Nail Polish Canada Nail Art Challenge

I got an email about a new challenge being hosted by Nail Polish Canada this week:

Holiday Nail Art Challenge

At Nail Polish Canada we consider ourselves boring people. I mean look at our name, “Nail Polish Canada”, not an ounce of creativity there.  That’s why we want to support your creativity with our first ever Nail Art Challenge! The challenge is all about the holidays, lasts three weeks (one mani per week), and we're giving away nearly $1000 in prizes.

Challenge Themes

We've hidden the three challenge themes far away so nobody gets a head start. We’ll email and post each challenge theme when the week comes around.
Challenge Weeks
Week 1: Nov 19 to Nov 25
Week 2: Nov 26 to Dec 2
Week 3: Dec 3 to Dec 9

For more information about the contest, prizes, or to sign up, check out their website. They're giving away $200 worth of stuff every week, including Zoya Gilty Pleasures, OPI James Bond Minis, plus others by Butter London, Color Club, and many more, with a grand prize worth over $450. So, if you're one of those artistic types, go check it out.

Geek Nail Challenge: Games and Gaming

Well. I kind of fell off the blogging wagon the past couple of weeks, didn't I?

I've been working on several projects lately that are just not polish friendly, even with Seche Vite to speed things up (I'll have more about that on my personal blog in a couple of weeks). In addition, I've been having some nail problems. As I've mentioned before, I've been battling peeling nails all summer. I've tried vitamins, nail treatments, diet changes, everything I can think of. I've had a little bit of improvement, but I think that what they really need is to not be coated in varnish for a while, so I'm giving my nails a couple of days every week where they can breathe. I did find a base coat/treatment that seems to be working pretty well, but I want to give it another week or two before I talk about it, just to make sure it works in the long run. Hopefully, I can kick this soon. I miss my long nails!

This week's manicure is actually a redux of my very first nail art, the one that sent everything else downhill. Back then I was just fooling around with polishes and pens, I had a very limited pallet, and the idea of not flooding my cuticles was a foreign concept, but I had so much fun doing it and even though the white wasn't nearly as opaque as I wanted (that was about thirty layers with a Claire's Nail Art Pen, by the way), I was very pleased with it.

Colors Used:
White: Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party"
Yellow: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lightening"
Blue: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By"
Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime"
Black: Claire's Nail Art Pen
Red: Pure Ice "Siren"

I started playing Mario when I was eight or ten on a black and white gameboy pocket that belonged to a friend, and have been hooked ever since. It is still not only my favorite game, but one of the few I actually play (other than Arctic Thunder, Mortal Kombat, and Twisted Metal). I actually have a collection of the candy tins you see around gaming stores and Hot Topic, but they are at my parent's house currently, since shelf space is at a premium in our place.
Can I just say that you ladies do awesome work? I am continually floored by the designs I've been seeing as part of this challenge. If you haven't yet, check out some of them below.

Geek Nail Challenge: Commence!

Yay! Today is the first day of the Geek Nail Challenge, which is all about comics and manga!

I was super excited about this one, since I've had this particular manicure in my head for a while.

Sailor Moon!

Sadly, my execution did not live up to my expectations (entirely my own fault and not that of the polish).

For those not in the know, those are the symbols/colors that represent each of the Sailor Scouts--the Inner Seishi, at least (5 main characters).

And because you know I love my theme songs, even if they get butchered in translation:



Sailor Moon was my first anime. I remember being five or six and sneaking into the living room at 6:30 in the morning on Saturdays to watch it while my parents were asleep. I had to be really quiet because my mom was a light sleeper and she hated Sailor Moon--still does. She thought Usagi--or Serena, as I knew her then--was a poor role model for young girls because she cried all the time. I disagree, especially since I'm kind of a crybaby myself, even now.

Please note the rating in the corner of the screen. For those unfamiliar with American TV ratings, "Y7" means that is considered appropriate for "Youths 7 and older".

*Cough* Obviously, a LOT got cut when SM made it's way here from Japan. Namely an entire season.

And how exciting is it that the manga is being released in the US, AND there's a reboot of the anime in the works? I'm totally pumped about this.


