#52weeknailchallenge: Easter

I was doing so well with my posting and then I ended up working 3 weekends in a row and all my plans went out the window. Maybe I can get back on track again this week. Although I can only do my nails on the weekends now, as our times have changed. So I spend less time at home.

I'm not a huge fan of Easter mani's. I always struggle with ideas and then egg-xecution (see what I did there?). For this one I browsed Pinterest for a bit and came across this and decided to use it as my inspiration.

I started with three coats of Hean 879 on all my nails. Top coated as I was going to use vinyls. While I was waiting a placed some bunny ears vinyls from the Easter two set from becauseishop on my miracle mat. I painted two coats of Hean 401, removing the vinyl immediately. Once that was dry, I added a strip of China Glaze hang-ten toes to the middle of the ears.

Once the ears were dry, I placed one on my ring finger and top coated again. While that was drying I used the grass vinyls from the same set as the ears on the rest of my nails. Placed them at the tips of my nails and painted a coat of Celestial you can eat the grass?, removing the vinyls immediately. I then added some dots with Painted Polish stamped in scales, China Glaze meet me in the mirage and hang-ten toes.

My ring finger getting the same treatment once it was dry. What do you think? I do like how this turned out. I feel like I should have made the grass longer though, but then it would probably have been too long.

Thanks for reading!

Friday Triad: Inspired by @nail_muse

It's that time of the month again!

Each month Michelle, Joyce or myself choose a manicure for inspiration. And what we do is completely up to us. This month it was Joyce's turn and she chose this mani by @nail_muse. And oh my goodness was I intimidated! I have attempted these marble nails many times and it just never ever turned out the way it was supposed to.

So I watched the tutorial a couple of times and attempted the nightmare myself. Let me show you how it turned out. I started with two coats of Catrice easy peasy green squeezy on my thumb and index. On my middle and ring finger I have one coat of Essence what is this feeling?, on my pinky I have two coats.

I then painted a coat of essence what is this feeling? on my mat and blobbed China Glaze I'll sand by you and Catrice easy peasy green squeezy on the still wet polish.. I used a dotting tool dragging the polish, stamper smooshed over it and let the polish dry.

Once it was dry on the stamper, I "stamped" it on my nail, cleaned up the excess and that's it. My ring finger nail looks so much longer than the rest for some reason!! It's annoying me looking at the photo's, but oh well.

The Fiance said it looks like a peppermint crisp tart. I think he was just hungry at at the time!! What do you think? I think I'll try this again, I feel like I've learned something this time round. To see what the other ladies did, just click on their names.

Thanks for reading!!

Friday Triad: Inspired by Ruth (@adornedclaw)

It's quite interesting to which realisations you can come to in the shower... Like remembering why the crazy looking lady waving out the car looked familiar or the fact that tomorrow is the last Friday of the month and your Triad mani is due and you don't have a whole week left like you thought you did....

Luckily since it was absolutely freezing I decided to shower early. And am definitely not trying to pull a Joyce style midnight mani. Just frantically getting pics cropped, watermarked, getting the Fiance to charge his Mac so I can use that for the post and listening to some calming music (cue the pop music).

So Joyce chose this very green looking manicure by @adornedclaw and I was in LOVE! I knew that I was going to recreate because it was green and stunning! I ended up with more than 10 polishes on my table in the attempt to find the perfect shades. Which are glaring at me since they haven't been put back yet, but let me show you what I did.

Once I had all my polishes lined up I started on my vinyls by placing a diagonal alley from becauseishop on my miracle mat. I then painted each line one of the colours I was going to use for the gradient. Once that was done | started with two coats of China Glaze baroque jungle on my thumb, ring finger and pinky. On my index and middle fingers I painted one coat of Essence play with my mint as the base for the gradient.

I then did my gradient with play with my mint at the tips, Essence kiss the freaky frog and Essence island hopping at my cuticle. I then top coated and attempted to place a massive ass stud on my middle finger in a somewhat straight line, which was sealed in with another coat of Seche. The stud on my pinky received the same treatment.

