Rainbow Bows

With 99 votes the challenge for Sunday 31st August is:  Stamping over striped background.  I chose this option and so was thrilled it got voted in.  I have trouble stamping straight so I thought this would force me to get some more practice.  I think it turned out fairly well and I got to wear three manicures in the process of making this design.

Manicure One:  A totally gorgeous nude from Primark, just two coats required, it made me feel very elegant.
Manicure Two:  Stamped stripes, see my previous post for details (click here).  This pleased me so much, finally a grown up stamping manicure.
Manicure Three:  The bows, these turned the sophisticated stripes into a cute girly manicure. A few dots and matching colour rhinestones completed the look.

The bows are simple decals,  I list the polishes from left to right in the "so many polishes" photo posted below:

• (Stamped) Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Plum GNP 1
• (decal) Primark Nail Polish, Unnamed (lilac)
• (Stamped) Primark Nail Polish, Unnamed (crimson)
• (decal) Primark Nail Polish, Unnamed (pale peach)
• (Stamped) Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Satsuma GNP 7
• (decal) Beauty UK Nail Polish, Unnamed (yellow)
• (Stamped) Revlon Colorstay, 290 Midnight
• (decal) Primark Nail Polish, Unnamed (pale turquoise)

Stamping plate: Konad M71
Sparkles:  Moyou Nail Art Rhinestone Pack in 12 different colours <3
Dotting:  With stamping colour, requires more practise!!!!

I really really want to thank the beautiful Lucie  (find her videos here:  Loving Nails - Nail Art) for her fantastic tip of using a nail art brush to fill in decals instead of my usual dotting too chaos.  The brush worked so much better for me, I felt I had much more control over the amount of polish I added and where it went.

Pansy shot

So many polishes

In the soft autumn sun

Just bows before chaos!

Halogen lighting

The decals

Bottle swatch!

Indirect sunlight

Sophisticated Stripes

I am hoping that the facebook group "Adventures in Stamping" will vote this weeks Sunday Challenge as: Stamping over stripes.  This is my wish, because I have already got striped fingers!

I found a gorgeous pale nude in Primark, it covered so well and evenly, I only need two coats, it sadly puts my Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Lychee GNP 10 to shame.

Usually I struggle with images that contain large areas of stamping polish or straight lines.  This image had both problems!  So I did have real difficulty getting this on my nails, I had to stamp a couple of nails twice.  The result is not perfect, but I think my technique has improved!  To me this manicure felt so sophisticated I am looking forward to wearing it for a while.

Base colour: Primark Nail Polish, Unnamed (nude)
Stamp colour: Konad White
Stamping plate: Moyou London Pro Collection XL - 20

Pansies and stripes <3

My left hand under halogen lighting

Tools of the trade

Spike is really helpful today

Self timer again

This was quite a big clean up job!

Fish Fingers

Here is another manicure that I've been excited about trying for a while.  Colourful fish on a blue shimmery background.  The outcome was not everything I'd hoped for, but it was great fun using all those fab colours and glitter always makes me smile.

The problem is that my decal technique is not improving!  I find the dotting tool quite tricky to use consistently. Sometimes the polish is too dry and it takes part of the stamp away, sometimes the blob on the end is too big and it takes ages to dry and normally I manage to miss the outlines completely! Sigh, I guess you will be seeing many more practise attempts at this.

Base colour: Rimmel 60 Seconds, 842 Too Cool to Tango
Glitter on tips:  Loose iridescent blue glitter (Ebay mixed set of 12 pots)
Stamp colour: Konad Black
Decals: Rimmel 60 Seconds, 450 Get your Shades On , Rimmel 60 Seconds, 405 Rose Libertine and Primark Nail Polish, unnamed neon orange.
Stamping plate: Moyou London Sailor Collection - 04

Direct sunshine

Fish fingers!!!!

Eeeeek! I hadn't realised the rose had a bee inside!

Tools of the Trade

Indirect sunlight

The glitter gradient base

Aquarium before clean-up!

Halogen lighting

Stamping Polish Experiment

The Sunday challenge for Sunday Aug. 24th is:
Color combination I have never tried before.

This was a chance for me to try reviving my nearly empty gloopy konad white by adding another colour.  I chose a Loreal red I don't like much and I hoped it would make a soft rose colour when added to the white. It took a lot of shaking, I should probably invest in some mixing balls! I am not convinced this manicure is any better than if I had left my Konad white.  I probably should have added more, for a stronger colour but I am very happy with the consistency.  I will probably add red more at a later date, and will let you know the outcome.

