... Guest Post with Jenny from Lavish Layerings ...

Hi everyone! This is Jenny from Lavish Layerings and I am so excited to be doing a guest post today for Sarah Claire to celebrate 3 years of blogging! I have known her for a few years now, and she is a wonderful friend. She has always been there to give me encouragement when I'm having some "blah" blogging days and she has such a bright and bubbly personality that you can't help but smile when you talk with her. When she asked me about doing a guest post, I knew I had to do something pink since she loves pink so much. I thought about it, and what polish could be more appropriate than her very own collaboration polish with piCture pOlish, Shocked.

For my mani, I decided to do a "stamp sandwich". I started out with 2 coats of piCture pOlish Shocked and allowed it to dry completely. Next, I stamped on some flowers using Mundo de Unas White and the Cheeky XL Top of the Class plate. I then painted on 1 final coat of Shocked. For the flower centers, I used a dotting tool and dotted on Dance Legend Just Another Star (purple) and Inhale (green) from the Wow Prisms line. I loved this mani so much that I didn't want to take it off! The colors are so bright and fun!

Thanks so much for asking me to guest post sweet Sarah Claire! Congrats on 3 wonderful years of blogging and I wish you the best of luck in the future!

.... Guest Post by Sparkly Vernis ...

Todays super awesome guest post is written by the beautiful lady behind the blog Sparkly Vernis. I am so lucky that I have been able to meet awesome people online like her. I have enjoyed her fantastic swatches for a long time so I hope that you love them too! If you like what you see, swing on by her blog and check it out! It's worth the look :)

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Claire and I started blogging around the same time, and we know each other from a bit before that.  I am really happy to have been invited here, to celebrate these three years with her.

I chose an Emily de Molly lacquer, because if I recall correctly, this was one of the first, if not the very first, Aussie Indie maker that quickly gained popularity in the US.  I remember when it all started, I used to ask Claire to send me chunky EdM glitters and other goodies from her beautiful country.  Thanks to her, I have a really nice collection of Aussie nail polish.  I am very lucky to have her as a friend, and I wish her many more years of blogging <3

Layering Order:

2 coats Emily de Molly Head over Heals

no basecoat or topcoat in these pictures

... Guest Post by @LilyandJinks ...

Continuing on with the months theme of "Things I like", it's time for a Guest Post!!! Now it's been a long while since someone came over to do one but I've definitely missed showcasing the fantastic work that others create for the world to see!!! Todays post is the fantastic nails that is lilyandjinks over on Instagram. Seriously clicky click click and check out her work as it is divine!! Her link is http://instagram.com/lilyandjinks

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My name is Sylvia and normally I post my manis solely on my Instagram account, @lilyandjinks. I was very excited at the chance to write a guest post for Sarah Claire, whose blog I’ve been enjoying
immensely for the past year and a half. So, welcome to my first official nail related blog post!

I wanted to do something special for today’s post, so I’ve opted to combine two of my favourite nail
art techniques, stamping and water marbling. I discovered this combination around Halloween last
year when a marble went terribly wrong. Rather than removing it and starting over, I tried stamping
over it and was delighted with the result.

The great thing about this technique is the marble does not need to be uniform or precise. To start
with, I marbled two fingers at a time using China Glaze Escaping Reality, Happy Go Lucky and Shore
Enuff. On the whole, I’ve found China Glaze crèmes to be excellent for marbling.

After applying top coat (I use HK Girl Glisten and Glow) I then stamped with one of my all-time
favourite images, MM20 from Messy Mansion, using Konad White. I really like how the openness of
this stamping image lends itself to a myriad of different colours, backgrounds and techniques.

Finally, a big Happy Blogiversary to Sarah Claire. Three years is quite an achievement! Thank you for
having me as a guest. Can’t wait to see all the other exciting things happening this month

... Australia Day Nails ... Nails Inc - Little Miss Splendid ....

Woohoo!! Going to cheat today and use a guest post I did for Cathy at More Nail Polish at the end of last year. If you missed it first time around then here it is again!  I figured this fits in well with the Aussie theme for the week!!!

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I've got this special pretty to show to you today to tide you over for a bit longer! It's from the Nails Inc "Little Miss" collection and this one is Little Miss Splendid.

I brought mine from Beautybay.com but there are many other places out there to get your Nails Inc fix!! I regret not buying all the colours in this set as it's fantastic. They have the cute character on the bottle aswell which is a bonus! I love Mr Men!

When I first got this I immediately thought of Essie Turquoise & Caicos [and it's dupe Essence Chasing Waves from the BBC Sunclub series] but they are slightly different.

The Essie is on finger #3 and it's a slightly lighter shade and also it's not so opaque as the Nails Inc which you can definitely notice in real life. Also the Nails Inc does have a green shimmer through it which I wasn't able to capture on camera but you can slightly see it in the bottle in this picture below

After all that I thought I'd top it off with a little stamping :) Both these designs are from the Aussie Konad Plate A1 and the colour is NYC Color in Midnight which is a dark blue and it seemed to be a better choice with this colour than black

Aussie Aussie Aussie!!!  I love this plate but don't often get a chance to pull it out and wear it but maybe I should make more of an effort as it's great!

