Spring time! Jk... Jk...

Today's post title was chosen by my beloved daughter! First day of Spring past and we still have snow?? Seriously?

Well, at least my nails look springy...

For this look, first I used Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Ivory Skull (white) and Ceramic Glaze Pineapple Breeze (yellow) to paint my nails. Then, I stamped the floral pattern from Nailz Craze plate NC 03 with Konad Black Pearl stamping polish. 

The inspiration came from the bedding in the background. Do you see? 

I wonder if we ever get Spring here... Do you see any sign of Spring in your area? Do you sport Springy colors or designs on your nails?

Love,

Little Dot

Trip Around The World - France

This week I felt like doing French themed nails... 

I used Essie Mezmerised (blue) and OPI My Vampire Is Buff (creamy white) to paint my nails. Originally I was also going to use red to represent French flag but it just looked a bit too much of color! I used Bundle Monster BM-419 image plate to stamp the designs, using Konad Black Pearl stamping polish. The word "Paris" is a part of the Eiffel Tower design on the plate. This design itself would be too big for my nails, so I only used the word on this nail. 

For my thumb, I was able to stamp a good portion of this Eiffel Tower design. I used Color Club Harp on It as stamping color. Harp on It gives such great holographic effect. The color sparkles like a rainbow! 

I have a few stamping image plates that I can use to represent different countries. So I am thinking of doing a trip around the world nails. I am hoping to come up with another one sometime soon!

What objects or colors represent certain countries for you? 

Love,

Little Dot

Mechanical Nails

This is the nail design I did a while ago. And strangely, I kept getting compliments from guys. Maybe because it has the gear design and has a mechanical look to it?? 

I painted my nails with Essie For the Twill of It (holographic shade of purple/green), OPI My Vampire is Buff (creamy white), and OPI Emotions (black liquid sand).

And I used a gear design from Bundle Monster BM-415 image plate to stamp, using Essie For the Twill of It. By the way, this polish is like metallic and stamps really well. And in the sun, it changes color between purple, green, and silver due to the holographic aspect of it. 

OPI Emotions is an interesting polish. First coat goes very sheer. But the second coat totally covers it. It looks wet first but dries out to kind of like matte but bigger black glitters in it. 

And do you see the color of For the Twill of It? Holographic doesn't show well in picture, but it's pretty! 

Do you use holographic polish? What is your favorite stamp design?

Love,

Little Dot

The Best of Both Worlds... Base Coat Review

My nails are usually healthy but during the long cold winter, my nails tend to peel at the tips.  :(  I tried OPI Nail Envy before but I didn't really see any improvement and I am always on search for products to try. I have been trying this combination for the last several months and it seems to work pretty good for me...

Essie Protein base coat is one of the products that I was interested in trying. But I never saw them in my local stores until one day I found it at Winners for pretty good price! I tried it for a few times as a base coat under my polish but I found that my manicure didn't last long. They started chipping pretty quickly. :( I was using Orly Bonder base coat for a while and I really liked the fact my polish stays on with it for a long time, close to a week. So, I tried using both! First put on Protein base coat and put Bonder on top. Then, two coats of polish and Seche Vite top coat. Well, this works!!! With Bonder alone, sometime your nails get stains from polish. But Protein base coat is pretty good in keeping the stains away and gives nutrient to your nails. With Protein base coat alone, your polish doesn't stay long. But Bonder keeps it on for almost a week! There you go! Perfect team work!!! 

Let me introduce you to the rest of my team! I also have been religiously applying CND Solar Oil for the last few months. And I use Zoya Remove + for polish removal. Thanks to these products, my nails are looking pretty good!

Do you have any nail care products you recommend? Did your nails survive the winter?

Love,

Little Dot

St. Patrick's Day Nails

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Here is the design I did to celebrate this Irish holiday.

First I painted my nails with Essie The More The Merrier (light green), Essie Vested Interest (dark green), and OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby (gold satin finish). For stamping, I used the Irish Claddagh ring image from Bundle Monster BM-418, the Celtic clover image from Bundle Monster BM-403, and all over clover image from Nailz Craze plate NC01. I used Konad Black Pearl and Nails inc. Chelsea Bridge Road as stamping colors.

