Finally, an affordable drugstore stamping kit!

Holy WOW, I'm excited about this!! My husband and I went to WalMart to walk, as is our habit, and meandered over to the As Seen On TV section, mainly to have a giggle at the silly products. It's always good for a few minutes of fun, you know?

Imagine my surprise when I found THIS! Holy CRAP, do you see what that is? It's a drugstore nail stamping kit- not just stamping disks, not just a stamper, but a whole kit with everything you'd need (except the polish) to get started stamping your nails!

I may have squealed out loud over this. I may even have hopped up and down a bit while I hugged the kit to my chest, swooning over the awesomeness of it.

My husband's reaction? He chuckled, shaking his head at me. He doesn't understand my love for nail art, but he does like to see me get excited. Once I saw this kit contained awesome image plates, I absolutely had to have it.

That's right... not one plate, not two... but five!! Five plates with adorable images, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's look at this bit by bit, shall we?

Just look at what the kit contains- You get the nail design stamper (which is DOUBLE-ENDED, people!!), the scraper, the image plate holder, and FIVE image plates!

And these aren't the usual floral plates... while you get an assortment of really cute florals, you also get cute things like an apple, a palm tree, a seahorse... really cute stuff! The plate with animal print and patterns is what made me hop up and down, though.

What can I say, I'm silly.

Let's look at the plates up close... they're worth it!

 

Yes, you can click those images to see them larger. How adorable are they? I really like the double heart in the center of plate SE 21, the flower on SE 18, just about everything on SE 19, and the flower on SE 20. And OMG, do I even have to mention SE 22? I LOVE those images!

There's just one issue with SE 22- the images are definitely not full-nail. They might cover my pinky nail, but definitely not any others. Still, these are very usable images.

I can see myself using these as partial-nail stamps, to decorate half the nail, or french tips, or whatever. They're still absolutely adorable! Totally worth the price of the kit!

Oh yea, the price... I haven't mentioned the price. Can you believe this whole kit costs a whopping $10? Me either! Heck, you can barely get a single Konad plate for $10, much less the whole setup. I'm in LOVE!!

I'm also really excited about the double-ended stamper. One of the problems with the traditional stamper that comes with kits is that it's just too big. It can be hard to line images up on smaller nails using the big stamper, and a double-ended stamper can be hard to find, or more than you want to spend.

So, let's look at what it would cost to pick up these items from Konad, since that's the brand that started the stamping craze. If you were to buy them separately, you would end up with:

• double ended stamper and scraper: $6.90
• image plate holder: $2.90
• 5 image plates: $6.50 each, total $32.50
• Total for whole set: $42.30 before tax and shipping.

Pretty awesome deal, don't you agree? I know I'm over the moon! Of course, you don't get the Konad name, but in all honesty, I've used Konad plates and stampers, and I'm not seeing a huge difference in quality here. This is the best value I've seen yet when it comes to stamping kits.

Now comes the embarrassing part: I am SO out of practice when it comes to stamping. I had my stamping set in a sweet little cloth bag, and I seem to have misplaced it somehow. It's been way too long since I did any stamping, and BOY does it show. But I feel like I need to show the stamping I did, even though I'm WAY out of practice.

I pulled out a selection of polishes I'd been wondering about to see how they'd do on black and white. Sadly, most of them didn't work as well as I expected, although the Heaven polish surprised the heck out of me!

Also? Don't blame the bad stamping on the image plates or the stamper. I'm definitely to blame, as I'm getting used to the whole stamping process again. It definitely takes some getting used to!

So, I know what I'll be fiddling with for the next few weeks. I have so many ideas bouncing around my head! YAY!

Also? This is the fastest I think I've ever reviewed anything. I was so excited to see this, and even more excited that it's everything I was hoping for.

This may have been as As Seen On TV set, but it's definitely nothing to laugh at. This set is worth every penny, and quite a bit more!

As far as I know (after some quick googling) these are for sale at WalMart, CVS, Walgreens, and maybe Rite Aid? You may find them other places as well, I don't know... if you see a section for As Seen On TV items, look around! You just might get rewarded with awesome stamping!

