Guest Post

Today I am guest posting for lisas nail obsession.

Go check out her post HERE with all the details :)

TTFN!

XOXO Mandy

Nfu-Oh NFU 61 Zebra Mani

Morning!  Or afternoon, depending on where you live ;)  Hope every one had a great Easter, I know I did.  It was a lot of work and a lot of fun.  So much so that I did practically nothing yesterday, I was pooped!!  But I am back today to share my fun holo zebra mani.

I got Nfu-Oh NFU 61 from a blog sale a while back, and now that the sun has been peeking out, it was a good time to give it a try.  In general you are supposed to use an aqua base for this polish, but I don't have one.  So I did a little looking around for other options.  A lot of people sandwiched 61 with Seche Vite.  If you don't use an aqua base or some alternative, this polish is very streaky and leaves bald spots.  Not pretty!  I used my normal base coat of Rejuvacote, did a coat of 61, then a coat of Seche Vite, another coat of 61 and topped with Seche Vite.  Get all that?  Next time, I think I will start with Seche Vite as my base and go from there.  See if it works easier.  But hey, it turned out just fine with a little finesse.  And because I can't leave a holo polish alone, I decided some stamping was in order :)

What do you think?  I used Konad M57 and Konad Special Black for the zebra print and Bundle Monster BM317 and Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Flashy Fuchsia for the bow.  Then topped with another coat of Seche Vite :)  

Today is the 2nd day of Spring Break and I am already going nuts, I plan on sharing at least 1 more post this week, hopefully 2, but we will see how things go here.

XOXO  Mandy

2nd Day Nails: Stamping (Snake Skin/Reptile)

Happy Hump Day!  I have some 2nd day nails I wanna share with you :)

Last weekend was my son's 4th birthday.  We took him to the Reptile Zoo, which he LOVED, and decided a mani to match would be fun.  I had done some Googling and saw THIS from Nail Polish Wars.  She does such great stuff.  I had A England Lady of the Lake and Color Club Worth the Risque in my stash, so I gave it a try.  Here are a couple pics in direct sunlight:

What do you think?  Here are a couple pics in the shade:

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  A England Lady of the Lake (2 coats)

Stamping Polish:  Color Club Worth the Risque

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM215

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

I have been enjoying this design, I still have it on my nails today, 4 days total :)  No chipping and only minor tip wear.  If you want to see my post on Lady of the Lake, click HERE

Thanks for stopping in to have a look see!

XOXO  Mandy

2nd Day Nails: Stamping

Good Morning all :)  It's time for some 2nd day nails.  This time I went with some stamping.  When I did my review for BadAss Polish on Monday, which you can see HERE, for their newest polish called Brew Crew, I was reminded of space.  I knew exactly what I was gonna do in the next day or so :)  So I got out my plates and found a fun space inspired one from Cheeky.  Here are my cute space nails.

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Sally Hansen Ebony Hates Chris and Sally Hansen Silver Sweep

Glitter Topper:  BadAss Polish Brew Crew

Stamping Plate:  Cheeky 46

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special Black and Sally Hansen Silver Sweep

Top Coat: Seche Vite

Aren't they cute?  I am enjoying them :)

Have a nice rest of the week, I will be back with another BadAss Polish to share, so stay tuned!

XOXO Mandy

Let it Snow!: Christmas/Holidays

Happy Thursday, it's challenge mani day!  This week's theme is Christmas/Holidays.  Nice and simple and fun.  Which is good the week before Christmas.  I have been so busy baking and wrapping and taking care of kids I haven't really had time to do my nails.  So easy was definitely on the menu for today.  And what is easier than a holiday base coat and a nice stamp?  Nothing!  LOL

Here is my Christmas/Holiday mani

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Colors:  Sinful Colors Hot Hot Heat (1 coat) and Essie Good as Gold (1 coat)

Stamping Plate:  Cheeky CH16

Stamping Polish:  Sinful Colors Hot Hot Heat and Essie Good as Gold

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

I am gonna keep this short and end my post here, I have dinner I need to make :)

   

 Don't forget to check out the other ladies doing the challenge with me

Let it Snow!: Ugly Christmas Sweater

Thursday is the typical day of the week that we share our challenge mani's from the Let it Snow! Challenge.  I am gonna try real hard to keep on that schedule.

