Maniology M113 - Lunar New Year: Year of the Rat

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Hey there!  Today for my "catch-up" post I have a look at Maniology's M113 Year Of The Rat stamping plate.  While the Lunar New Year isn't a huge deal for me, I work with a lot of people from China so it's great to be able to show them these types of designs at this time of year.  I also happen to work with rodents so I jumped at the opportunity to get this plate.  I know I could use this plate year round with all the cute little rats on it.  If you're also interested in it, use the discount code COPY10 to save yourself 10% on any regular priced Maniology item.  I know it works since I just used it myself since my bottle of blue Mani Mask is almost empty and it's not a staple item for me.

The Digit-al Dozen does Wool/Copper with UberChic Beauty Lovely Leaves 4

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Hey there!  Yes, I'm alive!  I realize I haven't posted in a month and never explained...but I bought a house!  So over the last month I was on vacation for 2 weeks (such an adult decision to go on vacation in the middle of the most stressful time ever), packed up and cleaned the old apartment, moved, unpacked and spent more money than I have in my entire life since it turns out houses need far more furniture than apartments.  And, of course, I broke most of my nails in the process which was okay because I was kind of checked out of nail world for awhile.  But I'm back just in time for this month's Digit-al Dozen theme of Wool/Copper (the traditional 7th anniversary gifts since September marks the DD's 7th year in existence).  I haven't done any manis ahead of time but I did pull out my stamping goodies last night so I wouldn't have to miss this week.  As I was moving I received some new plates from UberChic Beauty so I thought I'd combine the Lovely Leaves 4 plate with some copper stamping since copper is such a perfect autumn color.

Maniology Mani X Me Box - June 2019

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Hey there!  Happy Monday everybody!  Today I'm sharing my look at this month's Maniology Mani X Me Box, Memphis Mod.  The Mani X Me Box is a monthly subscription box with 2 plates, 2 stamping polishes (which can also be used as regular polish) and an extra.  That being said, you can opt out any month or just buy month by month so it's not a huge commitment.  But if you're not someone who has accumulated a big stash of stamping polishes, it's a great way to build your collection at a very reasonable cost.  I'll be honest, when I first saw this month's preview, I wasn't fully sold on it but when I did these manis last week, I kinda fell in love with it.  The polishes are perfect for summer and the plates encourage some fun geometric looks.  Plus, the pineapple plate holder is absolutely adorable.  If this (or any other Maniology products) interests you, please use the code COPY10 to save yourself some money!

The Digit-al Dozen does Vacation with UberChic Beauty Beach Please and Modern Tropical

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Hey there!  It's time for a new Digit-al Dozen week!  This month our theme is Vacation and, since when I think of vacation, I think of tropical destinations which fits perfectly with two new plates from UberChic Beauty that I received to review.  The last package I received contained a bunch of wrapped up surprise plates to be opened and revealed on certain days.  On May 29th, she released these two plates, Beach Please and Modern Tropical.  And this week there will be a new plate everyday.  How fun!  In addition, she has recently released some gel polish including stamping gel polish which is what I used for all the stamping today.  I do have swatches of each as well but I haven't gotten them up yet.  Hopefully that'll be up tomorrow in case you wanted to have a look at everything on its own as well.

The Digit-al Dozen does Albums - The Tragically Hip's In Violet Light

Hey there!  When trying to decide on albums to try to do for The Digit-al Dozen's theme this week, I decided I wanted to do an album by The Hip.  For anyone reading this who isn't Canadian, The Tragically Hip was (and is) the quintessential Canadian rock band.  They never really broke through in the US but that was okay.  They sung songs about all sorts of Canadiana and we all loved them for it.  I saw them live a few times which I'm very thankful for.  I'm old enough that I even waited overnight in line for tickets (outdoors!) to my first Hip show (this was before the online ticket sales times).  Sadly, the front man, Gord Downie, died from brain cancer in 2017.  I know I wasn't alone in getting emotional when I heard the news.  This past weekend I came across a documentary which followed their final tour (after his cancer diagnosis - yes, he toured one last time after getting diagnosed).  I had seen it before but I still couldn't turn it off.  It was like getting to spend a little more time with old friends.  Anyway, I wanted to do some Hip nail art but most their album covers didn't lend themselves well to nail art.  But the 2002 album In Violet Light was perfect.  I had to freehand again but I hope I managed to do their artwork justice.

