Konad Dupes - MASH Set back in stock!

Wait no longer! The MASH Set of 25 is back in stock. When I wrote about these originally they quickly went out of stock for quite awhile. You can read my original review here.

Most of the plates are good quality exact dupes of Konad. I really really love this set. It is $9.99 + shipping on Amazon. Only 5 of the plates I received were not Konad based.

I have no idea how many they have in stock, but last time they sold out fast after I wrote about it.

More amazon finds for nails!

So while waiting for the MASH kit to be back in stock... Still no word on that. Sorry ladies. I began searching for other new items out there. I love amazon, mostly because I usually have gift cards there from family.

First is the new FASH kits.. Why they have almost the same name as MASH I dont know. They offer both a Starter kitand both a 21 or 25 plate kit
. Some designs will be redundant to my collection, but thats OK.

Next is a little mini kit, although slightly higher per piece. It's offered by VkShop
and has 7 plates total plus a stamper and scraper.

MoYouoffers exact Konad dupes at a slightly easier to swallow price. They sell plates individually, and range from it seems $2.99-$4.99. However, their most interesting item is their Pro Plate 1andPro Plate 2Which are like the Konad Salon case kits, only at $39.99 ea... I Kid you not...


On the higher end of the spectrum, there is at least 1 Konad pro kit A for $100+6.99 shipping being offered by An individual seller. The kit goes for $134 ish on other websites and since Konad doesn't allow coupons much anymore, I think this is a good deal.


For people who like Konad, but can't swing the idea of the total price these are some great options!

French manicure with nail stamp

I had a huge family emergency recently. It tied me up time-wise and emotionally. This is why I haven't posted, I didn't even have the time or energy to even think about doing my nails. Obviously, family comes first. Things have settled.

My daughters birthday party is coming up and I need to sport some nice nails and toes. I finally figured out the french plates and how not to stamp all wonky. I used exact Konad Knock Offs
Konad - M45
with Nakomi m45. Im still waiting to see if these EVER get back in stock. Really ladies, I'm on pins and needles just as much as you all are.



Figuring out the french plates was a bit harder then other designs. I watched a youtube tutorial that says to angle the design upwards instead of straight. This worked relatively well. Then I began practicing on bare nails (like this design) by going slow with the stamp and following my own curvature in the nail bed. This helped me get the "feel" even better.



I later practiced (but did not snap shots) over a fully painted nail. My best advice is to not blindly stamp the french design, watch what you're doing from a side angle. This will allow for perfect curvature every time. If using Konad special polish it is still slightly pliable after application, you can push certain designs up or remove pieces of the design. Over another color polish it is harder but doable.



You can see a few areas I could've cleaned up, but I ran out of time. Although this easy french design has almost become 2nd nature I still am always on a time crunch. I'm hoping to do a french design over my nails for the party. I want to do my toes too, but the french designs are just wide enough for my thumbs and will not fit my big toe. That makes me sad because it's the reason I wanted the french set to begin with! (I love french pedicures!)

Valentines day nail art

So I had a few (literally) minutes to play around some more with my Naokomi/Mash
set. So I did a Valentines day design. It included cute little hearts. Awww.



I used Nakomi m78, which is an exact dupe of Konad m78
. The quality of the plate is superb, although some of my stamping was funky. This was due to using red konad polish and a red stamper. I couldn't tell if the image was perfect when picking it up. Usually, I check the stamper first, and if its not up to par I start over. Red on red was not a good idea.



For the base polish I used OPI Birthday Babe
(anniversary collection 2006), which really, I don't see much of a difference from Kyoto Pearl. If you already own one, I wouldn't go out of the way to purchase the other.



interestingly enough, the whole nail design was almost too big for most of my nails. Unlike some of the other knock off brands. I really enjoy this pattern and hope to sport it for the next week.

What are you doing for Valentines?

Review of the MASH Nail Art Set

I never got a chance to thank my followers. We recently reached over 250 GFC followers!! Im so excited, and so thankful. Recently we've been getting a lot more visitors, and I'm hoping the trend continues. I've been lacking any free time to setup a give-away. I hope that changes soon so I can give back to all you who have supported me.

