Knitty Nails: Stamping! Messy Mansion Leadlight Lacquer A06 and Kleancolor holos

Sunday, 1 February 2015

Stamping! Messy Mansion Leadlight Lacquer A06 and Kleancolor holos

Today's mani is my first proper attempt at leadlighting. I have done a few cheating manis using Sharpie pens to colour in, or putting a coloured base under the leadlight style stamping but this time I have done it properly, I think.
I don't have any of the polishes recommended for leadighting yet, but I went through my stash and dug out all the polishes I don't wear as they are too sheer. Over the next few weeks I plan to test them and see how I get on.
First up are my Kleancolor holos. I don't wear these as they are too sheer on their own and because they all have a slightly coloured base, I tend not to use them as toppers either. But they are pretty so they stay in my collection, and now 2 years later I think I have found a use for them.
I have 4 in the Kleancolor holo range, green, orange, yellow (not used here) and chrome (actually blue) - these are all made up of holo glitter in a coloured base. I also have some Kleancolor chunky holos - their bases weren't right, except Chunky Holo Teal, which is not that chunky but has a lovely teal base and the holo glitter has flashes of orange in it.
I painted my nails with Nails Inc Fulham Palace Road so I had a nice solid nude base to work with. I then did a little experimenting. I stamped 4 nails, topcoated them and then coloured them in using a dotting tool and the Kleancolors as I'd seen in the leadlighting video tutorials. For the index finger I painted the Kleancolor onto the base in a random pattern, trying to avoid too much overlap of colours. Then I stamped that finger and top coated as normal. I have to say the finished look of the index finger is not materially different to the other fingers. Obviously the coloured sections don't exactly line up with the stamped image but with subtle colours like these you'd certainly get away with it if you were tight for time, colouring with the dotting tool is quite time consuming. I did the whole of the right hand with the cheating method, and I've included a picture.
The Leadlight Lacquer plate is lovely - the images are beautiful and quality is great - perfect stamps every time.
So far I am encouraged with my leadlighting efforts, impressed with the Kleancolors, and pleased to find that I can get away with a bit of a cheat if I run out of time! Obviously this is a bit more glittery than you average leadlight mani, but I like it anyway!