I love this kit! You should go buy one today!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Oh dear... That didn't work out like I hoped it would.

I told you yesterday I'd share the Konadicure I did on top of H&M's Goddess On Stage. I didn't say it would be pretty, unfortunately...

I had the best intentions, as usual. I wanted to brighten up the deep tones of the purple base coat, and I thought that gorgeous new pink holographic polish I won from Scandalously Polished would be perfect for the task. Pink goes with purple, I thought to myself, and I like holographic polishes. This should be GREAT!

I had such high hopes. I pulled out my stamping set and flipped through the plates, trying to decide what look to go for. I'm not a floral person, but my plates have an absolute TON of flowers. I'm starting to figure out ways to use them that I like, though that's a totally different blog post. For this one, though, I settled on the Hot Topic fauxnad plate with the stars. I thought they'd be cute in pink.

I then grabbed my Lumene Natural Code Nail Styler in 11 Make Impact. Instead of going for a straight-across look with the stars, placing them in the same place on each nail, I decided to place them "randomly" on my nails, trying to make everything look cute depending on the amount of space available on the individual nails. This wasn't a bad idea, exactly, but it just didn't look right. Somehow, it didn't look like there was a finished design on my nails. Instead, it looked like I had random crap stamped onto them.

Key word there? Random.

 What to do? I decided maybe dots would help fill in some of the space, and make things look more... I don't know. More like a cohesive design, instead of just random crap on my nails, I guess.

See, I have a problem. I'm a bit of a perfectionist. While I see other people's stamped nails and think they're adorable, I can't help but see every tiny flaw in my own stamped designs. I end up hating almost every stamped design I do.

So I pulled out my new dotting tools and set to work. I applied some big dots first to fill in the negative space, but that didn't help. Instead, I had pale stars surrounded by bright freakin' pink dots. Oh yea, that's attractive.

So I added some smaller dots. I did some randomly, others in small curved trails around the stars. And the more I added, the busier it got, and the uglier it got. I couldn't figure out what else to do with it, so I said to heck with it, added topcoat, and called it a day. Then I went on Twitter and complained that I think Konad just isn't for me. :D

Now, looking at the photos, it doesn't look as bad. But trust me on this one... somehow, the photos don't capture the not-quite-rightness of this one. I was very, very happy to take my polish off and try another manicure. Of course, that one made me cuss too, but in the end I was happy with things...

... but that's a story for another day!

Happy Holidaze the sixth- Laynie loses her mind with glitter!

I'm taking a break from the batch of nail tips I decorated, but don't worry. You're still getting the holiday nail art, but today it's more of a cautionary tale, although I'm not quite sure what I'm cautioning you against. I think it's a simple Don't do this, because it isn't pretty!

But first, let me show you yesterday's adventures! I finally sold the monster nails, so I treated myself to a sample pack of glitter! Unfortunately, it came packaged in cute little baggies, which doesn't work for me. I debated for quite a while in Michaels, trying to figure how I was going to store this stuff so that I could use it!

Then it hit me. I saw a set of paint pots for $2.75 hanging in the section with palettes and containers and things for painting. Have I mentioned I'm frugal? Yea, I don't want to spend $10 on something to store my $4 glitter, so this was just right for me! The only issue would be transferring the glitter from the packets to the pots, but I could be careful, right?

Right. The thing I forgot to take into consideration was that this is microglitter. It's so incredibly fine that it can waft into the air like a dust cloud, gently drifting and lazily gliding on air currents in the room. How do I know this, you ask yourself? Lemme tell you...

Because I'm so frugal, I wanted to get every last speck of the glitter out of the packages. I spent good money on that stuff, and I don't want to waste it! I cut the edge of the first bag off (emerald green, ine you were wondering, and haven't seen me since the incident!), gently tap-tap-tapped it into the pot, being careful not to spill any. Then, I lifted the bag up with the cut end pointing up, intending to tap it on my finger to pull down the glitter stuck to the edges of the bag. It worked perfectly while the bag was closed!

