Sunday 21th Challenge in AIS.

The theme for today's challenge in AIS was something spooky & scary or in other words Halloween.
I used Wet N Wild Black Creme as base color, then I decided to use one of my Halloween polishes I picked up a couple of weeks ago Fantasy makers (makers of WnW) called Once Upon A time. Very sheer black with red glitters in it. But I picked out the polish because of the bottle, it's shaped like a tomb stone.
It's pretty, but really hard to get the red glitter to show on pictures and video.
Yes, I have a few more plates now. But was hard to figure out what plate to use for this challenge. For some reason I am very picky these days. Guess that's why I haven't done any Halloween nails until now.
But finally I decided to use Dashica's Dash plate 17 (one of the plates from the set) and Konad Special polish in White.

My youtube totorial of this look.

Metallic Madness.

Sunday 7th October challenge in AIS was Metallic Madness. Using metallic polishes as base color or stamping color. My plans for getting the video done and blog post done yesterday was ruined. But better late than never.... Right?

I used Wet N Wild Wet Cement as base color, Maybelline's Bold Gold as stamping polish and pulled out my Dashica Big SdP U plate. I don't know why, but when fall and winter comes I always use brown shades a lot on my nails. Any of you do the same???  I tried to limit my stamping on the video, so did 2 nails before I hit the record button. Think it helped since this video is way shorter than my other stamping videos.
Anyways, I hope you like it.

Have a great week.

French Tip Challenge.

The challenge this week in AIS was French manicure. I have to admit I haven't used my Konad French tip plates that much,  just a couple of times. Why? It's really hard to get them perfectly lined up. But I was willing to wipe off the dust off my French tip plates. Needless to say it didn't go as well as I had hoped, I kept messing up my manicure. After 5 tries I was ready to give up but was going to try one more time before throwing in the towel..
I used Essie Sugar Daddy and WnW Black Creme for the French tip, then I used Maybelinne Bold Gold as stamping polish with Dashica Big SdP T. Also used red rhinestones in the design.

Wasn't too happy with this manicure, so it only lasted a couple of hours.

I found this buffer at Big Lots yesterday, just had to get it. The owls, so cute.

So time for bed, just have to put on a thick layer of Mango Mend. My cuticles are so unhappy tonight.... So dry... Have a good week.

Striping Tape & Stamping.

Today I spent almost 2 hours testing every image on each Bundle Monster 2012 set. So I needed some nail therapy tonight. LOL
So I picked OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender ( I know I have used this a bit, it's just so pretty and I am crazy about purples and lavenders these days)
Then I grabbed one of the striping tapes I got when I ordered from Dashica earlier this year.
But just the tapes wasn't enough, so I grabbed my Dashica XXL SdP 1 and WnW Black Creme and did some stamping too.
Right now I really like this one, so maybe it can last more than 1-2 days....

On other note, tomorrow is picture day at my son's school so he got a hair cut from daddy. Now I have to find something nice for him to wear. And crossing my fingers that we'll get some nice pictures that can be gifts for Christmas this year.

Have a good night.

Elmer's glue as base coat for glitter?

Are you like me who love glitter nail polish? But hate to wear them because of removing glitter polishes is a pain in the butt?? There is one method that works pretty well, cotton balls soaked in polish remover on your nails and then wrapping your nails with aluminum foil for 5 minutes.
A little while ago bloggers and nail guru's on youtube started to make posts about a new method that works better.

After hearing people rave about this technique on youtube, facebook nail groups and blogs I had to try it out my self. I am testing this with different type of glitter polishes. So I went to the dollar store and got a bottle of Elmer's School glue (yes, that stuff) and put some in an empty mini polish bottle. Then I applied 1 st coat of glue on my bare nails (no base coat) and let it dry before adding a 2 nd coat. 

Glue in a mini polish bottle. I got mine from:

http://www.tkbtrading.com/item.php?item_id=1308&category_id=80

The polishes I used L to R:  Color Club Magic Attraction, WnW Flossy Flossy & Rock N' Roll (both from Fergie collection), Color Club It's A Hit & China Glaze I Herd That. On the 3 middle fingers I used WnW Black Creme as base color over the glue.

Here they are on my nails.

Magic Attraction, Flossy Flossy, Rock N' Roll, It's A Hit & I Herd That.

So after a few hours it was time to try and remove the glitter polishes. I used a tooth pick and cuticle pusher. Did it work?? Take a look at these pictures down below.

Peels off quite easy.

And not a problem on the ones that had the base color and chunky and bigger glitters.

My naked nails and the peeled off glitter polishes.

It worked!!

I would say this works really well, way easier than the foil method or the nail tip remover soak gadgets. And you don't have to wait 5 minutes to remove the polish. I stopped in between to snap some pictures but it was  like 3 minutes to remove. So easy.... I will start to wear glitter polishes more often.

