The Bird is the Word

Firstly, I am going to thank Priscilla for here amazing post http://pcontreras8nails.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-bird-is-word.html. I loved her manicure so much I am paying tribute, with my own interpretation using bird decals over pretty glitter and the same title.

This week I've been feeling under the weather, and by Saturday, I realised I had not fulfilled any of the challenges set by some of my favourite facebook groups.  When I looked more closely at the prompts, I realised I could just about combine them all in one manicure!

• Stamp One Stamp all Ten!  Over Glitter
• AIS Sunday Challenge:  Wildlife
• Crumpets 52 Week Pick n Mix: Domestic animals and 3 shades of blue

Lovebirds were the obvious choice for me.  We had a pair when I was small, but they escaped and flew away and became wildlife,  (even though all of our neighbours climbed their ladders to the roof of their houses equipped with nets and food, trying to tempt them back, but sadly the birds just wanted to be free).

My Dad gave me this Cici & Sisi plate set for my birthday and the images are fantastic, but I have just cut my nails, so I was able to split the images and use one stamping image for two nails.

To keep with the "three shades of blue" and "over glitter" themes, I coloured stamping decals in blues over a glittery blue base.  Thank you San for this amazing iridescent glitter top coat, I love it.

Base colour: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Sugar Apple GNP 21
Base glitter:  Generic iridescent loose glitter found in a set from ebay
Glitter nail polish:  Catrice Cosmetics Million Styles, 03 Have an Ice Day

Stamp colour: Konad Special Stamping Polish, Black
Stamping plate: Cici & Sisi Set 01 (white cover) Plate 02

The colours used for the decals:

• Essie Nail Lacquer, Where's my Chauffeur
• Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Blueberry GNP 5
• Konad Special Stamping Polish, White

Big Bottle shot!

Close-up

Humongous finger!!!!!

The amazing Priscilla

Bottle Shot

Gigantic finger

The decals

Tools of the Trade

Halogen Lighting

Tweet tweet tweet

Crumpets 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge

Stamp One Stamp all Ten: Over Glitter

An InLinkz Link-up

Individually Stamped Flowers

As we approach the end of September is Stamping Month there are a couple of days where no theme is given.  I want to take this chance to show a blog post for a manicure that I shared in AIS for a Sunday Challenge a few weeks ago.

I don't think we've seen the last of the sun yet :)

Base colour: Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine, Sugar Apple GNP 21
Stamp colours:

• Mundo de Uñas Stamping Polish, 20. Fiusha
• Mundo de Uñas Stamping Polish, 32. Reddish
• Mundo de Uñas Stamping Polish, 46. Mustard

Stamping plate: Konad M100 and M60

In the garden

Halogen Lighing

Sunlight

Tools of the Trade

I need to stop the claw pose!

Autumn sun

Indirect sunshine

Funky French

This was not what I wanted,  I think the problem is the tips go too far up my nail bed and this is moving towards a half moon manicure. Unfortunately, this is neither here nor there, so just looks a little peculiar.  I do like like the idea but don't think my nails will ever get long enough to wear it well.

Base colour: Konad black sponged on tips only
Stamp colour: Konad Black then Konad White
Stamping plate: Moyou London Pro Collection - 14 XL

Close up it's wobbly!

Autumn sun

Massive finger!!!!!!

Tools of the Trade

In the garden

Halogen lighting

Black stamping only

Straight Suki Tryout

Hooray, it's the AIS Sunday Challenge again :)  With 95 votes the challenge for Sunday Sept. 07 is:  Geometric Nails.

I am really excited about this, but I had trouble choosing which pattern to wear...Sailor, Artist, Greek Mythology, Suki, Pro, Princess Cheeky or Konad.  Hard decision!  But Suki won, and even then, there were several gorgeous geometric images to choose from.  So I went for the most difficult...straight lines, in a cartesian pattern.  Watch out for wobbles!

Base colour: Sinful Colors, 300 Easy Going
Stamp colour:  George (Asda) Molten Metals, No. 5 Party Animal
Stamping plate: Moyou London Suki Collection - 06

I am still trying to master the straight line!  I even attempted a video of this manicure to analyse my technique.  Apparently, having the tripod on my lap isn't a good idea.  Every time I cleaned the plate (ie, after every nail) the camera moved with me.  I felt quite dizzy watching the footage back!  So luckily for you, I am just showing off the photos :)  But I hope you like them. <3

Self timer again.

Bronze labyrinth

Tools of the Trade

The last sunshine of the day

My right hand

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Left hand under halogen lighting

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

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

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