Mish Mash Challenge Week 10 - Triangles!

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Hello Lovelies! I have finally made it back to post! I've been having a very hard time posting this week since my littlest has decided that I shouldn't be able to do anything save for chasing him around in an attempt to stop him from destroying the house. I'll sit down to post and he will immediately run up and start yanking on me and screaming and crying. It's very tedious, and I really hope this phase ends soon. I haven't even been able to clean, since he finds that unacceptable as well. It looks like I'm going to have to start writing my posts at night and scheduling them for the mornings, even though when I do that, they never seem to actually post. Ahhhh Blogger problems!

Today I have this week's Mish Mash Challenge mani to share with you all. I've been dying to get this posted since I love the design. This week's theme is Triangles, and although I had some much more intricate designs in my head, lack of time led me back to stamping. I'm fully okay with  that though, since stamping is my very fave type of nail art and I'm falling in love with it all over again.

For this manicure I chose Sinful Colors Cotton Candy, a pink creme with subtle silvery shimmer, as my base color. Because I didn't want to stick with just one straight color, I added a gradient using Sinful Colors Outrages, a bright raspberry pink. Then I grabbed my trusty DRK-A plate from Dashica beauty and used Konad Black to stamp on this ultra-cool geometric pattern that includes lots of funky triangles. My only complaint is that my Konad Black is close to empty, and I had to thin it down to make it usable. This led to some streaking when I went to top coat, but it's not really obvious IRL. If Dex permits, I'll be ordering more Konad black today.

Man, I love gradients and stamping! The smearing from my poor old Konad black makes me cringe, but since I know it's just from thinning it down, I can live with it. I'm also so very in love with Dashica's Big stamping plates. I really need to order a couple more of those. I swear they're the best stamping plates around.

I also really love the polishes I used here. Cotton Candy was a dream to work with, and although Outrages is more of a crelly, it still works well for a gradient. Plus, how long has it been since I've done a gradient mani? Feels like ages!

What do you think of my Triangle Mani? Be sure to check out all the Mish Mash challengers and their Triangle nails!

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I'll be back (Dexter willing!) tomorrow with some Lac Attack and more Indie swatches. I'm slowly but surely catching up! I also have some cool nail art supplies from Born Pretty Store to share, so watch for those.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber








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Mish Mash Challenge Week 9 - Blue! Bandana Inspired Nails

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Ever heard the old saying "If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all"? Well, that has been my week. First my tripod. Then my lights. Then my SD card literally crumbled, taking swatch photos of 3 different polishes and my Mish Mash Challenge mani to the grave. Now I'm having technical issues with my white balance and lighting. My photos are coming out very red and I'm having to color correct every single one, which takes for-freaking ever because I am a total amateur and have no clue how to really color correct in less than 3 hours. Seriously. I'm so frustrated that I had a few days where I just wanted to give up. I won't, because I am stubborn and I refuse to let these issues win, but man! I was just not happy.

But, I do have a post for you today! A very late post, but better late than never.

This week's Mish Mash Challenge theme is blue, and we all know how much I adore blue polish. I decided to whip out one of my fave shades of blue and do some stamping since it's been ages since I've stamped.

I chose Sinful Colors Gel Shine in Blue Suede Shoes, a gorgeous Dusty Blue, as my base color. Then I stamped using Sinful Colors Gel Shine in Set The Mood, a darker, yet still dusty blue, and Dashica plate SDP-A for the stamping. I love tone on tone stamping and this is one of my faves yet.  I'll get into the polishes in a bit, but first, pics!

 Since my photos are coming out with a heavy red cast, I had to color correct these to get the polish colors true to life. Which I do NOT like doing, but since I can't seem to fix it yet, I don't have a choice. :( Polish *is* true to color though!

Can I just say that I love these colors? I bought these specifically to use for tone on tone stamping and I am damned happy about it! I adore dusty blues (I have a ton) - in fact, they're my fave colors to stamp with. This particular mani is one my all time faves since the colors are just gorgeous and I love the design.

My base color, Blue Suede Shoes, has a wonderful formula and applies like butter. No issues at all, which was surprising since these polishes are on the thick side. Opacity is excellent - this could be a one coater, but I use 2 out of habit. Dry time was excellent and this baby had incredible shine, even before top coat. Love it!

