May 2020 Favourites

I can't work out if this month has gone really fast or really slow.  What do you think?  Has this month gone fast or slow for you?  Anyway, as we have reached the end of May it is time for me to do my monthly favourites.  So before I start rambling let's get into it shall we?

Nail Art

I have definitely gone overboard with my favourites this month but I can't help it.  There have been so many good manis that I have loved this month that I didn't want to take off so I have included most of them.  I did cut a few out (like the foil manis - I do love those but because I haven't quite perfected them I have cut them out).

Stamping Plates
I have played with a few plates this month which has been fun.  Nail art has definitely been something that I have been on and off with this year (mainly because of a lack of time) but I do love wearing nail art.
    

Moyra Stamping 88 Love Love Stamping Plate
This is such a pretty plate.  While it isn't full of full sized images (which are always my preference) I really love the images on here.  It definitely would be great around Valentine's Day but I like that it can be used any time of the year.
   

Image from Moyra

What's Up Nails Simple Shapes Stamping Plate
This plate was really fun to play with.  Yes it doesn't have all the fancy images on it but that is what I love.  Nice and simple.

Image from What's Up Nails

What's Up Nails Geometric Trance Stamping Plate
I always love geometric images.  I think they may for some really cool nail art!

Image from What's Up Nails

Stamping Polishes
Along with stamping plates, I was able to play with some new stamping polishes!

Hit The Bottle Electro Candypop Stamping Polish
This is a gorgeous colour and so fun to wear.  I am still yet to try it over a purple base like I have seen others do but I definitely want to.
  

Hit The Bottle Stonewashed & Windswept Stamping Polish
Love this one!  It doubles as a regular polish as well and is such a great colour.

Moyra Stamping White Foil Stamping Polish (and foils!)
I am no stranger to Moyra Foil Stamping Polishes and I have to say that I love them.  I still have a bit of a learning curve when it comes to using the foils (also another HUGE favourite of mine) but that doesn't stop my love.

Indie Polishes
This month again I haven't played with any new mainstream polishes.  It's not that I don't love my mainstream brands or their polishes it's mainly I just don't have the funds to purchase all the things.  I am very fortunate that my favourite indie brands send me their polishes to swatch.  Most of the polishes that I have swatched this month I haven't been able to share yet - so stay tuned for June because there is some awesome stuff coming.

Grace-full Nail Polish Boxing Day Cremes
This were released last year but I only just got the chance to swatch them - and it's LOVE!

That is everything I have loved throughout the month of May.  As I mentioned I have already started swatching lots of polishes that are coming in June so stay tuned for those because there are some awesome things coming.  I am also planning on taking a bit of a break throughout June so blog posts may be a little sparse as well as my social media.  It's been a loooong time since I have had a break and I am definitely overdue for one so that is what I am doing.
  

What's Up Nails B051 I Just Want Sushi Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

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Today I have the last of the What's Up Nails that I was sent to review.  I have had a lot of fun and found some new favourites with these products.  I definitely can recommend both stamping plates and stamping polishes from What's Up Nails.  Let's take a look at the I Just Want Sushi stamping plate shall we?

Image from What's Up Nails

I love the dragon image on this plate so it was definitely the first thing I needed on my nails.  It is quite large which unfortunately meant I lost a fair bit of it on my nails but I do like the result still.  For my base I used Emily de Molly Fade Into Black, Moyra's White Foil Stamping Polish and their Gold Foil.  I then topped it all off with Hit The Bottle's Water Tight Top Coat.

I was considering doing a gradient with one of the scene images but I couldn't quite decide how I wanted to do it so I decided to use the little sushi image instead.  I mean you can't have a sushi plate and not use the sushi image can you?  For my base I used OPI Love Is On The Cards and Don't Speak and stamped using Hit The Bottle As Black As Night.

This plate isn't a favourite of mine but there are some great images for the theme.  It also stamps beautifully as well.

The I Want Sushi Stamping Plate is available now from What's Up Nails.

