Showing posts with label stamping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stamping. Show all posts

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Mentality 'Foxy'!

I had really intended to get this post out earlier this evening but SURPRISE! Parent-Teacher conferences happening tonight! WOOT! I actually really love this part about being a 'future step-mom'. My 'step son' (not legally, but its easier to say than 'my fiance's son') goes to a really awesome school for children with physical and developmental disabilities so its always neat to see what they're working on because its very different from traditional school. Hes at the age right now too where school is "fine" and he "forgets" what he has learned while he was there so we never quite know what hes up to, or how hes doing (all that information is shipped home to his mom and we get left out of the loop...Grrr.) Anyway, when we dropped by to speak with his teacher we were excited to find out that hes moved up to the "middle/high school" rotating schedule classes like a more traditional school and he has LOTS of teachers. Needless to say our 15 minute conference turned into a 2 hour affair - but it was so awesome. We also found out hes kind of Mr. Popular on campus - which in hindsight might explain the attitude at home recently, or it might just be that hes 14 and, well, hes 14. I forget hes a teenager sometimes, seems like just yesterday he was 8 and still sleeping with his nightlight on. Time flies man.

ANYWAY, time did fly tonight and its 8pm (it's after 9pm now, I got distracted by Glee) and I still don't have this post done but since I teased you all with a swatch on Facebook earlier in the day I think its important to get this out before bed time.

So, this is probably one of the most interesting polishes in my stash. I had to have Mentality's 'Foxy' from the moment I saw it, partly because of the kick ass name, but also because I didn't think I had anything in my stash quite like it.  Foxy is a totally unique red-brown scattered holo with a greenish-gray color shift that shimmers like crazy in the sun, and flashes its gorgeous green-opalescent shift indoors. Foxy is also part of Mentality's 'Stamper' collection meaning its suitable for stamping plates. I used 2 coats plus top coat for the following photos.

Indoor Lighting
Indoor Lighting
Flash
Flash
Blurred for sparklies!
Direct Sun

Is that not a perfect polish for fall? I will definitely wear this one again. Foxy applies like a champ (like all Mentality polishes really) and cleans up easy as pie with no staining.

Where can you find this beauty?

Friday, February 8, 2013

Mardi Gras!

There is a whole lot of different in this post!

I have to preface this post by apologizing for the photo quality and the lack of 'proper' clean up. Originally, I had not planned to post this mani at all because I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but after some coaxing from some friends I decided to share it. And it totally grew on me!

Going into it I knew what colors I wanted to use, but I didn't have a plan. Eventually I decided on 'organized chaos' and set to work doing pretty much whatever came to mind. The results are...fun. At least, I think so anyway :)

I used 3 main colors -
Purple - Color Club - Cosmic (from Claires)
Green - Rimmel 60 Sec - Camouflage
Gold - Color Club - Winter Affair

Additional colors and tools -
Glitter - China Glaze - All That Glitters
Zoya - Gilty - 18k Gold Top Coat
Stripes - Random gold striper

Stamp - Konad M60- Stamped with Color Club Winter Affair
Wet & Wild - Blacke Creme
Scotch tape
Fan Brush
Hole reinforcement stickers (for hole punched paper)
2 different sized dotting tools
Make up sponge

Left Hand Run Down:
Index - Scotch tape mani - 'Cosmic' purple base, China Glaze 'All that glitters', gold stripe
Middle - Color Club 'Winter Affair' with 'All that Glitters' gradient. 
Ring - Konad M60 stamped with 'Winter Affair' over black. Sponged on 'Cosmic' and 'Camouflage' around the edges. Sponged on a tiny bit of 'All That Glitters'
Pinky - Fan brush with 'Cosmic', 'Camouflage' and 'Winter Affair' 
Left Hand

Left Hand


Left Hand

Right Hand Run Down:
Index - OoOo I just realized I forgot which stamping plate I used. I'll look this up and get back to ya'll. Anyway, stamped the scroll design with black and gold over 'Cosmic' base. Sponged 'Camouflage' on top. Added a teeny tiny bit of gold glitter (Color Club 'Sultry Diva') on top of the green.
Middle - 'All That Glitters' over 'Cosmic Base'
Ring -  Half Moon Mani - 'Winter Affair' base. I used one of those hole reinforce stickers for paper to create the half moon. Painted the tip blacked and used 2 different sizes of dotting tools for the dots.
Pinky - Scotch Tape Mani - half stamped with Konad M60, half glittered with 'Glitter All The Way'. Added the gold stripe for kicks.
Right Hand

Right Hand

My thumb turned out way better than I had expected. I have always admired these checkerboard type manicures but it always seemed like such a hassle to get everything to line up right. And it was, kinda, but not  nearly as bad as I had imagined. My only failure was not waiting long enough for the base coat to dry before I put tape on it so I had to redo it. I top coated it with Zoya's Gilty to complete the Green/Purple/Gold theme.

These nails were so outside the box for me but I ended up really liking them. Definitely something fun and different for a holiday that is exact that; fun...and different.

