ABC Challenge: C is For China Glaze - Nail Polish Appliques

Hello lovelies! Welcome to another ABC Challenge post!

Today we are on letter "C". I had planned on doing some more nail art for this challenge but I ran out of time. Instead, I decided to reach for one of my fave brands, China Glaze. I've had a package of their Real Nail Polish Appliques sitting in my stash for awhile now, and I decided now was a great time to try them out. These particular appliques are called "Shake Your Tail Feathers" and are a Peacock Feather Pattern.  I fell in love with these when I found them at Sally's back in October! I have no idea why I waited this long to them out.

These Nail Polish Appliques work just like other brands - You select the size that fits your nail, peel off the backing and stick. They are pliable, so you can stretch them to fit the sides of your nail, which is handy when you have oddly sized nails with a deep C-Curve! Once securely on the nail, you use the little file that comes with the strips to file off the excess, top coat, and voila! Instant nail art!

 In Macro shots you can see some wrinkles and places where I had some issues with removing the excess as well as a couple small wrinkles. IRL these aren't nearly as noticable.

I love the pattern on these Appliques.  Peacock nails have always been a personal favorite, and these made getting the look easy peasy.

The only thing I don't like about Appliques is having to file off the excess. I always end up filing a bit off the nail which changes the shape slightly.  I also had issues with the Appliques tearing at the corner of the free edge during the process of removing the excess. These aren't very noticeable IRL though, so don't let that dissuade you from giving these a try. They look great, are fast and relatively easy, and can be used as a full mani or an accent nail.

The wear on these wasn't too shabby either.  The package says that these can be worn up to 7 days without chips or peeling. I wore them for a full 24 hours and didn't have any severe peeling, chipping, or lifting of the applique.  I did have a few spots on the tip of the nail where the strip wore off in a small, hang nail sized strip, but that didn't really effect the overall look.

If you are interested in trying these, I found mine at Sally's for $5.99.

How do you feel about Appliques? Yay or Nay?

Be sure to check out all of the lovely ladies and their "C" manicures!






Thanks for stopping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber

Adventures in Stamping: Viridian Peacock

Hi Ladies!

Today I'm sharing some stamping I did over Illamasqua Viridian. The blackened teal base and hidden purple shimmer in Viridian was screaming "Peacock" at me, so I decided to break out my trusty Bundle Monster Plates, some colorful polish, and created a fun stamped mani! I shied away from a gradient since I've seen several gradient peacock manis lately and I didn't want to just recreate them.  I actually wore this mani for close to a week. Great thing was that not only was it eye catching, but the wear was amazing! It still looked great when I removed it; no chips and just some mild wear. Awesome!

First I stamped using BM Plate 212 and OPI Just Spotted The Lizard. Then I went in and filled in the dots with Orly Sweet Peacock and OPI "OPI Ink". Then I went back in and dotted again using OPI Ink in the center of Sweet Peacock and Vice Versa. I keep thinking I would've liked it better had I done all the dots in Ink, then dotted the center of those with Sweet Peacock, but I did like the effect of the random dots and colors, and this mani got a ton of compliments. I'm really digging stamping these days, which is good since I need the practice! I apologize if I end up posting a lot of single colors and then show them stamped later on. :) Anyway, here's my version of a peacock mani! My camera kinda freaked out on these..I guess it doesn't like the pattern. It just would not focus on the entire mani. :)

Not the greatest peacock mani ever, but I dug it. And I think my stamping skills are actually improving! Yay me! ;)

Thanks for dropping by and Happy Polishing!
-Kimber