Hit The Bottle Water Tight Top Coat - Swatches & Review

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Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you have had a good weekend.  I managed to hurt my back on Saturday so it has been quite an uneventful and painful weekend.  One good thing to come from the weekend though was I got the chance to test out Hit The Bottle's Water Tight Top Coat.  Now this top coat is said to stop smearing (which I didn't realize so I haven't tested this over stamping yet) but the thing I was most interest in is testing it over foil!  If you have ever used any top coat over foil then you will know it wrinkles like crazy and it's not a good look.  Enter Water Tight....

Water Tight is a very thin cloudy looking top coat.  It did seem quite odd to look at and I was concerned how it would apply and dry but I had zero issues.  Initially it goes on cloudy but it dries fast and clear!  It didn't crease my foil at all.

I am a huge fan of this for foil stamping.  I am also addicted to foil stamping so I am definitely going to get some good use out of this top coat.  I will also have to try it over regular stamping too to see if it smudges.

The Water Tight Top Coat is available now from Hit The Bottle.

Hit The Bottle Stonewashed & Windswept Polish - Swatches & Review

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Let's kick today's post with a little bit of a spoiler.  Don't worry you won't be seeing anything today (although I am pretty sure if you go into the Polish Pick Up group you will see the polish) but I was sent the upcoming Polish Pick Up shade from Hit The Bottle.  Along with that I was also sent Electro Candypop (which you can see here) and Stonewashed & Windswept which I will be sharing with you today.

Stonewashed & Windswept is a pale grey with a warm blue tinge to it.  This polish can be worn as a regular polish or as a stamping polish.  How awesome is that?  I love a polish that is a two in one.  The formula is a little on the thick side (which obviously is better for stamping) but it applies easily when wearing it alone.  I used one coat for my swatch and stamped using Hit The Bottle's To Love Or Not To Love stamping plate.

I love this polish!  I'm not sure if I love it more as a stamping polish or a regular polish.  It's definitely awesome as both.  It also stamps beautifully over black and white.  I'm a huge fan!

Stonewashed & Windswept is available now from Hit The Bottle.

What's Up Nails B039 Geometric Trance Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

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Hello!  I feel like it has been ages since I sat down and blogged.  Really it hasn't been that long but I have been behind in painting my nails (life has been really busy that by the end of the day I either don't have time to do my nails or I just can't be bothered).  So to make up for lack of nail time I have had recently I spent the full day on Saturday swatching away like a crazy person.  I now about a hundred pictures to edit.  Yay for me!  Anyway, today I have the Geometric Trance Stamping Plate from What's Up Nails to share with you guys.

Image from What's Up Nails

I love this image!  I thought it would look cool with a really shifty base.  I love how this turned.  Next time I will definitely try it with a gradient base because that would look awesome too!  For my base I used Emily de Molly LE130 and stamped using Hit The Bottle As Black As Night.

                      

I actually had a couple of ideas for this next image.  I think even though it is really simple in its design that it has so much potential for some awesome manis.  For my base I used Color Club East Austin and double stamped using Hit The Bottle's Snowed In and As Black As Night.

I am a big fan of this plate.  There are some really great images on it (I do love geometric nails!) and I am excited to play with it some more.  The images all pick up and transfer well to the nails.

The Geometric Trance Stamping Plate is available now from What's Up Nails.

Moyra Stamping 88 Love Love Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

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Last year I welcomed some Moyra stamping plates into my collection and I fell in love with them!  So much so they all landed in my end of year favourites last year.  Now I have another one of their plates - the Love Love Stamping Plate to add to my collection and of course to share with you guys.

Image from Moyra

Technically my first time using this plate was when I was swatching the Neon Pink stamping polish from Moyra so I may as well pop that swatch in here too.  I do love this image.  I think it would look great over a glitter base or even with some lead lighting/reverse stamping.

When I sat down to do this mani I really hadn't decided which of the full sized images I was going to use but I am so happy that I went with this one.  I think it is so fun with the bright coloured background.  For my base I used Color Club Tic-Tac-Toe, Players Gonna Play, Schoolyard Crush, Extra Credit and All Dolled Up and stamped using Hit The Bottle's As Black As Night.