TL;DR
- Thank you to the guys who pushed my car out of the snow this morning!! <3 <3 <3 
- I am so ready for spring...out with the snow!
- There is a baby opossum living under our deck.
- And baby bunny prints all over the backyard! Yay!
- Shout out to Jess at Too Cute-icle because shes awesome and shes had a rough couple of days. Love you!


BONUS: Too Cute-icle and Fox Claws Valentines Day Promo! From now until Valentines Day we will include an exclusive, limited edition, 'love' inspired polish by Too Cute-icle with every rack order! You may get a mini, you may get a full size, but you will NOT get this polish ANYWHERE else! (Promo runs from 1/16/2013-2/14/2013. Not valid on orders placed before 1/16/2013) You can find our Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FoxClaws

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Introducing Too Cute-icle Custom Nail Lacquer

AMIGAD! Awesomeness incoming!

My good friend Jess at Too Cute-icle just launched her very own INDIE LINE! SQUEEEE!! Too Cute-icle Custom Nail Lacquer launched on Sunday 12/2/2012 and has already attracted some big name attention. Her debut line includes a selection of year round pretties with awesome names like Butthurt Banana, Mama's Girl (inspired by her mother) and Pretty Pretty Princess, an Eternal Sonata video game inspired glitterbug called Dolce (which was created by her boyfriend - HI MIKE!), and the ever gorgeous winter-esque dazzlers Aurora Snow, Frosty The Penguin and Frosted Evergreen. I was lucky enough to receive the whole line (minus Mama's Girl), plus a few others that have been reserved for future collections and they are all faaaaareaking AMAZING. I love them. Love. Them. Love them...like this....

Now I realize that my enthusiasm can be taken into question given that Jess and I are close friends, but trust me when I say that I could not in good conscious support her releasing a sub-par product with her name on it. She has done her homework, shes got a great eye for creativity, and shes meticulous (to the point of borderline OCD - teehee) about quality. This girl is going places, and I could not possibly be more proud of her. And when you see these babies there will be no question about their awesomeness. I have tested all of her polishes (though I don't have swatches of most of them ready just yet), and I truly can't pick a favorite but this one is close....Back story...

Pretty Pretty Princess by Too Cute-icle
Last week a cray-mazing (crazy amazing, get it? Yeah I'm lame...) woman named Donna posted a photo of a stamping mani she did with snowflakes and I loved it! So much so that I immediately hit ebay and purchased a Konad plate with snowflakes on it. On Sunday I set about creating my own 'Donna inspired snowflake mani' and thought what better way to champion Jess' new line than to use Pretty Pretty Princess as the base for my snowflakes. Thus the 'matte snowflake mani' was born.

Because I was going to be stamping over the glitter I wanted it to be kind of sparse which I found to be quite difficult (LOL). Pretty Pretty Princess is PACKED with glitter. Please forgive the horrendous cuticles btw. This is one light coat of PPP over black with and without the matte top coat:
 
Because I was planning to stamp, I tried to leave some empty-ish space so that the snowflakes would show up a bit better. I failed. Pretty Pretty Princess was just too pretty to not want it everywhere. I used Konad plates m59 and m20, and Pure Ice Silver Mercedes to stamp (no, not water decal....LOL!) the snowflakes on.
And...If you liked it then you shoulda put some bling on it...LOL!
 
Taadaa! Okay I admit, even I am smitten by this combination. Its stunning! I was SO excited by how gorgeous it turned out that I immediately posted a bunch of shots to my Facebook page without any brand/water markings on it...OOPS! It was shared over 30 times from my page alone! I was so over the moon that so many people liked it enough to share! Thank you! Some people even liked it so much that they uploaded it to their page claimed it as their own. But nail world banded together and brought that to an end. Hopefully...


So again, thank you all who sent messages of support and requests for credit to 'Pinkys Nail Bar' in Stirling, Scotland. I'm sorry that you were all banned and blocked from their page because of it, but I think they got the hint. At least I hope they did. Next time perhaps they'll think twice about stealing someones photo and not giving proper credit...its not like its hard to do. At least get the products and method right!  Water decals....Models Own...*hmpfh* I didn't want them to take the photo down, I just wanted credit. I didn't think that was too much to ask.

WHEW! This was a long one. I hope you're still with me LOL! You can find Pretty Pretty Princess (along with all of Too Cute-icles polishes) at her Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TooCuteicle Full sizes are $7, Minis's are $3. Remember, this is her indie debut so if you want a shot at being one of the first to own her creations, check it out ASAP!

For photos and reviews of her polishes, check out these lovely ladies:

TL;DR
- Too Cute-icles indie debut! WOO!
- Did you actually READ the post or did you just skip to the TL;DR...KYOTI!
- Fun Fact #1: At the time of this posting I am one of only 4 people who own Pretty Pretty Princess...IN THE WHOLE WORLD.
- Fun Fact #2: I created her labels!
- Stealing is bad. Lying and stealing is worse.
- Don't steal kthxbai!