I promised a review of the Amazon MASH Set. They shipped very very quickly.


Picture of the whole Set

At first glance, the brand is not MASH but Nakomi. I've done some searching and they do not match up with "Nakomi Beauty" set, which has square plates. I cannot find any more information on them. Bummer, considering Amazon is now sold out of this set. The plates are the same shape and size of Konad plates. They have a blue film protective cover and no paper backing. Otherwise they seem to be exactdupes of Konad excluding 5 of the plates m50, m52, m48, m47, m46.

I went through the whole set, looking for defects and I did find a couple. Really, this only affected 3 images out of the entire set. They were as follows : the "I Y" Design on m46. Another that looks like a branch thats missing an image on m50?, and the last one which corresponds to Konad plate m72 - The whole nail LOVEYOU Pattern - The loveyou is placed wrong over the background pattern. It is the only Konad duped plate that has an issue, that I've noticed, and only with that one image.





Quality wise, they are of superior quality to GCOCL plates found on ebay. Side by side with the exact Konad plate makes it almost impossible to see the difference. I believe these Nakomi plates are probably laser cut like Konad as the designs are precise and exact. Tiny - miniscule - maybe even purposeful design changes within the patterns may be the only hint along with the fact the plates do not say "Konad".

The only other major difference is there is no paper backing. This could lead to cuts with careless handling, so either back your plates with protective film or be careful. Definitely do NOT stack metal backed plates on top of each other!


GCOCL Plate VS Nakomi>

When I purchased my GCOCL plates from Ebay I was sorely disappointed with image quality. I told myself I wouldn't waste my money again and stick with Konad. Im glad I decided not to listen to myself and jumped on the MASH set, it's perfect. The little details make a HUGE difference.



Above you can see the stamping results, these are all examples of MASH/Nakomi Set and NOT Konad. You cannot tell me that anyone would be able to discern the fact I spent a little over 50 cents plate(shipped) and not $7-8+ shipped.



The plates I received: m20-22, m25-m28, m44-m48, m50-m52, m58-57, m60-m64, m72-73, m78, m80
This included a smorgasboard of designs, with 5 different french plates. Each plate was different. Just to put in all in perspective:

If I had purchased Konad brand I would've paid about $150 for 25 plates. My total for the MASH set was $14.15 shipped.



Now don't get me wrong. I love Konad. I love the extras - the paper backing especially. The guarantee of quality with every plate. I don't love the fact that Konad has not only cornered the market - but also has asked all retailers to NOT allow coupon use. That sort of bugs me. Will I still purchase Konad? Definitely.
I do see the MASH set as the BEST alternative or addition to my current collection. If the seller ever has more sets in stock I plan on purchasing more for gifts for friends and family.

Spring Nail Design

So I know spring seems so far away right now. Especially after us here in the north-east received a winter gift of 2 ft. of snow. I need warmth! I need spring! So I jazzed up my nails with some color.

For the base I used Opi La Paz-itively Hot Nail
. It's a lovely almost hot pink with some purple shimmer in it. Although way over the top for conservative settings it's still very beautiful.



I then used Nail Art Club Green
(with a long tip, specifically for nail art, the link is for the whole set) for the green leaves. Designs like these are the easiest to do. Gather polish only at the tip and work in one smooth quick motion. Practice makes perfect. Even I make mistakes (you can see them) if I slow down. Work quickly.



To add a tiny bit extra I used adotting tool
to add some sparkley silver nail polish. I hate using dotters with actual nail polish. In my opinion, they work best with watered down acrylic paints. Some ladies are awesome with them though. Kudos if you are!



So my nails won't actually make the temperature warmer outside and melt the huge piles of snow. However, they certainly make me feel warmer and put a smile on my face.

MAC Nail Design

Now that the new year has rolled in, its time to start thinking of spring. At least, thats my reasoning! It has been warm here, even after the huge snowstorm. I hope it stays warm.

Today I did a new design for my nails. I used M.A.C. Bad Fairy for the base. I'm still so in love with the color. The pink works so well with the orange glow that shines in the light.



For the design I used GCOCL plate m76 which looks like branches with leaves. I used Konad Black
special polish. It actually looked amazing alone over Bad Fairy.



