Maniology January 2020 Heartbreaker Mani X Me Box

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Hey there!  Since today is Valentine's Day, it is more than appropriate that I get a blog post up about last month's Maniology Mani X Me box seeing as it's theme was Heartbreaker.  I normally try to get these done while the box is still available but I normally only get a few days before the month switches over on the 23rd so it wasn't possible this time around.  I received February's box today if I can find some time to play with it this weekend I'll definitely get a look at it posted next week.  Even if January's box is gone, hopefully someone can find some inspiration with the looks I've create with it.  In case you're unaware, the Mani X Me box is a monthly subscription box (though it can also be purchased on a month to month basis) with 2 exclusive Maniology stamping plates, 2 polishes and an extra.  This month's "extra" was so helpful that I hope they start selling them on their own because I'd definitely buy some.  If you're interested in the box and want to try it out, using the code COPY10 will give you $5 off your first one.  Now let's take a look...

Maniology Mani X Me Box December 2019

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Hey there!  Today I have a look at Maniology's latest Mani X Me box.  December's box is all about gems/marble which makes for some really fantastic designs.  For the uninitiated, the Mani X Me box is a monthly subscription box (also available on a month-by-month basis) that contains two exclusive stamping plates, two polishes and an "extra" which changes every month.  While the full box is really affordable (at $20-25 USD/month, depending on subscription length), it's also available in an Express format which doesn't include the polishes, for $15.30-18 USD/month).  I normally do two manis per plate but this month just screamed for a mix-n-match so most of them included both plates together.  This month's box is available until December 23rd so you have until Monday to decide if this one is for you!  And, if you're new, you can use the code COPY10 to save $5 off your first box which makes it even more affordable!

The Digit-al Dozen does Accent Nails - Christmas Dotitcure

Hey there!  I'm late for Day 1 of Digit-al Dozen's Accent Nails week.  I have been feeling like I was coming down with something so I'm not done my manis ahead of time this month.  Luckily the theme should be easy enough...especially if the nail art is only on the accent nails like in this mani.  After I did these on Sunday night I realized "hey, I think I've done these exact nails before"...but it was bedtime so I stuck with it.  Hopefully I don't accidentally copy myself again!

The Digit-al Dozen does Christmas In July - Christmas Beach Party

Hey there!  Long time, no talk!  I've been a bit of a mess lately so blogging hasn't been highest on my priority list.  But the reason is a pretty exciting one...I've been looking to buy a house and I think I found one!  It's been mighty stressful though.  I don't know how some people look for ages and ages looking for the perfect place.  I would probably develop 500 ulcers if I did that.  It's been about 2 months for me and that's plenty!  But, stress or not, I didn't want to miss our Digit-al Dozen week.  This month's theme is Christmas In July.  At first I hated the idea of the theme but it ended up being pretty fun.  For my first mani, I went with a beach party design.  Because even Santa and his elves deserve some relaxation time, tropical drinks and all!

Maniology Mani x Me Subscription Box Review - April 2019

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Hey there!  I'm a bit on the late side with my review of Maniology's Mani x Me box for April.  This month's theme is Fossilized.  As an Albertan, which is a province that essentially lives off of old dinosaurs, I have to admit I loved this box.  Dinosaurs have always been fascinating to me.  This month's offerings have both classic prehistoric dinosaur imagery and some fun 80's/dinosaur combos on the two stamping plates.  In addition to the plates, there's also two polishes (which double as regular polish and stamping polish) and 4 sheets of nail stickers.  Since I had more time to do manis this month, I did a couple more than usual.  If any of my manis inspire you to try out this box, be sure to get your order in this week.  I believe the boxes switch to the next month on the 23rd of the month.  And also be sure to use the coupon code COPY10 to save $5 on your first box, or 10% on any other Maniology order.