This image I absolutely love!  I think it would look amazing as a simple black and white mani.  In fact, that's what I had originally planned (or just using it as an accent nail in black and white).  At the last second I decided to use it over Emily de Molly Here We Go Again (because I have been dying to put this polish back on my nails).  I love how this image looks with this polish.

I am a big fan of this plate.  I really like the full sized images in particular and some of the smaller images are nice but as we know I don't really do small images.  All of the images stamp beautifully as well.

The Love Love Stamping Plate is available now from Moyra Stamping.  Don't forget to use my code TRACYMOYRA for a 10% discount on your order.

Hit The Bottle Electro Candypop Stamping Polish - Swatches & Review

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I have written about 1250 blog posts over the years and still to this day I have trouble starting off my posts.  You would think at this point in time that I would be in the swing of writing posts but nope.  Today I am having "writers block" - always a fun thing when you are trying to write.  Anyway, I am rambling.  Today I have the stunning Electro Candypop stamping polish from Hit The Bottle to share with you.


Electro Candypop is a turquoise creme stamping polish.  I love the colour this one but I couldn't for the life of my get it to photograph accurately.  It's definitely so much better in person.  I swatched it over black and white so you can see how it looks over both light and dark colours but I have seen it swatched over purple and other colours and it looks amazing!  I can't wait to play with it some more.

Electro Candypop is available now from Hit The Bottle.

Moyra Nail Stamping White Foil Stamping Polish, Gold & Silver Foils, & Aqua Top Coat - Swatches & Review

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Today I have a quite a few products from Moyra to share with you.  They all work well together and it would be kind of hard to separate into different posts so I thought why not just talk about them all in the same post.  Which products are we going to be talking about?  Well, I have the White Stamping Polish, the Silver and Gold Stamping Foils and the Aqua Top Coat.  

White Foil Stamping Polish

This polish surprised me a little.  It seemed a little sheer in comparison to other white stamping polishes but it does stamp well.  It also dried relatively slow which allows for plenty of time to add the foil.
        

Silver & Gold Stamping Foils

I have very curved nails and foils don't seem to love me.  With that said, I think I am finding a way for them to work for me.  I definitely still have a bit of a learning curve with them.  I allowed the stamping polish to "dry" for about 10-20 seconds and then sponged on the foils.  I did attempt to apply the gold foil to the full nail but it didn't turn out great so I ended up having to random put the foil on to fix it.  I do love how shiny these are and definitely want to keep trying to get them for work for me.
        

Aqua Top Coat

If you don't know most top coats will cause foils to wrinkle.  Introducing the Aqua Top Coat...I am a big fan of this for foils.  Initially I was worried because it looked quite milky on the nails but as it dried it turned clear and the foils remained smooth and shiny!  It does dry slowly but I am ok with that.

While I definitely have a learning curve when it comes to foils and my nails I am definitely a huge fan of all of these products.  I am definitely going to have to break out the other colours in the Moyra foils that I own and practice some more.

All products mentioned are available now from Moyra Nail Stamping.

What's Up Nails B047 Everyday Is Caturday Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

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The important questions in life - are you a dog person or a cat person?  I personally like cats better than dogs.  Don't take that to mean I don't like dogs because I do, I just like cats more.  We have two cats in our family.  Max and Sampi.  Both equally as adorable and have very different personalities.  Anyway, I am getting side tracked here.  Today I have the Everyday Is Caturday (which it very much is in my house) stamping plate from What's Up Nails to share with you.

Image from What's Up Nails

This first mani is kinda inspired by my cat Sampi.  She is a beautiful tortoiseshell cat with lots of black and browns/nudes.  She also has a similar looking face to the cat with the black patch on its face.    For my base I used Emily de Molly Faux Creme and stamped using Hit The Bottle As Black As Night.

