Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 25: Watercolours

Hello polish lovers!

Today I have 3 posts for you...then I will be caught up with the Challenge...just in time for it to end.  That's right, tomorrow is the last day of the current challenge so let us begin.

I will start off by saying I made 4 attempts to finish this mani in time for it to be posted on the correct day, the first looked horrible...not even a fail but just ugly.  The second was going ok until I attempted to clean up and destroyed it with an inopportune sneeze.  The third was my fault as I was now frustrated and did not wait long enough before attempting my gradient and ended up removing most of my base coat.  The fourth is the one I will show you, still not 100% happy but at least it is not a fail.

I will not show you the base alone, I have shown it before, Sinful Colors Snow Me White.  Actually one of my favourite whites as it is almost opaque in 1 coat.  I use 2 to ensure no streaks.

Once this was dry(this time) I got out my trusty sponge and some Barry M polishes: Papaya, Grapefruit and Turquoise, and created a gradient.

I was attempting to recreate the look of one of the first techniques they teach you when you are learning how to paint with watercolors and that is to keep a pool of colour on you page and slowly add another colour to create a slow transition.  I have to say, using a sponge is easier(as long as you wait long enough).

Photo taken with flash

Once this was dry I used OPI Matte Top Coat to make it look more like paint and less like polish.  I used white as a base instead of Papaya because I wanted the colour to look slightly translucent, as true watercolor does.  This is also why I used mostly Barry M Gelly's, although Turquoise is not a jelly and it was the most translucent(and also the most difficult to work with).

That is all for this post but I will be back shortly with Graffiti and Pointillism.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go. Day 22: Surrealism

Hello polish lovers!

Today's prompt in the challenge is Surrealism, and I have fallen in love with these nails.  I was originally going to do Dali's The Persistence of Memory but I remembered a painting that I fell in love with in Art History, I loved how graphic it was.

Source

This is Rene Magritte's Son of Man.

And here is mine.  My base colour is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Blue Away.  I used Sinful Colours Snow Me White and Color Club Silver Lake and a Q-Tip for the clouds.  The Son of Man itself is Nubar Midnight Matte for the suit and bowler hat, OPI My Vampire is Buff for his face, Snow Me White for his shirt, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red for his tie, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lickety Split Lime for the apple.  The shadows are Midnight Matte added to the original colour, and the highlight is Snow Me White added to the original colour.

Matte

I ended up liking this so much I did clouds on my other hand and wearing it all day yesterday and today.

That is all for today, but I will be back tomorrow with the next prompt of Oils.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 18: Sci-Fi

Hello polish lovers!

Time for my Sci-Fi nails.  For this prompt I decided to go way back and chose my first fan-dom.  I always loved the Star Wars movies...when I was little it was mostly because of the Ewoks...this was only increased when they came out with the 2 Ewok movies, Battle for Endor and Caravan of Courage and finally with the Ewok cartoon.  So I decided to do Wicket, my favourite Ewok, and the trees of Endor.

On my accent nail I began with 2 coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and on my other nails its 2 coats of China Glaze The Grass is Lime Greener.  For Wicket I used Color Club Wham! Pow!, Butter London Tea & Toast, Orly Prince Charming and black and white stipers.

The trees are A England Dragon and BM407.

Of course I had to matte it.

Anyway that is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my Game Night nails.

Until then, polish happy!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art A-Go-Go, Day 9: Inner Geek...Doctor Who!

Hello polish lovers!

I took today's prompt to mean what makes you geek out or what do you fangirl about, and for me, that's Doctor Who.  I love Doctor Who, although I have to say I took a break when Tennant regenerated into Smith, but Smith won me over, and has since become my favourite Doctor, although Tennant is still the prettiest.  Although I have seen Doctor Who enemy nails in the past, I only looked at Google images of photos of the actual villains for these nails and any similarity is not intentional.

So for today's prompt I decided to go with some of my favourite Doctor Who villains... because we wouldn't need a Doctor if there were no villains around.  All nails have a base of 1 coat of OPI Black Onyx.

On my pinkie nail I have done an Adipose...probably the cutest problem the Doctor has ever had to face(and it reminds me of the Tribels from the Star Trek universe).  Who's a cute little fat alien(literally)?  An Adipose is.  I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a black striper to create.

