The Digit-al Dozen Does Nail Heroes: Day One The Crumpet

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The Digit-al Dozen Does Nail Heroes

The Crumpet

Hi everyone! Time once again for The Digital Dozen week and for February it's Nail Heroes! I'd need more than 5 days to really cover all of them, but for now we will be showing you 5 of them.

For Day 1, it's Debbie over at The Crumpet. If you follow her blog, or her other blog, you may know that she will be stepping WAY back from blogging and nails soon to focus on her own life and we will miss her terribly. But you can't really begrudge someone doing what they need to do for themselves - their own lives. Debbie I hope you are able to find all the happiness in life that you deserve and I hope you stay in touch and don't forget us!

I chose one of my Crumpet favorites to recreate, but I did it in a different color scheme. For this mani I used KBShimmer Eyes White Open and Eclipse (both purchased by me because yes I'm on my 2nd bottles of each already) and acrylic paint for the red and pink.

This was Debbie's original mani - be sure to check out her post...

As always, please be sure to check the links below for the other great Day 1 Manis!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Girly Bits: Holiday Magic Collection - Swatches and Review (and some nail art)

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I'm back with a new Holiday Collection from Girly Bits!

Girly Bits

Holiday Magic Collection

Holiday Magic

From Girly Bits: This collection consists of 9 classic holiday colours with Girly Bits flair. I am excited to have collaborated with Megan Edwards to bring you a stunning collection of sparkly goodness for the holiday. Megan is a spokesperson for Girly Bits as well as a model and is immersed in the fashion and entertainment scene in Vancouver, Canada. She is currently with Virgin Radio, as well as a panelist on CTV news: Fame Factor.

Catch me after the jump for swatches!

40 Great Nail Art Ideas: Halloween

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Easy Halloween Nails: Gradient with Stripes

I'm back with another Halloween Mani! I have to fess up on this one though. I was SO inspired that I did a ton of autumn and halloween manis. Seriously, I did so many I had extra that were no specific purpose other than nail art is fun! Some were challenges, theme weeks, etc. and so many "extras." So I was sure I had one saved back to post today for you know, ACTUAL Halloween?

Nope. I posted all of them. I even did a blog post with 24 Nail Art Ideas for Halloween! So what happens? You scramble, that's what happens. Scramble for something quick and easy. So that's exactly what I did. If it's stressing you out, you're doin' it wrong. So no stress!

So I grabbed the first orange and purple (Color Club with no name label and Sinful Colors Amethyst)  I could find and I knew Girly Bits Hooperchondriac was going to be the green. I did a quick gradient with the orange and purple and some quick freehand stripes with the green and BAM! Halloween by the seat of my pants.

Nail art has so many varying degrees. There are no rules and, as as Angie might say, no nail art police! (If you haven't seen Angie's videos on youtube you MUST check them out on Maria Cyza's channel.) You will laugh and fall in love with her. Calm down!

Yes, you can go all out but you don't always have to. Sometimes quick and easy is just as fun.

What's on YOUR nails this Halloween? If you feel like it, please go share them on my Pointless Cafe Facebook page - I'd love to see!

Also, for more inspiration, please check out the other Halloween manis in the links below!

                              

An InLinkz Link-up

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The Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn: Autumn Pine Cone

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The Digit-al Dozen Does Autumn

Autumn Pine Cone

Good morning! Back for Day 2 of Autumn Week and I'm loving it...today I have a simple autumn look with a pine cone. I missed TREES so much for the last 32 years in South Texas - not many pine trees around. Not much except palms and scrub oaks actually. So I thought I'd give a pine cone a shot since I'm HOME and practically IN Hoosier National Forest.

I have it shiny and matte...

For this mani, I started with a base of OPI My Vampire is Buff and did a quick gradient with one of the Zoyas from last year I believe, but I've put away all the polishes since then - without writing anything down, of course.  The rest is done with acrylic paints.

Check out the other Autumn manis from the rest of the Digit-al Dozen gang in the links below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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The Digit-al Dozen Pattern on Pattern: Geometric Gradient

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Day 3 of Digit-al Dozen Week!! The theme for this month is Pattern on Pattern. So for today's mani I have some freehand geometric designs over a simple gradient.

The Digit-al Dozen Pattern on Pattern

I started with a simple gradient using Pipe Dream Polish VIP Pass and a plain white creme and then I freehanded geometric designs in black. Super quick and easy. I feel like I'm phoning it in on this theme!

Thanks for checking in! Be sure to check the links below to see what creations the other lovelies in The Digit-al Dozen have for you!