This weeks theme is Ugly Christmas Sweater, should be pretty easy, right?  Except I didn't want to have an ugly manicure.  I do wear my mani's for a few days before I change it.  Unless I have had some horrible chipping.  

In general, all Christmas sweaters are ugly to me.  No offense if you wear them.  They are just not for me.  Coming up with a design was kind of hard.  There are so many possibilities!  Lots of super ugly sweaters and some not so bad.  I went with a not so bad design.  Remember, I am wearing this for a few days.  

I have been on a red kick so that is where we start.  I chose Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby as my base, I know, been using that one a lot lately, but it's right there in front of me :)  And to make my ugly sweater a cute mani, I added some snowflakes :)

I used my Konad M59 plate and Konad Special Polish in White.  There are 2 snowflake designs on this plate, so I randomly placed them on my nails.

I topped with a coat of Seche Vite and voila!  A cute Ugly Christmas Sweater mani.  My nails are so smooth and shiny, I can't stop rubbing them.  What do you think?

Here is a recap of the products I used:

Base Coat: Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

Stamping Plate:  Konad M59

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special White

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

There you have it, my Ugly Christmas Sweater mani.  Please check out the other girls doing this challenge with me :)

Let it Snow!: Inspired by a holiday movie, song or carol

Yay for Thursday, cause that means it's almost Friday!  It's challenge mani day, yay!  I am in a really good  mood this morning.  I got up early, took a shower, did my hair and makeup and then went to my son's school assembly where he was awarded student of the month.  I am one proud mama!  And, I feel all pretty cause I got fully dressed today.  Not an every day occurrence as a stay at home mom LOL

OK, this weeks Let it Snow! challenge is a mani inspired by a movie, song or carol.  I am not gonna lie, I don't watch Christmas movies, listen to Christmas music or have anything to do with caroling.  I am not a Grinch,  I love the holidays, I am just not into the movies and music.  I am weird, I know.  That being said, I chose to do my mani based on a cartoon I used to watch as a kid.  I can't remember the name, but it was about frosty the snowman.  All the kids trying to get him to the north pole so he doesn't melt, cute movie. 

So with out further ado, here is my snowman mani:

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color: Sinful Colors Ruby Ruby

Glitter:  China Glaze Fairy Dust

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM 318

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special White

Snow:  Sinful Colors Snow Me White (applied with a sponge & dotting tool)

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

I hope you are have an awesome day, and don't forget to visit the other girls participating in the Let it Snow! challenge :)

Let it Snow!: Snowflakes

Hey everyone, happy Friday!!  It's time to get back to some challenge mani's.  You probably remember I did the Spring and Summer challenges.  I started the Autumn challenge, but things were hectic around here and I dropped out :(  Now it's time for the Winter Challenge!!  Our group has named it the "Let it Snow!" Challenge.  Here is what we are going to be doing

Alrighty, here we go.  First challenge is snowflakes.  Who doesn't love snowflakes?!?!  I am really happy with how my mani turned out.  Blue, sparkly and of course full of snowflakes.  

See......

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  China Glaze Dorothy Who? (2 coats, no underwear)

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM323

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special White

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

I actually did this a few days ago and I am still wearing it.  No chipping and still as pretty as the day I did it.

I am excited to do this challenge, be prepared for a new challenge mani every week :)

Don't forget to check out the other gals doing the challenge.

Nail Art Contest: Stamping Skills

The weekend is over, Thanksgiving is now behind us.  But there is still a ton of food in my fridge.  We will be eating Thanksgiving dinner for a week, LOL.  But now that the long week of no school is over, I can get back to some regular posting.  At least I hope so.  Before we left for the weekend I saw a nail art contest I wanted to enter.  It is based on stamping so it's right up my alley :)  I have wanted to do a few in the past, but never found the time to create the nail art and enter.  

