Wedding Dresses 2014

If you don’t want to be too traditional, but you aren’t yet ready to go for a bold hue, try a pastel. Something like a light yellow or light pink should be right up your alley. These colors still have the delicateness of white, and they don’t add too much playfulness to formal weddings. If this sounds like you, Anne Hathaway’s light pink gown will serve as a fitting inspiration.

 

Still Classic

White is a classic, but so is black. You can go the same route as Shenae Grimes by heading to the dark side. If you want to take it to the next level, have the groom wear all-black, so you can match. Although black may seem very unconventional for a wedding, you can still feel elegant and pretty in it.

 

Completely Colorful

Break away from all wedding traditions and go for something bold! According to the Daily Mail, one in 10 brides would wear red, and four percent would wear blue. By choosing something colorful, there’s no doubt that you’ll be the center of attention. This is, after all, what many brides strive for on their special day. Since most colors are symbolic for certain emotions—red is usually associated with love—your wedding dress can be a representation of that.

A Transformation...

Last week I showed you a sheer little El Corazon Poly-Chrome beauty. As a rule of thumb I like to try the sheer shimmery shades over a black base and this was no exception. The beautiful brassy color that resulted did not disappoint. Accented with a bit of stamping, it was transformed from a delicate beauty last week to something much more bold today...

Shown here are two thin coats of El Corazon Poly-Chrome 322 layered over Sinful Colors Black on Black. The first coat was a bit streaky, but it evened out by the second coat...

I stamped with Black on Black using MoYou Pro Collection 06 stamping plate. This is such a gorgeous pattern that for me lies somewhere between stained glass and animal print depending on how I look at it. It also reminds me a bit of that stone man from comic books/movies. I've only seen pictures so I don't know what he is called. Anyone know what I'm talking about?..

The manicure was missing something and I debated adding black tips vs a black raffian. As you can see I went the raffian route and I love it. It just gave the manicure a more finished look while giving it a bit of pop and definition...

This is definitely one of those manicures that I don't want to take off...

Let me know what you think of this manicure!

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 **

MoYou Stamping Plates

Today I would like to show you the MoYou London stamping plates that I recently added to my stamping plate collection. MoYou London (not to be confused with MoYou Nails) has taken the stamping world by storm. They feature some of the most unique designs I have seen and have quite an extensive assortment of themes and patterns. If that wasn't enough, new plates are released weekly to keep tempting us even more. If you follow me on Instagram than you may have already seen my excited post about this epic nail mail from MoYou London. Although only about 1/3 of these plates are mine (I purchased together with a couple of friends), I just had to show this awesomeness to you. Keep reading for a closer view of the 13 plates that I got...

Before I show you the designs, let me tell you a little about the plates themselves. As seen above, newer plates come packaged in a cardboard sleeve featuring the collection logo. Older plates are packaged in plastic baggies, but I believe eventually they will all be transitioned to the cardboard sleeves.

Unlike most common round stamping plates which measure 5.5cm in diameter, these rectangular plates are and impressive 6x12cm (edge to edge, not including the plastic backing). They have a protective blue plastic cover which needs to be removed prior to stamping...

Each plate is mounted on a white plastic backing. The back features the MoYou London logo. These plates feel very solid and sturdy. The plastic backing ensures that you will not be cutting yourself on any sharp metal edges....

Overall they look very impressive and are truly gorgeous plates. I'm tempted to get some of them simply because they are a work of art in themselves. Please note that the plates below are just the plates that I purchased and not complete collections. There are A LOT of other plates available.

For each of the plates below, I'm showing both a photo and a scan of the plate. I personally prefer the scans because they show off the details much better, but I think some people prefer the photos so I decided to include both. Let me know which you prefer for my next review...

You can click on any of the images to see a larger version...

Mother Nature Collection - 01

Mother Nature Collection - 02

Pro Collection - 05

Pro Collection - 06

Pro Collection - 10

Pro Collection - 13

Pro Collection - 14

Sailor Collection - 01

Sailor Collection - 02

Suki Collection - 01

Suki Collection - 02

Suki Collection - 06

Suki Collection - 07

I truly can't stop staring at some of these plates! How gorgeous is that Suki Collection plate above?

The 'stampable' area of the full plates such as the Suki Collection 07 is 4.7 x 10.4 cm. With these images you can stamp any portion of the plate. Unlike the usual small images or full nail patterns which essentially predetermine what the stamped image will be, with these plates there are no limits. That can be quite an intimidating thing especially when it can be difficult to imagine how much will fit the nail, how it will look, or which portion we should be trying to pick up with the stamper. If that sounds about right, check out this amazing post by Marta on Chit Chat Nails for how to create a nail cutout which you can slide around on the stamping plate and get a better idea of what the image will look like.

The plates that I purchased which have full nail rectangular patterns are XL plates. The XL plates feature full nail designs which are 15 x 21mm in size. They are quite large. In comparison, the newest Bundle Monster Holiday plate set features full nail designs which are 14 x 17mm in size.

If you have smaller, shorter nails than take a look at the regular (instead of XL) plates. They feature 18 different designs per plate (compared to 12 on the XL plates) and each pattern is 12 x 15 mm in size. I unfortunately do not have any such plates to show you because they would be too short for my nails and I chose not to purchase any.

Here are a few of my 1st manicures with the MoYou London stamping plates. They all stamp beautifully! I have tried other plates as well although I have not created full manicures with them. They are very well etched and easy to stamp with. Even the thinnest lines and smallest details get picked up as you can see in the third manicure here. Because the patterns are so thin they do seem to get clogged with polish more than other plates and I found it necessary to clean the plate between each stamping to get crisp images...

You can click on any of the manicure to go directly to the original post...

You can find this and many, many, many (did I say that enough?) other MoYou London plates at: http://www.moyou.co.uk

Please let me know what you think of this review! Also, do you prefer to see photos or scans of the plates?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)