An InLinkz Link-up

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13 Days of January Nail Art Challenge: Complement and Contrast

Post contains items sent for review
and items purchased by me

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Today we continue the 13 Days of January Nail Art Challenge. It's just a shortened version of Crumpet's Nail Tarts January 31 Day Challenge for those of us too busy for the full one. We will be posting on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout January.

13 DAYS OF JANUARY NAIL ART CHALLENGE

This prompt is "Complement and Contrast." LOL I hope I interpreted this theme right. I chose two complementary colors, which naturally contrast anyway and then added further contrast with black and white.

For this I put down a plain white creme base, used Nail Vinyls Lightning Bolt vinyls (sent for review) and then did a gradient with Barry M Guava, Pipe Dream Polish VIP Pass and plain black creme.


Be sure to check out the other great manis from the other nail artists in the links below!

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An InLinkz Link-up

*Nail Vinyls Lightning Bolt vinyls were sent for review

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Autumn/Thanksgiving Gradient Nail Art

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Happy Wednesday! I can't believe it's mid-November already! I was playing around with a few autumnal shades and did a quick gradient using some Different Dimension polishes.

I will have the Winter Collection from Different Dimension for you soon, but in the mean time, Happy Autumn!

Autumn/Thanksgiving Gradient Nail Art

For this mani I used a base of Werewolves of London (orange from the Spooky Spooky Collection) and did a quick gradient with that, All That Glitters Is Not Gold (from the Heavy Metals Collection) and TREEmendous (one of the new shades from the Winter 2014 collection that I will have for you soon.) All holos and all gorgeous but together I think they're just striking!

Please feel free to share your autumnal/Thanksgiving manis on the Pointless Cafe Facebook page!

These can be purchased at the Different Dimension Store here and at the following e-tailers once stocked. (Except TREEmendous, which launches with the Winter 2014 Collection on November 15th.)

Llarowe
Edgy Polish
MeiMei's Signatures
Le Doux Nuage
Rainbow Connection

You can also follow Different Dimension on Facebook here and Instagram here for all the news, information and more lovely swatches.

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Winter Berries - Nail Art from the Vault

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*This product is Cruelty Free

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Today I'm busy swatching like a mad fool but I did this Winter Berries Mani a while back and decided to take this quick opportunity to share with you guys quickly because it's raining and on the chilly side (for here anyway) so I thought it was appropriate.

Winter Berries Nail Art

For this mani I used all a-England polishes. The base is Fonteyn with a Fated Prince gradient on the tips. The branches are Fated Prince and the berries are Rose Bower.

Quick and easy enough for both hands!

I'll be back soon with more swatches of pretty polish!

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Zoya Matte Velvet Collection: LE for Holiday 2014 - Swatches, Review and Nail Art

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Tonight I have swatches and review of the 6 re-issue matte velvets from Zoya, along with NAIL ART!

Zoya Matte Velvet Collection

LE For Holiday 2014

Continued after the jump...

Extend-A-Mani: Pollock-esque Nail Art with Elevation Polish

Nothing to Disclose

Time for another Extend-A-Mani!

 

Here's what I used...

I started out wearing Elevation Polish The Twinkle in Yeti's Eye. One of the most difficult polishes I've ever tried to photograph! It's a very bright, saturated teal that just seems to look blue. But I think I outsmarted it at the end of this post!

And then I wore it with a gradient of Elevation Polish Cuernos del Paine...

With flash

With flash it's too green ^^^^

And to extend it even more, I did Pollock-esque accent nails using the splatter method - with a coffee stir stick and something I have plenty of. Hot air. You just "put your lips together and blow." For this I used my go-to black creme, Wet n Wild WildShine Black Creme along with Elevation Polish Mount Ventoux and I Got the Axe...

See how blue? ^^^^

So I used my cell phone and held a bottle of BLUE polish (hehehe)

Not a great pic but the color is finally closer!

Hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend!

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WEAR TEST: Christian Louboutin Rouge Louboutin with an Extend-A-Mani Gradient

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*This product is not Cruelty Free 

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You'll remember not long ago I did swatches and review of the new Christian Louboutin Rouge Louboutin polish...

and I promised a wear test...well this is it!

I wore this one as I do all polishes - no base coat. Just something in my chemistry that doesn't do well with them I guess. I used one coat of KBShimmer Clearly on Top top coat when I applied it and I re-applied a coat of top coat on Day 4.

Now I'm pretty rough on my hands/nails. I generally don't use the dishwasher because it's just me most of the time. So I've done laundry, lots of dishes, hair washing (which is oddly the hardest on my nails even over housework), and yes I've been known to use the nails as tools.

