30th November - St Andrew's Day

30th November is St Andrews's Day - when I was little the 4 saint's days for England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales were drummed into us and we used to wear our Brownie uniforms to school to mark these special days.
This year I did a mani for each day. For St Andrew's Day I have done tartan, using Moyou London Hipster 05, A England Camelot and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under over a base of  Above the Curve Caty Periwinkle and 'Ard as Nails Dewy Morning.
This is the closest I could get to my family tartan - I am 1/4 Scottish, so I googled my maiden name and found that family name Clement is part of the Lamont clan - the Lamont tartan is blue and green stripes with white and black. There seem to be a variety of shades but I went with paler blue and green simply so the black would show up. There's probably a bit too much white but I do think they look rather wintery and very pretty!
The other saints are St David, St Patrick and St George, and I have linked this post to the originals in case you want to see them again.
I also did a quick collage of the 4.

Moyou London Hipster 05

November Challenges - Purple Glitter and some stamping

Today I have used two beautiful polishes bought from Rainbow Connection. I started with Glam Polish Which Witch? from the recent Halloween Trio. This is the most stunning lilac and holo glitter along with a lot of other colours too!
It applied nicely giving excellent coverage. I used two coats but I think if you don't have stained nails or uneven VNL's you might get away with one. My pictures are a bit disappointing - how can there be NO daylight??? but luckily the macro does show how incredibly pretty this polish is!
Glitter was the last prompt of #pcanovember15 and since it had to be purple, what better than a gradient of Glam Polish Which Witch? and another Glam, Hounds of Love.
Hounds of Love is from the Kate Bush Trio - it is purple, glittery and very beautiful. I sponged this over the tips to make the gradient and I think the two went really well together. The pictures were a bit better and I am pleased with the macro.
Finally, as it's nearly St Andrew's Day I think a bit of Argyle stamping is appropriate. I used Moyou London Pro XL 01 and A England Saint George over my thistley purple gradient. I am really happy with the way this turned out - if I hadn't already planned a St Andrew's day mani I'd have certainly used this one.

Glam Polish Which Witch?

 

Glam Polish Which Witch? and Hounds of Love

 

 

Moyou London Pro XL01 and A England Saint George

 

 

November Challenges - Feathers

Today's challenge was Feathers for #clairestelle8nov. I used Emily de Molly EDM04 with A England Camelot over a base of Kleancolor Metallic Yellow, Green and Aqua.
I painted my nails green, added some yellow and then the blue. Finally I stamped the peacock feather aiming for it to centre over the blue. I think I got lucky!!

Emily de Molly EDM04

 

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Cartoons and Comics

Cartoons and Comics! This was a difficult one for me as I barely had any suitable images on my stamping plates. Generally I have a preference for patterns rather than things on my nails so I don't have any plates with cute little cartoony things on. Luckily I remembered that I had Moyou London Princess 14 which has a Minnie Mouse image which I stamped with Colour Alike Kind of Black over 'Ard as Nails Lazy Afternoon.
Although I almost never do accent nails I thought this might look a bit odd if I stamped it on all nails.
I know the bow is supposed to be red and white but I couldn't  figure out how to do that and I did try dotting white onto the bow but that didn't work, so I am afraid this is the best I could manage.
I stamped the dots from Apipila Super Plate A on the other nails with Hit The Bottle Snowed Under. They didn't stamp brilliantly and no amount of changing angle of scrape or the scraper seemed to make any difference but you get the idea, I hope.
Despite being really wary about this mani, I think it turned out a lot better than I expected.

Minnie Mouse!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

'Ard As Nails Dewy Morning and some Paisley stamping

Today I am wearing another polish from the My First Winter Collection by 'Ard As Nails. This is Dewy Morning, a gorgeous sage green with subtle holographic shimmer.
This applied beautifully, dried nicely and pictures are taken with top coat. I am afraid I failed to pick up the holographic shimmer but I saw it and it was pretty!
I used this as my base for #wnac2015 for this week - the prompt was Paisley.
I used Messy Mansion MM48 and did 3 layers of stamping using 3 different images on the plate. This is a pretty plate but it is quite a tricky one to clean.
For the first layer of stamping I stayed with green and used Barry M Black Pistachio, then I used China Glaze Liquid Leather and then finally Saffron London White.