Maniology Women's Empowerment Stamping Plates

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Hey there!  I'm currently sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Maui (woohoo!) and I thought it'd be the perfect time for a Maniology review (since they are lucky enough to be based in Hawaii).  They recently released two Women's Empowerment plates.  Our nail polish community has a ton of great women in it (and some great men as well).  I think it's lovely that they designed two plates to celebrate us.  Since there are so many wonderful indie maker women, I thought it'd be nice to focus my mani's on them as well so I used all polishes made by some powerful women.  I wish I had enough time to do manis with all of the great women makers but I could only focus on a few for this post.  But in case any of you are reading this, we appreciate you all!  And for anyone who is interested in purchasing any Maniology products, please use the coupon code COPY10 to save 10% (or $5 off your first Mani X Me box)

UberChic Beauty Secret Garden and Cultural Harmony Stamping Plates

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Hey there!  I hope every has had a good Thursday.  I personally can't wait for Friday.  This week has felt looonnngggg!!  But the highlight of it was getting to play with the new UberChic Beauty stamping plates the last couple of nights.  I received the Secret Garden plate and the Cultural Harmony plate on Monday after work and they jumped to the top of my "must try" pile.  I definitely wasn't disappointed.  Normally I don't get things posted so quickly but these couldn't wait.  So now you get to see what I've worn yesterday and today (and the ones I had to do and take off right away so I could blog about them sooner...sad face).

My Mani Box - I Love Unicorns (August 2018)

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Hey there!  Last week I got the mother of all review packages from the lovely folks over at Beautometry, including a few months worth of My Mani Box collections.  For those that are unaware, My Mani Box is a monthly nail art box (which you can purchase monthly or at a reduced subscription rate) that always includes indie polish, 2 MoYou London stamping plates and some extras.  I'll have a look at all that I received over the next couple of weeks but for now I'm starting with August of last year.  It had the theme of I Love Unicorns so you better believe there was a ton of unicorn-related items in there.  While this theme is over, it gives you an idea of the type of items that you could expect in these boxes.  I'll have a look at a few of them over the next couple weeks which

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)!

Maniology M017 Radio Riot Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  Happy Friday!!  I have another Maniology stamping plate review to share today before I head home for the weekend.  This is the M017 Radio Riot stamping plate.  It is chock full of images for all of us music lovers out there.  But it's really not just music images.  There's even a plaid image (which will always make me think of the 90's, my true love of music eras).  Seriously you have to check out the plate image down below to really get a sense of what this plate it about.  It's just coooollll.  And you can save 10% on it using my COPY10 code, making it even more economical.

UberChic Beauty Numbers 01 and Alphabet 01 Stamping Plates

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Hey there!  It's New Year's Eve and while everyone else might be getting ready for New Year's parties, I'm sitting around in my PJ's, watching Food Network and blogging and I couldn't be happier!  Actually, I had a hectic morning since my camera died last night at about 1 am.  I was in full panic mode, especially since I couldn't find a DSLR repair shop in Edmonton that wouldn't send the camera to Ontario to be fixed.  I simply couldn't be without a camera for 6 weeks.  I have a nail habit I need to take photos of and I have no ability to take decent picture with my phone!  But I found a second hand one that's practically new (according to the numbers of photos that has been taken on it) at a store so I rushed out to get it this morning.  I think it was the right move since repairing mine would likely have cost almost as much.

Luckily I did all these manis yesterday before it died so I knew I could get these posted.  Today I'm sharing UberChic Beauty's Numbers 01 and Alphabet 01 stamping plates.  These plates were released awhile ago but I didn't get them so I received them (along with the new plates) this time around.  Both have the whole range of numbers/letters in numerous fonts so there should be something for any occasion.  And of course the quality of the etching is great.  Now onto the mani's I did with them!

Nail Art with Girly Bits Cosmetics Fall 2018 Cremes

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Hey there!  Last month when Girly Bits Cosmetics announced they were releasing a new set of creme polishes for 2018, I was definitely excited.  I've used the 2017 collection in a ton of nail art so I snatched up the new collection literally within a minute of it being available.  The colors are outside the realm of "typical" fall colors and really provide a range of colors that seemed useful for even more nail art.  So you just knew I had to play with them a bit.  These are the results of that playing.  I wanted to test them out with some of my more common techniques (mostly stamping, of course) but there's a bit more here, as you'll see.

