Glam Polish Take A Bow & Konad M69

Happy Sunday! Now that I've shared swatches of Glam Polish's Gleek Collection with you, I'll be sharing some stamping that I did over each polish. Here's Glam Polish Take A Bow stamped using Konad M69 in Mundo De Unas White filled with Mundo De Unas Yellow.

Mint Green with Silver Polka Dots

Happy Mother's Day! Today I have a mani from last month and this one has a little story to it. I did this mani on Easter even though I already did an Easter themed manicure for my blog. I used a pastel color since I was still in the Easter spirit. During the week that I wore this, I found out the night before that graduation pictures were the next day. I didn't have time to change it up, so now this is the mani in my graduation photos. I wish I knew ahead of time, but in the end I guess it's not a terrible thing. I'm happy I actually had my nails painted and used gel so it my polish didn't have any chips.

I used OPI GelColor That's Hula-rious and stamped using Konad M79 in Mundo de Unas Silver.

Here's my grad pic with this mani! I just have one more paper to turn in and in 2 weeks I'll officially be done with school! Yay!

Gold stamping over Matte Black

Hi lovelies! I started school again this week which was no fun, but that just means I'm another week closer to graduating. Today I have some gold stamping over matte black. I was inspired from a notebook I saw in a post from Makeup and Beauty blog. I love when I see something and immediately have a nail idea pop into my head. It happens a lot, but I forget most of my ideas probably because I know I won't have time to execute them all.

For this mani I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and then topped it off with Essie Matte About You. Then I stamped using MoYou London Pro 01 and Konad M59 in Mundo de Unas Gold. I just placed another order from Mundo de Unas and I can't wait to get all my new stamping polishes next month so I can do more color combinations especially for the upcoming Spring and Summer months!

OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around, Konad M79, & Bundle Monster BM-317

Hi beauties! Whomp whomp--back to work tomorrow and I start school again this week. The good news is that it's my LAST semester of school and I doubt I'll ever go back. This semester won't go by fast enough. Today I have a Gelibility gel mani I did a week ago. I used OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around and stamped using Konad M79 and Bundle Monster BM-317 in Mundo de Unas Black. Glitter is Zoya Pixie Dust Dahlia. I absolutely love how these turned out! I got the inspiration from my one of my boss's blouses lol.

Undead Halloween Nails

Hi loves! Are you surprised that I'm actually posting 2 days in a row? I kind of am. Today I'm sharing my second Halloween themed manicure. After this one I have one more to share with you. My Halloween spirit honestly starts and ends with my nails, but that's better than nothing right? I know some people like seeing what costumes people have for Halloween, but I personally enjoy seeing what everyone comes up with for their Halloween nails. For this I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and stamped using Bundle Monster BM-H08 in Konad Princess Apple Green. The glitter is Zoya Pixie Dust Dahlia. So what are all of you lovelies going to be doing for Halloween this year?

Born Pretty Store--2mm Round Black Studs Review

Press Sample

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. 

Born Pretty Store--Stamping Polish Review

Hey loves! Today I have stamping polish from Born Pretty Store to review. Of course you know I love stamping so I was excited to try these polishes out. Their stamping polish set comes with 5 colors: black, white, red, yellow, and blue. I primarily use Konad polish to stamp with, so I created a couple manicures comparing polishes from both brands. Both manicures are shown with topcoat. Let's take a look at the results.

Here's the set of 5 polishes from BPS. The blue polish I got is a sky blue, whereas the one pictured on their website is a dark blue.

Here I used yellow and white from both brands. My index and ring finger are stamped with Konad polishes. The image came out opaque and crisp from my 1st attempt on each finger. I used Born Pretty polishes on my middle and pinky. What is on my middle finger is my 5th attempt and on my pinky is my 2nd attempt. The yellow is barely visible and the formula was thin. The white is opaque, however, it dried so fast and gave me issues when applying the stamp to my nail. When I would roll my stamper over my nail, the image just didn't want to adhere to my nail. 

(stamp is from PUEEN 28)

Here I stamped my index and ring finger with Konad polishes and the images came out opaque and crisp. I stamped my middle and pinky finger with BPS polishes and the results were mixed. The images transferred onto the nail well on the first attempt so there were no issues with application. The black polish actually worked quite nicely--crisp and opaque and remained that way even after topcoat. The red and blue on the other hand are faded and they became even more faded with topcoat. 

(image is from PUEEN 44)

The only polish that impressed me and that I would recommend is the black polish from Born Pretty. It is not as dark as Konad, but I would say it's a good alternative. I would say Born Pretty black special polish ranks just after Konad Black and MASH Black. I did not have any issues with streaking after topcoat and cleanup was a breeze. The white polish was very opaque which I was also impressed by, but it dried so fast that it gave me a lot of difficulty with application. The red, blue, and yellow are not opaque and I wouldn't use these to stamp. You can purchase the set of 5 stamping polishes here for $6.93. Get 10% off your entire order using my coupon code: NV7X31.

OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons & Konad Q1

Happy 2nd birthday to my blog! I'm having a giveaway for a $20 Born Pretty Store gift certificate. You could enter my giveaway here. I didn't have time to make a special blog birthday manicure, but here's one I did a few weeks ago that I've been saving for today. I used OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons and stamped using Konad Q1 in Konad Black. The black polish I used for my ring finger and to make the dots is OPI Black Onyx and I mattified it on my ring finger with MASH Matte Polish. 

China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's & Konad M82

Hey lacqueristas! Today I have a pretty floral manicure that I actually got to wear for a full 4 days! That's rare for me with nursing school. I got the China Glaze Avant Garden Collection and this is the first polish I decided to use--it's my absolute favorite from the bunch! Here's China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's stamped using Konad M82 in Konad White. The gold is Zoya Ziv.

