piCture pOlish White Wedding Stamped with Dorothy

After I was done swatching the beautiful piCture pOlish White Wedding and Dorothy for yesterday's Blog Fest post, I couldn't help but play around with the two. They were perfect a perfect combination for a sweet romantic manicure. I could definitely wear something like this for Valentine's day or maybe a wedding? See what you think...

piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2012: Dorothy and White Wedding

I cannot even tell you how excited I am to get to participate on piCture pOlish Blog Fest 2012 this year. I was sent two brand new shades which are being released today to try out. Since piCture pOlish is all about creating a scene with their polishes, I decided to take a break from my usual swatch background and do something fun. I hope you enjoy...

Sunday Stamping: Red & Black

It is Sunday Stamping again in the group Adventures in Stamping and this week the challenge is "red and black," which was the perfect opportunity to try this manicure. I've tried it once before, but the stamp didn't turn out well so I never posted about it. I'm excited that this time it turned out much better and I can show it to you. Also, before I go on with the post, I want address a question I had last week. The stamping group where these challenges come from welcomes all stamping enthusiasts regardless of your skill level so please don't hesitate to join if you are interested!

Zoya Gloss Collection NYFW Fall 2012

Today I have for you the third and final collection in Zoya's fall lineup, Zoya Gloss collection. It contains three very sheer gloss shades that can be built up and worn on their own or layered over other polishes to create interesting effects...

Zoya Diva Collection NYFW Fall 2012

Today I have for you the second of Zoya's three Fall collections. This is the Diva collection inspired by New York Fashion Week. It contains four shimmery metallic colors and two sparkle filled metallic colors. I'm really having a hard time picking favorites here. Take a look at the swatches below and let me know which ones you like the best!

Zoya Designer Collection NYFW Fall 2012

I'm so excited to have gotten my little paws on Zoya's new Fall 2012 collections to be able to show them to you. Zoya has released three collections inspired by New York Fashion Week and they include Designer, Diva and Gloss. Three of the shades in these combined collections were originally custom creation for fashion designers.

I will start by showing you the Designer collection today which consists of six creams perfect for fall. Since there are lots of photos to show you, I'll get right to it...

Tutorial Tuesday: Mirror Image Stamping Trick

I promised this tutorial more than a month ago and I'm really ashamed that it took this long, but I'll spare you the excuses. You can actually thank my boyfriend for motivating me to finally find the time to put this together. He started bugging me and asking me why I have not done something I promised to all my lovely readers. He even insinuated that I would never hit 1000 followers unless I got this done. Sheesh! Well I'm really, really, really thrilled to have reached 1000 followers last night and I got this done to boot! I can't even tell you how excited I am right now. Thank you everyone who reads my babble, follows this blog and takes the time to comment. You are certainly my motivation to keep this going. :D

Before I get to the tutorial, I want to point out that this assumes you already know how to stamp. If you do not, there are a lot of wonderful tutorials online. One I always like to recommend is the Getting a Good Stamp Image tutorial from soguesswhat11.

This tutorial is based on the emerald manicure which had one hand mirroring the other. I'm going to show you the trick I use to do that without having mirror image stamps available. Now on to the tutorial... 

Supplies

• Zip-lock (or any plastic) bag
• Polishes: Clear polish, base color and stamping polish
• Stamping supplies (Stamp/stamper/scraper)
• Cuticle nippers
• Cleanup brush & nail polish remover

Steps
Click on the image to zoom in...

Instructions

1. Using clear nail polish, paint rectangles slightly larger than the nail.
   - Allow the strips to dry for a few hours.
   - I make make these ahead of time and allow them to dry overnight so they are dry enough to peel off easily
2. Stamp the desired image on to the clear polish strip
   - I'm using Mash plate Mash-46
3. Using tweezers, gently peel the strips off the plastic bag
4. Apply desired number of base color coats.
   - I'm using two coats of Ulta Green with Envy followed by one coat of Barielle Budda-Ful
5. Stamp directly onto the nail for the nails you want to have the image as it appears on the stamping plate.
   - For example, I stamp the nails on my left hand directly from the plate onto the nail (as shown above on my index finger)
6. For the nails you want the mirror image, apply a coat of clear polish and allow it to get sticky, but not completely dry. Flip the stamped nail polish strip with the stamped side down and apply it to the sticky nail, as shown above on my middle finger. Smooth out any bubbles.
7. Using cuticle nippers, trim off the excess nail polish around the nail.
8. If there is any nail polish remaining that needs to be removed, you can clean it further using a brush and acetone/nail polish remover. For detailed information on how to do this, you can take a look at my clean-up tutorial.
9. Add a topcoat and you are done! 

I hope I have succeeded in making a clear tutorial on the technique I use. If something does not make sense, please don't hesitate to ask questions.

