Starry Glow // Pink Shimmer Constellation Look

A quick look that I did back in April when I bought the Kelli Marissa plate from MoYou London. I actually wore this without a peel off base so it lasted me all week! It's rare I wear the same look for longer than 6 hours lol.

I knew when I saw the beautiful constellation designs on the plate that it would suit the heavenly shimmer from Give It A Glow.

Polishes and Tools Used:-

- H&M // Give It A Glow (duo-toned pink/green shimmer)

- What's Up Nails // Blanc My Mind (White)

- MoYou London // MYL x Kelli Marissa 04 Stamping Plate

- Revlon Colorstay // Diamond Top Coat

STAMPING PLATES: MoYou London // Lieve91 Collab

Another day, another stamping plate release from MoYou London but this one is a collab with my favourite nail artist; Lieve91 aka Anya. If you don't know who lieve91 is, please go take a quick look at her instagram, marvel, gasp and then come back. She is the reason I'm now trying to step up my game and learn how to paint properly. Even though we're the same age, I hope one day I can grow up to be as good her. So of course, I had to buy this plate and support her.

This plate features a few designs from other popular sold out MoYou plates, like the palm trees and checker board but what made it special for me was the overlapping leaf designs, fire and drip stamp. Anya does countless beautiful hand-painted leaf mani's that I can only dream of achieving. So whilst I'm still practicing my acrylic skills I can use this plate (and the recent paradise collection).

I decided to re-create one of Anya's look that she re-created with this plate. Here's the original handpainted version:

And the one she did with the plate:

And mine:

Yikes. I'm still not the best stamper in this world; I just don't understand why I can't get a clean stamp. I have a theory that MoYou just use Photoshop's powerful spot healing tool to remove the gaps in the stamp. I don't as I feel it's not really representative of what can be done. I only use it if I spot rogue bits of polish on my skin. The flame one I attempted several times but it always missed polish in the exact same spots. But who knows?

Anyway, congrats to Anya for her collab! This plate has now sold out as of posting this (it's been 2 days since it released) and whereas MoYou say they don't restock anymore, I would keep an eye out and they actually do.

Polishes/Tools Used:-
- Zoya // Sawyer (coral), Neely (sage)
- Twinkled T // Tickled (pink), Glow Up (white - stamped), Vibin' (black)
- Ciaté // White Heat (white background)
- H&M // Ice Cold Milk (sheer white used for light detail)
- MoYou London // Bora Bora (green on eye)
- Maniology // Maui Gold (yellow)

STAMPING PLATES: Paradise Collection // MoYou London

Another month, another amazing stamping plate collection from MoYou London. This is by far my favourite though; look at them:

BEAUTIFUL.

Tropical summer plates are without a doubt my favourite and the second I received the email I bought plates 1 - 5. Plate 6 for me is just too similar to other plates I own. It's hard to pick a favourite of them; each plate has such a unique theme. I love the super detailed images on plate 1 and I am going to create all the sunset mountain looks with plate 4. I just wished they had released them in June as we basically have 1 month of summer left now...let's face it though, that won't stop me from doing monstera nails!

I knew when I saw the sleeves though that I had to copy the design.

Before you say anything, yes that is my hand lol but no those are not my nails.

For the first time in my life I'm wearing false nails! I have to admit it was nice to have all the extra room for the design but these were an absolute nightmare 😂 honestly felt just like Peter from Family Guy

I bought a pack of 500 false tips off eBay for £4. They came in 9 different sizes and they weren't the best match but I did enjoy painting them. I was going to do the leaves on all the nails but since I have my full collection back I wanted to use some glitter and this is my favourite glitter shade that I own. I'm glad it was on false nails though because it stains in about 10 minutes.

There are so many more designs I want to do. Expect a lot using these plates over the next couple of months!

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Nails Inc // Old Park Lane (pink)
- Zoya Pixiedust // Chita (green glitter)
- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white)
- MoYou London Polishes // Olive Tree (light sage green), Bora Bora (light teal), Dream Holiday (blue)
- MoYou London Stamping Plate // Paradise 04
- Born Pretty // Gold Nail Decorations Wheel

STAMPING PLATES: MoYou London // Tutti Frutti Collection

It's new plate time! The summer is always the worst because summer plates are the best with their monstera leaves and banana leaves and palm leaves....ok I just love leaf prints. MoYou's new summer collection was a cute set of fruit themed plates but the one that caught my eye the most was plate 6; a beautiful selection of different tile prints that can be layered. It's literally one of my dream plates (the ultimate is a layering plate just for monstera).

