March Challenge #clairestelle8march - Gems

Well, I had to cheat for today's challenge - I hope Claire doesn't mind! It was either cheat or skip this one and I have managed to do all the others so it would have been shame.
The prompt is Charms/ Nails Gems but I don't have anything suitable so I have just gone with stamped gems!
To make up for cheating I have tackled a new technique, reverse stamping (I think), where you colour the stamped image before placing it on the nail.
I started with a base of Nails Inc New York Noir. Then I chose my 3 most gem-like polishes- China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Nails Inc Emerald Street, and Kleancolour Neon Sapphire.
I splodged a little of each of these gem polishes onto all my nails except the ring fingers and smushed them around with a bit of bubble wrap.
I used UberChic Beauty UC 2-02 for the ring fingers. I stamped the diamond image with Mentality White Opaque and then carefully coloured the diamonds in with the 3 chosen polishes. Once this was dry I top coated the ring finger and stamped the coloured image (5 times until I got it right!)
The Kleancolour didn't work too well merging with the white stamped image but the Nails Inc and China Glaze seemed OK so that once top coated again you can clearly see the shimmery colour shining through.
This was quite time consuming and I am glad I only tried to do one finger on each hand but at least I tried and now know what's involved if I decide to try again.

Gems - UberChic Beauty UC2-02

 

 

Stamping! Uberchic Beauty UC 1-01 Essence Stampy 001 and A England Saint George

I had a bit of spare time so I thought I'd do a bit more stamping on today's mani.
I used the same plate, UC 1-01, again, and the same image but turned it round 90 degrees to get a sort of cross hatch effect. It worked well on my fingers but my thumb nails were just a bit too long. I used Essence Stampy 001 as I thought it would show up well over the neon pink.
Then, I used the same plate again, but chose a swirly leafy design that was quite open so plenty of the background would show, and A England Saint George which has stamped really nicely over the white.
So, we have 4 layers of stamping now, the original glitter is completely obscured but I now have a green leafy pattern set against a background of white and pink with tiny squares of A England Lancelot peeping through. I find this sort of layering fascinating, and it's quite fun to see how far I can go before it's just a mess! I think this is the time to stop on this one.

Uberchic Beauty UC 1-01 and Essence Stampy 001

 

  

Uberchic Beauty UC 1-01 and A England Saint George

 

 

Stamping! Uberchic Beauty UC 1-01 and Virtuous Polish Miriam

Today I fancied doing something quite bold over my Illusion mani from yesterday, and for no reason that I can think of, a little voice in my head said stamp with bright pink!
I don't have a huge selection of anything bright but of course I do have my Virtuous Polish Women of Valor collection so I have used Miriam, the beautiful neon pink.
I decided to stay with a similar image to yesterday so I chose this sweeping set of curves on UberChic Beauty plate UC1-01, stamping it so the tighter lines were at the base of the nail and the curves swept across the spirals underneath.
The pink is so bold that the base pattern is not that visible from some angles but I am still quite pleased with the end result.
These Virtuous polishes stamp beautifully but because they dry matte they dry very quickly. I had to stamp a lot quicker than I normally do. Generally I pick up the image and turn it around a couple of times while I decide exactly how I am going to place it. I think the pattern has been quite forgiving :)

Uberchic Beauty UC1-01 and Virtuous Polish Miriam

 

 

 

 

March Challenge #clairestelle8march - Ilusion

Claire's challenge for us today was Illusion, and I chose the image on UberChic Beauty plate UC 2-01 straight away. I just had to see what those spiraling swirls would look like on my nails. It took me a while longer to decide what polishes to use. I was pretty certain I wanted to stamp a dark polish - but over white, a pale colour or a glitter? ... then I remembered China Glaze Optical Illusion - I had to use that!!
I did a sneaky base coat of Avon Metallic Effects Jade Reflection as it is a similar tone and would save me building up loads of layers of glitter, that was a good plan and I only ended up using one coat of Optical Illusion - it was plenty sparkly enough! This has a clear base and is made up of fine silvery green glitter with added hexes of pink, orange, blue, silver - all sorts of colours and the overall greenish tone seems to change through blue and purple depending on the angle of light - just stunning!
Then I stamped using UC 2-01 and A England Lancelot. What a wonderful contrast and combination - I absolutely love the finished mani. It is still very sparkly and I have to say the photos really don't do it justice. It is utterly mesmerising!!