Born Pretty Store Stamping Review

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Hey there!  Today I have a stamping plate and polish review for Born Pretty Store.  I haven't reviewed a Born Pretty product in ages but I'm more than happy to.  They are certainly a go-to nail art supply store when I'm looking for quality, inexpensive products.  That being said, since they are based in Asia, orders do take awhile to appear in my mail box but I'm rarely disappointed once I receive them.  They sent me 2 stamping plates and 2 chameleon stamping polishes to try out so let's take a look!

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).  

UberChic Beauty Mini St. Patrick's Day Stamping Plates

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Hey there!  I know, I know, it's only February 5th so what am I doing showing St. Patrick's Day nails already?  Well, I do this for you guys, haha!  I was recently sent the brand new UberChic Beauty St. Patrick's Day 02 plate AND the original St. Patrick's Day plate which I didn't get last year and I figured it'd be a good idea to post them early in case anyone wanted to snatch them up in time for the big day this year.  For those of us outside of the US, packages can take a while to get to us so it's best to order early.  These are both mini plates, meaning they're a 6 x 12 cm plate so there's fewer images than her larger plates but the images are still a full sized 17 x 21 mm.  And the etching is still as wonderful as any of her other plates!  So here comes the green and gold manis (with one exception)!

The Digit-al Dozen does Marble - Drip Marble

Hey there!  It's the fourth day of The Digit-al Dozen's Marble Week and you had to know I was going to get to a drip marble eventually.  I fell in love with this technique as soon as I saw it.  So when I received my order of the Cirque Colors Dreamscapes collection over the holidays (ordered from Harlow & Co. because shipping from the US to Canada is pricey), I thought they're make a pretty dreamy marble mani.  Let me know if you agree!

Whats Up Nails Slime Drip and Chain Stencils

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Hey there!  So far 2019 has been all about stamping.  Well, let's be honest, 99% of what I do on my nails is stamping.  But today I have a stencil post!  As much as I love stamping, I do love a good nail stencil and luckily, Whats Up Nails makes the best stencils.  These are the last two stencils I have to share from my last package they sent me but I actually just ordered some more from a distributor last night (gotta keep those Canadian shipping costs down).  But for now, I have the Slime Drip Stencils and Chain Stencils to share.  I love how they both turned out!

Nail Crazies Unite - Holiday Food & Drink

Hey there!  I'll try to not make this the most whiney blog post in the history of mankind but it should have been done on Friday.  But Friday was my birthday (the big 4-0, I can't believe I'm admitting that to the whole internet) so I left work a bit early to celebrate with a few drinks (maybe more than a "few") instead of finishing my blog.  I had been sick all of last week with a cold/cough which I fought through since Thursday and Friday were going to be busy work days.  And I did it!  And I had a great birthday evening.  But by Saturday I seemed to have come down something of a stomach flu so I'm running at about 45% right now.  I couldn't even stomach the lovely birthday dinner I had with my family last night.  Because of the combination of celebration and illness, I'm days behind on getting this post up.  Friday's Nail Crazies Unite prompt was Holiday Food & Drink and I did one of my favourites...apple pie!  Yum!!

The Digit-al Dozen does Look Up - Ceiling Tiles

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Hey there!  It's time for this month's week of Digit-al Dozen goodness!  This month our theme was "Look Up - First Thing You See".  This one was a challenging but fun one, that I took quite literally.  It also taught me that I don't have a whole lot of color around me which is a bit depressing!  I ended up with almost all black/white/grey or shades of beige designs this week.  My first one was inspired by what I see when I look up ~40 hours per week...the plain old ceiling tiles in my office at work.  You know the kind.  They're grey with little holes in them and can be found in pretty much every office across the land.  I actually did two manis with this idea, the first with stamping, but I prefer this one using stencils.

UberChic Beauty Pretty In Plaid Stamping Plate

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Hey there!  Today I have one of the brand new plates from UberChic Beauty and it's an instant favourite for me.  This is the Pretty In Plaid stamping plate.  Right before she had  released this plate, I did a plaid mani for an upcoming challenge but I had to search for a plate (out of about the bazillion plates that I have) that was even decent.  Then this one came and blew the one I had used away.  It's perfect for anyone craving plaid nails of any sort.  Even though I just received this, I've already done four designs with it.  That should give some indication of how much I like it...

