Wednesday, February 26, 2014

MoYou London Review

I just received my first purchase from MoYou London and here is a quick (but lengthy) review!


To give an honest review, there was a bit of confusion regards to the order and shipping. Initially I ordered Mother Nature collection 02 and 06 as well as their Xl stamper. I got email confirmation right away and another email 3 days later with shipping number. So far so good... But! 2 days later, I received another email to say they were not able to ship my order because plate MN 02 is now out of stock!! They asked me if I want to replace it with something else or get a refund. At that time, I still could see this plate available on their web site and my account showed "complete" with all items showing as shipped. So, I emailed them to clarify this and I was told this plate is in fact out of stock... I ended up replacing it with Mother Nature plate 05. Well, from the time I ordered items, it took them 5 days to tell me that one of the items is out of stock??

But they made it up with pretty fast shipping after the hiccup. It took only 7 days from the time of the replacement order for my items to cross the ocean from London, UK and arrive at my door!


They also sent me two packages of rhinestones, which I didn't order. I don't know if they send these with every order or they are meant to be a little "sorry we messed up" gifts, but either way, I think it is a nice touch :) 

These are the two plates I got. 

Mother Nature Collection 05

Mother Nature Collection 06

They have a lot of collections such as Asian inspired Suki collection, Artist collection, Pro collection, etc. So many different plates to choose from. You can check out what other plates are available here.


For this look, I used OPI My Vampire is Buff (creamy white) and OPI I'm Feeling Sashy (mauve pink) to paint my nails. For stamping, I used MoYou London MN 05 and Konad Black Pearl stamping polish. 


I ordered these plates because I wanted to try out the big all over image plates. Unlike regular nail design plates where you see individual square designs on plates, these ones have big pictures etched on the entire plates. You can use any sections of the whole plate to stamp your nails. Interesting concept. 


These plates are deeply etched, so it is very easy to pick up the designs. The negative side of that is difficulty in cleaning. Usually I just swipe with acetone soaked cotton pads to clean the plate but this plate was very hard to clean... I think it is because it's deeply etched and also has a lot of fine lines. My cotton pads were like shredded pieces after my attempt to clean! And it's not completely cleaned yet! I feel like I want to give the plate acetone bath. :(

I only used MN 05 plate so far and it might be just this plate that has an issue... We will see... I guess I need more time to play around with these plates. 

I love the stamper though! Actually I was looking forward to get this stamper the most. I have been using my Konad double-sided stamper for all this time but sometimes the stamper does not reach the entire nails because my nails have curves and it is hard to hit all area with hard-surfaced stamper. I wanted to get a squishy stamper so bad, which you can just sink your nails into instead of rolling the stamper across. I was reading many reviews of squishy stampers and even though I didn't have a clear idea which company makes the best ones, I've decided to give this one from MoYou London a try. I wasn't sure when I got it first though because it was not as soft and squishy like the ones I read in other people's blogs, etc. It is kind of between hard Konad one and really squishy one. 

MoYo London stamper on the left and Konad one on the right. 

It actually works great! I read that a lot of people had problems with really squishy stampers because the stamper's head part falls out while stamping and also if you are not careful with the pressure, you easily distort the images. MoYou London stamper is hard enough that it doesn't distort the images nor fall out, but it is still soft enough that you can sink your nails into. You can roll across your nails too like regular stamper and because it is softer, it will reach all the difficult spots of your nails. Just for your information, I would clean this stamper by sticking it on a lint roller (the sticky paper roll thingy.) Acetone might damage the surface of this stamper. Or at least, that's what majority of people are advising about squishy stampers. 

On their web site, I see they have other grey (or light blue?) xl stamper and rectangular stamper, which I would be interested in trying in the future. Or if you have any experiences with those, please let me know how you like them. 

Have you tried MoYou London products? Can you guess which part of the design I used for my nails?

Love,

Little Dot








Parka Perfect Variation

Essie Parka Perfect is one of my favorite polish. I think it is such a nice color to wear in Winter. I wore it quite often this season with variation. 

First look is done by adding a little colorful glitter polish (I used Ulta Pinata Yada Yada) on the tips of nails and painting an accent nail with Essie Toggle to the Top.


Toggle to the Top is such a pretty color. It has red shiny glitters in it and it looks like a jewel! The only problem is it is very easy to chip :( 

When it chipped the next day already, I replaced it with Essie Size Matters and stamped a heart knitted sweater design from BM-H01. 


