April Challenges - Untried and Neon Geometrics

Today’s challenge for #30daysofcolourchallenge was to swatch an untried. So, about as far away from Halloween as we could get, I have tried Smitten Polish Cauldron Bubble. I bought this a while back along with Fire Burn which is stunning. This one is too! It is a charcoal grey holo, packed full of sparkle. It looks amazing in the sunlight, the glitter is very fine and just so sparkly! The formula to be honest was not a great as Smittens usually are, it was a bit gloopy so application was slightly challenging but once the two coats were on it looked great. Pictures are taken with topcoat.

The #ukstampingapril challenge was neon geometrics, so I have stamped neon over the Smitten. I used UberChic Beauty UC 1-01 and Virtuous Polishes Green Pastures, Glory, Diligence and Patience (green, yellow, orange and pink). When will I learn that although I can use 4 colours on the stamping plate and pick them all up, my nails are not that wide – doh! Anyway, all the nails have 3 colours on, one thumb managed to get all 4. The neon is not quite as vibrant as if I had used a pale base or a finer design but I am happy with these. I have test stamped a couple of these polishes and the neon is a lot more vibrant on thin lines rather than these small geometric blocks but I think the colours work well together, and I can see the Smitten sparkling through.

Smitten Polish Cauldron Bubble
#30daysofcolourchallenge

 

UberChic Beauty UC 1-01 and Virtuous Polishes
 Green Pastures, Glory, Diligence and Patience
#ukstampersapril

 

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Oldest and Houndstooth

Today I am combining two challenges, "oldest" for #30daysofcolourchallenge and "houndstooth" for #ukstampersapril.
I started with one of my oldest polishes, Avon Classic Fit. Even after all these years I still love this polish. It's such a gorgeous dark glossy blue, everything I would want in a polish and it still applies really nicely. I have also recently discovered that it stamps well too so it's an all round winner.
These pictures were taken without a top coat!
Then I stamped with one of my newest polishes. Rainbow Connection has recently started stocking Hit the Bottle, an Australian brand, so I bought one to give it a try. They have a huge range of colours to choose from and I really didn't know where to start so I went for Copper Haired Girls as it is least like any other polish I own, and WOW! It is amazing. I loved it from the moment I opened the package, it stamped beautifully and then when I top coated it, it sent shivers down my spine!
I used DRK-A to stamp the houndstooth pattern and I think the metallic copper shade works so well with the dark blue. It is manis like these that make me wish I wasn't doing so many challenges - I'd wear this for days!!

Avon Classic Fit
#30daysofcolourchallenge

Hit the Bottle Copper Haired Girl and DRK-A
#ukstampersapril

 

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Vampy and Reverse Stamping

I am late with yesterday's #30daysofcolourchallenge, mainly because I thought it would be a good idea to combine it with the #ukstampersapril challenge and I didn't have time to do both yesterday.
The #30daysofcolourchallenge was Vampy - I have a lot of polishes which would be fine for this challenge but I really wanted to use an untried so I have gone for another new one by UK Indie Danglefoot Nail Polish. We are in Dream Country Now is a red/purple jelly with lots of pretty red, gold, and orange glitter which is really sparkly.
When I finally decided I would try to wear red, it is these dark red, burgundy type shades that I started with and I love them! The glitter is an added bonus in this one.
I did need 3 coats for full opacity, I might well use a dark red base next time but the formula was good, polish dried reasonably quickly, despite my very cold hands.
The polish was very sparkly in the sunshine, but to be honest I think of these as more wintery shades and I liked it best in the shade. You can really see the depth of the glitters floating in the layers of polish.
The #ukstampersapril challenge was reverse stamping and with hindsight I think I made this very difficult trying it over a dark red base. It was a challenge to find a suitable colour to stamp with and to colour with. I don't think black would have shown up, white would be too much of a contrast so in the end I went for Mentality Beige Opaque which stamps as a gold. I think this went well with the glitter in the vampy base.
I chose the butterfly plate from Messy Mansion, MM42 and I coloured most of my butterflies with Above the Curve Tardis, a teal holo and China Glaze Riveting. I also had a few false starts with other colours that didn't show up at all well but in the end I think these are not too bad.
Note to self, make life easier - use a pale base!!!

