Sunday 30 November 2014

Smitten Polish Fire Burn

Today I have the most super sparkly polish to show you. This is Fire Burn, from Smitten's Halloween Duo, the other being the deep smokey blue grey Cauldron Bubble and I bought the pair recently from Rainbow Connection.
Fire Burn, as its name suggests, is a fiery orange jelly polish, absolutely packed with holographic glitter. It is so unbelievably sparkly, in almost all levels of light.
As this is a jelly I did use 3 coats for full coverage, 2 was almost enough but I could just make out the nail line and decided to add a 3rd thin coat. The colour is just stunning, and this from a reformed orange hater! I think I may now be thoroughly converted.
Even where light levels are low and the sparkle not apparent the colour is so intense and the glitters give the polish a real depth. I think there may be golden/orange as well as holographic glitter as there is a golden glow from some angles and it is probably this combination that gives it the depth. The finish was quite rough after 1 coat of top coat, a second coat virtually smoothed it all out.
This looked awesome in the sunshine, but we were in the car so I couldn't get a decent picture. I did get a picture of it in the daylight though so you can see what its looks like. (We went to see the Hunger Games : Mockingjay Part 1, which is why I have a bird stamped on the ring finger)
Smitten Polish Fire Burn
Smitten Polish Fire Burn
Smitten Polish Fire Burn
Smitten Polish Fire Burn
 Smitten Polish Fire Burn
 Smitten Polish Fire Burn
Smitten Polish Fire Burn
Daylight shot with stamping!

Saturday 29 November 2014

Neiru Challenge : Fine Lines Workshop 1

Today I have really stretched my nail painting limits! I signed up to a nail art workshop a couple of weeks back with Neiru and yesterday the first tutorial was released.
We had 48 hours to watch the tutorial, recreate the design and then create 2 new designs using skills learned in the tutorial. The tutorial was to create Art Nouveau Peonies.
Jasmine, the founder of Neiru and tutor, did say in an earlier video that these designs are really for gels rather than conventional polishes, but having signed up I thought I'd better give it a go anyway.
I tried using normal polishes and found it very tricky to control and certainly creating a very fine line was hard, as the polish dried so quickly, whereas I worked so slowly!
Anyway I tried again using my son's acrylic paints and had more success.
I then continued to use the paints to do the 2nd and 3rd designs. I decided to stay with the flowers theme but chose to recreate a William Morris image from my living room curtains, and then a rose image by one of my favourite architects, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
We only had to do 1 nail of each design which was just as well really - I'd have been there all week - these took so long and my hands were really aching by the time I'd finished. Once topcoated I thought they didn't look too bad but I won't be adding any close up pics!
The nail varnish version and then the acrylic paint version
The finished nails
 
 

Thursday 27 November 2014

A2Z Series - E is for Elegant

It is Thursday again so here we are for the next instalment of the A2Z series- E is for Elegant.
My first thought was Nails Inc Victoria, dark and sophisticated, but then I started thinking maybe more nude, and understated. I couldn't decide but then Guinevere arrived and I just knew I had to stamp a beautiful swirly pattern over it with A England Princess Tears.
Princess Tears is a beautiful silvery lilac holo and great match for Guinevere, the tones of lilac are just perfect for each other. This is quite a subtle mani, the stamping barely noticeable from some angles but then it comes alive as the holo particles pick up the light and I like the contrast between the holo and the creme.
The plate I used was CICI&SISI 10 as I found a lovely swirly pattern on there that I thought was suitably elegant.
I am pleased with the result, I think these have turned out pretty much as I'd hoped although as tricky to photograph as I'd feared.

A2Z Series - E is for Elegant
A England Princess Tears and Guinevere
 
  
 
 
  

Anyway, the Victoria idea didn't go to waste. My daughter wanted her nails painted, in a dark burgundy shade and she has become as fascinated with stamping as I have, so I did her nails with Nails Inc Victoria and stamped with A England Her Rose Adagio. I used the same plate but a different image.
Emily's elegant nails


Look HERE to see what everyone else got up to



Wednesday 26 November 2014

A England Guinevere

Today's polish is the very beautiful Guinevere by A England. This is a delicate lilac creme polish.
I don't have a lot of polishes in this type of colour as pastel shades are not really me, unless they fall into the nude category and I think this one does.
I looked through my collection and the nearest polishes are Avon Luxe Lavender which I adore, but never wear on its own: this is a bit pinker than Guinevere and quite a bit brighter in tone. Then there is Leighton Denny Leading Lilac, which I definitely include in my neutrals as it is a dusky lilac, and that is a touch redder and darker than Guinevere. I did do a quick comparison - the colours are a bit too blue but it does show they are all different. I added Ciate BonBon too, although that's even more pink - they do make a pretty ombre!
Anyway, Guinevere is the perfect shade of lilac, muted enough to be very wearable, and to allow it into my neutral collection. It is a touch less blue than my pictures, very frustrated that I can't quite get the colours right. It painted on nicely, dried well and pictures are taken with top coat.
I shouldn't have waited so long to buy this one, it has been on my wishlist for a while. It fits very nicely into my collection and I love it.
A England Guinevere
A England Guinevere
 A England Guinevere
 A England Guinevere
 A England Guinevere
 A England Guinevere
 A England Guinevere
Leighton Denny Leading Lilac, A England Guinevere,
Avon Luxe Lavender and Ciate Bon Bon


