Nail art challenge ~ 14 days of romance

A talented group of ladies and I are hosting a nail art challenge for this upcoming love season. Starting February 1st, we will share our designs and we want you to join us and share your designs with us! You might share your designs through Instagram, You Tube or even Blogger! Tag @shar_nail_art , @maitte_dja, @pueen_queen and @lhn_designs on the captions of your Instagram pics and use #14daysofromancenails when posting your designs, you might also share your video tutorials on You Tube or Instagram. Just share the links with us!

Flower Series Stamping Plates Haul

Today I'll be sharing with you Flowers Series plates. These plates can be bought  online at Aliexpress and Ebay. I ordered these plates after I saw a few reviews that described some of them as dupes (duplicates) for pueen and other well known brands. The plates are ok. But I have to say I had a bad experience with the seller from Ebay. Although the shipping was very fast the plates did not have the quality they claimed them to have. Three of them were good, and did not bend. But one of them was as weak as a really old Mackintosh floppy disk. Those who where in a computer class in the late 80's or early 90's will know what I'm talking about.If I do not take care when using it the plate will bend easily. I messaged the seller telling him that one of the plates was too weak and bendable, and not as firm as they claimed them to be. I asked him for advise in how to manage this particular plate, giving him the chance to be the one to tell what to do to solve this issue, other than asking what did I mean with weak and bendable I did not receive any more answers to the issue with the stamping plate. 

 All of the flower series plates are beautiful. I ordered Flowers-01, Flowers-02, Flowers-03 and Flowers-04 . They are well etched. The only problem I had with them is the issue with one of the plates firmness. I'll be sharing a full review on these  plates with specific details about each stamping plate. 

Moyra Image Plates Haul!

In my previous post I mentioned Moyra image plates and its official distributor for the USA Wildside Nailz Pro Tech Solutions .These plates are absolutely beautiful and they have their own protective sleeve, which is so colorful and delicate.
 I fell in love with them since the first moment I saw them. This order took seven days to arrive and that because it had a delay related with winter storm Jonas. Otherwise it would have arrived sooner.

Moyra image plates have a size comparable to Überchic Beauty plates and as I said before they have their individual sleeves. Every sleeve has a different theme according to the plate inside. In this haul I ordered 8 plates. Florarity 2, Memories, Sweet dreams, Celebration, Vintage, Damask Drapery, Ornaments and Labyrinth.

The plates arrived in perfect condition except for a little scratch on one of the plates's plastic film. But I noticed the film is a bit thicker than the average stamping plates and because of that it had enough protection. The plate itself did not have any damage at all.

In this brief overview you will notice that the individual images are larger than average plates and designs are so delicate and unique. The thing that caught my attention is that some of these images when stamped seem almost hand painted, with details so rich and delicate that gives you the feel of an experimented nail artist on your nail designs. Having that on a stamping plate makes it special and unique. Just look for the designs on the seller's facebook page and you'll see this huge difference from other stamping plates brands. I am absolutely in love with these plates. I'll be doing a full review on each plate in the next days. Subscribe and keep visiting the blog so you don't miss any of them.

(Important note: This plate did not have the plastic film as broken as it looks in the picture. It had just a little scratch and I broke it when checking if it was alright. The plate was in absolute perfect condition)

I got a great deal with this order. I ordered eight plates. One of them was free, so I only paid for seven. The seller sent me a stamper with the plates. It's squishy and non sticky. I'll go through all details about it on my full review post.

I'll have a full review on that too. And she also sent me beautiful nail decals (seen in the first picture of this post).

Wildside Nailz Pro Tech Solutions review

Have you heard  from Moyra Image Plates yet?? These plates are beautiful and if you'd like to have something different, delicate,unique but yet affordable these are the plates for you! Moyra is a company based in Hungary. They have a beautiful line of nail products.

Their image plates are so beautiful. I thought I could never have one because of the shipping charges on international orders.

