Police Nails

My Uncle just celebrated 30 years with the police force and will be retiring soon. I just got Messy Mansion's plate MM28. Coincidence? I think not. The universe is obviously telling me I need to do a crime and punishment mani so here it is. I rushed the stamping a bit because I was running late for work, but over all I like how it turned out! Index, middle and pinkie are all painted an unnamed grey from Fingr's and stamped over with BundleMonster's BM414 using Wet n Wild "Black Creme". I then used MM28 again and Cosmetic Arts "Picture Day" to add some fun images. Oh, the DNA strands are from MM25. The ring and thumb are Sally Hansen "Lighting" stamped with MM28 again in "Black Creme". I really do like it. The grey fingers remind me of fingerprint dust. Many people don't know this, but I started taking classes thinking I wanted to get into forensic science. That was the vague plan anyway. Then one semester I took a microbiology class as just a prerequisite and fell in love with micro. So Forensics fell to the back-burner as Micro took front stage, but it still holds a soft spot in my heart.

Foiled by Foils

My Foils from yesterday that I was super crazy proud of? This is what they looked like today. I didn't get more than a few hours out of them. I need to find a way to protect the foil, but topcoat ate it. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do, but it's time to experiment.

My First Foils

I have always admired nail foils. So shiny! And a fascinating effect that glitter and holos just can't quite copy. I did get some by Fingr's Heart 2 Art collection, but it didn't come with glue. Fingr's directions was to paint your nails and just before it was completely dry to put the foil on then. That seemed incredibly stupid so I just hung onto the foils until I got some glue. I figured it was just a matter of time before I did. A couple weeks ago I proved myself right when I found It's So Easy Foil 'Em Kit. 3 rolls of foil and a small bottle of glue!

My camera didn't want to pick up the patterns in the foil at all. The rolls in the box are, from the left, silver with holo lines running thru it, aqua blue with holo dots, and violet with holo dots.

The directions are more what I expect from a foil kit. Paint your nails with the glue. As it dries it turns from milky lavender to clear. The interesting thing with foil glue is it dries sticky.

Here you see the light purple color of the glue on my thumb. The ring finger is almost dried so you can see how much clearer it is.

I tried to keep the foil on the roll but it was unwieldy so I cut a small square off of it. Press the boring color side of the foil to the clear, dry glued nails. Rub it onto the nail and keep it as flat as you can to avoid wrinkles. Then gently lift it off the nail. You will see the colorful part of the foil stick to your nail leaving clear plastic in your hands. You can see on my ring finger that some glue got on the skin and the foil transferred to it too.

 I've always been told not to topcoat foils. Curious I just had to give it a shot. The topcoat I used (Pure Ice "Girl On The Run") looked like it ate the shiny holo bits and made it look over all kinda foggy. I took a pic then redid the nail. So don't topcoat your foils!

China Glaze "Coconut Kiss"

 You can always go back and fix any bald spots on your nails. I still need practice, but for my first time foiling I am super proud of it!

Purple Roses

My Valentine's Day didn't go quite as planned. In fact it went quite wrong. But even tho it ended with me alone, a french silk pie, and season 2 of American Horror Story, my nails were still pretty! The white lace didn't come out very sharp, but I am super proud of the purple roses! The base purple is Sinful Colors "Tempest" and I stamped with "Enchanted over the top. I LOVE that combination! The rose stamp is from BundleMonster BM323 and the white lace is Cosmetic Arts "Picture Day" and a Fing'rs unnumbered plate. The lace may have been too much, but the purple roses are fabulous! Time to move on to my fav holiday of them all...St. Patrick's Day!!

Love and Kisses

Getting some Valentine mani's lined up. Here was me playing with my new stamping kit by Fing'rs. I used 2 unnamed Ellen Tracy polishes, a blush pink for the base and a metallic pink for the stamping. I used one of the stamping plates from Fing'rs Heart 2 Art stamping plates, but unfortunately they don't number the plates. I then used a tiny sticker also from the Fing'rs Heart 2 Art collection called "Just Face It". Very simple and subtle.

Wal-Mart's Stamping Kit

I knew that Fing'rs had a new stamping set come out with their Heart 2 Art collection last summer but I never got a hold of it. Wandering about Wal-mart last week and lookie what I found! I can't tell for sure yet, but it looks like this set might be getting added to their everyday collection. My Wal-mart is still in the process of setting up the polish wall, but it would be awesome if they carried this all the time! Here is a close up of what comes inside.

For almost 7 dollars you get 2 plates, stamper, scraper, and a tiny bottle of white polish. I didn't care much for the polish, but for a beginner it's fine. I just really prefer my Cosmetic Arts white "Picture Day" right now.