Illusion - UberChic Beauty UC 2-01,
A England Lancelot and China Glaze Optical Illusion

 

 

China Glaze Optical Illusion

 

A2Z Series - T is for Texture

I was delighted when I saw that the T in the A2Z challenge was for texture! I love textured polish so it was a great excuse to get a couple out for this week's mani.
I've seen other ladies do textured gradients, so that's what I decided to do.
I bought all the Avon Stardust textured polishes when they were on offer just before Christmas and so far I have only used one, the stunning Silver Crystals.
I have a complete love of purple and teal together so for my gradient I chose Polished Plum, a deep dark purple, and Teal Glitter which is a a beautiful dark teal. These two seem to be a finer grain than the Silver Crystals but still very sparkly and I love them- what could be better than dark, textured and sparkly!
I am not 100% sure my gradient looks as perfect as it should but I love the 2 colours so much that I don't really mind.
I was really pleased with this but I did think maybe it needed something more, so of course I had to stamp over it. I used Essence Stampy 001 and UberChic Beauty UC1-03.
I love the contrast of the smooth crisp white over the dark textured sparkly polish and this Uberchic image is so pretty. In fact I should mention I really love my UberChic plates, I have used them so many times since I got them and they are fantastic!!
I did take some pictures without a top coat but the Essence really does need a top coat to seal it so I have top coated them. I think I'd need a couple more coats to make a completely smooth finish but I like that I can still see and feel the texture.
I am so happy with this mani, you can probably guess that as there are loads of pics!!

A2Z Series - T is for texture
Avon Stardust Polished Plum and Teal Glitter 

 

 

 

T is for Texture -
gradient stamped with UberChic UC1-03 no topcoat

 

 

T is for Texture -
gradient stamped with UberChic UC1-03 and top coated

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamping! Art Deco nails for Moyou London's Bookworm contest

Moyou London is hosting a Bookworm contest and the idea is to do a mani based on one of the 9 books they listed. I've seen entries to their competitions before and they look so elaborate that I didn't really think about it when I saw the Instagram post - save  but then I spotted the title "The Great Gatsby" and having seen posters for the film, that black and gold image came straight into my mind. When the postman brought my Moyou London Time Traveller plate this morning I knew I had to give this contest a try. I had spotted the Back to the 20's plate on one of the sales pages at the weekend, so I think it was fate and I do love Art Deco!!
I chose 2 images, but with one being more solid than the other so I decided to switch things around so that the overall look would be more consistent. I painted 3 nails of each hand with Avon Metallic Effects Gold Leaf, and the thumb and ring finger with Nails Inc Lily (all my blacks are running out but Lily is nearly black).
Then I stamped using the very last dregs of my A England Camelot over the gold, and used the Avon to stamp over Lily. If you look I doubt you'd be aware that 3 fingers are black on gold and 2 are gold on black, unless you know the stamping plate really well.
As if running out of blacks wasn't bad enough, all my top coats seem to have got to that gloopy stage where they need to be binned and as a result there were a few smudged stampings. I took some pictures but found the reflections were masking the detail, so I top coated again with the OPI matte topcoat. This is not as matte as some top coats but matte enough for me to actually get a couple of reasonable pictures. Although I had a few issues with these I am quite pleased with the results and I have taken the plunge and entered the competition.

