Stamping Princess Part Duex

Happy Friday my lovely readers!!  I hope you're week went by without a hitch and that you're ready for the weekend!  Today I have a review of Born Pretty Store stamping plate, the one I used for my artsy 3-D nails, seen here.  I picked this stamping plate for the image I'm showing you in this post.  I love the shape and the swirly prettiness.  Disclosure:  this product was given to me to review, all opinions are my own and are in no way shape or form influenced by anyone else.

First up, I would again, like to apologize to Daisy from the Born Pretty Store, for the lateness of this review. I did receive this product quite some time ago and am now just getting to reviewing it.  As always with the Born Pretty Store, I'm so impressed with their shipping, not only is it free, but it gets here incredibly fast considering it's coming from so far away.  Disclosure:  this product was given to me to review, all opinions are my own and are in no way shape or form influenced by anyone else.

For this mani, I used the Born Pretty Store black stamping polish that can be purchased individually or as a set of 5, which is the one I got.  The set includes red, yellow, blue, black and white and retails for $6.93 (or you can get them individually for $2.05).  The stamping plate (plate number QA48) is one of the Born Pretty Store's own creations, as I said above, I choose this plate for the image I used here, but I do really love the Snow White image that also is included on this plate - both a larger version and a smaller one as seen below.  Disclosure:  this product was given to me to review, all opinions are my own and are in no way shape or form influenced by anyone else. 

Born Pretty Store covers their plates in blue plastic film, so there's no way you'll forget to take it off.  The plate itself is a little sharp around the edges, so I recommend handling it carefully.  As for the designs themselves, they're well engraved and sized appropriately.  I didn't have any problems picking up the image on my trusty stamper and as you can see, I'm not the best at lining the stamps up but the image is abstract enough that it doesn't really matter.  Disclosure:  this product was given to me to review, all opinions are my own and are in no way shape or form influenced by anyone else.

If you're interested in picking up this plate, you can purchase them here or search the Born Pretty Store for item ID:  4861.  The great thing about Born Pretty Store stamping plates are, that they are reasonably priced, this one retails for $2.99 and there's also great selection.  Want to get this for yourself, here's a coupon code for 10% off your order - bonus!!  Disclosure:  this product was given to me to review, all opinions are my own and are in no way shape or form influenced by anyone else.

Holla, N

Striped Roses

Hiya!  Yay, it's Friday!!  Woot woot!  I have no big plans for the weekend, I'm just happy to have two days off of work to relax and paint my nails!

In keeping with this weeks theme, I pulled out the ol' striping tape and created a striped background for my vintage roses.  I wish I had gotten better pictures of this mani, I loved it so much, but at least I get to share it, so I'm not too upset!  This was my first go with Avon polish.  I have to say, I'm pretty impressed.  The pink-y peach-y is much brighter irl, it reminds me a lot of Flip Flop Fantasy and we all know that's the prettiest polish ever!  I picked up 3 more Avon polishes and I can't wait to try them out - have you tried Avon polishes?  Do you love them as much as I did?

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Holla, N

Ikats All Been Done Before

Hello polished friends!!  Happy Friday!!  Yay, we've made it through another week!!  Time for the weekend - woot woot!

I've been wanting to try out ikat nails for a while now, but as with any new technique, I always think it's going to be way more difficult than it really is.  I did some ikat-like nails for the 31 Day Challenge, for my inspired by fashion day, but I wanted to try the real thing.

I had to google to make sure I was spelling Ikat right (every time I type it, it's underlined in red!) and while I googled, I realized that I did the same color combination as everyone else that's done Ikat nails lately - I was surprised to see so many with the same color combo.  I didn't copy anyone on purpose, but you know how some things stick in your head and then you create it and realize you're not the first to do that?  Ya, that's my day today :)

Holla, N

Spirit Indestructible

Hello everyone!!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend.  This is a day late for my regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting, but I promise it's worth it!!

I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go to Nelly Furtado's first concert for her Spirit Indestructible tour last week and of course I had to come up with an amazing mani to wear while I attended!!  I wanted to recreate my S*@t on the Radio mani, but I just wasn't feeling it and I've been so inspired by the talented ladies of Instagram, I decided to try out one of my favorites.  Have you heard of Lucy from Lucy's Stash?  Ya, she's pretty amazing, she's done some of the most beautiful half moon mani's that inspired this look, one in the prettiest green (yes, I just admitted a green was pretty) and one with the brightest pink.  I ended up doing things a little different, but those two mani's are definitely the inspiration behind this look!

