July Challenges - Grey...

Today's challenge for #30daysofcolourchallenge was grey - well actually it was grey and studs but I don't really do things that stick on. If I had more time maybe I'd have looked to stamp something stud like but this one had to be a quick mani so I went with Leighton Denny Have It Your Grey, a lovely warm nudish grey.
I then added a quick coat of the super sparkly Bourjois Rainbow Apparition - better than studs anyday :)
Bourjois Rainbow Apparition is a very pretty pinky lilac jelly packed with holo glitter, and supposed to be a good dupe for OPI Teenage Dream. I think it works well over the grey for a subtle but sparkly mani.

Leighton Denny Have It Your Grey

Leighton Denny Have it Your Grey
with Bourjois Rainbow Apparition

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

July Challenges - Turquoise / Jelly Sandwich

I had to be a bit creative with this challenge for #30daysofcolorchallenge as I don't have any turquoise jellies. I did however order the new holo jellies from Danglefoot Nail Polish last week, and included in that set are yellow and blue - I figured if yellow and blue make green, yellow and 2 layers of blue or one thicker layer of blue might just make turquoise... we'll see...
I started with a coat of the yellow, Does My Bum look Big in This - the coverage was pretty good after one coat and since I was stamping and glittering too I decided one would be enough. Then I added my sandwich filling. Firstly I added a coat of Dollish Polish Don't Wake Me Up which is much prettier on the nail than I was expecting looking at the bottle, I could see bright blue, white and green hexes but what I hadn't noticed was the iridescent glitters, the little dark blue squares, and tiny square micro glitters (you know I love square glitters!!)
Then I added some petals or leaves, from DRK XL Designer 1 with Hit The Bottle Snowed Under.
Despite not really liking yellow I liked the mani so far, the petals against the yellow background reminded me of daisies. Then I added a bit more glitter :) loving it even more!!
Finally I added the blue Danglefoot holo jelly, I Have Nothing to Wear. As the blue was on top I think one layer was sufficient, perhaps not the purest turquoise, but they look OK from a distance. It is a shame the sun didn't shine to catch the holo. 

Danglefoot Polish Does My Bum Look Big in This,
Dollish Polish Don't Wake me Up, DRK XL Designer 1
and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under

Dollish Polish Don't Wake Me Up, DRK XL Designer 1
and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under between
yellow and blue jelly holos from Danglefoot Polish

 

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July Challenges - Texture

Today's challenge is Texture for #clairestelle8july - I thought some sparkly textured butterflies would be nice so I stamped using Apipila Super Plate A over my previous neon pink and blue mani with the lovely lilac Virtuous Polish Queen Ester and then added a coat of Dance Legend Top Sahara.
They looked pretty good but why stop there? I added more butterflies from Apipila Super Plate B and Hit The Bottle Snowed Under and did not add any top coat so it retained the textured finish.

Apipila Super Plate A with
Virtuous Polish Queen Ester

Apipila Super Plate A with
Virtuous Polish Queen Ester
and Dance Legend Top Sahara

  

Apipila Super Plate B with
 Hit the Bottle Snowed Under

Neon stamping!

There were no challenges for today so I took the opportunity to try one of the trio of Polished by KPT thermals I got from Rainbow Connection last week.
I don't wear a lot of pink so I thought I'd try Penelope first. This is a really bright neon pink, which turns purple when cold. I read that you should wear a white base to make it really vibrant, so I started with a coat of Barry M Cotton and then added 2 coat of Penelope - wow that's pink!
This is an amazing polish, pink with a blue shimmer but reading further I discovered it is a cold sensitive thermal so it only changes when really cold, and you can't just run your hand under the tap to get the purple effect, so this will go back on the shelf until the winter!!
My family could not believe I was wearing such pink nails, and nor could the camera - the colour was amazing but the camera just could not pick it up in the miserable rain we had today, so I gave up.
A concerted effort with an ice cube yielded one quick macro shot of the thermal transition, and then I stamped over it.
I have used Kleancolor Neon Sapphire a lot, because it stamps so well. It doesn't seem to be neon, the name amuses me every time but I do like the contrast of deep blue with bright pink and I think it has worked very well here with Apipila Super Plate B.