I'd love to know what you think of this!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping: Favorite Stamp

Is it just me or does it seem that every week Sunday comes faster and faster. This week for Sunday Stamping in the group Adventures in Stamping, the challenge was to use a favorite new stamp. To be honest, I don't really have favorites when it comes to a particular stamp. I do have favorite sets that I will reach for vs others when selecting images. It all depends on the mood of the day or an idea. Just in the last month I've gotten the new Mash and Bundle Monster sets as well as the large DashicaBeauty plate, making it really hard to choose a new favorite. They are all excellent quality and I'm still exploring and getting inspired by all the different images :)

Fashion Friday: Louboutin Python Inspired

Hi everyone! It has been quite a while since I've created a fashion inspired manicure so with my nails about the maximum length I wish them to be, it was time for Louboutin nails. I have done the "classic" black Louboutin before, so I wanted to try something new. For those that don't know, a Louboutin manicure is one where the underside of the nail is painted red to mimic the soles of the shoes...

Comparison: Sinful Colors Zeus vs Barielle Slate of Affairs

I just wanted to show you a quick comparison of Sinful Colors Zeus and Barielle Slate of Affairs*. I have yet to do a full swatch or manicure with Zeus, however you can see a full swatch of Slate of Affairs in yesterday's post here.

The two of them have a very similar base color, but what makes them different is the shimmer. You can see it right away by looking at the bottles...

Barielle Slate of Affairs Stamped

I really wanted to post a tutorial today, but something came up and I didn't get it done. Instead, I have for you a pretty manicure that I hope you will like. It features the beautiful Barielle Slate of Affairs* shade as the base. Lots of photos to follow as I couldn't decide which I like best...

Sunday Stamping: Precious Gemstones

I was really stumped this week by the Sunday Stamping challenge in the group Adventures in Stamping. The theme seemed simple enough, to create a manicure using precious gemstone colors. I have been agonizing over it all week trying to decide on the color/stone. I really wanted to stay away from the "typical" colors such as emerald (been there, done that). My first attempt was opal, but even though I loved the manicure (will show you soon), it didn't really look like opal, so back to square one...

Finally it dawned on me that today is my grandmother's 95th birthday and I wanted something inspired by her when I visit later today. She loves garnet and amber and since amber is not really a stone, the choice was clear. I guess sometimes all it takes is a personal connection to what you are doing to get inspired...

Select Colors from China Glaze On Safari Collection for Fall 2012

Today I'm excited to show you a few colors from the China Glaze Fall 2012 collection named On Safari. The collection consists of a total of 12 polishes, including creams and glitters. There is just something about fall nail polish colors that I love so much and I can never seem to get enough. Without delaying this any further, I present you these lovely colors...

Exotic Encounters
A green cream with a hint of blue. It is a medium dark and very pigmented. Has kind of a dusty quality to it that I love. The formula is perfect and no problems with application. Removal had to be done carefully as it seemed quite attracted to the cuticles and insistent on turning my fingers green. It did not seem to stain though, which is great. Two coats for full, even coverage. Swatches are with no top coat as it is quite shiny as it is...

Barefoot on Barielle Myrza's Meadow

Walking around barefoot in a meadow somehow sounds so good, which is probably why I wanted to stamp flip flops over Barielle Myrza's Meadow. I'm not even going to mention the fact that I just got the new Bundle Monster plates in the mail and wanted to try them out. I had some technical difficulties with the stamps. They didn't transfer as well as I had hoped...

Sunday Stamping: Something I Love with Ulta Into Astrono-Me?

I had every intention of making and posting this manicure in time for Sunday, but time just got away from me. The weather in Seattle has been amazing and sunny and I have been spending what little daytime I have before work outside. Partly because of the weather and partly because my front (and back) yard are in major need of a clean up. My HOA gave me 30 days to clean up or else... so I got an estimate to see how much it would cost for someone else to do the work and let's just say that the $800 quote was just the push shove that I needed to get my butt outside and weeding :D

Ok, back to the topic at hand. The theme for this Sunday Stamping challenge in the group Adventures in Stamping was "Something you love." I rather enjoy open ended challenges such as this because everyone creates something completely different! One thing that I love is astrology. This love comes from years of listening to my boyfriend tell me all about the different signs of the zodiac. We enjoy analyzing the different signs and seeing how they fit or don't fit the people in our lives.

For my manicure I chose to go with the zodiac signs of my boyfriend (Leo) and me (Gemini )...

CQ Ivory stamped

Not sure why, but I have been craving yellow polishes. Not the bright neon yellow, but the pastel, baby chick yellow. This sweet polish named Ivory from CQ was just right for the mood. It is sweet and completely wearable on its own, but I stamped it with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Coco a-go-go and Mash plate Mash-44. I edged the nails using Coco a-go-go to give it a more finished look.

Happy 4th of July!

Did you know the Muppets can be quite patriotic? At least their polish versions are when combined into a glittery manicure for Independence Day!

Rimmel London Wild Orchid with Holo

My boyfriend and I spent an expended weekend out of town with some close friends. It was great to get away and just relax for a bit after a hectic June. The weather was decent, but certainly not the sunshine that I was hoping for. Even the drizzling rain didn't stop us from enjoying the beach and I even found pretty shells that matched the manicure...

Sunday Stamping: Dots or Circles

It has been a while since I've done anything bright or neon-y, so for today's Sunday Stamping challenge in the group Adventures in Stamping I brought out my Color Club ElectroCandy collection. Since I can only handle neon in small doses, the challenge of dots or circles was the perfect fit.