Mani Swap with Jessica from Be Happy and Buy Polish

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Hello Loves!  Once again, I have teamed up with the lovely Jessica from Be Happy and Buy Polish for a mani challenge.  Last time we did Quilted Twin Nails and she stomped my creative tail.  This time, it's a mani swap!  I selected one of Jessica's manicures to recreate and she selected one of mine.  Want to see them?  Originals are on the left, recreations on the right.  :)

Let's start with Jessica's recreation of my Basket of Roses mani.  In case you missed it, the full details can be seen here.  The basics are pretty simple.  The background in my version was stamped using the Messy Mansion Easter Plate (MM36).  I then freehanded the swirled roses on the tips.  They didn't turn out quite how I wanted them - the top coat smushed the colors together a bit.  Here's my original.

And here's Jessica's version.  She absolutely NAILED it.  Her roses are exactly what I was going for but missed in the original design.  Oh, and that lattice work?  She used striping tape and then freehanded the dividing lines.  Girl has skills!  Be sure to check out her post here to learn which polishes she used in her recreation.

Ready for my recreation of her mani?  Choosing one of her designs to recreate was a challenge in itself.  She has so many adorable manicures!  I finally settled on this sweet sailboat/nautical design.  Isn't it precious?

Here's my recreation.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  I think Jessica used striping tape for her version, but you know I hate striping tape and I didn't have vinyls thin enough so my stripes are freehand.  They have a little bit of wonk to them, but they're close enough for me.  ;)

For my version, I used Gelish Deep Sea as the navy, IBD Cosmic Red as the red, and IBD Carte Blanche for the white (swatched here).

While I was preparing this post, I realized I haven't swatched IBD Cosmic Red for you.  This is super surprising as it was one of the first IBD Just Gel Polishes I added to my collection, and it has seen a lot of love over the years.  So, here you go.  IBD Cosmic Red is a red jelly base that is packed with red micro glitter.

I also took the time to swatch Gelish Deep Sea.  I have a lot of older Gelish colors in my collection, but I don't wear them very often.  Deep Sea is the one color that I have probably worn most of all of my Gelish.  It is, in my opinion, the perfect navy blue with a subtle red and blue shimmer.  It's just beautiful.

It's the shimmer in Deep Sea that really gets me, and it didn't show up as much as I would like in the swatch photo above.  So you know I had to take a closeup.

Finally, here's one more shot of my recreation of Jessica's mani.  I do adore this design.  Would you believe this is my first nautical manicure?  Nautical has been on my list of designs to try for a while, and that cute little sailboat made it the perfect choice for this mani swap.  :)

What do you think?  Did I recreate Jessica's mani as well as she recreated mine?  I told her when she showed me her recreation that I'm going to stop playing with her if she keeps showing me up!  lol

~Michelle

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Lattice, Glitter and Dots - A Dreamy Combination

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Hello loves.  I absolutely love how today's mani turned out.  I can't really think of the words to describe it, so I'll let the pictures do the talking.  As usual, details to follow.

First things first, I apologize for the tip wear.  I finished this mani on Easter weekend and didn't have a chance to photograph it until a few days later.  With that said, on to the details.

I started with a base of Gelaze White on White (swatched previously here).

I then topped it with Gelish Silver Sand.  That's where things got tricky.  Sadly, when I opened the bottle to use it, the gel inside was partially cured.  I'm not sure how it happened, but I suspect the bottle is faulty.  I managed to save it just enough with gel polish thinner to use it for this manicure, but I had to toss it afterward.  Such a shame!  It's a beautiful topper and I have already ordered a replacement bottle.  Of course, in my frustration over the state of the gel, I didn't get to take a proper swatch picture.  This is one that you really need to see without the stamping obscuring the glitter, so I was really bummed that I didn't get to swatch it.  Thankfully, Andrea at Chickettes came to my rescue and agreed to let me borrow her gorgeous swatch.  :)  If you aren't already a reader of Chickettes, I strongly urge you to check it out.  Andrea's swatches are gorgeous and she has swatched the entire Gelish line to date!  Not to mention the numerous other brands she has featured.  Chickettes is a gel polish swatch mecca and her nail art is to die for.

This is Gelish Silver Sand .  It is a clear base with multiple sizes of iridescent glitters. Isn't it awesome!?!?!  It's the perfect topper for darks and lights, and I adore how it gives any polish that Indie feel.

I then stamped with Mundo de Unas Aqua using the lattice part of the image from Pueen 54.  This is one of the Buffet Series plates.  I seriously adore the style of these plates!  They are so easy to use without having to worry about stretching images or lining them up perfectly.  This has become my go-to set when I need to stamp quickly.

I decided it needed a little more color, so I then finished it off by filling in the holes in the pattern with dots of Mundo de Unas Pink.  I really couldn't be happier with the final result and received many compliments while wearing it.  My brother even grabbed my hand and asked how long it took me to paint "all those lines".  Bless his heart.  ;)

Here's the standard shot.  As you can see, the pink is a little more subtle when not side by side with the pink flowers I used for a prop in the first photo.  I think they were azaleas? 

Do you have the Pueen Buffet plates?  If so, do you love them as much as I do?

~Michelle

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Sometimes You Just Feel Like Going Nude

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Today, I have a few nude polish swatches to show you.  But first, a warning.  In preparation for today's post, I decided to Google "nude polish."  Little did I know, Google does not differentiate between "polish" and "Polish".  So here's your Google search lesson for the day:  when searching for nude polish swatches, it helps to be very specific in your search terms.  And even then, be aware of anyone standing behind you when you press enter!  ;)

Onto the swatches.  I actually don't have many nudes in my collection, which surprised me a little.  I guess I need to do something about that.  However, I do have a few and I swatched them for you.

First up, ASP Golden Opportunity.  ASP Soak Off Gel is a new addition to the SOG offerings available at Sally Beauty Supply.  They had some nice color offerings, but I resisted the urge to buy them all and picked up just one to test out.  It applied quite nicely.  I haven't tested the wear yet, but I will soon.  This one is extremely hard to photograph.  The base is a pinkish nude but it is loaded with golden shimmer.

The next nude on my list is Gelish Forever Beauty.  I have a fair number of Gelish polishes in my collection, but you likely won't see many of them swatched on this blog.  It's not that I have anything against Gelish.  It's simply that I have so many other brands and polishes to share and Andrea at Chickettes has covered Gelish beautifully!  With that said, Forever Beauty is a peach toned nude cream

My final nude swatch for today is OPI GelColor Bubble Bath.  Bubble Bath is the color I chose for my first Soak Off Gel experience and is the reason I got hooked.  It's such a soft, gorgeous pinkish nude.

~Michelle

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