Little update

I got too busy to post again.  I've slowed down taking Clients and hardly even snap photos anymore if I do.  I've still got this shitty blackberry camera but I'm probably getting a new phone soon, we'll see if that's any better.

I also had to change my photo storage since Flickr demanded I sign up for Yahoo and well, Yahoo demanded I give them my cell # which will happen over my dead body.  Fuck you Yahoo and Flickr for taking my access away from my own photos!  Anyways, this is OPI Gelcolor Black Onyx with red holo foil dabbed on and this pic doesn't do it justice.  I loved wearing this.

I visited my sister in Delaware and picked up the CND Shellac Additives Paradise collection and tried it out over white Gelaze.  I picked up probably 8 Gelaze polishes down there as well for $5 a pop with my pro card when they were bogo in March. They're pretty good value at their regular $11 or whatever they cost anyways.  They are much thicker than other gels but I found they lasted just as long as other gels and no problems with removal at all.  I did test them out with a base coat and they ended up peeling.

Now this one is one of the LeChat Mood Gels in Twilight Skies.  It's neat but not my colour really.

Also while in Delaware I gave my sister gel extensions and painted them with Gelaze.

I've been so bad with taking photos you'll find many of my photos have a weeks worth of wear.This was my first mani with my brand new OPI LED light that I picked up in Delaware for a steal. I can now do my own nails in half the time with the LED light!

I used Gelish Mint of Spring with the new CND Sizzling Sand additive, Gelaze Turned up Turquoise and some silver holo glitter.  This was fun to wear.  Love the Sizzling Sand additive, I've used it several times.

I gave my other sister a crazy neon french with Gelish colours.  Just did a sloppy freehand job on them.

And of course my niece wanted rainbow nails just like mommy.  Even more sloppily done with just Billie polishes.

This one is Gelish Gossip Girl with black additive scrubbed in.

This was the last of my almond shaped manicures.  I'm just too lazy to maintain the shape. But I did really enjoy them.

And lastly I've gone back to my old standard squoval nails. This is OPI Gelcolor Can't Find my Czechbook with CND Additives in Midnight Tide.  Just a crappy rushed job.  Maybe I'll find some more time to post this summer, but then again maybe not.

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Great Stamping Polishes

This is probably a long overdue post but I thought I'd share my favourite stamping polishes - both readily available and somewhat hard to find.

My requirements for a good stamping polish is that they absolutely must stamp well on BOTH black and white backgrounds.  Many polishes stamp decently on light colours but the true test is whether or not it shows well on black.

Sally Hansen Chrome polishes are fantastic for stamping.  They stamp well on both white and dark colours.  There are also old Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes (white cap) that are almost exactly the same as these.  All of these can often be found in bargain bins.  I found all of mine in bargain bins for $.25 a couple of years ago with the exception of the square purple bottle on the right which I had purchased way back when these polishes were originally released.

And now on to the more readily available polishes:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Celeb City (top) is good but has a fine glitter in it and is a little more subtle than most of the 'chrome' type polishes.  The other 3 are all Pure Ice, which is clearly available at Walmart for $2US lol.  I've heard they carry these in Canada now but I'm not sure how much they are.  From L-R or top to bottom: Silver Mercedes, First Time and Pussy Cat.

Once again we have Sally Hansen but it's the fabulous Insta-dri collection.  These are hands down the BEST polishes for stamping that you can find in your local drug store for about $6 (or $4 on sale).  The cremes especially stamp like no other brand - very opaque. Out of the 15 or so colours of Insta-dri I own, only one colour doesn't stamp well on black, even though my  photo is shitty they do show really well.  Above is L-R, top to bottom: Presto Pink, Jade Jump, Mint Sprint and Brisk Blue.

Kleancolor Metallics are worth an honorable mention.  Although not all of them stamp well on black the bold colours are just not available in other brands.

Where the Kleancolors really shine (literally) is once you add top coat.  Those vibrant kind of colours don't typically come in the chrome finishes.

