Whats Up Nails Holiday/Winter Stamping Plates

Press  Sample

Hey there!  Along with my last Whats Up Nails package, they were kind enough to send me a few of the Winter/Holiday stamping plates for me to test out...and a few more products that I've combined with my stamping manis.  Whats Up Nails never ceases to amaze me with the quality of the products they provide to us nail addicts.  The stamping plates' etching has always been amongst the best (and considering I have over 1000 stamping plates, that's saying something).  But they are certainly more than stamping as you'll see if you keep reading past the jump...

Nail Crazies Unite - Pastel Watercolor

Hey there!  Today's Nail Crazies Unite theme is a pretty one (I know this because I've already checked out a couple of the manis that ladies have done for it).  We're doing pastel watercolours.  There's so many ways to do watercolor nails and, honestly, I think they're all beautiful.  I personally wend with just thinning out polish with acetone (and making sure I have lots of top coat on my base so I didn't eat right through it).  It's so quick and easy and creates pretty results.  And you can control how bright or pale you want the color!

The Digit-al Dozen does Birthdays - October 2017

Hey there!  I hope everyone's weekend is going swell.  Mine has been mighty busy (for an introvert like me) so I'm going to enjoy some couch and swatching time today.  But first, and way more importantly, The Digit-al Dozen is celebrating our only October baby, Amber from Nails Like Lace for this month's birthday mani.  Every month, the birthday girl(s) pick an image for us to be inspired by and Amber chose a fun (but strange) cat.  Check out the original inspiration after the jump.

Whats Up Nails Floral Designs

Press  Sample

Hey there!  Since spring is finally in full swing around these parts, I figured today would be a great day to post some floral nail designs I've worn recently, all with the help of more Whats Up Nails products.  I've had a few reviews for them lately and I truly have nothing but good things to say about them.  An easy to use website, great communication and, most importantly, quality product. I was originally contacted to try out a few of their stamping plates. Last week I showed how I used their water marble plate (you can see that here) and today I have two new floral plates, A005 and B018.  But while I was posting flowers, I thought I'd also show a couple of flower stencils that they have, the Hibiscus and Bloom Stencils.

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Black and White Valentine's

Hey there!  So I usually try to have my nails done for nail art challenges WAY ahead of time.  Seriously, sometimes I'm doing my nails for a theme two months down the road.  I really don't like feeling rushed.  This week's prompt for the Crumpet's Nail Tarts 26 Great Nail Art Ideas was no different.  I did a black and white valentine's design ages ago.  But I recently bought the Lina Nail Art Supplies All About Love stamping plate and I was looking at it yesterday and decided I needed to use this image ASAP so I did a new mani last night and quickly cropped my photos (that's usually my limiting factor when blogging...I detest going through my pictures).  So this is what I'm currently rocking today...at least on my left hand.  I tried a different image on the black nails on my right hand but I liked these hearts too much so I went matchy-matchy.  

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Pastel Christmas

Hey there!  It's the last 26 Great Nail Art Ideas post of 2016.  Is everyone all prepared for the upcoming festivities?  I think I'm pretty much ready to go.  Anyway our nail art theme for the week is Pastel Christmas.  I thought this could end up super pretty and really cute - I tried to go the cute direction.  Unfortunately my pastels got so washed out that it looks more like "off white Christmas".  But they're still cute!

Bundle Monster Paisley Flow Stamping Plate Review

Press  Sample

Hey there!  Today I'm sharing my thoughts on the brand new Bundle Monster stamping plate collection, Paisley Flow.  These plates are meant to be a continuation of last year's Shangri-La collection with lots of new fine paisleys, swirls, floral and tribal buffet-style images.  I spent a lot of the last week or so playing with this set and I found that it has the same great quality that Bundle Monster has come to be known for.  Keep reading to see all the details.

The Digit-al Dozen does New & Improved - Day 1 Fishtail Braid Nails

Hey there!  The Digit-al Dozen is starting 2016 with a fun theme of New & Improved so we'll be doing new things or improving on old manis.  Personally, I've gone with all new techniques - a lot of which I avoided in last year's 52 Week Pick 'n Mix Challenge.  I would just pick to not to do the technique prompts!  For example, today I have a fishtail braid mani...a brand new technique to me. Also, to go with the theme of new, The Digit-al Dozen has a few new girls to welcome to the group and I'm seriously fangirling here because I LOVE these bloggers - Cathy of More Nail Polish, Cheyenne of CDB Nails, Marisa of Polish Those Nails, Michaela of The Mani Cafe and RoseLynn of Manicured and Marvelous.  I hope you like them as much as we do!

Galaxy Nails for Halloween

Hey there!  I love space stuff so it's no surprise that I love galaxy manis.  It's also probably why my sister texted me this pin with galaxy makeup with the challenge to try it which I couldn't pass up.  Luckily Halloween was the perfect excuse so I gave it a shot, with galaxy nails to match!  If you want to see a really bad selfie of my galaxy makeup, feel free to keep reading. 