On my ring nail I have a Dalek, the Doctor's worst enemy...the destroyer of Gallifrey.  I used Nubar Sunset Matte, Essie Go
od as Gold and a black striper to create.

My middle nail is a Cyberman, a machine with a human brain...but lacking humanity.  I used Essie No Place Like Chrome and a black striper to create.

And on my index nail I have The Silence...originally confessors created by the Papal Mainframe, a splinter cell tries to kill the doctor on more than one occasion, no one remembers them once they are no longer in site, but definitely one of the creepiest enemies....along with the Weeping Angels.  I used Barry M Lychee, a black striper, and Color Club Silver Lake with a detail brush to create.

I, of course, had to Matte this(because I have a problem).  I wonder how many other participants chose Doctor Who for their Inner Geek nails.

That is all for now, but I will be back tomorrow with my Night Sky nails.

Until then, polish happy!

Falling For Nail Art: Turkey Time

Hello nail polish lovers!

Today's prompt in the Falling for Nail Art Challenge was Turkey Time.  I really had a difficult time getting up the motivation for this one since I am Canadian and we celebrated Thanksgiving over a month ago, and I didn't even do Thanksgiving nails then!  But I prevailed and this is what I came up with:

I started with 2 coats of Nubar's Sunset Matte, which I got in a set with Twilight and Midnight, all of which are awesome.  Sunset is an antique copper gold...so pretty!

Once this was dry, which didn't take too long, since it is matte, I used Konad Black stamping polish and used BMH13 for my accent finger and BMH12 for the rest of my fingers.

This has been top coated with SV to preserve the stamping.

I really enjoyed the copper gold colour combined with the crisp black, and the stamping came out amazing, it was almost a shame to take it off, but considering it is not Canadian Thanksgiving, I think I would have looked rather weird walking around with turkey's on my fingers.

In other news, I ended up cutting down my nails even more.  I am continuing to have problems with the break I had on the middle finger of my swatching hand, and I was getting tired of continually having to put Orly's Nail Repair on it, so I chopped them all down, not to nubs, but way shorter than they were.  My middle nail is still shorter than the others, I can't make myself cut the rest down that short, so hopefully it grows quick.  You won't get to see the new length until December though, when I start the Christmas Challenge that was posted to Crumpet's Nail Tarts.(I am already working on them since December always proves to be a most busy month)

That is all for today, but I will be back tomorrow with the next 33DC theme.

Until then, polish happy!

33 DC Day 19: Pattern in My Wardrobe

Hello polish lovers!

So today's challenge was to be inspired by a pattern in my wardrobe...I have very few patterns in my wardrobe so I decided to use my new infinity scarf.

I love the colour and pattern in this scarf.  Its black, burgundy, copper, grey and white in an painterly flower print.  I was really excited when I managed to find pretty similar colours in my polish stash.

I started with a base of 1 coat of OPI's Alpine Snow and then worked from lightest to darkest.  The grey is Butter London's Billy No Mates(I found it at Winners on clearance), copper is Essie's Penny Talks, burgundy is Seche's Bella(awesome 1 coat-er), and a black Nubar striper. I then coated with SV.

Of course I had to matte it for the finishing touch to make it seem closer to the scarf.

That is all for now but I will be back in a bit with my Falling for Nail Art mani.

Until then, polish happy!

Falling for Nail Art Challenge: Day 7 Cloudy Skies

Hello, polish lovers!

I am just about to expire from my Turkey Coma so I will take the opportunity to share my Cloudy Skies nails.  For these nails I went literal and used a variety of gray and white polishes to create a sponged design to look like clouds in the time just before it starts to rain.

The base for this is 2 coats of China Glaze Pelican Gray, which is a lovely soft gray, the lightest of the gray's used.  Over this polish I used a small ripped off piece of makeup sponge held in tweezers and Nubar's Velvet Silver, Essie's Cashmere Bathrobe, Milani's White on the Spot and more Pelican Gay to create the random cloud pattern.

Mattified

I, of course, had to matte this once I had coated it with SV.  I used my OPI Matte Top Coat(because I am obsessed).

That's all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my 33DC theme of Flowers.  I will say that I loved my flower mani and I hope you do to.