I did a design a while back and although I wished it had turned out a little a better, I get compliments on that design a lot.  It was even picked out of my older photos by a fellow blogger as one of her favorites to share on her FB page.  So I decided it was time to re-do this one and make it a little better.

Here is the old design:

I didn't change much, just did added the glitter before stamping and added some fun rhinestones on my accent nail.  Here is the new one:

I think a couple slight improvements made a big difference.  I even like the length and shape of my nails better now than when I first started blogging back in March, which is when I originally did this mani.

Products used:

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Glitter:  China Glaze Fairy Dust

Stamping Plate:  Konad M57

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special Black

There are lots of great entries in this contest, wish me luck!

The deadline to enter is today, but if you are interested, go HERE

Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and aren't too bummed to go back to work today, if you indeed did go back to work today LOL

Halloween

Hey every one, I know I have not been posting here much.  I am a slacker.  I apologize.  I was into some challenges and then it got so busy around the house I didn't have the time :(  So I have decided to pass on the Halloween and Fall challenges this time around.  I still wanna enjoy Halloween on my nails, so I am just going to do what ever I want when ever I want :)

 I had to chop off all my nails so designs are a limited right now.  What looks best on short stubby nails?  Dark vampy colors!  I had recently picked up a few of the Fantasy Makers polishes from CVS.  Perfect time to try them out.  I have one that is a black base with a ton of tiny purple glitter, it's called Rest in Pieces.  It looks so pretty in the bottle.  I wasn't too thrilled with it on my nail :(  It comes off as just a black polish.  If you look really close, you can see some of the purple glitters.  Oh well.  It covered really well in 2 coats and the RIP bottle is really cute.  So it's not a total waste LOL.  Here is what I came up with:

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Fantasy Makers Rest in Pieces

Stamping Plates:  Bundle Monster BM225 and Shany SH25

Stamping Polish:  Sally Hansen Insta Dri Silver Sweep

Red Rhinestones

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

I am quit enjoying this vampy look :)

This is Halloween: Water Marble

It's time for another installment from the This is Halloween Challenge.  Next up, water marble.  I have attempted this technique a couple times.  Neither time did it come out all that great.  So I wasn't too excited about doing a Halloween water marble.  I don't have lots of creme polishes nor do I want to go out and buy a bunch for one challenge.  So I am working with what I got, and what I got is a stamping plate.  Surprised?  I didn't think so.  The new Bundle Monster set came with a water marble design and I have yet to try it out.  The perfect time is now!!

I didn't do anything fancy, so here is my final design

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Green with Envy (1 coat)

Glitter:  Sinful Colors Smoking Hot (1 coat)

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM320

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special Black

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

There are over 50 of us gals doing this challenge, there are 2 challenges a week and one link up each week.  So there are going to be a bunch of thumbnails of others Halloween mani's.  Take a couple mins and check them out :)

Go Pink Wednesday

As I am sure most of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I joined a group called "Go Pink Wednesday" where we will be wearing and sharing pink mani's every Wednesday in October to raise awareness.  I know, it's Thursday, but I just joined the group yesterday so I am starting today.  Better late than never, right?

I personally have not be touched by breast cancer, but that does not mean that I am not in favor of a quick cure.  Where you are a survivor, know a survivor or have never dealt with the disease, I encourage you to either donate to a cause or do as I am and try to raise as much awareness as you can.  

On to the pretty part.  I don't own hardly any pinks.  But I did have 2 that go great together.  I wanted some thing fun and up beat.  I went with a pink base, a glitter coat and of course some pink stamping!  Here is the final look

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Sally Hansen Insta Dri Presto Pink (1 coat)

Glitter:  Sinful Colors Smoking Hot (2 coats)

Stamping Plate:  Konad M57

Stamping Polish:  Sally Hansen Insta Dri Flashy Fuchsia

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

I am loving how the zebra print pops over the glitter.  I used a coat of sech vite over the glitter before stamping.  Mostly to help it dry.  It was taking FOREVER!  I think that coat of sech vite is what is making the stamping pop like it is.  Either way, I am super happy with how this turned out.  I can't stop staring at my cute pink nails :)

I will be back next Wednesday with another pink mani for you, Happy Thursday!