Colors used:
Pure Ice "Touch Me Here" (black)
Sally Hansen Insta-dri "Lightening" (yellow), "Blue By" (Blue), and "Just in Lime" (Green)
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear "Sun Kissed" (orange)
Pure Ice "Siren" (red)

I was sort of hard on my nails after doing this mani, and the color started to chip before I got to take pictures. While I'm happy with the way my left hand turned out (mostly), My right hand looks like crap. I can't draw with my left hand, at all.

I'll try to do another manga/comic mani for later this week--hopefully with better luck!

Geek Nail Challenge

I just wanted to remind everyone about the Geek Nail Challenge:

Week 1: Comics and Animation
My Little Pony? Naruto? Batman? What tickles your geeky bone?

Week 2: Television and Movies
From the Lord of the Rings to Big Bang Theory, celebrate the nerdy side of Hollywood.

Week 3: Games and Gaming
It doesn't matter if you prefer Alice or D&D, or if Trivial Pursuit is more your speed. It's all about having fun!

Week 4: Ultimate Geek
We all have things we love--books, movies, games--but what is it that makes you a geek? Are you a math nerd? A science geek? Or are you just a fan of other geeks? (P.S. Nail polish is chemistry. Chemistry is science. It totally counts for geekdom!)

Since each week has a theme, you can post one manicure on Monday (or Friday, or whenever is convenient) or, if you're like me and having trouble choosing just one thing, you can post seven manicures (one every day!) if that floats your boat.

If you would like to sign up, please leave a comment here with a way that I can contact you!

Lux

I meant to post yesterday, but things kind of fell apart on me. I wound up spending twelve hours at my parent's house (sans laptop) doing laundry (normally it takes 6-8). No blogging or nail polish-ing, but I did do a lot of reading and finished a knitting project.

I had to trim my nails way down earlier this week, so to make myself feel a little better, I painted what was left with some new Essie:

These are two of the colors I found at Marshalls last week: "Luxedo," and then I went against my natural inclination and got "Sequin Sash."

Normally I'm not one for anything in the sheer, gold, or shimmer families, but I like this one for layering. I should have done two coats of it though, to make it pop just a little more.


"Luxedo" is a deep, dark grape-plum color in the bottle. On the nail, it can look anywhere from dark purple to burgundy to black depending on the lighting.

It went on pretty easily, but I discovered that some nails required a third coat to even them out (in this case, the middle and index fingers). Two did a pretty good job in most cases, but I hate having any inconsistencies in the color.


"Sequin Sash" is warm, sheer gold shimmer with just a pinch of microglitter thrown in. It's not as intense of a shimmer as the Cover Girl "Rose Quartz" that I used on my tropical drinks mani, but that doesn't bother me.

Hopefully, now I can get back on track. I'll probably skip a couple of the Summer Fun challenges, though, because honestly I've been drawing a blank on the last couple of prompts.

But never fear, I've got other stuff planned.

P.S. Have you signed up for the Geek Challenge yet?

Summer Fun: Sea Creatures

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do for this one, since I'm not much for sea life (partially because I live in Ohio). But, as a cancer, I have an affinity for the crab.

Colors used:
Blue: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By"
White: Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party"
Orange: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear "Sun Kissed"
Brown: S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa"
Green: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime"
Black: Claire's Nail Art Pen
Red: Sally Hansen Diamond Strength "Diamonds and Rubies"
Topcoat: Seche Vite

For the background, I sponged on a 3/1 mix of the white and blue. The rest is all bottle colors. I used a toothpick to add the bubbles. Everything else is freehand. Start to finish, this took about an hour and a half, mainly because my base color was a quickdry, and that saved a lot of time.

Unfortunately, the weather is pretty crummy today, which is throwing off my lighting. I had to tweak some of these shots a little just to get the details to show up. The crabs are much easier to see in real life.

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Are you looking for something to do after the Summer Fun Challenge is over? Why not join me in the first ever Girl on a Shoestring Challenge?


Week 1: Comics and Animation
My Little Pony? Naruto? Batman? What tickles your geeky bone?

Week 2: Television and Movies
From the Lord of the Rings to Big Bang Theory, celebrate the nerdy side of Hollywood.

Week 3: Games and Gaming
It doesn't matter if you prefer Alice or D&D, or if Trivial Pursuit is more your speed. It's all about having fun!

