May Challenges - A Pond Mani as Bloggers Choice

The #30daysofcolourchallenge for today was Bloggers Choice and I had intended to try a fan brush mani but I've been wanting to try a pond mani for so long that now I vave my Kandy Colors jellies I just had to try.
I faffed around for ages trying to decide if I needed an opaque base to work off and after a couple of false starts I decided I did - I wasn't prepared to put up with that VNL!
I used a single of coat of Nails Inc Holland Park Gardens (a delicate pale green), and then added a single coat of Kandy Colors Retro - the neon blue jelly. Then I stamped a swirly paisley pattern from Messy Mansion MM48 with Mentality White Opaque.
I then added a coat of Kandy Colors Carnival - the neon green and then stamped again using the same image and polish.
The Mentality polish stamps as silver and in this case was not the best polish to use, I should have used Essence Stampy 001 as it is such a bright white the effect would have had greater impact. See this as an opportunity to try another pond mani very soon!
Anyway, as the silver stamping was not really showing up the jelly layers particularly well, I stopped here and did not add the planned 3rd layer (I would have gone back to blue for more of a watery look).
It's not a disaster, I still think it looks pretty but was not what I was aiming for.

pond mani -
Messy Mansion MM48 Kandy Colors Retro & Carnival
and Mentality White Opaque

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

May Challenges - Kaleidoscope

Today's challenge for #clairestelle8may was Kaleidoscope. I did have a plan for this mani but the arrival of the Kandy.Colors neon jellies tempted me to change my mind.
I used all six colours. In my mind these were 6 neat segments but in reality 6 blobby overlapping segments. Not that it mattered since I was stamping over it anyway, and I rather liked the resulting water colour look that I got.
I stamped using A England Lancelot again as I thought black might be a bit harsh and I used Moyou London Kaleidoscope 06. I haven't used this image before so I am not sure if the slightly poor pick up of image was the plate, the scraping or the polish. Lancelot is running pretty low so I am inclined to think I didn't have enough polish on the plate, and that maybe I should have scraped in 2 directions to distribute the polish better.
I am pleased with them anyway - the jellies are lovely and bright and make a great base for the Kaleidoscope image.

Kandy Colors jellies, Moyou London Kaleidoscope 06
 and A England Lancelot

 

 

  

Kandy Colors Northern Lights

Leadlighting! Kandy Colors neon jellies and Pet'la Plate Calaveras

This wasn't a challenge - well not in the normal blogging sense of the word, but boy was it challenging!!
I ordered some jelly polishes last week from Kandy.Colours and they arrived yesterday so of course I had to try them out. The set I ordered was called Northern Lights, a full set of 6 neon jellies - they are so pretty and just the right level of colour to add a tint to a mani (picture at the end of this post just so you can see how pretty they are).
I didn't think I could change my plans on any of my scheduled manis so I did a little extra one, as suggested by Morven of Pretty Quirky. She very kindly reminded me I hadn't used the sugar skulls Pet'la plate.
I began with a base of Barry M Coconut, and then using A England Camelot I stamped a selection of the skull images onto my nails from Pet'la Plate Calaveras.
I thought they looked quite cool just black on cream so I did take a picture before tackling the colouring.
Nothing like starting with a real challenge - the plate is so detailed that colouring the images took forever. The elements to colour are so tiny, but I decided to use a very small brush rather than a dotting tool, just to save a bit of time and get a slightly smoother finish. I think I did a reasonably neat job but it took a lot of effort, especially to do the right hand! I also decided that I wanted to use all 6 colours in a rainbow effect and I think that added to the challenge but now they are done I do think they look quite cool.
I think I might go for a slightly less complex design next time I do leadlighting and of course now I have jellies I can try the long awaited pond mani!

Pet'la Plate Calaveras over Barry M Coconut

Kandy.Colors Northern Lights neon Jellies
 and Pet'la Plate Calaveras

 

Kandy Colors Northern Lights

May Challenges - Favourite Brand / Favourite Technique

Today the prompt for #30daysofcolourchallenge was Favourite Brand/Favourite Technique.
Brand is a tricky one - I have 4 or 5 favourite International Indie brands but the brand I have most of is Above the Curve so I have chosen Ravenclaw for this mani. This is from the Harry Potter Collection and it is the most beautiful blue holo. It is slightly teal and has pink, tealy blue and purple glitter as well as the gorgeous holo. The camera couldn't pick up the glitter but at least I caught the holo. This is a lovely polish, even in the shade the dusky blue is beautiful.
Favourite technique was easy - stamping - yay!!!
I stamped over Ravenclaw with Mentality Beige Opaque and Emily de Molly EDM04. I think the gold peacock feathers look great over the blue background. This is quite striking when you look in detail as the glitters show through the gold stamping but from a distance the impression is of a soft delicate mani.
Finally I added another favourite brand, A England. I used Saint George to stamp a single peacock feather on each nail. I love the green over the gold, the blue is only just visible. Frustratingly, the image is not as clear in the photos as it is to the naked eye but the overall combination of colours is lovely.

Above the Curve Ravenclaw

 

Mentality Beige Opaque and
Emily de Molly EDM04

 

 

A England Saint George and Emily de Molly EDM04
over Mentality Beige Opaque

 

An InLinkz Link-up

May Challenges - Weather

Today's challenge for #clairestelle8may was weather. Now, I wouldn't want to wish more snow on us, the UK is pretty rubbish at dealing with snow and we didn't have much this year, thankfully, but I did feel a bit cheated at the lack of opportunity to stamp endless snowflakes on my nails. So, the weather prompt is clearly a sign to do snowflakes. My daughter was horrified that I was going to stamp snowflakes in May!!
I decided I'd go for a dark stormy sky so I started with a base of Leighton Denny Graycious, a beautiful dark grey creme.
Then I did a saran wrap mani, adding Leighton Denny Zero Gravity, a lighter grey creme. I love saran wrap, such a quick easy way to get a really cool effect.
Then I added the snowflakes using Pet'la Plate Flake No More and Essence Stampy 001.
Finally, to appease the outraged daughter, I stained the snowflakes red with alcohol ink, and then stamped over them with Hit the Bottle Absinthe Minded and a different image from the same Pet'la Plate. This looked cool I think until I top coated it and the alcohol ink went all funny - I probably should have top coated between the ink stage and the final stamp - that will teach me to cut corners. Never mind - it's colourful!!

Leighton Denny Graycious

Saran wrap mani with Leighton Denny Graycious
and Leighton Denny Zero Gravity

Pet'la Plate Flake No More and Essence Stampy 001

Pet'la Plate Flake No More and
Hit the Bottle Absinthe Minded

May Challenges - Indie / Freehand

Today's #30daysofcolourchallenge was Indie / Freehand for #30daysofcolourchallenge. I've gone for a freehand stripey rainbow type thing with 4 polishes from UK Indie maker Freckles Polish.
I used Raspberry Daiquiri, French Martini, Blue Lagoon and Caipirinha, all beautiful holos that have waited too long to be used.
I imagine I was supposed to try and be more creative and hand paint a flower or something but my freehand skills are very limited and I wasn't really in the mood for trying something I was likely to fail at - sorry!!! Not the best attitude, I know, but some days...
Anyway, I did my freehand stripey rainbow, got annoyed that there was no sunshine to pick up its holo beauty and then happily stamped over it!
I had seen lovely Sharon @sharnailstar do what looked like watermarbling and then read the caption - she had used Uberchic Beauty UC3-03. I looked again at that plate and realised what she had done so of course I had to try it. My intention with the holo rainbow was to create a nice base to stamp over and I am really pleased with the results. I used A England Lancelot, a really dark red black which I often use when I want dark but I don't want black. I think the dark red looks great against these holo polishes.

holo rainbow - Freckles polishes

A England Lancelot and UberChic Beauty UC 3-03

 

 

 

bonus shot where I forgot to turn the flash off!

An InLinkz Link-up

May Challenges - Gradient

The challenge for 23rd May for #clairestelle8may was Gradient. Somewhat foolishly maybe I decided to ask my IG followers what colors I should do, otherwise I'd have gone green / purple :)
Anyway, the first two to comment said red, orange, yellow - oh great - my three least favourite colours, but that's what they said so that's what I did.
I went for China Glaze Red-y to Rave, China Glaze Daisy Know my Name, and Lady Manhattan Red.
I started with a white base, and then I did do a little cheat and painted roughly 1/3 of each nail with each of the colours, just to save a bit of time and mess! Then I did it properly with a sponge until it looked reasonable, banking on the fact that it always looks better after a top coat.
Not a fantastic effort (that in no way resembles a Rocket lolly) I know, but good enough to stamp over.
I stamped with Hit the Bottle Absinthe Minded and UberChic Beauty UC 3-02. The image I chose is a fantastically detailed mix of flowers, leaves, swirls and I think the green stamped really nicely over the three colours. I like the contrast and the way the green looks different against each shade, looking almost chinese I think.
Then later I added the final layer, and for me this is my clear favourite. I stamped with Avon Classic Fit and UberChic Beauty UC 3-01using one of those images which stamps a background, allowing the base colour to show through and I think the effect is pretty awesome! Classic Fit is just a regular polish, not fully opaque but I love the effect I get when I stamp with it. It is dark enough for a contrast against all shades of the gradient base but the yellow and green still show through so that it actually looks like dark green rather than blue adding to the gradient effect, and if you look closely you can still see the bright green stamping under the blue, particularly over the red at the tips.
Ok, so I've waffled for too long because I love it!!! I hope you like it too :)

China Glaze Red-y to Rave,
China Glaze Daisy Know my Name,
and Lady Manhattan Red

Hit the Bottle Absinthe Minded
 and UberChic Beauty UC 3-02 

Avon Classic Fit and UberChic Beauty UC 3-01

 

May Challenges - Creme / Colour Blocking

For the most part I enjoy the challenges - I wouldn't do them if I didn't but every now and then there's an "oh dear I am not sure that's me" sort of challenge. Today's #30daysofcolourchallenge is Creme and Colour Blocking. I did wonder if I might get away with stamping the colours but in the end I decided to try and do it properly.
I started with a base of Nails Inc Holland Park Gardens, a lovely pale soft sage green creme. Then I used some of the striping vinyls from She Sells Seashells to get a neat line near the base of my nail. I painted from that line to about the top quarter, half with Nella Milano Evergreen and half with Avon Peppermint, two quite strong but very different mid green cremes. Finally I painted the tips with Nails Inc Madison Avenue, a really lovely dark green creme.
I am surprised to say I really like the finished look although the imperfections will annoy me. I am glad I went with green, I think you are pretty safe combining greens and my plan had always been to stamp over these to hide any wobbly bits!
I chose Essence Stampy 001 (white) to stamp with as I thought I'd get the best overall contrast across the full range of colours and of course because they are my newest plates I've chosen an image from UberChic Beauty UC 3-03.
Finally, I added some pink stamping too with the same plate and Virtuous Polish Miriam.

Creme / Colour Blocking

UberChic Beauty UC 3-03

2 layers of UberChic Beauty UC 3-03

An InLinkz Link-up

Wiki'd Nails Challenge - Tattoo

The gang behind the A2Z challenges decided we needed something even more challenging and came up with Wiki'd Nails.
They spent some time hitting the random button on Wikipedia and came up with a set of 10 new challenges, the first of which is Tattoo.
Now I know the intention was for us to be seriously challenged and produce something staggeringly creative but I have been hankering after doing a henna tattoo style mani since I first got Moyou London Explorer 22, so when I saw the word tattoo, I decided that's what I was going to do.
As it turned out, I got the polishes ready and then my Uberchic Beauty plates arrived. UC 3-01 and UC 3-03 both have what I think of as henna tattoo style images so I had to use one of them. I went for UC 3-03.
I started with a base of Leighton Denny Healthy Glow, a lovely slightly pinky nude and then I stamped using Avon Deluxe Chocolate. This has a slight shimmer to it and may not have been the best polish to use but colour-wise I think it was perfect.
I was pretty pleased with these although my camera doesn't seem to think they are so good!
I did go on to use UC 3-01 and A England Rose Bower for a second layer of stamping and back to UC 3-03 and A England Saint George for a third layer - it all ended up being a bit Christmassy but pretty :)

UberChic Beauty UC3-03 and Avon deluxe Chocolate
over Leighton Denny Healthy Glow

 

A England Rose Bower and UberChic Beauty UC 3-01

A England Saint George and UberChic Beauty UC 3-03

An InLinkz Link-up