Bold Gold Stamping...

If you follow me on instagram, then you may have already seen a sneak peak of this manicure. I'm not in the habit of giving sneak peaks, but I'm just a bit a lot hooked on instagram right now and it makes it so easy to share even when I don't have time to process all the photos or do a full write up. Now I'm not even sure why I resisted for so long. Sidetrack aside though, I got the most perfect stamping gold polish as an unexpected gift from a friend and I was so excited to try it out...

The base for this manicure is Ulta Devious which is a dark eggplant purple cream. I just love the combo of purple and gold. Actually gold with just about anything really appeals to me which is why I was so excited to finally have a gold that I could stamp with! This perfect gold is Maybelline Bold Gold from the Color Show Metallics line. I decided to test it out on a rather detailed pattern from DashicaBeautyShop plate SdP-O. I just love this pattern so much and the Bold Gold captured every detail....

For the accent nail, I used one generous coat of Shimmer Tracy. It is a gorgeous gold glitter mix that had me staring at my nail all day...

It is difficult to capture the full beauty of Tracy because while it might appear as just a gold mix, it is so much more. If you look closely, you can see reds and greens and blues and even holo in the mix. While different shaped gold is the primary component of this mix, in the sun the other colors sparkle and come to life...

Let me know what you think of this manicure!

Thanks for looking and commenting!
Anutka :)

Textured Stars and Stripes...

I have another attempt at a 4th of July manicure to show you today. This one features some sparkly Zoya PixieDust and striping tape. I will let the photos do most of the talking today...

To create this manicure, I started out with a base of Ulta Snow White. After applying striping tape in a desired pattern to create stripes and stars, I applied the PixieDust one nail at a time so I could remove the tape as while the polish was still wet. For the stripes I used the red Zoya Chyna and for the stars I used the blue Zoya Liberty...

I'm not quite sure how I feel about the result, but it could just be my mood at the moment so I'd love to know what you think of it. Does it make you think of Independence Day... or maybe as it does for me, Dr. Seuss?

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: Colors of My Holiday Decorations

The holidays can get kind of hectic and I have been struggling to find the time to blog. That is partly why I am showing you the Sunday Stamping manicure on a Monday. This week the challenge was to create a manicure with the colors of the holiday tree decorations. I took that quite literally and went looking through my ornaments for inspiration. I wanted something that wasn't a "typical" bright color so I chose for a gorgeous matte white ornament with gold glitter and rhinestones...

To recreate the look of the ornament in my manicure, I started out with a base of Nicole by OPI Others Pale by Kim-parison, a soft milky white. I stamped using Red Angel plate RA-120 and Ulta High Roller, a champagne gold. I filled in a few areas of the pattern and added dots with High Roller to complete the design. To match the rhinestones on the ornament, I added small rhinestones to the tip of each nail as well...

I am happy with how soft and delicate this manicure turned out. Even though it was inspired by a holiday ornament, I think this look can be worn any time of the year and that is exactly what I wanted...

Of course I couldn't resist showing you the ornament itself...

I really had so much fun with this ornament inspired manicure. It is definitely something I will do again next year!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

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 **

Nail-aween Challenge Day 5: Ghost & Goblins

It is time for day five of the Nail-aween challenge which calls for a ghost and goblin manicure. I wasn't in the mood for anything creepy or spooky, but definitely in the mood for silly and wacky. Luckily the little ghosts were more than willing to make silly faces for me....

Since I'm determined to practice my water marbling skills, the background for the manicure is a gray and purple water marble comprised of Zoya Kelly and Ulta Devious. The base under the marble is Pure Ice Silver Mercedes to highlight some of the lighter areas of the marbling. The wacky little ghost were added using white and black acrylic paint...

The ghosts on my pinkie finger are my favorite. I think they have the cutest faces...

