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

 

 

A2Z Series - H is for Holographic

It is Thursday again and time for the next instalment of the A2Z series - H is for Holographic.
I had it all planned...I'd done a gradient before with 2 creme shades but I thought this was a great opportunity to try a holo gradient. I chose my 2 most holo polishes, Above the Curve Ultra Holo Blue and Ultra Holo Purple. I think it worked well, but it was a bit on the subtle side.
I had a plan of what I wanted to do with this mani next so thought I'd give that a try and if it worked, I'd go with that, otherwise it would just be the gradient.
I painted half of each nail diagonally with Above the Curve Crunchy Leaves from this year's Best Things About Fall Collection, took a few more pics in case stage 3 went wrong and then got stamping :)
As you may know knitting was my main hobby, although it now has to share with nail painting. I don't normally do intarsia, or fair isle as I really struggle with the tension but that doesn't stop me loving the patterns. I have a waistcoat made to a Kaffe Fassett pattern, with a saw-tooth design and it is that jacket that has inspired today's nails. Of course I had to stamp with my newest favourite plate Messy Mansion 40!! I stamped with A England Lancelot, as I felt black/red would go well with the Crunchy Leaves, and black would be too.. black!
Crunchy Leaves is a stunning wine coloured holo which I think went well with my gradient, and the wholo holo look gives a texture which I think is perfect to stamp a knitting pattern onto, so here we have holographic knitty nails  :)
I have included a couple of pics to show what I did along the way, but I am really pleased with the outcome.

A2Z Series - H is for holographic
Holographic knitty nails

the Ultra Holo gradient

gradient with diagonal split

Look HERE to see what everyone else got up to.

An InLinkz Link-up

Stamping! Mentality polishes and Messy Mansion plates

It was a bit like Christmas last week - first the postman delivered my long awaited Messy Mansion plates, and then half an hour later the courier delivered my Black Friday order from Sally Magpies, some Mentality stamping quality polishes. New plates and new polishes... well they had to be tested, didn't they.
I was wearing A England Crown of Thistles and Messy Mansion 16 does actually have a thistle on it but it also has an ornate swirly pattern that looks like it could be made up of thistles too, so I opted to try that image with the Mentality Blue Opaque. The polish and plate stamped beautifully although I did have to clean the plate between every use, (I know you are supposed to anyway!) but the polish I guess is a little thicker than I am used to so I had to be really good! The contrast wasn't the best, holo isn't always the best base to stamp over but the blue and purple went well together, and although you can't clearly see the stamping in the pictures, it was quite clear to the naked eye. I liked the look that the 2 colours gave together anyway, even without the definition.
It struck me though, that the blue purple combo would look good under another stamp. One of the other plates I bought was Messy Mansion 40. I bought this plate after seeing it used by vernimage on Instagram. Stood in the middle of the park, watching my son play football (but really checking my IG feed), I squealed when I saw it, I have to have that plate!! The plate has knitting images on it - it must have been made for me :)
So, using the Mentality White Opaque, I stamped the larger chunky knitting pattern over my previous mani, the blue and purple peeping though like a chunky marl.
I love this plate!! my mind is overflowing with knitting mani's I want to try!!!
The white stamped well, although it does look a bit silver to me now, and again, the plate needed cleaning between every stamp.
I'll just add a couple of pics of each mani but I am really pleased with my new plates and polishes.

Mentality Blue Opaque with Messy Mansion 16

 

Mentality White Opaque with Messy Mansion 40