Weekend Nails: Indigo Bananas and an Extend-a-Mani

Press Sample 

*These products are Cruelty Free 

Another weekend slips by...sigh. But I had pretty nails though! I'd been wearing Indigo Bananas When Are We so I did an Extend-a-Mani using Holy Matrignomey!

Indigo Bananas

When Are We and Holy Matrignomey

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Film - 84, Charing Cross Road

Collaboration Polish

Today I have a bit of nail art for you, along with several other nail artists in the links below, and we're all doing manicures based on a film!

84, Charing Cross Road is one of my favorite books AND one of my favorite movies. I liked it so much I did a collaboration polish called 84, Charing Cross Road with Amy at Literary Lacquers!

84, Charing Cross Road

In the world of books, especially 40's era stories, which is where 84 Charing Cross Road begins, it's a sepia-toned world, much like the pages of the old tomes central to the story of Frank and Helene. The sparkling rainbow, subtle in the shade, bursts forth in the sun, like the characters of Frank and Helene bursting forth from the un-earmarked pages of 84 Charing Cross Road. For anyone who loves books, they already know this is true for all of the stories and characters and worlds that lie within the sepia-toned pages of those leather-bound treasures. The same can be said for a well made, well acted movie.

You can see more swatches of the polish by itself in my original post here.

If you haven't seen it and you love books, or Anthony Hopkins, I HIGHLY recommend you make a point to see it.  Likewise, if you don't have this polish, you definitely need it!


Please check the links below to see all the other great film-inspired nail art!

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An InLinkz Link-up

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Girly Bits Stamping Stuff!

Press Samples

and Purchased by Me

Tonight, I have a post I'm pretty excited about. If you've followed long, you're likely aware that I can't stamp. Like seriously, I have often said I could freehand a design more quickly than I could stamp. One finger works and the next doesn't. Stop, remove, reapply base polish. Try again. Say bad words. Wash, rinse repeat until I'm so frustrated I give up. I've done a few here on Pointless Cafe and always provided an apology first LOL!

Tonight though, I have some SUCCESS to tell you about! I don't know if it was the stamping polishes, the stampers, the pressure I used, the plates or what, but I'll show you what I tried with this time and a few of the results.

Nail of the Day: Scofflaw - An American Wookie in London

Nothing to Disclose

I didn't get to a Bits and Bobs post this weekend but I thought I'd at least show you my nail of the day! It's Scofflaw An American Wookie in London. I knew I had to have it the minute I saw it!

Scofflaw Nail Varnish

An American Wookie in London

 

An American Wookie in London is part of the Scofflaw Winter 2016 Collection and it's a cool-toned dark brown crelly with green to red shifting shimmer and micro-flakes but the red flakes show up as violet! I used 2 coats and one coat of top coat. So much dimension.

I LOVED it and the formula was perfect and easy. And it was just dark enough for my new shorties.

If you'd like to purchase this, check out the links below.

Shop 

Facebook 

Instagram

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*Purchased by me
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A Box, Indied: February 2016 - Diamonds are Worthless - Love a Holo!

Press Sample 

*These products are Cruelty Free 

Hi guys!

I hope everyone is surviving the weather! Only got 6 inches here and now the sun is out. But I think we here in the Midwest maybe shouldn't have given the storm a Redbull before we sent it East. Oops!

Well today I have the February A Box Indied polishes to show you and I'm pretty excited about this box because I love all 5 of them! Which means I have a lot of photos.

February 2016 A Box, Indied

Diamonds are Worthless - Love a Holo!

Paint Box Polish: LE Valentine's Day Set - Love's Keen Sting and Other Goodies

Press Sample 

Happy Snow Day! Well, here in southern Indiana anyway. I have something to show you that will warm your hearts.

Paint Box Polish: LE Valentine's Day Set

Love's Keen Stink Polish with Strawberries & Champagne and Love Bites Mani Fizzes

Pahlish: The Cake is a Lie Collection - Swatches and Review

Press Sample 

*These products are Cruelty Free 

Pahlish

The Cake is a Lie Collection

Happy Saturday! Today I have a new collection from Pahlish to show you that is releasing tomorrow evening: The Cake is a Lie Collection!

The Digit-al Dozen: New and Improved and 40 Great Nail Art Ideas Fly the Flag!

Nothing to Disclose

The Digit-al Dozen: New and Improved 

and 40 Great Nail Art Ideas 

Fly the Flag!

So I'm a cheater. A big, fat CHEATER! I own it. Today I have Day 5 for The Digit-al Dozen AND the Things that Fly prompt for the 40 Great Nail Art Ideas challenge. So I did what any self-respecting lazy procrastinator would do. I combined them into ONE mani! You say cheater, I say genius.

So this one isn't "new" but I tried to make it "improved." I've done a Union Jack (yes, it's a Union Flag unless flown at sea. I know. I watch Doctor Who) mani a few times before here and with a photo tutorial here. But I keep thinking there must be an easier way. I didn't find the easier way, but I did add the smaller red stripes that were missing from the first one and I started with a red base and freehanded the blue and white around it, which was a different method.

And since flags FLY, I snuck this one in to the 40 Great Nail Art Ideas prompt too!

I used Zoya Livingston (sent for review) for the red and then Nails Inc. Tudor Way (purchased by me) for the blue. The white is acrylic paint.

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Be sure to check out ALL the links below in both sections for all the other great manis from the talented crews of The Digit-al Dozen and Crumpet's Nail Tarts.

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

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The Digit-al Dozen: New and Improved - Double Stamping

Press Sample 

The Ditigal Dozen New and Improved

Double Stamping

Day 4! Today I'm doing something I rarely do. Stamping. I'm not very good at stamping so of course I decided to try double stamping. Go figure! However, this was the easiest stamping mani I've done so far and it really doesn't look half bad. I still can't really call myself a stamper, but these polishes and the plate I used made it so much easier.