'Ard As Nails Dewy Morning

 

 

Messy Mansion MM48 and Barry M Black Pistachio

Messy Mansion MM48 and China Glaze Liquid Leather

Messy Mansion MM48 and Saffron London White

'Ard As Nails Lazy Afternoon

I bought 4 lovely new polishes at the beginning of the week from one of the newer UK Indie makers, 'Ard As Nails. My First Winter is not their first collection, all the shots I have seen so far of earlier collections looked great and I have resisted so far but this one really grabbed me. It might well have been the fantastic swatches by Anna that swung it!
Anyway, as I do not do red, I thought I'd start there (!!!), with Lazy Afternoon. This is quite possibly the warmest red I have ever had on my nails and I really like it. It does look quite orange in the bottle and I was a bit confused as I know Anna's swatches are always reliable. It is an orangey red with a delicate holographic shimmer and is certainly more red on the nail than in the bottle. The holo is very pretty.
The consistency was nice - I used 2 coats for these pictures but to be honest if I was just going to stamp over this, one would probably have been sufficient, and yes, I tested this to see if it would stamp and it stamped nicely onto white paper. Next time I have a pale polish on I will test it properly.
I used this as a base for a challenge mani later in the week, but then I also tested a new plate on top of that. I had just re-homed Moyou London Steampunk 03 so I had to try it out. I used Colour Alike A Kind of Black with the heart shaped image. Possibly not the best combination of colours and images, and the alignment is not the best but I think it looks quite pretty.

'Ard As Nails Lazy Afternoon

 

 

Moyou London Steampunk 03

 

November Challenges - Owls

The prompt today was Owls for #clairestelle8nov. I stamped Messy Mansion MM19 with 2true Pro Metallica Aglaia and Artemis over Leighton Denny Undercurrent.
Undercurrent is the darkest glossiest green and I love it! I think it makes a great back drop for the 2true polishes.
I did the owls first and then added some foliage for them :)

Leighton Denny Undercurrent

Messy Mansion MM19

 

November Challenges - Zodiac

There was a new challenge in the When Colours Collide group and this time the theme was Zodiac. I am a Taurus but no amount of searching would find a bull on any of my stamping plates and this really isn't an animal that will lend itself to my freehand attempts.
Luckily I have this lovely Vivid Lacquer plate VL040 which has zodiac symbols, constellations and starry images.
I started with a base of A England Lady of Shalott, black with gorgeous blue shimmer.
Then I stamped one of the constellation images with SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes and then the zodiac symbols with Hit the Bottle Snowed Under.
I took a few macro so you can see the holo stamping under the zodiac symbols.

A England Lady of Shalott

Vivid Lacquer VL040

 

Vivid Lacquer VL040 matte

 

 

November - Colors by LLarowe Cornucopia and lots of stamping

I was all up to date with my manis - for once !! so I asked my IG followers what colour should I do next - a bit risky I guess since I am so fussy about colour.
Anyway, red was the request, then purple, green, yellow, gold and then somehow the conversation got to it being a whole rainbow.  So bravely I said I would see how many layers I could do before it looked a mess. There's nothing I enjoy more than trying lots of layers when it comes to nail painting so I was hoping this would be fun!
Firstly though I enjoyed a day of red, Colors by Llarowe Cornucopia. This was polish of the month for November and was available at Rainbow Connection.
Described as a reddened burgundy holo with intense shimmer and sparkle, this is perhaps not as "red" red as lovely Iva had requested on IG but it is so beautiful I think I'll get away with it. It is actually a hard colour to accurately describe, perhaps pinky red, although maybe a brownish red in some lights but the shimmer is certainly red. I swatched it on white paper and the red shimmer is very apparent.
Well, I went on and did 7 layers of stamping:
2true Pro Metallica Arete and BPL-026
Esmaltes da Kelly Bee and BPL-029
Hit the Bottle Copper Haired Girl and BPL-026
Hit the Bottle Magenta at your own Risk BPL-029
Hit the Bottle Purple Reign and BPL-024
2true Pro Metallica Aglaia and BPL-026
Avon Classic Fit and BPL-026
I will post them all, you can just whizz past any you don't like! I think on the whole they all worked rather well and I really like the finished mani.

Colors by Llarowe Cornucopia

 

 

 

 

2true Pro Metallica Arete and BPL-026

Esmaltes da Kelly Bee and BPL-029

Hit the Bottle Copper Haired Girl and BPL-026

Hit the Bottle Magenta at your own Risk BPL-029

Hit the Bottle Purple Reign and BPL-024

2true Pro Metallica Aglaia and BPL-026

Avon Classic Fit and BPL-026