Showing posts with label Chez-Delaney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chez-Delaney. Show all posts

Chez Delaney Plates H3 & H9

Good morning, Dear Reader!

This morning I decided to play around with a couple of the Chez-Delaney plates I got not too long ago, two I hadn't used yet.  From plate H3, I wanted to check out the big plain French tip pattern, and I added a little something to it from plate H9.

For color, I figure I can't go wrong with purple, so SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars is the base color.  I did the tips from H3 using Konad Pastel Violet Special Polish, and the pattern was a challenge to get a feel for.  By the last few stamps I did, I had it, but in the picture you'll see that a couple nails aren't quite right.  The thing is, it's hard to scrape the big empty engraving evenly and without sliding the corner of the scraper into the pattern.  I did want to master this one though, because double stamping my tips with the French patterns from Konad plate m19 leaves a darker line where the two stamps overlap when I use anything other than black or white.

After the tips, I added a little heart pattern from H9, applied top coat, and called it done.  It's by no means the most attractive manicure ever, but not bad for playing around with new plates.

Chez Delaney Plates H3 & H9
Chez Delaney Plates H3 & H9 over SpaRitual Shoot for the Stars

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  


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China Glaze Happy Go Lucky & H8

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I used another Chez-Delaney plate, H8.  The pattern I wanted from it is a flaming tip pattern, which was just too much fun to pass up.  I was considering what colors to use to most look like fire, and I concluded that it would be pretty hard to pull off well using only two colors.  I still wanted to use the pattern, so I decided to go for the look of flames on an old hot rod, like this:

I've Got This One Covered, Indi
I started with the yellow, for which I used three coats of China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, then I did the stamping in Konad Cool Red Princess Polish.  I found it took a while to get a feel for scraping this pattern without messing it up - on the big tip patterns, it's really easy to get the edge of the scraper too deep into the pattern and scrape away far too much.  Once I got the hang of it, the stamping went quickly, and I'm happy with the end result.

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky & Chez-Delaney H8
China Glaze Happy Go Lucky, Three Coats, with Chez-Delaney H8
I think it worked out reasonably well, and the manicure makes me laugh a little bit.

That's all there is to tell this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polih to you!  


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RBL Bangin' & H5

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I still wasn't up for facing another holiday manicure today, so I cracked into another Chez-Delaney stamping plate.  I wanted to use the tip pattern from plate H5, which is a pattern centered about a heart, and I thought it would look cool in Konad Black Pearl over a red creme.  For the base color, I went with RBL Bangin', halfway between a coral and a red, because the color is light and vivid enough to provide a stark contrast to the Black Pearl.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bangin' is, like their other cremes, just perfect in two coats. It's normally easy to apply, but I must confess that today's manicure is neither my best application nor stamping.  The fact is, I did my nails while watching a Jackass DVD, so I kept busting out laughing.  I wish there were a more age-appropriate reason for the imperfections, but alas, I apparently have the sense of humor of a twelve year old boy.  So be it...  As a result, the only really decent stamps ended up being my thumb, which you can only see half of, and my middle finger.  I was laughing for the others and smudged them a little - just enough that they look crappy in a giant picture, but not enough to redo it.  Here's what I've got.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Bangin' Polish with Chez-Delaney H5
Rescue Beauty Lounge Bangin' Nail Polish with Chez-Delaney H5
It's not perfect, but I like it a lot just the same.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  


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The Neon Creeper Heel Manicure

Good morning, Dear Reader!

After a few days of no polish change, I was up for a more involved mani this morning, so I did a nail art interpretation of a T.U.K. high-heeled neon creeper.  Why yes, that is incredibly random and out of the blue, but when you see the shoe, you'll see why it inspired a manicure.

The backstory, to mitigate some of the randomness, is that I need a new pair of all-purpose, running out the door shoes.  I've mentioned my taste in clothing is pretty plain, but my taste in shoes is far from it, with the current worn-out pair being red/purple/pink mosaic flats.  I've always loved heels, and being kind of short I wore them just about all the time for years (I'm still a normal height for a woman wearing them, and if there's no good reason not to...).  That era ended when I completely tore an ankle ligament (I was pledging a sorority and fell on the first step of the house's spiral staircase, smashing my ankle on every step on the way down,  while everybody was waiting for me at the bottom - my grandest entrance ever), until I just recently discovered shoes with a platform.  They look impossible to walk in, but they're totally comfortable and nothing at all to walk in, so heels are back on the table for me, and they've been included in the hunt.

