40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Pastels Stamped

The disadvantage of doing a mani for 2 prompts is that when you get a nail fail it means you have failed 2 challenges instead of 1 - well anyway, I am afraid I didn't have time to redo these so here we have Rainbows Stripes for #wnac2016 and Pastels Stamped for #40greatnailartideas - what didn't go wrong on this mani? - the list is endless of what did - I guess they look quite pretty but they are not the perfect crisp clear stripes that I had in my mind :(
It was all set out in my mind, using my neon / pastel Virtuous Polishes. The yellow was too neon, the pink was way too bright, the blue had dried up completely and the purple and green needed so much thinner you wouldn't believe.
I ended up using Esmaltes da Kelly Bee and Nails Inc Power Pink as the base and then stamping with Esmaltes da Kelly Wendy, Virtuous Polishes Rahab and Queen Ester using Moyou London Pro XL01.
My ability to stamp straight seemed to have deserted me and the VP polishes always dry so quickly I had to stamp very quickly, not much time for lining up. OK - that's the excuses over. Despite all the issues, they did look pretty and the feedback on Instagram was encouraging (or they were all just being very kind)

pastel stamping with Moyou London Pro XL01

 

pastel stamping with Moyou London Pro XL01 - matte

 

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November Challenges - Purple Glitter and some stamping

Today I have used two beautiful polishes bought from Rainbow Connection. I started with Glam Polish Which Witch? from the recent Halloween Trio. This is the most stunning lilac and holo glitter along with a lot of other colours too!
It applied nicely giving excellent coverage. I used two coats but I think if you don't have stained nails or uneven VNL's you might get away with one. My pictures are a bit disappointing - how can there be NO daylight??? but luckily the macro does show how incredibly pretty this polish is!
Glitter was the last prompt of #pcanovember15 and since it had to be purple, what better than a gradient of Glam Polish Which Witch? and another Glam, Hounds of Love.
Hounds of Love is from the Kate Bush Trio - it is purple, glittery and very beautiful. I sponged this over the tips to make the gradient and I think the two went really well together. The pictures were a bit better and I am pleased with the macro.
Finally, as it's nearly St Andrew's Day I think a bit of Argyle stamping is appropriate. I used Moyou London Pro XL 01 and A England Saint George over my thistley purple gradient. I am really happy with the way this turned out - if I hadn't already planned a St Andrew's day mani I'd have certainly used this one.

Glam Polish Which Witch?

 

Glam Polish Which Witch? and Hounds of Love

 

 

Moyou London Pro XL01 and A England Saint George

 

 

November Challenges - HJ Manicure Thunderstorm and a purple reciprocal gradient

HJ Manicure Thunderstorm is a beautiful delicate lilac/grey creme. This polish is so wearable, the colour is just lovely. I am torn between recording it as pale purple and neutral. It applied beautifully, with excellent coverage and dried well. I am always a bit wary of paler shades for being streaky but no problem here at all - I am completely in love with this one!
I decided to use this as my base for a Purple Gradient for the Pancreatic Cancer Awareness mani #pcanovember15.
I started with a purple gradient of HJ Manicure Thunderstorm, HJ Manicure Lavender and Nails Inc Wigmore Street.
Then I decided to try another reciprocal gradient. I really wanted to see if I could do this with stamping rather than vinyls - so I used the same polishes again to stamp with Moyou London Pro XL 01. It took a few attempts to get this right and in the end by about the 7th nail I gave up trying to blend three colours and used Thunderstorm and Wigmore Street on the stamping plate. That seemed to be more efficient and gave the same result but neater so I'd do that again.

HJ Manicure Thunderstorm

Stamped reciprocal gradient

October Challenges - Witches

The challenge on Saturday for #clairestelle8oct was Witches. I have no witchy plates so I have gone with witchy striped stockings and black cats - all witches have black cats!!!
I started with a base of Kaleidoscope Spring 09 - if I was a witch I'd be happy with these just as they are for witchy nails - it is a lovely bright green with a subtle blue glitter, almost a dust - stunning!!
Then I added stripes with Esmaltes da Kelly Tuco and Moyou London Pro XL 01. Blue is my favourite nail colour but when it comes to combos - green and purple every time! I love these stripes even if they look a bit weird on my curved nails!
Then I added the cats with A England Camelot and Messy Mansion MM50. These certainly looked better glossy but I took a matte shot too as photographing them was a challenge!

