Grey Forest

 

It's still dull and grey outside. I've been trying to do a perspective mani for a while. Mostly at Halloween with tombstones, but I just haven't gotten the hang of it yet. This one actually turned out ok. I started with an off white base, Sally Hansen's Coconut. Over that I stamped with Maniology's Front Page, Literary Classic and Straight Up Black. I considered adding a glitter over it but eventually decided against that. I did add a silhouette of Santa's sleigh and deer flying above, but it was too much and I'm glad I got a pic of it before I did that. The trees were stamped with Maniology's MXM078 and MXM108

Lunar New Year

 

This was originally planned for a Christmas mani, but I think it works very well for Lunar New Year. This is Maniology's Queen of Hearts and Yellow Brick Road. Over Yellow Brick Road I added Honeypot for extra gold flakes. This mani was also an opportunity to use the golden art nouveau stickers I got in a Mani x Me box. I cut them up a bit so that they fit nicely at the cuticle. Simple and sophisticated, I'm pretty pleased with them.

Snowflake Pond

 

I love pond manis. The depth hinted at is fascinating to me. It's a fairly simple illusion to achieve using sheer polishes. Here I've used a sheer blue (I've recently moved and it is still in a box. I've forgotten the name of it but I think its a Sally Hansen) then stamped a couple snowflakes in Maniology's Bam!White. Then another coat of the sheer blue, another couple snowflakes. Keep repeating until you have the effect you are going for. The first snowflakes you stamp with be the faintest and the sheer blue builds up over it. The last snowflakes will be the brightest. I'm fairly certain I also layered Funky Fingers' Olaf, a matte white glitter and snowflake confetti in between the sheer blue too for more interest. 

Grey Snowflakes

 

We have a couple snow storms on their way in my neck of the woods, so I decided it was time to post this mani I did a few months ago for a contest. I didn't win but I still had fun. A simple gradient of greys (Maniology's Literary Classic and Front Page) stamped with white (Maniology Bam! White). I think there is even a topper of micro gltter to give it a sheen, but I've forgotten what I used (Maybe Maniology's Cloudy?). The plate is Maniology MXM078

Deep Blue Snowflakes

 

This is prolly one of the best gradients I've ever done! I was worried when I picked up Kraken, it just seemed too dark, but look at that! It turned out great! Kraken, Alice, and Blue Ribbon from Maniology make up the gradient. Bam! White is the stamped white from Maniology's plate MXM 116. I think I also used Sally Hansen's Disco Ball for a bit of sparkle. 

Sweet and Spooky Carnival

 

I tried my hand at a Sweet and Spooky mani today! It's October and I love this season. I've been posting a little (really very little) on TikTok and they had this neat filter thing that would change on picture into another. I wanted to do something that looks sweet and innocent but then would turn creepy. I also have to practice my reverse stamping (I'm still so rubbish at that). So I have the happy Fun Fair mani up top with balloon animals, candy and confetti. 

But then....

A Creepy Carnival with clowns, spiders and skulls!

I'll do my best to remember all the plates and polishes I used. 

Fun Fair: Maniology MXM 094 and MXM 095 

Sally Hansen base colors and Maniology Stamping colors.

FreakShow: Maniology M 312 and BM S244 (which I think has a new number but I'm not sure what it is)

The base colors of polish I think were Sinful Colors, Sally Hansen and Maniology. The stamping colors are all Maniology.

Tropical Sunset

Tropical summers aren't really my thing. I'm more of a State Park/National Forest type of girl, but you cant deny how gorgeous an island sunset is. I decided to do an odd gradient and WOW! I had no idea just how cool that would turn out! I'm rather proud of how the stamp complimented the gradient so much!

Maniology Brand Ambassador

Use my Coupon Code at Maniology.com

FOXFIRE10 for 10% off!