Nail Crazies Unite - Inspired By Fall Fashion

Hey there!  Today's Nail Crazies Unite theme is pretty appropriate for the weather we've been having in Edmonton.  The prompt is Inspired By Fall Fashion and it's certainly turned to fall here.  Practically overnight it got chilly and the leaves started turning.  I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer yet but it seems like I might not have a choice.  So I guess it's time to embrace autumnal nails starting with these (which are actually my current mani since I just did them last night).  I'm not much into fashion but when I think of fall I think of jeans and sweaters so that's what I did.

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Pattern on Pattern, with the UberChic Beauty Striper Brush

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Hey there!  Today's 26 Great Nail Art Ideas theme is Pattern on Pattern/Double Stamping.  I double stamp my nails a lot (thank you clear stampers) so I thought I'd try something a little different - a mix of striping and stamping.  I had just received UberChic Beauty's Striper Nail Art Brush to try out so I figured this would be the perfect time to give it a shot.  I combined with with some stamping from one of the older collections to create this almost vintage-looking design.

The Digit-al Dozen does Tropical/26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Sunset Silhouette

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Hey there!  Alas, it's the last day of The Digit-al Dozen's Tropical Week.  Of course I couldn't let the week go by without a sunset mani.  It just so happens that 26 Great Nail Art Idea's prompt this week is Silhouette so it was pretty much a match made in heaven.  I took the opportunity to use a few stencils from Whats Up Nails that I used last year but I messed up with.  It's pretty much been haunting me for over a year.

The Digit-al Dozen does In My Garden - Succulent Rock Garden

Hey there!  Since I don't actually have a garden, it was a bit challenging to come out with "In My Garden" ideas.  But I had just bought Cirque Colors Pebbles and thought it would make a good rock garden.  However, when I googled "rock gardens" I learned that they're not literally just piles of rocks.  There's usually lots of succulent plants in there as well...who knew?!  Luckily succulents are very popular these days so I had a stamping plate that was just perfect for it and I came up with my favourite mani of the week.  I hope you like it too!

Beauty Bigbang Stamping and Chameleon Powder Review

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Hey there!  Today I have a few products from Beauty Bigbang to review.  Beauty Bigbang is a very inexpensive overseas supplier of all sorts of nail art goodies.  I have had great experience with their stamping plates previously) so I was excited to try some more of them.  I'm pleased to say that the etching of these plates was even better than the first ones I tried.  Also in my package were a couple of their multichrome powders (they call these "chameleon mirror powder") and a holo plate holder and a small glass file.  Please keep reading to hear my thoughts on all of these, good and bad, and to get my code that will save you a bit of money.

UberChic Beauty Collection 25 Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  Today I have the latest collection of stamping plates from UberChic Beauty to review.  We're all the way up to Collection 25 now and the plates coming out are still fantastic.  As always the quality is top notch.  I used a variety of stamping polish brands and they all worked without issue.  She's kept up the variety of images you get in a collection.  There's positive and negative space images, small individual images and one larger image (larger than 4 regular images combined).  I've done two manis with each plate so keep reading to see all the details and all the images available in this lovely new set of plates.

UberChic Beauty Woodland Chic Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  Recently UberChic Beauty came out with their Woodland Chic stamping plate.  Brittany was inspired by the motif they used for her new baby son's nursery decorations.  Having seen photos of the room on Facebook, I can tell you that that is one lucky boy because he's growing up in a really cool room (and has a really cool mom).  The room (and this plate) is all things hip and outdoorsy.  The plate is full of adorable animals, some layered images, trees and mountains.  When I first saw the photo of this plate, I told Brittany it feels like home to me, possibly because, even though we live 2000 km apart, we do share a mountain range so we're practically neighbours!