Fall into Autumn: Cloudy Days

Sooooo, last night I did the next challenge mani for Fall into Autumn.  I was excited for this one.  I had  a couple designs running through my brain.  A few of the other girls have already shared their mani's and some were very similar to what I wanted to do.  I brain stormed a little more, then went to you tube and did a little looking around.  There were a few cloudy mani's to get inspiration from :)  

Now, when you see the mani, you are only going to see one nail.  I was having a couple issues and then I was having more issues with my kids.  Hubby was working late and I just couldn't hang.  

Here is my lonely finger

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Essence Vampire's Love Into The Dark (1 coat)

Stamping Plate:  Mash 37

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special White

Grey: China Glaze Crackle Glaze in Cracked Concrete

Top Coat:  Essie Matte About You

I was very surprised at how well these little clouds stamped.  I think using my plastic Konad scraper is turning out to be much better than my old gift card.  I used the crackle as the grey accent cause I wanted it to be a little different and I wanted to see how much it would crack when using just a tiny bit.  I used a dotting tool to add the grey to the clouds.  Now, I let these dry for at least 15 minutes.  It took that long get my table cleaned up and deal with my little ones.  I chose a matte top coat cause I thought it would be fun and different.  I tested on a nail and liked it.  So I continued.  When I got to my hand I would be photographing, all went to hell :(  My poor little clouds were smearing!  Every finger except my pointer finger was messed up.  That is why you are only seeing one finger today.  I couldn't get a very good shot of my whole hand any way.  Like I said, it was a bad evening.  However, I think this one lonely finger came out great and this is what I hoped my entire mani would have looked like.

How many times have you been trying to do a special mani and everything just goes wrong?

Have you entered my giveaway yet?  You can do that HERE :)

Teal Tuesday: Geometric

This weeks theme for Teal Tuesday is Geometric.  I knew which base I wanted to use.  I had gotten China Glaze Atlantis from Copious, for just a penny, and I had to give it a try.  I used the glue as my base.  You can get more info on that HERE  Then applied my base coat and 2 layers of Atlantis.  No underwear.  This covered very well and was opaque in 2 coats :)  Finding the geometric shape I wanted to stamp with was going to be a bit harder.  A few gals have already stamped some awesome designs and I have already used some other designs here on my blog.  I went with the design on the new Bundle Monster set BM320.  I LOVE the Atlantis with a design stamped over it.

Base:  Elmer's Glue

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Glitter:  China Glaze Atlantis

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM320

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special Black

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

You are probably wondering why there is no polish on my index finger.  If you read my previous post, then you know how easy glitter comes off when you use glue as a base.  When I rolled on my image, I used a little too much pressure and it just came off, in one sheet LOL  So, if you use the glue method and stamp, be careful.  You don't want to peel off all your polish before you get the stamping done. 

I put on Atlantis yesterday afternoon, so far it has held up to normal wear and tear.  I am going to keep this on for a while and see how long it will last.  I will keep you updated :)

Teal Tuesday: Ovarian Cancer Awareness

It's been a while since I was able to participate in a Teal Tuesday mani.  But this week I decided that I HAD to participate for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.  This didn't come out exactly how I had imagined it, but I still like it.  There are a few layers that went into this design.  All in all, I am pretty happy with it.  I may do a few more mani's this month.  Keep a look out :)

Base Color:  China Glaze For Audrey

Glitter:  China Glaze Fairy Dust

Stamping Plates:  Konad M60 & Bundle Monster BM321

Stamping Polishes:  Konad Special Black and Special White

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Will you be doing a special awareness mani this month?

Code n.2

Lazy Days of Summer: Summer Days and Summer Nights

Happy Labor Day!!!  I am sharing 2 Summer Challenges with you today.  I am behind and trying to catch up.  Numbers 11 and 12 are Summer Days and Summer Nights.  Where I live it's pretty damn hot during the day.  So I decided flames were appropriate LOL  The evenings are kind of cool with clear skies, which is why I chose Galax-E from Pretty & Polished for my Summer Nights Mani.  Super simple and to the point :)

Summer Days

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Milani One Coat Glitter Red Sparkle 

(one coat, really!)