If you can't find Elmer's glue in your country, try similar non toxic & washable school glues. I hope this was helpful, and hopefully you will start wearing glitter polishes more too.

Good luck, and please let me know in posts below how this worked for you.

What a week...

This week has been so stressful trying to stay calm and exited for my 6 year old for his first day of school. Then all the meetings with teachers, assistant principal and so on. And dealing with all the mood swings he's had since then, from happy to exited, to sad and scared. And all of that with a 20 month old who is glued to mommy or wants to run around like crazy.

TGIF so I decided to get some glam on my nails with some stunning glitters and stamping. So I did a black French tip with WnW Black Creme and Essie's Sugar Daddy, then applied a coat of China Glaze Techno over the black tips. Then I pulled out my Dashica SdP 40 with stars and Mickey Muse image on it, and decided to use those two images. I used WnW Black Creme to stamp with. And sealed it all with Poshe Fast drying topcoat.

Techno is stunning over black polish, just love it.

The youtube tutorial for this mani

Have a great weekend.!!

12 August Sunday Stamping Challenge with a......

The theme this Sunday's challenge in AIS was 2 images on the same hand or nail. I decided to use some of the new polishes I just got at a local nail supply store.
I did French tip on all but the ring finger, the colors I used Orly Deja Vu and OPI Suzi  Says Feng Shui, and for the stamping polishes I used Wet N Wild Black Creme and China Glaze Deviantly Daring. I picked 3 plates Bundle Monster 209 and Dashica SdP 32 and 38.

Yes, it's my first nail stamping tutorial video. Still need some more practice in shooting, lighting and editing. But I had fun making it.

On to something else, my son is starting school so we had to go to Walmart and pick up some school outfits, backpack and a pencil holder. He got to pick his own backpack, and he is SO proud. He walks around with  it and he has asked a few times if he's going to school today. He's not too happy when his little sister wants to borrow his backpack, looks like we have to get one for her too.

Have a great week. 

The 2012 Bundle Monster set, MINE!!! And a mini haul.

On Friday 8/3 I ordered my 2012 BM set, I got the normal confirmation mail that it would take 4-7 business days. So here I was hoping I would get it on my birthday. But yesterday 8/6 I went out to check the mail and   my jaw dropped and my heart started racing. Inside the mailbox was the envelope from BM. I ran back inside and opened it right away, and I know I was giggling like crazy. Was so exited that I poured Dr Pepper  in little Bunny's sippy cup and apple juice in my glass..... Lucky I saw what I had done before I handed it to her..... I know. Crazy nail lady. I removed them from the little box they came in and my first thought was: Why did they make the plates smaller? So I went to my image plates and pulled out the other BM set I have and Konad plates. And of course I saw they were the same size, guess that's what you get for being hooked on Dashica plates for so long. You forget how small your round plates are....

So I knew I was almost out of polish remover so I had to go to Rite Aid, so I picked up 3 polishes too.
I got a Sinful Colors and Wet N Wild in white and black to use for swatches. Then I got the Rite Aid brand of 100% Pure Acetone nail polish remover, and it doesn't dry out as much as other brands I have tried. I also picked up an other color of Wet N Wild Megalast polishes. Then of course you can never have enough buffer blocks.

SC Snow Me White, WW Through The Grapewine, Black Creme, BM set, acetone & buffer.

I will be trying out one or two plates of the new set, I just have to decide what images I want to try first.

Guess I'll sleep on it. Almost 2 am here, and I need sleep.

Have a good week!!!

/hugs

Silje

August 5 Challenge.

The theme for this Sunday's challenge using gold, silver or bronze.

But am I one of those who has the Olympic games on the TV 24/7? No, not a big sports fan. But in secret I cheer on Norway, USA, GB and S-Korea.
So I decided to do a black matte French tip with Silver stamps.
I used Wet N Wid Ebony Hates Chris, then a matte topcoat. And stamped with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and Konad special polish in Black and Dashica XXL Big SdP 1 and SdP 12.

Left hand. My index finger nail hasn't been the same since a horse I was looking after when I was in my early teens kicked the stable door on it. So I always have to do French tip on that in a V shape.

On Friday I ordered the 2012 Bundle Monster set, I hope I get it soon. Like on my birthday mebbe.

I know I'm late getting it, but better late than never. I am working on a new project, and hoping to get the hang of it soon. Will be a surprise and I hope it won't be too long before I can announce what it is....

Hope you all have a great week.

Lawyer meeting nails.