Tuesday 25 November 2014

Stamping! A England Fotheringhay Castle with A England Rose Bower

Today I have stamped over my beautiful green Fotheringhay Castle. I wanted to stamp with something contrasting, and having lined up a good selection of my A England polishes I chose Rose Bower, which I last wore almost a year ago! Where did that year go?
Rose Bower is a stunning raspberry red, just enough pinkiness to it for me as I am not a red red fan! I think it looks fantastic with the vibrant green. It stamped really well but I didn't quite seem to be able to capture the contrast between these shades - to the naked eye the images are pin sharp.
I used Moyou London Mother Nature 02 and selected the end of a small branch with leaves and flowers. I think this has a bit of an autumn feel to it and I love the colours together.
A England Fotheringhay Castle and Rose Bower
 
  
 
A England Fotheringhay Castle with A England Rose Bower



Monday 24 November 2014

A England Fotheringhay Castle

Today I have the most beautiful polish to show you. I haven't blogged an A England polish for a while, a bit shocked to see June was my last posting, although recently I have been using them for stamping, so they are certainly not being neglected or forgotten!
In October A England brought out  a new collection - the Elizabeth and Mary Collection, and this stunning green, Fotheringhay Castle, is one of those polishes. When I first saw the swatches this was the one that caught my eye and I absolutely had to have.
This is the most gorgeous intense mossy green holo, it is perfection in green! The scattered holo is so pretty, and I was lucky enough to get some sunshine pictures today that have captured that quite well. This polish has such depth, and I have included daylight and indoor pictures to show that this polish is just beautiful, whatever the light. You'll also see a golden warmth to the polish, most apparent in the sunshine.
This is quite a thick polish and almost a one coater, so again it will be great for stamping, but I've done 2 coats here, and pictures are taken with top coat. It applied and dried well.
I am so pleased I bought this one, I do have other holo greens, but nothing exactly like this and you can never have too many greens!
A England Fotheringhay Castle
A England Fotheringhay Castle
 A England Fotheringhay Castle
 A England Fotheringhay Castle
 A England Fotheringhay Castle
 A England Fotheringhay Castle
 A England Fotheringhay Castle
 A England Fotheringhay Castle


Saturday 22 November 2014

Above the Curve Watermelon and some stamping

I don't normally do a post that covers 2 mani's but due to dreadful light, I ended up with such a poor selection of photos it seemed silly to do two posts.
So firstly, Above the Curve Watermelon. This is a gorgeous red holographic jelly, from the Jolly Ranchers collection. My husband thinks this is so cool as he loves Jolly Ranchers but of course, not available in the UK unless you want to spend silly money! This really is a sweetie red, although looking a tiny bit orange in the bottle, it is a very pretty pinky red on the nail, the perfect watermelon shade.
I used 2 coats here but the nail line is still visible, not at much as it shows on the photos but I can see it. Had I not decided to stamp, I would probably have added a 3rd coat but realistically this is a polish that deserves sunshine, it's probably not a November polish! I only have a mini bottle so I am going to put it somewhere safe ready for the spring/summer.
Although quite sheer, this applied and dried well, with  a lovely finish, perfect quality as always from Above the Curve and the holo is just delicious!!!
Above the Curve Watermelon
Above the Curve Watermelon
Above the Curve Watermelon
 Above the Curve Watermelon
 Above the Curve Watermelon
Then came the stamping. I decided to stay with red so I used A England Lancelot, a seriously dark red and Pueen SE04B. This is the first time I have used the Pueen plates and I am finding not all plates are equal. By the 10th nail I think I'd got it! This set of plates are all full image and they are very pretty, I can't wait to us them again. This time I chose a spirally swirly pattern, I do like these sorts of patterns - very forgiving in terms of pick up and placement!!
For some reason I could not get any decent pictures, too dark outside, over exposed inside so this is the best of a bad lot - sorry. I think they look great anyway, the dark red and Watermelon look great together, and I can still see the holographic sparkle between the stampings.
Above the Curve Watermelon,  A England Lancelot and Pueen SE04B
Above the Curve Watermelon,
A England Lancelot and Pueen SE04B
Above the Curve Watermelon,  A England Lancelot and Pueen SE04BAbove the Curve Watermelon,  A England Lancelot and Pueen SE04B

Friday 21 November 2014

Stamping! Above the Curve Caty Perry-winkle and The Silence

I just have a brief post for your now, as I wanted to try out a new stamping plate EDM03, now available from Rainbow Connection. The plate is by Emily de Molly, and I knew as soon as I saw it I wanted it. I have a particular love of Art Deco and the Arts and Crafts movement. I am not sure why but I saw this plate and I thought Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles Rennie Mackintosh - my 2 favourite architects. Something about the style of this plate just conjures up images of their work, most particularly their stunning interiors.
Anyway, I thought I'd try stamping the very pretty Above the Curve Caty Perry-winkle over The Silence. Caty Perry-winkle is a pale blue creme with a fine holographic shimmer. I've been wanting to try stamping a pale shade over a dark for a while. I was delighted to find Caty Perry-winkle is opaque enough for stamping, the combination is quite subtle but I like the end result.
The delicate periwinkle blue is very pretty against the blue black holo, and that midnight sky now has these wonderful geometric lines shooting across it.
Above the Curve Caty Perry-winkle and The Silence
Above the Curve Caty Perry-winkle
and The Silence
 Above the Curve Caty Perry-winkle and The Silence
 Above the Curve Caty Perry-winkle and The Silence
 Above the Curve Caty Perry-winkle and The Silence