July Challenges - Texture

Today's challenge is Texture for #clairestelle8july - I thought some sparkly textured butterflies would be nice so I stamped using Apipila Super Plate A over my previous neon pink and blue mani with the lovely lilac Virtuous Polish Queen Ester and then added a coat of Dance Legend Top Sahara.
They looked pretty good but why stop there? I added more butterflies from Apipila Super Plate B and Hit The Bottle Snowed Under and did not add any top coat so it retained the textured finish.

Apipila Super Plate A with
Virtuous Polish Queen Ester

Apipila Super Plate A with
Virtuous Polish Queen Ester
and Dance Legend Top Sahara

  

Apipila Super Plate B with
 Hit the Bottle Snowed Under

May Challenges - Nautical

The challenge for #clairestelle8may was Nautical, so I went with the first thing that came into my mind - blue sailor stripes and red anchors and ships wheels!
I love stripes, despite the fact that my mum always told me horizontal stripes will make you look fat! So, I started a white base of Barry M Cotton and added some nice fat blue stripes, with Avon Classic Fit and Lealac LLC-A.
They might be rather bright but I liked these and they reminded me of old fashioned milk jugs!
Then came the tricky part. I love stamping but placing individual images is hard! (the other hand is worse). I used A England Perceval and Apipila Super Plate A to add the anchors and wheels.
Not my best ever stamping but they do look quite cute.
Finally I had to add a bit of a matchy pic with my fishermans sweater.

Stripey nails

Nautical

April Challenges - Neon and Pastel

I have combined two #30daysofcolourchallenges today - neon for yesterday and pastel for today.
I have had this idea in my head for ages that I wanted to do a gradient and then stamp another gradient over it. Initially in my mind it would have been using the same colours but I have adapted it here so the base gradient is neon and the stamped gradient is pastel. It didn't quite work out how I'd hoped but they look pretty.
I started with a white base, and then I sponged the gradient of 2 China Glaze Electric Nights polishes, Treble Maker and Violet Vibes (there's me with  my green purple thing again) For 2 such different colours I think they went well together.
Then I did the pastel stamping choosing an image from Apipila Super Plate A. I used Virtuous Polishes Naomi and Queen Ester (ooh! green and purple again) and stamped them so that the teal green went over the purple, and the lilac went over the green. It is obviously not a pure gradient as I didn't really mix them that much but there is an element of blending when I look closely at the stamping. The polishes stamp beautifully but they dry really quickly so there's not much time for messing about.
I think this worked well, but from a distance it's like an optical illusion, the stamping looks blue! The clarity of the pictures is not great, the light was really odd today, but I'll certainly have another try at this with some different colours.

neon gradient with China Glaze
Treble Maker and Violet Vibes
#30daysofcolourchallenge

 

Virtuous Polishes Queen Ester and Naomi and
Apipila Super Plate A over neon gradient
#30daysofcolourchallenge

 

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

April Challenges - Negative Space

Today I have skipped the #30daysofcolourchallenge today and done negative spaces for #clairestelle8april. I couldn't think of a way to combine them so I am doing two #30days tomorrow instead.
Claire's challenge - the negative space - eek I thought - maybe I should skip this too but I decided I'd just use a neutral base, and it would be a nice opportunity to try the nude polish in the Vintage Trio I got from Danglefoot Nail Polish.
Golden Oldie is a lovely warm nude with a subtle shimmer. It applied nicely and gave good coverage with 2 coats. Possibly a touch warmer tone than I would personally choose for nude nails, but very wearable and the perfect base for the negative space mani.
I used Apipila Super Plate A and A England Camelot to stamp this pretty swirly pattern. I was quite pleased with the finished look but I felt it needed something extra.

So, I used Leighton Denny Tiffany's to add a subtle touch of pink shimmer, just to tone it down a bit. I think for my skin tone the slightly pinker finish looked better and it softened the stamping a little, although I liked both.

Danglefoot Nail Polish Golden Oldie

negative space mani with Apipila Super Plate A

negative space mani with Apipila Super Plate A
with Leighton Denny Tiffany's

A2Z Series - W is for Wild

This weeks letter is W for Wild, and I decided ages back what I wanted to do for this challenge. I am very relieved it turned out OK.
I started with a sunset gradient and then stamped a wild animal scene from the Apipila Super Placa A in black over the top. There are larger images on the plate but I think I'd have lost too much image in the dark bit at the top. I'll have to try those on a daylight scene.
Imagine my delight when I showed these to my husband and with no prompting at all he said "Serengeti"
The gradient was made up of Nails Inc Atomic, Fiesta and Princes Street, and I stamped with Essence Stampy 002.
I absolutely adored these although I was rather disappointed that I couldn't really capture their beauty despite taking loads of photos.

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