I would love to know what you think of my silly ghost manicure! Let me know in the comments below :)

P.S. Don't forget to take a look at all the other lovelies participating in the challenge...
datyorkLOVES, Erica's Nails and More, DreamyMM Nails & Make Up, Tes Did It Nails, Sassy Paints, Nicole gets Nailed , glitznglammer, Finger Food, Wicked Tips, Fancy Schmancy Nails, Delight In Nails, Polish Groupie, My Nail Journey, Get Polished Up!, Just A Girl and Her Polish, Spellbound Nails, Le nail's corner d'Alex, Hello.Lacquer, Countess Nails , Color the world with polish, Nail Crime Nail Art, Coat of Mani Colors, Cutie Cuticles, Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge, GLAMOROUS NAILS, Over The Topcoat, Polish Gone Crazy, tragedystipsandtreats

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Ulta Concrete Evidence Stamped with Barielle Surf's Up

As soon as I swatched Barielle Surf's Up*, I knew I had to try to stamp with it. My first thought was that it would work perfectly stamping over white to create a nice traditional porcelain china look, but I ended up going a slightly different way. As you might know, I tend to inject a bit of gray into my manicures. Maybe it is the gray Seattle weather, maybe it is to match my mostly black/gray wardrobe, maybe just my personality. Whatever it is, I like it and I'm sticking with it and I hope you don't mind...

I started out with a base of Ulta Concrete Evidence, a new gray in my growing collection. I stamped it with Bundle Monster plate BM-322 using Barielle Surf's Up as my stamping polish. As anticipated, it is so pigmented that it worked perfectly for stamping for which I was pretty excited...

This pattern and color combo makes me think of a nice fall coat...

Ulta Concrete Evidence is a soft gray cream. It has a nice smooth formula with full coverage in just two coats. The latest Ulta polishes seem to have a slightly flattened/widened brush, which I found very easy to use. It is a nice improvement, although I didn't have problems with their old brushes either. These swatches are with no top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Ulta Collection: main line Color Name/Number: Concrete Evidence Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes marked with an asterisk (*) were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

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

Ulta Snow White Stamped

I'm not sure if any of you remember the Sunday Stamping gemstone manicure from a few weeks ago. I had mentioned then that it was my second attempt at a manicure for the challenge, since I didn't feel that the first one captured the gemstone look as I wanted. In any case, this is that manicure. I had attempted to create an opal base by layering flakes and even though the opal effect didn't show up well in photos, I still love the manicure...

For this manicure I started out with a base of Ulta Snow White and then added a coat of Barielle Budda-Ful followed by a coat of Pure Ice Oh Baby! Buddha-Ful is a milky, slightly pink base with blue/green flakies. Oh Baby! is a duchrome green/purple shimmer in a milky base. The purple of the shimmer rarely transfers to the nail (maybe over black) and the green shimmer over white is pretty hard to capture with the camera, but it is there in real life...

For the stamping I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Teal-y Fast and Dashica Beauty Shop stamping plate SdP-O. This pattern is one that has a mirror image available on the stamp so I used both of them and rotated the stamp each time for a different pattern on each nail. I just love the blue and white combo...

A few shots before the stamping to show the flakies/shimmer effect a bit...

A close up to see the flakes although the shimmer is still hiding from photos...

Here is a photo of the white opal I was hoping to capture. Not bad compared to the closeup photo if I do say so myself :)

source

Ulta Snow White is a pure white cream. It has a pretty nice formula with minimal streaking and was completely even and opaque by two coats. I just recently added this polish to my collection as I'm trying to find a pure white that won't bleed in nail art when combined with red. I have yet to test it out, but I have high hopes since I've seen it used in a red/white water marble done by someone else. Swatches here are with a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Ulta Collection: Salon Formula Color Name/Number: Snow White Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping: Favorite Stamp

