Happy Year of the Rat! - Lacquistry, Sally Hansen, Born Pretty

Happy Lunar New Year!

You get my usual Lunar New Year themed mani!

[Festivities!]

[Lacquistry's Amazeballz: Original + Sally Hansen Gilded Lily]

So I started off with this glorious shiny base. It's actually one coat of Lacquistry's Amazeballz: Original, this super shiny champagne gold glitter bomb, and a coat of Sally Hansen's Gilded Lily over it. Gilded Lily is a rich gold microglitter. I love Amazeballz for it's shininess but it's too pale for the mani I was going for (almost silver), so Gilded Lily turns it into a lovely darker gold and keeps it shiny.

[Base: Lacquistry's Amazeballz: Original + Sally Hansen Gilded Lily
Stamping Plates: Born Pretty L026, L025 and L017
Stamping Polish: Born Pretty Dark Amor]

Then I stamped over it with patterns from various stamping plates. I used Born Pretty's stamping plates L026, L025 and L017, and Born Pretty's red stamping polish Dark Amor.

[Base: Lacquistry's Amazeballz: Original + Sally Hansen Gilded Lily
Stamping Plates: Born Pretty L026, L025 and L017
Stamping Polish: Born Pretty Dark Amor]

I think they turned out very festive looking! The index finger above is a result of multiple stamps. I chose lanterns and a paper crane to fill up the nail.

And here's a close-up of a stamp of a cute rat, for the Year of the Rat! :D I added a pattern to the side cause it looked a bit blank, but probably not the best choice haha.

Have a good 2020, everyone!

In The Pale Light - Sally Hansen, Australis, Born Pretty

Hello all! I come with stamping!

[In The Pale Light]

[Born Pretty - Pure World L002]

This mani was done with Born Pretty's stamping plate Pure World - L002. The base is the gradient mani I posted about in this post, using Sally Hansen's Crush on Blue and  Australis' Aqua. The stamping polish is Born Pretty's Throne, a black polish. I really like how the scenery turned out on the ring finger.

[Base: Sally Hansen Crush on Blue, Australis Aqua
Stamping: Born Pretty stamping plate Pure World L002, Born Pretty Throne]

I kind of botched the stamping on this other hand. I didn't scrape off the polish sufficiently, which is why the pattern isn't so discernible for some. :(

Otherwise, I do love the patterns here. The flowers and scenery stamps look really good, and they were easy to stamp.

If you like the plate, you can find it here at Born Pretty. You can get a 10% off any full priced items too!

Placid Waters - Sally Hansen, Australis

Today is just a simple gradient mani that I did freehand!

[Sally Hansen Crush on Blue, Australis Aqua]

The pale blue polish is Sally Hansen's Crush on Blue and the pale teal is Australis' Aqua. They match each other really well to make a gradient. The colours are close enough that you don't need sponging to do the gradient, in my opinion. It makes for a simple and easy to create gradient mani!

Endgame - hēhē, Hit the Bottle, MdU, Sally Hansen, Ulta3, OPI, Savvy

This is a tribute to Avengers: Endgame, the 22nd movie and the climax to the Infinity Wars storyline in MCU. I won't spoil anyone, but I loved the movie! I wore this mani when I went to watch the movie, and I'm so happy that I did this for Endgame.

[Stars & Stripes]

[Red & Gold]

Let me go into more detail with each one now!

[hēhē's Super Hero 001 stamping plate]

[Captain America]

This mani is a tribute to Captain America, all very red, blue and white. The forefinger and ring finger are stamped using hēhē's Super Hero 001 stamping plate. I stamp all of them onto a silicone stamping mat and then...well, I transfer onto my nails, but as you can see, I embarrassingly applied the 'A' incorrectly on my forefinger. It's flipped. /o\ Ah well... For the ring finger, I stamped the stars and stripe twice, and then colour in the red stars.