Today we have a meeting with a lawyer, so I wanted to do a nice mani.
No, I haven't done anything bad, I promise.
So I used Wet N Wild On A Trip as base color, and used a matte topcoat.  Must say I like it even more now as a matte. It's stunning!!! Love the way matte topcoats works on some colors.
Also On A Trip is amazing for a drugstore polish. I did a test having it on for 4 days, with a cheap drugstore topcoat the WW that is under 1 $. So I did massive housework this weekend, and I didn't use rubber gloves when I did the dishes. No chipping for like 4 days. Love it when a drugstore polish beats some high end polishes in the chipping battle.

But anyways back to the topic...... I decided to use Dashica SdP 37 and stamped with Pure Ice Outrageous. And if you haven't tried to stamp with any of the foiled polishes from Pure Ice, you're missing out. I love stamping with them. I have Silver Mercedes, Pussycat, First Time & Outrageous. They are just perfect stamping polishes.

Think it's gonna add some color to my grey dress and black heels.

Have an amazing day!!

Nails and bath time.

I have been doing stamping for a few years now, but haven't done a lot of the more than 1 colored images. And by the looks of this one I need to do some more so I can get the hang of it. I used on of my new summer polishes as base color, and 1 coat of SF topcoat and stamped with Konad Special polish in black and white and used my Dashica plate XXL Big SdP 1 and SdP 38. It's so humid in this apt these days so  on a few nails the white smudged, and I didn't use too much polish. I never cover more than half of the image and use a thin layer of polish. Never really had any need to cover the whole image with polish, my way worked. But anyways I think I want to redo this one and swap the stamping polishes out with the foiled ones from Pure Ice. Because of the smudging on some of the nails, I'm not too happy about this one.

So  after my nails was done and dry and an other evening trip to the park, it was time for bath time before bed. And they played nicely and shared all the toys. Before it was a struggle to get Daniel to take a bath, but now as soon as I run the water for Grace he comes running. The small tricks we parents know to get our way, what would we all do without them  LOL.

Any of you have a guilty pleasure of watching reality TV?  Mine right now are The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Orange County, I can't help it the joy of ladies with loads of money still can act like white trash. And of course Hell's Kitchen, I wouldn't go there to eat until like the end of the season. That Beef Wellington  when it's cooked the right way looks to die for. 

Today's dinner here will be meatloaf with mashed potatoes all made from scratch and some BBQ on the side. Request from hubby. I wish it wasn't so dam hot here during the day, so we could go out and play and take walks. But Daniel and me don't do well in heat, we get really bad heat strokes his can make him throw up. I can deal with around 75 -80 degrees, any higher than that  the problems starts kicking in.

Well, anyways time to make lunch here so I better start before I get cranky kids. Have a good week.

A so and so mani.

After a few days with sick kids with bad cough, cold and stomach flu (yeah, we got all of it at once). It hit husband and me, he got the cough and cold I got the stomach flu. So we were all feeling very under the weather for a few days. I was bummed I missed Sunday's challenge because I was feeling like crap. I had the plates, polishes all lined up for the Queen's Day mani. And looking at the entries from the ladies in AIS it made me sad that I wasn't well enough to sit down and do my nails.  Still not over the dam bug yet, but I'm feeling better than I was 2 days ago. Well, anyways I just did my nails tonight. Not too happy with this one, first the matte topcoat on base color failed big time. Not happy with the matte topcoat from Hard Candy, it hardly mattes out the base color. Second my hands were shaking like crazy when I was doing the stamping. Guess that what happens when you haven't been eating much due to sickness. But decided to post picture of the mani anyways. I will be doing an other mani in a day or two, and it will be my entry to the Bundle Monster contest. Still trying to figure out colors and plates to use..... So until next time, happy stamping.

Ebony Hates Chris, Hard Candy Matte topcoat (fail), SiIlver Mercedes & Dashica SdP 32

Inspired By Music Stamping Challenge.

This week's Sunday stamping challenge in Adventures in Stamping was Inspired by music. This could be anything favorite within music: song lyrics, band, music style, song title, music video........ I thought this one was going to be easy, and I was thinking lyrics at first. LOL, yeah right, and I couldn't come up with anything on music that didn't have like notes, piano keys and so on. And then it hit me, a music video. Then the trick was to find the music video, but I decided to go with my favorite band of all times Duran Duran. And what are they known for??? Besides their music that is..... They always have models in their videos. The latest video that I can't get enough of is filled with them. So my entry for this weeks challenge is inspired from their music video Girl Panic.

For my nails I used my Ebony Hates Chris with SF and Silver Mercedes as base colors. Then I stamped with Konad Special Black, Silver Mercedes and Outrageous. The image plates I used was Konad M71, Bundle Monster 207, Dashica XXL Big 1 & Dashica SdP 40.

I am sorry about the pictures, I had a hard time finding a good angle and good lights without messing up the foil colors or the holo effect in the SF in Ebony Hates Chris. I deleted 53 pictures of this mani on my camera....

