When Colours Collide - Teal and Gold

As soon as the cover photo was posted for this challenge there was a flurry of water marbly posts in gorgeous teal and gold. Well, I don't do water marble  - it is so messy and for me the end result is so dreadful, it is one of those things I just accept as not being for me. Anyway, I love stamping too much.
I did want to do something quite organic, along the lines of our cover post, and on this occasion was not sure I wanted to use my water marble plate, so I went for the rather lovely water spotting image on Yours Cosmetics Sascha Gossen YS12.
I started with a base of OPI Ski Teal We Drop, one of those polishes I just love love love!!
Then I added a coat of a very special glitter topper I bought from Quirk a couple of years ago. An Ocean Potion is a stunning mix of teal and gold and was perfect for this mani.
Next I stamped the bubbles image from Yours Cosmetics Sascha Gossen YS12 with Colors by Llarowe Thing 1 & Thing 2.
Finally I used Avon Gold Leaf and stamped the water spotting image.
Then I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get a decent photo that i) was in focus, and ii) actually looked teal. I tried blue, green, white, brown, pink woollies and even no woolies at all, nothing worked, it all looks blue :(
Well, anyway, I loved the finished mani, I know it is teal! I love the mix of holo, sparkle, gold stamping and teal even if no-one else can see it!

OPI Ski Teal We Drop

 

Quirk An Ocean Potion

Sascha Gossen YS12 and CBL Thing 1 & Thing 2

Sascha Gossen YS12 and Avon Gold Leaf

 

 

October Challenges - Damask and Holo

Just one challenge on this post, Damask and Holo for #wnac2015. However I have to take the opportunity to review one of the loveliest holos I have tried in a long time!!
As I mentioned in an earlier post I bought the September Paint the Rainbow box from Rainbow Connection. There are 5 polishes in the box, all lovely in wonderful shades of green and blue but there is one clear favourite - Colors by Llarowe Thing 1 & Thing 2. Such a cool name, those naughty characters are so funny!
This polish is a stunning light teal shade - just the sort of shade I would not wear if it was a cream, but as a holo, so much softer and utterly gorgeous - you get that I like this one!!
The quality as ever is fantastic, good coverage in 2 coats, dried well with that gorgeous holo.
Pictures are taken with top coat.
(I will add that I would never have thought to matte a holo but I matted the mani that followed on from this and the polish looked amazing - itching to try that again on a whole nail rather than buried under all the other stuff going on)
The challenge was Damask using Holo polishes, but I have learned the hard way and decided not to risk a frustrating failure, stamping holo on holo seems to result in me taking  10,000 photos that do not show any stamping at all. I played safe on this one!
Mindful of a teal challenge also due today, I stamped with Nails Inc Gosfield Street. This polish stamped really nicely, certainly well enough to be seen over the CBL. I chose one of the images on Apipila Super Plate A that seemed appropriate and I was really pleased with the outcome.
The only problem now is the photos - I don't actually have white zombie hands, they do have some colour but at least I caught the holo!

Colors by Llarowe Thing 1 and Thing 2

 

 

 

 

Damask with Apipila Super Plate A

 

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Teal and Patchwork

Today's prompt for 40 Great Nail Art Ideas was Teal & Patchwork - we all have the same colour but a different pattern - I got patchwork!
Well, this was a challenge and a half! Having established I had no suitable stamping plates, I decided to make decals on the Uber mat, cut them up and use them over the damask mani that I had done earlier using Nails Inc Gosfield Street and Colors by Llarowe Thing 1 & Thing 2.
To make the patchwork pieces, I started with bases of Barry M Coconut and Nails Inc Royal Botanical Gardens on the Uber mat and then I stamped stripes and spots using Nails Inc Gosfield Street and Apipila Super Plate A. I added the stitching with a Sharpie once I had applied the decals to my nails.
On my right hand I rather ran out of time so I painted directly over the damask, used a dotting tool for the spots and a blue Sharpie for the rather wobbly stripes!
Finally I added a coat of Barry M Matte top coat.
On reflection, I think the right hand probably looks better but I thought I'd show them both. This was certainly one of those manis that looked perfect in my mind and didn't quite come off like that. all good practice though!

Teal and Patchwork

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