Red Velvet Damask

Hello Lovelies!

I'm back with one more post featuring a lacquer from the Glam Polish Coven collection. It was largely inspired by this manicure created by Debbie of @ladyandthe_stamp on Instagram. She mattified one of the beautiful Coven shades and I instantly knew I wanted to try to do that as well. To be honest, I would not have even thought to mattify these shades since the flakies loose all their holo goodness, but the gorgeous velvet look and feel really made up for it.

Psychedelic Stamping

Hi Lovelies!

How is your week starting out? I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had hoped, but I can't say that I'm sorry for taking some time to just be lazy and relax. However since I was so lazy, today I would like to share with you another manicure out of the archives. I'm having so much fun going through old photos and remembering the manis. I created this manicure while playing around with the Glam Polish Hairspray collection in early 2015. It was one of my favorite collections and looking back at the manis I created with it makes me want to play all over again...

Subtle Stamping

Hi Everyone!

It has been a crazy week for me and although it is the weekend and time to relax for a lot of people, it is my weekend to work because I guess 'there ain't no rest for the wicked'. Ha! To make up for lack of time to paint my nails, I thought I'd show you another mani out of the archive. I've only got a few more to show you and then I will be all caught up. Gasp!

This mani is one that I wore last year for Hanukkah. The stamping turned out more subtle than I had anticipated and I remember being indecisive about whether I liked it or not. I'm still a bit torn, but definitely leaning toward liking it. Is there such a thing as too subtle?

Born Pretty Store Stamping Plate Review

Hi Everyone! I'm feeling sleepless in Seattle right now with lots of stuff on my mind that I would rather not think about, so I decided to write this post as a distraction. So far I am managing to keep up with my New Year's resolution of little by little showing you my stamping plate collection. Today I would like to show you Born Pretty stamping plates. Born Pretty Store has long been know to sell a variety of stamping plates from other lines, but it wasn't until late last year that they released their own branded plates. And speaking of random plates from Born Pretty Store, it seems so long ago now, but it was a promo offer of a free stamping plate from the Born Pretty Store that started my stamping addiction. Oh how time flies! Check out my first attempt at stamping here!

Born Pretty Store originally released 25 plates, then added another 10 around Thanksgiving and just a few days ago released another 20 for a total of 55 BP plates available right now. I've got the first 35 to show you today and more are on the way for a future post. With the success that they are having over these stamping plates, I expect to see more releases in the future!

Now on to the plates themselves. They measure 5.6 cm in diameter, which is the most common size for stamping plates. Each of the stamping plates comes with the standard blue protective film which must be removed prior to use. That is a 'tip' that I learned early on and as evidenced by that 1st stamping attempt linked above. Still rolling my eyes on that one. These plates come with a plastic backing to avoid sharp edges and include the Born Pretty name and website.

2 Curtsy or Not a Rose Princess

Hi Lovelies! I know, that is a rather cheesy title for this post, but I just could not resist mashing up the names of the two Dazzle Dry beauties used for this manicure. I was even tempted to throw in a third, but "2 Curtsy or Not a Rose Princess and Her Majesty" seemed like overkill. Right? Silly title aside, I really like this tone on tone floral manicure and I hope you enjoy it as well...

Flakie Firebird!

Hi Lovelies! Today I have more flakie nail art for you. This is another manicure that I created and wore a while back because I simply couldn't swatch the flakies and not enjoy wearing each of them at least for a little bit.

Dreamscape Ornaments!

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate this holiday!

I loved my rhinestone/stud ornament mani from last year and so I decided that I need to create a new one this year. Lucky for me, I had some pretty new rhinestones to play with that arrived just in the nick of time..

Happy Hanukkah!

Hi Everyone! I want to wish a Happy Hanukkah to all of you lovelies who celebrate the holiday! This year I created two manicures to celebrate, the first of which I would like to show you today.

I'm always slightly jealous of the abundance of Christmas holiday stamping patterns available. Although I do make good use of those said patterns (so I won't complain too much), I wish more companies would create patterns to celebrate other cultures, traditions and beliefs. There is always a part of me that gets super excited when I see a pattern that I can use for a Hanukkah manicure. So queue the excitement and a dizzying game of dreidel...

Whimsical Winter Scene!

Almost three weeks ago Marta of Chit Chat Nails announced a nail art contest that she is hosting with a stamping plate maker Pueen. I was instantly intrigued because it features two of my favorite things, stamping and holiday nail art. I rarely enter contests, partly for lack of time, but largely because I disagree with the 'judging' process. Marta's contest, however, has actual judges which makes the process about talent rather than popularity. For me that makes the contest a challenge and I love challenges...

I've been thinking about what I want to create for the contest for the past couple of weeks and have been coming up blank. I knew I wouldn't be entering the contest unless it was something I was really proud of, so that I wouldn't kick myself later and think "I could have done better". That way loosing would mean someone created nail art that is better or more creative than mine, not because I didn't give it my best shot. Also, win or loose, I had a blast creating this manicure and at the end of the day that is what really matters to me...

Snowflakes Again!

