Mani Swap with NailsTori

It was so hard to choose which mani to recreate when NailsTori & I decided to do a Mani Swap! Eventually I settled on a pretty creme to glitter gradient Tori did around Christmas time, while she chose one of my Halloween manis. We got creative by changing up the colour palettes and the result was two gorgeous new manis! Check out the collage at the end of the post. 

Products Used

Bonita Hostess With the Mostess

Bonita Penny For Your Thoughts

MTL Creations Tara

INM Out The Door Topcoat 

Cuter Cuticles Cutie Guard

I love the springy shades of these Bonita polishes I picked up when I went shopping in the states a few weeks ago. The peach is a bit sheer but luckily the gradient covered up any VNL. I forgot foil polishes almost work too well for sponging on, so the colour is super dense and doesn't blend as well as a gradient. Oh well! 

Check out the collage. Originals are on the left, and recreations on the right. The colours Tori used in her recreation are gorgeous! Love it!

Do you like foil polishes?

xo Shawna

Jelly Sammich Mani - Twinkie Nail Art Challenge

Good afternoon! I'm excited to be back in the swing of the weekly Twinkie Nail art challenge :) This week is "Jelly Sammich"! And in other big nail news... I have a new nail shape, almond shorties! They feel really strange, especially as I type. I had my plain old oval nails for quite a while - I'm guessing more than a year! They're growing on me though.

I had just the polish in mind, which I specifically bought for this kind of mani - Pink Freud from Echoes Polish. This is a new-to-me technique and while I don't totally love how the stamping images I chose end up looking combined, I can see myself playing with the technique in the future with different designs. And maybe more chunky glitter!

Polishes used:

Echoes Polish Pink Freud

BK Matt White (use code SDPX31 for 10% off!)

MTL Creations Tara

Sally Girl Silver Glitter

Ciate Speed Pro Top Coat

HK Girl Top Coat

I used a few plates, MoYou London Pro Plate 04, and m66 and QA91 from born pretty store. (SDPX31 for 10% off!) I think next time I'll just layer floral prints instead of different images. They kind of got lost!

Have you tried a jelly sammich mani yet?

xo Shawna

MTL swatches

I had a lazy night in tonight, just relaxing and trying to fight off the impending cold I am absolutely SURE will come before I jet off to Cuba this weekend. So- I finally got around to finishing my swatches from MTL creations! I've got a post packed full of pics for you tonight.

Mia is a lovely lavender purple with holo glitter in it. This is 4 coats.

Sam the Shifter is a green thermal that shifts to a darker green when cold. I think my body chemistry works against thermals, this is my second polish and both took a while in the water bath to achieve change! The above is pictured when warm/ room temperature. 4 coats.

Sam (cold). I couldn't work the camera fast enough to get a proper pic! (Hence why my fingers are all wet in the picture)

Lafayette is a sheer grape purple with a little bit of shimmer. 4 coats. 

Jason is a black shade with holo and some blue/green glitters. I don't generally wear black on it's own the but sparkle adds a little something and would be a great base for nail art. This is 3 coats (no top coat) - would be nice and smooth after a coat of HK Girl!

Tara is a pink glitter topper. Left to right is one coat, two coats, three coats, four. Safe to say with 3 coats and on you're entering serious glitter bomb territory - I can't wait to layer this over one of my pink cremes for some gorgeousness!

Hope you enjoyed the swatches!

xo Shawna

Thermal Explorer Stamped MoYou Mani

I haven't posted a stamped manicure lately, since I've been branching out and trying different hand-painted nail art lately. Tonight I swatched another shade from MTL, a green thermal polish. When deciding which plate to stamp with, I was drawn to the explorer collection again - I seem to connect these images to a green background!

Green usually isn't a popular polish shade in my repertoire, but I loved the thermal combo, which turns a darker green shade when cold. At first I thought I was broken- it was taking a while to achieve the colour change and my other thermal polish is so subtle, I thought maybe my body chemistry just wasn't working for them. But lo and behold, after soaking my nails in a mini ice bath for 30 seconds, I saw it! Watch for these swatches in that upcoming post I promised. (Soon!) My fiancé is on night shifts which means I can stink up the condo to my hearts content :) 

Polishes Used:

MTL Creations Sam the Shifter

Wet n Wild Black Creme

HK Girl Top Coat (not applied until after photos)

MoYou London Explorer 21

I actually like my "Cinderella" hand more for this mani! I experimented with more variety in the pattern placement and really like how it turned out. I think the green & black make it a great Halloween colour combination!

Do you have a colour family you generally just don't like in nail polish?

xo Shawna

Dots - October Nail Art Challenge

Hello lovely readers! Happy Friday, it's time for another edition of the twinkie nail art challenge! October looks like a great month, with a few new techniques and fun manicures planned. 

Today (the first Friday of October- where did the time go?!) brings us the theme "dots". I've had this base on since Wednesday night, it's one of the polishes rom my first indie polish that I mentioned in my blog post last Saturday, from My True Love Creations. I'm still planning a swatch post for that haul, so stay tuned! (I have to wait until I'm home alone... I've been getting complaints about the fumes of my constant nail painting from my fiancé!)

I decided to keep it simple and go for a french manicure inspired dotticure. I wasn't intending to have the dots shrink in size towards the edges, but it just kind of happened - and i liked it! This look was super quick and easy - a great way to add some interest with minimal effort. The dotting took just 6 minutes (not that I timed it or anything :-p) 

Polished Used:

MTL Creations Mia

Ciate Snow Virgin

HK Girl Top Coat

Born Pretty Store Dotting Tool (use coupon SDPX31 to save 10%!)

What do you think of this take on a french mani?

xo Shawna