Mani Monday: Iced Strawberry Cream Mani

Hello, hi and how are you ? Welcome to another instalment of Mani Monday. Sheesh, just can’t believe that this year is flying by so fast…soon it will be time for festive holiday themed manis! 

This week I was feeling the nude, pale icy pinks and am totally in love with the fairly new released colour from Essence '’Iced Strawberry Cream’. It is a gorgeous, pale icy nude pink…perfect to compliment this icy weather that we are experiencing at the moment on the east coast of SA. I went for simple elegance this week and just added some darling detail with a heart stamp on an accent nail.

I used x1 base coat of Sally Hansen Instant Strength, x3 coats of Essence Nude Glam Nail polish in Iced Strawberry Cream, x1 coat of Essence Nail Art Stampy Polish in Stamp me! Silver and x1 top coat of Sally Hansen Instant Strength polish. I used Sally Hansen Instant Strength this week as a top coat as well instead of my favourite Essence Gel Look Top Coat as I felt my nails needed some extra TLC and strengthening.

You will need:

• Base coat nail polish
• Coloured base colour, I chose a baby icy pink colour nail polish
• Accent nail colour nail polish for the stampy nail art, I chose silver
• Top coat nail polish
• Stampy stamping set, mine is by Essence (you can buy these online, I haven’t seen them retailing in SA stores as yet, I got mine when I was abroad recently in Rome)
• Nail polish remover
• Cotton wool pads

Method

1) Apply base coat, wait for it to dry completely

2) Apply x3 coats of Essence Nude Glam nail polish in Iced Strawberry Cream, wait for it to dry completely

3) Get your stampy kit at the ready…you will need to work fast

4) Apply stampy nail polish in a thin application to the stamping plate

5) Swipe the excess nail polish off with either the stampy scraper provided in the pack (I don’t like using it as it leaves scratch marks on the stampy plate) or use an old credit card which works like a charm

6) Then take the stampy stamper and press the soft side of the stamper into the plate in a rolling motion from left to right…some people advise to do this gently…but I have tried that countless times and it just doesn’t work for me as when I press the stamper onto the plate gently I inevitably every single time am not able for whatever reason to pick up the entire stampy design onto the stamper to then transfer to my nail. Thus when I apply the stamper to the stampy plate…I press the stamper onto the design with a fair bit of pressure

7) I then work quickly to transfer the design onto my nail. I position the stamper just above my nail in a manner which will allow me to apply pressure from left to right while rolling the stamper across my nail simultaneosly. I’ve found perfecting this technique is key to being to able to stamp correctly. Yet again, a fair number of people will say apply pressure from left to right which I likewise do, however some people apply gentle pressure…the same problem presents itself again in that a lot of the design then remains left behind on the stamper and not on my nail. I have found best results when applying a great deal of pressure to the stamper and rolling the stamper from left to right and making sure to press the stamper with the design on it upwards and downwards as well to ensure that the design is evenly distributed onto the nail

8) I then clean the stampy plate, the stamper and the credit card using some nail polish remover and cotton wool pad. It is important to clean these tools after each application of stampy, as it will lend to best results

9) I then repeated steps 3-7 and stamped the heart design onto my nail again, I stamped the heart design onto my nail twice…with the design overlapping itself

10) Look down at your simply darling mani and totally love the fact that less truly is more especially with this mani…nothing fancy, nothing fussy but gorgeous nonetheless!

11) Totally be reminded of what a girl you are and it’s ok if you want to break into song while jamming on your iPod to Pink by Aerosmith…’Pink it´s my new obsession, Pink it´s not even a question’…la la la…totally pink crazy for this mani this week!

What's your favourite mani colour at the moment ?

As always, linking up to Mani Monday below, with the fabulous Heather and Heather!  I will also be joining the ladies over at The Nail Files.

Join the fun side of life and link up to Mani Monday and The Nail Files below :)