Here's my first vision, but I was having the hardest time getting straight lines and I'm SO anal, it had to go!!

I took a couple of really crappy photos, if you're interested in seeing the view from my seats, keep scrolling!!

I would totally recommend purchasing this album, click here to get it from iTunes - my fave song is Big Hoops or Parking Lot or Spirit Indestructible or Be OK or or or or - ya, she's that good!!

Holla, N

Skull-rific!

Happy Hump Day!!  This week has been going by so slowly, I think it's because I was off on Monday and I usually take days off on Friday, so my weeks all messed up!  Will Friday ever come?

I've got a long overdue review of some cute skull water decals I received from KKCenterhk for review.  You may remember from my EPIC 100 Follower Giveaway, that KKCenterhk was kind enough to provide some cool stuff for my giveaway - the alphabet stamping set, won by Becca from Nail Narcotics and the cute gold peacock water decals, won by Maggy from the Daily Lacquer.  Becca did this fabulous mani, dedicated to her favorite nail artist - moi, lol, you can take a peek, here.

Anyhoodle, onto the review - I picked the Rock Skull Water Decals, because they are so darn cute.  I was a little intimidated to use these, one, because they are so cute, I didn't think I could do them justice and two, because I was worried they would be SUPER difficult to apply.  Totally not the case - I have to say, I'm super surprised at how easy these were to use.  All you do is cut out the decal you want to use, soak it in a bit of water and carefully slide the decal from the paper.  You have to make sure your nail is dry and not super soaked like I did on my first try.  The decal won't stay on a wet nail so I had to take it off and make sure my nail was dry.   I just held the decal in my other hand and dried off my nail, super easy.  Once it was dry, I placed the decal and fiddled a bit to get rid of wrinkles and VOILA!  I didn't use tweezers and I don't think I would when I use these again.  I think these are sturdy enough if you are gentle to withstand the handling.

Apparently I was in the mood to try every technique on my nails last night, water decals, gradient, stamping, leopard, polka dots and glitter - it's a little much, but how CUTE is that decal?  There's 25 nail decals in a set and they're super reasonable, at only $2.82 USD.  If you're interested in getting some of these babies for yourself visit http://www.kkcenterhk.com/ and search "skull water" or just click here, the item # is WDSY558.  Want something a little more serious, how about trying the gold peacock water decals, you can find them here.  Is stamping more your style?  You can pick up the alphabet here and here.

Thankfully, I've done this post in time for you guys to use my 10% off coupon to get your own goodies from KKCentrehk, the coupon code is:  nearlynailed and expires Jan 31, 2013!! 

Holla, N

International Transgender Day of Remembrance

Hello friends,

Today is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day to memorialize those who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.  The lovely Lacquer Lad wrote a very heartfelt post here and has linked in a couple of bloggers to participate in this day of remembrance. TDOR was started by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a transgender advocate to honour the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998.  A web project “Remembering Our Dead” and a San Francisco candlelight vigil was held for the first time in early 1999, these two things led to an annual memorial.

"The Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice."  Transgender Day of Remembrance founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith

I have to say that researching TDOR for this post has certainly opened my eyes to a world I knew nothing about.  Yes, on the peripheral, I knew that violence, hatred and prejudice towards people that are different exists.  But, the magnitude of this hate is so hard for me to grasp.  When you live in your own little bubble day to day, it’s hard to comprehend that a world beyond yourself exists, especially when it’s so ugly.  It’s way easier to bury your head in the sand than face the fact that the human race is slowly killing that which should make our world a better place – our differences.  My heart hurts not just for these men and woman who have been brutally murdered, but for their friends and families.  Whether the lives they were meant to lead were supported or not, no one should have to lose someone to such ugly violent hatred.

Please take a moment to look over this list from the TDOR website. This is the list of names of people who are being remembered this year on November 20th. Please note that the list is incomplete and is constantly being updated.

Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial List 2012

I’m not the most eloquent and there is so much information I have missed, but if you have the time, please check out these links for more information about the Transgender Day of Remembrance:

-          International Transgender Day of Remembrance

-          There is really great information on GLAAD’s website, click here for more.

-          Transgender Visibility Timeline

-          A great article written by Gwendolyn Ann Smith can be found here.

-          Click here for a list of links on the “Remembering Our Dead” website.

Please join me in visiting the other bloggers participating in this day of remembrance by clicking on the links below.