The stamping color, Set The Mood, Is just as gorgeous and also a true one coater. I'm really digging the Sinful Colors Gel Shines for stamping, however....with this one, I had a very odd issue. If you look closely you can see I had some bubbling - but only right over the outline of the stamping design! What the..? I'm thinking it may due to the thickness of the polish, but I'm not sure. I'm going to pick up the black Gel Shine and see if it does the same thing. I'm out of Konad Black and since these are so thick and opaque, I'm thinking they may be a good alternative. If it does this odd bubbling only over the stamping though, I'll be bummed. Thankfully it's not noticeable IRL and most people don't go around with macro lenses!

What do you think of this mani? Are you a fan of tone on tone stamping?

Be sure to check out all the awesome Mish Mash Challenge Sistah's and their awesome blue manis!

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I'm hoping to be back later today with the start of some serious Indie spam, but I make no guarantess since I'm going to be trying to fix this darn photo problem. I will be back tomorrow though, even if I have to spend another 3 hours color correcting photos (it sucks to be an amateur!).

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber




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Mish Mash Challenge Week 8- "Cold"

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Hello Lovelies! Here I am, a day late for the Mish Mash Challenge. I mentioned this yesterday, but this mani di dnot want to come into being. I had so many problems that I literally wanted to set everything on fire.

This week's theme is "cold", a theme that I wasn't feeling too hot about TBH. I had several ideas, but none of them really called to me. Eventually I settled on some little penguins, buuuuut.....my acrylic paints are MIA, so I had to use regular polish. Usually workable, but every polish I grabbed for this started getting thick and stringy right away. Normally I reach for my Finger Paints Paper Mache when I need a good, opaque white, but that seems to be missing as well. I literally attempted this mani 3 times with 3 different sets of polish and every single time the white and orange glopped up immediately. This is my third and final attempt, and even though I'm not happy with it, I was not about to sit down and create another new manicure after doing 3 in a row. I promise next week will suck less.

So my poor little penguins are thick, and look like they're recovering from a mild bender. Not a complete fail, but I am FAR from happy with them. I'm also showing you my left hand, which is still growing out and really needs to be shaped. Not a good mani day for me - don't judge me.

Okay, so they're not a complete fail, but that thick white polish made things so hard. No clean lines here, folks. These also took forever to dry! I do like the little Fimo bowties (thanks to Polish Asphyxiation for those! Couldn't wait to play with them!), but you should see the dent in the polish where those were!

Make sure to check out all my polish sistah's and their challenge nails - I promise they won't be as slap-dash as mine!

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I'll be back later with a gorgeous polish from Euphoric Lacquers. Flaie Friday is on for tomorrow, and I have some awesomeness from Tawdry Terrier, Love Angeline, Gothic Gala and Polish TBH on the way.

Thanks for stopping by and may your penguins remain sober!
-Kimber





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Mish Mash Challenge, Week 7 (I think!), Least expensive polish

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Hello again lovelies. I've been struggling to post the past few days since I am sick as all get out. Just my luck - I finally take a much needed break, come back to the blog and wham! Evil cold germs invade. I am very, very miserable, let me tell ya.

However, I feel horrible if I don't post for long, so here I am with my Mish Mash Challenge post for this week, even if it is 2 days late.

This week's challenge is to post our least expensive polish, meaning the polish that we actually shelled out the least amount of money for. Mine just happens to be one of the new Maybelline Color Show Vintage Leather polishes, which I snagged for nothing due to a BOGO sale, a $1.50 coupon and some CVS extra bucks. Pretty cool since I paid almost $4 each for the 2 I grabbed at Target.

This one is called Vintage Violet, and is a really beautiful deep Plum color with some lighter flakies. It has a matte finish, and is designed to streak and leave a somewhat distressed looking surface to mimic old leather. The effect is fairly cool, too. This one, unfortunately, is one from this collection that doesn't show the flakies all too well, but they *are* there.  The only ones that really show the flakies well are the lighter pinks/purples, which I'll be showing soon (I hope)

This is 2 coats of Vintage Violet, no top coat:

Ya know, I wasn't sure I would like these sans top coat, but I really do! And the color is definitely up my alley (although a complete pain to photograph, I tell ya!)

I did decide to try this one out with top coat as well. And I wasn't as impressed. This is the same polish with a single coat of HK Girl Top Coat:

Okay, so it's still pretty with top coat, and look at the shine from my HK Girl! I think I'm kinda let down with the shiny version since it seems to really cover up the flakies as opposed to bringing them out more.....some of these polishes really show their flakies when you add some top coat. Some, not so much. At least the color is still fabulous though! And it still looks somewhat distressed.

