Recent NOTD: Icy Winter Combo

Today I've got a mani I liked so much I wore it days longer than I'd planned to. I was going for a wintery look think it worked out quite nicely. The key ingredient was a polish I got in a swap with mrsrexy, so I'm going to copy her and do this entry Canadian Nail Fanatic style, showing the finished look first and then the steps along the way (since it's me, there aren't that many steps).



I started with Confetti Rhapsody in Blue, a slightly greenish blue metallic-leaning shimmer. I put two coats over treatment (Orly Nailtrition) and basecoat (Salon Sciences Instant Artificials) and topped with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Anti-Chip topcoat.





I wore the blue by itself for a couple days before adding stamping with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Whirwind White and an eight-pointy star sort of design from fauxnad plate m69, which is the closest thing I have to a snowflake.



I topped it off with Nubar White Polka Dot, which is the one I'd gotten from mrsrexy (along with many other pretties that I hope to get on my nails before too long). I was so happy with how this glitter looked that I couldn't stop at one coat and did two, for more of a snowy effect. I added OPI RapiDry on top of that. (I'm not giving up my Sally Hansen quick dry, but I figure it's good to have a backup plan in case it goes the way of Nail Quencher and Prisms and Magicals and Chrome Nail Makeup.)







I loved looking at this, seeing the tiny glitters winking at me and the big glitters floating over the stamped "snowflakes". Thanks for the Polka Dots, mrsrexy; they really made this mani! I ended up keeping this on a whole week, even though I'd had two polish changes planned (yes, I'm a planner, and about every fourth week I can fit in two swatching sessions instead of the usual one). Due mostly to laziness, I left my thumbs alone when I did the stamping and glitter, so I can report that the Confetti on its own lasted surprisingly well for me, with no chips and only minimal tipwear. Not bad for $1.99 (or maybe it's up to $2.19 now, I forget).

Speaking of mrsrexy, she's having a giveaway right now with a big prize package of polishes and stamping plates. I grabbed a copy of her photo of the goodies so you can see for yourself:



Her contest is open until December 21st. (Mine closes on the 7th, so go enter if you haven't already.)