Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Messy Mansion Stamping Plate Review

Hi loves! I'm sure school is starting up again for a lot of you guys including myself. I started last week, but tomorrow is my first day of nursing school...again. I got my ADN and RN license last year, but now I'm in an RN to BSN program to get my bachelors so I hope this year goes by quick so I can be done with school once and for all!

Today I have 3 stamping plates to review from Messy Mansion. Messy Mansion is an Australian based online shop that carries stamping supplies including different brands of stamping plates to make supplies more available to Aussie gals. Don't worry, if you're not in Australia, shipping is still very affordable at $2.50 for round plate only orders! Julia sent me 3 of her own brand of stamping plates that she designs (Messy Mansion) and 2 Lily Anna plates--another brand she carries on her site. I decided to split them into 2 posts. First up, I have the 3 Messy Mansion plates: MM 29, MM 27, & MM 26.


Here are my scans of the plates. Feel free to click for enlargement. MM29 has a water creature theme (forgive my funky description), MM27 has a fire and ice theme, and MM26 has a present theme. 


I used OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and stamped using MM29 in OPI I Saw U Saw We Saw Warsaw. The decal was made with MASH Black and Morgan Taylor Candy Coated Coral. I think these are kind of awesome!



The koi fish came out great, but I did have to try a few attempts because parts of the fine lines in the top fin were a bit hard to pick up. I really wanted to make a decal with the woman, but I wasn't sold on how the lines came out. The entire image picks up each time, but the lines on the hair, face, and neck aren't as bold/filled as I prefer them to be. 


Ice nails: Essie Bikini So Teeny stamped using MM27 in Konad White. Fire nails: OPI Call Me Gwen-Ever stamped using MM27 in Konad Red and Konad Yellow. All of these picked up with ease and came out great. 



Here's China Glaze Too Yacht to Handle stamped using MM26 in Konad White. The glitter is China Glaze Glistening Snow. The bows picked up perfectly and also transferred nicely onto the nail.



Here I used another one of the present images to test the fine lines and they all transferred perfectly!

Overall I'm really pleased with the Messy Mansion plates. All of the images transfer nicely and the plates have a nice variety of images to choose from. Although the woman on MM29 didn't pick up to my liking, all of the lines still transfer and you can tell what everything is so it may just be my personal preference. I love that each plate has a theme so you can create a unique mani with just one plate instead of going through several plate collections to do a themed manicure. You can purchase Messy Mansion plates here and don't worry if you're not in Australia, these plates can be shipped internationally! 

Monday, January 27, 2014

Born Pretty Store--Gold Arabesque Pattern Water Decals Review

Hey polished pretties! Today I have some Arabesque Pattern water decals from Born Pretty Store to review. They're shiny gold and come on a fairly large sheet. I've used water decals before, and the sheet was probably about half of this size so that was a pleasant surprise. 


To get an idea of how many decals are on here, for 4 nails I used the 2 upper corner designs and had some extra decal leftover. This sheet would last at least a few manicures or to get even more use, pedicures! I don't know about you guys, but I always have designs at least on my big toes so these would be great to jazz up a plain pedicure. 


The base color is Morgan Taylor Candy Coated Coral. 


I really love how beautiful and elegant this manicure turned out with minimal effort. The only thing I had some issue with is that the plastic decal material doesn't melt when you clean up with acetone. To avoid this issue, be careful sizing and cutting the decal before placing it on your nail and make sure it doesn't extend onto your cuticle area. You can purchase these decals here for $4.99. Use my code NV7X31 for 10% off your entire purchase. 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Stamping Decal Tutorial with MoYou London Pro 11 XL

Hey friends! I have a treat for you today. Usually I just share photos of my nails, but today I have a new YouTube video to go along with the nail art I did. I've been playing around with reverse stamping and advanced stamping the past couple of months, but I have finally found a way to make a stamping decal that works great for me. I really want to make more videos, but the setup and editing takes me quite awhile to get the hang of. Hopefully after filming a few more I'll pick up some speed.

For this mani, I used Morgan Taylor All White Now and stamped using MoYou London Pro 11 XL in Wet N Wild Black Creme. I filled in the flowers with Morgan Taylor Invitation Only and it's also the polish color on all my other nails. I don't typically stamp with Wet N Wild Black Creme, but for this look, the opacity of the black was not a concern. Also for those of you who have tried stamping decals and have had issues with the decal being too stiff, it may be the topcoat you're using. I tried Seche Vite Quick Dry and the decals were super stiff. I switched to Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Clear and it works like a charm!