China Glaze Hanging in the Balance & Konad Q1

Hey my polished pretties! Quick post today. Here's a quick mani I did using a couple of my China Glaze Cirque du Soleil polishes. I have the whole collection and barely used any of them yet. I used China Glaze Hanging in the Balance and stamped using Konad Q1 in Konad White. The glitter is China Glaze It's a Trapeze. I used 2 coats over one coat of a white creme because I didn't want it to end up being too chunky. Also here's what my nails look like as nubs! I start med surg clinicals this week again and that means shorties for the next couple months.

Holo Zebra Print

Happy Friday! I have a cool holo zebra print today. I did the zebra print for a special meaning. I quit my job last week after working there for 5 years and some months and the first Konadicure I ever wore to work was a straight black and white zebra print. I decided on my last day I should wear something special even though no one knew what it meant except me LOL. I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and stamped using Konad M57 in Color Club Miss Bliss, Eternal Beauty, and Over the Moon. Index is Eternal Beauty and pinky is Over the Moon. The Color Club polishes I used are both from the new 2013 Halo Hues--I really love them!

Essie Sugar Daddy & Konad M19 French Mani

Hey beauties! Today I have my first successful French mani! I don't know how many times I've tried to use Konad M19 with the French tips, but I have failed every single time. I tried something different this time around. I used binder hole reinforcements and then stamped and it worked like a charm! I used Essie Sugar Daddy and stamped using Konad M19 in Konad White. I like how clean and simple these look!

Also, from now on I'll be using new watermarks on my photos (feedback is welcome). Unfortunately one of the photos I used to review a product for Born Pretty Store had my watermark blurred out and used on their site. I have contacted them and my photo has been removed, but stealing photos is no longer limited to young kids on Instagram and I have to be much more careful from now on.

OPI My Very First Knockwurst & Konad M57

Hey lacquerheads! Today I have a mani from a week ago that I did as a palette cleanser for the new year. I used this combo once before in a rush and never took pics, so I tried it out again because I really enjoy how it looks. Here's OPI My Very First Knockwurst stamped using Konad M57 in Essie Good as Gold.

Christmas Sweater Nails

Happy Friday! The holidays are just around the corner so I did some festive nails for today. I saw a Christmas sweater inspired mani by The Nail Network and I just had to re-create it because it's brilliant. Here's China Glaze With Love stamped using BM 14, BM 214, and Konad M57 in Konad White. I did a full mani so I ended up stamping 30 times! A little time consuming, but the end result is so worth it. My final is on Monday so you won't hear from me until after it's over. Wish me luck!

OPI Suzi & the 7 Dusseldorfs and Konad M77

Happy Friday! I've had naked nails for 2 weeks and I'm kinda dying over here without polish on my nails. My final is in 11 days and when it's over, I'm going to go nuts and paint my nails like a madwoman. Anyways, here's my much needed paint job. I used OPI Suzi & the 7 Dusseldorfs and stamped using Konad M77 in Essie No Place Like Chrome. My accent nail is OPI Crown Me Already. I feel so fancy with these!

Mermaid Nails

Happy Sunday beauties! I'm super busy right now with my school work so it's another short post today. Here are some mermaid nails using 2 coats of Orly Mermaid Tale over 2 coats of Zoya Ivanka stamped using Konad M34 and MASH 39 in Konad White. Too bad I'm not doing the 31 day nail challenge right now, I could've so used these for the day inspired by a color! I wanted to try the glue base coat on these, but I decided not to because I used Zoya Ivanka before the glitter. Has anyone tried using the glue base coat with some colored under wear before applying the glitter polish? I'm super curious if it works.

Delicate Feathers

Happy Humpday my loves! Today I have a mani I re-created from Pinterest--gotta love Pinterest right? Here's the mani by Tenshi No Hana that inspired me today. I made a glitter sandwich using OPI Don't Touch My Tutu and OPI Pirouette My Whistle and then stamped over it using Konad M77 in Konad White. It came out so pretty and I love how dainty it looks!

OPI Black Onyx and Konad M69

Happy Friday! School is creeping up on me and I'm dreading it. I am trying to use some of the new polishes I got this summer before I become too busy to use them, so here I used my China Glaze New Bohemian Luster Chromes. I was going to pass on them entirely, but after I found out they work for stamping.. well you know what happened lol. For this I used OPI Black Onyx and stamped using Konad M69 in China Glaze's Deviantly Daring, No Plain Jane, Rare & Radiant, Swanky Silk, Unpredictable, and Want My Bawdy. It came out even better than I had hoped! I have only seen them stamped over black, but I'll try them over some more dark colors when fall comes around.

China Glaze Flirty Tankini and Konad M79

Happy Sunday! I can't believe I have less than a month before school starts again. I will savor these next few weeks doing my nails before I have to go back. I have to say, I have been very uninspired lately with all the stealing of photos that has been going around. First it was just on Instagram, but it has been brought to my attention that it is also happening on FB. It makes me so angry to see not only my work, but other bloggers photos with no credit given to the artist, the watermarks cropped out, or even someone else's watermark on top. I literally spent hours last week reporting photos. Happy to say they were all removed, but wow, it is time consuming and I can't keep up. Hopefully it dies down so I can get back to focusing on my nails. Has this been happening to others and how have you ladies been dealing with it?

Sorry for the rant--back to my mani. I used China Glaze Flirty Tankini and stamped using Konad M79 in Konad Black.

Guest post for Nail Polish Creations

Hi beauties! I did a guest post for Lisa over at Nail Polish Creations. Check it out here!