I peeled my by now dry decal from my mat and used a clear stamper to place it. And top coated again. I really like how this turned out. The colours are totally my jam and I actually have an idea for another set of colours. I've been having a hard time with one of the prompts of the 52 week challenge and had someone tell me my nails look ugly... So I needed a boost.

What do you think? Don't forget to head on to Joyce's and Michelle's place and give them some love! I'm certain that they pulled something stunning and here I only did a recreation again..

Thanks for stopping by!!

#52weeknailchallenge: vinyls

I'm kinda happy this prompt is here. It gives great opportunity to use all my untouched vinyls, but!! the problem is choosing one to use! I knew I wanted to attempt a gradient, but I was scared of bleeding polish and all over failure, so I decided to use my miracle mat and the honeycomb vinyls from becauseishop.

I started with two coats of Pahlish Rowena on my thumb and index. On my middle and ring finger I have two coats of Catrice good lack! and lastly on my pinky I have two coats of I love Hean 854 indygo (weird spelling, I know). This is a "sugar" polish, but I also know not all the sugars were textured.. Anyway..

I started on my vinyls, by placing them on my miracle mat. I then painted them in, gradient style with, light to dark, I love Hean 879, Sorbet vanilla ice, Essie lapiz of luxury and Sorbet cool calm. Once it was somewhat dry I added a coat of Essence clear polish.

When everything was dry I lifted the decals from my mat and used a stamper to place them on my nail. I tried to get all of the colours on to nail, but the lightest colour is barely visible.

What do you think? Rowena is stunning, super sparkly and shows off even in normal light.

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: insect

I was quite looking forward to this prompt because I had so many ideas! And then when it was time to do them I couldn't think of anything!!

I did have another idea floating around, which I wasn't sure about at all, but it was all I had. So let me show you what I did.

I started with two coats of Tip Top it's lime time on all my nails. I also have a swatch for you.

In the meanwhile I also placed a splat vinyl from becauseishop on my miracle mat and painted a coat of 3ina 124 over it, removing the vinyl immediately. Leaving it to dry. I then started on my nails...

I then stamped the ants from Lina summer 2 with Nicole Diary black. This took some time as the image for the ants is a nail sized image and I had to remove the excess ants as I went along. When the splat was dry I lifted it from my mat and placed it in my ring finger. 

I then stamped some ants around it. In my mind this was supposed to be ants going towards a spill. Apparently it looks more like I squished one of the ants. Oh well. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

#52weeknailchallenge: stars

Finally a prompt that I actually had a plan for!! I've had the Glisten & Glow Dark and Delishious collection on my table for ages and I've been wanting to use it, but never had the ideal prompt. Until now. When I originally shared the polishes with our Secret Santa group, one of the ladies asked if it was a galaxy in a bottle (or at least something to that effect). So that for me meant stars.

I started with two coats of G&G cold hands. warm heart on my thumb, index finger and pinky. On my middle and ring finger I have one coat of Ulta3 black satin.

For the stars I used starry night vinyls from Becauseishop. I laid one on my miracle mat and painted a coat of OPI int'l crime caper over it. Removing the vinyl immediately, I then placed it again and used a scraper to flatten it and get rid of the excess polish. I then painted a coat of China Glaze let your twilight sparkle over it, removing the vinyl immediately.

Once it was dry I randomly added the stars to my nails, top coated and done.

What do you think? I was concerned when I bought this collection that I would have trouble capturing the colour shift. Since they all black based polishes, but so far I haven't had any trouble.

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: favourite villain

"Off with their head!!!"

This is one of those prompts of do I or don't I. We recently watched Alice in Wonderland: Through the looking glass, so I decided to do the Queen of Hearts as my villain. And I feel like it's a bit of a fail...

I started with two coats of Sorbet flash the fireman on my pinky and thumb.This is actually a one coater, but I added another. On my index, middle and ring finger I have two coats of Catrice good lack!

