Stamps

March 25, 2013

Colorful Animal Print Nails 5

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , , , ,

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Bright glitter polish, animal print and studs all in one manicure!  I had some fun this weekend creating this funky spring nail design.  I used four Gelish nail colors; High Voltage, The Great Googly Moogly, Black Shadow and Oocha Coocha Bing Bang Bam.  I used Konad black stamping polish and stamping plate M57 for the animal print, and the studs on the accent finger are from the Born Pretty store.  I think I’ll actually keep this design on for the whole week… who wants to place bets on that?  LOL

Chickettes.com Colorful Zebra Print Nailscolorful-zebra-nail-art-3colorful-zebra-nail-art-2

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March 14, 2013

Ink SOG Gradient Manicure with Paisley 8

by Andrea • Ink Soak Off Gel Swatches, Nail Art • Tags: , , , ,

I tried a new brand of soak off gel (SOG) polish today called Ink by Glam and Glits.  I wanted to try some colors that are springy since I’m soooo ready for some warmer weather!  I started off with three coats of Ink Lime Sorbet, which is a lovely soft green color.  I then sponged a teal blue color called Ink Calypso onto the tips.  After applying and curing my top coat, I applied a paisley stamp using Bundle Monster plate BM315 and Konad black polish.  I then applied another thin layer of top coat.  I used my Gelish foundation and Top It Off.

Chickettes.com - Ink SOG gradient with paisley stamp Chickettes.com - Ink SOG gradient with paisley stamp Chickettes.com - Ink SOG gradient with paisley stamp

Here is Ink Lime Sorbet all by itself before I applied the gradient.  It’s actually slightly warmer in person.  I thought this was what Gelish Mint of Spring was going to look like, but it’s actually blue and not green at all…. so I had to seek out a light green, and I’m totally loving this!

ink-gel-lime-sorbet

And this is the gradient before the stamp.  I just used a makeup sponge to apply Ink Calypso onto the tips.  I couldn’t get the opacity that I wanted, but I still like how it turned out.  :)

ink-gel-gradient

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January 20, 2013

Gelish Medieval Madness & Floral Stamp 1

by Andrea • Gelish Swatches, Nail Art • Tags: , , , ,

I tried a new Gelish color today called Medieval Madness, it’s a neutral khaki color.  One of my besties bought this for me for Christmas.  All of the swatches that I saw for this color looked like light grey so I thought it would be similar to Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal, but it’s totally different.  I normally don’t go for neutrals, but this one is really nice and I think it works well with my skin tone.

After applying the color, I thought it might look nice to add a subtle stamp.  I added this floral stamp using Bundle Monster plate BM 318 and China Glaze Passion.

Gelish Medieval Madness with Subtle Floral Stamp

Gelish Medieval Madness with Subtle Floral Stamp

Here are a couple swatches of Medieval Madness by itself.

Gelish Medieval Madness SwatchGelish Medieval Madness SwatchAnd here is a quick comparison of Medieval Madness and Cashmere Kind of Gal.

Gelish Medieval Madness compared to Gelish Cashmere Kind of Gal

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December 29, 2012

Gelish Nail Art – Night Reflection with Glitter and Stamps 2

by Andrea • Gelish Swatches, Nail Art • Tags: , , , , , ,

I had a little fun today with gel polish and stamping.  I started with three coats of Gelish Night Reflection (swatches below) and a thin layer of the Gelish Top It Off.  Then I stamped the zig zag pattern on a few fingers using Cheeky stamping plate CH8 and China Glaze Devotion.  I used Jordana Silver Glitter to add a glitter gradient to the other nails.  Once these polishes dried, I applied one more thin layer of the Gelish top coat and cured it in the UV light.

I talked about this before on my guest post for Wacky Lacki, but I love stamping on top of gel polishes.  When I mess up I can just wipe off the stamp and try it again, and my base coat remains completely in tact.  Sometimes it takes me several attempts before I get the stamp to apply properly, which was the case with this zig zag pattern.  When stamping over regular nail lacquer you have to get it right the first time or take off every layer of polish and start over again.  Just one more reason why I’m in love with Gelish.  Plus this manicure will last for weeks if I leave it on that long… but you know I will get the itch to try something else before then!

Gelish Nail Art - Zig Zag and Glitter

Gelish Nail Art - Zig Zag and Glitter

Gelish Nail Art - Zig Zag and Glitter

And these are my swatches of Gelish Night Reflection before applying the nail art.  I took these photos with my desk lamp instead of my light box so to show the shimmer.  I’m still struggling with lighting a bit.  My light box drowns out shimmer and glitter sometimes, but my desk lamp makes my hands look more red.  I might have to invest in an OttLite to see if that works better.

