Valentine's Day 2022

A simple mani for Valentine's this year. A smooth mauve pink magnetic to give a little bit of a cat's eye look by Nabi. Then I found a mini bottle of glitter that matched the color so closely that they could have been made for each other. And then, just because I had the box open in front of me, a pearl heart stamp using Salon Perfect's Pearl Stamping kit. Simple and subtle, which is nice cause coming soon is St Patty's and you guys know, simple and subtle doesn't really happen often with me and St Patty's!

Crystal Stamping Kit

 

I swear I posted about this before, but I simply can't find the post. I guess I never actually did so here we go!

Back in 2016, I saw a video someone took at CosmoProf. It was s demo for a stamping technique, but instead of applying polish, it applied crystals to your nails in certain patterns. Great for getting perfect lines and super fast! The company was Pave and after that one video I saw once, I never heard about them again. Jump ahead about 4 years and I find these kits at my local Walmart by Salon Perfect. I'm not sure what happened to Pave, they still have a website but most of their stamping templates are sold out as of this writing. I have no idea if Salon Perfect and Pave are related (I really don't think so) but I am LOVING this kit. And at about 10 bucks each I got both the crystal and pearl set. 

Mani x Me

 I did it. I finally got a subscription to the Maniology Mani x Me boxes. Curious, is it Mani and Me? Or is it Mani by Me? Both ways work. Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked. I'm excited to show you January's box even though it's almost time for February. I'd apologize but by now you guys know I'm just not a fast blogger lol! I have to admit, I took these photos after I already opened the boxes. I was excited. 

And the very first time you order a subscription box they send you a mini scraper and a rectangular stamper. Every thing came well packed. This month's theme was Art Nouveau. 

There are 2 subscription boxes available from Maniology. The first comes with 2 plates, 2 polishes, and something extra, this time it was some stickers. There is a cheaper option, however, that is exactly the same it just doesn't come with the polishes. Let's take a closer look inside after the jump:

Pink Water Marble with Injured Finger. *WARNING* Graphic Photo After The Break!

Late in 2015 or early 2016 I got my finger caught in our car door. I really mangled and bruised my index finger to the point that we thought I might loose the nail. I didn't but it was a close thing. I went weeks without painting my nails letting the bad one heal up until it was driving me crazy and I painted all but the bad one. I say all this because after the jump break there is a picture of my hurt finger. It's not really that bad, most of the damage had healed by the time I did this, but it is a very large nasty bruise. I just want to warn you, if that makes you squeamish DO NOT CLICK THROUGH TO THE REST OF THE POST. All the important information is right here, there is only more pictures on the other side and one is of my hurt hand. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Oh, this is a water marble using 3 Sally Hansen colors that I can't remember the name to. A very pale pink, a bubble gum pink and a dark pink.

Pueen Stamping Kit #1: The Pink Box

Look what I found at my local Wal-Mart! Now I know they have carried this kit for a while, but this is the first time I've picked one up. I'm familiar with the brand Pueen (even if I can't pronounce it. Does it rhyme with queen?) and I've always thought of them as a reputable company. I'm so stunned to see something as niche as nail stamping in a Wal-Mart! Can this make stamping go more "mainstream"? Anyway, this is the pink box, I believe there is also a blue box version as well as a few individual plates. (UPDATE: I got the Blue box and 2 individual plates so I will do a review on them as well. It also looks like there is another pink box called watermarbling. I might have to hunt that one down.)

Check out all that comes in the box and how well it works after the break!

Halloween 2021 Black to White Spiderwebs

I'm loving this simple gradient. Sally Hansen's black fades into a cool Orly grey and into Pueen's stamping white. I wanted the spiderwebs (a MoYou stamping plate) to fade into the white at the tips so I used the same stamping white to stamp the webs. It kind of worked. You can still see the webs at the tips so they didn't fade completely away. This is all so a rare shot of my right (or Cindy) hand. The left one got some weird wrinkling and bubbling going on in the top coat. I think I globed it on too thick because I was worried about smearing the stamping and it just dried weird because of it. But in my defense I was running late for work.

Hand made and painted mask, hand made hat, hand done make up and polish...I am loving this!

Stamped Dotticure

Attending a recent* funeral I decided to try and match the blouse I was wearing. Not a bad attempt I think. I'm fairly certain the color is Covergirl's Star Wars Limited Edition "Emerald Blaze" duo chrome over a black polish. I really should have left it solid black to match my blouse better but I had just gotten that Star Wars polish and was eager to play with it. I think the stamp is a Born Pretty plate with a stamping white over it. I did this mani pre-pandemic and I really don't remember what I used. 

*I started to write this blog post over 3 years ago. It's been sitting in my drafts folder for way too long so trying to finish if off.