While that was drying I placed some heart vinyls on my Simply Neat miracle mat and filled them in with flash the fireman. I also made a stamping decal from Moyou London Alice in Wonderland 2, the Queen's head, I stamped it with Nicole Diary black. I coloured in her hair with flash the fireman, her face with Hean I love Hean 904, her cape with Ulta3 black satin and her crown with OPI oy-another polish joke!

When that was all dry I used my clear stamper to place it. The reason why I think it's a bit of a fail is because no one recognised it. Not that I can always expect people to know it.

What do you think? 

#52weeknailchallenge: animal

Let's just get this out the way, I did owls for animal. Get over it.

I had no inspo for this prompt at all. I knew I wanted to use owl decals, but that was it. So I sent a SOS to our Secret Santa group and this was born....

I started with three coats of Sally Hansen go bananas on my index finger, two coats of SH palm treat on my middle finger, two coats of Hean ordinary misfit on my ring finger and the rest has two coats of Hean City Fashion white. While that was drying I placed some zig zag vinyls on my miracle mat and used the 3 colours to make the zig zags.

While those were drying I stamped my branches from m66 with Munde de Unas caramel, removing the flowers with a dotting tool. Then stamped the flowers with MdU mint, removing the branches. Adding my decals after that. (the look of the purple owl matches my mood most of the time!)

Once my zig zags were dry, I carefully peeled them off and used my clear stamper to place them. I kinda like the look of it, with the white peeking through.

What do you think? I think it's different and quite colourful. And I'm glad I asked the group. This came out great thanks to them.

#52weeknailchallenge: fandom

OMG I just realised I somehow managed to skip fandom!! Don't even ask how I managed that, it seems I blacked out whole week.

I had lofty goals for this mani. I wanted to do Skyrim inspired nails, but I was still waiting for my Skyrim inspired polishes when I did this. So I settled for my original idea. I was going to do a Howl's Moving Castle inspired mani.

I started with two coats of Hean I love Hean 870 on all my nails.

I didn't want white as a base, so I settled for the light gray. So each finger has a story. Let's start with my thumb and index.

I used feather vinyls from becauseishop on my miracle mat. Painted a coat of Ulta3 black satin and a thin coat of China Glaze let your twilight sparkle over that, removing the vinyl immediately. Once it was dry, placed it on my nail. This is to represent Howl as a bird. Obviously on my middle finger is Turnip Head himself! He was stamped from HeHe 61, his face was coloured in with Hean City Fashion white and the band on his top hat was coloured in with I love Hean 906.

On my ring finger I have Calcifer, fire demon. I used flame on vinyls also from becauseishop. And attempted a gradient, with yellow at the tip moving into orange and red. For this I used Hean City Fashion 178 and 171 and I love Hean 440. For Calcifer's eyes I used a dotting tool and my black and white polishes. Finally on my ring finger I stamped some gears, also from HeHe 61 with Mundo De Unas copper. This is to resemble the castle.

I am very pleased with how this turned out and someone recognised Calcifer!! Without being told what my inspiration is. What do you think? Did I do this justice? Do you see Calcifer?

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Triad: Inspired by @hannys_manis

I'm so so sorry, this post is a little late!! I realised yesterday that it's due today and then I went and got sick.... The plan was to do the post last night but I couldn't keep my eyes open!

It's that time of the month where we pick mani's for inspiration and see what we can do. This month it was my turn and I chose this mani by @hannys_manis. The moment I saw this I knew I wanted to use Cirque pebble with it.

I started wit two coats of pebble on my thumb, index and middle finger. My ring and pinky has two coats of OPI don't touch my tutu!. The chevron stamp is from BP-L006 and I stamped it with mundo de unas old pink.

For the flowers I used eseence I still believe in Santa Claus as my stamping polish and an image from BP-73. I coloured them in with tip top heartbreaker and moyra SP16. The leaves I coloured in with essence play with my mint and toy apple smoothie.

Of course I had to mattify it and I love it even more!!

What do you think? I totally love love this. Pop over to Michelle and Joyce and see what they did!!

Thanks for reading and sorry again for the late post!!