The shield is not stamped, it's hand drawn. The reason is because the way the stamping plate has the rings and stars, it's not possible to colour them in correctly based on Cap's actual shield. It bothered me the last time I used the Super Hero 001 plate, so I decided to hand draw it this time round. Honestly? REGRET. SO MUCH WORK. Hahaha... it was way too hard getting it kind of circular, next time, I'm just stamping it even if it's incorrect. On my pinkie finger, it's a hand drawn red, silver and blue stripes.

For the base nail polish colours, I used Sally Hansen Right Said Red + Ulta3 English Rose to get that red colour, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue for the blues, and OPI Unfrost My Heart for the silver that I hand drawn. For the forefinger and ring finger, I stamped using Hit the Bottle Chromeo, a chrome silver stamping polish.

[hēhē's Super Hero 002 stamping plate]

[Iron Man]

And now this tribute is to Iron Man, all red and gold. All of it is stamped from hēhē's Super Hero 002 stamping plate. Hey, I got the 'A' correct this time, haha!

The base nail polishes are Sally Hansen Right Said Red + Ulta3 English Rose to get that shade of red, and Savvy's Ginger Ale which is a gold glitter polish. For the stamping polish, I used Hit the Bottle Chromeo, a chrome silver stamping polish for the 'A', MdU Reddish which is a red stamping polish for the middle finger, Hit the Bottle's Spun Gold for the chrome gold on the ring finger, and Hit the Bottle's A Bolt from the Blue for the chrome blue of the arc reactor.  I just really love the Iron Man helmet on the middle finger, very iconic.

Anyway, I got many comments on this in person, which was kind of nice because I really wanted something to commemorate this movie. :)

Royal Cruise - Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

I'm a heathen, so I'll admit it... I really like Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue... :D

[Sally Hansen Pacific Blue]

I know there were many upset fans when Sally Hansen replaced their original Pacific Blue formula with something different, and many people didn't like the new colour they got. But I kind of love this jelly-ish, royal blue shade with the slightest shimmer. It's my go-to royal blue colour and I feel no shame about this!

So I've been away for a few weeks due to moving shenanigans. Hopefully we'll be back to regular schedule after this!

Lunar New Year - Orly's Heartbreaker, Hit the Bottle's Spun Gold, Sally Hansen's Gilded Lily, MdU's Reddish

Happy Chinese New Year!!

[Lunar New Year!]

I have been very, very busy, but I did manage to whip out a Chinese New Year themed mani.

[Born Pretty's stamping plate BP-65]

The pattern stamped here is from Born Pretty's BP-65 stamping plate, as shown above. For the accent nail on the ring finger, I used Orly's Heartbreaker, a red nail polish with gold shimmer, as the base polish. I then stamped over that with Hit the Bottle's Spun Gold, a pale gold chrome polish. For the rest of the nails, I used Sally Hansen's Gilded Lily as the base, giving the base a sparkly gold glitter. Then I stamped over the lot with MdU's Reddish, a creme red stamping polish.

[On the accent nail: Base is Orly's Heartbreaker, stamping is Hit the Bottle's Spun Gold
The rest of the nails: Base is Sally Hansen's Gilded Lily, stamping is MdU's Reddish

For the last picture, you can see that I tried a different pattern for the thumb, but then changed my mind and went with what I had for the rest of the nails. I love how the whole thing turned out. It has a nice festive feel and has lasted for a week so far, without issues.

Bells on bobtails ring... - Ulta3 Jelly, Sally Hansen Right Said Red, Born Pretty 3D stickers

It's a little bit early but I figure everyone is already in a festive mood, so have some early themed nail polishes! Seasons greetings and happy celebrations to everyone! <3

[Ho ho ho...]

The green nail polish is Ulta3's Jelly, a very bright green creme polish. The red base on the accent nail is Sally Hansen's Right Said Red, a red creme polish. I used these 3D nail stickers which I reviewed here to add some elegance to the Christmas colours. Looked fancy, in my humble opinion!

[Green base: Ulta3 Jelly
Red base: Sally Hansen Right Said Red
Born Pretty's 3D nail stickers]

I inverted the base colours on my other hand and used slightly different stickers.