Danglefoot Nail Polish
 We are in Dream Country Now
#30daysofcolourchallenge

  

Reverse stamped butterflies with Messy Mansion MM42
#ukstampersapril

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Holo and A Few of my Favourite Things!!

I am cheating again and doing tomorrow's #ukstampersapril challenge on top of today's #30daysofcolourchallenge.
Today's challenge is holo and I decided it was high time I swatched the beautiful Blurple Ice Cubes from SV by Sparkly Vernis. I won this in a giveaway from Rainbow Connection along with Gilded Lemon Drops which I have tried, and stamped with too. I have no doubt from its application that this one will stamp well too.
Application was perfect, really good coverage even on the first coat. I did two coats and added a top coat.
This is just so pretty, I am more of a dark nail polish person but I do love this!!! That icey bluey purple holo is just stunning.
The #ukstampersapril challenge was "a few of my favourite things" - well that has to be cats, I love love love cats (even more than nails) and Messy Mansion MM50 arrived yesterday so I had to try it out!
There are a lot of cute cat images on this plate but I tried to chose ones in a similar style. I struggle with placement with single images like these, a floral pattern is much more forgiving! I re-did quite a few but in the end I think they are OK. I'd probably not do quite so much mix and match next time but it was so hard to chose which kitty!

SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes
#30daysofcolourchallenge 

Kitties! Messy Mansion MM50
#ukstampersapril

 

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Duochrome and Sparkles/Diamonds

Today's challenges are Duochrome for #30daysofcolourchallenge and Sparkle/diamonds for #ukstampersapril.
For the duochrome I chose one of the chameleon toppers I bought from UK Indie Flash Nails a while ago. Firefly changes from magenta pink through to bronzey/ gold although I am sure I saw some green too. They are also really sparkly. I have 4 of them and they are all really pretty and I struggled to decide which one to wear today.
I have added just one coat of Firefly over 2 coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather, and the flashes of colour really do look like fireflies!
The #ukstampersapril prompt was for sparkles/diamonds so I have used a sparkly holo to stamp some diamonds over the duochrome. I used SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops and Lealac LLC-A. In the sunlight this is unbelievably pretty. I had almost given up and resorted to flash pics but I sat on the doorstep waiting for the sun to emerge from behind a huge cloud and finally I got my pics!!

Flash Nails Firefly
#30daysofcolourchallenge

 

SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops
and Lealac LLC-A
#ukstampersapril

 

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Grey and Spring

Grey and Spring - do they go together? Well, I think they do, I think I may have got away with combining these challenges, and anyway, there is usually plenty of grey in a British Spring!
So, the #30daysofcolourchallnge was grey, and I have chosen my newest grey, the beautiful A England Fated Prince.
This is a warm darkish grey holo that seems almost to have a hint of olivey green in it. As usual application was perfect and it dried nicely. Pictures are taken with top coat, but sadly due to it taking me a stupid length of time to do a stock rec for work, I missed the best part of the day so no really pretty sunshine pics, although I have to say it looked stunning in the sun!

The 2nd challenge is #ukstampersapril, and the prompt - Spring. My very clever son suggested that springs are grey, and if I had helical type stamp I might have been tempted but really I think flowers or lambs were called for!
I have gone for blossom. I just had to use my newest plate, the Apipila Super Placa A, and although it is packed with stunning images, there was only one that really said spring to me, so I stamped it once with Virtuous Polish Rahab for some green background. This matte green looked great against Fated Prince.
Then I dobbed Virtuous Polish Miriam and Essence Stampy 001 onto the same image and stamped that for the second layer. I am so pleased with how this turned out! I need to get the hang of the new plate, it is etched a bit deeper than I am used to but I love it!
I really like the pink, white and green against the darker grey/green - I think I was right - I can do Spring and grey :)

A England Fated Prince
#30daysofcolourchallenge

 