And here is the look I liked a lot and got tons of compliments!


This winter forest look is created by stamping plates BM-407, BM-319, and BM-H01. I used Sally Hansen Silver Sweep as stamping color. Then I added a little white dots as falling snow with a dotting tool. 


Which look is your favorite? 

Love,

Little Dot

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Blue Polish


I think I like blue nails. Well, at least that's my favorite these days. Here is the design I did using different shades and textures of blue. 


Dark navy blue is Essie Mind Your Mittens. Light blue is Essie Parka Perfect. I love this pale silvery blue! The textured blue is OPI liquid sand in Alcatraz Rocks. I actually looove this polish. It's so sparkly and pretty. I just keep looking at it! 


Because Parka Perfect has a little silver shimmer in it, I have decided to stamp with Sally Hansen Silver Sweep. The plate I used was Messy Mansion's MM14. First I stamped bird cages from this plate and then stamped a little birdie with Mind Your Mittens. 


I really like the look. I happen to like birds a lot! Messy Mansion MM14 is the one I call a bird plate. It has a lot of bird designs on it and I use bird cage and little bird designs a lot. 


You can find out more about Messy Mansion plates here.

Do you have a favorite color to use? Do you like textured polish?

Love,

Little Dot

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Winter nails

Here is the winter nail I did a while ago. (Christmas/New Year's time!) I initially planned to start my blog for new year's and I was going to use this design as the first post. But I ended up starting in Feb and therefore replaced my post with Valentine's nails... Well, I better post this before winter ends!


I painted my nails with Essie Cashmere Bathrobe (dark grey) and OPI liquid sand It's Frosty Outside (silver). 


Stamping was done, using Bundle Monster plates BM-405, BM-419, and BM-H01 and Sally Hasen Silver Sweep. 


While Christmas shopping wearing this design, I found this bracelet! It looked so pretty and matching with my nails that I just have to get it! 

The bracelet is from Lucky Brand. 

Don't you love when you find something that matches your nails? I do!

Love,

Little Dot

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Fun with Matryoshka Dolls

I just got my new stamping plates from Nailz Craze and I had to test them out!!


I think this is going to be one of my favorite looks of all! 


For this look, I painted my nails with OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby. (gold) and OPI 4 in the Morning (black). Using Nailz Craze plate NC 03, I stamped the flower pattern on my ring finger and the mid-size Matryoshka doll on my middle finger. The thumb was stamped using the lower half of the large Matryoshka doll. I used Konad black pearl as stamping color. Then I used OPI Off With Her Red! (red) and a dotting tool to paint little dots here and there on the images. 


For my right hand, I stamped the flower design on my ring finger and pinky, and on my thumb I stamped the upper half of the large Matryoshka doll.

So, this is the fun part. Look what happens...




Isn't it fun?

I shouldn't take the full credit for this though. I got the idea from Nailz Craze here


Isn't this plate adorable? You can find out more about Nailz Craze here


I really like the way it came out. It's not too much and still quite wearable. 

Do you like this design as much as I do? 

Love,

Little Dot

Friday, February 14, 2014

Week 3 Valentine's Nails

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Week 3 of Valentine's theme nails for you! I felt like very simple toned down design this week. Also, I wanted to test out the two colors from OPI Gwen Stefani mini set I just purchased. 


First I painted my nails with OPI 4 in the Morning and OPI All Sparkly and Gold for an accent nail. I stamped a heart (stained-glass looking or shattered!?) design from Bundle Monster plate BM-411, using OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby. 

The inspiration for the look is this sweater I bought recently!!


Both 4 in the Morning and L.A.M.B. are matte satin finish. They supposed to be worn without top coat. But I was a bit unsure how long the wear would be without the top coat... So I ended up putting a coat of Sache Vite. I actually liked the look shiny! 

My pointer here is before the top coat. Middle finger with the top coat. (Sorry for the dark picture. I did my nails at night...)


And then, I put on a matte top coat after a few days to change the look. 


NYC Matte Me Crazy is used to recreate the matte satin finish!


Mattifying top coats are available from different brands and it is a wonderful addition to your stash. 

Do you like your nails shiny or matte? Anyone tried these colors without any top coats?

