November Challenges - Wings/Feathers

The next prompt for pancreatic cancer awareness #pcanovember15 was Wings/Feathers.
I started with a saran wrap base of Ciate Sugar Plum and Ciate Pillow Fight and then used Barry M Black Currant and DRK XL Designer 2. This is such a wonderful plate, packed full of images, and I didn't even realise these sweet little birds were there until I spotted them yesterday!

Saran Wrap with Ciate Pillow Fight and Ciate Sugar Plum

DRK XL Designer 2

 

November Challenges - Dots

Today's prompt for #clairestelle8nov was Dots.
I decided to use yesterday's Roses mani as my base and then see how many layers I could add!
I started with Hit the Bottle Snowed Under and the very large dots on Apipila Super Plate A.
Then I used Esmaltes da Kelly Wendy and the same image again.
Then I used Kleancolor Madly Black and the smaller dot image on the same plate. Finally I added a coat of OPI Matte top coat.

Hit the Bottle Snowed Under and Apipila Super Plate A

Esmaltes da Kelly Wendy and Apipila Super Plate A

Kleancolour Madly Black and Apipila Super Plate A

Kleancolour Madly Black and Apipila Super Plate A
 - matte

40 Great Nail Art Ideas - Grey and a colour - Roses

This weeks 40 Great Nail Art Ideas prompt was Grey and a colour and my pattern was Roses.
A colour - means that - just one colour and I spent ages deciding which colour but I have always loved the idea of blue roses, even if they don't really exist so in the end that's what I went with.
It was a great excuse to use on of my blue un-trieds, Too Fancy Lacquer The Patronus Charm from the September Paint the Rainbow box.
The Patronus Charm is a dark greyish blue holo with blue shimmer. It is a very wearable shade and I am certain I don't have anything similar in my collection. I love blue and that greyishness is just perfect.
Then I stamped using Esmaltes da Kelly Topolino and Uber Chic UC 1-02. I love this image and for this mani I think it gave the right amount of stamping versus back ground and I am really pleased with the contrast between the creme stamping and the holo.

Too Fancy Lacquer The Patronus Charm

 

 

Uber Chic UC 1-02 and Esmaltes da Kelly Topolino

 

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

November Challenges - Shattered Glass

The prompt for #wnac2015 was Shattered Glass and I assume that we were supposed to try that new technique that people have been doing recently.
Well, I invested a huge amount of money (well £5) in a box of Quality Street so I could use the cellophane wrappers off the chocolates for this but it didn't work very well for me.
Anyway, I skimmed through my plates and spotted an image I thought might work and I think the outcome is OK.
I started with a base of A England Ophelia, super dark with a gorgeous purple shimmer. I took a couple of shots with the flash to make sure I picked that up!
Then I added a coat of Avon Magic Effects Frayed Edges. This is a glitter topper of white and silver bar glitter in a clear base, rather like the feathers polishes that Nails Inc brought out a couple of years ago. I rather liked them but some of mine have dried up so I picked up a few Avon ones at a great price.
Then I stamped a mosaic sort of image from Uber Chic UC 5-02 with Avon Metallic Effects Arctic Steel. I think it looks a bit like shattered glass?

A England Ophelia

 

 

Avon Frayed Edges

 

Uber Chic UC 5-02 and Avon Arctic Steel

 

November Challenges - Gothic

The prompt for #clairestelle8nov was Gothic - what better place to start than with one of the gothic beauties by A England - Jane Eyre.
Jane Eyre is a deep dark black with red shimmer, in some lights it does just look black but it has these gorgeous red glints when you catch it in the light so I used that as the base for this mani.
I did have a couple of false starts as I had been playing with the matte / shiny idea but stamping matte top coat looked wrong, and matting Jane Eyre looked wrong so I stamped with Kleancolour Madly Black which is matte and I know it stamps well.
I was quite pleased with the way this turned out and even more pleased I managed to get a reasonable photo.

A England Jane Eyre

 

Kleancolor Madly Black and Cici & Sisi 12

 

 

November Challenges - to match a party dress

This wasn't a challenge as such - just me trying to match my nails to the dress I was wearing for a 50th birthday party.
I had this idea of stamping across two images from the gorgeous MJ XXX1 plate that I got from Nail Artisan. My dress was a sort of patchwork of black and white florals so the idea was to reflect that on my nails. It didn't go entirely to plan as the patterns side by side were quite similar but I did want to keep it quite subtle and I was happy enough with the outcome. If I do it again I'll be a bit braver, I think.
I used Saffron London White over China Glaze Liquid Leather as I like the off-white/grey stamping I get with the Saffron polish.
The next day I added a second layer of stamping with the same plate and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under. I loved that and kept it on for a second day!

MJ XXXI

MJ XXXI

November Challenges - Nails Inc Grosvenor Crescent and Stencils

The prompt was Stencils for #clairestelle8nov - I decided to use the Smart nails stencils that I recently won in a giveaway.
I started with a base of Nails Inc Grosvenor Crescent which was one of the freebies in Glamour magazine recently. This is a dark red/purple creme. It applied beautifully.
I wore that for a day, just to make sure it was really dry and because I loved it.
Then I used the stencil P048 and SV by Sparkly Vernis Blurple Ice Cubes. Because this is quite a small image (and you get different sizes for each finger) I was able to use these quite easily as the wrinkling I get from my curvy nails was away from the actual pattern. I think these worked rather well and I loved the contrast of the super holo Blurple Ice Cubes and the glossy Grosvenor Crescent.

Nails Inc Grosvenor Crescent

Smart Nails Art Stencil P048