Kaleidoscope Spring 09

 

 

Moyou London Pro XL 01 and Esmalted da Kelly Tuco

 

Messy Mansion MM50

 

September Challenges - Colour of Your Socks

Today's prompt for #30daysofcolourchallenge was Colour of Your Socks. As I was in the mood for stripes, I dug out a pair of stripey socks and then set to work recreating them.
I started with a base of Leighton Denny Brick Road, and then added blue stripes with Esmaltes da Kelly Wendy and Moyou London Pro XL 01.
Then I added more stripes with Colour Alike Red Wine & Lilac Sweater and Lealac LLC-A. The image on LLC-A is quite large so it was possible to paint the actual stripes in alternating colours on the plate - a bit tricky but worth it I think. The resulting stripes were not that tidy, a bit wonky in places but overall I thought they were OK..
Then I added the knitted look with A England Lancelot and Messy Mansion MM40. I do like this plate!!
Finally I added a matte top coat. I still can't decide whether I prefer this mani matte or glossy but I was pretty pleased with it anyway.

Moyou London Pro XL 01
and Esmaltes da Kelly Wendy

Lealac LLC-A and Colour Alike Lilac Sweater and Red Wine

Messy Mansion MM40 and A England Lancelot

 

 

Messy Mansion MM40 - matte

 

 

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September Challenges - Summer Colour and Colour of Your Shirt

Yesterday's prompt was Summer Colour for #30daysofcolourchallenge. I decided to use Glam Polish Tickled Pink - a store exclusive from Rainbow Connection. Tickled Pink is a gorgeous, amazingly glittery pink. It is quite a warm pink so probably not my first choice for a pink except that it is mega sparkly, so it is allowed! Coverage was good with 2 coats although it did seem to take a while to dry hard, maybe because it was so cold today. This is my first Glam Polish and I like it a lot but I did find it a challenge to photograph.
The next  prompt for #30daysofcolourchallenge was Colour of Your Shirt.  I always wanted a pink and white Oxford shirt and just a couple of weeks ago a flyer came through the door with a great offer, so I treated myself. I used Moyou London Pro XL 01 and Essence Stampy 001 over Glam Polish Tickled Pink in honour of my lovely new shirt. This actually photographed rather well I think and the glitteryness of the Glam really shows.
Then I added some more stamping with Loja BBF 46 and Colour Alike Kind of Black - a new stamping polish which I received today. I had to test it and I am very impressed. Super quick delivery from Poland and a great price, as well as a great polish. The Loja BBF plate stamped well too, I am loving these little plates that I got in a group buy recently!
Finally I added Barry M Matte Top Coat and I really like the finished matter version. I love this Barry M top coat, it gives the most delicious velvety finish, and certainly helps with taking better pictures of stamping!

Glam Polish Tickled Pink

 

 

 

Moyou London Pro XL 01 and Essence Stampy 001

 

 

 

 

Loja BBF 46 and Colour Alike Kind of Black

Loja BBF 46 and Colour Alike Kind of Black - matte

 

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

A2Z Series - L is for Lines

This Thursday's letter is L - L is for Lines.
I thought about this one quite a lot - straight lines, wavy lines, curvy lines, but my mind kept taking me to Blondie - Parallel Lines. I couldn't get the album cover out of my head so in the end I have gone with black and white parallel lines, which you might really call stripes but there we go.
I did a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and then stamped using Moyou Pro XL 01 and Essence Stampy 002.
I really rather like these humbug nails. I am quite impressed and surprised that the lines are reasonably well aligned, although they certainly emphasize how crooked my fingers are!

L is for Lines - Moyou Pro XL 01

 

   

Look HERE to see what everyone else got up to.

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