I was looking at videos on You Tube and one of the ladies mentioned a seller. There was a link to the seller's page. The page is on Facebook, under the name of  Wildside Nailz Pro Tech Solutions . In her page she sells lots of great nail accessories and decor, Different stampers and Moyra Image Plates.  I only saw one video. Only one person who had an experience with this seller and it was so good that I decided to place my order. I've heard a lot of horror from Facebook sellers. But there was something about this seller. From the first time I typed hello on her inbox I got a quick response. She was really kind to me and I even got a great deal. 

I have to say I had an exceptional experience with my first order from Wildside Nailz.  The transaction was easy and clear I just gave her a list o f the plates I wanted and the info she requested. As easy as 1,2,3. I received an invoice from the seller. As soon as I proceeded with the payment my order got ready to ship!

One funny thing is that I ordered last week, and then  winter storm Jonas! I got really scared about a delay or even that the order got lost in the mail. So I asked her about the tracking number just in case the package could get lost. It had a delay,but nothing to worry about. I thought the order would take at least a week to arrive ( I live in the Caribbean). For my surprise the order arrived today!

The order was protected in a bubble wrap envelope and then into a priority mail envelope. Everything was just perfect. 

I ordered 8 stamping plates, but there was a sale with the order I made one of my plates was free of charge. So I got one plate and a stamper with my order. And she was so kind to send me beautiful nail decals. I am so grateful I found this great seller, because these days they're hard to find. Not only the transparency of the transaction, but the way she treats her clients. Making a 

client feel safe and important is a good quality for a seller. I give her five stars! In a scale from one to ten , a ten! 

I hope to keep purchasing more Moyra plates from Wildside Nailz and I hope you do too! Absolutely recommend her!

Cherimoya Vernis Clasique as a stamping polish

I posted this design about two weeks ago on my Instagram account. I wanted to achieve a delicate yet casual manicure. One of the reasons I achieved this design was the desperate need to find quality polishes that performed as stamping polishes. After reading horrible articles about indie stamping polishes that went from headaches to nail disease, I was a bit scare on buying or even trying affordable stamping polishes alternatives.

I grabbed my commercial brand polishes and started testing their stamping possibilities. It was no surprise that I got best results with Sinful Colors Snow me white and Black on black. But what about colors?

I grabbed a few colors from different brands and I fell in love with one result! Cherimoya Vernis Clasique was a hit! It stamped beautifully over black and white. I needed to have a design with it!

This is Cherimoya Vernis Color Clasique, Metallic Red, I'd say it will stamp beautifully over any color you'd like to try it. It has a very dense formula and covers in just one coat. It even dries alike most stamping polishes! I recommend this brand for stamping, it works, it has beauniful colors and costs just $1.99 . Get yours and have fun! Just combine it and go on with a great stamping polish option!

And this is how it started! On my next post I will share a diy. I shared a brief one on my IG, but I'll share a more complete one. Sadly I did not take pictures of all of the steps, but I'll try to make it simple even for begginers!

A past in acrylic nails

Today's trends require more natural looking nails. The thinner and shortest the better. Less is more! But two or three years ago stiletto, mandorla russa long nails were the trend among nail technicians.I loved long, delicate and uncommon nails on my own hands. But most of the girls I did nails to stuck to square nails.

I saw nail's evolution from traditional sheer pink and white, to cover pink and reverse nails, from freehand and one stroke painting to glitter encapsulating and color acrylics. I saw the 3D acrylic designs born and develop. And I loved them all. I've worked with acrylics, gels, nail polish, gel polish, watercolors, anything that can make a nail look good was in my list of things to learn.

Today my nails look natural (although they have a gel overlay), I went from freehand to stamping and I still love them all! My journey trough acrylic trends made me look for more,develop more, practice more.

These are samples of my work, every design has a value to me . I cherish each picture as the steps that took me to where I am now. This is me, this is my essence and I do not think that is ever going to change.

Romantic in pink manicure

I love pink, but not on my nails! My skin tone looks too pale when I wear light or bright pink shades. So, I decided to share it as a diy instead. 

I started this design to participate in a challenge, but at the end decided not to share it as part of the challenge. It's a romantic design , great for the upcoming season.