Moyou London Back to the 20s 05
(The  Great Gatsby)

 

 

March Challenge #clairestelle8march - Fashion

As you know I have been following Clairestelle8's march challenge and today's prompt is fashion.
As a person who still wears what I wore at university 25 years ago, and lots of hand knits I am not really up on fashion so I resorted to Google - I googled Spring Fashion 2015 and then trawled through the images until I saw something I liked!
I found these lovely floaty ethnic style dresses designed by a luxury Italian brand Etro, and I thought the patterns would translate nicely onto the nail.
I started with base of the marie claire freebie, Nails Inc Fashion (appropriate name for this prompt). This looks mostly grey with a hint of lilac in the bottle but is more lilac than grey on the nail.
Then I stamped this lovely image from Cici&sisi 09. I'd describe this pattern as geometric, tribal or ethnic, and I think that it would vary so much depending on what colours you used.
I used 3 colours although I didn't catch much of the brown - I must remember my nails are not as wide as the images! I chose Mentality Hope (brown), Saffron London- black (which stamps as a grey) and Nails Inc Madison Avenue (a lovely dark bottle green)
Unfortunately I was too heavy handed with the top coat and smudged quite a few nails. After struggling to get any decent photos, I added a coat of OPI matte top coat and I think they look so much better, the smudged stamping isn't quite so visible either.
The base does look more grey again now but I think the stamping really complements the base and, smudging aside, I am pretty pleased with these.

Etro, my inspiration

Fashion - Cici&sisi 09 and matte top coat

Nails Inc Fashion

 

Stamping! Pet'la Plate Golden Russian and Picture Polish Bohemian

Yesterday and today I have been stamping, again! This time over Picture Polish Bohemian.
I thought quite a while about what colours to try over this polish - I thought black would be too harsh so I started with the very dark red of A England Lancelot. This polish stamps beautifully and I think it goes really well with the pink and bronze tones of Bohemian.
I used Pet'la plate Golden Russian, I love this plate - the images are beautiful and the one I chose to start with is a lovely mix of swirly leaves, ferns perhaps, and berries.
Today I stamped a second image which is the same pattern but larger. I chose a really contrasting colour, the very white Essence Stampy 001. I did wonder about a more muted shade but I think the pattern would have been lost and I love the crisp white stamping. (It would have been even crisper if the bottle hadn't been nearly empty!)
Finally, I couldn't resist - there is a third image on the plate, same pattern but larger again, so I stamped that with A England Saint George. I did try a couple of other colours but in the end I decided the tealy green was the best contrast to all the other colours. The detail of the pattern is not so clear now I have the third layer of stamping but I love the combination of colours.

Picture Polish Bohemian with Pet'la plate Golden Russian
and A England Lancelot

 

Picture Polish Bohemian with Pet'la plate Golden Russian,
A England Lancelot and Essence Stampy 001

 

Picture Polish Bohemian with Pet'la plate Golden Russian,
A England Lancelot, Essence Stampy 001 and
A England Saint George

 

Picture Polish Bohemian

I wore this polish last week, firstly sponged over black and then as the base for my galaxy nails. Picture Polish Bohemian is a multi-chrome in the most gorgeous shades of pink and red through to gold and bronze with a holographic shimmer to it.
I will admit I was not too sure about this polish for me. The range of colours for a multi-chrome intrigued me but they are not shades that I would normally wear. My skin tone just doesn't seem right for some colours and my hands look either grey or red against these shades. Despite that, I wanted it because all the pictures I'd seen looked so pretty.
On my nails I like it more than I thought I would, but it's not going to be my most loved polish. However, I really liked it when I wore it over black and I do think I need it in my collection. I have a plan to stamp over it too as I think it will make a brilliant base.
It applied beautifully, two coats giving perfect coverage. It dried in good time and all pictures are taken with a top coat.
It was sunny today so I have a mix of sunshine and shade shots and you can see how the colours change from the pinkier shades to the more golden tones depending on the light - personally I prefer the pinker shady shots.

Picture Polish Bohemian