Here are the 6 plates they had on offer:

I ended up buying 01, 04 and 06. 01 is super cute; I just love those incredibly detailed images. 04 has some great negative space designs and 06 obviously is the best because now I can do all the bathroom tile nails.

I want to start off by saying, MoYou London plates are great. Their stamping polishes on the other hand are absolute garbage. The amount of times I had to re-do the design above and then I only took photos of the thumb because the others were horrendous. I just could not get a clean stamp using their polishes. I had to revert to Born Pretty and Twinkled T polishes which are way cheaper. I have to stop buying MoYou polishes.

I also ended up doing this look the other day but the base turned out a bit too dark or my liking.

This is also my first post back after a while; things have been a little hectic the past two weeks! I was trying to stick to a new schedule of 3 posts a week but I've decided to permanently move back to Blackpool. I've had to move things around and I bought 2 new desks and a ring light. I can now properly film nail art videos; the only thing stopping me is me. I'm very happy to back home with friends and family and the sea :) All I have to do now is haul my 1000+ nail polish collection back up the M6 😂

STAMPING PLATES: Nicole Diary // 148 Marble Textures

This is from one of my most recent eBay nail hauls. I really love how more plates now have started doing interesting cut out shapes with the marble pattern built in; it makes it so much easier to do intricate looks.

With this plate though I decided to just keep it simple and did a grey and white marble design:

I started off with a layer of Cotton and Smokey, then applied a top coat. After it was dry I stamped on various marble lines as randomly as I could. To achieve that slightly 'smooshed' look I then took some acetone and lightly smudged the stamps. It's best to do this on top of a top coat so it doesn't disturb the base layer.

I actually think it turned out really well especially with the white stamps on the darker grey base. The smudged lines look very effective. This look took me about 20 minutes to do as well so it's a quick and easy way to get marble nails without the hassle of gel and water decals. This cost me £1.29 with free postage. A must buy.

Polishes/Tools used:-

- Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine // Cotton (white - used as base)

- Twinkled T // Glow Up (white - used to stamp), Smokey (dark grey)

- Nicole Diary // 142 plate

- Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy // Diamond Top Coat

Twinkled T // Marble Stamping Plate

Another item from my Twinkled T Black Friday haul. I ordered this with the Desert Sunset Stamping Bundle (swatches here) mainly because I got it with 30% off and it's marble; what can I say? I'm totes basic.

This is a nice plate but I'd say the designs are more watermarble than marble. For the latter I'd expect thin lines kind of like lightning. I tried to do an ombre stamp using two of the stamping polishes from the Desert Sunset bundle that I bought with it.

Not my favourite marble look. I've achieved much better using smooshing which produces more natural "random" design and blends hard edges seamlessly.  For $7 though it is a high quality plate and I'll be able to create some interesting watermarble designs with it.

Polishes/Tools used:
- Ciaté // White Heat (white)
- Twinkled T // Smokey (dark grey), Ghosted (light grey)
- Cuccio // Matte Top Coat
- Twinkled T // Marble TT01 Plate

Twinkled T // Marble Plate $6

STAMPING PLATES: Fall In Love Collection // MoYou London

Could MoYou London please stop releasing new collections every month because I'm trying to save for a house deposit here....At this point I've just accepted that I need to budget for new nail supplies every month. This was quite unexpected from them as well as they released a new Halloween collection as well this month (I may have bought one of those as well...) 

These plates are beautiful set for Autumn though but I kinda wish they had been released early September instead as we're heading into the end of October now and it's just raining all the time. Fall is pretty much over.

This new set has four plates all with different designs but I only bought 01 & 02 as 03 & 04 are have similar designs on many other plates that I own.  

I think 01 is definitely my favourite and the reason I put an order in the first place. I just absolutely love plates with crazy detail on them. I also think this will do nicely for Christmas looks as well with the deer and holly bushes. I added 02 'cause I'm a hoe for overprint stamping plates. It's just such an easy way to add detail to a design. 

I used a MoYou polish (Into The Woods) to stamp the designs and didn't have any problems with them picking up. Although since I've been using my new combo of Maniology Ice Cube stamper and Starbucks gift card-scraper, I've had zero problems with picking up designs. I think the Starbucks card really stops you from scraping to hard or at a harsh angle that you might with finer, dedicated scrapers.