And of course as promised, here's my YouTube tutorial of how I created this! I would love some feedback on the video as well. I really hate talking in videos. Are the captions on the bottom sufficient or am I going to be forced to make tutorials with my voice? You guys be the judge!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Saran Wrap Smush & Triangles with MoYou London Pro 02 XL

Hey lacquer lovers! I had naked nails for a few days last week and when I finally had time to paint my nails, I didn't know what to do! Do you guys ever find yourself in the same dilemma? I decided to do a mani on my to try list of manicures that other wonderful people have created. This was inspired by Leyamonster's design. I started off with a base of Morgan Taylor All White Now and then did the saran wrap smush (blob different colors onto your nail and lightly smush with saran wrap to blend) with Morgan Taylor Lip Service, Morgan Taylor Invitation Only, and Essie in the Cabana. Then I stamped using MoYou London Pro 02 XL in Konad White. I really like how these turned out. It's always nice when you want to re-create something and it comes out right =]


Friday, January 17, 2014

ILNP Gradient & MoYou London Pro 05 XL

Happy Friday! The weekend is here and that means the NFC championship game is this Sunday! I'm so excited. It's going to be a huge game because of the crazy rivalry between the 49ers and the Seahawks so you know what I'll be doing this weekend--screaming at the tv. Anyways, enough football talk, more nail talk! I did these peacock nails last week and I wasn't really happy with how my pics came out so I've been lagging on posting them. I did a gradient using I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) Washing Ashore and ILNP Contraband and stamped using MoYou London Pro 05 XL in OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. The gold I used to stamp with showed up so well over a dark creme in a recent mani I did, but was hard to capture over a shimmer. I'll probably just use it over cremes from now on. I wish the pics of this came out better, it really was pretty in person!




Here's a cell phone pic under my LED lamp. It shows the purple tips much better! 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

OPI I Sing in Color & 3D Bow Charm

Hey beauties! Today I have my last mani to share with you using the OPI Gwen Stefani polishes. Here's OPI I Sing in Color with a 3D bow charm that was gifted to me. I don't really wear 3D charms this size for a full mani, I prefer to just take pictures with them lol. I do think it looks really cool, but it would probably bother me if it caught on anything. How do you ladies feel about large 3D charms--do you enjoy wearing them? Also sorry for the lack of posts the past few days. I filmed 2 videos this week and I haven't edited them or the pics yet. I'm such a noob, but I do really want to make it a goal this year to upload more YouTube vids so at least I'm working on it!


Sunday, January 12, 2014

Born Pretty Store--Patterned Round & Square Nail Stud Wheel Review

Hey my polished pretties! I have some really cool nail studs to show you from Born Pretty Store. I'm not sure if you guys can tell, but I really like using nail studs. When I first saw these, I knew I really wanted to try them out because they're not your typical studs--they're patterned! The nail wheel comes with both square and round studs and each shape comes in both silver and gold. Then website lists the size as 2-3mm. I didn't measure them, but I think they're all 3mm which is a perfect size to use one or a few on each nail. I made 2 manis with the studs and I ended up loving both looks.


Here I used the gold square studs over OPI Hey Baby. When they're all lined up, it almost looks like it's one long stud which I think looks really cool. The wheel also contains these square studs in silver.



Here I used the round silver studs over OPI 4 in the Morning. It's a matte satin polish, but here it's shown with topcoat. The wheel also contains these round studs in gold. 

You really can't go wrong with these studs. They give edge to a plain manicure, but the pattern makes them look classy as well. They're big enough to use one on each nail or small enough to use several. The best part is that the wheel has a bunch of studs in it so you could get a ton of use out of it. You can purchase the stud wheel here for $3.23. Use my code NV7X31 for 10% off your entire order. 

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

OPI Gwen Stefani Collection Swatches

Happy Humpday! Today I have the OPI Gwen Stefani collection to show you. I feel like it took forever for me to get my hands on this collection. I know it's barely starting to be sold, but I typically get collections a couple weeks before they're released so waiting for this one was driving me nuts! This collection consists of 7 polishes: 1 metallic chrome, 2 matte satins, 1 glitter, and 3 cremes.



Here's OPI Over and Over A-Gwen, the red creme. It comes in its own box and includes Swarovski crystals, studs, and nail glue. 





