Matte Mash Moons

Hi all! Long time no post

I have something quick for you today. Awhile back I received some Mash product to review. Life has been really busy lately so I have not had time to post.
This looks was pretty easy. All I did was use french manicure guides to add the black moon.  I really like this look but not so much the colours.  I used Mash Matte polish on top. Love it!!!  I love how a little matte polish can completely change the look of a mani

Tip Top Nails South Africa: Solar Flare

Hello again lovelies! I told you I was going to be spamming you all over the next couple of weeks! :)

My second polish to share with you all today is from Tip Top Nails South Africa. Solar Flare is from the Nail Chic Collection and is an ultra-bright Neon Orange. The name is really fitting, and as soon as I got it on my nails I knew I had to stamp this mani!

I've really been missing nail art lately, so you may see some nail art swatches as opposed to just plain polish. For this color, I decided that I really wanted to add some flames. Really, what goes better with a bright Orange polish called Solar Flare!?!

This is 2 coats of Solar Flare topped with Tip Top Nails Toughen Up Top Coat and stamped with Mash-48 and Konad Black. Some of the images didn't transfer perfectly, but it's not noticeable IRL so I don't mind :)

I'm not usually a fan of Orange, but I'm finding myself gravitating toward it lately. This is by far the brightest Orange in my stash, and despite it making me look ultra-pale, I love it! The flames really make it for me...I love bright, fun manis and this was so much fun to wear.

Formula:
Tip Top Nails South Africa has one of the best creme formulas I have ever come across. Not too thick, not too thin, never gloppy, and no thickening up halfway through your mani.

Application:
Solar Flare applied beautifully. This polish glides onto the nail smoothly, staying right where you put it. Despite being an ultra-bright neon polish, Solar Flare dried ultra-shiny and quickly. You do need to be a bit careful not to touch your skin, and I recommend using a good base coat (I used Tip Top Nails Toughen Up) since this does stain slightly.

I'm very impressed with what Tip Top Nails South Africa has to offer.  Their formula is seriously one of my favorites, and their colors are all bright and beautiful. You can check out Tip Top Nails South Africa via the Tip Top Nails Website (clicky clicky!) as well as Facebook.

What do you think of Solar Flare (and my flame nails)? Would you rock this bright Orange?

Be sure to check back tomorrow for an ABC Challenge post and more polish goodness!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

**Product featured provided for review. Please see legal/disclaimer page for more information**

NY Mani feat. L'Oreal Project Runway in The Queen's Ambition

Hello there lovelies! So far this year has been utter crap. Yesterday I received the worst news, and to be honest I'm still kind of reeling. About 20 years ago my mother survived Lymphoma. They only disovered the cancer because she had a heart attack. A few years later, she had a second heart attack. That's alot to go through right? You would think that the Universe would give the poor woman a break. Not so much. My mom  now has Lung Cancer. I am devastated. I'm trying like hell to be strong for her, because who knows? She's a strong woman. She may very well beat this too. But it's scary, ya know? Despite our many differences, that's my mom. And I'll be the first to admit that I have times where I really want my mom, and it terrifies me to think that the forces that be keep trying to take her from us. Hasn't she suffered enough??

The only thing that took my mind off all of this last night was doing my nails. For that small amount of time that I was working on a mani, I was able to let it go. Whoever said that what we do is a waste and time and serves no purpose can bite me. :)

Anyway, Today I have my New Years Mani to share with you all. I knew that I wanted something sparkly and dark, but just couldn't decide. You know you stand in front of a closet full of clothes and swear you have nothing to wear? That's me standing in front of the 900 polishes in my stash when I'm left to my own devices and not working on my swatch pile. Then I came across The Queen's Ambition from L'Oreal's Project Runway Collection (thanks Aly, for reminding me I have this!). The Queen's Ambition is a black polish filled with silver glitters and fine silver flakes. I love black and silver together, and throw in some sparkle and I'm a happy girl! However I felt like it needed some oomph. So I grabbed Mash Plate Mash-08 and Essie No Place Like Chrome from the Mirror Metallics Collection and added some zippy stars.

I ended up really digging this mani! I've included a macro shot to show off the sparkles in The Queen's Ambition.

Isn't The Queen's Ambition a cool polish? I love that there are little flakes of silver as well as the glitter.

The Queen's Ambition was easy to work with as well. It is slightly thick and does drag a bit on the first coat, but evens out nicely with the second. It's definitely one of my top 2 from the Project Runway Collection.