I started with a base of KBShimmer Eclipse (purchased by me - I did a review of one previously that was sent for review.) I stamped over it first with Girly Bits Stamping Polish in Fire Engine Red using their new stamping plate. The silver splatters are using Girly Bits Stamping Polish Silver Bells (all sent for review.)

Sure you can see the mistakes, but this is honestly the best I've ever done, try as I might and I'm very happy with it! I didn't have to re-do even one nail. The only issue I had was before I got started. I tried to use the super squishy (somewhat sticky) stamping head and I could get the image picked up but I couldn't get it to transfer. I switched to the harder one and it worked fine!

Stay tuned for a full review of the plate and all of the new Girly Bits stamping polishes!


Be sure to check out the other great New and Improved manis in the links below.

An InLinkz Link-up

If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

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The Digit-al Dozen: New and Improved - Fishtail Braid

Nothing to Disclose

The Digital Dozen New and Improved

Fishtail Braid Accent

I've done a fishtail braids before here, here, here and here. I haven't loved any of them. So I thought I'd try to improve.

But I think it got worse! I said I'd show you successes AND fails so...

The redeeming thing about this manicure though is that I used stunning polishes. Spirit of the Moors, Let Me In and Cathy from a-England's Wuthering Heights Collection. (All purchased by me.) They really are amazing and Let Me In even made my Best 15 of 2015 End-of-Year post!


Check out all the other DD gang New and Improved manis in the links below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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The Digit-al Dozen: New and Improved - Spiral Toothpick Marble

Nothing to Disclose

The Digital Dozen: New and Improved

Spiral Toothpick Marble

Yes I called it a toothpick marble. LOL! I've called them that since I started doing them with a toothpick back in 2011. Of course mine have always been the basic side to side kind. So this is both new and improved...new because it's not the design I've always done and improved because I did try this once before with mediocre results.

Black and white again LOL!

For this one I used Salon Perfect Sugar Cube and KBShimmer Eclipse (purchased by me - I did a review of one previously that was sent for review.) And of course a toothpick. I don't remember where I first saw the spiral design but I have since seen Sveta Sanders do a tutorial on her IG I think?

Check out what the other DD gang is doing for New and Improved in the links below!

An InLinkz Link-up

If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

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The Digit-al Dozen: New and Improved - Paint Drip

Nothing to Disclose

The Digital Dozen

New & Improved

It's time for another Digital dozen week! This week, the prompt is New and Improved. Well goodness knows I need improvement! So We can either do a new-to-us technique or improve upon one we've done before.

So for my first mani, I've chosen a paint drip mani. I've done one before but honestly I'm not even sure it made it onto the blog. Yes, it wasn't great. Although, I do tend to show my fails, so it might have. Sometimes I just forget I have one I haven't shown you though.

I'm still not thrilled with this one, but if we do this prompt again next year maybe I'll try again!

I used a base of Salon Perfect Sugar Cube with acrylic paints for the rest. Rather cartoony, which makes it passable I think. It's certainly not what I'd call realistic.


So there day one in the books, bay-bee!

Check out the other great New and Improved manis from the DD gang in the links below!

An InLinkz Link-up

If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

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Weekend Bits and Bobs: January 10, 2016 - Dogs, Snow, Cooking and Make-Up Storage

Nothing to Disclose

It's baaaaack!!!

Weekend Bits and Bobs was one of my most popular blog series but I shamelessly let it fall by the wayside when I moved. It actually disappeared a bit before that...I needed to learn how to say NO more often and then prep for the move. But it's time to resuscitate it now.

Because it's such a random conglomeration of things that are rarely interesting, I can't imagine the appeal, but who am I to argue? I'm just happy all of you guys show up post after post. You are wonderful!

Nail of the Day: Indigo Bananas Synonym Bun

Press Sample 

*This product is Cruelty Free 

Is Monday over yet? You'd think, since it's what? Thursday? But NOOOOO. At least I have pretty polish though! Just a quick Nail of the Day...

Indigo Bananas

Synonym Bun

Synonym Bun is from the Fall 2015 Collection and it's a reddened rusty orange - like a bronzy amber fire with a linear holo. Two coats and one coat of top coat - perfectly smooth and easy formula with  no issues at all to report. Very glowy.

You can purchase/find out more information in the links below.

Indigo Bananas links:

Shop

Facebook 

Instagram 

International distributors 

Happy polishing!

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*Product was sent to me by Indigo Bananas for my honest opinion.
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Pahlish January Duo 2016: Test Shaft 09 - Swatches and Review

Press Sample 

*These products are Cruelty Free 

Well I can't tell you how happy I am that the holidays are OVAH. I'm just too lazy for them! Or too old. Well, that's not entirely true. About 3 days before Christmas, I get into "the frenzy" and start baking and getting excited. It's just never a great time for me. Next time I'm going to start getting excited earlier! Nonetheless, I'm glad they're over and our bright new year is starting with more bright new polish!

Pahlish Duo - January 2016

Test Shaft 09

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Happy New Year!

Press Sample 

*These products are Cruelty Free 

Today I'm darting in and out quickly to show you my NYE mani. I was running short on time so I went with a super blingy polish and a simple dotticure.

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Happy New Year

For this mani I used the new (released TODAY) KBShimmer Diamond from the Birthstone Collection. I used KBShimmer Eclipse for the black and KBShimmer Chilly Pepper for the red. One coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top to finish it off.

Hope everyone makes 2016 the best year yet!

Be sure to check the links below for other great New Year nail art ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up

*These polishes were provided by KBShimmer and have been previously reviewed.
If you enjoyed this post, please take a second to "like" it! Thanks!

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