Adventures in Nail Stamping...

I've wanted to try nail stamping for awhile. :-) After reading this blogging post on Nailed It, I decided to order the stamping plates from Winstonia Store. You get 20 plates for $15, though you have to also order a stamper/scraper separately for about $3.95.

Stamping is... um... tedious at first... LOL. You need a lot of polish remover and a lot of cotton balls when you're practicing. I'm still not so good at the full nail designs yet, I need to practice more. I'm better at the smaller individual designs. It does work best when you're at the table. There's a great Stamping Tutorial on Swatch And Learn that really helped me.

This was my very first test attempt. I did some paw prints. The base was Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Lava and 1 coat of Zoya Faye over it.


I've been using Sally Hansen Insta-Dri colors in black & white to stamp with, because it's thick and gooey which is perfect. I just need some more colors now... maybe a brown, gold & silver.

This is me removing the film off the nail image plate. Guess which step was not on the back of the box with the directions? Yeah... removing the film from the plate. I totally tried stamping, thinking the blue film was SUPPOSED to be there... um... duh... lol!

This was today after I was done and the image plates are back in the little box. Messy work space.

Messing around practicing. My crooked gameboy stamp... and I seem to only be able to do full designs well on my pointer finger at the moment...

First attempt with the butterfly & star designs.

With Flash:
This was my actual full manicure when it was finished. I stamped on both hands, yay! I did stars and butterflies. The base is Layla Hologram Ultra Violet, with 1 coat of Zoya Daul on top. Black Stamp ink is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Black. I still need some practice stamping, but the results are really pretty when you get the hang of it. :-)

Without Flash:
I also got a new camera. A Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W690 16.1 MP. My last one had an unfortunate disaster with some nail polish remover... and my husband. Ironically, it wasn't me that spilled it, lol.

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I purchased the Winstonia Stamping Plates with my own money. 

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Damask, Damask, Damask!

With our meager little tax refund, (after I paid Citibank back a good chunk of our refund... to thank them for letting us live while unemployment took it's good ol' time to get set up- while I was furloughed from work for 2 1/2 weeks earlier this year)... I had a little extra cash to spend. This isn't all we spent it on of course! But it was nice to get a few new things

I was able to get a new shower mat for our bath/shower and a new fabric Damask shower curtain. Yay! If you've looked at my other Home Improvement posts, you'll notice Damask plays a key role. Our decor theme around our apartment is Black, White and Aqua.
(You can click on the photos to enlarge them).



I also got a new purse for myself! In... Damask... lol. I really love it. It has little metal feet on the bottom, and the handles are sturdy, yet it's light weight. Now... if it will hold up to all the crap I carry in my purse, remains to be seen... lol. I've gotten a bunch of compliments on it already. The brand is Belvah.




And as you know I'm having a Zoya Spring Giveaway! The giveaway ends March 8th, so enter while you can! I'm giving away Zoya Neely & Zoya Blu from the new Spring 2013 collection and I'm throwing in a travel sized L'Occitane Verbena lotion too!

I got to try Zoya Blu out tonight. (I bought extras for the giveaway!) Here is Zoya Blu, with Zoya Pixie Dust NYX on my ring finger. Blu only needed 2 coats and 1 top coat of Seche Vite. NYX I did 3 coats.

 I got bored and added polka dots... well imperfect polka dots, lol.

 If you haven't already. Check out my blog about my Complete Nail Polish Collection!

(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)


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Zoya Spring Polish Giveaway! Winner Announced!

Everyone knows my obsession with nail polish. :-p With spring on it's way I wanted to give away two Zoya nail polishes from the new spring 2013 collection. I'm giving away Zoya Neely & Zoya Blu! (I blogged about Neely here and Blu here).



Photo Source: Zoya

I'm also throwing in a 1.7oz L'Occitane Verbena Lotion!


THE WINNER IS ENTRY #63!
Katie Sayles! Congratulations!  


 
Contest Rules: 

All you have to do to enter the giveway is fill out the Rafflecopter form below! It is MANDATORY that you leave a blog comment: "What is your favorite thing about Spring?". You can earn extra entries by following me on Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. You can also Tweet about this giveaway or share this blog entry publicly on your Facebook page.
NOTE: If you don't follow the mandatory rule above- ALL your contest entries will be deleted. a Rafflecopter giveawayRules For Extra Entries:

If you share this blog post on Facebook- you must set the shared status to public and then leave a link below in the comments to your Facebook Page.

If you follow me on Instagram, please leave your Instagram username below in the comments.

If you follow me on Pinterest, please leave a link to your Pinterest page below in the comments.


This contest will run from February 18th to March 8th, March 1st 2013. 12am EST. It is only open to USA & Canada residents. My Family & Friends in USA or Canada are allowed to enter!

If you haven't already. Check out my blog about my Complete Nail Polish Collection!

*Prizes were purchased with my own money and not provided by Zoya.

