June Challenges - Inspired by Cassis_p

I joined in a collaboration of ladies in a facebook group to send good wishes to Cassis_p who has inspired many but is unwell at the moment. We all recreated a mani of hers.
I chose a mani done by Cassis when she received her first UberChic order 55 weeks ago. I used UberChic UC1-02 with Leighton Denny Supermodel and Essence Stampy 002 over A England Her Rose Adagio and then coloured the flowers with Barry M Purple Pop, Pink Candy, Orange Fizz, Kandy Colors (custom) Knitty Malty Tiger.

UberChic UC1-02

 

 

 

original mani by @cassis_p

May Challenges - Above the Curve Crimson Time at Home and "stars"

The challenge for #clairestelle8may today was stars. I did think I'd like to do galaxy nails again but didn't really have a lot of time for sponging, so I went for something a bit simpler.
Firstly, Above the Curve Crimson Time at Home... what can I say - this polish is stunning!!! I am completely in love with it! Although when I think crimson, I think red and this polish is either a purpley red or a reddy purple! It does look more red in some lights, and then bluer in others but in all lights it is gorgeous. It has a beautiful scattered holo and is amazing in the sunlight. It applied and dried well and I have to say this is one of those manis where once I'd stamped I rather wished I'd left it as it was.
Anyway, I did stamp with A England Her Rose Adagio and then with SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes using two images on Cici&Sisi 09 to add some trails of dots (planets). Then I stamped the stars from UberChic Beauty UC 2-01 with Essence Stampy 001. There is a nicer stars image on UC 2-03 and I wish I'd used that as I prefer the random layout of stars. The end result is pretty but not my fave mani ever.

Above the Curve Crimson Time at Home

 

Stars - UberChic Beauty UC 2-01

 

Galaxy nails - Picture Polish Bohemian, A England Rose Bower and Her Rose Adagio and a little bit of stamping

Today I have at long last tried galaxy nails! The simple truth is that although I have seen and loved lots of galaxy nails, I doubted my ability to paint any stars and had the nastiest feeling that I could do a really nice background and then make a real mess at the final step.
UberChic Beauty to the rescue! As I was carefully inspecting the images on my UberChic plates, I spotted an image on UC 2-03 which looked perfect! lots of little stars randomly scattered in the sky.
Picture Polish Bohemian is my main polish for this mani - I first saw some swatches a couple of weeks ago and I had 2 conflicting thoughts - pinky/red/bronze - absolutely not my colours - but for some reason I wanted it anyway! I think it was the idea of a multi-chrome type polish in a range of colours unlike any I had seen before.
I finally gave in to that inner voice that told me I needed this polish and when it arrived I swatched it thinking I'd hate it but I didn't. I also swatched it over black, as I would with any duo or multi-chrome, and decided maybe that's where I'd start as I was really in the mood for dark vampy nails.
I painted my nails with a base of China Glaze Liquid Leather, and then in order to avoid any streakines I sponged a light coat of Bohemian over the top. It looked so pretty that I just top-coated it and wore it like that for a day but as I looked at it it struck me that would make a lovely base for galaxy nails, and there was that UberChic plate just waiting to be stamped!
So, today, I used a small sponge and added some A England Rose Bower and Her Rose Adagio. Then I stamped the stars with my Essence Stampy 001.
If you look closely at the plate you'd see there are more stars than on my nails but I made a point of scraping quite thoroughly and as a result I didn't pick up as many of the tinier stars. I thought with all the colours and the holo, it may be a bit much. I also took a clean up brush and carefully brushed a few more out before topcoating.
I am completely in love with the finished look and I will certainly be trying these again!

Galaxy nails

 

 

 

Picture Polish Bohemian sponged over black

Stamping! Valentine's Mani with A England Her Rose Adagio and Moyou London Princess 14

Well of course I had to do a Valentine's mani - actually this is my 2nd one, the other one is still a secret!!
I am not really a pink kind of girl so of course I started with a black base, Nails Inc New York Noir, and then I did a red saran wrap thing over it using a dark red by Manhattan. That gave me a lovely black red marbled base to stamp over and I chose the pretty interlocking hearts on Moyou London's Princess 14 plate. I stamped with A England Her Rose Adagio and I love the finished result!
The A England polishes stamp beautifully and Her Rose Adagio gave this mani a really pretty delicate look. There was no sun today so the outdoor shots show Her Rose Adagio to be a silvery shimmery polish, but the indoor shots under the LED lamp have picked up the holo really nicely. In both lights I think it looks lovely and I like the contrast with the glossy marbled base - pretty pleased with this one.

