April Showers...Snow Showers, That Is.

I wore this manicure a few months back, in February, but never got around to posting it anywhere.  Apparently, I must have been subconsciously saving these pictures for April, because Winter just made a comeback in the Northeast, people!  It's supposed to be Spring, but for the last week it's been high 20's, low 30's, and snow flurries.  Who knew that when the temp hit mid 70's on April 1st, it was just Mother Nature saying, "April Fool's, suckers."  So let's hope posting this mani is kind of like exercising the demons, it'll appease Mother Nature and we'll chase away the cold weather until at least October.

This ended up being an all Rica Polish look.  I first did a look similar to this in early 2015 with Orly Mirrorball as my base.  I never took any pictures of it though, so I was originally planning to just recreate that exact look this year.  But I had also just received two new polishes that I had purchased from Rica's Etsy shop, and I ended up reaching for those instead of using Mirrorball again.

I started with two coats of Rica Arctic Circle, which was part of Rica's 2015 Advent Calendar Collection.  I topped that with one coat of a microglitter called Decorate! Decorate! Decorate! from Rica's Doctor Who Christmas Collection.  Over that combo, I stamped some random snowflakes from MoYou London Festive Collection plate 02, using Rica Whiteout.  And then I used a dotting tool and Rica Whiteout to place a few dots on my nails, just to fill in some of the empty space around the snowflakes.

Maybe next Winter, I'll try this out with Orly Mirrorball again, because I honestly can't decide which version I ended up liking more.  Now, bring on the warmer weather, please!

Valentine Blues

Somehow I ended up with blue hearts on my nails last week.  I was already wearing 2 coats of KBShimmer Blue Topaz and had every intention of using the top image from Pueen plate 16.  But then I spotted the hearts images on the right side of the same plate and the next thing I know, blue hearts all over my nails.  I ended up spending Valentine's Day itself sporting naked nails, so this turned out to be the closest thing to a Valentine manicure I did this month.

I really like this mixed hearts design from Pueen.  I'm not usually a fan of heart-themed items, except when it comes to my nails it seems.  I've ordered many a stamping plate solely because of a cool hearts design that I saw and decided I had to have.

To stamp the hearts pattern, I used Robin's Egg Blue from Rica on Etsy.  I had pulled out both Robin's Egg Blue and the blue pastel Konad Special Polish as possible stamping colors.  Robin's Egg Blue was just a touch more pale than the Konad and I thought it paired with the KBShimmer polish better.

I do love a good monochrome manicure.  I don't know if I just prefer the way they look, or if it's because I kinda suck as mix-n-matching colors when stamping!  Maybe a little of both.

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year!  I kept it pretty simple again for New Year's.  Just a quick stamping mani using images all from MoYou London Festive Plate 05.

The base color is KBShimmer Black Pearl, from their new Birthstone Collection, available today.  Black Pearl was provided for review, regular swatches coming soon.  All the birthstone polishes are a combination of flakies and holo.  This is 2 coats of Black Pearl, which went on very smoothly.  It wasn't thick or lumpy, and dried to a fairly smooth finish that needed very little top coat to be perfectly smooth.  The flakies in Black Pearl give off a gold look, so I thought it would pair perfectly with Essie Good As Gold for the stamping.

Starting at the index nail, I used a fireworks design, then a clock striking midnight on my middle finger, champagne flutes on my ring finger nail, and a streamers/confetti design for my pinkie nail.

I also used a different design for my thumbs, which I just now realized I don't have any pictures of.  The design I used though is sort of a fireworks burst/shooting stars type look.  On Festive Plate 05, it's the design to the immediate left of the clock design.  I kind of slapped it on my thumbs, not sure of which design to put on them, and I was really surprised with how much I liked it.  I want to do a full nail look now with just that one image.  I think it would work well as an abstract, everyday look.

*Some polishes were provided for honest review.  Review contains only my personal opinions.*