What I used:

       1. Bettina Matte for stamping                                                   

       2. Milani Color Statement Hot Pink Rage

       3. Milani Color Statement Doll Face 

       4. OPI Centenial Celebration

        5. Base Coat

        6. Top Coat

        7. Stamper (for the smooshy technique)

        8. Mirror or palette (or even a piece of cling wrap)

            9. Your favorite flowery stamping plate, I used SG-02

            10. Marshmallow squishy stamper and a scraper

For this manicure I used the smooshy technique. This easy and fun manicure takes only a few minutes no matter your skill level. In fact, I am sharing my learning process with you today! I've heard from some youtubers that there is no right or wrong way of doing the smooshy technique. Don't be afraid to experiment with it, just go with the flow and enjoy the process! 

Some people do this technique with a piece or cling paper or the back or a stamping plate. But I am an organization freak and I feel more comfortable using a mirror. It's less messy and its easier to clean. Having said that let's start with this fun process.

First I applied base coat to my nails, to avoid staining. I prepared my fingers applying liquid latex to protect  from polishes while doing the smoochy technique. Then poured a drop of each color on the mirror. I made a swirl with the colors using the smaller head of my stamper. Next I started applying the colors with the stamper filling in spaces and trying to achieve a marble pattern. When the smoochy nails were completely dry I applied the top coat to even the nail surface so I could stamp on it.

After the top coat dried I removed the liquid latex and reapplied liquid latex to my fingers again to protect from stamping residues. Using Plate SG-02 which I bought from an Ebay seller (if you'd like the info let me know ina comment below).  I wanted a rustic look, not the perfect crisp white stamping, so I decided to use Bettina Matte, it stamps but not as crisp and white as a stamping polish would do. I made sure I let the stamping dry enough time so it wouldn't smear as I applied the top coat. Hope you give it a try and remember to visit the blog regularly for fun diy's and good information and freebies. 

My Online Shop Jr. Plate 25 Review

My Online Shop Plate Jr.25

I've had this plate for a while now but I think this is the right time to review it. My Online Shop plates are beautiful and Plate Jr.25 has the perfect designs for the upcoming love season! This plate is a love and hearts collection of beautiful images! I ordered  this one because it has both delicate and open space images, a good selection for a Valentine's day manicure, but fun enough to use everyday.

The images have an approximated  measure of 0.90" lenght x 0.75" width. Enough for the average nails. It contains a lot of accent designs in the lower part of the plate and between the nail sized images. It has six full sized nail images and 15 accent  images.

 Overall the images are easy to pick up and transfer , but there is one that requires speed, fine details dry too fast and the image breaks while transferring. I tried to transfer it three times before I could get it right. Another detail is that you have to be careful while scraping the open space images. While trying I discovered than when I scraped diagonally with the stamper on a 45 degree angle I got a perfect stamped image. 

This plate has beautiful images and all have a nice quality etching, even the smallest detail was noticeable in the plate as well as stamped. This plate would make a good addition to any collection. 

MoYou London Princess Collection Stamping Plate 11 Review

                                       MoYou London Princess Collection Plate 11

This stamping plate was part of the Moyou London haul I reviewed yesterday. Honestly I purchased this plate just because it had a hand writing image. Images on this plate are kind of sweet and childish, just like drawings elementary and middle school kids tend to do on the back page of their notebooks. Having said that, if you're going for a fresh kiddie design this is the plate for it!

When I got to swatch this plate, it was difficult for me to transfer the complete image.  This is not a bad thing against the plate because picking up the image wasn't the problem. Timing was the problem. The plate is so detailed and has a delicate etching in almost every image, so you need speed and a good coordination so your image doesn't completely dry on the stamper.

I had a hard time trying to swatch the last two images of the plate. The design has long and thin lines that you will need to fill correctly and at the right speed so it doesn't break before picking it up. After a few fails, I discovered that the best way is to scrape it upside down and transfer it quickly.

The images have a nice size, but again, good for small slim nails, a bit longer but small nails.

Overall the plate has beautiful and sweet images to freshen up your manicures. Great to stamp girly nails!