Summer Splatter and Aztec Stamping with Cheeky Viva Mexico

Hi all, today I have some fun nails I did probably in the end of August? 

Now, some of you may be aware I have zero skills when It comes to doing splatter manicures, and for a couple years now I've opted to use the rough side of a kitchen sponge to create a similar effect.  I used the rough side of  a sponge again for this manicure, and I added a top coat before stamping.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Colour Club - Blue-ming

Splatter Colours: Natural Collection - Antique Coral, Kiko - Cornflower Blue

Stamping Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Image Plate: Cheeky - Viva Mexico

Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Sadly my trusty BYS - Black Satin had started to thicken and it was really really hot the day I did these so sadly the stamping isn't as clean as I would have liked.  

Here's the base:

Hope you're having a good Monday so far!

Alessandro International - Pomegranate Swatch & Review

Hi all, happy Sunday, and Happy Mothers Day to UK people.

No stamping challenge for me this week as I haven't had time. I do however have some swatches of a lovely polish I was sent by Alessandro International.

Here's what I was sent

Little product booklets, colour charts, note pad, pen, invitation, and the polish

And here's the swatches, this is two coats no top coat, look at how shiny that is!

Alessandro International - Pomegranate

Pomegranate is a really gorgeous Coral creme that has jelly properties, and really pretty warm gold flecks. it tends to photograph a little more orange. Dry time on this is quick, and the coverage was great, as you can see. Overall I was very impressed with this polish, and I really liked the design of the lid, I thought I might dislike it, but it was really convenient.

I'm not sure where you can buy Alessandro at the minute, but I've recently seen they have a polish called Nail Dots, which is similar to OPI Spotted, so hopefully I'll find out where you can easily get Alessandro polishes.

**This product was sent for consideration of review**

Crazy Neons - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all, been a little MIA this week again, but I've just been shattered!

This week's stamping challenge over at Adventures In Stamping was to use crazy bright neons. I decided to do a "plastic bag" smooshie style base for these, and then stamp over with black.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Rimmel - French White

Neon Colours: Kiko - 356 - Melon

Flor Mar - N007

Alessandro - Pomegranate

Clubworks - Pink

Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Image Plate: Konad M85

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Here's my base, before a top coat, and the method used didn't really work, so I filled in some of the whiter spots with a cotton bud with polish on.

 Here's what I used:

Hope you've had a good weekend! I should be getting ready to head out to stuff my face with yummy food, probably Wagamamas, nomnomom noodles! And then to go watch Wreck-It Ralph :D

Natural Collection - Antique Coral, Flakies & China Glace - Evening Seduction, Dashica Hello Kitty Stamp

So this is going to be a scheduled post, because I’ll be at work! Yay! It’ll be my first day, and I’m going to be back where I used to work with people I love!  So I hope everything with this post goes well as I’ll not be able to fix things until the night time.

So yeah, less of the excitement, more of the nails! This is a colour I never did swatch, I’ve had it in my collection for about a year now, and it’s my only true coral (I think, haha.) Gorgeous coral, with tiny blue glass flecks running through it. It had thickened a little bit in the year it’d gone neglected, but the formula was still pretty good, though I had a little problem with streaking 3 coats was perfect.

If I didn't want to take a swatch shot, I could've got away with 2 coats easily, especially with the flakie top coat too. So after this I added Golden Rose - Scale Effects 03, and then used two images from my Dashica Big SpD-A using China Glaze - Evening Seduction. I really love using Evening Seduction as a stamping polish as the base colour changed the outcome slightly. I've used it over lilac and got a true dark berry purple, and here it looks more like red.

Base Coat:  La Femme
Base Colour: Natural Collection - Antique Coral
Flakies: Golden Rose - Scale Effects 03
Stamping Colour: China Glaze - Evening Seduction
Image Plate: Dashica Big SpD-A
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

These were so adorable to wear! I had stripes/waves on my thumb too.

I also got my Bundle Monster plates in the mail today (Wed) so I'll be testing them out this weekend, and will do a post about them. I'm curious if you'd want to see swatches of the plates too? If you do I'll test them out a little neater :P

Miss Sporty - 326 & P2 - Passion Comparison = Dupe

When I bought Miss Sporty - Electric Beige & Gold Backstage I picked up Miss Sporty 326 as the freebie. I think it might have been called Tangerine something or other, but I really can't remember :( I couldn't actually decide so Scott picked this up, but I knew it looked similar to P2 - Passion which I won in a Giveaway I didn't know it would be an exact dupe.

Direct sunlight

Here the Miss Sporty colour looks slightly darker

Index Finger: Miss Sporty - 326
Middle Finger: P2 - Passion
Ring Finger: Miss Sporty - 326
Pinky Finger: P2 - Passion
Two Coats

Index Finger: Miss Sporty - 326
Middle Finger: P2 - Passion
Ring Finger: Miss Sporty - 326
Pinky Finger: P2 - Passion
Two Coats

As you can see these two are so similar, the formula is pretty much the same although P2 has a slightly smoother consistency. But the Miss Sporty colour is slightly darker, however in person you honestly can't tell the difference, I asked a few people and they couldn't tell at all. So if you fancy a strange bright Coral colour like P2 - Passion but can't get your hands on it, Miss Sporty's 326 is a great substitute. And if anyone knows the name please share, or i'll have to hunt it down the next time i'm at the shops!

P2 Passion & No7 Betty Blues Damask

P2 Passion is such a gorgeous colour, and I think I've recently added a Miss Sporty colour to my stash that's pretty much a dead on dupe. But that's for another post ^_^ In person the stamping looked more blue, and in the last photo you can sort of see that the shimmer comes through too. I think after leopard print, damask is my favourite go-to design. I wish there were some more image plates with damask on so I could change it up a bit. But maybe there is, who knows!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: P2 - Passion
Stamp Colour: No7 - Betty Blues
Plate: BM21
Top Coat: China Glaze No Chip Top Coat

 

I know in reality I should be lusting after Autumn colours, but I just love bright so much!

Coral Flower Pick 'n' Mix

I'm enjoying the fact the sun has decided to come back out a little here and there, after a rather miserable looking week. So I felt like wearing some brighter colours. I was feeling a tad more creative than recently so I decided to go for a Pick 'N' Mix type Mani :]

Excuse the tip wear!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Natural Collection - Antique Coral
Stamp Colour: Rimmel White

Index Finger: Plate M64

Middle Finger: Flowers Painted With Acrylic Paint
Gold Dots: H&M - Wa Wa Woom

Ring Finger: Rimmel French Colour For Half Moon
Pearls: Bought From The Pound Shop
Plate: BM16

Little Finger: Lines Drawn With White Paint
Glitter: Nail Art Pen - Ebay

I think by the time I got around to the little finger I'd almost ran out of ideas.

Fruit Salad

Feeling slightly summery now the rain has stopped! These really remind me of Fruit Salads - the sweets. nomnom

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Revlon - Peach Smoothie
Stamp Colour: Natural Collection - Antique Coral
Plate: BM210

Coral & Chrome

Just another simple mani :] You can't really see from this photo; but there's gorgeous gold shimmer through this coral orange. The formula of this nail varnish too, is so good for how cheap these colours are :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Natural Collection - Antique Coral
Stamp Colour: N.Y.C. - Foiled Rotten
Plate: BM211
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat