Epilepsy Awareness

At the beginning of this month I was contacted by a lovely reader asking me to create a manicure in support of Epilepsy Awareness month, which happens to be November. She has been living with the disease for many years and continues to struggle with it daily. Her story just breaks my heart and creating a manicure for her and this cause is the least I can do. I'm ashamed to admit that I lost track of time and November slipped by way too fast which is why this manicure is sneaking in on the last day of the month. Hopefully this is a case of better late than never...

The ribbon color for Epilepsy Awareness is a deep purple and I did a quick web search just to get an idea of the shade. I ran across a number of images featuring butterfly wings around the ribbon and was inspired to incorporate it into the manicure...

source

For the manicure I started out with a base of Rimmel London French Lingerie. For the stamping I used KleanColor Metallic Purple. The butterflies come from Red Angel plate RA-102. I stamped the pattern a few times to cover the whole nail with butterflies. For the accent nail I stamped the ribbon from Bundle Monster plate BM-324 as well as a few butterflies from RA-102...

I added a piece of purple striping tape along the tips (and the ribbon line on the ring finger). The very edge of the nail was wrapped in Metallic Purple to blend with the striping tape. I really like the crispness of the striping tape. It is amazing how perfectly it matched the stamping polish...

Rimmel London French Lingerie is a sheer pink jelly. It has a nice, smooth formula. No streaks, pulling or bald spots. The wide brush makes application very easy. As the name suggests, this polish works perfectly for the traditional french manicure. I happen to like this shade solo when my nails are on the shorter side as they are right now. The swatches are two coats with no top coat. The nail line is still visible, but that is to be expected with a sheer jelly such as this...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Rimmel London Collection: French Manicure Pro Color Name/Number: French Lingerie, 130 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Let me know what you think!
What causes do you support?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Zoya Ornate Holiday Nail Art

The holiday season is upon us with reminders at every turn. Houses and trees are beautifully lit up. Stores are tempting me with pretty ornaments and decorations at every turn. I couldn't help but add a little of the holiday to my manicure. The polishes in the Zoya Ornate collection were just perfect for the occasion...

I wanted something really quick so I skipped the tape, which I originally intended to use, and just sponged the colors on instead. The base is the beautiful Zoya Blaze, a cranberry red with holo particles. Then, I sponged with the gold Zoya Ziv and the green Zoya Logan. Both times starting at the tips and working up toward the nail beds. A few dots using Zoya Ziv tie the colors together. Nothing exact or perfect here, but I like it...

Let me know what you think of this!
Have you been getting into the holiday spirit?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Shimmer Cristina Stamped with Nicole by OPI Personally Speaking...

I have really mixed feeling about this manicure, but decided to show it to you anyway. It is not horrible, but certainly not what I had hoped for. The stamping turned out to be much too subtle and lacks that pop that I wanted. On the other hand sometimes subtle is nice, so maybe you can help me decide... :)

I started out with a base of Shimmer Cristina which I showed you yesterday. It is a beautiful mix of green and red glitter in a tinted jelly base. For the stamping, I wanted to try out Nicole by OPI Personally Speaking... from the CVS exclusives this fall. It worked really well for stamping and I will certainly be trying it over other bases for more contrast...

The stamping image comes from the Cheeky jumbo plate C. This plate has so many gorgeous images that I want to try, that I have a hard time deciding which one to use...

I accented it with a little flower rhinestone in yellow for a bit of contrast and fun...

Let me know what you think of this! Good? Bad? Don't care either way?...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Shimmer Cristina and Taylor

I have two more beautiful Shimmer polishes to show you today. Unlike most Shimmer glitters I've tried so far, these have a slightly tinted base so I used them on their own rather than layering over a base color. I'm quite fond of the darker glitters and I hope you'll enjoy them as well...

Cristina
A pale grape jelly base with glitter in green, red, blue and a touch of other colors tossed. Overall effect on the nail is a teal/green with red peeking through. There are lots of different shapes of glitter, but all are fairly small and densely packed. Three coats was enough for almost complete coverage. There were still a few spots where I could see through it (especially in photos), but it is so sparkly in real life that it is not noticeable. This one really fascinates me as the red glitter seems to glow from within. Swatches are with two coats of topcoat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Shimmer Collection: main Color Name/Number: Cristina Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Taylor
A dark maroon jelly base with green, red and blue/purple glitter. It is not as densely packed as Cristina, but the jelly base is darker, so it still provides nearly complete coverage in three coats. The purple glitter in this is really quite amazing, it color shifts from iridescent to green to purple (or at least that is what it looks like to me). At times it would catch the light and I would forget I'm wearing a glitter and think it is flakies over a maroon base. Regardless, I am crazy about this one. Swatches are with two layers of top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Shimmer Collection: main Color Name/Number: Taylor Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

You can purchase any of these by emailing Cindy directly at shimmer484@gmail.com or through ShimmerPolish on Etsy. Cindy even makes custom polishes!

Also, take a look at her blog and Facebook page where she hosts giveaways of her creations...


I'd love to know your thought these! Which one caught your eye?

Also, I've been playing with the header graphic a bit... what do you think of it? :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Sunday Stamping: Over Blue Base

It is definitely that time of the year when I get the urge to add snowflakes in some shape or form to every manicure. Luckily it worked out really well with this week's Sunday Stamping challenge of stamping over a blue blase. I have been dreaming of this particular manicure since last year. Sadly the only snowflake stamp I had at the time was really stubborn and refused to work for me, so I was beyond excited to see this pattern in the 3rd Bundle Monster set. Hopefully you share my enthusiasm for snowflakes. I'm pretty sure mine is tied to childhood memories of cutting them out of paper and gluing them to windows with soap..

For the manicure I started out with a base of Nicole by OPI I Sea You and Raise You from the CVS exclusives released this fall. I will be showing full swatches in a day or two. For the stamping I used Bundle Monster plate BM-323 and Essence nail art stampy polish in Stamp Me! White...

Did I mention it matches one of my favorite wrapping papers...

To add a little sparkle to the tips I dabbed on a bit of glitter using Shimmer Julia. I really like the little blue and iridescent glitter sparkle...

This is the first time I've used the Essence stampy polish and I really like it. The images turned out crisp and bright. Too bad it is such a tiny bottle, I'm going to need a lot more...

I hope you like this manicure! I'm looking forward to more snowflakes in the near future :)

Want to see more of my Sunday Stamping challenge manicures? I finally put them together on one Sunday Stamping page, so make sure to check it out and let me know what you think :)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Nicole by OPI polish was provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Shimmer Julia and Sonia

I'm getting a really late start on today thanks to all the delicious food and wonderful family time yesterday. Despite the late start, I want to sneak in a few more swatches of the Cindy's gorgeous Shimmer polishes...

Shimmer Julia (over Pure Ice Getting Gorgeous)
A soft mix of baby blue, teal, silver and holographic (+more) glitter in a clear base. The glitter is all sort of different shapes and sizes, but is all pretty small. Overall look of the polish is a sweet baby blue. I layered one coat of Julia over Pure Ice Getting Gorgeous, a dark sparkly cobalt blue and topped it off with a top coat. Love this combination! Toss in a few snowflakes and it is a perfect winter manicure :)

Shimmer Julia (over Pure Ice Nude Beach)
This is the same Shimmer Julia as above only layered over the neutral Pure Ice Nude Beach to show the glitter itself a bit better. This again is just one coat of the glitter over the base. These two also make for a sweet combination. My only complaint about Julia is that it has a pretty strong chemical smell. The formula is great, very easy to apply and the glitter spreads well. Swatches are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
		Brand: Shimmer Collection: main Color Name/Number: Julia Number of coats: 1 (layered) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Shimmer Sonia (over Nicole by OPI Don't Overpink It)
A mix of pink, lavender, gold and holographic glitter. Similarly to Julia this is made up of small glitter although it is in many different shapes and sizes. Overall it is a soft pink glitter. The formula is nice and glitter distribution is great. This is one coat with a top coat layered over a pink base...

The lavender here is most prominent here...

Shimmer Sonia (over Pure Ice Alter Ego)
And just so you are not fooled into thinking that Sonia is too sweet, she does play very well with darker base colors. Layered here over the dark brown Pure Ice Alter Ego. It is fun to see the same glitter polish take on so many different looks based on the polish underneath. I really like this super sparkly combination...

Brings out all the other beautiful glitter in this mix...

Swatch Details
		Brand: Shimmer Collection: main Color Name/Number: Sonia Number of coats: 1 (layered) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I would love to know what you think of these!
Let me know what you think of seeing them over multiple bases...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **