June Challenges - Pastel / Stamping

The #30daysofcolourchallenge for today was Pastel / Stamping so I decided I'd stamp with Virtuous Polish Magdalene, a yellow pastel/neon hybrid which I thought would look good over a dark base.
I started with a base of Kleancolor Neon Sapphire, not very neon but a lovely dark blue. Not sure what went wrong but when I top coated the stamping, the yellow melted into the blue - hey presto we have green, not exactly what I had in mind! I think it looked pretty but not really pastel.
Anyway, I hadn't planned a second layer of stamping but since this went wrong I thought I'd better try again! I stamped with Moyou London Tropical 03 again and Virtuous Polish Queen Ester.

Moyou London Tropical 03
 and Virtuous Polish Magdalene

 

 

 

Moyou London Tropical 03
and Virtuous Polish Queen Ester

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

June Challenges - New Technique

The challenge for #clairestelle8june was New Technique so I finally decided to try a waterfall mani - I started with my gorgeous thermal KPT Plumeria and then took a very small brush and added Avon Cherry Jubilee, Avon Luxe Lavender, Virtuous Polish Humility, Mua White Wash and finally Fancy Gloss Haunted Beauty for a little bit of sparkle - I am actually quite surprised how well these turned out despite my limited freehand skills!
I acquired Plumeria from a lovely friend and it has taken me a while to get round to using it, mainly because it is very sheer and my nails are very stained. In the end I used a single coat of Nails Inc Fashion as a base, a very soft delicate grey lilac which is a pretty perfect match for Plumeria in its warm state.
I don't usually like thermals in their warm state but this is so pretty, that soft grey lilac holo is just gorgeous, and then the cool state, a lovely dusky pinky purple. The other thing that I like about this one is that it is really sensitive, even on hot days like today you can get both the warm and cold states, and often the tips were darker.
I decided it would make a lovely base for the waterfall nails, and I think they looked great with the changing base.

Waterfall

 

 

Polished by KPT Plumeria - cool

Polished by KPT Plumeria - warm

Polished by KPT Plumeria - transition

June Challenges - Stripes, Glitter / Tropical and another Hawaiian Shirt mani

It's another of those combined posts so I'll try to keep it brief.
2 scheduled challenges and a little extra one thrown in at the last minute.
I started with  Smitten Angstrom, the most stunning teal glitter. Full coverage, very sparkly, beautiful colour - just perfect.
I added stripes using Lealac LLC A and 2True Pro Metallica Aglaia for #clairestelle8june's challenge. This was a great combination, two quite similar colours but very different textures, fascinating to look at although the camera hasn't quite picked that up - it looks like the 2True is just floating over the Smitten.
Then I set about the hawaiian shirt mani for  #hawaiianshirtmanifriday. I added some foliage with Pueen SE01B and Hit the Bottle Absinthe Minded, and then the flowers with Pueen SE03B and Hit the Bottle Magenta at Your Own Risk.
This had been my plan for #30daysofcolourchallenge which was Glitter/Tropical but having done the hawaiian shirt mani, I thought I'd better try to add something for the 30day challenge.
One step too far I think! I tried to reverse stamp some more Pueen SE04B flowers with Virtuous Polish Naomi and filled in using the gorgeous glitter, Dark Metal Lacquer Bright Eyes but it didn't quite go to plan. It does look better in the pictures than on my nails but not a huge success. As it was so warm today the Virtuous Polish kept drying too quickly to pick up, so I didn't have  a clear outline to fill with the glitter - the end result was not as crisp and tidy as I would like, but it is glittery!

Smitten Angstrom

Lealac LLC A and 2True Pro Metallica Aglaia

Pueen SE01B and Hit the Bottle Absinthe Minded

Pueen SE03B and Hit the Bottle Magenta at Your Own Risk

Pueen SE04B Virtuous Polish Naomi and
Dark Metal Lacquer Bright Eyes

An InLinkz Link-up

Wiki'd Nails Challenge - Deinocheirus

This week's Wiki'd Nails Challenge was Deinocheirus - a large dinosaur. Lucky for me I have Messy Mansion MM47 which I really bought for the ammonites and ferns, although the little dinosaurs are cute. I have to say I thought the likelihood of me using the large dino stamp in the near future was slim. Especially as the image I needed was one that would have to span more than one nail. I am not good with placement of single images, and spanning 3 nails seemed rather daunting, but you've got to try these things.
I decided a short while back that Deinocheirus was going to be stamped over the red pond mani. I added a final coat of the red Nelly Polish to 3 nails and then stamped the dino in 3 parts across them, leaving the little finger - too small for anything useful really!
I then spent a silly amount of time working out how I could actually hold my hand so that the 3 images vaguely lined up, maybe a bit of imagination is required.
To be honest this worked a lot better than I thought it would and I think Deinocheirus looks quite cool in his red fiery background - maybe he lived in the shadow of a volcano.