Now you can't go past the magical caticorns can you?  Such beautiful magical creatures.  For my base I sponged on Pretty Serious Cosmetics Fluffykins, Bunny Foo-Foo, Doodlebug, Cutie Patootie, Little Duckling and Peachie Poo and stamped using Hit The Bottle As Black As Night.

I think this is a super cute plate but it's not one that I would grab for on a day to day basis.  It's just not my style.  The images themselves stamp beautiful.

The Everyday Is Caturday stamping plate is available now from What's Up Nails.

Grace-full Nail Polish Boxing Day 2019 Cremes - Swatches & Review

I have been sitting with these gorgeous limited edition cremes from Grace-full Nail Polish for way too long.  Theresa kindly gifted them to me and sadly they have been sitting in my polish rack to swatch ever since.  It's not because I haven't wanted to swatch them but because I have been swamped with other swatching things.  I have definitely been playing with them in some nail art (which you may have seen on my Instagram) and now I have finally swatched them.

Lilac Vision is a soft lilac creme.  I love this colour!  It's so pretty and girly.  The formula is great and is opaque in two coats which is what I used for my swatch.

Mintie is a mint green creme.  Again, I love the colour of this one.  Super pretty and the formula is great and easy to use.  For my swatch I used two coats.

Oasis Blue is a pastel cornflour blue creme.  Now if I had to pick only one polish from this trio then I think that this would be the one.  I have actually worn it a few times now.  I love, love, love the colour and the formula is fantastic.  My swatch shows two coats.

I love these cremes and I am so happy that I have them in my collection.  Hopefully you guys also managed to grab them when they were released.

Moyra Nail Stamping Neon Pink Stamping Polish - Swatches & Review

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Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all had a nice and relaxing weekend.  I know I did.  Last week I received an awesome package from Moyra Nail Stamping so prepare yourself for some Moyra goodies on my blog again.  Starting with their Neon Pink stamping polish!

Neon Pink is a neon pink stamping polish.  This polish sits somewhere in between a creme and a jelly.  It's really interesting and the colour is awesome (but I am a sucker for a neon pink polish).  This polish does dry really quickly so you need to move fast.  As you can see from my swatches it swatches perfectly over white but not so great over black - which I think is because it's kinda jelly.

While this polish isn't great over black I do love it over white!  It's definitely a lot brighter in person than what it looks in my picture.  I also love the wide brush that this polish has too.  It makes it really quick and applies a good amount of polish on the plate.

The Neon Pink stamping polish is available now from Moyra Nail Stamping.  Don't forget that you can use my code TRACYMOYRA for a 10% discount off your purchase.

What's Up Nails B045 Simple Shapes Stamping Plate - Swatches & Review

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Happy May everyone.  I feel like this month may be quite an interesting one but not necessarily in a good way.  But hopefully I am wrong.  Anyway, today I have another plate from What's Up Nails called Simple Shapes which as the name suggests is a plate full of simple shapes.

Image from What's Up Nails

For this first mani I couldn't go past the zig zags/chevrons.  I think these types of patterns are some of my favourite types to wear on my nails.  I kept it nice and simple but OMG I love this mani!  I wore it for few days because I simply didn't want to take it off.  For my base I used Grace-full Nail Polish Blue Oasis and stamped using What's Up Nails Jay For A Day.

I was in a bit of a nail funk the day I did this mani.  It was one of those days where I needed/wanted to do a new mani but had no clue what to do.  I couldn't decided if I wanted something simple or something a little more 'fancy', some bright or dark, glitter or no glitter....anyway I eventfully went for Color Club Modern Pink, Emily de Molly Bright Retreat, China Glaze I'd Melt For You and A-England Merlin.  I LOVE this mani and think it will be staying on for a few days.

While this isn't the type of plate that I would normally gravitate towards I actually love it!  Yes you can do some really fancy stuff with it (think like gradients and layering) but I really love it for the simplicity of the designs.  I can see me grabbing for this a fair bit.

The Simple Shapes stamping plate is available now from What's Up Nails.