Valentines Mani with A England Her Rose Adagio
and Moyou London Princess 14

 

 

 

Black and red saran wrap mani

Stamping! A England Lancelot over saran wrap mani

Oh no, the 3rd posting with the same mani! Sorry - this will be the last one, but this was going to just be a trial stamping effort, and I liked it so much I thought I'd share it.
You might remember yesterdays saran wrap mani, which was supposed to be a base for a dotticure - well the dotting tool didn't arrive, but Moyou London Pro Collection XL no.01 did arrive, and it's got dots on it so I thought I'd give it a try.
This is probably the first time I've tried stamping an image which ought to be placed straight on the nail - reckon I got it pretty straight on about 6 of them. It is also the first time I've used an image which has blocks of varnish (the dots) rather than lines, and I did struggle a bit on picking up a perfect image. Luckily I had just read a blog post about how hard you might need to scrape before picking up your image and I think I got better towards the end but there were a few waste images stamped on paper and the other hand has a few less perfect dots on it where it didn't fully pick up.
One thing I will say is that the dots are neatly aligned with each other and they probably wouldn't have been if I'd used the dotting tool.
Anyway, I stamped with A England Lancelot, a red black and I actually think it looks great over the light/dark pink holo saran wrap mess. I am ignoring the imperfections, and focussing on the pretty colours, the very fine red glitter that I noted in Girly Bits Too Hot for Pants peeping out from under the dark creme dots, as well as the holo shimmer.
And I love this plate, I can't wait to try the other images, and see how I go about lining the images up better on my nails.

A England Lancelot over saran wrap mani

 

 

 

 

 

Saran wrap mani with Girly Bits Too Hot for Pants and A England Her Rose Adagio

Today I have done another saran wrap mani, this time with A England Her Rose Adagio over Girly Bits Too Hot for Pants.
The intention was for this to be a base for a dotticure mani, following one of Debbie Crumpet's Simples tutorials, but my dotting tools have not arrived yet, so I may have to abandon that.
I am not sure this one worked as well as my first one; the holo in both these polishes is so strong that it seems the colours have blended too well, so I can't really see the marbling effect as well as I'd hoped. It is still pink and sparkly and pretty, but the definition is not there so I think it might just look a bit messy. It would have made a great base for dots though :(
I shall have to be brave next time and use creme polishes, maybe even contrasting colours :)

Saran wrap mani with Girly Bits Too Hot for Pants
and A England Her Rose Adagio

 

  

A England Her Rose Adagio

I have a real beauty for you today, and one that I fell I love with the moment I put it on, despite thinking it might be just a bit pale for me.
On 2nd of April A England had a special sale. Adina from A England has the most beautiful silver tabby called Tristam, and 2nd April was his 3rd birthday. What a great day for a birthday too, my lovely tabbies also share that date.
So, in celebration of this gorgeous kitty’s birthday, all polishes were £6, and I grabbed the opportunity to buy a couple of the Ballerina Collection.

Her Rose Adagio is a delicate soft pale pink holo. It is truly beautiful, and not a sugary pink, more of a neutral shade. My pictures haven't captured the colour too well, the final pic with the flash is probably the most colour accurate although a bit over exposed but it is pinker than most of these pics look, and I think that was a pleasant surprise to me. Its a lovely subtle shade, but so pretty! The shimmer is really nice and the delicate holo is gorgeous as always, but camera shy!

As with all my A England polishes the formula is fantastic, virtually opaque with one coat although I did do 2. The pictures are taken without a top coat, the finish is lovely and I was hoping for a better chance to capture the holo but the sun refused to shine, so we have daylight lamp shots, real daylight shots and flash shots.

I was just going to get Dancing with Nureyev, but I am so pleased I got this one too, I love it!!

A England Her Rose Adagio