Gelish Night Reflection Swatch

Gelish Night Reflection Swatch

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December 4, 2012

Polish Days Manicure – Snowflakes n’ Glitter 18

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , , , , , , ,

The Polish Days theme this month is “BLING!” – anything sparkly, glittery or metallic.  I decided to do a winter / holiday theme with some bling.  I fell in love with Gelish Holiday Party Blues when I swatched it a couple of days ago, so I used this as the base.  I stamped on snowflakes in a random pattern using Bundle Monster plate BM319 and Konad white polish.  Holiday Party Blues is already loaded with glitter, but I added even more using a glitter pot that came in my last Julep Maven box, and then I added rhinestones to the center of the snowflakes.  I really love how this turned out, and hope you do too!

Winter / Holiday Snowflake Nail ArtWinter / Holiday Snowflake Nail ArtWinter / Holiday Snowflake Nail ArtWinter / Holiday Snowflake Nail Art

Polish Days BLING

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November 12, 2012

Gradient Giraffe Print Nails 7

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I’m having more fun with my Bundle Monster stamping plates.  This is plate BM313 which has two different giraffe prints.  I started this manicure with two coats of Jordana Good Luck Charm, and then sponged on Jordana Boy oh Boy for a gradient effect.  I applied a thin coat of Seche Vite top coat and let them dry for several minutes.  Then I applied the stamps using Konad black polish, and topped off again with Seche Vite.  I love how this turned out!

Gradient Giraffe Print ManicureChickettes.com Gradient Giraffe Print Manicure

 

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November 11, 2012

Purple Paisley Nails 2

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: , , ,

It’s been a crazy week and I haven’t had much time to do my nails or post. I hope to have more time this coming week to play with my 2012 Bundle Monster stamping set. I was having an issue with many of the plates where I couldn’t get the design to pick up on my stamper. I finally concluded that the impressions in the plates were too shallow and I contacted the company. They very graciously sent me a new set, and these ones are working perfectly so far. The first design that I tried out is this paisley pattern from plate BM315. This is China Glaze Stella stamped with China Glaze Magical.

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November 1, 2012

China Glaze Fifth Avenue 1

by Andrea • Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , ,

I recently purchased several China Glaze polishes that were on sale. I’ve heard from many people that the Romantique collection is great for stamping, so I grabbed several shades from that collection. Below are swatches of Fifth Avenue, which is a lovely dusty rose color. I stamped it with Passion and BM314 stamping plate from the 2012 BM plate collection. I’m actually having some problems with these plates and am talking with BM about getting a replacement set. The impressions in my plates seem to be too shallow and I’m having a hard time picking up images. This is one of the good ones of the bunch, and you can see that the stamp quality isn’t great. In person it doesn’t look horrible, but you can really see the imperfections when it’s magnified.

China Glaze Fifth Avenue stamped w PassionChina Glaze Fifth Avenue stamped w PassionChina Glaze Fifth AvenueChina Glaze Fifth Avenue

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October 25, 2012

Sinful Colors – Cinderella Floral Manicure 1

by Andrea • Nail Art, Nail Lacquer Swatches • Tags: , , , ,

I took advantage of the sale going on at Walgreens right now – Sinful Colors polishes for $0.99 each.  I purchased three shades of blue, which are all featured in this manicure.  The light blue is Cinderella, which has a real pretty subtle pink shimmer to it.  I wasn’t able to capture the pink shimmer in the photos unfortunately.  The color on the accent finger is called Kissy and it’s a dark teal with a glittery finish.  And then I stamped the floral pattern using Bundle Monster plate BM323 with Sinful Colors “Gorgeous”.  I love the softness of this.

Soft blue floral manicure with Sinful colorsSoft blue floral manicure with Sinful colorsSoft blue floral manicure with Sinful colors

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October 13, 2012

Bundle Monster 2012 Stamp Kit & Leather Organizer 0

by Andrea • Nail Art • Tags: ,

I received goodies in the mail today!  I just purchased the 2012 Bundle Monster nail stamping plates and the leather plate organizer.  I’ve seen lots of great manicures that use these plates so I’m super excited to finally have these, but I really have to say that the organizer exceeded my expectations.  The quality is really great… it’s heavy and durable.  Check out these pics to see for yourself.  If you’ve been considering purchasing this, I highly recommend it.  I put all of my plates in it today and is so nice to be able to easily look through the designs and keep them  nice and organized.

Bundle Monster Leather Organizer for Nail Stamping PlatesBundle Monster Leather Organizer for Nail Stamping Plates

Bundle Monster 2012 Nail Stamping Plates

 

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