Kleancolor Neon Sapphire and Apipila Super Plate B

 

hint of thermal gradient - Polished by KPT Penelope

July Challenges - Animal

Today's challenge for #clairestelle8july was Animal. I did think about doing animal print but while I was arguing with myself whether to go stripes or spots and what colour combo, I remembered the cute Messy Mansion foxy plate I got and decided I'd go with that.
I also decided to go for a bit of recycling so I added a bit more red to yesterday's Horror mani to make a black and red base for my foxes. I stamped with Avon Metallic Effects Frosted Peach and Messy Mansion MM34. I love this image, so cute and it reminds me of a really sweet little cartoon the children used to watch when they were little, Pablo the Little Red Fox.
Now this is clearly not a summery mani - somewhere between Autumnal and Christmassy but since it has rained all day and I am now wearing 3 layers including my thickest winter cardigan I am not sure that matters!
Then I had to add a coat of my newly acquired Barry M Matte top coat - there is barely any daylight so the pictures are not the best but I really love this!

Messy Mansion MM34 and Avon Frosted Peach

 

Messy Mansion MM34 and Avon Frosted Peach - matte

 

July Challenges - Yellow / Blobbicure and Black and White

Every now and then you get a challenge not entirely in your comfort zone and this time I have had to use yellow!
The #30daysofcolourchallenge was Yellow / Blobbicure. I had done a small blobbicure trial in June so I felt slightly more comfortable about that, but yellow ?? Anyway, I decided to use A England Holy Grail and SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops as I thought they'd go quite well together.
The result wasn't too bad - I have seen better blobbicures but I was reasonably happy with the mani and I do think the colours worked pretty well.
Of course I had to stamp on it and I thought it would make a nice background for one of the UberChic sketchy flowers so I stamped UberChic Beauty UC 1-03 with China Glaze Liquid Leather.
Finally I decided to use this as my Black and White mani for #30daysofcolourchallenge too so I added some white stamping, using UberChic Beauty UC 3-01 and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under.
I really like black and white stamping combined and I am pretty pleased with this.

As you can probably tell, I did this mani over a few days so I did add a final layer, some more black stamping with Kleancolor Madly Black and Apipila Super plate B - so, its still black and white but also means another entry for #hawaiianshirtmanifriday!

Blobbicure with A England Holy Grail and
SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops

UberChic Beauty UC 1-03

UberChic Beauty UC 3-01

 

Apipila Super Plate B and Kleancolor Madly Black

 

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Wiki'd Nails - Horror Icon

This is the last week of the Wiki'd Nails Challenge - I feel quite relieved because it has felt a real struggle to do these. However, looking at the album of Wiki'd pics on my facebook page I am actually quite impressed with what I have achieved, especially considering I almost gave up on this before I even started.
Sometimes we do need to be pushed a bit, but maybe not during financial year end!
Anyway, this week's Wiki'd Nails Challenge was Horror Icon so I have stamped the ghoulish looking face from Hehe 040 using A England Rose Bower over Nails Inc Lily.
They were a bit camera shy, so I added a coat of Barry M Matte top coat - much easier to photograph and wow! what a top coat, it is actually properly matte. I am really pleased with it!
I am quite happy with these ghoulish little chaps - when I got Hehe 040 I couldn't see me using this particular image although I love all the fake water marbling images, such a brilliant little plate!

Hehe 040 and A England Rose Bower

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

July Challenges - Fruit

Today's prompt for #clairestelle8july was fruit so I stamped these cute pineapples from DRK XL Designer 2 with Virtuous Polish Magdalene over my leadlighting mani from Sunday.
I think they look pretty good against the dark colourful background!