And of course the essential black and white polishes.  The good ones are harder to come by than you think because just any old black or white polish isn't necessarily going to be opaque enough to stamp with.  For blacks I've got L-R, top to bottom: Wet and Wild Black Creme, the original Konad Black and an old hard to find Sally Hansen No Chip in Black Berry.  Truth be told nothing works better than the original Konad Black.  When I use stamps that have fine lines like above or intricate designs, it absolutely has to be Konad.  For everything else, Wet and Wild is my 'go-to' black.  The Sally Hansen is a bit better than the Wet and Wild however it's close to empty and I've given up hope that I'll find another.  As for white, I have so many that just don't cut it, my original Konad white is empty and the best white I have ever found is Billie French White.  Unfortunately Billie is a Canadian polish that was sold in Dollar Giant stores across Canada.  Dollar Giant was purchased about a year ago by the US Dollar Tree and although you can still find Billie polish at the Dollar Tree, I believe it's likely they won't be stocking more and are slowly depleting their supply.  I've tried probably 6 different Dollar Trees now in SW Ontario and there is no Billie French White to be found. I do have one backup bottle left but my next bottle of white will likely be the Sally Hansen Insta-dri since I've read that their white is decent.

And there you have it.  The verdict is - cheap polish works best!  And my two most used polishes - Wet and Wild and Billie - are less than $2 CAD!  Notice there are no OPI's, Essie's or China Glaze's in this post.  If you're just getting into stamping and looking for which polishes work you can't go wrong with the Insta-dri's.  I also recommend picking up Wet and Wild Black Creme which is usually just under $2 and also Pure Ice Silver Mercedes at Walmart.  And if anyone finds Billie French White in SW Ontario let me know!

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Vitagel

Gelish has had a new product out for a few months now called Vitagel.  There are two kinds - Strength and Recovery.

I tried the Strength version.  These are my bare nails before application.  I had heard mixed reviews leaning towards the 'bad' side about this product.  I bought it on sale because I was curious and I have a few Clients who need some help growing their nails.

This is one coat of Vitagel Strength.  It doesn't require a base coat and is cured for 2 minutes under UV light.  It's slightly thicker than a normal Gel Polish. It doesn't have quite the same satin smooth finish as Gelish Top Coat.  Next time I may try it with 2 coats.  It doesn't require a top coat either.

So I decided to try out a new regular polish I picked up from the same company who makes Gelish.  This is 2 coats of Morgan Taylor Water Baby.  I painted 3 coats of Billie Electric Coral on the accent nail and I love the satin finish on it.

This is with topcoat and the best photo I could take that shows the amazing blue/purple shimmer in the Billie polish.  As for the Morgan Taylor polish, the formula was just okay.  I did not like the brush at all.  It's a very big brush much like OPI's but not near as refined as OPI's.  They do have a fabulous selection of colours and some pretty awesome glitters but not enough to make me add another brand to my huge collection of OPI's, China Glaze's, Essie's and Orly's.  Not to mention the Vinylux's I recently added.

I stamped it up with Sally Hansen Inst-Dri in Presto Pink.  4 days in and the Vitagel has cracked a bit under the polish.  That's pretty typical for me with Gel Polish.  My nails are very thin and flexible so cracking is not that unusual.  It's rarely noticeable unless I wear lighter colours like this blue.  And honestly it's my own fault because I don't use my cuticle oil as often as I'm supposed to.

The plan is to try and wear the Vitagel for 2 weeks while switching up my regular polish on top to see how it holds out.  Since I only used one coat of the Vitagel it doesn't quite have the strength of a regular Gel Polish manicure but definitely better than regular polish alone.

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Fluorescent fail, marble win

2 coats of OPI Gelcolor in Alpine Snow.  FYI, this polish sucks for french manicures but it's fine otherwise and great for mixing into dark Gelcolors to soften them.  The only good white gel polish I've found for doing french manicures is Shellac Cream Puff - one coat and no shrink back.