Vintage Violet's formula is a bit tricky to work with since it is a matte, but it is not supposed to be level or perfect and this really threw me. I kept trying to get it all even, when it's just not meant to be. It's thick, dries almost instantly and the flakies will leave some balding if you don't float the polish. Application was tricky for the same reasons - opacity was decent with full opacity at 2 coats. Wear, however, was a real let down. I had lots of tip wear and some serious chips before I was even able to photograph this (about 2 hours). I spent a lot of time doing touch ups. At 24 hours my nails looked like I hadn't changed polish in a week.

As much as I love the concept behind these, the wear really puts me off. I have 5 of these, and even though I want to wear them since  love the effect, I'm shying away due to the crappy wear time. Maybe the others won't be as bad.

What do you think of the Vintage Leathers? Are you planning on grabbing any?

I'm working on posting a review of some polish strips tonight. Otherwise, with this evil cold on board, I make no guarantees. I'm hoping to be back in the swing of things tomorrow. I have a literal ton of Indie awesomeness coming up ASAP.

In the meantime, head on over and check out all my polish sistah's and their Week 7 manis!

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Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber


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Mish Mash Challenge Week 5: Music!

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Hello again lovelies! Since it is Wednesday, I owe you a Mish Mash Challenge mani! This week just snuck up on me. Hell, I'm still trying to leave comments for last week! I really need a clone. Anyone know where I can get a clone?

This week's challenge is Music, and lemme tell ya - I was simultaneously inspired and uninspired. For me, music is synonymous with Daft Punk, yet Daft Punk is incredibly hard to translate into nail art without spending a few hours free-handing. Needless to say, I didn't have several hours to work on nail art, so I had to come up with something Daft Punk related that wouldn't take all night.

After several hours of thought and a few instances of "well hell! I'll just do something generic and call it done!", I finally stumbled across something that just might work.....Although you have to be a Daft Punk fun to really get it.

My inspiration? A Helmet. A golden, robotic, helmet of shiny awesomeness that adorns the head of one Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo. Or, as he is more commonly known, Guy-Man (or the Gold Robot). I do dig Thomas Bangalter as well (Silver Helmet), but Guy-Man will always be the sex bomb in my book. If you've seen pics of him unmasked, you may get what I'm sayin. But since I don't want to ruin the fun, here's Guy-Man in his  2013 Gloriousness:

Oh Hai, Robot Overlord! I for one, am ready to accept your 120 BPM rule!

Obviously I initially thought of something black, with black glequins. However that's pretty hard to see, so I opted for a different route. I combined the image on teh side of Guy-Man's helmet with the iconic Daft Punk pyramid.

Helmet. Really cool helmet. I'm fairly sure this leaves Guy-Man's glorious mane in Helmet Hair condition.

Super awesome Pyramid. All lit up in blue. Pretty!

Since both the sound wave on Guy's Helmet and the Pyramid are blue here, I opted to use A-England Camelot as my base color and add the details using bright blue glequins. I had originally planned this as a tape mani, but since The Robots are sporting sequined jackets these days, I decided this was a good time to use some of my giant hoard. This mani is by no means Epic, but it works in a pinch. The glequins make the design hard to see unless you're right on top of it, so use your imagination to fill in the blanks. :)

Again, not exactly Epic, but it looks fairly cool in person. Plus, it's Daft Punk. You can't really make Daft punk uncool. Unless you were to unmask them and stick them in Lederhosen. Then they may not be as cool.

Don't forget to check out all my girls and their Music inspired manicures!

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I'll be back tomorrow with more from the Polish TBH Diagon Alley Collection, so check back soon!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber



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Mish Mash Challenge Week 4 - Untried Nail Art Technique! 2 different manicures!

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Hello Lovelies! Man, am I late with this post! See what happens when I take it easy? Haha! Actually part of my lateness is due my own indecisiveness. I had one manicure in mind for this week's challenge, but I wasn't 100% satisfied, so I tried something else on the other hand. Then I couldn't decided which one to use, so I'm posting them both and you lovelies can decide which you like best.

Both manicures are brush stroke manicures, just different techniques. This first manicure was done with the polish brushes and is comprised of random brush strokes of 5 different polishes. I used A-England Camelot as my base, and Sally Hansen HD Polishes in DVD, Byte, LCD, Spectrum, and Resolution for the brush strokes. Once the brush stroked were finished, I stamped using Bundle Monster Plate BM 208 and Konad Black to create a Mosaic style manicure. I really dig how this one turned out!

