Stamping Sunday - Someone Else Picks the Stamp

Welcome to another episode of Sunday Stamping!  Today's theme was to let someone else in our lives pick the stamp for us.  My husband was happy to help, and he spent several minutes poring over some of my new plates to find an appropriate image.

I had started with a mani of Enchanted holos - Across the Universe on my index, middle, and pinky fingers, and Octopus' Garden on my thumb and ring finger.  In RL they look very different, but my camera likes to portray purples as blues, so the eggplant base of OG looks like a slightly darker version of ATU.  Interestingly enough, you can see some purple in the holo, so why I can have *that* purple, and not the violet or eggplant purple, I don't know.

 
My loving, romantic husband (are you reading this, honey?) picked a sweet rose stamp that he said reminded him of my tattoo, and roses remind him of me.  Unfortunately, I could not get that stamp to work for love or money, so I scrapped the whole mani and put on Maybelline Color Show in Avante Green.

Hubby might have been influenced by the previous mani of Octopus' Garden when he chose this totes adorbz octopus stamp for me.  I tried stamping with a few different colors, but the one that worked the best was a deep dark blue from Orly called Star of Bombay.

Have you ever tried letting someone else pick your mani color or stamp for you?  Did they surprise you with their choices?  I know I was!

Beauty Blog Coalition Roundup (9/22)

• Polarbelle finds a new favorite with Revlon Kissable Lip Balm Stain in the perfect wine color called Crush.
• Is it green? Is it gray? What is is this color?! Lawless Lacquer has a hard time describing this unique and pretty polish from Takko Lacquer.
• Enter to win the entire Karite Special Hair Care line from Stephanie Louise- All Things Beautiful!
• Mimi's Mani's shows another neutral beauty from Zoya.
• Retrodiva's Beauty goes backstage at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week with TIGI who created the hair for Nicholas K's Spring/Summer 2013 show.
• Fancy topcoats are the latest nail craze! Nidia of Lit From Within reviews the Facets collection from Ninja Polish - three beautiful topcoats over 4 different undies.
• Cosmetically Challenged is all about peace love and happiness and she reviews the new Sation NailStock Collection.
• After an almost two week trial with Armani's new Maestro makeup, the Beauty Professor weighs in on her experience.
• If you want a glamorous fall look, be sure to check out The Dark Side of Beauty's Autumn Glam tutorial featuring Glamour Doll Eyes cosmetics!
• From makeup to skincare to haircare, Christina from Curls N Pearls shares 13 must-try beauty products for fall.
• The Blonds created a "psycho beach party" for their Spring 2013 theme. Advicesisters.net explores the show and backstage beauty from Creative Nail Design, MAC Cosmetics, and Morocconoil.
• Hair guru, Guido -- is responsible for many of the elite hair trends seen during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week!
• Come see the 4 Target exclusive Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 hour eyeshadows swatched and reviewed by Polarbelle.
• The Stepford Witch got her hand's on the Sugarpill Limited Edition Pressed Eyeshadow in @#$%!. Check out her blog for a quick review, photos and swatches!
• Mama Mia! Cosmetics Aficionado is giving away a Clarisonic Mia!
• BeautyTidbits shares the skinny on the new Jane Iredale Glow Time Full Coverage Mineral BB Cream SPF 25.
• Sheila from Painted Ladies test drives and falls in love with Future Derm Time-Release Retinol 0.5.
• The Lacquered Lady is giving away a set of Jessica Custom Color nail polishes. Be sure to enter for your chance to win!
• BeautyJudy shares her Unapologetically Strong Degree Women story...what's yours? You could win $5,000 towards meeting your fitness/personal/career goal!
• Sarah from Scottish Beauty Blog finds out what lies beneath. Her skin that is with the Elemis Skin Lab. The results might look like a petri dish but it's all good. Well, pretty much.
• Midnight Manicures shows you the do's and don't when it comes to Essie's no place like chrome polish.
• Find out the correct way to use some of Mally Beauty's products at Beauty Info Zone. Lisa learned the hard way and wants to save you from her grief.
• Phyrra tells you 'how to shop for wigs online' just in time for Halloween!

IC Awareness

Jenna Froggy of I'm Still Thinking has mobilized many beauty bloggers to create manicures in honor of September being Interstitial Cystitis Awareness Month.  IC is a painful condition that she likens to having a UTI 24/7, and is relatively unknown and often misdiagnosed.

She's hosting a nail art contest with the theme being the color and symbol of IC - teal, and daisies.  This is my entry:

And here's a little bit about how I did it.  I started with SOPI Who Let the Dorks Out? From the Glee collection.  Shiny teal!  Like every SOPI I've ever tried, the formula was great.  This is two coats.