What did you wear on your nails for New Years?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Born Pretty Store Double Sided Stamper Review!

Hello Lovelies! Happy New year!

I thought I would start the New year off by posting some stamping. As you all know, I love stamping. I love all forms of nail art but stamping still remains my favorite. My stamper is getting old though, so I decided to try out Born Pretty Store's Double Sided Stamper.

The stamper resembles the Konad Dual Sided Stamper, and comes with a metal edged scraper as well. Here's a peek at what it looks like (Picture from Born Pretty Web Site):

In order to give you all a comprehensive review, I used this stamper several times.  Here is the most recent stamping mani that I used this Stamper for:

(Base color is Tip Top Nails South Africa Blue Meets Green, stamping polish is Sally Hansen Lustre Shine in Scarab. Image is from Mash 2012 series plates.)

You may also remember this Manicure, which was also done with this Stamper:

This Stamper has two stamping ends: A large pink side and a smaller green side. Both picked up the images very well and stamped evenly. The only issue I encountered was that the pink end was slightly loose in the base, which meant that I did have to re-fit it occasionally. I didn't really find this all that bothersome though. A little nail glue around the edges fixed the issue pretty quickly and I haven't had any problems since. For me, the big thing is the quality of the image, and this stamper delivered that.

The scraper is a metal-edged scraper, which I'm not that partial to since I don't want to scratch my plates. I did try it out  though and it scraped decently - although I did have to scrap over the plate twice to remove enough polish for a clear image. I've used the Konad scraper as well and although I could remove the polish in one swipe with that one on occasion, I usually had to scrape twice with that one as well.

Overall I'm happy with this Stamper. I've been using it exclusively since I received it and outside of the initial loose end (nail glue fixes so much!), I have had zero problems. As you can see the images are clear and crisp and transfer well, even the more complex images. And for the price? You really can't beat it!

You can check out this Stamper/Scraper combo here, or by visiting BornPrettyStore.com and looking up item number 1514. This combo retails for $3.03, with free worldwide shipping. Born Pretty Store ships quickly as well - I've never waited more than 10 days for a product. Don't forget you can save 10% by using the code below! (If enough of you use this, Born Pretty will sponsor a giveaway, so go forth and use my code!!)

 Have you tried any products from Born Pretty Store? What are your favorites?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

31 Day Challenge (v.2!) Day 19: Galaxy Nails!

Good Morning Ladies! Welcome to Day 19 of the 31 Day Challenge!

Today's challenge is.....dun dun dun! Galaxy Nails! I was kind of ambivalent about this challenge since I've done Galaxy Nails several times now (not just for the blog!) and I end up using the same colors and pattern every time. This time I decided to use more blue and pink to brighten things up, and throw in a little something extra.

I started with a base of Ulta Rhinestone Rocker, a sparkly black that I picked up at Ulta a good year ago.  Then I sponged on some swirls and random patterns with Sally Hansen White On. I added some highlights with Sally Hansen Brisk Blue and Twisted Pink, added a coat of Pure Ice Heartbreaker, then stamped using Mash-34 and Essie Nothing Else Metals. I finished off with some random white dots and a good coat of SV. I like the end result better than my usual dark galaxies.

At first I wasn't sure if I like this mani, but it grew on me fast. I wasn't pleased with the smearing of my sponging when I top coated, but I think that may have something to do wit my SV needing a good dose of restore. I do like the brighter colors as opposed to my usual dark blues and purples for galaxies, and the happy little planet makes me giggle!

What do you think of galaxy nails? Still love them or just about over them?

Be sure to check out all the Galaxy Nails from the Varnished Vixens!
Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish 
- Robin Sparkles 




On a random note, I'm going to warn you guys that the shape of my nails may get odd in the coming weeks. I've decided I want more length now, which means alot less shaping. My nails grow pretty much diagonally, which means some less than straight edges for a bit. Sorry! :)

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Maybelline Color Show LE polish in Boho Gold

Hello Ladies! Happy Wednesday! I apologize for the lack of regular posts lately. It's been hectic around here! Hopefully things will stay calm for a bit. I have a slew of polishes I really want to share with you guys!

Today I'm sharing the last of the Maybelline Color Show LE Polishes that I grabbed awhile back. Boho Gold is another duochrome, and if you think you've seen this done before, you're correct. This girl is yet another Peridot dupe. I almost didn't pick this one up, but the duochrome seems fairly strong in the bottle and I wanted to see if that translated to the nail. Plus, I'm a sucker for duochromes and this color is GREAT for stamping.