Happy Stamping.

Hard week.

I must say this week has been hard, I'm trying to catch up on sleep after almost 3 weeks with just a few hours each night/day. It doesn't make it any easier that I have been following the big trial that started this week back in Norway.  On July 22 last year Anders  Behring Breivik killed 77 people in cold blood. 8 he killed with a car bomb and shortly after that he shot and killed 69 at close range, most of them young teenagers who was gathered on an island for 5 days for a summer camp held by the liberal party each year. This week his trial started, and I have followed it each day live from one of the Norwegian TV channels on my laptop. And it hasn't been easy since there is 8 hours difference between Norway and Utah. I know our legal system is way different from e. g. USA, and it seems strange for many Americans. We do not have the death penalty and life in prison is 21 years. And I have had a few questions if I in this case wish Norway had the death penalty and a longer life sentence. Not to mention our prisons does not look anything like the American prisons. But anyways it's been hard reading what he has said in the courtroom, with no feelings on how he could kill these people in cold blood. And his plans and preparation on his so called Knights Templar mission.......... I can't even imagine how hard it is for the victims and their families to sit in the courtroom and hear him speak, or do interviews with news media from around the world. My thoughts are with all of them.

I haven't really done my nails much these last days, and I'm still sulking that my nail broke and I had to cut my nails short again. But I did a mani today, a special one to support Autism Awareness. I didn't have any images with puzzle pieces so I decided to do some blocks instead. I used WnW Blue Moon as base color and Pure Ices Pussy Cat to stamp with and Dashica SdP 33.

Take care!!

Sunday....... Blargh.

This Sunday started well enough with happy smiling kids, and a nice home made brunch. Until I was going to get the slow cooker ready and dropped the ceramic pot for it and it broke in 100 pieces. So after a few non lady like words and curses and massive clean up I had to figure out an other way to do dinner today. I was lucky that my slow cooker isn't one of those that cost an arm and a leg. But it ruined the happy spirit I had for today,hoping I get a few hugs and kisses from the kids to cheer me up again.

Then last night I was doing my Sunday challenge, so had to be a no stamping nail look. Since it's April 1 st. So I decided to try out the water decals I got from Shirley as a gift from my order a few months ago. And after watching some youtube videos on how to apply water decals. I found out that it looks way easier on youtube than it is in real life. Messed up a couple of my nails so had to cover them up with polish.... So used Ebony Hates Chris with SF in it. I think I need to get more water decals and practice a bit more.

Have a great week.

March 25 2012 Challenge Black & White.

This week's Sunday challenge in the Facebook group Adventures In Stamping was black and white.

I decided to add some SpectraFlair to Wet N Wild's Ebony Hates Chris, and use that as my base color and stamp with Konad Special polish in Black and White, and my current favorite image plate brand Dashica XXL Big SdP 1, SdP 32, 35 and 47.

Right hand: SdP 47 for the background SdP 35 Hello Kitty

 Left Hand: SdP 32 starry background and XXL Big SdP1 and Playboy bunny.

Ebony Hates Chris that I mixed a pinch of SpectraFlair.

2 Dashica mani

So here are the 3 mani's I have had on my nails since Friday.

I had some fun with SpectraFlair and my new Dashica stamping plates, I just love using these. I am afraid I am going to run out of SpactraFlair, because I can't stop using it. Needless to say I am a holo junkie, I can't help it. So far the images I have picked from my Dashica plates have all been really great, the image gets picked up on my stamper and goes really clear on my nail. I haven't had many failed images, like I do with Konad or Bundle Monster. Next time I will try one of those other images with very fine lines and details again.

China Glace Dance Baby, top coat w/SpectraFlair, Dashica XXL Big SdP 1

& stmaping Essie Miami Nice

China Glace Dance Baby, top coat w/SpectraFlair, XXL Big Dashica SdP 1

& stamping Essie Miami Nice

Wet N Wild  Caught Red Handed, top coat w/ SpectraFlair,  XXL Big Dashica SdP 1

& Konad special Black 

Have a great week, people!

For my two girls.

So I decided to do a mani in honor of my daughters. And I guess you can't get more girly with pink, glitter and Hello Kitty. I started off with my base coat, then OPI Princess rule, Wet'n Wild 345G, my Out The door top coat, Konad special polish in white, M71, Konad IM 78 & Konad top coat.
I only did Hello Kitty on my left hand and used IM 78 on the right hand.
And I'm sorry the photos didn't come out as good as I wanted, I so need a new camera. But here are the stuff I used and the final look.

Princess Rule, 345G,OTD, White, Konad top coat

The famous Hello Kitty plate. M71

Konad IM78

My right hand with IM 78

Lefty with Hello Kitty.