Late Autumn Whats Up Nails Stencils

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Hey there!  Last week I received a new package of awesome products from Whats Up Nails, one of my favourite nail art suppliers.  It appeared that some of the stencils were fall and halloween themed so I thought I better start playing with them right away before the entire world is covered in snow (yes, I know the entire world will never be covered in snow but since I live in a northern city, it feels like a winter wonderland already).

Autumn Dotticure Nails

Hey there!  I hope everyone had a spectacular weekend and enjoyed time change day (my personal favourite day of the year even though I know not everywhere gets to change their clocks).  I think I stayed up until about 4 am doing my nails and binge watching TV which, with the clock change, was only 3 am which is a far more reasonable time to go to bed, haha!  I got to play with a couple UberChic plates and some Madam Glam polishes so you can expect to see the results of my insomnia sometime this week hopefully.  But for today, I have a fall manicure, once again using the Girly Bits Fall Cremes from last year.  I've used these a ton this year.  She released a new set on Friday at 10 am and my checkout receipt for the whole set came through by 10:01 am...needless to say, I love Pam's cremes since she's formulated them to be wonderful for nail art.  I can't wait to see them in person!  Anyway, here's a dotticure twist on a fall leaves mani...

UberChic Beauty Art Deco Flair and Moroccan Delight Stamping Plates

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Hey there!  Today I'm pretty much sharing my last few days with you guys.  On Saturday I got the latest UberChic Beauty plates, Art Deco Flair and Moroccan Delight and pretty much haven't stopped trying them out since.  I've done 3 manis with each (plus one big fail).  Usually I try to do two full manis per plate when I'm sent something to review but I clearly like these ones since I did some extra.  I feel like I don't even need to say anything about UberChic's plates since I'm so consistently impressed by their quality.  But I will...if you haven't tried this brand, you should.  The etching is great and the images are gorgeous.  What else do you need?

The Digit-al Dozen does TV Shows - Game of Thrones

Hey there!  For my second Digit-al Dozen TV Show nails, I went with one of my biggest loves - Game of Thrones.  Luckily GoT is so popular that there's even stamping plates for it!  I took advantage of that to do this House Stark design.  I feel like I've done a few Game of Thrones nails but they're always focusing on fire and dragons.  Let's be honest, I'm cheering for The North (being a northern girl myself).

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...

UberChic Beauty Lovely Leaves 3, Halloween 4 and Puff & Stamp Tool

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Hey there! I'm back today with a look at a few of the new products available from UberChic Beauty.    A week ago she released some brand new fall plates, Lovely Leaves 3 and Halloween 4 and, not long before that, she put out some new nail art tools.  Last week I shared a mani I had done with the Striper Brush and this week two of the manis used the Dual-Ended Puff & Stamper.  Like I said in my last blog post, fall has hit my city so the new Lovely Leaves plate comes right in time.  It's a bit early for Halloween but I love that she released them early to make sure you can have the plate come Halloween-season.

The Digit-al Dozen does White - Clouds

Hey there!  It's a new Digit-al Dozen week!  This week we have the theme of "White".  I have a feeling I voted for this theme but when it came to actually doing my nails, I could only picture white nails...which would make for a mighty boring week.  Instead I tried to think of things that are white (or at least have white in their names) which was still challenging but kind of fun.  I'd been wanting to do cloudy nails for awhile and clouds are white so that's my day 1.

UberChic Beauty Collection 27 and Moroccan Beauty Stamping Plate Review

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Hey there!  I don't normally sneak in here on the weekends but I couldn't wait to share the latest from UberChic Beauty.  Collection 27 and Moroccan Beauty are some gorgeous new plates.  She also just released a new holographic plate holder with pages you can move around.  I don't know about you but I do like having my plates organized in a certain way so this is a big selling feature.  Currently you can get all of these products in a launch bundle but it's only available for a limited time.  I don't know what that time limit is which is the other reason I'm posting today...to try to save any of you a bit of money in case you want them all.  I'm also sneaking in a Digit-al Dozen birthday mani for Amy of Fancy Side Nails.  She's been a bit busy being a new mommy to partake in many of our themes lately but we wish her the happiest of birthdays this month!