Overall, it wore well on me compared to other polishes with the same "abuse" - I had tip wear, but no chips. I ended up testing it for 7 days, which is at least twice as long as I leave most manis.

This is Day Three...

Day Five...

Day 7...

You can see it's definitely worse for wear on Day 7. I'm not sure what to blame the surface marks on...the dogs? But still no chips and I've had worse tip wear in 1 or 2 days with some brands.

So what did I do next? An Extend-A-Mani of course! Just a sponge, some black polish, a bit more Rouge Louboutin and Voila!

Well what do you think? Does it make the price go down any easier? The wear isn't what I'd call outstanding, but I'd rate it above both Chanel and Dior based on this wear test. It's certainly above-average, especially with the abuse I put my hands through.

Thanks for checking back!

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The Digit-al Dozen Does Summer: Day Three - Summer Citrus Gradient

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Back again for Day Three of the Digit-al Dozen SUMMER! theme week! Today I have a gradient with summer citrus!

Summer Citrus Fruit

Gradient Nail Art

For this mani I used China Glaze Thistle Do Nicely, Sinful Colors Patent Pleasure and Sinful Colors Cotton Candy. The fruit was done with a small Winstonia nail art brush and acrylic paint.

Makes me think of sunsets and tropical drinks.

Be sure and check out the other Digit-al Dozen manis in the links below!

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An InLinkz Link-up

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Extend-A-Mani: Gradient Nails with Added Holo Palms

Nothing to Disclose

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I'm back, finally, with another Extend-A-Mani! I've been so busy swatching and trying new nail art ideas that I hadn't worn anything long enough really to DO an extend-a-mani, but I did this week!

I wore a cool gradient for a few days that I posted on my Instagram...

I did this using my violet orchid franken and black, topped with one coat of Jindie Nails Electric Grape (new version)...

So when I wanted to extend it for a few days without just "freshening it up" I decided to do free-hand palm trees in holo.

For this I used 4 Colors by Llarowe polishes I had sitting on my desk because you know, I wasn't about to get up off my lazy butt and walk to the polish room and use up all that brain power actually CHOSING something. Actually, there's a major confession. Most of my nail art ideas come from "what can I use that I have sitting here already without having to get up." Also, a lot of my nail art is really just an extend-a-mani, more out of laziness than actual creativity. But please don't tell anyone.

I used Refresh...ing, Nice Melons, My Own Private Paradise and Independence Day.

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It's not the best mani to show you up-close-and-personal like this, but at arm's length, it's super cute and fun! And that's the best part of an Extend-A-Mani - you're playing around with something you were going to remove anyway so if it doesn't work for you, you've lost nothing!

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The Digit-al Dozen Does Decades: The 60's Groovy, Bay-Bee!

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The Digit-al Dozen is back for another fun theme week! This time it's DECADES! So today is The Sixties here at Pointless Cafe. This is me, getting out of my comfort zone by a LOT. But while they're not perfect, you know what? I am having FUN!

I started with a messy gradient over a base of white using Sinful Colors Summer Peachy, Jolt and Milani Yellow Whiz (the green was just a blending result) with a England Elaine as the purple and a bit of blue acrylic paint.

The peace symbols are imperfect because I fail miserably at stamping so I stamped it on a piece of paper and copied it free-hand. I've been backwards my entire life and I don't guess that's changing anytime soon LOL!

Can I just say, I'm so happy the 60s are over? Wasn't my favorite era even though I only lived through part of it. It was better than the 70s however.

Be sure and check out all the other great manis in the links below!

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An InLinkz Link-up

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The Digit-al Dozen Does Texture - Day 4: Textured Roses

Nothing to Disclose

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Yep, you read that right! I'm joining the lovely ladies of The Digit-al Dozen! I secretly think it's some sort of evil initiation that my first month is TEXTURE! I'm a creme lover through and through. But I shall persevere!

Day four brings textured roses. And rosebuds. *whispers Rosebud* (If you don't get the reference, google Orson Welles' Citizen Cane *wink*)

For this mani, I did a gradient as a base using China Glaze At Vase Value and Grass is Lime Greener and layered on Zoya Miranda and Vega textured polishes for the flowers and stems.

Hope you like them! Flowers aren't really "me" but they were fun and Spring-y and I got lots of compliments on them! Not as many as the 3-D Grid nails, but enough it makes me want to wear nail art out into the world more often LOL!

Be sure to check out the other great Digit-al Dozen manis in the links below and stay tuned for a new texture mani each day this week!

An InLinkz Link-up

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