The Digit-al Dozen does Nail Heroes - Clairestelle8, pipe dream polish and China Glaze

Hey there!  For Day 2 of The Digit-al Dozens week celebrating our nail heroes, I wanted to re-do a mani from one of my favourite instagrammers, @clairestelle8.  There's a couple of reasons why I love Claire's account so much.  Not only is she an amazing nail artist but she tends to use a lot of bright colors, all at once (which I LOVE) AND she's absolutely hilarious.  If you've never come across her account before, seriously, go read her captions.  They never fail to make me laugh out loud!  Since Claire's accounts are filled with neon, I used it as an opportunity to also celebrate a couple of my favourite neon polish makers - pipe dream polish and China Glaze.

The Digit-al Dozen does Nail Heroes - The Crumpet

Hey there!  It's a new Digit-al Dozen week!  With Valentine's Day being just yesterday, this week we're giving our nail heroes some love.  For me that means I'll be focusing on bloggers/Instagrammers/brands that I love and who always inspire.  And it means I get to copycat lots of manis which I love doing (hence my blog name).  As a group, we're starting with our friend and fearless DD leader, who just happens to be one of my biggest nail heroes - the always amazing Debbie from The Crumpet!  Debbie never ceases to amaze me with, not just her nail art, but who she is as a person.  Debbie recently announced her transition into nail blog retirement which breaks my heart but luckily we'll be able to keep up with her new blog, Debhoorah.  I've never met her in real life but I truly consider Debbie a friend, a mentor and a hero.  She is responsible for starting almost all of the  groups I'm in (seriously, who has that much energy?) and these groups give me so many happy feelings.  Because of them I've been introduced to the loveliest of ladies (I'm looking at you Digit-al Dozen girls) and for that I'll be forever grateful to Debbie.  So thank you for everythingDebbie!  Love you!

Sunday Stamping - Valentine's Day

Hey there!  Happy Valentine's Day friends!  I hope your day is filled with love, even for those of you who might be uncoupled up today (like me).  I have saved my favourite Valentine's Day mani of the year for today, since it's actually V-Day today.  I used a mix of vinyls and stamping but this totally still counts for Sunday stamping's theme, right?  

Messy Mansion Valentine's Day Stamping

Hey there!  I saw on Instagram that Messy Mansion is having a Valentine's Day contest using their plates which was perfect timing for me.  I've purchased a lot of stamping plates over the years (including many Messy Mansion plates) so sometimes it's hard to decide which ones to use.  This contest helped me narrow it down and I did what is possibly the most bizarre (anti)-Valentine's Day manis ever.  The idea of dinosaurs and Valentine's got in my head and I couldn't get it out.  I think my coworkers thought I was nuts yesterday when I was wearing this.

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Love

Hey there!  What with Valentine's Day coming up this Sunday, this week Crumpet's Nail Tarts are doing Love, the sweetest theme ever.  I think when most of us think of love-themed nail art we think of all hearts and flowers.  I included plenty of hearts in my mani for today but I mostly wanted to do nail art inspired by the everlasting kind of love.  The kind that we'd be lucky to find.  Personally I haven't found it yet but one day!

How to Store Stamping Decals

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Hey there!  Today I have a very different type of post for me....there's not a single nail photo in this entire post!  A few weeks ago Brittany from UberChic Beauty asked some of us if we had time to test how long stamping decals could be stored.  The scientist in me (because I really am a scientist by day) couldn't resist this test so I immediately jotted down the variables I wanted to test (clear coat, storage choice, paint vs polish) and the days I would test them on.  The following day, I made all the 100 decals that you see here!   The results mostly came down to a comparison of the two different clear coats I tested but it did teach me a few things about how I can store decals in the future.  I hadn't tried storing decals since getting the Uber Mat but now I know I can.  It just so happens that I made a few extra decals this week and then gave them to my sister a few days later and they applied great.  Follow the jump to read a whole bunch of words about the results of my two week test.  And find the link to an Instagram giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to UberChic Beauty!  

UberChic Beauty Furry Best Friends and Luxe Stamper Review

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Hey there!  Today I'm reviewing two exciting products from UberChic Beauty - the new Furry Best Friends plate and the Luxe stamper.  Furry Best Friends is one of UberChic's single plates (ie. not in a collection) that so many UberChic fans were crying out for.  People definitely love their fur babies so it's not surprising that they want to wear their love on their nails.  The other product, the Luxe stamper,  I couldn't wait to try because I had seen that it can be used to shrink images.  So today you get to see my results from that as well.