That brings us to the inspiration picture,which I mentioned was a pair of T.U.K. neon creeper heels.




Mani Inspiration
My Manicure Inspiration

To make the manicure, I started with three coats of China Glaze Kiwi Cool-ada, stamping plate H9 for the leopard print, which is a larger pattern and let me cover each nail with only one stamp.  I used that XL stamper I tried once before and hated because I've read reviews from a few bloggers with whom I normally have a similar experience who loved it.  That made me think I needed practice, and that proved to be the case.  There is a trick to using it, which is absolutely no pressure picking up or placing the stamp, and then it does a really beautiful job.  Having stamped, I filled in the dots on the leopard print with Misa Dreamy Purple, painted the tip one nail with Dreamy Purple to make it like the top of the shoe, then sealed with top coat.  Here's how it turned out.




Neon Creeper Heel Mani
My Neon Creeper Heel Manicure

There's not fabulous light today, so Dreamy Purple looks darker in the picture than in real life, although I think I should have hunted down Nubar Pasadena Purple for this one - it would have been more clearly purple.  I'm still really happy with the manicure because it's ridiculously fun.

That's my new weekend manicure and just about all I have to yap about this morning Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.


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Nubar Marble Tower & D09

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I finally decided to take a breather from things that sparkle today, but I didn't take a break from fun manicures.  Today I figured I'd try out a few patterns from the D-series nail art stamping plates, which I've only seen at Chez-Delaney.com.  I went with plate D09, which is one with several stamps of iconic celebrity pictures.

For a the stamps, I thought black would be best, and I decided to use Nubar Marble Tower, a light grey creme, as the base color.  Here's what I ended up making.

Nubar Marble Tower Nail Polish with Nail Art Stamping Plate D09

Starting at the top, that's Clint Eastwood on my thumb,  Jim Morrison on my index finger, The Blues Brothers, Audrey Hepburn, and Sylvester Stallone in Rocky.  Audrey won the prize in a battle against Bob Marley for her spot - he's also an option on this plate.

I've been reluctant to try these because the Chez-Delaney.com owner only sells this series as a substantially discounted set, stating that several of the patterns within the set don't work.  With these particular images being so detailed I thought there might be troubles, but there wasn't a single one.  I'll probably play with stamping plates for a few days since I'm so completely enamored with this manicure.

That's all for this morning, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!


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FingerPaints Groovy Green & XL A

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'll be removing a manicure I've had on for two days, FingerPaints Groovy Green with a pattern from plate XL A stamped on it in Konad White, which I really like.  The pattern I chose kind of looks like a soccer ball (or a football to the rest of the world) on the plate, but I think it's really flowers made of interconnected hexagons.  At least that's what I've decided it is on this manicure.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

FingerPaints Groovy Green and XL A
FingerPaints Groovy Green & XL A Stamped in Konad White

It's base coat, two coats of Groovy Green, then top coat to start, and after a fifteen minute wait I stamped it, sealed with Konad top coat to avoid smudging the pattern, then quick dry top coat to make it dry fast.

I don't have anything noteworthy to tack on here, so I'll just wrap it up.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!


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China Glaze Pool Party & Plate XL A

Good morning, Dear Reader!

For today I took another stab at a neon eye-crosser of a manicure, this time using China Glaze Pool Party and plate XL A, and it worked out pretty well.

Pool Party, a darker pink neon creme, took three coats but dried quickly, and I stamped it with a wavy lines pattern from plate XL A.  I wanted the lines to go across, so I used the pattern sideways with Konad Black Special Polish.  To avoid smudging, I topped off the stamps with Konad Top Coat, but the pictures showed me that I had teeny tiny bubbles in it.  Since they don't show without a close up picture even when I know they're there, I've kept this one on for two days.

China Glaze Pool Party & Plate XL A
China Glaze Pool Party Nail Polish with Plate XL A Stamp

I really like it.  It's incredibly loud, but  so over the top loud that I think it's clear that I was going for that.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  


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Plate XL B

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

I had a great big fail stamping a pattern from XL B for today, which completely proved wrong my recent statement that I find the quality of engraving is equivalent between Chez Delaney and Konad plates.  Konad never fails me!

