26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Your Signature Style

Well, this is the 26th Great Nail Art Idea - so it is the final one. A bit sad maybe but actually I am quite relieved. It has not been the best year and struggling to fit in a weekly or biweekly blog that has to go out on a fixed day has been a bit of a challenge.
The other challenge that alternates with this one finishes in October and I think my blog may well grind to a halt for a while once that happens.
I will obviously still paint my nails and do challenges but many of the Instagram ones are a lot more flexible with posting dates so they are easier to fit in around life.
Anyway, back to this one - Signature Style - well, I always stamp, and I try to pair my manis with knitting (except in the summer when it's too hot or pics look silly with gloves) so of course I have done a stamped knitting mani.
I used a fanbrush base of Barry M Black Pistachio, Barry M Surfboard and OPI I'm Feeling Sashy.
Then I used Messy Mansion MM84XL with A England Saint George to stamp the knitting pattern. I went for the purl side pattern (knitting term)  rather than the stocking stitch pattern as I felt it would look better over the fanbrush and I really like the subtle way the dark green stamping fades into the fanbrush.

Messy Mansion MM84XL

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

June Challenges - Green and Purple manis

Once I'd worn my Mint Green Watercolour mani for while it was time to stamp on it.
I decided to stay with green so I used UberChic UC 5-01 and Barry M Black Pistachio to stamp the large rose pattern over the smaller freehand roses. I really liked this effect.
Then, later I added the more solid rose image from the same plate, UberChic UC 5-01 using Barry M Black Currant. I love this image and the look you get when there is something going on underneath the stamping.
Finally, Purple for #clairestelle8june - I added a coat of Barry M Purple Pop - it changed the look completely but I have to say, I loved every stage of this mani. As you can see from the varying light, these manis spanned a number of days.

Mint Green Watercolour

UberChic UC 5-01 and Barry M Black Pistachio

UberChic UC 5-01 and Barry M Black Currant

Barry M Purple Pop

May Challenges - Spring Flowers

Still trying to decide whether to keep my blog going but in the meantime blogs posts will be a mix of short and long...
Spring Flowers for #clairestelle8may - I used Fab Ur Nails FUN14 and Barry M Black Pistachio over Barry M Cream Soda and then coloured the tulips with Barry M Purple Pop - Tulips are my most favourite spring flower and I love black tulips!
I was thinking of using more than one colour but since black tulips are my fave I decided just to stay with the purple. I love this new Barry M Lolly Gloss. I am glad I bought all 4 but I expect the purple will be used most! The depth of colour is great - nothing worse than a tint that is so pale it may as well not be there!
I was pleased with how these turned out and glad that I used green to stamp over the soft cream soda shade, rather than pure black and white.
Finally I added a matte top coat - unsure which I love most!

Fab Ur Nails FUN14

 

 

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Animals (and a few other manis along the way)

I hadn't actually planned to do the #40greatnailartideas over the green manis but I think it worked out OK.
Well, it is year end - hence the blogging is sparse and the manis are trying to be efficient so here goes.
I started with Barry M Coconut Infusion Bikini - A beautiful wearable green - I am loving these shades and when I have worn them all I will do a summary post.
Then I sponged on Nails Inc Moonlight Shadow, a lovely khaki green, one of the freebies from Marie Claire magazine earlier this year.
Then I used Barry M Black Pistachio and DRK Magic Garden for the Earth Day prompt for #firedazedchallenge.
Then Esmaltes da Kelly Bruce and DRK Magic Garden for the Green prompt for #clairestelle8april. The DRK Magic Garden plate is so beautiful, the images are just lovely and a bit larger than some of the other similar DRK plates which I think makes them so much more usable.
And finally, Barry M Cotton and Bundlemonster BM-S167 for Animals - these are so cute - really loving these Fuzzy and Ferocious little plates!

