KUSAMA NAILS FOR VICTORIA MIRO MAYFAIR GALLERY OPENING

KAWAII AND MEADHAM MIX

BRIGHT LEOPARD

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!

An InLinkz Link-up

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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HOUNDSTOOTH FOR NADIA

BRIGHT MOONS

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!

An InLinkz Link-up

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!

An InLinkz Link-up

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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OMG Nail Strips - Polka Scales

 Press Sample

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Hello again lovelies! I really wish I could say that I am feeling 100% better and am raring to swatch, but I cannot. This cold is truly evil and has a tendency to linger, and it seems to morph from day to day. yesterday I felt better and the cold was all in my sinuses. Today I feel worse, and it's back in my chest. Now I'm starting to understand why the NM DOH is urging people to get flu shots this year. I guess it's gonna be a bad one.

I do have posts lined up though - so you won't be without some pretties to look at!

Today I have some nail strips from OMG Nail strips to show you. I was contacted by OMG Nail Strips a few weeks ago, and since I really enjoyed the China Glaze strips that I tried for the 31 Day Challenge, I decided that these were worth trying out. I am VERY picky with nail strips - I prefer real polish to the sticker type since I don't like using anything that is bulky, hard to shape, or thick. SO I did some research and found that OMG Nail strips seem to be real polish, but claimed that they are different from the usual polish strips since they are highly resistant to wrinkling, tearing, and chipping. The one issue that I did have with the CG strips was some wrinkling, and if I had to stretch them too much they did tear.

I'm also notoriously hard on my nails, and so far, nothing save for actual polish had been able to withstand my daily torture. I figured that's perfect for testing out OMG's claims, right?

It took me a good while to choose a pattern, since honestly they have a TON of really cool patterns to choose from. Eventually I settled on the Red/Black/White "Polka Scales" design, since it was just so darn cool looking.

I received these without packaging, since OMG was in the middle of revamping their packaging when I was contacted, but I can tell you that even without the pretty labeling, these made it to me safe and sound. One of the coolest things about these is that you do not have to keep the package sealed in order to keep the strips from drying out. That's my biggest complaint with nail polish strips - I lost 2 packages of nail strips due to the packaging not being airtight and the strips drying out. I was very happy that I did not have to worry about that with the OMG strips.

I was worried that the strips would be too large for my nails at first - they do look rather wide at first glance! However, when I went to use them, I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't have to trim a single one, and I have some very odd sized nails. All I had to do was separate the strips, size them to my nails, peel off the front and back protective films and stick them on. They apply nicely if you follow the instructions - I laid the strip on the center of the nail and flattened it out - toward the sides and tip of my nail. I really like this technique since I didn't have to fight with wrinkles! The instructions (found here) also say to dampen a cotton ball or Q-Tip with some remover and gently swipe the strip to shrink it to the nail, but I recommend skipping this step. I did have some smearing, despite making sure my Q-Tip was barely damp, and the strips did pull away from my free edge slightly. I did add top coat as suggested, and the result, although not entirely perfect, was pretty awesome and eye-catching. I received a ton of compliments on these!

Here's what they looked like about 24 hours after application. you can see where I had some smearing from the Q-Tip/remover method, and where the stips pulled back from my tips. None of this was evident IRL though- same with the "dotting" in the pattern:

Despite the flaws from application (which I can forgive since this was my first time using these), I really like these. I love the pattern, I love how thin and flexible and stretchy these are, and I have to rave about the wear. I wore these for my birthday, and as you know, I took a week off from blogging. I wore these strips for 5 days, and they held up perfectly. When I removed them (which was a breeze with just acetone), they looked exactly the same as when I applied them. They really did stand up to my abuse just like OMG said they would. The colors didn't even fade, which I was half expecting since my hands are in water a lot.

Would I recommend these? Absolutely. I was very impressed with the application and wear with these strips. And the price? These sell for $6.89 per pack, which is way less than what I've paid for drugstore/mainstream strips. And since they don't dry out, you can grab a bunch and keep them for a rainy day. I plan on grabbing some for vacations and events where I won't be able to change my polish.

You can find OMG Nail Strips here. They have a huge selection of nail strips, including holiday and foils (which I am now dying to try!). Definitely something for everyone. If you've been wanting to try strips, I recommend starting with these. Much more forgiving than other brands. And that wear...I really cannot get over the wear on these. Just be careful with the remover trick during application. I've heard it worked great on some designs, but not on others. Don't forget to follow OMG Nail Strips on Facebook and Twitter for updates!

What do you think of these Nail Strips? Have you tried any OMG Nail Strips? Do you like Nail Strips at all?

I'll be back sometime this evening with an awesome holo from Squishy Face Polish. I also have Cinema Swatch Lacquers, Love Angeline, Live Life Polished, Polish TBH, Lac Attack and more coming up, so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

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Press Sample

Bruno Mars Nails Version 2.0-Nude animal print

Hola!!
Wow se pasan los días volando y yo sin poder publicar nada :(, mi hijo entro al colegio!! y el trabajo me han mantenido ocupada y un poco lejos del blog.

Pasando al tema de el diseño de hoy, es en parte nuevo y en parte no jeje, recuerdan mi manicura anterior de Bruno Mars al cual amo!! bueno pues como no quise borrarme su hermoso rostro de mis uñas lo único que hice fue remover el diseño de todas las uñas menos el retrato de Bruno aunque ya esta un poco dañado.

El tema fue animal print, él usa mucho el leopardo en sus vestuarios y me pareció buena idea seguir con ese tema, quería algo muy simple así que pinte mis uñas con un color Nude y sobre el pinte las marcas distintivas de los leopardos, una vez seco puse una capa de China Glaze Matte Magic y listo!!

mmmmm LOL

Muchas personas que me ven las uñas me dicen que les encantan! :D ustedes que opinan??

TATE BRITAIN - BOOM NAILS x GARY HUME x PATRICK CAULFIELD

A little while back I was contacted by the Tate Britain, to see if I'd like to collaborate on a project, whereby I paint a set of nail designs based on paintings by Patrick Caulfield and Gary Hume, who have an exhibition on at the Tate Britain currently. After a very busy summer by all, we didn't get it out into the online hemisphere at the beginning of the exhibition as intended, but here are the nail designs I did based on their work. Half of the nail designs I did are based on Gary Hume's work, and half on Patrick Caulfield's work - the second picture shows reference to the paintings that I used for each nail design. The exhibition is still on until this Sunday - so you still have time to get down to the Tate and see their amazing work in the flesh.