Friday 30 March 2018

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Pond Mani

This week's prompt was pond mani. I decided to go for something pretty and spring like so I chose Lina 4 Seasons - Spring 01.
I started with a dusky pink (slightly purple base) of Kiko 499
I used Avon Iceberg White for stamping and Kandy Colors Grape Much? for the purple jelly layers.
I am never sure if the final layer should be stamping or jelly but I did stamping, jelly, stamping, jelly, stamping and left the final stamp white. The colour difference between 1 and 2 layers of jelly wasn't huge so I thought I'd just end up with a purple mess if I added another jelly layer.
I took a chance on not top coating between stamping but was very careful applying the jelly layers so as not to smudge the stamping.
I didn't take step by step photos but I did take each nail to a different stage and then do a photo.
Finally, not part of the pond mani, I stamped a floral image from the same plate with A England Nocturne because it all seemed too bright and white. I chose a similar sized floral image and I think it worked well. I also added a matte top coat, just to see how it would look.
Lina 4 Seasons - Spring 01
Lina 4 Seasons - Spring 01
Lina 4 Seasons - Spring 01
Lina 4 Seasons - Spring 01 with additional stamping
Lina 4 Seasons - Spring 01
Pond Mani - Lina 4 Seasons - Spring 01

Friday 23 March 2018

Nail Crazies Unite - Sweet Fruit

This week's prompt was Sweet Fruit.. well considering how many plates I have you'd have thought I'd have loads of fruit images to choose from - well - no!
Google was no help, so I went back to the plates and dug out Apipila Super Plate A - there is an apple image on there and I can't imagine when else I might get a chance to use it so I went for it.
I am a bit of a naughty person when it comes to healthy eating of fruit and the only thing I do eat is a Granny Smith apple, but I do have one almost every day. I don't like any other kind of apple.
So this turned out to be a really easy mani as I was wearing a green gel base so I used Apipila Super Plate A with Nails Inc Madison Avenue to stamp the apples.
I feel like I cheated but some manis take hours so it is good to fit a quick one in occasionally!
Apipila Super Plate A
Apipila Super Plate A
Apipila Super Plate A
Apipila Super Plate A
Apipila Super Plate A
My nails and my apples !!
Apipila Super Plate A



Saturday 17 March 2018

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - French with a Twist

I really don't like a conventional French mani - they just don't look right on me and I think possibly even worse when my nails are a bit pointy. Anyway, I was quite pleased with how these turned out.
I had done a St Patrick's Day mani for a collaboration, and it occurred to me it might be quite cool to add the French mani to that.
For the St Patrick's Day mani I used Messy Mansion MM04XL with A England Saint George over Smitten Claddagh.
Then, I sponged A England Saint George over my tips. (Sponged because I didn't trust myself to paint neatly and consistently over all nails!)
Then I used used the same plate to stamp clovers with Messy Mansion Misty Jade over the dark tips. I did think this could end up being a real disaster but actually I think it worked out OK.
Messy Mansion MM04XL
Messy Mansion MM04XL
 Messy Mansion MM04XL
 Messy Mansion MM04XL




Friday 9 March 2018

Nail Crazies Unite - Rainbow Water Marble

Well, I don't water marble so I cheated and stamped and it's not a proper rainbow in the pretty pastel sense of a rainbow or a 7 coloured spectrum but it is lots of colours!
I started with a smoosh of 4 colours, Barry M Flamingo, Kiko 385 (blue), HJ Manicure Red Wine and A England Carnation Lily Lily Rose.
Then I stamped using Dixie Plates DP02 and Moonflower Turquesa. Then I added a second layer of stamping, same image, deliberately offset with Moonflower Violeta.
I think to be honest they were a lot more successful than I thought they were going to be and I wore them for 2 days. I really liked the combination of colours and I am quite pleased I didn't try to go for a proper rainbow.
Dixie Plates DP02 with Moonflower Polish Violeta and Turquesa
Dixie Plates DP02 with
Moonflower Polish Violeta and Turquesa 
 Dixie Plates DP02 with Moonflower Polish Violeta and Turquesa
 Dixie Plates DP02 with Moonflower Polish Violeta and Turquesa
 Dixie Plates DP02 with Moonflower Polish Violeta and Turquesa


Thursday 1 March 2018

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Made with a mat or on plastic

Ugh! I think that means decals, it never ends well! I do love my silicon mat but mostly it gets used for smooshes and fanbrushes. Whenever I try to make decals they are too delicate or they wrinkle badly on my silly curvy nails.
I have to say, reverse stamping where I add the colour onto the stamping head has proven to be a lot more successful for me. But the prompt said use a mat so I did.
I deliberately chose images that I could cut down before applying to the nail to avoid some of the creasing and these were not the biggest disaster ever, but there would have been better alternative methods.
I used the new Dixie Plate Botanicals 01 and stamped with A England Camelot. I coloured in with Kiko 313 and 296 and applied the decals to a sponged base of Kiko 518, Barry M Surfboard and OPI Pink Nail Envy.
Dixie Plate Botanicals 01
Dixie Plate Botanicals 01
 Dixie Plate Botanicals 01
 Dixie Plate Botanicals 01
 Dixie Plate Botanicals 01