Unfortunately, I didn't think this through carefully enough. When I tapped the bag on my finger, instead of this causing gravity and inertia to pull the glitter on the edges of the bag down to the bottom it turned the bag into a very small bellows, sending a tiny mushroom cloud of green glitter directly into my face.  It felt like it was in slow motion, this tiny cloud expanding toward my face, enveloping my head in its sparkly green goodness. Except it wasn't quite goodness that enveloped my head. It was glitter, and glitter never goes away.

I won't waste your time with the tales of how I finally got all the bits of glitter picked up and shaken out of my hair. Let's just say it included lots of masking tape, lots of cursing, and lots of my family pointing and laughing at me. I deserved it, clearly, but really... how was I supposed to know this was going to happen?

I finally got the glitter packed away and most of the random glitter fallout picked up. What am I saying... I know I'm going to be finding glitter in random places for the next 15 years. Glitter is like herpes- once you get it on you, it never goes away.

And on to the nail art, since I've shared my secret shame. Unfortunately, this isn't much less embarrassing. I had visions of a cute, sassy Konad look that would be fun to wear. What I ended up with was more like the 80s threw up all over my nails. It's not horrible, granted, and it's better than I could do when I first got the Konad stuff. But still?

This isn't good. Not by a long shot. And the more I did to it, the worse it got.

It all started with the package I won from Scandalously Polished over twitter. I had no idea what to expect, so I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY when I saw it was 10 polishes and 4 nail foils! CRAZY! She is super awesome, and if you haven't seen her blog, then scoot over right after you read this and say hi!

In that package was a polish from H&M called Bella's Choice. I'm going to assume this has something to do with that vampire thing going around... Dusk or Nightfall or Twilight or something, yea? Whatever... it's an absolutely gorgeous turquoise creme that I couldn't wait to put on. I was hoping it would look wonderful on me!

In truth, not so much. It made me look somewhat ill. My husband looked at it and called it "that puke polish you're wearing." I wore it grocery shopping and the cashier caught sight of my nails, did a double take, then quickly looked away with a strange look on her face. I think she didn't want to ask if I was feeling ok, but you could tell she didn't think it looked good. I like the color, though, so I figured maybe if I stamped over it, I'd be able to wear it.

Enter the second color she sent- H&M Goddess on Stage. This polish is magnificent, y'all. I really don't even have the words to describe how amazing this is. Creamy, gorgeous, just luscious. I thought it would play nicely with Bella's Choice and make something wearable for me. But it actually stamped sort of sheerly, and in my stamping ineptitude I ended up missing spots and stuff.

No big deal, I thought to myself, I can just fix those spots with a brush. Sure, except that I couldn't copy the consistent thinness of the stamped image, leaving me with heavy purple spots on the edges of the print. Oh yea, that looks GREAT.

Maybe I can add some color to the spots, to draw the eye away from the dark edges, I continued thinking to myself. I pulled out my pink and white creme polishes and added some to the dots, but that wasn't enough, in my opinion. My husband did think it made everything look better, even better than the stamp alone. "It covers the puke nicely!"

Thanks hon. I feel much better now.

As a finishing touch, I added lime green and yellow creme dots to the remaining spots and covered it all in Seche Vite. And you know what?

It wasn't horrible, but I don't think I'll be wearing this one again. There are just too many things here that just didn't work well together, and I'm just... no. No. Never again!

Do you have any horrible stories about manicures that just didn't work as well as you hoped? I'd love to hear them to make me feel better about this one!

Happy Holidaze the fifth- Five Golden Rings!!

Boy oh boy, am I glad I did a bunch of nail art in advance. I had to cut my nails back tonight, and I'm back to nubbins, unfortunately... they're so short they aren't even close to the tips of my fingers. *sighs* Stupid breaks and splits. Hopefully they'll be healthier because of it, though...

So, I don't know about you, but sometimes when I go to a holiday party, I have no desire to paint my nails in red and green. Sure, it's a Christmas party, but the red and green can stay on the tree! Instead, I'm going to show you an easy Konad design that I absolutely love!

Ok, it's dots instead of rings, and there are more than five. But they ARE gold!