Barry M Coconut Infusion Bikini

Nails Inc Moonlight Shadow and Barry M Bikini

Barry M Black Pistachio and DRK Magic Garden

Esmaltes da Kelly Bruce and DRK Magic Garden

Barry M Cotton and Bundlemonster BM-S167

An InLinkz Link-up

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Fashion

Another combined Friday posting - Fashion for #40greatnailartideas and Floral for #wnac2016.
I am not exactly a follower of fashion so I googled London Fashion Week for some inspiration that would not be too outlandish for my rather conservative tastes. To my delight the second image that came up was focusonstyle.com and an image of girls in pretty floral peasant style dresses, so I went with that, conveniently meeting the floral prompt too!
I started with a smooshy base of  Barry M Black Grape, Black Cherry and Black Pistachio
Then I stamped some tendrils and leaves with Moyra 13 Sweet Dreams and 2 True Pro Metallica Arete.
Then I added the flowers with DRK Seasons and Colour Alike Kind of White
I then coloured the flowers on half of each nail with Kandy Colors Grape Much? and Look at Me.
To change it a bit more I coloured a few more flowers and then finally added a matte top coat.

An InLinkz Link-up

'Ard As Nails Dewy Morning and some Paisley stamping

Today I am wearing another polish from the My First Winter Collection by 'Ard As Nails. This is Dewy Morning, a gorgeous sage green with subtle holographic shimmer.
This applied beautifully, dried nicely and pictures are taken with top coat. I am afraid I failed to pick up the holographic shimmer but I saw it and it was pretty!
I used this as my base for #wnac2015 for this week - the prompt was Paisley.
I used Messy Mansion MM48 and did 3 layers of stamping using 3 different images on the plate. This is a pretty plate but it is quite a tricky one to clean.
For the first layer of stamping I stayed with green and used Barry M Black Pistachio, then I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and then finally Saffron London White.

'Ard As Nails Dewy Morning

 

 

Messy Mansion MM48 and Barry M Black Pistachio

Messy Mansion MM48 and China Glaze Liquid Leather

Messy Mansion MM48 and Saffron London White

November Challenges - A birthday collage

Lovely Mary @dreamymm invited me to join a group creating a birthday collage for another wonderful IG friend @sharnailstar. We all had to recreate one of Sharon's manis.
Looking through Sharon's IG page it was a difficult choice as Sharon does such lovely manis but this green one really stuck in my mind, and I bought Esmaltes da Kelly Frogger and Bruce after seeing this particular mani. I also used the same plates as Sharon Uber Chic UC 2-03 and 4-01 but despite having a millon greens I couldn't match the base, mine is a lot darker - Barry M Black Pistachio.
I am still loving the Barry M Black Gellies, just the cherry one to try now. Despite being too dark for the recreation I did, Pistachio is a lovely colour.

Barry M Black Pistachio

 

Uber Chic 2-03 and 4-01

 

Sharon's original mani

The birthday collage - pulled together by dreamyMM

October Challenges - HJ Manicure Coco and Acorns

The prompt for #30daysofcolourchallenge was Acorns. A very thorough search of my stamping plates resulted in one plate - Moyou London Mother Nature 03.
I had a lovely new brown polish I wanted to try which I thought would make a great base for the acorns.
HJ Manicure Coco is a gorgeous pinky brown creme. I have had pinky browns before and found them a bit too warm but this one is perfect for my skin tone. I really like it. I have lots of nude / neutral polishes but nothing like this one. As with Blue Lagoon, it was a colour I saw on the website and was not 100% certain but I am glad I bought it. It fills a gap in my range of colours, and as the other 3 I have tried, it is lovely quality.
Coverage was great, which is good news as Blue Lagoon might be gorgeous but it is a bit of a stainer! I do have a hint of blue hiding under my lovely Coco!
The Moyou plate had oak leaves and acorns so I stamped two sets of leaves first, with OPI Skyfall and SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops, then I used Barry M Black Pistachio for the acorns.
I took pictures with glossy and matte finish but couldn't help thinking they looked a bit Christmassy.
Then I added a quick coat of Kandy Colors Hivis Wat? which I think brought them back to Autumn. I did not re top coat them so they now have quite a satin finish.
This was not a huge success s the acorn pattern is quite abstract and probably doesn't work so well for triple stamping, particularly with the polish I used. The new Barry M Blacks all stamp well but are not 100% opaque so what ever is beneath will still show through. That said, I like the combination of colours, before and after the yellow jelly so overall I am quite happy with the mani, even if it doesn't shout Acorns.

HJ Manicure Coco

 

 

 

Moyou London Mother Nature 03

 

 

Final version of Acorns