December Challenges - Christmas Sweater

Still playing catch up on the blog and trying decide when to actually call it a day...
Anyway, earlier in the week...
As I mentioned in another post, I bought the November Paint the Rainbow box, and my second favourite after Bear Pawlish Scar is Colors by Llarowe Magnificent Malificent. This is a stunning teal holo with a very pretty pink shimmer to it.
As with all the CBLs I have tried the formula is wonderful, thick and creamy giving excellent coverage. I also noted once I had done two coats the finish was so satiny smooth and beautiful I just had to enjoy it it like that for a while and take a picture.
Then I top coated it - just gorgeous!!
I had decided to use this as the base for the Christmas Jumper prompt for #wnac2015.
I started with some stamping using the plate which will always be known to me as the @vernimage plate - when Gen used this plate, over a year ago now, I knew I had to have it. It was Messy Mansion MM40 (the knitting plate) and I stamped with MUA Whitewash for a delicate subtle stocking stitch pattern.
Finally I used Nailz Craze NC03 and A England Proserpine. This stamped beautifully but was really tricky to catch on camera.

Colors by Llarowe Magnificent Maleficent (no topcoat)

Colors by Llarowe Magnificent Maleficent

 

 

 

Messy Mansion MM40

Nailz Craze NC03

 

June Challenges - Red

There were 2 challenges today and I couldn't see how to combine them so I've done 2 separate posts. How unlucky was I to get red and silver on the same day, apart from yellow, these are probably my least favourite colours for nails!!
Anyway, this is for #clairestelle8june, the prompt was red so I took a deep breath and painted my nails with Nails Inc St James. This is a lovely red creme with a very subtle shimmer, it has the tiniest hint of blue which does make it more attractive to me but still, red nails are just not me! I am braver than I was with reds and there are some reds I will wear but full on red like this, sorry but no :(
I decided I'd try a fan brush mani over this red but as I was not 100% confident how it would turn out I added a layer of glitter first, that way if the fan brush was a full blown disaster I'd still have something to post!
I chose Reindeer Dance by Magic Goose, one of the UK Indie polishes sadly no longer available. Reindeer Dance has a clear base and is packed with various different sized hexes and some square glitters in reds, silver and black. It is so pretty and goes really nicely over a red base. It doesn't take much to make red wearable :)
Finally I did the fan brushing. I was going to use Avon Cherry Jubilee but the contrast over St James wasn't great enough so I started with MUA Whitewash, and then added Cherry Jubilee. I did not top coat between layers, so I ended up with a rather nice raspberry pink - happy accident :)
I certainly need to practice this technique, I don't think I splayed the bristles out enough but I do like the end result, the colour is much more me :) and you can still see the glitter too which is cool.

Nails Inc St James

Magic Goose Reindeer Dance 

fan brush mani with Avon Cherry Jubilee
and MUA Whitewash