Stamping Plate:  MASH 48

Stamping Polish:  Sally Hansen Insta Dry Silver Sweep

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Summer Nights

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Pretty & Polished Galax-E (2 coats, no underwear)

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

There you have it, 2 challenges in one.  I hope you enjoy  your Labor Day :)

Lazy Days of Summer: Thirst Quencher

So, I am really behind on my Summer challenges.  But I am going to try real hard to catch up so I can do the Fall Challenge.  This is #9, Thirst Quencher.  I don't know about you, but I seriously love water.  I know a lot of people who hate to drink water and I just don't understand.  On a normal day, that is all I drink.  However, once in a while I love me some lemonade or other citrus-y drink.  So instead of trying to do a mani about water, which prob would have been just plain blue nails, I decided to go for the citrus mani.  This is a fun design and I was lucky enough to have a friend over who wanted to help.  So she did my gradient.  Lucky me!!  Here is the final design

Base Coat:  Rejuvacote

Base Color:  Sinful Colors Snow Me White

Gradient:  Color Club Sparkle and Soar, Daisy Does it and Fly With Me

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM308

Stamping Polish:  Konad Special White

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

This was a fun mani to do, especially because I got to spend the day with my friend and do my nails :)

Lazy Days of Summer: In the Garden

We all know that I have been a slacker lately.  But I have some good news, I have a new challenge mani for you :)  I went and got a mani/pedi recently and decided to amp up my otherwise crappy mani to a challenge mani.  Seriously, I am so mad at how bad my cuticles looked when I left the salon.  I thought it was just because she got too close to my cuticles when she was painting.  Not the case.  So I apologize for a not so great polish job.  But that isn't really the star of the show here any way.  I just got some of new Essie Mirror Metallics, which means more stamping polishes for me!!  I had been looking for a good gold and the Good as Gold in this collection is great!  

The inspiration for my mani is my own yard.  I don't have a garden or fancy flowers.  I do have a lot of rose bushes that line the front of my house.  They are so pretty when in bloom.  So I decided a rose garden mani was it. Plus, my nails were already red, perfect!  I have no idea what the brand or name of the red polish is, it was an off brand in the salon.  It does remind me a lot of A England Perceval.  I have a post on that lovely HERE

Alrighty, so here it is :)

Base Coat:  Unknown

Base Color:  Unknown

Stamping Plate:  Bundle Monster BM 306

Stamping Polish: Essie Good as Gold

Top Coat:  Unknown

I took this photo in the shade so the sun wouldn't wash out the gold.  I wore this for a couple days, I really enjoyed this mani :)

Guest Blogger Friday: WalkInMyEyeShadow

It's Guest Blogger Friday over here.  Today Natalie is joining us from WalkInMyEyeShadow.  She is a newer blogger and has some great stuff to show you.  Go check her out!!

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G'day all!

My name is Natalie Elise and I am a beauty blogger from Australia. Most of my time is spent either researching makeup and nails or blogging on my website, WalkInMyEyeShadow. When I was asked to do a guest post for Mandy's Polish I was really excited so hopefully you enjoy my mani and please check out my blog.

For my guest post I wanted to create a manicure inspired by peacock colours. My favorite colours are teal and purple and I wanted to bring those into a manicure, and this is what I came up with.

Here are the supplies I used for this manicure.

As a base colour I used China Glaze "Shower Together". I then applied stripes of colour across the background using various peacock inspired shade from LA Colours Art Deco. The colours I used were Magenta, Vibrant, Dark Blue and Forest Green.

I then added a little bit of sparkle by using the glitter stripers in Blue Glitter, Teal Glitter and a purple glitter striper that I don't know the name of. This is how it turned out

I then stamped a design from Mash image plate 49 with China Glaze "Metallic Muse", and this is how it turned out

Hopefully you have enjoyed my guest post here on Mandy's Polish, I would like to thank Amanda for giving me the opportunity to become known by a wider audience and look forward to hearing any feedback you have for me. Please check out my blog for more looks and reviews.