Stamping! A fruit themed mani with DRK XL Designer 2, A England Dragon and an alcohol ink base

A small group of friends decided we should do a fruit themed mani - you can see the others on Instragram #tncnailedit.
This is my contribution:-
I started with a base of Barry M Coconut (is that a fruit? I think so) and then I had my first play with alcohol inks. The colour I used was Citrus, a bright vibrant greeny yellow, clearly this is a fruit!
I have seen so many manis using alcohol inks so I had to try! I just did a very basic one to start, just sponging a little ink over the Coconut base. I then top coated and you have to be very careful here, the top coat really did disturb the ink, even more than it smudges stamping.
Then I stamped using A England Dragon (there is a dragon fruit, you know!) and DRK XL Designer 2 which has the cutest little pineapples on it!
I think maybe I should have toned down the citrus base for a better contrast but on the whole I think it turned out OK.

DRK XL Designer 2  and A England Dragon

 

Citrus alcohol ink base

Barry M Coconut

Stamping! Born Pretty BP-L 003 over multicoloured pastel base

I wasn't quite ready to part with the pretty multicoloured nails I had done for Holi, so today I have stamped a 3rd layer. This time I have stamped in white over the pastel base and I really love the finished look.
The pattern on Born Pretty BP-L 003 is so pretty and it reminds me of the engravings you see on the side of Egyptian tombs and temples. I really like the contrast of the crisp white Essence Stampy 001 over the random pastel base.

Born Pretty BP-L 003 over multicoloured pastel base

 

 

March Challenge #clairestelle8march - Holi (Festival of Colours)

Holi is a spring festival, also know as the Festival of Colours. I think I remember the children doing something about this when they were at primary school.
In terms of a mani it looks like anything goes as long as there is lots of colour - what better use for my Women of Valor Virtuous Polishes
So here we go - I started with a base of Nails Inc Haymarket, I then used Vivid Lacquer plate VL 010 which has a camouflage pattern on it, and stamped with Virtuous Polishes Deborah, Miriam and Queen Ester.
Regular blog readers will spot that I then added  a coat of Quirk Songbird for my Quirky nails.
Then, today, I used the same plate and added more Queen Esther, Ruth and Rahab.
It all looks a bit random, but it's colourful and actually I really like it!

Holi (Festival of Colours)
Vivid Lacquer VL010 and Virtuous Polishes Women of Valor

 

 

A2Z Series - Q is for Quirky

Well, it is Thursday again, and time for this week's A2Z challenge - the prompt is Q for Quirky.
I guess if I'd thought about it for long enough I'd have come up with something quirky but my first thought was that it would be the perfect opportunity to use a Quirk polish. Sadly, Kerry at Quirk does not make polishes any more, and I think Songbird was from one of her last collections.
I have actually worn it but never blogged it as I wanted to try it over a different base.
It is such a pretty polish made up of white opaque glitters and lots of pretty pastel iridescent glitters. I first wore this over a dark brown base but really wanted to try it over a nude or pastel base. At the time I couldn't decide which colour pastel to try, but now that I have the stamping bug I feel I have to use it over a multi-coloured stamped base.
I started with a base of Nails Inc Haymarket, a lovely pastel minty green.
I then used 3 Virtuous polishes, Deborah (ooh that's me!!!!), Miriam and Queen Ester and the camouflage pattern on Vivid Lacquer plate VL 010 to stamp a multi-coloured image onto my nails.
I then added a coat of Songbird and top coated it all.
I think this is pretty Quirky ? I am quite pleased with it, although the pastel glitters have got a little lost, I still need to re-use Songbird over a nude base I think.

A2Z Series - Q is for Quirky

 

  

An InLinkz Link-up

March Challenge #clairestelle8march - Zig Zag - DRK XL Designer 2, A England Princess Tears

I decided to join in with another nail art challenge, can't be 100% certain why as I struggle to keep up with the A2Z but I thought maybe I'd keep the posts brief - I just liked the sound of the challenges on this one on Instagram hosted by lovely Claire @clairestelle8.
Today's prompt was Zig Zag.
Possibly an opportunity to use vinyls but they take me so long to do so I stamped using DRK XL Designer 2. I used A England Princess Tears over my Black Cat mani from yesterday
I decided to be a bit different and stamp the zig zags length-ways along the nail and I am really pleased with the finished look.

Zig Zag -
DRK XL Designer 2 and A England Princess Tears

 

 

  

Black Cat Lacquer Magic Spells

Today's polish is a beautiful dark thermal. Black Cat Lacquer Magic Spells is just gorgeous. Darkish plummy purple in its warm phase, it moves to almost black in its cool phase, with the added bonus of scattered holo too!
I have had this polish a while, just been waiting for the right weather conditions. I am delighted that it is generally a dark polish, quite a lot of thermals go very pale when warm, pale and sheer. I did 3 thin coats of this for good coverage, but no concerns about that naughty nail line showing through.
The down side of the polish being dark in all phases was that although I can quite clearly see the thermal gradient, even now just sat typing, it seems too subtle for my camera to pick up.
It looks lovely, the majority of my nail is the plummy purple and the tips are black  - perfect, just so pretty! This is a real me polish!! I love the name too, despite thermals being around for quite some time, they do still seem like magic to me :)
So we have a whole mix of pictures, cold outside pics, a couple where I dashed outside when my hands were warm to try and catch the purple and a bit of gradient, a cheaty one that I took inside by the window, and a few inside after doing the washing up and thrusting my fingers into the freezer! crazy!! I managed to catch the pretty sparkle on a few and I think you can see the gradient if you look hard!

Black Cat Lacquer Magic Spells

 

 

 

 

Stamping! St David's Day mani with Pueen SE01B and TarasTalons Holo Sunshine

Well, today is St David's Day and as my husband is Welsh I thought I'd better do a St David's Day mani. After all, the internet will be filled with manis on 17th March for St Patrick's Day.
When I googled I could only find 2 St David's Day manis, I am sure there are more but here is my contribution.
In the past I have gone to some lengths to find daffodils for 1st March, so I decided that's what I'd do for this mani. I scanned all my plates to find a daffodil, and came up with just one suitable image on Pueen SE01B.
I started with a base of Attitue Masking Tape, and then painted 2 fingers and thumb of each hand with 2 coats of TaraTalons Holo Sunshine. As you know, I am not a fan of yellow, but I think now that I am experimenting more and being a bit braver, yellow is creeping out of the helmer more often!
This is quite  a soft yellow but coverage over the creamy base was good with 2 coats. I then added a dash of TarasTalons Spring which is a pale, pretty green holo.
I then stamped the daffodil image on all my nails with A England Camelot, and topcoated them.
The final step was to use the lead light technique to colour in the middle and ring fingers with TarasTalons Holo Sunshine, I coloured a small leafy area with Spring  and I did the centres of the daffs with Kleancolour Holo Orange.
It looked just a touch pale so I added some colour to the centre of the petals with an yellow gold Sharpie and that completed the look.
Despite it being yellow, I am pretty pleased with these and my husband was impressed so that's a major achievement!

St David's Day mani
with Pueen SE01B and TarasTalons Holo Sunshine