Until then, polish happy!

33DC Day 8: Chevrons

Hello polish lovers!

I have had my morning coffee and banana bread and am ready for the day.

Today's 33DC theme is chevrons.  Chevrons are not easy, I wish I had the new Bundle Monster set with the lovely big chevrons on it but I only have the Pueen one and it is very skinny.

The base for this mani is actually one that I did for a future Falling for Nail Art Challenge so I will not show what it looked like before the stamping(you will have to wait til Sunday to see that one).  I will say it is sponging of various grays.

I used Pueen plate 3 and Konad Special White and finished with OPI's Matte Top Coat(in case you haven't noticed I am kind of obsessed with that top coat!).  I will say I definitely should have used SV first because matte top coat always smears stamping.

That is all for this challenge mani.  I will be back in a bit with my Falling for Nail Art Challenge for today.

Until then, polish happy!

Hallow e'en Challenge: Day 1 Black Cats or Bats

Good morning, polish lovers!

Today is my first post for the Hallow e'en Challenge I am doing over at #crumpetsnailtarts and since I love Hallow e'en I am super excited about it!

I started by painting all my fingers except my ring finger using 3 coats of Nubar's Twilight Matte(I could have stopped at 2 but I wanted extra sparkle).  My ring finger is 1 coat of Wet n' Wild Black Creme.  I waited for this to dry and then moved onto my stamping.

I used the same black polish for my stamping on all fingers except for my ring finger(that is Konad Special White).  I used Bundle Monster BMH08 for these images and am really pleased.  I coated my ring finger with SV to make it super shiny and the others with OPI Matte Top Coat to keep them matte.

So that is my first Hallow e'en mani.  I will be back tomorrow for double up day with my 33DC and Falling for Nail Art posts.

Until then, polish happy!

Falling for Nail Art: Sweater Weather

Hello polish lovers!

It's time for another Falling For Nail Art Challenge and today's theme is Sweater Weather.  I have to say I went pretty literal with this and actually put a sweater on my nails, but at least it is not a fuzzy one(although I do have flocking powder and that would be cool).

For this mani I started with a base of OPI's I'm not Really a Waitress, a lovely candy apple red that is opaque in two coats.  I added SV to speed up the drying time and then stamped using Konad Special white polish and Pueen plate 38 to create my knitted design.

It kind of reminds me of those quintessential winter sweaters that you get as you are growing up, usually around Christmas time(you know, the ones knitted by an aunt or grandmother).  I have worn a blue and white version of this mani as well, and really enjoyed it, it would be great for the holidays.

matted

I like this even more when matte, reminds me more of a sweater.  I used my OPI Matte Top Coat, of course.

That is all for today, I will be back tomorrow with the 33DC featuring my oldest untrieds.

Until tomorrow, polish happy!

33DC Day 6: Texture

Good morning, polish lovers!

Today is texture day in the Crumpet's 33 Day Challenge.  I have only recently gotten into textured polish and only own 3 so choosing one to use today is easier for me then it would be for some.

I started this mani with 3 coats of Ciate's Kiss Chase, this is a bright fun pink with hints of coral,  I could have stopped at 2 but there as a slight visible nail line at 2 and I was covering the tips anyway but I am a bit OCD about these things and don't like to see nail line through polish.  Once this was dry I used my OPI Matte Top Coat.  I love the smooth soft texture that matte-ifying nail polish gives you.

I actually did my textured tips using NOPI's A-nise Treat from the Gumdrops collection before I did my stamping.  I love this textured polish because it is all fine sparkle without chunks of glitter, which I find makes them more messy looking.

Once the texture had dried sufficiently I added the thistle image from Messy Mansion's MM16 plate, which is William Morris and Friends(I love William Morris design and did a little squee when I found this plate on her Etsy site, which you can find here).  I realize that this did not stamp perfectly every time but that was because I did not want to put too much pressure on the textured polish, not any fault of the plate itself.

That is all for this post but I think I will post tomorrow, even though it is not a challenge day.  I have been sitting on my photo's of Lucky 13 Lacquer's Bad Wolf and I feel the need to share that amazingness with everyone, so look forward to that post tomorrow.

Until next time, polish happy!