that I'd get to try one, I knew I had the perfect model.  Though this plate is designed with kids in mind, this plate isn't just for kids.  I easily came up with two ideas for my adult nails that I'm showing today, in addition to how my niece's nails turned out.  I also have the XL Clear Stamper to review today.  All the stamping I did for these was done with this stamper and it's specifics can be found at the end of this post.

Nire's Desire Polish Swatches

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Hey there!  Today I have some swatches from Nire's Desire, a brand that was first introduced to me by the amazing, and now sadly "retired", Crumpet.  I've always trusted Debbie's polish suggestions so when she gushed about Prana, I purchased the entire Yoga Trio.  Today I have three brand new polishes and one previously released shade from Nire's Desire to share.  There's such a neat mix of finishes in these four and I love them all.  I'm so happy Erin is back from her hiatus!  Keep reading to see all the details.

Picture Polish March 2016 Shades and Jelly Stamper for Color4Nails

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Hey there!  I'm so darn excited today to be able to show you Picture Polish's latest offerings.  These lovelies were released by Picture Polish last month and I jumped at the opportunity to be able to review them for Color4Nails.  While Picture Polish is an Australian brand, there are numerous international distributors, such as Color4Nails, that allows us international folks to be able to get our hands on them.  The five polishes I'm showing you today are all perfect for this time of year and have Picture Polish's perfect formula that makes it one of my favourite brands.  I was also sent a clear stamper that Picture Polish has released so I have three stamping manis to show you below...just follow the jump...

The Digital Dozen does Gradient+ and 40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Pink & Lilac

Hey there!  Today I have a combination of three themes (yes, three) and two full manis (yes, two) that, to be honest, both kinda suck.  If you've been following along this week, you'll know that The Digit-al Dozen is doing Gradient+, ie. gradients with a bit extra.  This week 40 Great Nail Art Ideas has the color prompt of pink and lilac and I had the personal prompt of saran wrap and I thought it'd be easy to combine saran wrap and gradient nails.  I was wrong.  These two techniques don't mix particularly well or, at very least, I didn't manage to do anything I liked.  First I tried saran wrap over a centered gradient...didn't like it.  So then I tried gradient stamping over a saran wrap mani but my stamping colors are so faint that it's barely a gradient.  I refused to try for a third time so I'm stuck with these two looks.

The Digit-al Dozen does Gradient+: Water Marble over Gradient

Hey there!  Today's Digit-al Dozen gradient was inspired by a gradient picture my sister emailed me last month.  She's sweet in that she's frequently on nail inspiration lookout for me.  So when I had a photo emailed to me with no subject and no text, I knew it was for me and my nails.  Even though it's early in the year for beachy nails like this, I couldn't resist using that image as my gradient for Gradient+ week.  For the + factor, I added a coat of glitter (easy) and a water marble (less easy).  It's so summery!

The Digit-al Dozen does Gradient+: Glitter Gradient

Hey there!  It's the middle of this month's Digit-al Dozen Gradient+ week.  In my quest to do different types of gradients, for today I did a glitter gradient (the cleanest of all gradient types, in my opinion).  For the + factor, I added some stamping and Swarovski crystals.  I think I ended up covering too much of my nail with glitter so I lost some of the gradient effect  but hopefully you can see what I was going for...

The Digit-al Dozen does Gradient+: Vertical Gradient

Hey there!  Despite loving how today's Digit-al Dozen Gradient+ mani turned out, it's a sad one for me....because it created a big ugly stain on my mini Uber Mat.  But I'll try not to focus on that (even though it stares me in the face almost every day) and instead try to focus on my sparkly, rainbow gradient nails.  For today's gradient I decided to try a rainbow vertical gradient with fire nail vinyls for the "+" factor.  I loved them but they weren't worth the stain...that's what I get for not being careful with my polish choice!

The Digit-al Dozen does Gradient+: Fan Brush Gradient

Hey there!  It's time for a new Digit-al Dozen week.  This time we're doing "Gradient +" which means gradients with a little bit extra.  Now I LOVE gradients so I thought this would be easy peasy but I struggled with coming up with ideas that weren't all gradients with simple stamping.  In the end I did end up with a mix, all with different styles/methods of gradients, starting with today's fan brush gradient.  Using a fan brush doesn't necessarily give you the best blending of a gradient but it sure is fast!  For the + factor, I went with some Coachella-inspired stamping (since apparently Coachella does begin this weekend).

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Kids TV

Hey there!  This week's theme for 40 Great Nail Art Ideas is Kid's TV.  This one was tough for me since I don't have kids and it's been a long time since I was a kid myself.  I believe it was my sister who suggested I try doing Care Bears nails so that's what I tried to do here.  Care Bears (linked for those of you who might not know what they are) was one of the few cartoons I was able watch growing up since we lived in the country and couldn't receive anything other than three basic TV channels (that would kill me now!).  Every weekday at 7 or 7:30 am Care Bears was on while I was getting ready for school so they're definitely a childhood memory.

Bundle Monster Festival Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  How's everyone doing today?  Today I have another stamping plate review for you guys to have a look at.  This is one of Bundle Monster's newest stamping plate sets, Festival, just in time for a summer of music festivals.  I have to say that this is my favourite set that Bundle Monster has come up with in quite awhile.  Even though I haven't gone to a music festival in years and I'm old enough to not "get" some of the images on these plates, I love this set anyway...that's saying a lot!  I guess is appeals to the hippy, nature nut in me.  

UberChic Beauty The Far East -02 Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  Today I have one of UberChic Beauty's awesome single plates to review, The Far East -02.  While I do LOVE UberChic's collections, these individual plates are always fun.  Brittany manages to come up with images that fit a cohesive theme while not necessarily constraining the user to it.  While this plate is certainly Asian-themed, I think that only one of the three manis I'm posting today entirely fits the theme.  Keep reading to see how I've done these...

Delush Polish DP03 Swirls & Twirls Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  Today I have a review of the last Delush Polish stamping plate that is currently available.  There were three initial plates released so this is DP03, also known as Swirls & Twirls, a very suitable name for this plate (review of DP01 and DP02 can be found here and here, respectively).  As well I have swatches of two gorgeous Delush Polish shades that you might be interested in.  Keep reading to see all the details...

Sunday Stamping - Whatever The Weather

Hey there!  Hope you're having a good weekend.  I'm finishing out the weekend with this weather-related stamping.  Today's Sunday challenge theme is "whatever the weather" and until this weekend, this is pretty much how Edmonton's skies have been looking for the last couple of weeks.  In all other seasons, we have big blue skies but spring tends to bring some cloudier weather with just bits of blue sky so that's what I've tried to show here with this double stamping.  Luckily the weather this weekend has been phenomenal so I got to see the sun.

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Violet

Hey there!  This week's 40 Great Nail Art Ideas prompt is violet, which I taught me yesterday that I don't actually know what color violet is.  I had thought violet was anything between red and blue on the color spectrum but, according to a discussion in the group, it turns out that violet is more of a neon purple.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to do a new mani after learning of my mistake so, instead of violet roses (as roses was my personal prompt), today I have purple roses.  At least I hope they look like roses since I freehanded them!