Deinocheirus - Messy Mansion MM47

 

An InLinkz Link-up

June Challenges - A Glitter Crelly, Silhouettes, and some butterflies

I have a bit of a combined post today - 2 challenges and a final step just because I felt like it!
The challenge for #clairestelle8june was a glitter crelly. I don't have  a lot of these to choose from apart from my precious Cadillacquers and a few UK Indies but I did buy a Dollish last year that I hadn't tried so I thought I'd give that a go.
In the bottle and on swatches I'd seen, Murky Dismal looks very pretty, black and white square glitter in a minty base. On my nail, black and white square glitter in a virtually clear base...mmm not good - 2 coats, not much better so I used undies. Nails Inc Holland Park Gardens was the closest match so I did one coat of that and one coat of Murky Dismal. I am not quite sure where it got its name from because it's anything but murky or dismal, I think it's really pretty once I got it to look how it does in the bottle.
Anyway, I decided it would be a nice base for the #30daysofcolourchallenge, except that I forgot the full challenge - honestly I did! The challenge was Shimmer / Silhouettes - I am not too keen on shimmery polishes which may be why I completely forgot that when I did this mani (doh!) so I am afraid you've just got Silhouettes. I went for butterflies using A England Camelot and Fab Ur Nails FUN 14.
Finally, I was looking at the butterflies thinking it needed something more, and I decided to add large white butterflies, using UberChic Beauty UC 1-02 stamped with Essence Stampy 001.
I really like stamping with black and white and I am so pleased with how this turned out despite the fact that the stamping isn't perfect and nearly every butterfly has a bit missing. Typically the butterflies on the other hand do look better! I am loving the macro lens but it is not at all forgiving!!

Dollish Murky Dismal

A England Camelot and
Fab Ur Nails FUN14

UberChic Beauty UC 1-02 with Essence Stampy 001

 

An InLinkz Link-up

June Challenges - Red / Pond Manicure

Today I have done a Red / Pond Manicure for #30daysofcolourchallenge.
I don't have any plain red jellies so I have used an un-named red Nelly Polish. This is a very pretty sheer red jelly, just slightly pink with tiny red and gold glitters and shimmer, and some square glitter (which I love).
I stamped with Barry M Cotton and Cici&Sisi 09. I started with one coat of Nelly, then stamped and then added 2 more layers of polish and stamping. I wasn't quite sure whether to end with stamping or jelly polish but I decided I'd like the white stamping to be my final layer.
It is not quite a tidy as I would have liked but overall I think it looks quite pretty, and I do like the glitters in amongst the dots.

Barry M Cotton with Cici&Sisi 09

 

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

June Challenges - Jewels (or maybe not...)

The challenge for #clairestelle8june today is Jewels but I only have one jewel stamping image which I have used before so I decided to be a bit naughty and do a mani inspired by one of my favourite pieces of jewellery instead. 

I've had this necklace and bracelet for so long, I can't even remember where I got them from but I love the big chunky beads and the pretty floral pattern, and I thought it might make a nice design for a mani.

I used the wonderful Apipila Super Plate B with Nails Inc Madison Avenue and Virtuous Polishes Mercy Seat and Ruth over a base of Nails Inc Sao Paulo Streets.

Apipila Super Plate B
with Nails Inc Madison Avenue
and Virtuous Polishes Mercy Seat and Ruth

 

 

June Challenges - Texture / Geometric

Yesterday's challenge for #30daysofcolourchallenge was Texture / Geometric. I seem to be playing catch up a lot this week, too much going on!
Anyway, I started with Avon Magic Effect Mineral Crush Agate. This is the most gorgeous blue, a really lovely sparkly dark cornflower blue - I am so pleased with all my Avon textured polishes - as far as I can see they are every bit as good as the other brands and actually they seem to dry to a hard finish quicker and are a bit easier to remove.
I love this blue so much I almost didn't want to stamp on it, and I did wear it for half a day on its own.
I stamped with Fab Ur Nails FUN 17 and Hit the Bottle Magenta at Your Own Risk. This pink is awesome! I love dark pink with dark blue and I think this combination is just perfect.
I am so sorry the pictures are not brilliant, to the naked eye the clarity of stamping is spot on, but the camera is a bit confused I think with all the texture.
Because this is so pretty I have NOT double stamped this mani! I do like to be a bit experimental with double stamping but that requires top-coating for easy removal and I haven't top coated this.

Fab Ur Nails FUN 17 and
Hit the Bottle Magenta at Your Own Risk

Avon Agate

An InLinkz Link-up

Wiki'd Nails Challenge - Antiblemma

This week's Wiki'd Nails Challenge was Random - you hit the random article button and go with what comes up (or maybe you cheat a bit - there are  a lot of articles about little-known towns in countries all over the world - I have gone with what came up 5th on my search)
So, my random article, which was very brief, was Antiblemma - "Antiblemma is a genus of moths of the Noctuidae family". I googled Antiblemma and found a copper /brown/gold moth.
Time for some reverse stamping. I decided to stamp my moth over the leaves mani from yesterday.
I chose 2 plates, UberChic Beauty UC 3-01 and Messy Mansion MM42. I used one of the larger butterflies from the Messy Mansion plate and a smaller one from UberChic.
I stamped using Mentality Hope and then I coloured the images in using Hit the Bottle Copper Haired Girl and A England Virgin Queen.
I am quite pleased with the outcome.

UberChic Beauty UC 3-01, Messy Mansion MM42
Mentality Hope, Hit the Bottle Copper Haired Girl,
A England Virgin Queen 

 

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up