Spring - Apipila Super Placa A
#ukstampersapril

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Black and Monochrome Swirls

The #30daysofcolourchallenge is black today, so I have chosen a rather special one. Above the Curve Sirius Black is from the Harry Potter Collection. It is a gorgeous holo and it glows in the dark!
In the sunlight it does look like a black holo but in daylight without the sun it does look very slightly dark green - I assume that is the glow pigment. The finish is also a bit grainy which again I think is down to the pigment so I did add a 2nd coat of top coat for a really glossy finish.
No pictures of it glowing in the dark I am afraid as my phone doesn't have the capacity to take those sort of pics but it definitely glowed last night, a white green eerie glow.
I love this, it is so wearable, the holo softens it so if you are not in the mood for a really black, glossy polish this is a lovely alternative.
I was lucky enough to get a reasonable sunshine shot but I have also included a daylight shot and an indoor LED shot.

The #ukstampersapril challenge was monochrome swirls so it made sense to do the swirls over Sirius Black. As I had used a soft black I decided to stay subtle and use Saffron London White with Pueen Buffet Leisure 74 for my swirls. I think they look very pretty and delicate.
I was a bit concerned that my Essence white might have been a bit too harsh... but then as I am a bit addicted to double stamping, I did it anyway!

Above The Curve Sirius Black
#30daysofcolourchallenge

 

Monochrome swirls - Pueen 74 and Saffron London White

 

Monochrome swirls - Pueen 74, saffron London white
 and Essence Stampy 001
#ukstampersapril

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Pink and Easter

Today I am have done the #30daysofcolourchallenge which was pink and then the Easter prompt for #ukstampersapril.
The pink I chose was A England Iseult. I don't have a huge amount of pinks, but I bought this one recently, it was still untried and I thought it would also be a good base for the Easter mani.
Iseult is a beautiful shimmery pale pink. As always with A England polishes, superb quality but I did need three coats to get full coverage, my nail line was still visible after two. Although extremely pretty, this is not really a shade I would wear on its own - I have a preference for the more gothic look but for combining with stamping I think it is a lovely addition to my collection. I can see this making a loving base for a negative space mani sometime in the future!
I am afraid the photos aren't great, it is so grim outside, really dark for mid-morning.

For the Easter mani I added a gradient using Nails Inc Instyle Power Pink. Then I used Emily de Molly plate EDM 02 to stamp a pattern that I thought was quite Eastery using my Virtuous Polishes.
I used VP Naomi (teal), Queen Ester (purple), and Miriam (pink).
I chose an image which is supposed to be stamped in the opposite direction but I wanted it going across the nail, in 3 bands of colour, allowing the darker end of the gradient to show at the tips.
Although colourful manis are a bit outside my comfort zone I am quite pleased with how these turned out. Again, the light is still bad so the pictures are not as clear as I'd like.

A England Iseult
#30daysofcolourchallenge

 

 

Easter mani - EDM 02 and Virtuous Polishes
#ukstampersapril

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Blue and Blue for Autism Awareness

I decided to try and do more challenges which might be a bit mad because it is now year end at work so I'll probably be really busy. The logic is that if I follow the challenges I won't spend ages trying to decide what to do on my nails. We'll see - I think the blog posts will get shorter (hurray! I hear you shout)
Anyway, the first challenge is #30daysofcolourchallenge hosted by @procrastinailart. This is a daily challenge and the first prompt is blue.
The other challenge I decided to try is #ukstampersapril and the prompt for 1st April is Autism Awareness, so the 2 challenges should be OK to combine since the main colour behind this campaign is blue.
I started with a base of Nails Inc Instyle Bluebell, and then I stamped a water marble design from Hehe 040 - a wonderful plate if your water marbelling skills are anything like mine!
I still wanted to stamp on top of that so I went for a subtle effect, stamping Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales. This is a very pretty blue tealy holo, not really opaque enough for bold stamping but perfect for what I wanted. I was really pleased with how that looked.
Finally, from Lealac LLC-A I have used the jigsaw image and Kleancolour Neon Sapphire.

Nails Inc Instyle Bluebell
#30daysofcolourchallenge

Hehe 040 and Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales

 

Lealac LLC-A and Kleancolor Neon Sapphire
 #uknailstampersapril

 

Lealac LLC-A and Kleancolor Neon Sapphire
matte

An InLinkz Link-up