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My L'Occitane Obsession...

My L'Occitane obsession started on my honeymoon in the Philippines in 2009. We stayed at the Manila Hotel and they had the verbena L'Occitane toiletries.... I was hooked. (Philippine residents, there's a L'Occitane in Greenbelt 5).

I don't get to shop from L'Occitane too often. Once a year, or twice a year at the most. Infact the last time I had purchased anything was back in April of 2011, the year my husband arrived in the USA and we had visited the King of Prussia Mall. I stocked up on Verbena lotion then! L'Occitane is not cheap, so it's something I get to splurge on once in awhile. My favorite scents are Verbena, Almond, Rose for Reines.

During our little weekend getaway in January, I got to check out the L'Occitane shop on Walnut Street in Philadelphia... and rekindle my obsession with L'Occitane!


Here are some L'Occitane products I've been using lately:

 Verbena Hand Lotion. Almost done this bottle, the new bottle is square & 10oz now instead of 8oz.

 Sample size of the Almond Oil Bodywash. I LOVE the almond scent.

Valentine's Day gift from my husband. Almond Lotion.


 Rose solid perfume. It smells like fresh cut roses. (Not on their website).

The free Shea Butter gift set I got with my order.

Goodies I got during our weekend getaway in January:

Other posts about L'Occitane:




  • L'Occitane Verbena Lotion
  • More L’Occitane Products! 
  • Weekend Getaway! 


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    Nails, Nails, Nails!

    If you haven't already, check out my post of my complete nail polish collection! I will be keeping that post updated, whenever I get a new nail polish.

    I finally caved and decided to get on the bandwagon and try one of these new sandy texture nail polishes. I bought Zoya Pixie Dust in NYX.


    I used 3 coats and since I'm a loyal Seche Vite top coat user, it was nice that this polish dries pretty quickly on it's own, since you can't use a topcoat if you want the sandy effect. At first the texture bothered me, but after a day I didn't notice it anymore. I love the color of this blue polish and the shimmery sparkles, really do make it look like sand art in person.

    I wore this one week and did not have any chipping, only tip wear which you can see in the photo below. Removal however... you should use the foil method to remove this polish because it's removes like a pain in the butt glitter polish!

    Tip wear but no chipping after 1 week of wear!

    My other new lovelies: Zoya Neely & Essie Set in Stones.

    The Neely is a lovely pastel green. The formula is very runny, but I only needed 2 coats and then a top coat of Seche Vite. 
     
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    Valentines Day 2013!

    Since Valentines Day fell on a week day and after a lonngggg work day, we stayed in and had Chinese takeout. My husband got me roses and my new favorite L'Occitane almond lotion. And I got him a few Playstation 2 games. :-)

    Here are some photos (mainly Instagram) from our Valentines 2013.

    My coworker of 11 years gave out pink/red carnations to all the ladies at work.
    Hearts on the card I got my husband.
    Roses & L'Occitane!
    Close up
    My new favorite scent.
    We bought this a few days before Valentines haha. Couldn't wait!

    Right before Valentines, I won a giveaway from the Bama+Ry Shop on Facebook! Jasmine makes gorgeous custom stamped copper & nickel jewelry. I love the jewelry she makes. Like these cute bird earrings and this beautiful inspire pendant. I also love this home is where the heart is necklace.
     
    I was so lucky to win one of her pieces! I love the heart & key design, because when my husband & I were dating & so far apart from each other, we had heart & key key chains. (Kind of like these). The necklace arrived just in time for Valentine's Day. And it came in such cute packaging too! Thank you Jasmine! I love it! :-)


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    My Zoya Polish!

    My three free Zoya promo polishes arrived a few weeks ago. I didn't want to blog until I had tried all 3 colors. I ordered Faye, Crystal & Daul. They are so pretty in person.

    The formula is thin on all of them, but dries quickly. I did 3 coats for all. It's also very easy to remove, it looks like glitter, but it must be micro glitter, it removes just like a normal polish. (With 1 coat of Seche Vite topcoat I can get a week or even 2 if I don't feel like changing my polish without much chipping).

    I wore Daul for our weekend getaway trip. It's hard to get pictures of. Sometimes it looks purple, gold or even bronze. It's super sparkly even in low light. (The 1st two pictures are cell phone photos).

    Daul: No Flash
    Daul: No Flash
    Daul: Flash

    Faye sometimes looks pink, orange and gold in person. 
    Faye: No Flash
    Faye: Flash

    Crystal is a shiny blue with bits of silver and gold in them. I really like the way the specks of gold stand out in the blue in person.
    Crystal: No Flash
    Crystal: Flash

    These gray polishes I'm posting for one of my blogger friends. She was looking for a nice gray nail polish. These are the 3 gray polishes I own. I'd like another color like the Rimmel one, but with less blue eventually.


    Rimmel London: Grey Matter, China Glaze: Immortal, Pure Ice: Kiss Me Here.
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