Week 4: Ultimate Geek
We all have things we love--books, movies, games--but what is it that makes you a geek? Are you a math nerd? A science geek? Or are you just a fan of other geeks? (P.S. Nail polish is chemistry. Chemistry is science. It totally counts for geekdom!)

Since each week has a theme, you can post one manicure on Monday (or Friday, or whenever is convenient) or, if you're like me and having trouble choosing just one thing, you can post seven manicures (one every day!) if that floats your boat.

If you'd like to take part, please leave a comment below with a way I can contact you with the InLinks link.

I'm excited, how about you?

Summer Fun: Tropical Drinks

I'm a little late on this one. I didn't know what to do for a summer drink at first, mainly because I don't drink and I don't get the whole drinking for relaxation and socialization thing. I'll occasionally do a virgin strawberry daiquiri, but that's about it.

I do love my fancy drinks, though. It's just that I tend to go more for the kid-friendly side of the spectrum: smoothies, flavored teas and lemonades, and my favorites: Milkshakes.

Now I don't do plain old vanilla or chocolate, oh no. I like things like mint chocolate chip, or my favorite, banana-chocolate. I already did mint chocolate for this challenge though, and brown and yellow are really not my colors. So I went with my second favorite flavor: strawberry chocolate

For my base color, I used Essie "Exotic Liras," and while it was a great pink, it was a little too bright to invoke the color of a strawberry milkshake. So I put a coat of my least favorite polish over top: Cover Girl Continuous color 3 in 1 "Rose Quartz."

I've had this polish for years, and I've used it maybe once. It's a super pale pink in the bottle, with almost no color whatsoever on the nail. It's heavy on the shimmer, not so much in the opacity. This was a color that I bought back when I wasn't allowed to wear bright colors on my nails, and I hated it from the get go. Not because there's anything wrong with the formula itself, but because I couldn't stand the color on me. Even four coats isn't enough to make it opaque.

But it was just right to make "Exotic Liras" go from come-at-you bright to frosty and ice-creamy.

I don't think I've ever layered this color before, and I'm glad I did. It's given me a new appreciation for it. Even the polishes I least like in my collection have a place, if used correctly. Like "Plum Paradise" and my glitters, I think that this is a color best suited to layering, rather than trying to use it all by it's lonesome. It's a codependent sort of polish, and that needs to be addressed in order to use it to best effect.

I freehanded the swirl pattern using S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa" and a toothpick (really wishing I had a set of stamping plates right now!). And of course, I topped it all off with Seche Vite.

Summer Fun: Favorite Summer Memory

I want a manicure.

I'm not talking a, "Oh, look, I put pretty pictures on my nails." I mean a hand over hard-won cash so the cute Asian man with the indecipherable accent will massage things that smell nice onto my hands, make the peelies go away and give me pretty nails with pictures on them that I don't have to paint myself and won't break/tear/chip off in twelve hours. That kind of manicure. (Yes, it's a stereotype. Must most of the manicurists in my area are Korean. The one I went to when I had money was an engineer before the economy tanked, and he did lovely work. He's also one of only a handful that I've been to that I could understand more than one word in three.)

I kind of destroyed my hands at work today. I was moving fixtures and merchandise all day, and tore up my knuckles. At the moment, it's not too visible, but I sure felt it when I was washing dishes. My hands are so bad right now that I took that Burt's Bees Lemon Butter I talked about last week and rubbed in all over my hands in the hope that it would help with the dry skin, hang nails, and cuts and scrapes. And the peeling nails I've been fighting for about two or two and a half months have decided to come back with a vengeance, despite all I've been doing to prevent them (cuticle treatments, nail hardeners, conditioners and strengtheners). I actually can't cut my nails any shorter. I've tried. But they just keep peeling.

So I paint them to cover it up.

My favorite summer memory is an internship I did as part of my undergrad. I was a struggling art student, feeling lost and depressed at the end of my second year of school. I didn't like my major and had realized that art--as the administration defined it--wasn't how I wanted to spend my life, but in the back of my head I just kept hearing my dad's voice telling me what a mistake art school was, and what a waste of money since changing majors (and by definition changing schools, since mine only taught art) would mean starting from scratch as far as classes, loans, and grades, not to mention I had no idea what exactly I would major in instead.