Sunday Stamping - Disco Nails

Hey there!  This week's Sunday Stamping votes were soooooo close - it was a nail biter!  But the theme that won for today was Disco Nails.  I personally voted for it because I knew I had one disco plate that doesn't get much love from me so I wanted to use it.  And I did for these colorful throwback -to-the-70's nails.

The Digit-al Dozen does Re-Creations: Day 3 Dry Marble Nails

Hey there!  For the third day of The Digit-al Dozen's Re-Creation week, I had to try this dry marble nail art from Dressed Up Digit's Childhood week.  The irony here is that Laurie is one of my nail stamping idols and the mani of hers that I picked to do doesn't even involve stamping!  Hers was inspired by a bowling ball so, even though I can't bowl to save my life, anytime I looked at these all I could see was bowling balls too!

The Digit-al Dozen does Food - Day 4 Cupcake Nails

Hey there!  I know I just did cookies for yesterday' post for The Digit-al Dozen's Food/Snacks week so it might seem like I'm trying to give you cavities by posting cupcakes today.  But it's my sister's birthday on Monday and I wanted to do my nails for her with this theme.  She loves making cupcakes (always vanilla, never chocolate...boo!) so I did these with her two favourite nail colors, mint and pink.  Variations on this look have been done a lot and I have NO clue who the original was (if you know, please pass it on so I can give them credit).  And it's no wonder they're so popular.  They're easy and cute!

Pink and Lilac Rose Nail Art

Hey there!  Phew, that was a heck of a Digit-al Dozen week...so much fun!  I decided to hold off until today to post my mani for this week's Crumpet's Nail Tart's 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge themes since I didn't want you guys to get sick of reading my blabbing by double posting again.  So I'm doing a rare Saturday post to show you guys what I did for the Pink and Lilac/Roses prompts.  This is my first time trying to freehand roses and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how they turned out.

The Digit-al Dozen does Geometric: Day 5 Art Deco Stamping

Hey there!  It's the final day of The Digit-al Dozen's Geometric week.  Today's post is going to be pretty quick because I have to get myself out of town.  It's a long weekend here so I'm headed to the lake.  These nails were sort of Great Gatsby-inspired.  I wasn't sure what to title them but I'm reasonably sure that it's art deco style so that's what I'm going with.

Color Club Foxy Mama Nail Art

Hey there!  This week's 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge prompts are Orange and Outlines.  I wasn't entirely sure what outlines meant.  I've seen some FABULOUS manis with the whole nail outlined but those are way too intimidating for me.  I envisioned myself ending up as one of those Pinterest Nailed It memes.  So I stuck with something simple and just outlined a stripe down my nail.  And, as a personal bonus, they ended up having the same colors as my city's hockey team...possibly intentionally :-P

Smoky Nail Art

Hey there!  I decided to go out on limb a bit for this week's 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge.  The themes for this week are "green and yellow" and/or fire.  I thought I'd go with the old saying of "where there's smoke, there's fire" and do this green and yellow smoky nail art.  Kind of look like the beginning of Breaking Bad, don't you think?

Pink and Aqua Dotticure

Hey there!  Today I have this week's installment of the Crumpet's Nail Tarts 52 Week Challenge.  I managed to combine the themes of Pink and Aqua and Dotting Tools.  But since I just did a dotticure last week, I thought I'd add some stamping too.  My city has been ridiculously cold this week (and the heat froze up in my apartment night before last...that was fun) so I love that this one looks like straight up Hawaii!

Monochrome Distressed Nail Art

Hey there!  How's this for a non-holiday mani?  I know a lot of people are getting tired of festive nails so it's a good thing that this week's Crumpet's Nail Tart's 52 Week Challenge themes are Distressed and Grey.  Possibly because the holidays can be stressful and cause a few grey hairs, haha!  I decided to combine the themes again into one mani that you can see here.

Lovebird Nail Stamping and Parrot Polish Blue Macaw

Hey there!  I'm taking a break from Christmas nail art for today to show you some lovebird stamping I did over a new-to-me indie brand, Parrot Polish.  I heard about Parrot Polish in a Facebook group, particularly about their stellar customer service and I have to say that it wasn't exaggerated.  Dave from Parrot Polish emailed me shortly after I placed my order with a tracking number and followed up to make sure I received the package and to make sure everything was good.  I was most excited for this polish, Blue Macaw so this is the first one I used from my order but I'm sure you'll be seeing other Parrot Polish colors on my little blog in the future.

Stamping Polish Comparison

Hey there!  Today's post is something I've been wanting to put together for a long time but have always been a bit daunted by the task...a stamping polish comparison.  So be warned, this is probably going to be a long post.  But if you've been curious about how different polishes compare in the world of stamping, I'm hoping you'll find it worth it to stick around.

With all the specialty stamping polishes that are out there (Mundo de Unas, Konad, Rica, Mentality, etc.) where do you choose to invest your hard-earned money?  Well I get a tad spend-happy at times and I've been tempted to try almost all of them.  And what about drugstore brands?  Do any of them work for stamping?  If you've looked into stamping at all, you've probably seen that a good rule of thumb is that if it's a one-coater (ie. will get full coverage as a regular polish in one coat), it might work for stamping so give it a shot.