First, I painted my nails with a basic black creme polish. Pick one, any of them will do. Two coats, then once they dried I pulled out my  Maybelline Express Finish in Matte Gold for stamping. Doesn't it do a great job? Unfortunately, I don't remember quite which Konad plate this image is from, but really you can pick one you like.  I chose this one because of the blank space at the top and the bottom.

First I used a tiny paint brush and a dot of the Matte Gold to take the lines all the way to the edge of the nail at the top and the bottom. It's not quite perfect, but that's ok- nobody is going to be looking that closely at your nails. I'm just too obsessive to leave them unconnected.

Once the edges were tidied up, I then pulled out my Sinful Colors All About You, which is an absolutely delicious gold-toned glitter that has multiple sizes and multiple tones of gold. I absolutely adore this glitter, because it's sparkly enough to add a kick, but still small enough to stay sort of subtle, at least as far as glitter goes. :D

I added All About You to the top and bottom sections of the nail, adding to the look and sort of making things look finished. I feel like it really did take a design that was pretty and make it pretty awesome! Then I finished things off with a coat of Seche Vite to protect everything and I called it DONE! Easy as can be.

Now, if only I had somewhere to wear it to! Ah well, soon.

I Love the Way Chrome Polishes Stamp!

I had a few extra dollars a few days back, so I decided to splurge on a stamping polish. Hee, I say splurge like it cost me $30 or something... I spent $2 on a Pure Ice polish from WalMart!

But let me tell you, these Pure Ice chromes stamp like nobody's business! I was actually really impressed when I saw the pigmentation of this one. This is definitely a one-coat dream!

I know, so what did I get? I got Pure Ice Pussy Cat, which is a very pale silvered blue chrome (or perhaps is should be a blued-silver? I don't know...). It's absolutely lovely for stamping, although it left little dried strings of polish on the edges of my nailbed.

 I chose to wear this stamped over a Wet n Wild polish I won from KittyPolishnBags. Deep Wine is just that, a gorgeous shimmery deep wine that just works beautifully with my skin tone. I could have worn this alone but I was really in the mood for some stamping. The fun thing about these colors together is how they interact together.

Although Pussy Cat is clearly blue in the bottle (and if you were to wear it alone), when stamped over Deep Wine it loses almost of the blue, becoming a very beautiful rich silver. I can't begin to explain how much I enjoyed this combination!

So, if you're looking for an affordable, gorgeous stamping polish, head for the Pure Ice display at your local WalMart. The chromes are fantastic!

Making Faces With My Husband

Let me start by saying my husband rarely shows any interest in my nails. He thinks nail art is kind of silly, but he loves how much fun I have with my nail art and my blog. But recently he happened to be looking over my shoulder while I was cropping some pictures. Things got interesting then...

I was working on these photos of the stamped Bordello nails with a coat of Maybelline's Matte Maker. The matte topcoat did something interesting to Bordello- the satin finish somehow highlighted the shimmer in it, causing it to have a sheen almost like fabric. It's almost magical, really, seeing the change it made. I think I'll be using this Matte Maker again, perhaps to highlight areas on a nail design instead of over the entire nail.

Whew, that was long-winded! Anyway, so I'm working on a closeup of my thumbnail to show the pattern when my husband said, "That looks like a face!"

I turned to him, raised an eyebrow and said, "... wait, what?"

"A face," he continued. "You know, the eyes would go there, and the mouth..." He gestured with his hands, pointing in the general direction of my thumbnail photo.

I didn't know what to say, really. "I love you baby, but you're kinda weird," I said to him, giggling.

For some reason, he wouldn't take no for an answer. "No, really! Do it! Draw a face!"

So I did. He sat with me and told me where to put what, what colors to choose, even where to put the highlight in the eyes. It was cute, and I had to share. I had to tell him that it wasn't exactly what i would have drawn, though. Then he told me fine, to draw my own...

And so I did.

Mine was girlier. I think she could use some hair, too, but overall I think you get the idea. He liked my drawing too, and said she was cuter than his.

Then he dared me to post it to my blog. How could I say no? Besides, I thought it might make someone giggle...

Right?

Anyone?

