Monday, October 14, 2013

Candy Corn


It's that time of year again! Fall is on the wind and I've started reaching for the more subdued earth tone colors. I really didn't think this mani was anything special, just a 3 color gradient inspired by something my mom said about candy corn (a weakness of mine this time of year). I was actually planning on stamping something over it later, but ran out of time before work so just topcoated it for now till I could decide what more to do to it.  At work, however, I got so many compliments on them that maybe I'll leave them as is for now. They are so simple, but people love them! I was surprised, I mean, it's only a gradient. A base coat of Wet n Wild "French White Creme" with Sally Hansen "Lightening" and L.A. Girls no name orange. I really like this no name orange, but its a tiny bottle and I've used a lot of it. I think it will be time to replace it soon. This time of the year with Halloween coming up it shouldn't be too hard to find a good pumpkin orange.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Owls and Cherry Blossoms


I saw this amazing manicure by Diana using MoYou's plate Suki 01. At the time I had something else on my nails so I borrowed Mom's nails to replicate it. I love how it turned out! An undercoat of Sally Hansen "White On" and a gradient of Sinful Colors "Cotton Candy" and "Sweet Nothing". Stamped with Wet n Wild "Black Creme". I was a bit scared to try the dotted flowers and eyes that Diana did, but I still like how it turned out. Mom did too :D

Friday, October 11, 2013

MoYou Review


I am totally and completely in love. I want every single plate MoYou has ever made. I touched on it last month during the 31 day challenge, but now that the challenge is over I get to show you my first pretties I got from them. I placed my order for 2 plates at the end of September and will place a larger order in November (gotta save my pennies up). Back in Sept there was only one "mural" style plate and I had to have it! Now there are 21 to date. What do I mean by mural style? So glad you asked!

This is what a regular stamping plate usually looks like. Squares of images laid out in a grid on the plate.


This is the "Back to the 80's 02" plate by MoYou. Some size comparisons to BundleMonster 300's set. As you can see these are smaller than BundleMonster full size images. Just after I got these plates they came out with "Extra Large" images, but I don't have any of them yet.



That was the standard layout for a stamping plate. The mural style plates are like individual artworks all by themselves. This was the first mural they made called "Suki Collection 01".


I was simply blown away by the beauty of it! Just look at all the detail in there!


As much as I love them, I would caution new stampers to gain some experience, especially in isolating images before tackling them. Then can be intimidating to a new stamper. If you're an old hand at it, I highly recommend them.

These pictures make them look very large, but I was surprised that they were much smaller. They are about the size of 2 round plates side by side.

               
Instead of the standard paper backing to keep from cutting yourself on the plates, they have a thicker plastic backing that is just slightly larger than the plate so it looks like its framing it.

I know, you want to see some manicures done with it. I'm working on it, but here is the picture from Day 10 of the challenge last month.


And me just playing around with my new toys. I was super excited and didn't take the time to place some of the stamps properly so some are off center. I'll be better next time.


I'm losing my mind over these plates. I've compiled my wishlist, just waiting for November to place my order. 

Monday, October 7, 2013

31 Day Challenge: Day Thirty-One ~ Honor Nails You Love

Wow! 31 days of nails. I'm exhausted but that was fun. I slacked off at the end as work suddenly got crazy busy (I had to sew several costumes for an ornament party our store threw, more on those on my brand new blog Needle of Sewing +3 ) but here it is, the last day of the challenge. "Honor nails you love" I interpreted as I should pick someone else doing the challenge and do a mani they did. So I chose Chalkboard Nails Day 15 Delicate Print. I wasn't happy with what I came up with on that day so I'll try it again using Chalkboard's version.

Chalkboard Nails picture:


And mine:


Ok, so not an exact copy, but not too bad for an amature. I used Sinful Colors "Endless Blue" (which I've renamed TARDIS blue because that's what I bought it for :D ) and Wet n Wild "Black Creme" in a gradient. I then freehanded the spiderwebs in Wet n Wild "French White Creme" and over that for added sparkle China Glaze "Ice Cap" and hand placed glitter from Wet n Wild "Explosions After Dark". I hope some day I'm half as good as Chalkboard and the other bloggers I follow.

Here is Chalkboard's thumb:


And my little spider:


And there it is, the end of my first 31 Day Challenge. I figured I'd take a break and just do some Halloween manis this month, but a friend just started a halloween challenge that would take place Tuesdays and Thursdays in October. I might join but not sure yet.