40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Fashion

Another combined Friday posting - Fashion for #40greatnailartideas and Floral for #wnac2016.
I am not exactly a follower of fashion so I googled London Fashion Week for some inspiration that would not be too outlandish for my rather conservative tastes. To my delight the second image that came up was focusonstyle.com and an image of girls in pretty floral peasant style dresses, so I went with that, conveniently meeting the floral prompt too!
I started with a smooshy base of  Barry M Black Grape, Black Cherry and Black Pistachio
Then I stamped some tendrils and leaves with Moyra 13 Sweet Dreams and 2 True Pro Metallica Arete.
Then I added the flowers with DRK Seasons and Colour Alike Kind of White
I then coloured the flowers on half of each nail with Kandy Colors Grape Much? and Look at Me.
To change it a bit more I coloured a few more flowers and then finally added a matte top coat.

An InLinkz Link-up

February Challenges - Smooshing, LOVE! and Flowers that I Love

Another combined post here - starting with a Valentine's Day smoosh.
The colours were pastel yellow, bright light blue and bright purple - I don't really have a pastel yellow but the picture they posted looked just like the 3 Leighton Denny colours that were part of the summer collection a few years back - Shipwrecked, Blue Lagoon and Maroon Me Knot so i went with those. They didn't end up quite as vibrant as I'd planned but I was nervous of adding a second layer of smoosh and turning it into a mess. so I went with the soft watercolour look.
As soon as I saw these colours the next thought that went through my head was flowers - a prompt for a weeks time for #clairestelle8feb was Flowers that I Love and these looked like the perfect colours for sweet peas, which are my favourites! I found an image on Moyra 10 Florality 2 that I am certain is sweet peas and stamped that with Barry M Black Grape.
Then after a day, I disguised this mani with a single coat of Kandy Colors Hey Girl and then stamped hearts with Barry M Black Currant and UberChic UC4-03 for the LOVE! prompt for #clairestelle8feb.
So, the time line is a bit mixed up for this mani but photos are in order of how the mani came together.

#smooshattack 

 

Moyra 10 Florality 2 and Barry M Black Grape

UberChic UC4-03 and Barry M Black Currant

November Challenges - Under the Sea

The prompt for #clairestelle8nov was Under the Sea.
I started with a base of Barry M Black Grape, a super dark blue.
Then I stamped using the wavy sea image on Pueen 91 and ILNP Mutagen to give an underwatery sort of feel.
Then I used Vivid Lacquer VL042 and stamped the dolphins and octopi with Avon Metallic Effects Jade Reflection and Arctic Steel.
Finally I added some coral from Pueen 91 using Avon Metallic Effects Frosted Peach.
I took glossy and matte pics - again I struggled to decide which I like best. I felt the glossy finish looked more underwatery but I did like the way the matte finish made the stamping really stand out. The down side of the matte finish was that the beauty of Mutagen was lost, but you can't really see that on the photos anyway.

Barry M Black Grape

 

Vivid Lacquer VL 042 and Pueen 91

 

 

November Challenges - Movember

The prompt was Elegant Movember for #wnac2015. Well I trawled through all my plates, stencils and vinyls - no moustaches at all and was on the verge of skipping this one as no freehand moustache was ever going to look elegant, and then I received my Uber Chic Far East 01 from She Sells Sea Shells and I spotted this little chap - he has a moustache!!! I stamped with Avon Frosted Peach over Barry M Black Grape.

Uber Chic Far East 01

 

October Challenges - HJ Manicure Blue Lagoon and Favourite Sweater

Sunday's prompt for #30daysofcolourchallenge was Favourite Sweater - obviously I have too many sweaters to chose a favourite but this mani is based on the blue aran I wore that day and sort of chosen because I had a new blue polish I wanted to try.
I bought HJ Manicure Blue Lagoon last week -  I wasn't too sure when I ordered it if it would be right for me but I am so glad I did. It is a lovely blue creme, very slightly leaning towards teal and I love it! I was a bit concerned it would be too bright for me, some brighter blues just don't suit my skin tone no matter how much I love them but I think this one is fine.
It applied beautifully with two coats giving great coverage. Pictures are taken with top coat.
So, from my vast selection of woollies I chose a blue aran that I made a couple of years ago and of course I used my Messy Mansion MM 40 plate to stamp.
I have recently seen swatches of the 4 new Barry M Gellies, and since I love dark colours so much I had to get them. I have stamped with other Barry M Gellies so of course I was going to try these for stamping! I chose Black Grape, the blue black, and I think it stamped well. It is quite subtle over Blue Lagoon but I was happy with that look.

HJ Manicure Blue Lagoon

 

 

Messy Mansion MM40 and Barry M Black Grape