Please tell me I haven't lost my mind. Please? :D

Manicure is done with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Claw Polish in Bordello, Maybelline  Matte Gold stamped using Konad image plate m79, topped with a coat of Seche Vite, then a coat of Maybelline's Matte Maker top coat. BPAL's Bordello was provided by the company for evaluation.

Stamping the BPAL Bordello...

Once I got that luscious bunch of BPAL Claw Polish, I couldn't stop at swatching. I had to wear at least one as a manicure, and Bordello totally stole my heart. Something about the shimmery sparkly depth of it called to me, and I won't lie- I didn't fight it. I wore it plain for a couple of days, then decided to stamp it using one of the polishes from my recent Dollar Store haul- Maybelline Matte Gold.

It was really pretty, if I do say so myself. I went with a pattern I've used before, simply because I like it. For some reason, of all the image plates I have (hee, not that many), I tend to gravitate toward m79. I love the netted pattern, and although I keep wanting to use others, this one draws me in often.

This time, I found that the pattern stamped in gold played well with the shimmer in Bordello, really capturing the essence of the description of the polish. Black Phoenix Trading Post describes Bordello as "the bright raspberry of Dance Hall flocked wallpaper," and the subtle repeating print mixed with the shimmer really brought to mind aged dance hall patterns.

Because I had a coat of Seche Vite between the base polish and the stamp, there was a subtle depth to the finished look that I loved. The interplay between the shimmers was interesting, and although I finished with another coat of Seche Vite, they almost looked as if they should feel velvety, as if you could reach out and pet them and feel them soft and fuzzy under your fingertips. It was fascinating, and I couldn't stop looking at my nails, shifting them in the light, loving the look of it all.

Of course, the next step would be to paint a matte topcoat over this look, but that's tomorrow's blog. :D

I tried to capture this in a photograph and failed miserably. I wish I could take video of this, show you just how downright magical it looked, the silver shimmer in the Bordello shining up through the raspberry polish, and dancing with the gold stamp. Unfortunately, I failed as a photographer, and am left with only this single image. Sad, isn't it?

But you can imagine with me the sound of the dance hall piano, the laughter of the people inside...

BPAL's Bordello was provided by the company for evaluation.

BPAL has NAILPOLISH now!! Really!

For years, I've watched my friends geek out over BPAL. They get to into it, and it's almost like they've joined a cult with its own language, its own practices. They organize everything into spreadsheets, imps and wish lists, things to keep and things to trade, and elaborate discussions of dry down and top notes and things that I just don't understand. It's smelly stuff, how could it be that awesome?

I stayed away from the mania contently, without feeling the pull. It was easy, because I knew I didn't have the money to get involved, so I'd just watch amusedly from afar, never getting too close lest I be sucked in. That is, I stayed away easily until last week.

Last week, BPAL reached out and grabbed my heart in a sudden, unexpected gesture, and my life will never be the same again. After seeing Magic Maid's post all about the new BPAL Claw Polish, I found myself drawn in against my control. They looked so lush, so beautiful. I found myself at the Black Phoenix Trading Post looking at each polish and its description, swooning. I sent an email to them, congratulating them on their new line, expressing my pleasure at seeing them have such a lovely, expressive line of colors for their first nail polishes, and a request to be aded to their PR list for future information.

I was surprised to hear back from an absolutely wonderful person named Puddin. We had a fun email exchange, but most of all he told me to expect a little package from them. I was ecstatic! But when it got here, I was absolutely dumbfounded! That lovely man had sent me 9 polishes from the line that seemed absolutely perfectly chosen for me. I'm not sure how he did it, just that he did, and I couldn't wait to swatch them all... I interrupted the post I was making just to swatch and photo. Finally, I'm ready to post the results!

First I painted them onto my nails in a sort of blood-related skittles mani. It actually worked well, showing the relation of the colors and how they're subtly different from each other. Photographing these was almost impossible, because flash severely altered the colors, but shooting manual made the colors have an incredibly orange cast to them. However, with a bit of photoshop I was able to rescue the manual shots into something that's almost accurate.

