Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Gradient Turtle stamping

So tonight I have a mani that means something special to me. First I would like to thank my very good friend Cassandra for gifting me this plate. The plate is part of the Salon Express kit found at several retailers. I saw someone wearing this stamp and had to have it...now I will tell you why ;)

As many if you know, I went on a family vacation recently with my husband & daughter. I won a raffle from a coworker and we were able to go on a 7 Day Caribbean cruise! I keep saying I'll blog about the entire vacation someday, until then I'll just share this story, the highlight of my trip!

Our third port stop was the Isle of Roatan in Honduras. We went scuba diving on the 2nd largest barrier reef...during that dive my husband spied a 2' wild sea turtle scoot between a large arch of rock and coral. Our guide took us over near her, gestured for us to pet her. Then he proceeded to guide her up, she wasn't afraid of any of us! She swam right toward us, right between my husband and I. I reached out and stroked the back of her shell. It was so incredibly magical and amazing. That moment is one of the most amazing to date.

So in honor of that moment I have this gradient. I used the light green, green and blue polishes from the Color Club Take Wing collection. I didn't sponge it, I just brushed the gradient on. I stamped with Essie Good as Gold using SE21.

I hope you enjoy the manicure and the story ;)

Sunday, June 24, 2012

OPI Black Spotted

Hi everyone, here is a quick, impromptu post! I just got this today all the way from France, please help me welcome OPI Black Spotted!

I used the Claire's dupes of Color Club Take Wing collection as my base. I mottled them randomly like a patchwork quilt.

Your polish has to be completely dry for this to work, so I used Seche Vite before applying. Thin coat over, the more brush swipes you do, the smaller the spots. Topped this off with seche vite and voila!

Unfortunately OPI Black Spotted is only available in other countries than the USA. I heard this was due to patent restrictions. It was initially launched in Sephora in France but I have heard it was recently spotted in Dutch Sephoras. Hopefully this will be available in more countries which will mean more USA ladies will have a better chance to obtain it through the nail network. I still have many friends looking for this, if you or someone you know has access and is willing to ship to me, please let me know!!!