 

I can't believe it! I've loved Maniology for YEARS. Back when they were BundleMonster. I discovered stamping in March of 2012. My first BundleMonster order was in April of 2012. So when they came out with the Brand Ambassador program I really wanted to join, but I'm not a big presence on social media. I don't TikTok. I barely Instagram. Ok, I Facebook a lot, but that's just friends and family. Heck, I can barely keep this Blog updated! (sorry!) So I dithered about it for over a year if I should apply or not.

Then my local library asked me to do a nail art program and I *really* wanted to include stamping. Yes, I'll cover other things that you don't need extra tools for, but I LOVE stamping and want to share it with everyone! But how terrible would it be for me to do a program, show everyone how to do this cool technique, then tell them they need all these extra tools for it. It would be nice to give them a coupon code to help them get started. Maniology does do a free kit for beginners (just pay shipping) but for those that want more I want to give them a code. Becoming a Brand Amabassador would give me a coupon code for friends. So I did it. Even though I'm not some big YouTuber or anything I decided to try. 

THEY ACCEPTED ME!!! I am now a Maniology Brand Ambassador. What that means is I have a coupon code, FOXFIRE10 , and anyone who uses it gets 10% off at Maniology.com. Full Transparency here, I also get a commission based on how much my code is used for. But MBA or not, I do love their stamping plates and tools. So you might see an uptick on my activity now, and it might be more directed at Maniology. 

Another Messy Mansion Celtic Knot

 With all the plates and polishes, all the nail art I own, I still come back to Messy Mansion for my St. Patrick's day mani. For a holiday I love so much I really need to get more plates for it. This is China Glaze "Refresh-Mint" with OPI "Gleam On!" Over it. Stamped with MM04 in Maniology (formerly BundleMonster) B441 "Alocasia".

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:

In The Valley Of Kings

    Forgive the poor dry cuticles, I'm working on getting my nails back to picture perfect. Well, maybe like picture acceptable? Anyway, this was a challenge to use a plate I haven't yet played with. This is another BundleMonster (now Maniology) plate. BM-S250 which is now M063. A couple coats of Sally Hansen's "Coconut" from the Jelly Belly collection. I really like this polish because it is a "warm" white. Not really a cream or off white, but not super bleach brilliant white either. Stamped with Sinful Colors (I don't remember the name of it but it had "rock" in the title) and Maybelline's "Bold Gold" my fav gold stamping polish. I had a scarab beetle on one finger with a dot of blue for it's shell, but I disliked it so much I redid the whole finger. Sometimes less truly is more.

    This was a simple stamp, but I would like to try more with it in the future. I love the Egyptian feel to it and would like to incorporate more color to it.

Very proud of how straight the lines came out. No waviness at all!

The Spirits Speak

This is the plate that got me back into nail art. I'm so in love with this Ouija board plate (M071 and it's sister the Tarot card plate (M072) from Maniology. This is a very simple stamp of Sinful Colors black with Essie's "Dive Bar" blue duo-chrome over it. The stamped with BundleMonster/Maniology stamping white.

Quoth the Raven...

Yeah, it has been a while. Life got messy, as it does, and though it's not less messy, I feel the need to paint my nails again. I've always loved Halloween and now that I'm working in a library (OMG I love this job so much!!) I wanted something literature-ish and also Halloween-ish. Edgar Allan Poe it is! I don't really have an old paper colored polish, so my pastel yellow "Unicorn" from Sinful had to do the job. I stamped with a brown Sinful Colors that I've forgotten the name to. I think it had "rock" in the name. I really like that brown over the pale yellow. It gives the old paper with faded ink effect I was going for. I stamped over that with BundleMonster's stamping black polish. BundleMonster has changed their name to Maniology, so I'm going to mess that up quite a bit before I get used to the new name. The stamping plate is from when they were still BundleMonster. So the plate I have is BM-S248 but they have remade it so now it's M64.

Old BM plate

But it looks like M064 combines 2 plates, Poe and Vampires, so its like 2 in one now! That about does it for now. I have a Maniology order coming in soon so I hope to share new plates with you soon!