[Green base: Ulta3 Jelly
Red base: Sally Hansen Right Said Red
Born Pretty's 3D nail stickers]

While I think it looks nice as well, I'll have to admit that the wider stickers (like the arrow-like ones directly above) peeled really, really quickly. They just didn't want to stay on my rather curved nail.

Enjoy your end of year festivities! <3

Summer Days - Sally Hansen Rhythm & Blue

[Summer Days]

This is Sally Hansen's Rhythm & Blue from their Miracle Gel line. It's a sky blue creme nail polish.

[Sally Hansen Rhythm & Blue]

I probably like this nail polish for not quite the right reasons. So, first, the Miracle Gel line is meant to produce a gel-like nail polish, which means longer-lasting but without the fuss of gel nail polishes. No lamps to cure it and no soaking to remove.

However, I didn't exactly follow the steps I'm supposed to take. I had already heard of the big downside of this nail polish, which is that it takes a rather long time to dry. I don't have patience for long drying nail polishes so I whacked on a coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. That worked in drying it right quick, but it might have messed up the formula. That might be why I didn't find that it lasted longer than any other regular nail polish.

That said, Rhythm & Blue applied smoothly, and I love the sky blue colour. It also seems extra glossy after applying Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat compared to more regular nail polishes.

Dark Rose - Sally Hansen New Flame, Born Pretty BPL-024, Hit the Bottle As Black As Night

I am pleased as punch with this mani - it's not groundbreaking in any way at all, but there's a reason some combinations are just classic!

[Bloom Beautiful]

In this case, red, black and roses! Mmm hmmm~! This could be anything from a Valentine's mani to a Halloween one, potentially even Christmas??

[Bottle to nail: Sally Hansen New Flame (2 coats)]

It was also very interesting because I had such a bright base shade, Sally Hansen New Flame, which is a glossy warm tomato red.

[Base: Sally Hansen New Flame (2 coats); Plate: Born Pretty BPL-024;
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night]

However, just adding the black stamping over the top with the roses from Born Pretty stamping plate BPL-024 and Hit the Bottle As Black As Night, toned the warmth right down.

[Base: Sally Hansen New Flame (2 coats); Plate: Born Pretty BPL-024;
Stamping: Hit the Bottle As Black As Night]

I think if I had used a classic neutral red, the colour contrast wouldn't have looked as striking as this combination looks. Such a happy discovery, and something I'll keep in mind for the future, especially with stamps that use both positive and negative stamping in the one!

Blazing Hot - Sally Hansen New Flame

This shade is super hot! Another awesome gift from Jme~

[Bottle to nail: Sally Hansen New Flame (2 coats)]

This polish from the Sally Hansen Salon Manicure range certainly lives up to it's name - New Flame. It's a bright glossy tomato red jelly creme that REALLY stands out!

[2 coats: Sally Hansen New Flame]

I always love having shades like these in my collection, as well as wearing them. They are so good for no fuss manis. Like this one, I needed something quick and fuss-free to look nice and polished so this one ticked all the boxes. 

[2 coats: Sally Hansen New Flame]

This is two coats of glossy goodness, then an extra layer of topcoat for maximum shine.

[2 coats: Sally Hansen New Flame]

My nails are a bit longer than usual, and this formula is slightly on the jelly side, so in certain lights, there is visible nail line with two coats as I have here. But it's not particularly noticeable, and even so, I feel it has quite a nice translucent finish because of it!

Very happy with this one, it is definitely B-RRR-IGHT though! A great shade for summer~

Confetti - Dance Legend Step LE-07, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

It's been awhile since I've gone full glitter so I had a go again.

[Glitter Party!]

This is Step LE-07 from Dance Legend, which is a bottle full of glitter, painted against a base coat of Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue, which is a beautiful royal blue creme.

[Top coat: Dance Legend's Step LE-07
Base coat: Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue]

Step LE-07 is a mix of textured silver holo hex glitter, and smaller pink and blue hex glitter. I have to say, the textured silver holo hex glitter is a little weird and distracting among the explosion of glitter. Step LE-07 is packed to the rafters with glitter, so you don't have to go fishing for glitter at all. Just one or two coats to get the above effect.