Friday 30 December 2016

Nail Crazies Unite - Ugly Sweater

This week's prompt was Ugly Sweater. I do have a few Christmas Sweater plates but I just received a new one along with a whole lot of beautiful pates from Messy Mansion so I had to try this one.
I had ordered three of the new XL plates (the knitty ones of course) but the lovely Messy Mansion people sent me seven other plates to review - this must have been my best Christmas present!!!
MM82XL has 12 images on it, all really large and actually since I had just cut my nails down, larger than I needed but I always love large images as I can use parts of an image. There are 2 sweater images on the plate, one is virtually a negative of the other which is great, I always love that option and because my nails are so short I was able to use the top and bottom parts of each image to create different images on 4 nails.
I had a dark red gel base on (I thought it was black when I bought it) so I went with the bright limey green 2 True Arete for the stamping. The images stamped really nicely. I did have to swipe sideways to get the full image on the "negative" pattern, when I went up or down I didn't spread the polish well enough but I loved how these looked when I had finisged and quite frankly, not "ugly" at all!!
Messy Mansion MM82XL
Messy Mansion MM82XL
 Messy Mansion MM82XL
 Messy Mansion MM82XL


Friday 23 December 2016

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Pastel Christmas

I had a few ideas about pretty pastelly wintery scenes but I was a bit worried they'd be too pale and the detail would be lost so I went for a more clashing pastel thing with a pastel Christmas Jumper.
I started with a base of Barry M Laguna and Barry M Bikini and then I used Dixie Plate DP06 with Esmaltes Da Kelly Bee and Colour Alike Sweetheart.
No step by step photos this time as I freehanded the blue/green split and it wasn't worthy of a photo.
Not quite sure what I think about the outcome, probably a wintery scene would have been better!
I look forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with.
Dixie Plate DP 06 with pastel shades
Dixie Plate DP 06 with pastel shades


Friday 16 December 2016

Nail Crazies Unite - Candy Cane

This week's prompt was Candy Cane.
I have some lovely plates with striped images that would be perfect for this and because I love stripes I was tempted to use them but I also have Messy Mansion Merry Christmas which has actual candy canes on, and they can really only be used in the Christmas period so I thought I'd better use them.
I am wearing a white gel base this week so I though I'd keep it simple, but I couldn't resist having red and green ones, and yes I know most candy canes are red and white.
I decided to be brave with some reverse stamping so I stamped with A England Saint George and Rose Bower and coloured the stripes with the same alternating colours.
They looked a bit bare either side of the main image so I added some Christmassy glitter with Magic Goose Reindeer Dance.
Messy Mansion Merry Christmas
Messy Mansion Merry Christmas
 Messy Mansion Merry Christmas
















Saturday 10 December 2016

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Christmas Preparations

This weeks prompt was Christmas Preparations - I hate wrapping and am no good at baking so for me the best Christmas preparation is decorating the tree.
We haven't done ours yet this year, but I always dream of a nice dark tree with silver/white decorations, so that's what I did on my nails.
I started with my fanbrush base of green, red and blue (Ard as Nails Missy, 'Ard as Nails Lazy Afternoon and Barry M Laguna) and then I used a lovely plate I got last Christmas Messy Mansion MM30.
I used A England Proserpine for the dark boughs of the tree and then used For Your Nails Only Snow Queen for the decorations.
I was really pleased with the outcome but it was so dull outside I did struggle to capture this one, despite taking over 100 photos.
fanbrush base
Messy Mansion MM30 with  A England Proserpine
Messy Mansion MM30 with  A England Proserpine
Messy Mansion MM30 with  A England Proserpine and For Your Nails Only Snow Queen
Messy Mansion MM30 with  A England Proserpine
 and For Your Nails Only Snow Queen
Messy Mansion MM30 with  A England Proserpine and For Your Nails Only Snow Queen




Friday 2 December 2016

Nail Crazies Unite - Holiday Movie

This week's prompt was Holiday Movie and to be honest absolutely nothing sprang into my mind until I was looking at my new Christmas plate from Dixie Plates and it hit me, of course! The Snowman - we watched that year after year and I love it as much now as I did back when I was about 14. I know it isn't technically a movie but it is such a part of Christmas.
So, I started with a base of Colors by Llarowe Chasing a Unicorn, which I can finally wear because I have a pale gel base on underneath, and then I stamped the snowmen from Dixie Plates DP 06 with A England Camelot.
I top coated and then coloured in the hats, scarves and noses with Sharpies. I did not top coat again as that usually results in smudges and I find the Sharpies last pretty well anyway.
I did also add a matte top coat (ignoring or forgetting that it will smudge! - looks like I almost got away with it so I took a couple of matte shots too)
Dixie Plate DP06
Dixie Plate DP06
Dixie Plate DP06
Dixie Plate DP06
Dixie Plate DP06