Wacky Laki: OPI Sheers and Stamping with Messy Mansion...

Hi Everyone! As this post goes live I'm off on vacation determined to explore far away lands! Maybe if you are nice when I return, I'll tell you all about it ;). Have no fear though I've got someone staying at home to guard the polish while I'm gone so I don't have to worry about any polishnappings. Phew!

To keep you all entertained while I'm gone, I took the opportunity to clear out the unposted mani folders and finally share them with you. Expect to see all different nail lengths and polish seasons in the mix. Hopefully you will enjoy it. Also, I tried really hard to finish up all my reviews before leaving, but wasn't completely successful! Sigh! There are still a few beauties that are waiting for their time in the spotlight when I return.

One of the collections that I have not had proper time to review are the OPI Sheers. You have probably already seen these since they are popping up in nail art everywhere! I decided since I didn't get the chance to fully review them, I would at least play around with them and show you some fun nail art...

This look was inspired by a technique I first saw used by Julia, the creator of Messy Mansion plates. She calls this the Leadlight technique and it involves coloring in stamped patterns with sheer shades. Of course I had to try the technique out on one of her very own Mession Mansion plates...

To create this look, I stamped the pattern from Messy Mansion plate MM32 using KleanColor Black over SinfulColors Snow Me White. I sealed my black and white manicure with a top coat to ensure it wouldn't be smudged by the OPI Sheers. When it was all dry, I used a detail brush and the OPI Sheers to color in the design. The 'fans' are colored with OPI Be Magentale With Me, Don't Violet Me Down and I Can Teal You Like Me. For the surrounding areas I used I'm Never Amberrassed. Although it didn't show up well in the photos, for the leaves I mixed a bit of I can Teal You Like Me and I'm Never Amberrassed to created a green sheer shade. The difference was more obvious in reality than the photos...

Although this design is off an Egypt themed stamping plate, I can't say that my light pastel manicure screams Egypt to me. Either way, I just love how this turned out! The OPI Sheers are not the easiest polishes to work with. They are very syrupy and become stringy almost immediately. Luckily their strings are rather sheer and don't affect the look of the manicure once everything is sealed with a top coat...

Now to show you this beautiful Egypt themed stamping plate that is Messy Mansion MM32. The plate measures 7 centimeters in diameter. It comes with a blue protective cover (not pictured) that needs to be removed prior to use. The back of the plate is bare metal, so the edges do tend to be on the sharp side. The full size nail images are extra large and measure 17 x 23 mm to fit most nails. They are still nicely detailed so will work for someone wish shorter nails as well. The wing pattern can be split between 4 nails for a beautiful continuous look. The plate is high quality etched. I had no problems picking up or transferring designs.