So I've gotten better at water marbling HOWEVER....I had intended this to be a fluorescent water marble which is why I started with the white gel base.  I used Bille Electric Yellow, China Glaze Shell-o and China Glaze Heat Index.  Unfortunately the colours didn't come out as bright as I'd hoped.

My thumb turned out the best.  I called this my pink lemonade mani.  Didn't keep it on long since the colours are just not me.  Who would have thought when I started this blog that I would wear something like this?

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Impossible

1. Impossible to photograph accurately
2. Impossible formula

China Glaze Shell-o 3 friggen coats!  And on a base of Billie French White (which in all honesty should have been 2 coats but whatever).  I know it's a fluorescent jelly but I have never seen such a thin China Glaze polish!  To it's credit though, with 4 coats of polish and Seche Vite top coat it did dry quickly.

Later that night when I was reading in bed I noticed the lighting made my nails glow and when I pulled my camera out it seemed like the most accurate colour-wise.  This polish glows like you're under fluorescent lights all the time - it's crazy.  Unfortunately it's such a pain to work with that it's really not practical to use on clients.  I bought the bright pink one too so I think what I might try next is a base of white gel polish underneath...

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I'm jumping on

the bandwagon :)  Even though I pretty much hate all things 'trendy' there was an old polish in my drawer calling my name...

And holy shitty camera Batman!  This is yellow, not green!  It's Billie Electric Yellow in 2 coats over a coat of Billie French White.  It's a crazy fluorescent yellow with a bit of awesome hidden pink shimmer.  It dries satin like above but with top coat you can see a bit of the pink...

I did a rush job on this and it chipped the next day but my nails were glowing like crazy.  Too bad the camera couldn't capture the correct colour.  Billie has a whole line of fluorescent polishes like this and they're pretty awesome for a buck!

Since I haven't posted in so long I've got a couple of small hauls.

L-R: Rimmel Burgundy Flirt, Steel Grey
Sally Hansen Forbidden Fudge, Wined Up and Brilliant Bordeaux
Rimmel Night Before

Total cost - $15 including taxes.  One of our Great Canadian department stores has met it's demise and are closing all across Canada.  Ok well Zellers isn't really a great store which is why they are closing lol.  Zellers is like if you mixed a Target with a really ghetto Kmart.  They are actually being replaced by Target and people are so excited up here and I can't understand why.  I've been to Target in the US and I don't like it.  I've always said it's just a cleaner version of Zellers - they carry the same brands and have similar pricing structures.  Even the new Marshalls stores up here are just cleaner Winners.

And now I've convinced you all that Canadians are just dirty.

So Sally's had their 50% off clearance items last week and even though I didn't score any Gelish, I did luck out on some China Glazes.  L-R: Cling On, Smoke and Ashes and Agro.  Total price just under $10!  Yeah the magnetic polish was actually $1.65!!!

And here it is slapped over my gel mani.  This is the only polish I wore on top of my Night Reflection manicure since you can see that the sticker on my ring finger is raised quite a bit.  This was faulty application though, it was raised but still hard as a rock.

I'm not sure what's in store here for the coming weeks.  There is a lot going on and my nails are a peeling mess but I promise I won't be abandoning the blog.  Just taking it easy for awhile.

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Going full girly

Why stop now right?

I stamped with Konad plate m84 using Billie French White.  As a side note, this was Day12 of my manicure!  Almost zero regrowth!  For a minute I thought maybe I'd see how long I could get away with it but I really couldn't stand having it on any longer.  If it was any colour other than pink...

And here's what I slapped on in between gel manicures.  It's Nubar Avant-Garde.  It's very rusty but generally a pretty boring colour.  I would have stamped it the next day if it hadn't chipped in less than 24 hours, but that's not surprising with a matte polish.

I'm feeling pretty blah lately about nail art and nail polish in general.  The new and upcoming China Glaze collections are completely disappointing to me, the new OPI collection is nothing special either.  I'm honestly getting tired of seeing amazing promo photos only to be incredibly disappointed by swatches.  We're seeing an oversaturation of magnetics much like the crackles last year, which I absolutely hated.  I do like the magnetic polishes but we're getting the all same colours from all the different brands.  I want something different dammit!  Can't anyone help?