I have to say that this polish didn't let me down. The duochrome shift was strong on the nail, evident in most lighting. I still don't really like this color on me as a full mani, but I do love to stamp with it, so it's definitely a win.

Here is Boho Gold on her own. I tried to capture the duochromey goodness, and I was mildly succesful. Be sure to enlarge and look close! Also, keep reading after these pics - there's more!

I'm kind of torn over this one. On one hand, the duochrome really does shine IRL. On the other hand I think I like to softness of the gold in OPI Just Spotted The Lizard a bit more.

Formula:
I did like this formula more than JSTL. Boho Gold applied smoothly and had great consistency.

Application:
Again, I prefer Boho Gold to JSTL. There was considerably less drag at the cuticle, and I used less polish with BG. JSTL required at least 3 coats for opacity, whereas BG only *needed* 2. I added the extra coat for color emphasis.

However, since I don't necessarily like this color on me as a full mani, I decided to grab my stamping plates and change it up. I used one of my Mash Plates (I forget the number. Sorry guys!), and Konad Black for the stamping. I really liked the outcome, and bonus! The duochrome was still very evident through the stamping!  Again, enlarge and look closely!

I really loved this with the black stamping. I can't wait to use Boho Gold as a stamping polish now!

What do you guys think of this polish? Are you loving these Peridot Dupes or wishing there weren't so many?

I'll be back tomorrow with Rainbow Nails for the 31 Day Challenge!


Thanks for stopping by and Happy polishing!

Super Nubbins! Stamping with Spoiled Black Mamba and Pure Ice Outrageous

****Important Note*** I have deleted my blogroll for the moment due to the nastiness that has been hitting some blogs via a bug in the blogroll. I still love and read you all, but since my blog seems to have been effected, I had to say bye bye to the actual blogroll widget until the problem is fixed. :(



Hi Ladies! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend! This post is very late due to Saturday being my daughter's birthday and she had a sleepover, rendering me pretty much useless outside of providing snacks and transportation for a couple of tween girls.

Anyway, these are the super nubbins I've been crying about lately. Thankfully they have already grown enough that I'm no longer totally miserable over them. Although in all honesty, I still have yet to forgive the toaster oven for tearing my nail down to the quick and forcing me to super duper nubbinize.

I wore this mani about a week ago, and loved it, despite the super nubbins. I chose Spoiled by Wet N Wild Black Mamba as my color and stamped using one of my Mash plates and Pure Ice Outrageous. I love Pure Ice polish anyway (so many great colors, low low price, and you can find them anywhere), but their metallics are amazing for stamping. Right up there with the CG Romantique Collection IMO. I love this particular pink, and really wanted to pair it with a Charcoal Grey. Black Mamba is a lovely Charcoal shade with an abundance of Silver fleck. It's a fabulous polish, but again....the brush. Thankfully I now have 2 brand new brushes (thanks Julep!) that I plan on using with my Spoiled polishes, so you won't have to deal with my complaining about the brushes anymore! ;) The polishes themselves are pretty awesome, and Black Mamba was no exception. The only issues I had were application problems due to super short nubbins. I cannot tell how how frustrating it is to try and wrap your tips when you have negative free edge (yes, I wrap them when they're short. I had to go back to wrapping my tips at least partially since I couldn't handle how fast they chip otherwise)! Thank god my nails grow fast and they're already looking like normal nubbins instead of super duper nubs! They're almost at the point where I can work on the shape again, since my nails grow kind of sideways so when I nubbinize they're totally uneven for a bit until I get some free edge back.  My poor traumatized cuticles are healing up nicely as well. Still a bit dry and scraggly, but after being attacked by evil, unwanted shrubbery what did I expect? Note to self: Buy welding gloves for the pointy, stabby weeds! The worst part of the nubbins has been the dry skin that was under my nails. Unsightly!! Ick! So embarrassing. It's hard to post pics with my hands like this! But here we go.....

Details:
1 coat OPI Nail Envy Matte
1 coat Orly Bonder
2 coats Spoiled Black Mamba
Stamping with Pure Ice Outrageous
1 coat Seche Vite

I do really love this combo! I loved this enough that I wore it for 3 days, which is a record when I have nubbins. I think I had maybe one chip when I removed this, which was pretty impressive! I really do dig Spoiled polishes. Great colors, great price. Now if they could just fix that brush!! ;)

Hope you're all break-free and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Polishing!
-Kimber