Also, I photographed this in different lighting and I'm still getting used to it. Forgive the brightness here, okay? :)

I really dig how this turned out, even if you can't really tell it's a brush stroke mani. Those HD Polishes are beautiful and have great color, but they're also sheer and full of flecks, which makes getting the brush strokes to show is tough.  Not a total fail though since I love mosaic designs and this one was great fun to wear.

The next brush stroke technique is more along the lines of the awesome Ozotic mani from Fashion Polish, except I used Jewel Tone polishes. This technique is done with a fan brush as opposed to the polish brush, but still derives its effect  placing soft, random brush strokes of polish at random on the nail. A-England Camelot is the base color again, with A-England Avalon, Order of The Garter,  and L'Oreal The Muse's Attitude, The Mystic's Fortune, and The Mystic's Future for the brush strokes.

Also, I'm showing you my left hand here, which is uneven since I'm letting it grow out to match my right hand. I've actually managed to refrain from using my middle nail as a soda can opener!

Now I *really* like this one, however the jewel tones are kinda hard to see in photos. I dig how the brush strokes are a touch more blatant (thanks fan brush!) and I adore Jewel Tones on black. This was also much faster than the HD Mosaic Brush Stroke Mani since I didn'thave to use multiple brush strokes for each color. And of course, no stamping.

 I think the Jewel Tone is my fave, although the mosaic is so colorful and fun. What do you think? Which is your fave?

While you're at it, check out all my girls and their awesome manis!

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I'll be back later today sometime with the first polish from the upcoming Polish TBH Diagon Alley Collection. So excited to share these with you lovelies! Such an amazing collection - I mean, it's Polish TBH, so I don't expect anything less than amazing! I'll be showing the entire collection over the next few days, so be sure to check back often. I also have some amazing polish from Cinema Swatch Lacquers and Squishy Face Polish coming up as well.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber




















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Mish Mash Challenge, Week 3 - Metallic!

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Hello Lovelies! Check it out! I managed to post before midnight!! Wahoo!!!!! I know, I know..you're all falling over in shock! ;)

Today brings us to Week 3 of the Mish Mash Challenge! Today's theme is Metallic, and boy! I had a hard time deciding what to do for this one. Normally I use metallic polish for stamping, so I decided to go in a different direction since this is a challenge after all! I think I'm supposed to step outside of my comfort zone, right?

I eventually decided on a simple ruffian manicure, using A-England Camelot as my base color and Essie No Place Like Chrome as my metallic polish. No Place Like Chrome is the silver polish from Essie's Mirror Metallics, and let me tell ya - it's a complete PITA! Beautiful though. I used french tip guides to tape off the bottom of my nail and used No Place Like Chrome over Camelot. If NPLC is finicky on her own, she's ten times more so over a highly pigmented black. I had to use 2 coats, which meant that my lines were going to be rough from the start, and you know how my OCD flares over wonky lines!  But I'll get into that  application stuff later...

Although this mani is cute, and for the most part I'm satisfied,  do wish those curved tip guides had a more pronounced curve. My ruffian falls kind of flat since they were much straighter than they appear. I think next time I'll just freehand it and call it a day!

See? The ruffian could be more pronounced, but it still looks cool, so I'll take it.

I do love No Place Like Chrome since it's shiny and very much chrome-like, however.....OMG what a PITA! The formula isn't bad at all, but application is very finicky. Lots of dragging and balding, and streaks galore. I've heard that if you use a matte topcoat over 2 coats, then another coat over that the streaks go away, but I'm way too lazy to try that with a ruffian. I've also heard sponging on the final coat works as well, but again....too lazy with this one. I'm sure I'll try those in the future, when I feel like dealing with another Chrome polish. This polish also did not like my top coat. I had to go over the silver once more after my initial coat of TC since it indented out of nowhere in several places. Even though the shiny chrome look is fabulous, it's just too much of a pest for me. Thankfully they stamp perfectly, so I do have a use for the 3 I bought.

What do you think of The Mirror Metallics? Have you had the same issues?


Don't forget to check out all my awesome polish sistah's and their Metallic manis!

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I'll return tomorrow with some goodness from Luscious Potion. I also have more Love, Angeling Polish, Polish TBH and Fandom Cosmetics coming your way!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber



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