Base colour: Miss Sporty Clubbing Colours, 320 Pop Fiction
Glitter topper: Essence Nail Art Topper, 02 Circus Confetti
Stamp colour:  Konad White mixed with 1/4 bottle of Loreal Color Riche, 403 Femme Fatale
Stamping plate: Born Pretty QA88

Direct sunlight

The glitter base

Artificial lighting

My left hand <3

Sunshine and glitter

Tools of the Trade

My phone seems to take better glitter pics!

Phone camera again

Celebration of Chaos!

I had worn the Party Time manicure for a few days, and wanted to practice more decals.  Since the glitter was so loud, I had to compensate with crazy stamping images, in contrasting black and white.  This manicure turned out much too busy looking for my taste.  I much preferred the look before stamping! Ah well, sometimes less is more.

Base colour: This is explained in my previous post, Party Time.
Stamp colour: Konad Black
Decals: Sinful Colors, 101 Snow me White
Stamping plate: Moyou London Princess Collection - 13

Pow

Left hand

Right hand

All that jazz

Tools of the Trade

Party Time

I simply can't resist neon corals, pinks and oranges.  The problem I have now, is deciding which one to wear. Today, I couldn't choose, so I picked three of my favourites:

On my right hand: (I reversed the colours on my left)
Primark PS Nail Polish, unnamed neon orange (thumb and index)
Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Papaya 416 (middle finger)
Essence Colour & Go, 109 Off to Miami (ring and pinky)

Glitter (applied in the following order):
Maybelline Street Artist, 04 Alley Attitude
Born Pretty loose glitter (1mm-2mm Mixed colourful round glitter dots)
Loreal Top Coat Confettis, 927 Splash Peach

If you are interested, click here for my next post to see what I did with this manicure.  There is also a photo of the coral polishes and glitters I used.

The first layer of glitter.

I placed these born pretty spots on by hand

Finished with a coat of Loreal confetti

Party fingers <3

Girly Skull and Crossbones

I have stolen another manicure, Beatrice did a better job than I have, but I had loads of fun playing around. She used a cream base colour with a glitter polish, and I lazily used one coat of metallic.  Scroll to the bottom to see her gorgeous manicure.

For the "decal" or "advanced stamping" technique, I used a method by San-tie Nails, click here for her latest video. It really is as quick and easy as she makes it look...great fun to do.

On another note, I have begun the path to squaring off my nails! I think this may be a more practical shape for using cameras, my phone, typing and most importantly, fitting stamping plate images on my nails in one go!  Lets see how I get on with these new corners.  I am concerned they are a weak point and will get knocked off!

Base colour: Primark nail polish (part of a set of four), unnamed, metalic
Stamp colour: Konad Black
Decals: Maybelline Colour Show, 262 Pink Boom, Beauty UK nail polish in gold, and Konad White
Image plate: Moyou London Princess Collection - 10  for the pinky and ring fingers and 13 for the rest

This is so cute!

Indirect natural light

Tools of the trade

Giant fingers!!!

Learning to pose

This is the amazing manicure that inspired me (I stole).  Thank you Beatrice Cabanes, I have been trying to find you, to give you credit for this xxx

An amazing manicure <3

Bring Back the Sun

Here in England, it's definitely cooled off this week, but despite the chill in the air, I have been inspired by the AIS weekly challenge:  With 108 votes the Sunday challenge for Sunday Aug. 17th is:  Over a yellow base.

I really really wanted bumble bee nails with black stripes, but quickly realised, I am unable to stamp straight lines!  So instead, I chose a hot summery stamp using the versatile cheeky plate jumbo C.  I know that Barry M stamps well over lighter colours, so this was the perfect opportunity to show them off using a stamping gradient...I think they really compliment this fantastic yellow by rimmel.

Base colour: Rimmel 60 Seconds, 450 Get your shades on!
Stamp colours: The tips are Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, 317 Satsuma blended into Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, 407 Grapefruit
Stamping plate: Cheeky Jumbo Plate C

In direct sunlight

This reminds me of rolling hills or breaking waves

Halogen lighting

That YELLOW base!

Tools of the Trade

My only real disappointment with this mani is that I lined the stamp up with the tips of my nails.  Now it is finished, I feel it would have looked so much prettier if I had stamped from my half moons.  Then I could have avoided that strange yellow blank spot that is different on every nail.  Ah well.

Under a cloudy sky

Halogen lighting