To finish, I used teardrop shaped teal sparkles from Viva la Nails. I covered a few of the leaf designs on the nail stamp. I think it worked out really nicely. Unfortunately, the sparkles are big, and my nails are quite curved. So they flaked off pretty fast.

All in all, I'd definitely do this design again sometime soon, even with the sparkles. Next time I'll pay better attention to placement.

Winter nail design for New Years

What a crazy week. My internet has been acting funny, I think its the wireless base and not actually the cable - hence the delay in posting. I had prepared the posts but could not get online to post.

For the next few days I'll be with family and friends celebrating Christmas (we have several gatherings to go to). Then even more on New Years, add on the fact that my nieces birthday is Jan 1. So I wanted to post the design I'll be sporting on new years.



The base I did with OPI Ski Teal We Drop
, which I reviewed in an earlier post. It's a lovely navy (however, in some light it looks forest green). I do like the shade, mostly. I'd like it more if it never appears forest green.



For the Snowflakes, I used GCOCL plates, which are like the cheaper version of Konad nail art plates. The plate I used was m10. The paint used was Konad Sky Pearl
which is a mid-light blue with shimmer. The shimmer is not usually visible after stamping, but the color is lovely.
If you haven't tried nail art stamps before, I highly recommend it. The expense adds up buying plates, but they last forever and you can reuse them indefinitely.



I tried not to center the large snowflakes so I could add partials to the sides to make it look more like falling snow. I love how the look came out. It's probably one of my favorite nail stamping designs.

Holiday Pedicure

In my in laws houses there is a *VERY* strict no shoes rule. So the holidays require me to have my toes nicely done.

I just rubbed heavy lotion on before the pictures, so it shows up in a few of the images.



I started with silver nail polish. I used Wet N Wild precious metals(Lilac Available on Amazon
). Then I used water decals on the big toes for the flowers. I could've painted flowers on, but I was in a rush. I really don't like water decals too much, working with them is a pain. I think I work with them improperly.



After I finished the rest of the toes with little red foil strips in a pattern so it almost looked weaved in. I wish I hadn't run out of time to apply top coat as some weren't sealed down. However, it still looks really good.



Probably one of the only videos I'll include for a bit. My Holiday wishes from my family to yours.

North Point iBand - Feliz Navidad (instruments are iPhones, iTouch, and iPad)

Fun nail art

What a week it has been. First, my iPhone "breaks" into an infinite boot loop. I only use linux, so I had to hoof it to my sisters to use her computer to restore it. Since I had no backup I lost everything.

Add to that, more christmas shopping. AND I prepared my post and found out 2 images I saved somehow became unusable(or unreadable). Bummer.

I did however get 2 great images of my funky nail art. I was going for an almost japanese look of cherry blossom branches and cool tips.




I started with OPI Glamour and Glitz, a fun cool gold color. I then used acrylic white paint and a nail art striping brush to do curvy branches. Then I used a small dotting tool to make what looked like flowers.




I finished with "Dazzlings" in round from Viva La Nails. The color I used was like a purple, and I don't see it available on their website anymore.

I'm so glad it's finally night time here. Hopefully, I can get a good nights rest. I'm not going to count on it though. Both my daughter and I are coming down with a cold. However, on a bright note, the holidays are here and seeing her so happy (even when she is sick) is so wonderful.

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Nail Designs

Woo, Christmas is almost here. Which is actually why I didn't get to post my nails up yesterday. See, my brother from Florida made a surprise visit. So I spent some time with him.

Anywho, to help me get more lifted and into the spirit I went a little wild.






I used MAC Mean and Green as the base, then some sparkle/glitter from VivalaNails. It turned out OK I think. I tried to make trees on my index and ring finger, but they were a bit funky.
I do really like it though, and the green base with pink sparkles from the MAC nail polish works well for the season.




Today we finished MOST of our shopping. We have a few last second gifts to get. "Tweens" are so hard to shop for. They want big gifts, but we can't afford them. So we're trying to be very particular in what we get for them. The rest of the nieces & nephews are young.


Tree Up Close

Wish us luck, and enjoy the holidays! I'm going to go bake cookies with my daughter.