Holla, N

Lazy Roses and Bows

Hiya everybody!  Welcome to day 7 of the Lazy 15 challenge - feminine nails.  It may have looked like I missed day 6 of the challenge - favorite color, but I did a guest post for Jessie of Nailed it NZ that used my favorite color - NEON, click here to check it out!

Today is my last official day off - I've been off since last Thursday, back to work on Monday.  It's been a nice relaxing week off, I haven't done much, definitely not all the things I wanted to do, but no matter, it was nice to enjoy day time TV and snuggles with my puppers!

Base Color:  Finger Paints - Black Expressionism

I used acrylic paint for the roses and bows.

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

Have a looky loo at the other folks doing feminine nails today for the Lazy 15 by clicking on the links below!

Holla, N

Lazy Dotticure

Hiya polished peeps!  Welcome to day 3 of The Lazy 15 challenge - dots!

Did I mention that I participated in a secret santa nail polish swap?  I think I might have, anyhoodle, I got this gorgeous Mint Green and we all know I'm not a huge fan of green, but this minty green is so pretty and it has been calling my name for a while now.  Super thankful to Amanda over at the Nail Polish Enthusiast for including me in the Halloween/Autumn swap and for drawing my name - our next one is coming up around Christmas and I'm super duper excited!!

I found this really pretty vintage rose with dots mani over at CDesigns 92 and vintage roses look so pretty with minty green, so I decided to try and recreate it!  I wasn't happy with my first try - I covered my black nails with glitter and it totally didn't go with the pink vintage roses, so I had to try again.  This time, I did all my fingers, not just accent ones and it totally turned out how I wanted it!!  Up first is my successful attempt!

Here's the first attempt - it wasn't horrible, I just wish I didn't add the glitter!

What I used for attempt #2

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Base Color:  Finger Paints - Papier Mache

Roses:  Urban Outfitters - No Name Neon Pink and Wet n Wild - Tickled Pink

I used acrylic paint for the dots.

Top Coat:  Seche Vite and Pro FX Quick Dry

What I used for attempt #1

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Base Colors:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme and Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet

Roses:  Revlon - Flirt and Nyx - Nyx - Dolly Pink

Glitter:  Sally Girl - No Name Pink Glitter

I used acrylic paint for the dots.

Top Coat:  Seche Vite and Pro FX Quick Dry

Please show some love to the other bloggers participating in this challenge by clicking on the links below.  Come back Friday for water marble!

Holla, N

Flashback!

Hiya folks!!  I'm on the mend from my cold, still feeling stuffy, but I went to work today, so all is good!  I'm pulling this mani from the vault, even though I should be posting some Nail-aween challenge mani's - I'm having brain block on something creative to do for spiders - any suggestions?!?!

This is a recycled mani - I wore the gradient first and then decided to stamp it when I got home and I think I mattified it - it looks mattified, don't you think?  This was also when my nails were so pretty and long - I miss them!!

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Gradient:  Finger Paints - Pink Perspective and I think Tangerine Tint

For the stamp, I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry - Quick Canary

Have you entered my giveaway?  The countdown is on, a little over a week to enter!!

Holla, N

Neon Inspired

Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday - I hope that song is in your head now - bahahahahaha!!

Day 21 of the 31 Day Challenge - I can't believe there's only 10 days left, this has been so fun and I've met some great blogging buddies doing this challenge and I'm sad it's almost coming to an end!!  Today's mani is inspired by a color and technically neon is not a color - but it should be - who wants to join the NSBCC (Neon Should Be a Color Club)?  or the NSBWAYC (Neon Should be Worn All Year Club?  I would like to nominate myself as the President - lol!!  I'm still digging the neon, I know summer is over, but I'm still wearing my sandals, so I should still be able to wear my neon polish, right???  This mani took me soooo long last night, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do and I ended up with like 10 layers of polish, but I love it so much - so bright and happy and fun - perfect for the rainy days we've been having lately!!

I used 11 different polishes for this (not including base and top coat) and they've all been put away so Gini and Bex, you are poop outta luck - this girl ain't gonna list all 11 of them this time - even if you ask nicely - lol!!

Please show some love to my new blogging friends by clicking on the links below and checking out what colors inspired them!