I took pictures, but promptly did a do-over on the manicure because it was really bad.  For the second I also went with a pattern from XL B, but the second one I chose was composed of thicker lines, from which I generally have a much easier time getting a clean stamp.  The messy one had thin lines, and the few stamps with didn't have extra polish all over have bald spots, and since the stamping was in black over China Glaze Shocking  Pink, it looked pretty shabby.

XL B and China Glaze Shocking Pink Nail Polish
Plate XL B over China Glaze Shocking Pink Nail Polish

My ring and pinky nails have bald spots in the middle of the filled in sections, and the others, which I didn't scrape as hard to avoid that, have the extra Konad polish.  It looked gross enough to annoy me, so off it came.

The next attempt was Color Club Wicked Sweet with white Konad polish, and I love how it turned out.  A cashier at a place I often go asked about it this morning and admired the manicure, but there was a huge line behind me and she's usually really slow without a distraction (perfectly nice lady, she just doesn't mind having twenty people glaring at her while she makes small talk), and she asked about it using an "or" where neither option was correct (is that A or B?).  That meant my answer would require an explanation, and since I didn't want to lie I just muttered unintelligibly to get out of explaining Konad with the line of people hating me.  That often works surprisingly well, by the way, and it did this morning.  Here's the manicure that's nice enough to make a line of people wait for small talk.

XL B and Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish
Plate XL B over Color Club Wicked Sweet Nail Polish

Much better!  I love the polish, the stamp, and it's all the better since it smells really nice.

That's what I know today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!


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Plate XL A - The Puzzle

Good morning, Dear Reader!

My Gelicure mani is still hanging in there, so I'm still changing it around to keep it interesting.  For yesterday's variation, I brought out the XL plates and looked for something to do in white, and I chose the puzzle pieces tip pattern.

I stamped that in Konad white, but it still looked a little plain, so I hunted down some nail art pens to fill in a few of the pieces.  I added Color Stay top coat and Poshe, and this is what it looked like when I was finished.

Stamping Plate XL A - Puzzle Pieces
Stamping Plate XL A - Puzzle Pieces and Nail Art Polish
I really like how this one turned out, and to be honest, I was surprised to see a few tiny smudges in the nail art polish when I was selecting a picture - I can't see them even when I'm looking for them.

What I'd forgotten about changing color once a week is how much I hate it when it looks grown out.  Yesterday was the five days of wear, and I was reminded by my own annoyance that it's always around the fifth day of a manicure that it starts to bug me with the line at the cuticle.  However, the soak off gel has otherwise been so painless that I'm going to let it slide until tomorrow.  Other than the giant gap, it looks just like it did right after I applied it.

That's today's variation on the Hot Pink theme, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!  


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China Glaze Sun Worshiper & XL A

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'd mentioned I had another theme in mind for this work week, and now it's time to tell you about it and get on to the manicures!  Food was suggested as a theme, which I thought was a great starting point, but more vague than I had in mind.  Well, I thought of the topic of food in terms of early February, and a specific idea came to mind: Produce I Wish I Had.

You see, I'm really big on fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables and on really good food.  I look forward to things coming into season all through the year, except that there's nothing that locally comes into season from December through February.  By February, I can't look at another mass-produced-and-stored-forever apple or orange, celery begins to lose its charm, and I start thinking "WOW, I wish I had ... "  When it was time to do my nails last night, it was mangoes (which are never local, but at least taste like mangoes for a few warm months per year).  I really, really wanted one, but alas, there were none to be had.

Mmmm, Mango!

More Mangoes!

Can You Taste It?
For my mango manicure, I started out with China Glaze Sun Worshiper, a neon yellow orange creme, to represent the flesh.  It takes a million coats on its own, but is worth it.  It's a little on the bright side, but remember that I'm screaming loudly here.  I decided to use a tip pattern with some tiny dots from my XL A plate, which I did in red and green to represent the skin.  The tips didn't work out quite as I had in mind at the outset - I tried to use yellow as part of the tip pattern as well, but it just didn't show up at all, leaving me with only red and green.  So it's not great, but is in the general direction of where I was going with it.

China Glaze Sun Worshiper Nail Polish & Chez Delaney XL A
China Glaze Sun Worshiper Nail Polish with Chez Delaney XL A
Looking for the mango pictures was hard - I felt like I was toying with my own emotions.   Now I want one more than ever!

