O Canadupe?

I don't usually do comparison posts because my camera really sucks but when I saw this polish in the store I just knew I had to do one.

As far as I know, this is the second dupe from Joe.  The first one, Peacock, was a dupe for China Glaze's Rodeo Fanatic.  And now we have our second one, Khaki, a dupe for Essie's Sew Psyched.

The Essie is on my ring finger (third from left) and the others are all Joe.  2 coats on each finger.

Joe Khaki even has the same subtle shimmer as Sew Psyched.  If there is any difference at all I would say that Joe Khaki is just a hint more yellow.

So of course I can't just wear a plain old polish on it's own not matter how awesome it is.  I stamped this with Color Club's Love Em Leave Em and Konad plate m71.

So there you have it, clearly a dupe.  I hope to see more of these from Joe in the future.

Later
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Fishnet stamping

So I'm still rocking the Shellac/Gelish combo but I removed the stamping.  I added one coat of China Glaze Ruby Pumps and although I couldn't quite capture it here, it looks amazing!  The green sparkle underneath adds crazy depth to it and I love it.  What I don't love is that this solitary coat of Ruby Pumps ate top coat like you wouldn't believe!

So I added a stamp to it.  I used image plate BM209.  I also tried 4 different black polishes with this image and the only one that actually picked up the whole image properly was my good old Konad Black.  I guess sometimes there is really no substitute.  I was having a love/hate relationship with this mani.  Sometimes when I looked at it I was reminded of Spiderman and then I didn't love it so much.

So just to avoid any confusion I figured a heart shaped stamp would confirm that this was definitely NOT a Spiderman manicure.  I used Color Club's Antiquated from the new Foiled collection and konad plate m18.  Maybe I should have saved this one for Valentine's Day?

Later
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Just a quick stamp

So I'm digging this uv gel mani so much that I don't really want to paint over it.  I'm sure if this actually lasts the full 2 weeks this time I'll get bored with it eventually.

I decided to just dress it up with a quick stamp.  I used Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and BM223 with a little clear gem.

And one more shot of sparkly colour-shifting awesomeness!  This is day 3 of the Shellac/Gelish combo.  So far so good.

Later
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More UV Gel Experimenting

Since I had such a hard time removing the Gelish Foundation last time, I decided to go back to the Shellac Base Coat for this manicure.  I then painted 2 coats of Shellac Red Baroness.  I like red but this is too diva for me.

So I decided to go crazy with it and painted a coat of Gelish Oocha Coocha Bing Bang Bam - Alakazy Alakazam over it.  I would describe it as a sheer glass flecked type polish meant for layering.  It's teal in the bottle but mostly green on the nail with flashes of gold, teal and blue.

It's an interesting combo for sure.  Unfortunately when I bought this polish I wasn't really thinking that I only have pink and red toned  Shellac and Gelish so far.  It's like one of those ugly pretty colours where you can't really decide which colour it is...I like it!  I used the Gelish Top It Off top coat this time and I'm crossing my fingers that this is the combo that will work for me.  If I chip in less than 7 days I think I will cry.

Later
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A short break from the shellac

First up is a quick mani I did for the Princess.  She wanted glitter on her tips.

I painted one coat of a shimmery peach - it was OPI and it was a random polish I grabbed from her stash, no idea what it's called.  Then I pressed some red glitter into her tips and dry-brushed down.  I stamped her with konad plate m4 and konad white polish and then finished it with tiny clear gems in the centre of each flower.

And this was for her hubby's birthday.  I haven't done a cake in ages it seems.  I find it more difficult to use fondant when you have nails because it's so easy to nick the icing.

And this was my own mani after removing the last uv gel manicure.  It's 2 coats of OPI's Skull and Glossbones.

So the Gelish base coat was a real bugger to remove.  I even let it soak for an extra 5 minutes and still had a hard time with it.  It's not impossible, but I'm not too happy about it since my Shellac base coat is almost empty and I don't know where to buy it.

And now for my stamping fail.  I used China Glaze's Bogie with konad m6 and Kleancolor Metallic Jungle with konad m36.  Blech.

Later
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