At that point, I'd been knitting for about a year and a half. I had discovered knitting blogs, though I didn't yet have one of my own. I'd been designing my own projects, though at that point I don't think any of them were actually written down as patterns. I was scouring the web for more information about knitting--my one creative outlet that didn't involve a critique and a bad grade.

On my way out of printmaking class one day, I saw a flier for the TNNA PiPN Internship Program, which allowed students (primarily fashion majors, but others as well) to intern for various fiber arts companies doing things like sales, making samples, and sometimes even design work. I applied and was sent a list of participating companies. Lo and behold, at the bottom of the list was a single international opportunity: CNS/Mission Falls in Montreal, Quebec Canada.

I'd been dying to go back to Canada since my grandmother's funeral a few years before. I spent several weeks with crossed fingers, waiting to see where I'd be assigned.

The internship began with three weeks of training in Akron, Ohio in knitting, crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, and needle point before we were sent off to our designated locations.

My boss was kind enough to let me stay in his "winter" house, a duplex in the Plateau area of Montreal (very nice neighborhood).

That was my first time truely being on my own and away from home. I fell in love with the city. I learned so much about the world and about myself. I wrote 3/4 of the first draft of what would eventually become my first novel. I picked up sewing and haven't truly put it down since, and I absorbed every knitting technique I could find.

I could time the buses to the second. Public transport was affordable. Produce was fresh and delicious, everything was within walking distance and the things that weren't were easily accessable through the metro.

And then there was the underground city.

Google it. Seriously.

Festivals every week, international culture, buildings from the 1600s, and my favorite uncle an hour away for the only time in my life. I improved my French, met some amazing people, and spent every Sunday on the Mountain, watching LARPers, listening to drum circles, dancing, and shopping handmade goods.

Colors used:
Revlon #460 "Mysterious" (blue, thumb)
Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party" (white)
Essie "Exotic Liras" (pink)
Sally Hansen Diamond Strength "Diamonds and Rubies" (red)
Miliani Neons "Rad Purple" (purple)
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime" and "Blue By"
Sinful Colors "Happy Ending" (green, sponged on top of "Just in Lime")
Cityscape done by blending S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa" with "Porcelain Party" and Pop Beauty "Black"
Claire's nail art pen for details (black)
Seche Vite for a topcoat

I tried doing an alcohol transfer like this one for the map, but none of the maps I had were printed using the right ink. So instead, I took the piece of map I'd softened with alcohol, tore off a small portion, and laid it over top a fresh coat of white polish. I sealed it in with 2 coats of Seche Vite. I used manicure scissors to neaten the edges and trim it to shape.

This happens to be the only time I've wished for those ridiculously long talons that are absolutely useless for everything but nail art. I wish I could have printed more of the map and shown a little more detail with the cityscape.

Just a break down:
thumb: Quebec flag
index finger: one of the yarns I was promoting, Mission Falls Tricolor (it's really hard to see with the topcoat, but there's red and purple on a pink base. The yarn is very pretty and I wish I still had some)
middle: map of the city
ring: cityscape and the mountain
pinky: maple leaf
Fini. Merci de lire.

Summer Fun: Beach

I love layering polishes. It's such an easy way to create an effect, or expand your pallette.

I really had no idea what to do for this theme. At first I though I'd do nail art. But I didn't know what image/pattern to do, and I only have one brown, and it's not the right brown for a beach.

So I went a little further and thought, "Ocean." I love the ocean, and I love blue polish. A water marble, perhaps?

My forays into watermarble have not really been what I would call successful, however. They turn out okay...but not great. More practice is needed.

I did one marbled accent for this manicure, and layering for the rest. For the marble, I put down a base of Brash "Green Machine" (1 coat) and for the marble I used Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party," Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By," Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure "Calypso Blue," and China Glaze "Dorothy Who?"

On my thumb and pinky, I used a base of "Blue By;" for the ring finger I put down 1 coat of "Green Machine", and on my middle finger I used a single coat of Sally Hansen Chrome Nail Makeup "Aquamarine Chrome" (for those wondering, I added a few drops of nail polish remover to that one, which solved the thick/dry issue completely. It is now the fabulous one-coat polish I remember from high school once more).