These polishes are decadent. I mean that... they go on silky smooth, creamy as ... the creamiest thing imaginable. I struggle for words. The colors are divinely pigmented, ranging from the deep dark blood-colored Blood Countess, to the dried-blood shade of Lady Macbeth, and ending with the color of fresh arterial spray in Mme Moriarty. These shots aren't 100% accurate- Mme Moriarty truly is the color of fresh blood, deep red and thick and absolutely beautiful on the skin. Sed Non Satiata is a more pink shade, described by BPAL as being "Lust captured: pulsating deep burgundy." They're all absolutely gorgeous creme polishes that I am thrilled to have.

Moving on, there is the other four, which are less blood oriented: Maiden is a very sheer, pale pink that would probably be good for french manicures or for people who want a touch a color, but not a lot. Opium poppy is a vivid  pink for those who love color, a bright hot pink that commands attention. Bordello is my favorite- a silver shimmer in this deep pink that is simply stunning on the nail. One coat of this is sufficient, but I chose to do two coats for every polish. The last polish on this hand is Midnight on the Midway, a plum frost that is my least favorite of the bunch. It's not bad, by any stretch of the imagination, it simply appears slightly dated compared to the other shades. However, it's still lush and beautiful, covering generously with one coat.

The final polish in the bunch is Embalming Fluid, a gorgeous lime green in the bottle that applies sheer and glittery over any polish you put it over. Unfortunately, I seem to have neglected to get any photos of it!! I'll hopefully remedy that soon, and do an update on it.

Of course, by this point, there was only one thing to do:  I had to test the stampability of these polishes! I used my new method of stamping onto a white sticker that I then apply onto the bottle, so that I know just how well it stamps without having to jump into my spreadsheet to check it! My husband and I came up with the perfect word for these- STAMPLES! As you can see, they're all extremely good for stamping except for Maiden and Embalming Fluid, which left the page basically blank and are simply too sheer to stamp with.

I highly recommend enlarging this one to see the stample details!

And so we reach the conclusion of my epic swatchathon. These polishes are available at the BPAL Trading Post for $9 each, are big 3 free, and in my opinion are at least equal in quality with my Deborah Lippman polishes. Add in the amazing customer service and you cannot go wrong with any of these polishes. I think they are absolutely amazing, and I ended up wearing Bordello as my nail of the day for a full week! It stayed on until I took a very leisurely hour-long bath, which soaked the polish off several of my nails. But any polish would have done the same, so I'm not complaining about that at all!

So- if you're at all interested in these shades (and I do so hope that you are), when you head over to the Trading Post, be sure to tell Puddin you read about them here!

Aiee, Poor Caribbean...

Oh dear. You ever do something pretty, and then just keep on going and destroy it? Yea, that's what I did here. The Caribbean Frost was pretty, but I got bored. Really bored. This is what happens.

See, first I grabbed my stamping kit. I have it all in a cute little bag that Kellie G. sent me. (If it wasn't for her, I'd still be stuck with the same single plate I had.) I dug through all the plates and decided to go with M78. It's a really cute pattern that I've wanted to use more than once, but never got around to using. Since I just got those gorgeous Maybelline Aluminum polishes, I decided to see how they'd stamp on this lovely shade of teal.

It was... pretty. It was fairly sheer, though. I wanted more! I then decided to fill in the cheetah spots with black and white. That was AWFUL!! Thankfully, the Sally Hansen Nail Art pens are water-based, and I could remove them without any damage to the stamp. It was really not something worth saving,unfortunately.

Then I decided to try the silver and gold. They were... better? I don't know. I'm not fond of this look, but I decided to keep it on for whatever reason. A coat of Seche Vite made it durable and shiny, and dried quickly as usual.

Oh, you may be wondering about the naproxen sodium in the photo. I've managed to damage my knee somehow, so I'm taking these around the clock to help with inflammation. I was amused at that bottle being closest to hand. I know, I have a weird sense of humor.

All in all, I don't think this is a horrible look. I just don't have long enough nails to make the best use of the pattern, and it ended up looking sort of disorganized. But it was the first time I used a whole-nail stamp and it turned out nicely. Also, I learned a lot about stamping and design. So overall, it was a great learning experience, right? :D

What would you consider one of your more educational nail polish experiences? Have you done a nail art design that just made you want to take it off and start over? Tell me about it in the comments! And coming up tomorrow, I got a special surprise in the mail that I get to share with you! See you then!