That my first Produce I Wish I Had manicure, and the start of a new work week.  I hope Monday is kind to you, and until tomorrow, love and nail polish to you!  


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Nails Inc Paradise Walk & Plate XL A

Good morning. Dear Reader!

Yesterday was just one of those days for me, you know the kind where every attempt to accomplish anything at all is thwarted and generates more projects?  I was really frustrated by early evening, which is when I've been doing my nails lately, so I figured I'd do best to think up something really fun lest I get into a bad mood.  It worked - by nighttime I was laughing maniacally with my beloved, so all was well.

Neons are always very fun for me, so I broke out the Nails Inc Kings of Neon Collection from last summer (I think that's when it was released - I got it at a decent discount, so it may have been earlier).  It's a set of eight minis, six neon colors, their silk base coat, and Kensington Caviar Top Coat.  Here's one of their promo pictures of the set.

Nails Inc Kings of Neon
Nails Inc Kings of Neon Collection

The thing is, these are micro minis at 4.5 ml rather than the usual 5ml.  Not much of a net difference, but 10% less is 10% less.  For the base that was fine, but got more difficult later.  The colors I used were the pink, called Paradise Walk (3rd from left), and  the blue just to its right, Phoenix Street, as an accent.  The blue needed three coats, typical for a neon but unusual for a Nails Inc, and that was tolerable, but required dipping the brush twice per nail per coat.  Paradise Walk was a lot testier with 5 coats, which used up half of the mini, and for coats 4-5 I had to dip the brush three times per nail since the polish was lower.  The top coat might just be my all-time favorite (ignoring cost, that is - I would never pay retail for it!), but it was harder to use from a mini.  It's like a watery thin Lippmann Addicted to Speed - it's fast to freeze up like the Lippmann and works super fast and well, but since the Nails Inc is thin, it's not a race to spread it out before it starts to freeze up.  With the mini requiring a double dip, I was slower, and the second drop per nail was a race.

After that, I stamped a pattern from plate XL A (one which somehow reminds me of the set of Laugh In) on my tips using Konad White.  Konad White Pearl is less likely to smudge, but I like the stark contrast of white creme on neon creme, so I just used White and finished with Konad top coat and another quick dry, and it worked out.  One note: in the bottle, Paradise Walk is distinctly pink (the picture above is color accurate for the bottle on my monitor), but it dries pink-red.  A couple of the color Club pink neons are this way too, and even if I like the pink-red it's a disappointment because I wanted the pink of the bottle color.

Nails Inc Paradise Walk Nail Polish & Plate XL A
Nails Inc Paradise Walk Nail Polish with Plate XL A and Phoenix Street Accent
It's not quite what I had in mind since I wanted pink pink, but all I was aiming for was fun enough to make me chipper, so mission accomplished.

That's what I have for you this morning, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you! 

P.S. I meant to mention one bit of sad news I received yesterday.  You might recall that I had a favorite UK ebay seller who later started her own site, Jacqui from Beautyspot Cosmetics.  I got a message from her email address that had her husband's name on it making the announcement that Jacqui had passed away (explaining the resulting short delays on orders, if you can believe the poor man was tending to that).  I was very sad because she was really a lovely woman, and the note was signed by her husband and three kids who  will continue the family business.  I wanted to mention it in case any of you were as fond of her as I was.  Rest in peace, Jacqui.


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Nfu Oh 65 & Chez-Delaney H2

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today is a reader request day, with the request being for a chevron manicure in any colors, something I haven't done in recent years.  I like them well enough for an occasional change of pace, but they take me forever because I'm picky.  I find it distracting if the chevron is even a hair asymmetric about the center line, so when I placed my first order for Chez-Delaney plates, I was interested in the chevron tip plate.

It turns out that I eyed the plain chevron, but I bought the modified one.  I figured it's close enough, so I went with it anyhow.  I chose Nfu Oh 65 over Aqua Base for the main color, then stamped the tip pattern from plate H2 in Blue Konad Special Polish.  I used Konad Top Coat and another coat of quick dry top coat to seal it.