On top of each of those, I did one coat of "Calypso Blue."

I love the way the layers came out. Each base brings out something different in the shimmer of Calypso, which is one of my favorite polishes. I LOVE blue nail polish--it is second only to my love of foils.


I know I've been kind of blah this week on the nail art front, but bear with me because I do have something special planned for Fav. Summer memory on Tuesday.

Speaking of which, what is your favorite white nail polish? I need something that's going to be opaque; I'm thinking I might have to resort to acrylic paint, if I have any left from my art school days. Is there such a thing as a good, opaque white?

Summer Fun: Ice Cream

I almost skipped today, because I am tired. Originally, I was going to work on this yesterday, but wound up playing amateur mechanic instead, trying to get my roommate's car running. Then today I worked 9 hours before I had to go grocery shopping. And I haven't been sleeping well. I thought about skipping this one all together, since I wasn't all that thrilled with the only idea I was able to come up with, but I already had the base color on and figured I might as well.

I was going to do this as a splatter. But again, too tired. So not in the mood for clean up.

Do you know how hard it is to get good lighting on your feet? Especially at 8 pm. Pardon the poor photo. I did take several more, but they came out even worse. Read: tired.

In the end, I decide that when it comes to mint chocolate chip, dots work just as well.

I used Brash "Green Machine" and S•X•Y "Dreamy Cocoa." My first time using the second one, and as of yet, no real opinion other than I like the color. I like the bottle shape (there's a picture of it on the stash page). I like prism bottles (i.e. bottles that are the same shape from top to bottom, rather than a pot with a handle brush). I think they are visually appealing in a mod sort of way, and are convenient to store. My problem is that since this one is a rectangular prism, rather than the usual cylinder, I can't get the cap to go back on straight. It's always offset by half a turn, no matter what I do. Most annoying.

P.S. I found Seche Vite at Target today for $4.99. It's the first time I've ever seen it there, and it was $1.50-$2 cheaper than I've seen it anywhere else, so I picked it up. Haven't used it yet, but I'm hoping it lives up to the hype!

Summer Fun, and I'm published!!

Today's manicure coincides with a very special event: the release of my first published work!


Artwork by A.K. Alexander (a.k.a the other half of the shoestring).

Birds of a Feather

Cursed to turn into a flamingo since the age of three, Eric hasn’t had the best luck with relationships. But that changes when he meets Dan. At least, he thinks it has until Dan is offered a job in another state, and asks Eric to come along. Can Dan handle the truth about Eric?

Then, there's the new guy in town: Colin. Eric can tell right from the start that Colin's got a full moon secret of his own. The question is, when it comes to a weremoose and a wereflamingo, can there ever really be common ground?

Help me make the shoestring reach a little further; purchase a short story! It's only $2.49 (Less than a bottle of China Glaze!) and can be read on your iPad, computer, or ereader of choice.


Summer Color: Flamingo Pink!
For this manicure, I stared with a base of Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party" on my ring finger and thumb, to make the water marble pop. The background on the other nails is Brash "Green Machine."

Close up shot of the ring finger. Yes, that is a moose shadow. Curious? Read the story!

For the water Marble, I used my Color Zone neon pink and purple; Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear "Fuchsia Power" and "Sun Kissed; Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lightening", and "Green Machine" just to tie it all together. (This is the tutorial I used for the water marble)

The flamingo is painted with "Fuchsia Power". The lettering and moose are done with my Claire's nail pen.

Summer Fun: Fruit

This probably isn't the cleverest or most unique fruity manicure out there. In fact, I fully expect there to be at least half a dozen others.

But is there a more iconic summer fruit than watermelon?

Colors used:
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear "Fucshia Power"*
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Just in Lime"
Brash "Green Machine"
Pop Beauty "Black"

*If you're going to do any taping techniques over an Xtreme Wear color, make sure that you've got a really good base coat underneath, make sure all layers are dry, and use a top coat between the base and the details, because it will peel off very easily.

Summer Fun: Palm Trees, or, The Bad Day Manicure

I love palm trees and all things tropical. I collect flamingos. Up until last year my Christmas tree was a seven foot light up palm tree normally seen on kitchy front porches that I dangled sea shells and glass flamingos from.

