The Digit-al Dozen Does Blue - Spazmatic Tips

Day two of The Digit-al Dozen Blue Week! Today I bring you a jeweled french tip mani! I did one of these a few weeks ago (using other colors) and loved how it turned out so I thought I would do it again!

I first started out by applying OPI Pink-a-Doodle (not pictured) as my base color. This is a perfect pink for french manis! I then applied Orly Sweet Peacock on my tips. Hmmm, a little uneven. But that's alright because the next step helps to camouflage that problem! :)

I sponged on Orly Spazmatic on my tips. This is a clear base blue hex glitter with blue micro glitter. Gorgeous! It is part of their Glam FX line that was released earlier this summer.

And next up I finished with Orly Prisma Gloss Silver for a bit of added dimension. I love how it turned out! I am quite fond of these funky french tips! They are easy and sophisticated! :)

My base coat for this mani? Good ol' Elmer's Glue. Yep, I really wanted to try and see if it works! Also, in this picture I have added HK Girl Top Coat.

** edit ** 4 days later **

Ok, so this is day 4 of this mani! Look how well the glue base held up, and the HK Girl top coat! This is even with a day of working truck at work! (unloading boxes and putting out inventory) Not too shabby!

 

And look it! All peeled off! Well, except for a few bits and pieces here and there. But all in all this worked fabulously! And took 5 minutes to do both hands! Sa-weet! I'm sold! I can't wait how satisfying it'll be on a full glitter mani! Oh, and I loved picking it all off! :)

 

Sadly I didn't have the big pieces like I have seen others peel off. But I think that is because it wasn't full on glitter. But oh well! Still awesome and amazing! :)

 

Don't forget to check out the full line-up of ladies in The Digit-al Dozen:





A Girl and Her Polish

Beautygnome
Bee Polished
Caitlin's Creative Corner
Geeky Owl
Glowstars.net
Gnarly Gnails
Manicurator
Manicurity
PishPosh and Polish
The Crumpet
Toxic Vanity

Teal Tuesdays - Ovarian Cancer Awareness

 

This week our tealicure is to support a good cause! It is to raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer. September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month with September 7th being National Wear Teal Day!

I decided to keep it simple and straight to the point! :) This is Essence Romeo and A England Saint George using the Bundle Monster BM321 plate. Isn't it perfect! Teal ribbons!

Here I tried my HK Girl topcoat that I talked about last week here. And you know what? No dragging or smearing of my stamped image! And look at that shine! Shiny sparkly teal ribbons! :) You can purchase HK Girl Top Coat at Glisten & Glow

The is a group called Teal Toes (facebook group here and website here) that talks about wearing teal in to raise awareness. The website states:

"Our mission is to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

How?  By painting your toenails teal, the ovarian cancer color.  By getting your friends to paint their toenails teal too, and then by talking with people when they ask about it, to make sure that they know the signs of this whispering killer.

Any time of year is good for teal toes, but we especially recommend September, the ovarian cancer awareness month!"

 Please spread the word by showing your teal! For more information please visit Teal Toes or Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

There are also some polish companies that are donating sales to Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Color Club has a set of polish, OCRF Polish, and they will donate 50% off the proceeds for an entire year! Please click the image below to be sent to the site!

Also, Diamond Cosmetics is donating a dollar for every kit sold! Please click image below to be sent to their site!

Such awesome deals and service! Please check them out and let's raise some awareness! Painting my toes teal tonight! :)

Don't forget to check out the other ladies that are showing support and awareness with their tealicures and our fancy links! :)

Review: HK Girl Top Coat

So, I kept hearing about this amazing top coat that is like Seche Vite but doesn't get goopy! Well, I got my through Copious from Jill (who sells it through Glisten & Glow). She doesn't make the top coat but rebottles it for her customers. How fantastic is that! :)

Well, I used it. And guess what? I liked it! A lot! It is definitely thinner than Seche Vite. My first attempt had it pooling onto my cuticles! It dries quickly too! And look at that shine! This is two coats of HK Girl Top Coat AND 5 days wear!

Here you can see the tip wear more. So is this a top coat you should try? Absolutely! But since I have only just started using it I cannot attest to it not becoming goopy later on like Seche Vite does. Also, I have tried it on stamping yet. But I will let you know when I do! :)

**edit: I have tried HK Girl with stamping and it is genius! No smearing of my stamp! Fantastic! :)

You can buy HK Girl Top Coat here: Glisten & Glow

Also, please check out Caitlin's review of this great product at Caitlin's Creative Corner

Haul Time!

There is no Monkey See Monkey Do Monday Mani today. Instead you a look at my latest haul and probably last haul for a awhile. I'm trying to be good and I also joined a Halloween Swap so I want to make sure an leave something for them to get me! :)

This is my final swap package from my one swap group. This is from Amber and I love it! Look at all that yummy candy and polish! Oh and that little mustache? He talks! "Well, hello there" Hahahaha! The polishes I got are Saturday Morning Cartoons by Whimsical Nail Polish by Pam and a Francesca's polish called Confetti. I love them both and can't wait to use them!