Hi Lovelies! Well it has been exactly a week since I showed you my last snowflake manicure, so one could say I'm way overdue. Although just to set the record straight, I wore them more than a month apart and I'm just a slow blogger. Hanging my head in shame over here. I kid of course, but I do love snowflakes and will pretty much take any opportunity these next few months to wear them on my nails. Consider yourselves warned, you'll likely see more, but I do hope you enjoy them as much as I do...

In a Snow Flurry

Hi Lovelies! The Glam Polish Mid-Winter's Dream collection is launching today and I wanted to show you some nail art that I created with one of the shades from the collection. Inspired by the icy blue beauty itself and fighting the strong urge to stamp snowflakes, I decided to attempt a snowy tree scene instead...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Lovelies! You may have noticed a lack of Halloween designs from me this year. It is actually one of my favorite holidays for nail art, but since I was out of town this year, I missed out on the fun. Of course I couldn't miss the actual day itself and the opportunity to have some creepy crawlies glowing on my nails...

Plaid Print with SinfulShine Prosecco

Hi Lovelies! Sorry I've been a bit MIA this past week. A new shift at work is leaving me with little time and energy to spare for nail art. I finally got the motivation that I needed when my friend gave me a bottle of SinfulShine Prosecco. I have been trying to find this limited edition polish in vain for the past few weeks so you can imagine how excited I was when she got a hold of one for me. I'm still over the moon excited to finally have it in my little paws. I have no idea how a 2 dollar bottle of polish bring so much happiness, but it does. Of course I couldn't wait to use it and here is what it led to..

Floral Stamping

Hi! Sometimes I get so caught up in a manicure that I start to over-complicate things. Adding glitter, more colors, making decals, accenting with dots, etc that I forget how nice something clean and simple can be. Does that happen to you? Do you ever get to a certain point and think you should have stopped while you were ahead? For this manicure I did just that. I decided to stop and just enjoy a simple stamped look...

Nail Art Tutorial: Sparkly Vampire Tips

Hi Lovelies! This manicure probably didn't need a tutorial because I consider it pretty straight forward to begin with, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Would you like to see more tutorials? Less tutorials? Only for complicated techniques? I don't want to spam you with tutorials, but at the same time I'm having fun making them at the moment! :)

The tutorial goes along with a manicure that I posted yesterday inspired by the InDecisive Lacquer polish and name Sparkly Vampire. I keep thinking a vampire would love a mani like this! Or maybe it is just because the tips remind me of fangs! Who knows, but I really enjoyed wearing this and I hope you enjoy this tutorial...

Supplies used:

• Polishes: InDecisive Lacquer Sparkly Vampire, SinfulColors Black on Black
• Red hex glitter (mine is from the Born Pretty Store, part of a set. Item #3103)

Steps:

Instructions:

1. Apply desired number of coats of your red polish. Here I used 2 coats of InDecsive Lacquer Sparkly Vampire.
2. Paint a corner of the nail using black. Depending on the length of your nails and how steep you want the final point to be, start at the edge of your nail and swipe toward the center of the tip. Don't worry if the line is not perfect since you will be covering it with glitter!
• You can do this using either the polish brush or a detail brush for more control.
• Additionally try marking a dot on the side and the tip of the nail to help guide if necessary. 
3. Repeat step #2 and paint the second corner of the nail. Again don't worry about making this perfect since you will be covering it up with glitter. 
4. Apply a coat of clear polish (to adhere the glitter) and arrange the red glitter along the edge between black and red polish as shown above, to create a glitter chevron.
5. Seal with a top coat and enjoy!

Please let me know what you think of this tutorial and as always don't hesitate to ask questions!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Born Pretty Store Mystery Prize Pack Winners!

Hi Everyone! I apologize for the delay in picking the winners for the Born Pretty Store Mystery Prize Pack Giveaway! I blame the trip and work and everything else going on at the moment because as usual my sloth like speed has nothing to do with it, right? *Insert innocent face here*

Ok, without further adieu, the winners are:
Kelly for following Wacky Laki on Bloglovin'
Nina P. for following @BornPrettyStore on Instagram

I have sent an email to each of the winners (to the email address used for signing into rafflecopter!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations ladies!!!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Born Pretty Store Leopard Water Decals...

Hi Everyone! Today I'm excited to show you my manicure using Born Pretty Store leopard water decals...

InDecisive Denim Unzipped...

Hi Everyone! Today I would like to show you this fun zipper manicure that I created with a gorgeous, soon to be released InDecisive Nail Lacquer shade. Although it was still unnamed when I created this nail art, I had my fingers crossed for a particular name. Can you guess what name I was rooting for based on this nail art?...

Carrie'd Away with Hex Glitter...

Hi Everyone! I really have no explanation for this manicure other than I got carried away and I love it. I was going through my stamping plates one day looking for inspiration and came across this hexagonal pattern on one of the Bundle Monster plates and well one thing led to another and here is the super sparkly result...

Black Roses Featuring OPI Make Him Mine and MoYou Stamping

Hi Everyone! Today I've got a manicure to show you that I actually wore at the beginning of Dec, but have not gotten a chance to post about you until now. It has been sitting in a folder with lots and lot of other photos that are waiting for their time in the spotlight. Maybe if we can all just vote to extend the days a little bit? An extra hour or two a day would really help! Is that too much to ask for? OK, getting side tracked here, let's get back to the manicure...