Saturday 24 February 2018

Nail Crazies Unite - Red and Black Hobbies

This week's prompt was Red and Black Hobbies.
Of course it was going to be knitting, it's the only thing I do in my spare time when I am not painting my nails.
I used Messy Mansion MM84XL with A England Anne Boleyn over 'Ard as Nails Beauty.
I have stamped with Anne Boleyn before and it stamps well but this was the first time over black and it obviously wasn't the best combo with this plate. I can see the stamping but it is subtle, great for wearing but not for photographing.
I did think about trying it matte before I took it off but in the end I just re-stamped with Colour Alike Red Dragon. This gave a much better contrast and you can see the stamping!

Time for a whinge now! IG interaction is so low (even if I wait a few days to see what responses I get, I have 5 day old pics appearing in my feed!) and in the Facebook group it is virtually non-existent, last weeks mani in the alternating group got no likes at all so I am unsure whether to even continue with these challenges. It's certainly not worth editing the pictures and writing a blog when time is short anyway - OK whinge over - back to the nail pics - I'll include the invisible ones for completeness, as I said, I could see the stamping, it was pretty and I wore it happily for a couple of days. The bolder version will last another day I think and then time for a change!
Messy Mansion MM84XL with A England Anne Boleyn
Messy Mansion MM84XL with A England Anne Boleyn
Messy Mansion MM84XL with A England Anne Boleyn

Messy Mansion MM84XL with Colour Alike Red Dragon
Messy Mansion MM84XL with Colour Alike Red Dragon
Messy Mansion MM84XL with Colour Alike Red Dragon
Messy Mansion MM84XL with Colour Alike Red Dragon





Saturday 17 February 2018

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Love, but no pink or red

This week's prompt was Love, but no red or pink so I have gone with blue, green and grey.
I started with a base of a new thermal, 'Ard As Nails Umbrella which is a medium denim blue when cool and pale grey when warm.
I stamped my favourite image from Dixie Plates Love 2018 - the patchwork heart image with Esmaltes da Kelly Frogger.
The stamping was a bit too subtle over the blue phase, I can see it but not very clear for the camera. It was much clearer in the warm, pale grey, phase.
It's very cold here so I had to sit waiting anxiously for my hands to warm up before it got too dark to take photos, oh the dilemmas of a nail painting woman!
In the end I could not get a pure warm state photo, even the next day when it was a bit warmer but you get the idea, I hope!
Dixie Plate Love 2018
Dixie Plate Love 2018
 Dixie Plate Love 2018
 Dixie Plate Love 2018


Friday 9 February 2018

Nail Crazies Unite - Anti Valentine Hearts

This week's prompt was Anti Valentine Hearts. I went for non Valentine colours, bright cobalt blue over a lovely grungy fanbrush base!
The base was purple, with grey and khaki green - I really liked it!! And, I thought the bright blue looked great over it. The hearts didn't print perfectly - I do have a problem with hearts (and dots) that don't stamp 100% unless I scrape in 3 different directions but I was using Colour Alike Cobalt Kick and generally Colours Alikes dry too quickly for much faffing around with the scraper. I don't mind too much, the imperfection gives them a bit of depth.
I used Dixie Plates Love 2018, there are some really cute Valentinesy images on here so I must use it as much as I can this month!
Dixie Plates Love 2018
Dixie Plates Love 2018
Dixie Plates Love 2018
Dixie Plates Love 2018
Dixie Plates Love 2018
Dixie Plates Love 2018



Friday 2 February 2018

26 Great Nail Art Ideas - Black and Neon

This week's prompt was black and neon so I started with a black base and stamped using 3 neons on the same image in a fairly random way.
I used Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 01 and the image I chose has some finely etched areas. Possibly not the best image for the neon stamping polishes as they dried very quickly and the pickup was not perfect but the overall look was good if you don't look too close.
I stamped with Colour Alike Green Light, Fuchsia Flash and Electric Orange and I tried to avoid mixing the colours.
I do like a nice dark mani and I wore this one for 3 days!
Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 01
Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 01
 Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 01
 Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 01
 Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 01
 Dixie Plates Mega Mani Mix 01