Vine Buffet

I wanted to do something a little lighter today, so I did a nude base of Nina Ultra Pro in "Spun Sugar," and stamped with Wet n Wild in "White Creme." I used the vine design on Pueen plate #55 from the new Stamping Buffet.

I'm totally digging the larger designs! Once again, no two nails are alike, but they all match.

"Buffet" of Hearts and Stars

When I saw the new Pueen "Stamping Buffet" collection, I fell in love! But then it sold out and wasn't available to purchase for a couple weeks. The minute it was back in stock, I ordered mine!

For my first try with the "all over" style of plates, I went with the hearts, stars, and spirals on plate #63. I love how every finger is different, but they all go together.

I used Sephora by OPI in "Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam," and stamped with Sally Hansen InstaDri in "Vigorous Violet." The InstaDri polishes are usually really good for stamping, but I always forget that this particular color is a little more sheer, so it came out a little lighter than I'd like.

Valentine's Mani

After weighing all my heart design options, I decided to go with something simple for V-Day. I put down a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Wined Up," then stamped just a couple fingers with the same polish in "Silver Sweep."

On my ring fingers I used a heart + swirl design from Pueen plate #35. On my thumbs, I used a similar-looking small heart from plate #43. That might have been a bad choice, though. On my left thumb, it's centered and just looks small; on the right, it's off-center which is totally bugging me!

Blue Waves

I've been wanting to try a gradient manicure for a long time, and finally picked up a pack of foam wedge makeup sponges last week. At this point, my nail polish collection is big enough that I have similar colors that will look good together in a gradient. I actually think this may have been a bit too subtle. I used (lightest to darkest): Pure Ice "Bikini," Maybelline Color Show "Turquoise Paradise," and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue-ming Fast." I put down a base coat of the medium color first, but in hindsight I probably should have used the lightest color as a base.

Then I stamped on the chevron design from BM-423 using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blazing Blue." As usual, I had a hard time keeping the stamp lined up straight; weirdly, I got the stamp straighter on my right hand than my left! The stamp makes the gradient even more subtle, but the overall effect is kind of like waves on water.

I'll definitely be trying gradients again!

More Bird Stuff

Wasn't going to stamp tonight, but then I decided to add a little something. Of course, I have a hard time lining up images, so it might have been better to just leave them plain.

This is Sephora by OPI in "Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam" (no clue when this came out, I found it on sale at a Big Lot's recently), stamped with Wet n Wild in "Black Creme." The bird is from BM-401, and the feather (which you have seen many times before) is on BM-419.

Pinned it and Did it: Gray Vines

Here's another Pinterest-inspired mani! I found this one actually while browsing Instagram, and loved it! However, I have some events coming up and didn't want to go quite as dramatic as using black on the light background, so I stamped in gray (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Slick Slate") on a base of Nails Inc. "Porchester Square." The stamp design is the same, from Pueen plate #33.

Lacy Underwear?!

After my snowflake Christmas mani, I thought I'd do another white and nude design. This is Pure Ice "Superstar" stamped on OPI for Sephora "Nonfat Soy Half Caff."

Without flash

With flash

I was originally going to use one of the flower-on-lace patterns from Pueen plate #27, but the images kept coming out kind of smudgy looking, so I ended up using the large rose design on plate #22, which came out a little better. However, when I asked my husband what he thought, he said it looked like lacy underwear!

New Year's Lace

My husband and I are going to a black & white party for New Year's Eve, so I was thinking for a while about what to do. I decided to try this, and if the stamping wasn't happening, I would just do glitter on top of black. But this worked out well!

This is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Black Out" stamped with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Silver Sweep" using the flower/lace pattern from Pueen plate #28.

Happy new year!

Winter Wonderland

Well, it's been a while! For the last couple weeks, I've been so busy with holiday stuff, I've barely had time to sleep, let alone touch up my nails or do a design that wouldn't last more than a few days. So I just did a solid silver and then a solid nude color. But I wanted to do something a little different for Christmas day.

This is Nina Ultra Pro in "Spun Sugar" with stamped designs from BM-416 in Pure Ice "Superstar!" Originally I wanted to do that snowflake/sweater design on both ring fingers, but after two attempts, I still couldn't get it straight on my left hand, so I said, "Ok, forget it," and went for the penguin design on the same plate, instead.

Oh Christmas Tree

Here's one that I planned out and followed through on! The green is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Mint Sprint," and my ring fingers are Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Celeb City," stamped with the pine tree design from Pueen #42.

My band's holiday concerts start this week, so I'm just getting into the spirit..!