Moyra stamping polish SP12 and SP16

A couple of months ago we got the news that we would be getting Moyra products in South Africa. Since I've never heard of them before I turned to Google and was somewhat impressed. I decided to get some polishes and a stamping plate or two...

I decided on a yellow (SP12) and light purple (SP16) stamping polish. As I didn't have any of those in my collection and might need one of those shades... Eventually. And the day did come that I needed a light purple, so I tested the polish on my miracle mat.

And oh my word was I disappointed... Barely there on black and white? This might as well have been a normal polish. So this had me worried, what would the yellow be like?? And I tested the yellow.

Slightly better... But it's still not what I would expect from a stamping polish. I shared my findings with the Whatsapp group I'm part of and they suggested I maybe contact the supplier as there may have been a problem with this batch of polishes. Which I did....

And boy, did I get the third degree. First, I was told that these are pastel colours and it depends on which surface I stamp them (????). A silicone mat doesn't show the true colours, its best on a black and white pop stick. Then I was asked if I shook the bottle, did I add thinners to it, why did I wait so long before using it, when did I buy it?

At this point I didn't even bother replying. Firstly the miracle mat was designed for nail art and to do test swatches of stamping polishes. Secondly, isn't shaking a polish bottle the first thing you do? And why for the love of all polishes would I add thinners to a stamping polish? Why? And as for the last two questions I'm not even going there because it seems like the implication is that the polishes have a shelf life. And I was starting to get annoyed.

I was also sent this:

This is the test swatch I was sent by the contact person at Moyra SA. How is this any better?????? According to the Moyra SA and Moyra Stamping websites these polishes are "extra pigmented, fast drying" and "developed especially for nail art stamping". Nowhere does it state that they pastel polishes and won't stamp on certain mediums. I decided to do a test swatch too on black and white polishes.

Disclaimer: I shook these polishes like my life depended on it. And guess what?? It made no difference!!!!!!!!!! Again, the yellow isn't bad, but it's not quite there. Something else I noticed that may or may not be a little odd, is that these polishes didn't have mixing balls, but the stamping polishes I got for my Secret Santa Receiver does...

I did manage to find two reviews, by the same person fortunately, that shows these two polishes. The link for the purple polish and link for the yellow polish and I wish I got those polishes.

The solution for my compliant was, that I could send these polishes to the Moyra SA educator and she will test it for me. Or I could send it to the contact person and she could test it for me. If something is wrong with it, she will then replace it. Honestly, considering the test swatch that was sent to me, this is clearly how they expect it to stamp. 

All in all, I'm very disappointed. The customer service was crappy, the polishes are sad and I won't order from them again.

What do you think? Are my expectations too high? Or does it all just suck?

Thanks for stopping by and reading my rant!

#52weeknailchallenge: ocean

I had fun with last year's ocean prompt.... it was my beach nails that you can find here and I called it ocean adjacent... So this year I wanted to do something more ocean-ey...

Anyway, I did a search on Insta for ocean and and a few mani's done by @liliumzz popped up... She's such a palette cleanser. I love her simple and easy mani's. I decided to combine some of them and this is what I came up with.

I started with Tip Top beach babe on all my nails. I then stamped the shell-like image on my index, middle and ring finger from BP-L003 with a navy stamping polish from BPS. On my ring finger I also stamped the bubbles from HeHe 66 with Nicole Diary white stamping polish.

While that was going I placed some unda-da-sea vinyls from becauseishop on my mat and filled it in with OPI ski teal we drop. Once that was semi dry I painted a coat of clear polish over it and waited for it to dry. Once dry, I peeled it up and stuck them to my nails, making sure I got the sea horse on my ring finger where I stamped the bubbles.

On my thumb and pinky I placed wavy vinyls vertically on my nails and painted a coat of ski teal we drop on the one side. Removing the vinyl immediately.

So I kinda like how this turned out even after BF called the sea horse a chameleon, the swirl shell a sea worm of some sort, the wave on my pinky a sea slug and I can't even remember what atrocity the other shell was. That aside, what do you think?
Also if things go according to plan again I might have another review for you coming this week.


Thanks for reading!!