May Challenges - Pink Galaxy

Yesterday's challenge was Pink Galaxy for #ggfnachallenge.
I sponged Tami Nail Polish Skibo Sunset and Gleneagles Glamour over Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus and then stamped the stars with Sascha Gossen YS11 and Barry M Cotton.

Sascha Gossen YS11 and Barry M Cotton

 

April Challenges - Butterflies and Born Pretty BP-74

Last week's smoosh was light grey, berry pink/red and bright blue. I used Nails Inc When Doves Cry, Piccadilly Circus and Baker Street.
The #clairestelle8april prompt was Butterflies, which seemed like the ideal opportunity to use the plate Born Pretty sent me to review. I don't think you can ever have too many butterfly plates and this is a really pretty one, which comes with a nice cardboard sleeve. The plate is BP-74, item number 20791.
There is a nice mix of different butterfly images considering it is a small plate and includes a dragonfly image too. I went for the more solid image for my first layer as I was stamping white over some quite pale areas of my smoosh, and I wanted to create a more consistent pale base for the second layer of black stamping where I went for more of a detailed image.
I did have some difficulty with this plate. It is not very deeply etched and I found my white stamping polishes would not pick up at all - I think they just dried too quickly. In the end I found that I needed only a very light scrape and I managed to use Barry M Cotton reasonably successfully for my first layer of stamping.
I had the same problem with the second layer but eventually had success with Colour Alike Kind of Black.
I was pleased with the final mani but it took a long time and a lot of frustration! I have since tried again with the plate and still suffering the same issues.
I was also sent 2 other plates for review - both are absolutely fine and I think I was just unlucky with one as friends have used this plate with no problems.

Smoosh!

 

Born Pretty BP-74 and Barry M Cotton

Born Pretty BP-74 and Colour Alike Kind of Black

BP-74

September Challenges - Turquoise, Magenta, Indigo and Mosaic

Here I am with another late post. It is my intention to catch up and stay on track but there's always so much going on!
Anyway, I have combined 4 prompts for this mani- 3 for #30daysofcolourchallenge and the final pictures are for #clairestelle8sept.
The first prompt was Turquoise - I used Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales - in my mind I am not too sure on the strict definitions of teal and turquoise - as far as I know either can be used for any colour between blue and green, although I suspect this is a bit dark for turquoise. This is a lovely colour anyway with a gorgeous holo, it applied really nicely with great coverage and I have used this before so I know it stamps well too.
The next prompt was Magenta and I used Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus - one of the first pinks I ever loved. Perhaps not purply enough for magenta but the closest I could get and I used this to paint a freehand diagonal over the turquiose.
The next prompt was Indigo and I used Nails Inc Wigmore Street - a bluey purple, maybe not quite blue enough but it is a lovely colour and I think it goes nicely with the magenta and turquoise.
Finally Claire's prompt was mosaic. I had big plan for this with fantastic reverse stamping but my stamping skills appear to have left me and with limited time I decided to cheat! So the ring finger is reverse stamped, the others are just stamped with Born Pretty BP-L 003 and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under over Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales, Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus and Nails Inc Wigmore Street. Perhaps not as impressive as if I had reverse stamped all the nails but I think from a distance it looks good and I was quite pleased with it.

Fancy Gloss Mermaid Tales

Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus

Nails Inc Wigmore Street

Born Pretty BP-L 003 and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

June Challenges - Pink /Radial Gradient

Today I have done a radial gradient for #30daysofcolourchallenge. Not sure I'll be doing another of these anytime soon, it took forever to clean up!
I started with a base of Nails Inc George Street, a pale pinky nude and then I sponged the gradient using Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus, Power Pink, and George Street.
Although not  a huge fan of pink, I like all 3 of these, Piccadilly Circus and Power Pink have a slight blue tinge and George Street is a lovely nude. I think they worked reasonably well together but I am not convinced this was the most successful mani. It needs some practice, but to be honest I prefer a linear gradient, so this may well be a one off. The pictures aren't the greatest either, I don't think my camera likes gradients - I think they do actually look better in real life.
It did, however, make a nice base for my Flamingo mani.

Pink /Radial Gradient

An InLinkz Link-up

Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus and Romilly Street

This week on All Things Nails it is Pink week, so this is my pink contribution. I got this polish over a year ago as a freebie in December 2011 Glamour magazine. I didn't really expect to like it much as I'd never really worn any pinks or reds but when I swatched it I was in love. It is, as they would say on the Nails Inc shows on QVC, a grown up pink. It has just enough blue in it to make it perfect in my eyes, and it is a beautiful cream. It went on really well, almost perfect in one coat, but I did do two coats. It is so super glossy too, pics here are with no top coat.

Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus

 

And if this wasn't pink enough, I was in the mood for glitter too! I have had Romilly Street for a while now, just longing to be tried out. I have already swatched this over near white and very dark red (see the blog banner) and loved it over both colours, despite my reservations with the white undies.
Nails Inc Romilly Street is one of the graffiti range, and I believe this one is a QVC exclusive. It is a mix of gold and green bar glitter and hexes, along with smaller pink hexes and very fine pink glitter too. The glitter distribution was good, and the finish is pretty smooth after one layer of top coat.
I think it looks gorgeous over Piccadilly Circus, maybe not the strong contrast intended for the graffiti idea but stunning none the less. I think the pinks work well together and I am pleased with the way this mani turned out.
Slightly less pleased that I only got 2 pictures in the daylight yesterday and now today I have pictures in the rain :(

Nails Inc Piccadilly Circus and Romilly Street