Nfu Oh 65 & Chez-Delaney H2
Nfu Oh 65 Nail Polish with Chez-Delaney Plate H2
What struck me about this pattern  is that even at this length, my nails are only marginally long enough for this stamp.  I got a little chip in the edge of my left ring nail and smoothed it out a few weeks ago, and on that nail the solid part of the stamp, the part closing the intersection of all the lines, didn't quite fit despite the fact that I placed the stamp with the sides closer to the cuticle than usual.  The other thing is I don't always get the very edges with a solid stamp, so I painted over the spots that had something missing.  The difference in opacity of the Konad polish shows in the picture, but not without magnification.

I said it was a reader request day,and it's a two-fer  An animated  gif of a holo was also requested (again, any color - I like vague requests!), so I made one.  I've never had a reason to make an animated gif before, so this is my first try at it.  I had to use artificial light for today's pictures, so there is variance between the one above and the ones below.  I chose the picture above because it's color accurate on my monitor, and the ones below because they show the holo well and line up well enough that you don't feel like you're watching Pong.  

Nfu Oh 65
Fun with Nfu Oh 65
That today's update, Dear Reader.  Until; next time, love and nail polish to you!  


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Golden Rose 119 & Plate XL A

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I tried out a new to me brand for today's manicure, Golden Rose.  Golden Rose 119 is an almost black holo (I've seen it called black,but next to black it looks dark charcoal).

The bottle for this one is super small at 6 ml ( as opposed to the standard 15 ml), but the price is proportionately lower so it's just like buying a tiny amount at a time.  As for using the tiny bottle and brush for application, it was a little weird due to bottle size, but along the lines of the old Laura Mercier bottles rather than a mini.  I wish the brush were better because the polish itself is very nice, with the brush being the only drawback for me.  The application was unusually smooth and even for a holo (no "bald spots" like with Nfu Ohs, China Glaze OMG's, or Sally Hansen Magicals), it only took two coats to be even and opaque with a better than average drying time, and when dry the surface of the nail is mirror smooth.

After I applied Golden Rose 119 and was surveying my work, I thought that the polish wasn't as holographic as I'd like it to be, which prompted the memory of an entire post from a while back where I told you what a difference Nfu Oh Aqua Base makes under holos.  Then I remembered my lengthy holo kick last summer, during which I consistently used Aqua Base and found it livened up every holo polish I used over it, which leads me to believe that Golden Rose 119 needs another run over Aqua Base.

To perk it up in the meantime, I stamped my tips with a pattern from tip plate XL A using Nfu Oh 61 for the stamping, and here's what I came up with.

Golden Rose 119 Nail Polish & Plate XL A
Golden Rose 119 Nail Polish, Two Coats, with Plate XL A
It's not bad, but I'm still kicking myself for using the wrong base.

That's about it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!


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Chez-Delaney Plate XL B

Good morning, Dear Reader!

As I was warming up the car to go to the post office early this morning, I was admiring my Japanese OPI DS Original in the sun (the sun returned today!), and it struck me that I didn't have the heart to remove it after one day, so I conceded that I'd just not post today.  Then I went over to the PO, and lo and behold, guess what was waiting for me?  Well, since you read the title, I don't have to give you a lot of guesses - my plates A and B from the XL series arrived, and I scurried home to check them out.

The actual plates are giant but about as thin as regular, so they'll need more delicate care not to bend.  My plate B has a dent in it that looks like something pointy fell on it from a reasonable height, but it's next to a pattern, not on it, so I'm hoping that pattern works.  Otherwise, I have 83 big tip patterns that look fine, so I can't complain too much.  I used a pattern from plate B, and I was able to get a picture in sunlight.

Chez-Delaney XL B over Japanese OPI DS Original Nail Polish in Sunlight
I can tell I'm going to love these!  For the stamping, I used the regular Konad stamper and Konad Black Pearl Special Polish.  I tried the new giant stamper for two stamps, but I don't like it yet.  The surface is a squishy silicone, and it didn't pick up as much of the image as the regular stamper, so I didn't use it.  When I was done stamping, I used a coat of Konad top coat, then a coat of Poshe.

There's nothing quite like getting a new toy, so the arrival of the plates really made me happy.  That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader, and until next time, love and nail polish to you!


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SpaRitual Eye of the Beholder

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I'm back to the SpaRitual Truth Collection today with Eye of the Beholder, a light Springy green creme.  It's both darker and more yellow than the plethora of mint greens that are around now.  The polish is thick, so I did very thin coats.  After the second, it was opaque but a bit streaky, so I added a third coat.  I could easily have just made the second a little thicker and been done with two, which is what I'll do next time.

