Maniology Mani X Me February 2019

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Hey there!  I'm back today with a look at this month's Mani X Me box from Maniology.  For anyone who doesn't know, Mani X Me is a subscription box (also purchasable month by month) that always contains two polishes, two stamping plates and at least one other nail art goodie, for a very reasonable price.  February's theme is Dreamland and the products certainly fit with the theme.  I was a bit hesitant about this box at first but I ended up really enjoying the nails I did with it (I mean, seriously, how can you not like a flying whale?).  I personally think I'll use these plates more in combination with other plates in the future.  There's a lot of single images which I feel would work best as accent nails or over other full nail stamps.  They're definitely unique images so they're worth a look, even if you have a ton of stamping plates.  If you're interested you can save $5 off your first Mani X Me box, using the code COPY10 (which will also save you 10% off any other Maniology order as well).  

First of all, let's have a closer look at the contents of February's box.  There are two creme polishes (a dark slightly purplish blue and a yellow), the MXM001 and 002 plates and a nifty little extra.  At first I wasn't sure what these were but they are 4 sheets of iridescent sticker strips, two different colours with each having one sheet of straight stripes and one wavy (both of varying widths).   

Shibori

Shibori is an ever so slightly purple-leaning blue (though this photo looks far more pure blue) creme. It applied like an absolute dream.  It was opaque at one coat but I swatched it at two coats (plus top coat).  This one stamps great as you'll see in a second.  

Nikko

The second polish in February's box is Nikko, a medium yellow creme.  This one has a different formula than the other Maniology cremes I've tried.  The formula is thinner and less opaque so I had to use 3 coats to get the opacity I wanted.  I believe this is an issue of yellow polish in general.  If they're too opaque, they're thick and difficult to use.  Because it is thinner, it doesn't stamp as brightly as other Maniology polishes but if you just need a general yellow creme in your collection, this one will certainly fit the task.  

MXM001

Stamping plate MXM001 has a mix of Maniology's Peek Chic framing style images as well as 8 whimsical animal designs.  The etching quality was great with both the plates in this box.  

To first try out XMX001, I did a smooshy base of a white polish, Maniology Ice Pond and just a bit of Shibori.  I first stamped one of the Peek Chic images with Nikko.  You can see that it does stamp fairly sheer though it would appear brighter if the base was a lighter shade.  For the fish, I did reverse stamping with Mundo de Unas Black, filled with White and Nikko and Ice Pond.  These would be even more adorable in orange (hello Nemo!) but I wanted to see how the reverse stamping would turn out using Nikko.  

 MXM002

With the exception of the flying whale, each image on MXM002 is a smaller individual image.  Most have either a star or crystal feel to them which does make them feel very dreamy.  

As a Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fan, I had to use the big whale.  I did reverse stamping (in four different pieces) using Shibori as the stamping polish.  Look how bright that is!  I filled the images with white and Great Lakes Lacquer I Speak For The Trees.  Since there's a lot of stars in this image as well, it would be fun to have it over a dark nighttime base but I really wanted my whale to be blue.  

I also did a mani combining the two plates.  I used Cirque Colors Shiny as the base then stamped another framing image from MXM001 with Mundo de Unas Black.  I loved the feather images on MXM002 so I did some reverse stamping with them (and the bird) with the Cirque Colors Dreamscapes polishes.  Since the bird is a solid image, I actually painted them over the black stamping and then added a little wiggle on the wing.  

Iridescent Tape

The last item in the box was the iridescent tape.  Here I used the wavy versions (of both colors, one of which leans more green-blue and one of which leans more pink-gold-green) over Shibori.  I applied them tape over a dry base and then clipped off the ends with cuticle snippers but I have read that, to get the edges to stick down better, using a tacky base helps.  I wish I would've thought of that since that was my only issue with these.  Other than that, I absolutely loved how unique these stickers are.  

I loved the tape over the blue base on its own but I stamped over it with a couple of image from MXM002 anyway.  I think the mix of the tape and the stamping is quite ethereal.  

So that's what the February Dreamland Mani X Me box has to offer.  This particular box might not be for everyone but I hope my designs give you a couple ideas of how to mix and match images from these plates.  And don't forget to use the code COPY10 to save some money if you order this (or any other Maniology product) to make it even more affordable (though in my opinion these boxes are always a great deal, even without a discount).  

$25 USD/month (if one month)
$22.50 USD/month (if 3 months)
$20 USD/month (if 6 months)

Available at Maniology

Use code COPY10 to save $5 off your first box or 10% off any other order 

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'Til next time...