Is it just me or does it seem that every week Sunday comes faster and faster. This week for Sunday Stamping in the group Adventures in Stamping, the challenge was to use a favorite new stamp. To be honest, I don't really have favorites when it comes to a particular stamp. I do have favorite sets that I will reach for vs others when selecting images. It all depends on the mood of the day or an idea. Just in the last month I've gotten the new Mash and Bundle Monster sets as well as the large DashicaBeauty plate, making it really hard to choose a new favorite. They are all excellent quality and I'm still exploring and getting inspired by all the different images :)

For today's manicure I chose the base of Ulta Tutu Cute. It is one of the new shades that I got during their recent sale. Since most of the Ultas I currently own are dark, I had to get some new summery colors. The stamp I chose to use is an image from the DaschicaBeauty plate SdP-O. This flower image has been begging for a manicure ever since I first saw it. I kept rotating the image to get a slightly different design on each nail, but if I wanted a matching set of nails on the other hand, this stamp has a mirror image of it available on the plate. My stamping on all the nails is random and as you can imagine do not mirror each other...

I stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Grape Escape. It is one of those blurple colors that looks purple, but photographs blue. Interestingly enough, when I stamped with it, all the purple dissapeared. It really is just blue on the nail as you see here. It looks as though someone took a blue pen and just doodled flower patterns on my nails. I love it. Will have to try stamping this over white. Or maybe a nice henna color over a tan base would look good, but I'm getting side tracked... Also, in true ink fashion, the image smeared when I applied the top coat so zoom in at your own risk ;)

After wearing the manicure as seen above for a day, it started to look kind of flat, so I topped it off with some sparkle in the form of Pure Ice Busted. It is a great purple fleck shimmer that gave it some life and movement. It also muted down the stamp a bit and hid the smudges...

Ulta Tutu Cute is a slightly dusty lavender cream. It is very pigmented, two coats for full coverage. The formula is smooth and easy to work with, although maybe just a touch too thick for my preference. Nothing a few drops of thinner can't handle. It dries slightly darker than bottle color...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Ulta Collection: Salon Formula main line Color Name/Number: Tutu Cute Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Sunday Stamping: Something I Love with Ulta Into Astrono-Me?

I had every intention of making and posting this manicure in time for Sunday, but time just got away from me. The weather in Seattle has been amazing and sunny and I have been spending what little daytime I have before work outside. Partly because of the weather and partly because my front (and back) yard are in major need of a clean up. My HOA gave me 30 days to clean up or else... so I got an estimate to see how much it would cost for someone else to do the work and let's just say that the $800 quote was just the push shove that I needed to get my butt outside and weeding :D

Ok, back to the topic at hand. The theme for this Sunday Stamping challenge in the group Adventures in Stamping was "Something you love." I rather enjoy open ended challenges such as this because everyone creates something completely different! One thing that I love is astrology. This love comes from years of listening to my boyfriend tell me all about the different signs of the zodiac. We enjoy analyzing the different signs and seeing how they fit or don't fit the people in our lives.

For my manicure I chose to go with the zodiac signs of my boyfriend (Leo) and me (Gemini )...

I started out with a base of Ulta Into-Astrono-Me?. Yes, I did choose it purely based on the name, but I just couldn't resist. All the stamping was done with no brand plates I got from Ebay. The stars in the background were stamped using UltaHigh Roller and plate M81. The Gemini (plate m59) and Leo (plate m55) were stamped using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes.

I love how the manicure turned out, but because the cheap Ebay plates are less than perfect, the Gemini didn't transfer too well and I think the little twins look a bit... umm... scary... Good thing I don't usually look quite this close in real life. On the other hand finger, how adorable is that Leo? :)

Ulta's Into Astrono-Me? is a darkened teal with a nice micro-shimmer. Normally I love dark colors such as this, but somehow I wasn't loving it on it's own. Maybe I'm finally craving summer colors now that the sun is out? The formula on this was nice. Two coats for full coverage and no problems with application.

It does look a lot better outside when you can see the gorgeous shimmer come out...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Ulta Collection: main line Color Name/Number: Into Astrono-Me? Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)