So if you are in the market for a beautiful colour but don't yet have the Essie [or if you just like cute designs on your bottles] then it might be worthwhile checking this one out. There are other Little Miss characters in the set [I believe there are 4 in total] but they have been around now for at least a year so get hunting!!

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Wanna see more Australiana nails?? Click below!

... Flormar - U05 ...

Flormar U05

Gifted - unsure where to buy in Australia *sad*

Some of you may have seen these pictures earlier in the month as a guest post at The Polish Haven but I've been totally loving this polish lately so I'm reposting it!!

This little bottle of Flormar recently arrived at my doorstep and man it's fantastic!! It's vibrant, it's fun, it's shiny and most of all it seems to get some good wear time!! What more could a girl want??

All of my pictures show 3 coats with a fast try topcoat on top for extra shiny! I found it quick drying on it's own without the fast try topcoat and it's definitely easy to apply.

There is a slight gold shift going on aswell which I've tried to capture here for you. It's really pretty and appears when you least expect it!!!

In full sun it's deliciously pink.Sparkle sparkle!! Love Love Love

** Final Verdict **

I do like these Flormars. They seem to last forever without chipping and they are pretty colours. The fact it's fast drying is a bonus aswell. Worth while getting if you are able to source them.

... Guest Post - Lab Muffin ...

Todays Guest Post is from Lab Muffin! Seriously go check it out as it is not just full of fantastic nail love. It incorporates some fun scientific beauty facts that I know I for one have never thought about.  Thanks Michelle for writing this!

Also  - keep those FrankenMarch entries coming!!!! I'm loving seeing them all and there is definitely room for more!

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I recently opened my mail to find China Glaze CG in the City, a gorgeous mix of small purple, silver and bronze glitters in a clear base. Naturally, I had to franken with it!

I mixed CG in the City with ulta3 Twilight Fever (purple shimmer in brown creme, Paradoxal dupe) and ulta3 Berry (purple creme) in a ratio of about 5:4:1 to get this dusty purple-with-glitter-bits colour, which I'm calling Mercury (after both the planet and the Freddie).

It dries a bit rough, but it's easily fixed with topcoat. I love how the little bits of glitter make the polish look like a perfectly clear starry night sky.

... Guest Post - Nails in the Desert

Todays guest post is from the beautiful Em at Nails in the Desert ... and don't think it's just a pretty name! She really is in the desert parts of Australia!

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Hi everyone!
My name is Emma and I'm an Aussie blogger. I blog over at http://nailsinthedesert.blogspot.com!

Sarah Claire is a good friend of mine and she inspires me a lot with her innovative ideas with polish and blogging. Her idea of having a "frankens month" theme for March is fabulous and I jumped at the chance to be involved.

I have recently started my own custom nail polish line, Love Thy Polish. I've been selling them mainly at the markets in the small mining town I live in. It is so much fun creating polishes :D I thought I'd share one of my recent creations with you.

This is Sunday, Bloody Sunday:

Two coats. This is a gorgeous deep red jelly with a touch of purple. It has candy apple red glitter throughout which gives it a glowy effect.

Here's another look:

I'd like to see more glitter on the nail ... it looks like there is plenty in the bottle but I'm not entirely satisfied with how much came out onto the nail.

I created this custom polish with a suspension base and a combination of two red tints. I then added in the candy apple red glitter. A simple polish but a striking one :D

Thanks for reading, Shatter Me Claire followers.

Em
Nails in the Desert/Love Thy Polish

... Guest Post - Jens Painted Tips ...

Super thanks to Jen for writing up todays Guest Post. I've not been feeling myself lately but hoping to be back on the frankening bandwagon soon. Keep those great comp entries coming!

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Hello, I am Jen from Jenspaintedtips.blogspot.com.

Sarah is so neat and awesome. She needed guest posts for FRANKEN-MARCH. I had the PERFECT polish that was made for me by my friend Mandy!

When Behind Closed Doors came out I whined and cried that I wanted it, Mandy made me a franken. She did it with loose glitter and pigments. She called it Midnite Jen Jen. very appropriate name. :)

See all the micro glitter??

  I love that the bigger glitter is sparse.

 This polish makes me all kinds of happy!

Thank you Mandypants for an incredible polish, and Thank you Sarah for being such a great friend!

... Guest Post - The Manicured Monkey ...

Sorry for the lack of posts! My sister made a surprise visit and I haven't been online much while she was here.

Keep those franken entries coming!! Currently only 2 ladies have entered - as Homer Simpson would say "I like those odds"]

Todays franken post comes courtesy from Kristin at The Manicured Monkey - go check out her blog! Well worth it!

Thanks for sharing mate!! :)

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This is a franken that Mandypants made. It's awesome! I have it layered over.... well.... I can't remember, but check out the glitter! Hex, confetti and small glitters in different colors with a few stars thrown in for good measure make up this beauty. I want to do this mani again but over a lavender creme. It reminds me of ticker tape from a parade or celebration. It's cheery, makes me smile and not a pain to remove.. WIN!

Thanks Mandy! I'll have more glitter for you in a while but this one is by far my current favorite :)