Adventures in Stamping: April Fool's Day Mani

Today's challenge was for anything BUT stamping. No stamping allowed for the Adventures in Stamping April Fool's Day mani! So I decided to try something a bit different! :)

Flocking! Can I just say it's flocking fantastic! ;) We were talking about this in PAA and I've seen other blogs do it and I thought to myself, self, you have a lot of flocking for scrapbooking why don't you finally use it. And I agreed with myself, because I'm usually right. :)

My base coat is Finger Paints Pretty as a Portrait, but you really can't see it except for a few edges on my ring finger and pinkie (which I tried to edit out but cropping the photo). But the polish went on nicely with a great formula like the rest of the Finger Paints polishes. :)

I used Cupcake's Clothes Flocked Nails Tutorial as my guide. But I changed up how I applied the flocking because mine came in a tiny container that I got from Michaels a few years ago.

See! Tiny container. Didn't really want to be pouring this over my nail because there isn't a ton in it! But it was big enough for me to dip/pad my wet nail into the container making sure I covered the entire nail. And it worked without as much mess! :)

Ready for a full on flash close up!?

Look at that furry goodness! Kinda looks like velcro huh! And surprising enough, it isn't all that soft! But it was very interesting to have on! I really love this shot! :)

Oh and guess what. I tried getting it wet and it held up! Crazy huh! I though for sure it would melt off, nope. I didn't wash my hands like a crazy person though so who knows. Also taking it off was easier than glitter but more than just polish.

What do you think? A cool trend or just plain weird? :)

Essence Vampire's Love Collection Part 2

Here are two more from the Essence Vampire's Love Collection. Part 1 can be found HERE.

This is Essence Vampire's Love Hunt Me if You Can. It is a black polish with silver shimmer. Not my favorite out of the ones that I have from the collection but it is still very pretty! It went on very nicely, formula was great! This is no clean up and one coat! The shimmer was kind of hard to capture, especially with my camera's battery being almost dead.

Macro shot of the polish in the bottle. you can see the shimmer particles! :)

This is Essence Vampire's Love in The Dawn is Broken. I love this one! This probably my favorite from the collection! It is a light grey speckled polish with a slight shimmer and black micro glitter. (yes you've seen this picture before, I used it in my Nail Art Tutorial: Rub-Ons!). This polish went on like a dream! This is no clean up and one coat!

Macro shot of the polish in the bottle! Look at it, isn't it pretty! :)

I got both of these polishes from my swap with Jewli at Fanning the Fumes. Thank you so much Jewli! I love them both!

Nail Envy Week 7

Here is Week 7. They are strong and not peeling. I love this stuff! You can see that there is some missing from the bottle now. I use this with every mani that I plan to have on for a day or more. I don't use it for my quick swatches. But I am a believer now! I've had less breaks too! Yippee!

This is back to the first time I used Nail Envy on February 18th 2012. I've filed my nails down a few times, so judged them on the length! :) But overall they are healthier and stronger! I love Nail Envy!


(The first picture is a bit blurry because my battery on my camera is almost dead and I forgot to charge it. It takes a few hours to charge! Sorry! It's also taken and a different time of day)

Nail Art Tutorial: Rub-Ons!

 

So I was told by Arielle, from PAA, that you can use scrapbooking rub-ons on your nails! Whaaaaaaaat!? Now I can use some of my scrapbooking supplies that are all collecting dust! Best. Day. Ever!

So I attempted and I succeeded! (see above picture) So now, I will show you, my dear readers, how to do it too! :)

Start with a base color. I chose to use Essence Vampire's Love in The Dawn is Broken. This is a gorgeous light grey polish with a slight shimmer and micro black glitter. The overall effect is a lovely speckle! The formula was wonderful and it applied nicely! This is no clean-up! Yes!

Next add a top coat. I used Seche Vite.

Find your rub-ons

 

I used American Crafts (one of my favorite companies) mini Marks in Traveler Accents. The above pictures show you the packaging, name, and the different images in the package. There are three different sizes in this package of rub-ons. The smallest being on the top.

Showing you the different sizes. I used the images in the top row.

For those who haven't used rub-ons before there is a backing to them. It is a separate piece of paper, sometimes even tissue-paper like. Keep this with the rub-on until you are ready to use it! Otherwise your rub-on might stick where you don't want it!

Cut out your image that you want to use. I chose two for an accent nail for each hand. Notice I also cut out the backing paper.