My giveaway closes in two weeks!!  I've gotten so many wonderful comments and entrants it's going to be so exciting to see who wins - I haven't even moderated rafflecopter yet - I wonder how many cheaters I'll find :O)

Holla, N

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
 -Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
-Robin Sparkles 

Mooned Review

Hello everyone!!  So glad it's a short week this week - Thanksgiving weekend was great, we had two turkey dinners - yum!!  I swear, I'm still full!  Warning - text heavy and picture heavy post - click the x at the top right of your screen if you're already bored :)

Today I have two things to share with you:  one - my half moon mani for the 31 Day Challenge and two my review of the 3 Star/Round/Heart Rhinestones Acrylic UV Nail Glue Clamp Kit I got from the Born Pretty Store!  I'm actually doing both in one to be honest.  I got an email from Daisy at the Born Pretty Store asking me to review my choice of products - which I was pretty stoked about.  This may seem like an easy task, but really, it was extremely difficult - they have SOOOO much stuff, the choices were endless!  It took me a while to figure out what I wanted and I gave Daisy some choices of what she wanted me to review and she sent the rhinestones set.

I honestly thought there were going to be a few rhinestones a cheap tool to pick them up and some glue - boy was I wrong.  You get a ton of rhinestones and the choice of colors is fab!  And I didn't realize there were different shapes - circles, stars and hearts - how cool!  Also, the tool they include is heavy duty and two bottles of glue - perf ma gerf!  Now for the deets:  for a set of three packages of multi-colored  rhinestones (in a really cool holder by the way),  one set of circles, one of stars and one of hearts, with a picker upper tool (I have no idea what the real name is) and two bottles of glue, it costs $8.58 - that's a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.  I'm having some issues with the site, but I think that is in USD and the shipping is free - well it was when I ordered stuff from them I purchased myself - before I was contacted to review something by the way (and I used my personal account, not my nearlynailed account).  I got the package within a week, which is pretty quick considering the product is coming from China.  And, it was the same time frame when I ordered the stuff I paid for - that's pretty good if you ask me!  If you're interested in picking this up for yourself, click here, the product number is 3116 AND until Jan 31, 2013 you can use the special code found in the banner below to get a 10% discount!!  That's not a huge discount, but any discount is SUPER!

Onto the good stuff, what I did with these products!!

Here's some photos of what I got and the code to get your 10% discount!

   

For the half moon mani I used:

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Moons:  Revlon - Raspberry Rapture - this stuff is scented, it wasn't too offensive, but a little much when you have a headache!

Main Color:  Wet n Wild - Black Creme

Black Rhinestone from the Born Pretty Store

Top Coat:  Seche Vite

For the blue mani, I used:

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Main Color:  Maybelline - Sapphire Siren

Top Coat:  Pro FX Quick Dry Top Coat

Please show my nail buddies some love by clicking on the links below and check out what they did for their half mooned mani's!!

Also, have I already asked you if you've entered my giveaway?  I have?  No, not me!!  Well if you haven't yet, please enter my giveaway - lots of awesome stuff - just click here!

Holla, N

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
 -Greta at How Was Your Day?
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish
-Robin Sparkles 

Disclaimer:  Rhinestones used for these mani's were provided by the Born Pretty Store for my review.  The opinions expressed were mine and mine alone and were not influenced by the Born Pretty Store.

Skittles, Take 2

Hiya!!  Lately I've been so consumed with challenges, I haven't really had to think of what to put on my nails - which has been fabulous to be honest.  Last week, I had done most of my mani's on the weekend and had them all scheduled to go - I change my polish daily, usually because it's chipped or I can tell it will chip, so I had to come up with ideas to keep my nails pretty during the week.

I had originally thought skittles mani's were brightly colored nails, in varying colors on each nails - I think these still qualify as skittle mani's - but skittle mani's also refer to nails with different designs on each nail, in any colors.  I wish I could find the mani that inspired this again, but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it - so frustrating!  Anyhoodle, here's my second skittles mani, hope you enjoy!!

Here's another skittle mani I did last week, I only managed to get a indoor photos, so am just showing you the collaged version!!

For the pink skittle mani, I used:

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Light Pink:  Wet n Wild - Tickled Pink

Darker Pink:  Nyx - Salsa

White:  NYC - French White Tip

Flower Petals:  China Glaze - Four Leaf Clover

Glitter:  Wet n Wild - I ripped off the name sticker - oopie...

For the black and gray skittle mani, I used:

Base Coat:  Orly Bonder

Black:  Essie - Licorice

White:  NYC - White French Tip

Gray:  Sally Hansen - Wet Cement

Silver:  Sally Hansen - Celeb City

Glitter:  Revlon - Stunning

Want another hint for my 100 follower giveaway???  Here it is.....

Holla, N