✯ Press Samples Mentioned ✯

I couldn't resist playing with my new Winstonia Store 2nd generation stamp plates tonight. When I saw plate W218, the windmills immediately reminded me of my Mom in Law. She loves collecting anything with windmills. So I decided to do Dutch windmill china nails.

I started with a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White. Then I stamped with Cult Nails in Wack Slacks, then 1 coat of Seche Vite topcoat before I used the NYC Matte About You topcoat (press sample). I smudged the one flower stamp a little, but I still love how they turned out.



P.S. I got an OttLite! There's a been a lot of discussion about them in the Hobby Polish Bloggers group I am a member of on Facebook. The Mercurial Magpie posted a coupon code for this OttLite at Jo-Ann's so I had to order one. Can't beat that sale price either?!

I've made a few small changes to my DIY Light Box. (You can see the original post here). The biggest change was that I got some white contact paper from Dollar Tree and covered the back and bottom with it. I was getting too much cardboard in the background in some of my photos. I replaced the 2 pieces of paper over the contact paper.

The 2nd change was I now only have one light facing through the tissue paper. The left light stays in the same position. What I started doing with the right clamp lamp was pointing it diagonally inside the right corner of the box. Occasionally depending on how I want the lighting I also sometimes put it inside the left corner too. Or if I want to get really creative and I need just the right lighting, I sometimes balance the clamp lamp in the crook of my right elbow while taking photos of my right hand, lol!








I edit all of my photos using PaintShop Pro Photo XI. What I normally do first is crop and sharpen my photo. Then I usually increase the brightness by 15, maybe more. I also increase the saturation to 5 to boost the color. Then I run it through the photo effect called Time Machine: Cross Process. Most all my photos go through this filter. (That's why you see a black and white frame around my photos). I usually set the effect to 2 or 3. (For pet photos I set the effect to 5.)


Products I use and own:





(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)

It looks like I got a new camera, huh? Nope! These photos were taken in my new DIY Lightbox! (More on that in a moment).


For my birthday I pre-ordered two of I Love Nail Polish Ultra Chromes. Birefringence and Cygnus Loop! They arrived the other day, but with everything going on, I didn't get a chance to play with them.

I decided to try out Birefringence first. I love these Ultra Chromes... they remind me of mood rings! The polish formula was really nice, not runny at all and I only needed two coats and 1 coat of Seche Vite topcoat. (I will post Cygnus Loop soon.)


It's been a little while since I posted about nail polish. With everything going on with my pets, I've been stressed out and was picking at my cuticles on both hands. So they weren't in the best shape to be photographed.

Also... the angle of the sun seems to be lower now since we're heading into fall. I didn't start photographing my nails using the sun until earlier this year when the sun was higher. Waiting for the sun to be just right has become very frustrating. I did an internet search last weekend looking for how to make a light box. I came across The Daily Varnish blog with a great post about making a DIY light box!

I followed her instructions exactly, (except I didn't have the black poster board... I have to get some). I bought the same light bulbs. (These are the $6 clamp lamps and the light bulbs I ordered from Lowe's). I used a ruler & a pencil to make straight lines before I used the box cutter. I taped my tissue paper down with clear packing tape, instead of gluing it. And my 12x12 box was the one my Lowe's order came in.