Twin Post with Stephanie of Sincerely Stephanie Nails using MASH plate #41

The moment Stephanie told me she picked plate #41 I immediately gravitated towards a specific image that I knew I wanted to use. In my head, it looked like a good way to do the half moon mani but with a stamping twist to it. See, my attempts at the half moon manicure often end up being stuff of epic failery. I can never seem to get the edges as clean and crisp as I want them. I was about to do my stamping when Mr. J peered over my shoulder and suggested I use the image right side up instead. I'm always open to suggestion so I tried to do as he said. Was I right to listen to him? Here's how it turned out:

Reminds me of those henna designs!

Twin Post with Stephanie of Sincerely Stephanie Nails using MASH plate #39

I have a nail stamping enabler whose name starts with M and rhymes with Bertha. She showcases these amazing designs that create this (unnecessary?) overwhelming need to own the plates from which said designs come from. I now have 4 sets of stamping plates (and counting) thanks to her superb enabling skills (either that, or I'm really just a sucker for awesome stamping plates; I prefer to think the former, though). One of those sets I acquired along with a new nail buddy, Stephanie from Sincerely Stephanie Nails. See, this nail stamping enabler of mine hooked both of us up so that we could do a joint order to save on shipping. In the process, we've become good pals and have decided to do a series of twin posts featuring nail art designs using our new MASH nail plates set. Each post will have a nail art design using a single plate that one of us has chosen. We went with two each so you're in for a treat of four (!) nail designs from each of us over the next few days.

Today's featured plate, #39 is Stephanie's pick. It has four full nail patterns (a fan-like one, a plaid one, one with roses shaped like hearts and one that was scalloped) and an image of a rearing unicorn. (I forgot to take a photo of the plate so I'll have to update this with one later on. But for now, you can see a photo of the plate from Bregje of Oooh Shinies here.) While brainstorming designs, I knew I wanted to use a full nail pattern, but which of the four, I wasn't sure. So I picked some colors that appealed to me and tried to pair it to one of the patterns. Here's what I came up with:

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Twin Post: Color Club Edie

And so we finally (and a little sadly) end our twin posts with the always amazing Marta of Chit Chat Nails with the last but most definitely not the least of this previously unnamed Color Club set: a perky neon seafoam green. I was a bit unsure how I felt about this strangely hard to place color (it sat somewhere between the green and teal in the color spectrum, but where exactly is quite the mystery). Again, if it weren't for the set, I doubt I would have gone for this particular shade as I like my neons retina searing. This one isn't as bright, but it's still very much brighter than most:

I'm envisioning great pedis with Edie!

Twin Post: Color Club I Believe In Amour

Continuing with our Twin Post Series with the lovely Marta of Chit Chat Nails, do you remember how I was surprised by how much I enjoyed wearing an unusual lilac toned neutral from Monday's post? And how I said that getting the set was such a good decision as I ended up with some colors I normally wouldn't go for but found myself thoroughly enjoying wearing them anyway? Well, here's another one that joins the ranks of Who Are You Wearing. My first impression with this was: "Another pink?" I figured Pardon My French was enough pink in a set, but look, here's another one and it's called I Believe In Amour. I was totally expecting a mediocre pink that I would stow away and forget. Boy, was I ever wrong! This turned out to be the first one I actually wore from the set! And you know what, I totally loved it.

Wouldn't you?

Twin Post: Color Club Who Are You Wearing?

Okay, so when I first got this unnamed set, it was mostly for the pretty pale blue that Marta from Chit Chat Nails and I decided was called Take Me To Your Chateau. Everything else was just a bonus. What I didn't know was that I'd end up falling in love with a few other shades in the set. Today's featured polish in our Twin Post series is one of them. It looked deceptively boring what with its pastel-like color that looked practically white. But on the nail? It was perfection. This isn't your average neutral, either, just take a look at that:

Now, tell me how you'd describe that color.

Twin Post: Color Club Coral Cascade

If you still haven't heard by now of the huge orange trend that's taking the beauty world by storm for the spring/summer season, I'd have to wonder why. It already figured big last year and it's still going strong this year, especially after Pantone called Tangerine Tango the 2012 Color of the Year. Heck, even Sephora jumped on the bandwagon, teaming up with Pantone to create the new line Sephora + Pantone Universe with color coordinating makeup that features - you guessed it - Tangerine Tango. It seems rather timely then, to reach for a pretty coral nail polish that's featured in today's twin post with the lovely Marta of Chit Chat Nails. Sure, it's not exactly tangerine, but:

There's enough orange in this coral to be trendy!

Twin Post: Color Club Pardon My French

Ever experienced being sick of color? It's almost as if some days, the sight of another bright neon or dark, vampy color just doesn't get you excited anymore. Don't get me wrong, these colors are still very much beloved, but after sporting them one after the other, it just gets old. They somehow lose that "oomph" that you crave. For times like these, I tend to reach for my neutral shades. I have a bunch of pale pinks and mannequin hand colors for just this purpose. I find it's a great way to clean the palette and get you excited about wearing bright, fun colors again. Today's twin post with Marta of Chit Chat Nails features one such shade that will always be a classic:

Pale peach/pink perfect for a palette cleanse!

Twin Post: Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau

Let me preface this post with a little backgrounder on the acquisition of this particular nail polish. Winners has been a den of nail polish sets a while back and I was lucky enough to snag this one particular set that was a mix of pastels. It had the prettiest spring appropriate colors that I just couldn't resist. But as is the case with most of these sets, none of the bottles had names on them. Google could only point me to possible matches with some of the colors being harder to differentiate. And you know how even swatches aren't always 100% accurate. So, I posted a photo of the set on Instagram (find me there as polishedindulgence!) and found out that Marta, my dear friend who runs Chit Chat Nails, had the exact same set and dilemma. We eventually found another blogger, Denise over at I Haz A Beauty Blog, through another kind soul (it's not getting to convoluted, is it?) who had the names for all the polishes in the set. Huzzah! Nail polish name dilemma solved! To celebrate (okay, maybe that's just more me, but then I'd find any reason to celebrate), Marta and I will be doing a series of Twin Posts for the next few days! If you're wondering how exactly that works, well, we write about the same nail polish on the given day and do a spot of nail art with it at the end. So, yes, you're in for a treat! If you're here from Chit Chat Nails, hello and enjoy (Hammie also wants me to tell you that he'd love for some treats, if you please)! Now, let's get on with probably the prettiest pale blue creme that I own:

Airy and light!