Next (and I'm a doofus for not actually taking a picture of this!), but you just remove the backing and place rub-on onto your nail. And voila! You are done! Mine were so sticky that I didn't really need to rub them one my nail. As soon as the rub-on touched my nail it attached! Easy-peasey!

Here's my other hand and the suitcase rub-on. I added a topcoat of Seche Vite to keep the rub-on on!

I can't wait to use up more of my scrapbooking rub-ons! Oh, and since I did this a few days ago and have already changed my mani I thought I would let you know that they come off with normal nail polish remover without any problems or long periods of scrubbing! Extra bonus! :)

What do you think? Is this something you would ever try?

Ulta Mini Haul!

So the other day I went into Ulta to use my rewards. I had a level 2 reward option. But wasn't too thrilled with the options. But was told I could get two of level 1 rewards. Well, that I could do. So I decided to get a package of cotton squares and a package of cotton rounds! I use these to take off my polish. I've never tried the squares before, but hey, for free why not!?

Of course I had to check out the clearance polishes!

China Glaze Below Deck, China Glaze Sea Spray, Essence High Spirits, and Sally Hansen Uptempo Plum. The Essence wasn't clearance but was it's regular price of 99 cents! :)

So my whole mini haul (polish and cotton) with a $3.50 off $10 coupon was $8.73! And I used my gift card on it, so it was like free to me! Love it!

Anyone else have any hauls lately?

L'Oreal: Owl's Night

So, of course this one would be one of the first polishes out of the Epic Royal Nail Mail that I got from the lovely Debbie of The Crumpet. This polish is awesome! As you can read from the title it is Owl's Night by L'Oreal. This is the polish that started the big swap and I can honestly say that I am not one bit sorry to have done it! :) Love this and all the polishes!

Do not be deceived by the bottle. It's just a reflection making it purple like. This polish is dark brown base with gold shimmer! Hello gorgeous! Went on with no problems! This is one coat! It definitely needs a top coat. I did this earlier today and have been typing away without a topcoat (gasp!) and there is some tip wear now. But not too horrendous! :)

Here's a macro of the bottle. Tried to get a bit closer but not a good photo. But this shows off the colors wonderfully! (really need to come up with a new word!)

While I was out shopping at Walmart (and wearing this polish) I found something I just had to have....ready?

Oh yeah! Owl earbuds! So flippin' cute! Love love love! How perfect are they!?!?!?! People laugh at me and say all somebody needs to do to get me to buy it is put an owl on it. But that is so not true. Some owls are just down right freaky! But not too many, and definitely not these ones! :)

Teal Tuesdays - Animal Print

Today's Tealicure option is Animal Print! So excited for this mani because I used 3 items, all of them were untrieds! Woot! Woot! :)

First, the base is Nails Inc Eden Grove that I got from Miss Debbie at The Crumpet in this Epic Royal Nail Mail. It looks way more green in the bottle IRL but is a deep teal creme on my nails! Yes! This is one coat of it too! It went on wonderfully! Love it!

I also used Silver Nail Effects by BarryM. Also from the Epic Royal Nail Mail from Miss Debbie! WOW! If you haven't used these nail effects, you need too! These are AMAZING! The stamp like a dream! Thank you so much Debbie! They also clean up from all stamping equipment and skin wonderfully too!

And this is the first time using my Cheeky Plates that I got from Amazon. This is CH1. And it worked wonderfully too! All around this mani is made up of 3 of the best products! Loved them all!

So I usually take a picture of the base color by itself before stamping but as I stamped my little finger I realized I didn't take that photo! Gasp!

So here is a picture I took with my err, unintended accent nails! :) Look how glossy Eden Grove is! Love!

Teal Tuesdays was started because teal is unloved and needed its own day of celebration!
Teal is a medium to dark bluish green color of low saturation; a dark cyan.
Open to interpretation, anything green with a hint of blue or blue with a hint of green is welcome here!
Aqua, Turquoise,Tiffany Blue, etc etc...all are welcome - we do not discriminate!

Click the Teal Tuesdays logo on this post or in my sidebar to be taken to the facebook page!

Some of the other blogs participating are
Colorsplash Nails
Gaga for Nails
Fancy Phalanges 
Gnarly Gnails
Geeky Owl
Mandy's Polish
Nails Beautiqued
No Holos!
Persistently Glittery
Simple-and-Beautiful