Zoya Carter with Moyou London stamping plate

I just Ordered my first Zoya polish with their recent promo deal.  I wasn’t sure I would like the brush when I opened the bottles. But I was pleasantly surprised! The round brush fanned out just enough to make the application great.

Up First is a Zoya Pixie Dust in Carter. A beautiful glitter texture Purple. This is two coats, which I was surprised by how much the second coat covered. The first coat left me thinking it would be at least 3, but i was wrong.  Pixie Dust are meant to be matte colors. But when I added the black stamped image it wasn’t popping, so I went ahead and added one coat of SV top coat.
Sorry, I was working late at night  and forgot to take photos of just the base color.

The Stamping Plate I used is a Moyou London From their PRO Collection. It’s PRO Collection 05 XL Plate. From looking at their website it appears they are no longer are selling this plate at this time.  Some of the images are on another plate that’s not an XL plate.  I used the top right image on this mani with an accent on my ring finger which I used the bottom left image. I used Pure Ice Black out as my stamping polish.

I know it’s been awhile since my last post. I’m Expecting Baby #2 and the first 16 weeks kicked my butt. So I had Naked nails for a long time.  I’m happy to be back with pretty nails!

Saran Wrap Base Mani

Here is one of my favorite Mani’s I have done so far.  This Photo was taken when we were on the boat, it was beautiful in the sunlight!

The Base is done using plastic wrap to get the marbled look. I uses China Glaze Pool Boy Toy as the base. Then when it was Completely dry i used OPI Vampsterdam and applied a 1 coat and then sponged it off with the plastic wrap.

Once it dried I applied a coat of SV top coat. I always top coat between mani and stamping. If I happen to mess up I have a better chance of saving the mani this way.

I stamped using Cheeky’s Jumbo Tropical Holiday Plate and Pure Ice Sliver Star polish.  For $2 a bottle it is a great sliver to stamp with.

Lacquerhead Polish Space Cadet 2.0

I just got my first Lacquerhead Polish in the mail this week. First one up is Space Cadet 2.0.

It’s a Deep Purple Jelly with different  sized glitters in it. This is my first polish with the Large round glitters and I have to say I don’t really like  that i can feel and seen flat spots from them even after two coats of seche vite Top coat.  This mani is 3 layers over one layer of white to help achieve the color.  I did a simple Butterfly stamp using Plate Pueen  46 using Color Club Cloud Nine Holo polish.

  

Natural Nail Base and Top Coats

Let’s talk about the foundation of  a mani….The Base and top coats.

I was using the basic OPI Natural nail base coat and Top coat, also wiping my nails with pure acetone before the base coat.  My mani’s were barely lasting a day IF that on my natural nails. With a 2 year old to take up most of my time, I don’t have the time to do my nails daily…

So I went on a search for a GOOD base and top coat. I landed on Seche Vite top coat first and kept using my OPI base coat.  I could tell a major difference in the top coat, BUT the base coat needed to go!   I asked around and with a little Google help. I decided to try out CND Sticky Base Coat and added in a nail primer OPI Chip Skip. (I Can’t link to OPI’s Site)  Now My mani’s are lasting 3-4 days before they chip! Now I don’t know which product or if it’s the combination of the 3 that helped.

While on this search I found that the lack of moisture in the nails can also affect the chipping and make your nails peel. I started using CND Solar Oil  and have noticed a big difference in my nail tips not pealing. This oil also smells amazing!

Leaving your hands in water is a nightmare for a mani! So I picked up  some cute pink gloves with hearts on the top from wal-mart for under $3. I wear them when I wash the dishes, that is when I can’t talk my husband into doing them for me!