Love,

Little Dot

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Great Purchase at Local Store

If you read my last post, you might remember I mentioned I have bought a lot of nail polish recently. Though I bought my polish in many different stores, my great bargain buys came from my local Shoppers Drug Mart!! I just love this store. Time to time, I stop by there just browsing to see if any good nail polish is in the bargain bin. At one time, I found these for $2.99 each!

From left to right, Boxer Shorts, Cascade Cool, Cashmere Bathrobe, Vested Interest. 

I was especially excited about Cashmere Bathrobe and Vested Interest. These are from Essie Fall 2013 collection and these two colors were the ones I wanted to get! Both of them are such lovely colors and I wore Cashmere Bathroom almost constantly for a while...

And at another time, I bought these for $0.99 each! Yes. Less than a dollar each for Essie nail polish!!!

From left to right, Pink About It, I Am Strong, Check-up, Shearling Darling, Sable Collar, Mind Your Mittens. 

Sable Collar, Shearling Darling, and Mind Your Mittens are from Essie Winter 2013 collection. When this collection came out, I bought Parka Perfect and Toggle to the Top. That means I have now 5 out of 6 colors from this collection! Not bad, right?

Where do you buy your nail polish from? Do you have any bargain buys you want to share?

Love,

Little Dot

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Week 2 Valentine's Nails

Week 2 of Valentine's Day theme nails. I don't wear pink polish usually these days (I tend to go with more untraditional colors like blue, green, etc. ) But for sweet Valentine's month, I say "Why not!"

Though, I still couldn't bring myself to paint all of my nails pink...


For this look, I painted my nails with Essie Check-up and Essie Cashmere bathrobe. The stamping was done using image plates Bundle Monster BM-406, BM-411, and BM-421. I used my trusty Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep as stamping color for the pretzel hearts and candy hearts designs and used Konad white stamping polish for xo patterned design to give the look of a chalkboard. 


Here is the picture with thumb showing. 



And my right hand with slight difference. 


Cashmere Bathrobe is one of my favorite nail polish. It is very dark grey with silver shimmer in it. I like it so much that it is hard to resist temptation to paint my nails with it week after week... But then I bought so many new polish over fall and Christmas time and I feel I need to try them all sometime soon...

Do you have any polish that you just looove so much? 

Love,

Little Dot

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

OPI Gwen Stefani Mini Set

I was shopping at Ulta yesterday to pick up a bottle of Solar Oil. And for some reason, I picked up this OPI Gwen Stefani mini set.  I know, I know... My little voice is saying, "don't you have so many new polish you haven't even tried?"


From Gwen Stefani collection that just came out, I was only interested in 4 in the Morning (black satin finish). And maybe Love.Angel.Music.Baby (gold satin finish). I Sing in Color looked so much like Vision of Love from OPI Mariah Carey collection and Essie Shearling Darling. They are very dark almost black oxblood. (And I have both. ) Hey Baby is pink. (Mmm.. Do I like pink?) 

But I don't mind getting a mini set. That gives me a chance to try them out at least. And 2 colors out of 4 are the ones I kind of interested anyways. 

There are three more colors in Gwen Stefani collection.  In True Stefani Fashion (silver and holographic glitter), Over & Over A-Gwen (red polish and comes with Swarovski studs), and Push and Shove (mirrored finish and comes with special base coat). 

Have you try these polish? Which one is your favorite?

Love,

Little Dot

Saturday, February 1, 2014

New Blog



Hi there! This is my new blog! Have fun reading!

February is here already! What comes to my mind? Valentine's Day! So, for the next little while, I will be doing Valentine's Day theme nail designs. 


I ended up experimenting a bit. First I painted my nails with Essie Shearling darling and OPI My vampire is buff. And I stamped rose design from Pueen 27, using Essie For the twill of it. 

I felt the stamp color was not quite what I was looking for and decided to double stamp the same design with Shearling darling. 

At that point, I wasn't sure if I like it or not. So, I left my right hand without double stamping. 


I thought I would re-do my left hand all together so just for fun, I stamped my pointer finger with a design from BM-311, using Nails Inc. Kings Road. 

Wow, one design makes a big difference! Now I like the look of my left hand! As my beloved daughter says, if you mess up, keep stamping!




I like doing slighly different things to the other hand. I stamped the same lettering design on my right hand pointer and added "Love" from BM-H16 on my thumb. 



Which hand design do you like? Do you agree with "if you mess up, keep stamping?"

Love,

Little Dot