OPI Push and Shove, the metallic chrome. It comes with a mini base coat Lay Down That Base to help with application. 


OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. 2 coats, no topcoat. Nice formula and application. Dries fast. Semi-matte satin finish.


OPI 4 in the Morning. 2 coats, no topcoat. Nice formula and application. Semi-matte satin finish. 


OPI Over and Over A-Gwen. 3 coats plus topcoat. Nice formula and application. 


OPI In True Stefani Fashion (over Over and Over A-Gwen). Glitter topper with medium sized square glitter and small circle glitter. 


OPI Hey Baby. 2 coats plus topcoat. Nice creamy formula. A bit darker IRL. 


OPI I Sing in Color. 2 coats plus topcoat. Thin formula so be careful with application so your cuticles don't get stained. Gorgeous oxblood creme. I don't like vampy colors, but I take that back for this polish!


OPI Push and Shove. 1 coat, no topcoat. Chrome mirror finish. I used OPI Lay Down that Base base coat that comes with this polish to make application easier. With regular base coat, it was really streaky during application. The wear on this isn't great, but on the back of the box it states that it's meant to be worn for one night only which makes sense. I would totally wear this for a night out! I know it shows every ridge on my nail, but no one is going to be looking that close at my nails. 

I really love this collection! I could live without the glitter polish, but I love getting entire collections so I had to get them all. The red and pink cremes aren't terribly unique, but I'm going to wear them all and the thought "is this polish unique" doesn't ever run through my mind when I'm buying polish--I'm a nail polish addict hello! Alright, now that you've seen swatches, I'll be showing you a few more manis over the next few days using these polishes. Hope you're not sick of them yet! 

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

OPI Hey Baby & MoYou London Pro 07 XL

Hi friends! I mentioned yesterday that I played with the OPI Gwen Stefani polishes over the weekend and here's another mani I did with 2 polishes from the collection. I've actually been wearing this for 3 days now and I love it! I used OPI Hey Baby stamped using MoYou London Pro 07 XL in OPI 4 in the Morning. 4 in the Morning is also on my ring finger. It's a matte black, but I love shiny nails so I added top coat. It stamped quite nicely over the pink base, but I wouldn't recommend this as a stamping polish if you don't already have a good black. It almost looks like a dark grey shimmer, not quite black. The thing I liked about it though is that it doesn't drown out the brightness of my base and it doesn't smear when topcoated--we all know how painful that is! Keep your eyes peeled for more OPI Gwen Stefani posts this week!




Monday, January 6, 2014

OPI I Sing in Color & MoYou London Pro 02 XL

Hey loves! So this weekend I finally got my polished paws on the OPI Gwen Stefani collection and I played with them all morning. I have swatches, but I also did some nail art and I'm kind of dying to share this mani with you before swatches because I used one of the polishes to stamp and it looks gorgeous. Here's OPI I Sing in Color stamped using MoYou London Pro 02 XL in OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. The gold on the index and pinky is also OPI Love. Angel. Music. Baby. I didn't expect it to stamp so well, but I was thrilled at how sparkly it looks over the dark base. I'll be sharing swatches and nail art using all OPI Gwen Stefani collection polishes this week so stay tuned!



Friday, January 3, 2014

Born Pretty Store--2mm Round Black Studs Review

Good morning friends! Happy New Year! I know I'm a few days late, but it's my first post of the new year so it counts. Today I have 2mm round black studs from Born Pretty Store to show you. I've been dying to get some black studs so I was really excited to try them. I really enjoy using small nail studs as a way to create accent nails and the change from the typical silver and gold studs to black really gives an edgy look. I decided to pair the studs with stamping.


Here's  I Love Nail Polish (ILNP) PT78 stamped using MoYou London Back to the 80's 04 XL in Konad Yellow. 



Here's the little zip lock bag the studs come in.


A lot of the studs were stuck together. It was a bit annoying at first because I didn't realize it until I was applying them, but just be sure to unstick them before application so whatever you use as glue doesn't dry up.


You can see that quite a bit of the studs in the bag are stuck together.

Aside from the studs sticking together in the bag, I really loved these. The size is perfect to arrange them in little clusters or use them alone on the nail. The change from the usual silver and gold studs was really nice too. I'll be using these a lot this year! You can purchase these studs here for $4.67 and use my code NV7X31 for 10% off your entire purchase.