The plates are very nice and this time don't seem to be dupes of any other plate. I whole-heartedly encourage them to come out with original images. All the other plates Fing'rs has come out with have been copies of other plate makers. Interesting thing tho, these plates had no plastic covering on them. Then again, they didn't seem to need it. There were no scratches in the plates at all. They were well etched and rather detailed. The only real problems I've been having is with the "Lucky" image on the right hand plate. Not all the dots in the background want to show up, but I'm gonna keep trying. I have plans for that one for St. Patrick's Day.

Very few white polishes stamp so I wasn't surprised that this white wasn't all that opaque. You can get a stamp from it, it's just not that white. The stamper and scraper I was very pleased with. This is the first scraper I've gotten that I don't mind using. I still prefer my gift card scraper, but this is a very good second best. And the stamper? I love it too! It's about a standard small size, but squishier than all my others. Softer too. Not marshmallow soft like some of the really good expensive stampers, but still nicer than any of my other ones so far.

Over all I am super happy with this set! I recommend it for anyone wanting to learn how to stamp. If you are already comfortable with stamping, just looking for better tools, these are nice, but there are better ones online. For those with epic stamping skills and tools, I wouldn't bother with this set unless you really fall in love with the plates. 7 bucks isn't a bad price for a couple plates and who doesn't need back up stamper and scraper?

Audrey's Lace

I had some fun with new stamps and new polishes! This is China Glaze "For Audrey", a very popular color of theirs, but the first time I've gotten a bottle of it. I got a tiny bottle because I wasn't sure I would care for it, but I am thrilled! I'm gonna have to get a full size soon. I put an under color of white (Wet n Wild "French White Creme") so the teal would show up better, but I'm not sure I had to. The I stamped using Fing'rs Heart 2 Art stamping plate kit. They don't number their plates, but so far there are only 2 out there and they come in the same kit. Then on advice from some girls in my nail polish group I picked up "Picture Day" by Cosmetic Arts. It is now my very fav stamping white, beating out Claire's unnamed white and Milani "White On The Spot" and cheaper than all of them at 1.98 a bottle.

Christmas Clearance

Christmas is over and all the stores are trying to get rid of all their leftover Christmas product and gift sets. Including manicure, nail art and polish gift sets! Here is a quick look at the haul I made yesterday. I'll prolly write up proper product reviews on them later.

This was the set I went looking for. My nail art group on Facebook was talking about a cheap nail stamping kit at WalMart and I just had to get a look. My luck was in as I hit my second WalMart and found the last one on the shelf. That and it was 75% off! Two and a half bucks for a new stamping set. Even if every thing in here is rubbish, it was still worth it.

Sorry for the glare, I'm still learning
how best to use my Ott Light.

I've started to grow interested in Hard Candy so finding this set of mini bottles for 75% off was awesome. The mini bottles look kinda like their crushed chrome collection so another $2.50 was worth it to try them out.

These were in WalMart's regular clearance section and they are still a little pricey. I looks like they are getting rid of the Heart 2 Art collection Fing'rs came out with last summer. Shame, I really liked the idea of introducing all the different forms of nail art to the mainstream. Even if the product was a bit cheaply made I still liked it.

Another Heart 2 Art that I picked up solely for the fan brush. I've been wanting one for a while to play with but never got around to it.

The whole reason I picked this up was cause it was $2.48. Then Mom mentioned lips for Valentine's Day, so I'm gonna pretend that is the reason I got it.

31 Day Challenge: Day Fifteen ~ Delicate Pattern

Day 15! We're half way thru the challenge!

Try as I might, "Delicate Nails" had me stumped. The only thing I could come up with was an ancient map. Did that count as delicate? Thin lines and lettering? But no matter how hard I tried, none of my freehand looked at all good. Then I stumbled across some of my temporary tattoo nail art. This one in particular:

So I ended up going with the map decal. It's still nail art, but it's so easy it feels a bit like cheating almost.

Temporary Nail Tattoos

These are nifty little things. Fing'rs has a line of nail art products out now called "Heart 2 Art" with all kinds of fun things. Stamping plates, gems, striping tape and these cool little nail tattoos. They are not the nail polish strips that have been popping up the last year or so. These are literally just temporary tattoos cut in convenient nail sized squares. They were so easy to put on and each pack comes with 30 sheets. My nails are not all that long so I cut each sheet into quarters. And to top it all off it was cheap! I paid 2.50 bucks for the whole pack.

After the jump I'll show you just how easy these are to apply.