Polishes/Tools Used:-

- Ciaté // Pretty In Putty (light beige)
- MoYou London // Heaven Sent (peach), Scandi Sun (pale sage), First Kiss (pastel pink), Into The Woods (dark brown), 

- Avon Mark. // Gel Shine Top Coat
- MoYou London Plate // Fall In Love 01, Artist 22

MoYou London 

Fall In Love Collection (£6.99 each)

Maniology // Pineapple Whip Starter Kit Review

My first order from Maniology! (formerly Bundle Monster) And probably my last due to shipping & import costs. Seriously, I spent $24.50 in total on the starter kit ($15), sticky base coat ($6) and some nail wraps ($3.50) with the shipping being a flat rate of $10. It was shipped in by Royal Mail who kindly charged me 20% VAT and then an £8 fee for handling. Bringing my entire cost to around $45 for everything. I would really love to subscribe to their mani x me box but I can't afford that tax every month just to import it. I'll stick to Mani & Lola for the moment. As for shipping time, I ordered on the 7th August and it arrived on the 20th which isn't too bad for US delivery; especially when it's coming from Hawaii. 

But anyway, I love pineapples and I've been longing to try out this brand for so long and the rose gold crystal wraps are hella cute. I'll never use them though because they're too cute so I'll just try and copy them via the dreaded hand painting.

We'll talk about the kit first and then I'll eventually get round to doing posts for the others.

Pineapple Whip Stamping Starter Kit

RRP $15

In this you receive two full size stamping polishes, a square clear jelly stamper, a scraper, stamping guide and of course a stamping plate filled to the brim with cute pineapple designs. The box is actually really cute, sturdy and everything is packaged well for the price (especially if you are American and pay way less tax than we do). I also like how the tops of the stamping bottles have stickers on them that you can swatch the polish with both dark and light halves. They sell these separately in batches of 50 for $4 but it's easy to make your own (and cheaper if you live in the UK). Nice touch though.

The stamper I actually really love and I think it might be my new fave. It's super clear, soft and large enough to stamp 3 nails at once (although you would't be able to go right to the edge of the nail). I find it a bit ridiculous that MoYou London charge £9 for a crystal rectangular stamper (which isn't all that great) and this is way better. These go for $8.50 with a scraper on Maniology so it's well worth picking up one of these $15 sets for all the tools.

Maui Gold // Yellow Creme

$6

So the first polish; Maui Gold, is a bright yellow and I love yellow shades but this isn't the greatest yellow stamping. I'm really annoyed as well because the photos make it look so much better than it is in real life. It's kinda wishy-washy and streaky. You need two coats of this polish which I always find unacceptable in a stamping polish. I'd say it looks the best on very dark backgrounds as it stands out a little better. It's no where near as pigmented as the photos on the website though and doesn't do well with other bright colours so you need to stick to neutrals when using it.

Plantation Tea // Bright Teal Creme

$6

Next is Plantation Tea; a bright teal and this is more like it for a stamping polish. This stuff is opaque man. It stamps well on any colour but it does look the most striking on white but it's ready in one coat for just a regular ol' mani.

// Verdict

Overall I'm pretty happy with the stamping polishes and I wish I could afford to order some more as they do pretty well. However I'm impressed the most with the stamper; it's squishy, crystal clear and picks up detail well. Hopefully in the future when I have a higher disposable income I'll be able to order some more but if you're already in the US give them a go as they have cute new starter kits every month.

STAMPING PLATES: MoYou London Henna 11

Oh damnn this is a cute as plate! The designs on it kind of remind me of Sailor Moon style moon crescents and now I can't stop pointing my fingers to the sky in an effort to summon moon tiara magic.

If I could choose a super power I honestly think it would be the sailor moon transformation sequence. But anyway, I love the intricate designs featured on this plate and how they are perfect for smaller nails. I feel like the triangular ones are supposed to be placed at the bottom of the nail, not the top as they aren't quite big enough but I appreciate that the designs are more for shorter nails. There are too many plates out there with big-ass designs on them.

I also love the teeny-tiny palm tree in the oval pattern; that will come in handy as my freehand skills are atrocious.

As you can see I didn't really have much difficulty picking the designs up but it all depends on your stamper and polish. I started off using the MoYou London XL clear stamper and White Knight polish (which is £7.99) and I just could not get a clean stamp. It was actually starting to piss me off.

The next day I tried again but with the MoYou crystal clear rectangular stamper and Born Pretty white polish and then I had no problems. MoYou polishes are so wishy washy. I honestly don't know how they get such clean prints on their videos, they must do hundreds of takes.

I can't really say I've seen a plate quite like this just yet. Born Pretty released a moon flower plate a while ago but the amount of variety on the plate is pretty unique. I have a feeling Born Pretty will come out with something similar very soon though; they always do. Be aware though that MoYou have stopped restocking plates now so once they go; they're gone forever. I'll have to keep trolling eBay for one of the Artist plates.

MoYou London Henna 11 Plate