A2Z Series - X is for eXtra Special

Well it is Thursday again, another letter down in the A2Z challenge and we are nearly at the end. Today's letter is X for eXtra special. I had a mani planned but it ended up being quite similar to the one I did yesterday in concept and once I had twigged it was St George's Day I decided I'd be all patriotic and do something for that instead.When I was younger, I was a Brownie and then a Girl Guide and the dates of the 4 patron saints for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales were drummed into us.
I am English so St Georges's Day is kind of special, it's part of our heritage and who knows what our world would have been like if St George hadn't slayed the dragon ! Also, dragons are magical, mythical creatures and therefore eXtra special!
Now I know it's been done before but it seemed obvious to me which two polishes I would use, A England Saint George and A England Dragon.
So I started with Saint George which I think is my favourite ever A England, so that makes it special anyway. The dark teal shade is so gorgeous I almost don't care that there is no sun to see the holo.
Then I used Dragon to stamp parts of the dragon image from DRK XL Designer 2. The dragon was too large to stamp in full but I have used his tail on the index and little finger and his head and tail on the other two fingers and thumb.
I love these two greens together although the stamping is quite subtle, and photos have been a challenge. I am really pleased with these, the dragon looks so cute! but I do wish I'd been able to get better pictures.

A England Saint George

A2Z Series - X is for eXtra special
St George's Day mani with A England
Saint George, A England Dragon and
DRK XL Designer2

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamping! A fruit themed mani with DRK XL Designer 2, A England Dragon and an alcohol ink base

A small group of friends decided we should do a fruit themed mani - you can see the others on Instragram #tncnailedit.
This is my contribution:-
I started with a base of Barry M Coconut (is that a fruit? I think so) and then I had my first play with alcohol inks. The colour I used was Citrus, a bright vibrant greeny yellow, clearly this is a fruit!
I have seen so many manis using alcohol inks so I had to try! I just did a very basic one to start, just sponging a little ink over the Coconut base. I then top coated and you have to be very careful here, the top coat really did disturb the ink, even more than it smudges stamping.
Then I stamped using A England Dragon (there is a dragon fruit, you know!) and DRK XL Designer 2 which has the cutest little pineapples on it!
I think maybe I should have toned down the citrus base for a better contrast but on the whole I think it turned out OK.

DRK XL Designer 2  and A England Dragon

 

Citrus alcohol ink base

Barry M Coconut

A2Z Series - J is for Jewel

It is Thursday again and time for the next letter - this week it is J is for Jewel.
I had decided what I was going to do for this week and then lying awake one night I suddenly wanted to do green amber instead. I think amber in general is fascinating, but I am not a lover of yellow or orange, so when I discovered green amber it was love at first sight. I couldn't wait to double check that it is actually a jewel so I could use it for this week's challenge. A quick google search told me "amber is a jewel quality fossilized resin"
Other than stamping, the other nail art technique that I discovered and really enjoyed most in 2014 was the saran wrap mani and I was pretty certain I could do something green and pretty using that technique.
I decided to start with a dark base, so I painted my nails with A England Lady of Shalott (I know its blue but it's mostly covered up and I wanted to wear it yesterday on its own).
This morning I blobbed A England Dragon onto my nails and moved it around with the saran wrap. I then added a few more much tinier blobs of A England Holy Grail, just to add a bit of golden warmth and saran wrapped that too. Top coat and done - 5 minute mani.
This turned out pretty much as I planned and I love them! I know they are a bit darker than green amber, but I like the dark base showing through and I just love that marbled finish. The fact that the 2 A Englands are holographic and sparkle delicately just adds to the prettiness of this, I think so anyway :)

 J is for Jewel - green amber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look HERE to see what everyone else got up to.

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamping! A England Briarwood and Dragon over Above the Curve Akiko

I've been stamping again. I really am enjoying this, despite many frustrations along the way.
When I painted my nails with Above the Curve Akiko, I was already planning what I might stamp over it once I'd worn it for a day. I have a couple of floral dresses that Akiko would go well with but I wanted to pick up another colour from the dresses to stamp with. I wanted to stick with autumnal shades, choose something that would stand out well enough but still tone with the base colour. I went to my A England polishes since so far they seem to have been enormously successful for stamping. In terms of colours I thought would go well with the dresses and Akiko I really couldn't choose between Dragon and Briarwood, so I used both!
I stamped the roses from Moyou London Pro XL 10, using Dragon for half the image, and Briarwood for the other half. I wasn't too fussy about getting them exactly equal, just allowed it to happen and I am delighted with the results and the way the 2 colours worked together. I am still not great at using the right pressure to scrape the image so I think the right hand was better, and I feel I am making progress.
I think I've ended up with a very autumnal mani, and far better than had hoped for. I am really pleased with this!

Stamping!  A England Briarwood
and Dragon over Above the Curve Akiko

 

 

 

  

 

A England Holy Grail, Dragon and She Walks in Beauty

It's the last day of Indie week on All Things Nails, and I have 2 untried A Englands so I thought I'd try something I've seen done by Lucy and Anna

I did a base coat using A England Holy Grail ( this is the older Holy Grail, which is more gold, there is now a new version which is more bronze). This painted on beautifully but is absolutely not my colour on its own, so it will be used under glitters and for my occasional forays into nail art!!

A England Holy Grail

 

What I wanted to try is called a "ruffian", which is bit like a half moon mani but the base part of the second coat is curved in the same way as the base of the nail itself, you just start painting from higher up. I probably haven't described it very well. I painted the whole nail in Holy Grail, and then I added  a coat of A England Dragon, in exactly the same way as I would normally paint my nails but starting about 2mm further up the nail.

I think this would probably have worked better with 2 more similar shades, maybe Princess Sabra with Dragon but you don't know if you don't try! Dragon is a beautiful olive green with  a lovely subtle holographic shimmer, which of course my camera can't see! I will certainly be using this green again soon, it's just gorgeous!

A England Holy Grail and Dragon

 

I then had to have a little play, so sticking with A England I have added a glitter gradient using She Walks in Beauty. This is a combination of pink hexagons of glitter in a gold shimmery base, which I thought would help soften the contrast between Holy Grail and Dragon. I think it was worth trying and it is much prettier in real life, the camera has either ignored the shimmer or made it look too solid: it is much softer to the naked eye. The last couple of shots capture it quite well.

A England She Walks in Beauty gradient