SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby & Konad H4

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I have a manicure with SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby (dun, dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun-dun...) and the tip pattern from nail art stamping plate H4, which I bought from Chez Delaney but have seen elsewhere since.  Aside from having a name that makes me think silly thoughts, Ice Ice Baby is an opaque shimmery white which required three coats, and I did the stamping in rainbow colors (or a selection of five of them) using various Konad Special and Princess polishes.

SpaRitual Ice Ice Baby Nail Polish and Nail Art Stamping Plate H4

I'm extra happy with how this one turned out, and were it not for the fact that my pinky's fake tip is looking worse for the wear, I think this manicure would go on my list of absolute all-time favorites.  The tip has actually held up quite well this week with daily polish changes including an OPI Burlesque glitter, but I noticed an edge of it lifting, and before I even had time to register a conscious thought about that, I pulled the lifted part off and made a big ledge in it.  That was really the result of being tired - I'd gotten all adjusted to sleeping really well, then in the last week something that's no big deal keeps waking me up super early, which is also why I'm posting this hour.  At 3:30 a.m., there's amazingly little to do - I'm not particularly interested in any Ronco products, and anyone I'd call at this hour would likely either be really drunk or really PO'd at being awakened to shoot the breeze, and I don't feel like talking to either.  Proof reading this paragraph, I'm simultaneously impressed and horrified that I wandered from an analysis of a fake tip to Ronco in so few sentences, so I think I'll leave it that way.

Lest I ramble on about every tired thought that drifts between my ears, I'll just wrap it up here.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!

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Posted in Fauxnad , H Series , Nail Art , nail polish , SpaRitual , White

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 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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Posted in Chez-Delaney , China Glaze , Fauxnad , Nail Art , nail polish , Neon , Orange

Free Hello Kitty Fauxnad Plate

There is some weirdness with this vendor's site you should be aware of before entering your info.

Here's a link to the details.

The status on whether this code is active this changes from day to day. The top comment for this post is the most recent, and that's the latest word I have on it. Please read the top comment to see where this currently stands.

Good morning, Dear Reader!

A few weeks ago, I received an email asking me about an overseas web site that was offering a completely free Hello Kitty nail art stamping plate (specifically, if it was legitimate). I'd never heard of it, so I figured there was only one way to find out and I placed the order, for which I did not have to enter any payment information. When someone tells me they'll give me something for nothing, I tend to hope for the best without any real expectations, and I promptly forgot all about it until I received a little envelope from Singapore yesterday that had the plate inside.

Since it is legitimate, I thought you'd want to know about it. The site is called Born Pretty, and the item is called Hello Kitty Nail Art Stamping Plate. Here's Born Pretty's picture of the plate, which is numbered M71.

Free Hello Kitty Nail Art Stamping Plate from Born Pretty

To get it, add the plate, which displays a price of $2.99, to your cart and go to check out. For shipping method, choose "Airmail (Unregistered)" for free shipping, and enter coupon code BP299 to deduct the $2.99 price of the Hello Kitty plate, and for your payment option choose "I have paid before/Free items," which doesn't prompt for additional billing info. Submit order, and that's it.

Mine took 3 weeks to arrive, which is about the time I'd expect. I checked the site now for my order history to get the details above, and found that my order status is Pending. That's not a huge problem, but it indicates to me that their system is not 100% automated since the order was shipped and delivered. That can cause some hassles when something isn't manually updated correctly on their side, so I wouldn't be astounded if an order required a few emails, but their CS was good - I recall getting an email clarifying some detail right after I placed the order. I mention that just because I'd want to know about it before spending money on a future order.

I thought this was a nice thing because I'm always a bit reluctant ordering from a smaller place overseas, and this lets potential customers place a test order for free and see how the company does. They had a few other offers for a free item going, but they all required additional action, such as tweeting links. I didn't want to announce this until I'd gotten a test order just in case it went south, so I only went for the one.

Born Pretty has a lot of fauxnad plates and cheap nail art supplies (and oddly, colored contacts, but I think I'd hold off on ordering from them and go to an optometrist), and I'd place an order for paid items from them now.

For the record, I placed my order strictly as a test to see how they did so I could tell you about it, and Born Pretty was given no indication that anything about my order would be published anywhere (or that a platform for me to do so exists) , so I believe the service I received is what can generally be expected of them. Fortunately, you can place your own test order and verify that for free. If you place an order and have a noteworthy experience either way, please leave a comment - additional accounts experience with the company would be useful to anybody interested in ordering.

One addition - I just noticed the banner at the top of their home page announcing time off for Chinese New Year, so they probably won't reply to emails for a bit, and that's something to be aware of.

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

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Posted in Fauxnad , Hello Kitty , Konad , Nail Art