So it was kind of a surprise that I didn't know what to do for this manicure.

In the end, I decided to swipe the silhouette at sunset look that I've been seeing around the blogosphere and on Deviantart.

Colors used: Two coats Maybelline Color Show "Porcelain Party;" two coats Color Zone florescent pink; sponged application of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "Sun Kissed;" sponged application of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lightening;" freehand design in Pop Beauty "Black."

I was just about to put my top coat on this, when I kind of freaked.

There were ants in my bed.

I'm a pretty tidy person. I'm not a neat freak, and sure, we have dishes in our sink from time to time. But I don't store food in my room and I try to vacuum at least semi-regularly.

Now let me preface this: earlier this week, I found some ants in the seams of the linoleum. Not in the kitchen, mind you.

In my bathroom.

So I promptly washed the bath mat, swept the floor, wiped the whole thing down with Clorox, and, at the advice of my mom, started spraying the baseboards and the floor with a 50/50 vinegar/water mix.

As of this morning, I thought they were mostly gone. I still spotted one or two, but dispatched them in short order.

Then I picked up my laptop to start this blog post, and found half a dozen on the keyboard and screen.

They were on the sheets.

They were climbing up the wall.

They were in my damn bed.

If that's not an invasion of privacy, I don't know what is.

So, instead of photographing my mani and writing out a nice, detailed blog post, my roommate and I pulled all of the furniture away from the wall, swept, sprayed the vingar mix on the baseboards and along the edge of the carpet, and then set it all back up. Four times. Because I have my bed on stilts for extra storage, and it kept falling off for some reason.

And it's hot. It's bloody hot, even with the A/C running.

During one of the falls, my mattress knocked the plug for my alarm clock out of the wall, cracking the plate cover in the process.

And then the full glass of water on my night stand was knocked off and spilled all over everything.

And did I mention that my mac mini also got knocked off my makeshift desk in the process? (Appears undamaged, so far.)

So once I got everything back in place, I went to take my manicure pictures, only to discover that it had been chipped an damaged during all of the hullabaloo. I thought briefly about starting over, but...

You know what? It's a manicure. The Polish Police aren't going to come after me for posting pictures of a sloppy or damaged mani (that I also forgot to do clean up work on).

While I like the way it came out (pre-damage), the colors just aren't really me, so I was thinking of taking it off anyway.

And since it's that kind of a day, I decided to just do a straight up swatchy mani. This is a new polish I got the other day at the Sally's sale. It's my first Orly polish, and I found it on clearance. I love the colors.

Orly "Mysterious Curse" $3.99 at Sally's.

This polish is a sheer, plum colored base with bright turquoise sparkles in it. It reminds me a lot of another favorite polish I had in high school--"hologlam," which was a Mary Kay color. I used it on it's own and layered it over every color I owned, and I think that this polish might suit better layered over a blue or black.


Shortly after these pictures were taken, I discovered that the airport card on my laptop is officially toast, and managed to scratch the polish on four of my nails in an unrelated incident.

It's just that kind of day.

Summer Fun: Summer Song

I have to admit that even as much as I love this song, I could not come up with a manicure that accurately depicted the imagery it conjures for me. It doesn't help that I thought today was supposed to be the palm tree manicure, and had it all set up and ready to go. Well, you'll just have to wait to see that one (I promise, it's more interesting).

In the end, I went with another layering manicure. I did a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Blue By on every nail except my ring finger, for which I used the same polish in "Lightening." Then I started putting stuff on it that reminded me of the ocean. For my thumb, I used a coat of Orly "Mysterious Curse. My index finger has one coat of China Glaze "Dorothy Who?" and Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in "Calypso Blue is on my middle finger. My pinky has a coat of Essie "Set in Stones" (Can you tell I like that one?).

For the accent nail, I sponged on "Lightening," and Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in "Sun Kissed" and "Fuchsia Power."

Today is one of those days when I really wish I had a stamping set. I might order one next week, but I need to compare some of the designs. I've heard that Konad is really good, and then there's Mash plates and Red Angel. I want to try all of them, of course, but what's a good set to start with? Which set has the biggest variety of designs?

Obviously, more research is needed. I might just have to order all of them. :)