This here is my first Hare Polish, Asteroid Turf. Really excited for this one! And then this lovely L'Oreal is Britt Invasion. Gorgeous!

 

Macro bottle shot of Hare Polish Asteroid Turf. Love the colors!

 

Next up is a lovely little collection I found at Ross. A whole collection of green polishes from KleanColor! (L-R) Starry Meteor, Mystic Grass, Jazz Olive, Green Grass, TLC, and Melon Green. I bought this and then the next day saw this post from Gnarly Gnails where she states she loves Melon Green! I'm excited! :)

So I read about this wonderful and amazing top coat HK Girl, reviewed by Caitlin at Caitlin's Creative Corner. And I knew I had to try it out. Well I found out that not only does Jill sell it through her awesome store: Glisten & Glow, but sometimes you can find for sale by her on Copious! (which is where I got it!) I can't wait to try this. Like Seche Vite without the goopy! Woot!

And my last bit of haulage that cost me nothing! Essie Penny Talk! Free because I had enough Klout Perks! Don't have Klout? Sign up and get awesome perks! :)

Guest Post by A Girl and Her Polish

Good Morning Owlets!

Today's guest post is by A Girl and Her Polish. She is the Queen of Dotticures! Her nail art and stamping are fantabulous! And today she's given you some awesome techniques--owl style! ;)

Thank you so much A Girl and Her Polish! :)

Don't forget to check out her blog after reading this post!

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Hello Everyone!!  I was so excited when Kirsten asked me to do a guest post for her!  I feel really lucky that I have gotten to know her in the past couple months.  She is an awesome nail blogger and person! :)

Okay...on to the nails!  Many of my readers have contacted me about stamping.  They want to know how to do it, why it won't work, tips, etc.  I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to share my stamping techniques.  Plus I just got the brand new Bundle Monster plates and they have the perfect design for this post!

When stamping the first thing  to do is gather everything you will need.  You have to be fast with stamping and running to get the things you need will lead to a frustration.

My Tools:

I have my polishes, Orly Decades of Dysfunction, Barry M Denim and I later added Barry M Raspberry, not pictured.  My stamping tools are my plate, stamper and an old Starbuck's card that I use to clean the plate.  My clean-up tools are a make-up brush and cuticle pusher.  Not pictured are my Q-Tips, acetone in a small glass (for clean-up), and paper towels that I put the plate on while stamping.

The plate I am using, BM309 is perfect because it is an owl stamp!  So cute!

Before I get started with polish I use a Q-Tip dabbed in acetone to clean my nails and the plate.  Everything always works better with a clean palette!  I also always use a base coat, which changes depending on my mood.  My go to base coats are butter LONDON Nail Foundation and OPI Nail Envy.

For today's design, after my base coat, I added 2 coats of Orly DoD.  I love this polish.  It's a dirty white with a pink tone and yes, it's from the Dark Shadows collection.  For some reason I had bubbles with this application, so annoying!

You want to make sure that your base polish dries before stamping.  I don't recommend using a fast drying top coat.  The tackiness of the polish helps pull and hold the stamp to your finger.

Alright, the actual stamping.  You want to make sure that the polish you are stamping with is opaque in 1 coat.  You don't have to buy the special stamping polish! A nice thick polish is all you need.  Place some on the stamp, scrap off the excess using a plastic scraper, like my Starbucks card.  You can purchase a plastic scrapper, but I'm sure you have extra plastic cards laying around somewhere. In picking up the stamp, I have found that firmly pushing down works better than the roll method. DON'T move the stamper around or you will smear the stamp. Just push down.  Once you have the stamp on the stamper, roll it on your nail.  You need to move quickly through these steps because the polish will dry fast.  You don't always have to clean the plate between each stamp, it usually depends on the polish.  Sometimes it works better when you leave the extra polish on the stamp.

My nails after stamping:

After I cleaned up my nails I decided to add some accent dots, using the same colors.

Lastly, you want to add your top coat.  It is always a good idea to give your polish time to dry or else it can smear.  Some top coats are horrible with stamping and will always smear, typically the thinner ones like butter LONDON Hardwear.  I have recently started using HK Girl which is AMAZING!! I have not experienced any smearing with this polish, it's fast drying and has a great shine.

My finished product:

Stamping can be a very difficult and frustrating technique to master.  It took me awhile to get good at it.  My best word of advice is practice.  The more you practice the better you will get at it.  Don't give up, you will get the hang of it! 

If you have further questions please feel free to contact me through my blog. I am more than happy to help those who want to learn this technique! 

Thanks Kirsten for letting me share with your readers! :)