I then did a gradient with Jessica Frost At All Cost, a dark teal.  I painted on the tips, and then used a cosmetic sponge to blend it some, and then covered it all with topcoat to help everything come together

I tried to copy a ribbon graphic from online - first painting it in white and then with Julep Daphne and the Jessica Frost At All Cost.  The daisies are painted in Sally Hansen White Tip and LA Splash Golden Seahorse, and the centers of the daisies are Zoya Pippa.

 A little more topcoat, and voila'.  My homage to IC Awareness. 

 I hope this contest brings a lot of visibility to this condition! 

Fall Zoyas, Finally!

I can't help it, I'm over neons.  I was waiting anxiously for the Fall Zoya colors to have a sale so I could get some, and they didn't disappoint!

I couldn't wait to try Evvie, a grey/green creme with a perfect, shiny formula.  This color is what Fall 2012 is all about.

I couldn't bear to cover it up, so I just made one accent nail with Sassy Lacquer Utopia, a clear base with micro glitters in predominantly gold and turquoise colors. I always seem to gravitate towards the microglitters.  I love that they all mesh together.

I also picked up a bottle of Natty, a slate blue-grey creme.  Love.  I'm a sucker for any color paired with grey, I think.  

This one, I lightened up with an ice blue/aqua glitter combo from Daring Digits called Down By the Sea.

I was trying to create a dotted rhinestone effect, but, well... I think it looks more like large buttons.  You can't unsee it now, can you?

While you can find Zoya at Ulta, I really recommend getting an account on their website.  They have a Share the Love program which offers discounts based on accrued points, and they often have great sales where you can get anything from free shipping to half-off polishes. 

Are you a fan of the new Fall Zoya collections?

Alter Ego

I recently tried my first Alter Ego polishes, and I will say that they aren't like any other Indie polishes I've tried so far.

I usually layer my glitters, but I really wanted to see what Goldpanner looked like on its own. 

With my stained nails, this obviously wasn't the smartest decision.  I should have used a nude polish, or maybe a sheer white to really make the gold pop.  Still, it's a delicate glitter with micro gold holos, and is pretty.

What really makes Alter Ego polishes unique, however, is the base.  It's not a regular suspension base - it feels... waxy.  It has a matte feel to it, and it's made differently, as well, as the instructions warn you not to use polish thinner if you want to thin the polish, but to use alcohol instead.

For the next polish, I did layer it over a polish I've had for a while, but haven't tried.  Maybe I was saving it for a special occasion.  A-England Order of the Garter is the only polish in the Legend collection that wasn't a holo, but it doesn't need to be.  It has a beautiful cobalt blue base with a aqua shimmer.

I paired it with Alter Ego Olympic Contender.  I love the colors together, but look how the waxy base dulls the shine and shimmer of Order of the Garter.  I don't think it's a true matte, though - maybe it's more like what the 'soft touch' finishes are like?

I had to see what it looked like with a regular topcoat.  It changes the look a lot!

Something for every mood, I guess!  Do you like the waxy look or the shiny look?

A piCture pOlish says a thousand words

I'll be honest - I've seen Picture Polish around for a while, but I wasn't tempted to buy any of their polishes.. until these:

Demeter and Kryptonite are part of the blogger series of polishes that Picture Polish made in conjunction with beauty bloggers.  Demeter is a stunning brown scattered holo, and Kryponite is a deep green scattered holo.

I made some reverse stripes in the polish, putting green over brown or brown over the green.  It didn't matter which was on top, both colors shone true, deep, dark, and gorgeous.

Unless you live in Australia, their polishes may be a little pricier than some of the other indies.  Probably the distance they have to travel from Oz might have something to do with it.  I don't regret buying these, though.  They are unique, beautiful, and well-made.  Llarowe, Harlow & Co, and Overall Beauty carry Picture Polish, and each one has their own exclusive color that only they carry.

Do you own any piCture pOlish that you love?

No seeds, not red, but still a lovely Pomegranate

The first color I saw from Pomegranate nail lacquer was Cyberspace, their charcoal holo, and I fell in love.  I knew I had to get some of their polishes, so I bought three.  I used all of them in this mani with my first fishtail accent.

This was one of the hardest accent nails I've ever done.  I kept looking at the template, and getting lost.  Other bloggers make this look SO EASY, but I am not one of them.

Persimmon is a beautiful apricot/orange with a gold shimmer.  At two coats, you can see some VNL in my pix, but it wasn't noticeable in real life.  Unfortunately, that meant that it really wasn't the best choice for a fishtail look, because you really do need opaque colors to make it work.

I already blogged about this look it did for a Pin-it Thursday, but thought I'd show it again for a better look at Blue Screen of Death and Cyberspace.  You can't see them as well in the braid, but they are so awesome in this 'claw' mani.

These are great polishes, and if you want to check them out, you can find them HERE.