SpaRitual Eye of the Beholder
SpaRitual Eye of the Beholder Nail Polish, Three Coats
I really like the color a lot, but it looked a little plain on its own so I added the tip pattern from Chez Delaney plate H5 in Konad White.

SpaRitual Eye of the Beholder Nail Polish with Chez Delaney H5
SpaRitual Eye of the Beholder Nail Polish and Chez Delaney Plate H5
I love the finished manicure.  It's really cheerful, so I keep peeking at it.

That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  


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Chez Delaney XL Plates

Good morning, Dear Reader!

I was doing a bit of poking around yesterday, and I discovered that Chez Delaney has a new series of six stamping plates, the XL Series. They're six giant plates, four of those plates being all French tip patterns (42 patterns per plate), and they were love at first sight for me.  I borrowed pictures of them with permission from Chez Delaney, and I think the pictures speak for themselves quite well, so I'll show those to you now.  Click on a picture and a full sized version will open in a new tab so you can actually see the patterns.

Chez Delaney XL Series Plate A
Chez Delaney XL Series Plates, Plate A

Chez Delaney XL Series Plate B
Chez Delaney XL Series Plates, Plate B

Chez Delaney XL Series Plate C
Chez Delaney XL Series Plates, Plate C

Chez Delaney XL Series Plate D
Chez Delaney XL Series Plates, Plate D

Chez Delaney XL Series Plate E
Chez Delaney XL Series Plates, Plate E

Chez Delaney XL Series Plate F
Chez Delaney XL Series Plates, Plate F

I just noticed something funny this second!  It's good to see that the lower right of Plate F offers us more options in 420 manicures!  I'd been feeling so restricted by having only the one blurry pot leaf on a BM plate, but now we have choices.

Back to our story... I saw these, then the sky cracked open, a ray of sunlight shone brightly down upon me, and a choir of angels began to sing.  Well, that's what I'm saying now.  The reality is that I cracked like cheap wicker under a fat man on plates A and B, as well as the other new addition at Chez Delaney to accompany the XL plates, an XL sized stamper for the images.

The reason I was so thrilled to see all of this is that, as you might have guessed, I love French tip patterns, especially the ones that completely cover the tips of my nails.  Normally, there's not more than one tip pattern to a plate (which is all that fits), and I chose the C-D (my new abbreviation for Chez-Delaney, which I'm officially tired of typing) plates that I have already just for the tip patterns on them, which makes the price per pattern used a little harder to swallow.  Also, there just are not terribly many tip patterns available (the Bundlemonster ones are a little small for me, so I just have Konad and C-D), so to be presented with 168 new ones unexpectedly was pretty impressive!  

I selected the two plates I did because I really like every single one of the patterns on both, and I'm pleased that there's an upsized stamper because that was my one and only criticism of the large tip patterns, that they exceeded the size of regular stampers.  I do like most of the patterns on the other four plates, but it's uncommon for me to like every pattern on a normal plate of 5-7 patterns, so for A and B, with 42 patterns each to be 100% appealing, that's dang impressive.

I also wanted to give you an update on my Essie Ruby Slippers manicure.  It seems that I might be onto something with this Konad top coat under quick dry - on the third day of wearing this, I have zero chips or tip wear even though I've been tough on it.  I'm thinking I'll wear it as long as I can, until either there's wear or I'm too bored with it to leave it (in which case the test would be the After picture), to see how long it can last.  Speaking of Ruby Slippers, if you haven't already entered to win a bottle of it, please do.



That's it for today, Dear Reader.  Until next time, love and nail polish to you!  


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Deborah Lippmann Bring on the Bling & H4

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today, I've just added to the Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet I applied yesterday.  I started with Chez-Delaney plate H4, using the tip pattern I showed you from it, in Konad Green Special Polish.  That worked out well, but I thought the whole thing could use some sparkle, so I added two coats of Deborah Lippmann Bring on the Bling, then quick dry top coat.

Deborah Lippmann Bring on the Bling & H4 over Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet
Now, I think it's fair to say that Bring on the Bling is a little more assertively named than is descriptive, but at the same time, I understand that Bring on the Subtle Shimmer just isn't as catchy.  In any case, as you can see, the Lippmann is good for adding some sparkle, but it's not the over the top kind.

So that's my new and improved manicure for today.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!  


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