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A win and a fail

I can't believe I waited this long to try out Studio M's Purple Medallion...

This is probably their most unique non-color club-dupe they have.  It's like Magic Attraction with a raspberry tinted base.  This is 2 coats.

I think this second photo is more accurate colour-wise.  I stamped it with konad plates m2 for the flowers and m5 for the dragonfly using Billie French White.

I found that the lights in my basement really made the holo glitter pop.  Love it.

So when I did this mani I decided to try Gelous for the first time.  One of the reasons I don't wear glitter often is because it takes several top coats to take away the gritty feel.  I had read several girls suggested using Gelous so I picked some up at Sally's for around $7.  I used one coat over the glitter and topped it with Seche Vite.  Half an hour later I noticed the surface was still gritty so I added another coat of Seche Vite.  Guess what?  STILL not completely smooth.  Not impressed with Gelous girls!

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A couple more quickies

This is 2 coats of the Billie Blue I picked up a couple weeks ago.

The satin finish just wasn't doing it for me so I decided to layer over it.

It's much better with Sallly Hansen HD in Spectrum layered over it.

And here's a little something I tried over my Gelish Bella's Vampire mani.  It's China Glaze's Fireside Glow sponged on the tips and then a coat of China Glaze's Fairy Dust over the whole nail.  Neither manicure stayed on for long.  I gotta get back into the nail art again.

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Christmas Mani

My awesome boyfriend bought me some soak off gels for Christmas.  Ah well ok, my awesome boyfriend gave me the money to pick out the polishes I wanted lol.  I picked all these up in Buffalo last week.  From L-R: Gelish Close Your Fingers And Cross Your Eyes (Sallys clearance $9), Red Carpet Manicure in Midnight Affair, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Violetta Darling and It's Not A Taupe ($8 each with coupon from Ulta).  I think I'm officially set for soak off colours and I can just focus on replenishing my base and top coats now.

So of course I had to try out the new polishes:

This is 3 coats of Red Carpet Manicure Drop Dead Gorgeous.  I know I just removed a blue Gelish manicure but out of all my new ones this one was the most suitable for a Christmas Manicure.

My awesome boyfriend also bought me a new set of stamping plates but I will have to save that for another post because I have zero info about them other than the fact that were $20 for 20 plates at the Showcase store, came in a plain white bag, and all the plates are numbered between B20-B97 but not in succession.  Anyways, there was one plate with a cute little snowflake design so I used that with Billie French White and then added a bit of China Glaze Fairy Dust to the tips.

Hmmm what to do for New Years nails....

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Busy Busy

With this being such a busy time of year I guess posts will be few and far between until the new year.  So this weeks posts will be packed into today.

On my Nfu Oh water layered mani I did a quick stamp of what I thought were snowflakes but people are telling me they are flowers...hmm, ah who gives a shit, close enough.  I used Billie French White and konad plate m20.

And here's a reminder of what my base Gelish mani looks like.  This was at Day 7 and after removal of the above:

Isn't it awesome how perfect and shiny it stays after scrubbing it with non-acetone remover?  I cannot get enough of the soak off gels, seriously.

Here is 2 coats of Cosmetic Arts All The Trimmings.  Sheer Green base with an irridescent/duochrome glitter.  Sometimes it flashes blue like above...

But most of the time it flashes pink.  You can occasionally see a gold flash in it as well.  It's one of the most unique polishes I own.

This shot is more colour accurate as far as the green base goes and you can see a bit of the gold in it here too.

For the nail art I just did a simple stamp in Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Titanium Rose and konad plate m5.

So that's it for this week.  I will be taking a shopping trip to both Toronto and Buffalo within the next week so I should have some awesome polish hauls to post soon.  Even if I had time to actually paint my nails right now there just is not enough time to post them...ah holidays :)

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