Frozen Jewel

Hello lovely fellow nail stamping fans!

Thank you so much for your patience.  This post is long overdue, and I truly apologize for my absence.  As the title indicates, I have been "frozen" -  not literally, but I have really been finding it difficult to function as a normal human being these last few weeks.  Pah, enough grumbling...it's a brand new year!

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My Warmest Wishes 

 for 2015

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This manicure is part of a nail art collaboration organised by Mary who created an amazing collage to start the new year off with a bang.  #NewYearManiCollage.   I have added her incredible collage as the finale of this post, so keep scrolling down to see it...

For my manicure, I decided to go for a cool wintery look to mark the start of a bright and fresh new year.  I included all the best things to complete this look:  a uk indie duochrome, double stamping DRK, MDU, and rhinestones!!!!!

I am also so happy to be back posting with A2Z nails and this week is the letter J for Jewel.

Huge finger

Before I get into further details for this mani,  I would like to give an extra special mention to my amazing friends:  Mariana, San, Sumeet and Elaine. Thank you all so much for being here for me. You have all helped me through winter and I really appreciate your friendship.

Mariana @StampingQueenBlog
https://www.facebook.com/stampingqueenblog

San @santie_nails
https://www.youtube.com/user/Sannejoey/videos

Sumeet @tales_of_coffee_lacquer_beauty (more information below)
http://talesofcoffeelacquerandbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/

Elaine @LollyBlackHeart (more information below)
#FrightfullySpectacular

Bottle shot

I also need to give thanks to my amazing friend Marty, I am the proud owner of this Messy Mansion super soft stamper head.   This is part of a set of two stamper heads that come in a little tin.(http://www.messymansion.com.au/products/soft-stamper-set-with-tin.html).  For easy use, I placed the head in the lid of a nail polish remover bottle which acts perfectly as a holder.

Tools of the Trade

One final stamper note before moving on:  When I first saw the set of stamper heads they looked so shiny I didn't expect them to pick up any nail polish at all.  I was prepared for some serious priming, however, to my surprise, when I tested them out, they both picked up the image first time like a dream.  And in fact, they seem to perform better and stamp more reliably than any of my other stampers on all of the images I've tried them with.

Base colour:  Frightfully Spectacular, Happy New Year [By Abba] (Aqua with gold shimmer)

Base stamp colour:  Essie Mirror Metallics, 944 Blue Rhapsody
Base stamping plate:  DRK Themes:  Enlaced (left below)

Stamp colour for flourish:  Mundo de Uñas Stamping Polish, 06. Pastel Blue
Stamping plate for flourish:  Born Pretty,  BP - L 008 (right below)
Rhinestones:  http://www.moyou.co.uk/nail-art-decoration-set-design-glitters-rhinestones/rhinestones-nail-art/1200-rhinestones.html

The Stamping Plates

I could not believe my luck when this gorgeous lacy DRK plate arrived for me over Christmas...I had drooled over the plate, but I hadn't ordered it!  Then I discovered it was a present to me from the wonderful Sumeet.  I simply could not wait to try it out, and this pretty intricate pattern was ideal to add a beautiful detailed background for my flourishes.

I am a gigantic fan of  Tales of Coffee,Lacquer and Beauty, Sumeet's fantastic blog.  The link is to her honest, informative reviews of stamping plates, but I would highly recommend her other posts and pages to anyone interested in nail art or indie nail polishes.  And if you are trying to figure out how to stamp your own nails, then look no further: Nail Stamping 101 has all your questions answered.

Frightfully Spectacular, Happy New Year

Here is the base colour for my manicure...I am wearing "Happy New Year" from Frightfully Spectacular. This is now, one of my all time favorite polishes.  Just look how the gold dances around the blue in the light.  My fingers and toes are so happy right now!

Frightfully Spectacular is a brand new UK indie polish line coming soon to you by @LollyBlackHeart.  I can honestly tell you that this girl turns colour into magic.  She chooses combinations that I've never seen before, and they work wonderfully.