DRK XL Designer 2

 

 

July Challenges - Holo / Leadlighting

For those who read my blog regularly, sorry about the flurry of blog activity! It has been a busy week and now I am catching up!
The challenge yesterday was Holo / Leadlighting for #30daysofcolourchallenge.
I started with SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes, the most gorgeous pale blue lilac holo, which I have worn before but I think this picture is better :)
I stamped with Messy Mansion Leadlight Lacquer A04 and China Glaze Liquid Leather and that looked so good I took a couple of pictures. It almost seemed a shame to hide the holo!
Then I leadlighted (is that a verb?) with Kandy.Colors Hivis Wat, Retro, Carnival and Grape Much?
The Kandy Colors are great for lead lighting, just the right level of colour - they are perfect! and I am really happy with the way this turned out.

SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes

Messy Mansion Leadlight Lacquer A04
and China Glaze Liquid Leather

Leadlighting with Kandy Colors jellies

 

An InLinkz Link-up

July Challenges - Neutral / Waterfall, Pastels and Tropical!

I was late for 2 challenges - Neutral/Waterfall for #30daysofcolourchallenge and Pastels for #clairestelle8july so I went for a pastel waterfall over a neutral base.
I started with Avon Mudslide  and used saran wrap to add Avon Neutral Grey for the neutral base.
Then I did the waterfall with Nails Inc Bluebell and Royal Botanical Gardens, Avon Peppermint and Luxe Lavender.
I was quite pleased with how this turned out.
It's been a really busy week - I seem to have been playing catch-up so I looked ahead to see what was coming in the next few days. Inspiration struck when I spotted Tropical coming up next for #clairestelle8july and I decided it would be perfectly fine to add tropical flowers at the bottle of the waterfall.
I stamped some foliage from Moyou London Tropical 03 with Hit the Bottle Absinthe Minded and then added flowers from the same plate with Hit the Bottle Magenta at Your Own Risk.
Since I completed this on Friday, it was only right that I added it to #hawaiianshirtmanifriday too!

Avon Mudslide

Avon Mudlside and Avon Neutral Grey

Waterfall

Moyou London Tropical 03

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Wiki'd Nails - Random - Little Fish

This week's challenge for Wiki'd Nails was Random - and I got Little Fish! a strange page with references through to a selection of other fish related pages but it came up after about 20 hits on the random button so I figured it would do!

I stamped some little fish I found swimming along the bottom of Fab Ur Nails FUN 17 over the flakie/scaley mani from earlier in the week using 2true Pro Metallica Arete and Athena.

It looked OK but then to add to my underwater scene I added a coat of  Violet Rose Polish I Have a Dream - more flakies!!! I think these gave it a really nice finishing touch.

Little Fish!!

An InLinkz Link-up

July Challenges - Matte /Vinyls

This #30daysofcolourchallenge caused me no end of grief! It was almost a week ago now so I feel less frustrated about it but it will be a while before I try vinyls again!
I started with a base of Kleancolor Neon Sapphire, a lovely dark shiny blue. Then the fun started. Maybe the vinyls had been hanging around too long or I just did it wrong. Anyway, I'd chosen the fish scales but the little scales all lifted with the vinyl so I had to push them all out one by one with a cocktail stick. I blame this for the fact that then I proceeded to get 7 out of 10 nails the wrong way up! (didn't even spot that until an hour after I'd finished!!) I used Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales which I knew was opaque enough in 1 coat and that part was fine. The overall look is pretty - just not correct!
Anyway, I added a matte top coat, the shimmery Avon Destination Peach and I really liked the way they looked (errors aside).
Then a new polish arrived, from a new UK Indie maker, Violet Rose Polish. Thistle was so much prettier than I ever would have imagined so I added a coat to this mani. In some lights you couldn't see the vinyl pattern any more, but who cares - Thistle is a green/blue/purple (and hundreds of other colours) flakie topcoat and it is stunning!
And of course I had to try it matte - EVEN MORE STUNNING!!

scales with Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales

matte scales with Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales

Violet Rose Thistle

Violet Rose Thistle matte

An InLinkz Link-up