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens were provided by their PR company for evaluation.

Simple Nail Art Designs Using Konad Stamps as a Base

Have you ever wanted to do a fun nail art design, but had absolutely no idea how to get started? That's how I felt right before I started this look. I was so excited because I'd gotten a couple of KISS Nail Artist Nail Paints, but I had absolutely no idea what to do with them. I just don't paint all that well. Then I had an idea:  I would look through my Konad/Fauxnad plates to see if anything grabbed me.

Before long, I'd settled on image plate m76. I like the flower design I chose for several reasons. It's fun, it's cute, but most of all it has lots of open spaces. I can paint those open spaces with other colors to make it look much more complex than it really is. Plus, I don't have to worry about drawing the design, or if I'm doing it right. It's like doing a paint-by-numbers kit, only I get to choose what colors go where!

Granted, I only had room for the pink KISS striper, but that's ok. I can use the blue some other time. I know I'll use it because it's a gorgeous shimmery royal blue, and I have a thing for shimmery royal blue!

So, next I had to decide on a background color. I made a somewhat strange choice, but I think it worked out well in the end. I put three coats of Maybelline Express Finish in Golden Plum. This pink is absolutely divine, my lovelies. It's bright, but it's also sheer, so that you can get away with it in lots more places. The glass fleck in this polish is so, so pretty. There's something about the depth that I love! I could have left this as is with just a coat of topcoat, but no...

I wanted more.

That's where the Konad stamping comes in. This part was actually pretty easy, if somewhat nitpicky. First, I stamped my chosen image. (Come on, you're still with me, right? I just showed you that picture. Scroll up if you have to!) I decided to use white for the stamp, so that it would look nice against the pink. It looked cute on its own- my husband actually preferred it without filling in the colors. Oh well.

Then it was just a matter of filling in the various bits with color. I think the animated gif I made explains it a bit better than I could with words. Honestly, isn't that usually the case? I used a variety of polishes for the various colors. The petals were KISS Nail Artist Nail Paint Soft Pink, the flower center was a mixture of Sinful Colors Let's Meet and Love My Nails Hot Tamale, the leaves were a mixture of Wet n Wild Wild Shine Carribean Frost and Sinful Colors Happy Ending, and I put Sinful Colors All About You over the various bubbles and things in the design. Sinful Colors All About You is a gorgeous mix of golden and coppery glitters, so it added an interesting punch of color from the right angles.

As I was painting, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not. In fact, up until I put the topcoat on, I was half sure I would hate it. But as I put the topcoat on, I realized that the combination of polishes reminded me of cloisonne, a surface treatment in which compartments are filled with enamels or inlays. Something about the way the flower petals were surrounded by the white of the Konad stamp really reminded me of the way the metal barriers contained the enamels in cloisonne beads. I didn't hate it after all!

I also learned something new with this particular manicure. I'd read about repairing broken nails with a tea bag, but had never actually had to do it. Thankfully I had both nail glue and tea bags on hand, because I was walking through my hallway, tripped over my own feet, and managed to split the nail on my left hand ring finger down the center. I was lucky that it didn't go past the white part and didn't hurt or bleed or anything, but I was so upset. That's my swatching hand!! I've got a lot of stuff to show, what do I do?

Well... I mended my nail using a tea bag, my nail glue, and the sweet KISS manicure kit I've been holding on to. Luckily, it had a sanding/buffing block that let me smooth everything after it had dried, as well as emery boards to smooth the end and file off the extra glue-saturated tea bag. I'll talk more about my manicure kit later, but just know that it saved my butt with this! Can you see the repair in the pictures?

So that's my nail adventures for the week! I learned, I experimented, and at the end of the day I was pretty darn happy! What do you think of this faux-cloisonne look?  Do you think you'd try it?

The KISS Nail Art Paint and manicure kit were provided by KISS's PR company for review.

I used them because I like them, not because I'm being compensated to use them.

See my disclosure statement for more information.