Check out  #FrightfullySpectacular for more news.

As an extra special bonus, Here is a compilation of my all time favorite manicures.  I had so much fun creating these, I really hope you like them too.

My favourite manicures of 2014

More details and many more photos for each of these manicures in the links below.

1.    Neon Disco
2.    Snowflakes Skittle
3.    The Bird is the Word
4.    Crunchy Autumn Leaves
5.    Flower Power
6.    A = Angles
7.    Diwali Gradient with Mariana
8.    E = Elegant
9.    Diwali Decals with San
10.  Back to School
11.  Pink Roses
12.  Orange for Elisa
13.  C = Copycat
14.  Candy Cane Chevrons
15.  Holographic Stars
16.  Elements
17.  Pretty Paisleys


And last, but by no means least:

Thank you so much Mary

An InLinkz Link-up

Autumn Blooms

It's the last day of September is Stamping month, and I have finally embraced the change in season with this gorgeous rust colour (Paprika GNP 32) by barry m.  I used an iridescent glitter as a sponged gradient on my tips and set it all off with some gold rhinestones.  I am also really happy about the chance to chop my nails off!  My bicycle needs washing, and there are a few other nail unfriendly tasks I've been putting off since I started this daily challenge. Goodbye long impractical nails, hello Autumn

Base colour: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Paprika GNP 32
Glitter: Mixed glitter from Amazon
Stamp colour: Konad White
Stamping plate: Moyou London Pro Collection - 10 XL
Rhinestones: Pack of 1200 mixed colour from Moyou London

Indirect sun

Bottle Shot!!!

Rusty glitter = Swoooon 

Self timer again...

Tools of the Trade

Indirect sunlight

This photo is upside down!

Born Pretty Manicure with Pam

This manicure was down to Pam.  She had the idea of working together, but we didn't have any identical plates!  We were going to compromise and try to use moyou images, I have xl an Pam had the regular. Then she received this born pretty plate just in time! Hooray!!!

Base colour: Sinful Colors, 101 Snow me White
Base gradient: Beauty Uk, unnamed (purple)
Stamp colour: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Plum GNP 1
Decals:  Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Green Berry GNP 12 (turquiose) and Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Sugar Apple GNP 21 (light turquiose)
Stamping plate: Born Pretty Stamping Plate QA61

Bottle shot!

Giant Fingers!!!!

I <3 this mani...even before clean-up

Tools of the Trade

The Decals

I wish I'd taped my fingers!

Twin nails with Pam

My right hand under halogen

Big fingers

Indirect sunlight

Twin Nails with San

San is the amazing girl who taught me this technique to make nail decals.  Now I always always use this method.  I feel so lucky to do a twin manicure with her, she is so talented, there's never a mistake on her nails <3  See her video here.  She explains everything so beautifully.

Base colour: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Blueberry GNP 5
The decals:

• Konad White
• Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Sugar Apple GNP 21 
• Mundo de Uñas Stamping Polish, 12. Cream
• Beauty UK Nail Polish, Unnamed (green)

Stamp colour: Konad Black
Stamping plate: Moyou London Pro Collection - 10 XL

Matching Nails!

Halogen Lighting

Autumn Sun

The gorgeous San <3

The Decals

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Tools of the Trade

Indirect Sunlight

Sunshine

My nail twin!!!!

Bottle Shot

This is so much fun!

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

Sparkly Lacy Fingers

My Second Manicure of the Week!

Maybe I'll find it hard to stick to one a week.  My excuse this time:  Moyou London accidentally sent me the wrong rhinestones, and then let me keep them as a present, and sent my original order.However, it turns out I actually LOVE the wrong ones!  So I am trying them out. Thank you Moyou!


Base colour: Manhattan Pro French Hardener, 31G
French tips: Sponged Konad over tip guides
Stamp colour: Konad, White
Image plate: Moyou London Tourist Collection.

Left Hand

Right hand

Pretty Shiny Butterflies

It started with a french tip

Choose your weapon