Nice Springy colors! (despite the cold weather we are still having...)

Here is my right hand. 

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? 

Love,

Little Dot

Pueen Buffet Stamping Plates Review

I finally received my new Pueen 24B Buffet Stamping Plates! And I had to test them out!!

I love Pueen plates. I already own Pueen 24E Love Element plates and this new set is great quality as well. One of the great things about Pueen plates is that they come in cute storage cases!

It looks like this. So cute!

It is so nice to be able to store the plates in a cute compact case like this. 

And the plates are gorgeous! This set is called Buffet because the designs are etched all over the plates (kind of like some of MoYou London plates) and you can pick and choose any section of the plates to stamp. 

I tested stamping on paper and all of the plates transfer very well. As always, good quality here. The only issue might be that the most of designs are pretty big to fit in small nails like mine. But the point of buffet style is you choose which area you want to use to stamp and partial designs are fun to experiment with. 

See how large the lady's face is compared to my nails? But I can use her hair as a wavy line with flowers pattern. 

Another example with the birdie image! I might stamp the first half of birdie on one nail and the other half on the second nail. 

And here is the plate Pueen 63 I used for my nails. As you see, the most of the circle images barely fit my nails and there is no way the biggest circle image fits in my nails. But you can be creative and transfer the portion of the big images onto your nails. 

For this look, first I painted my nails with OPI MissYou-Niverse (dark purple), OPI This Gown Needs A Crown (silver satin finish), and for a pop of color, Joe Fresh Orange Sorbet (orange). I stamped with Pueen 63 using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep as stamping polish. 

My right hand with slight variation. 

Overall, I am quite happy with these Pueen plates. I can't wait to try experimenting with other designs in this set. Sadly, not enough fingers, not enough time... :(

Have you tried these plates? What is your experience?

Love,

Little Dot

Blue Nails 2

More blue nails for you! I probably have so many blue polish that I can do quite a few variations...

First, I painted my nails with Ceramic Glaze My Skinny Jeans (dark blue), OPI My Vampire is Buff (creamy white), and OPI Kiss Me at Midnight (liquid sand blue). 

For stamping, I used My Skinny Jeans with Bundle Monster plate BM-406. My favorite pretzel heart design!

For my right hand, I switched around a bit and stamped the thumb with a bird design from BM-401.

I don't usually like glitter polish much but I like OPI's liquid sand. It's pretty smooth and easy to remove with polish remover. And this polish, Kiss Me at Midnight, is very pretty bright sparkly blue! 

Have you tried liquid sand? What is your favorite shade?

Love,

Little Dot

Dandelions

Here is the look my beloved daughter chose for her nails this week.

I first painted her nails with OPI My Vampire Is Buff and Essie Boxer Shorts. And I stamped dandelion design from Nailz Craze plate NC 01 using Konad Black Pearl stamping polish. 

Slight variation on her right hand. 

Essie Boxer Shorts is periwinkle color. In the picture, it looks more bluish for some reason... In life, it has some lavender tone and looks kind of springy. We just can't wait for Spring!!!

Do you have any color you like to use in Spring season? 

Love,

Little Dot

Butterfly Nails

We are having such a long harsh weather this winter in our area... I just can't wait for nice spring to arrive. So, to send my wish to the universe, here are my butterfly nails!

For this look, first I painted my nails with Color Club Harp on It and Essie Blue Rhapsody. Then, I stamped butterfly wing design from Nailz Craze plate NC 01 using Konad Black Pearl stamping polish. I used a dotting tool to place little dots on tips with Harp on It and Sally Hansen Extreme Wear White On. 

I wore a butterfly ring to complete the look!

Color Club Harp on It is very beautiful holographic polish. I just got this polish and I am hoping to use it as a stamping color very soon. I think it will look wonderful over dark polish!

Which holographic polish is your favorite? 

Love,

Little Dot