September Challenges - Vampy and Fave Song

Ooh I am catching up now, only a couple of days behind and one of these challenges was actually today!
The first challenge was Vampy for #30daysofcolourchallange, and although I know Vampy is normally dark red, I had a polish that I really wanted to use. This polish certainly should not have sat untried for so long, the very dark and beautiful A England Incense Burner. In the bottle it looks like a dark brownish shimmery polish, and perhaps not as wow as some other A England polishes but once on the nail it is gorgeous and out in the day light it really is WOW. It is a dark brown but with a gorgeous glowing shimmer to it and a deep plummy purple duochrome shift and I am pretty certain it counts as Vampy! It applied well, a bit streaky on the first coat but perfect on the second.
I think you can see a hint of the plummy tones on the photos but I have a new laptop and the colours are rubbish - it looked good on my phone so I think the pictures are pretty colour accurate.
I decided to add some red anyway, to be sure it was properly vampy and I wanted to use a new plate that I bought from Nail Artisan.  Alex has only recently started up but she is stocking a lovely range of stamping plates and polishes, so I think I am going to be a frequent customer. Anyway, last week she posted that she was now stocking Yours Cosmetics Sascha Gossen plates and of course I had to order them! They are really sweet little plates and for this mani I used  YS01, which is mostly a lace plate. I stamped the lacy image using A England Rose Bower. This stamped really nicely and the plate is perfect. Unfortunately no matter what I did I could not get the camera to see what I could see. Contrast with stamping is definitely something I need to practice more - with hindsight a more solid red rather than a holo would have been more sensible, but you'll have to take my word for it, it was pretty!
Finally, today's challenge for #clairestelle8sept was Fave Song. I don't really have a fave song but I certainly have a fave band, R.E.M. Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011 has been in my car CD player since I bought it in 2011 and is rarely switched for anything else!
I have seen them play live twice and both times the lasting memory for me is when the crowd hold up their lighters in the darkness, such a powerful image and that is why I have flames on my nails today! I used Messy Mansion MM27 and SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops over the vampy nails and am pretty pleased with the way they turned out.

A England Incense Burner

 

A England Rose Bower and Sasca Gossen YS01

 

 

SV By Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops
and Messy Mansion MM27

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

September Challenges - Holo and Mermaid Nails

The next two challenges were Holo for #30daysofcolourchallenge and Mermaid for #clairestelle8sept.
I started with Colors by Llarowe Lake of the Pines, a stunning green teal holo. This is another from the new Fall 2015 collection, again purchased from the ever wonderful Rainbow Connection.
This gorgeous green shade is just amazing and I will certainly be leaving this one out to wear again. This polish applied really nicely and gave such good coverage I didn't apply a second coat - I almost always do but it just didn't need it and I had planned to stamp over it later.
Sadly it was not sunny the day I did these nails so I only have cloudy outdoor shots and a couple of indoor ones, so another reason why this one needs to come out again soon!
I added a coat of a very pretty glitter, one of the gorgeous glitters toppers made by Nail Lacquer UK a couple of years ago, I still love this one - Ariel's Tails, which I thought would be appropriate for mermaid nails.
Then I stamped using DRK XL Designer 2 and 2 Tru Pro Metallica Aglaia. The polish and plate stamped well but the image did hide the glitter which was a bit of a shame. I could still see it glinting but it was barely visible to the camera.

Colors By Llarowe Lake of the Pines

 

 

Nail Lacquer UK Ariel's Tail

DRK XL Designer 2 and 2 True Pro Metallica Aglaia

 

An InLinkz Link-up

September Challenges - Jewel Tone, Dry Marbling and Orchid

Another combination post here combining 3 prompts, 2 for #30daysofcolourchallenge and one for #wnac2015.
The first #30daysofcolourchallenge prompt I did was Jewel Tone and I chose the gorgeous emerald green Claddagh from Smitten Polish. I have a feeling this might have been limited edition. It is just stunning, I really like Smitten polishes and this is no exception, the colour is perfect, the holo is gorgeous, application and coverage were good.
The #wnac2015 prompt was Dry Marbling with Jewel Tones. I used Smitten Claddagh and Kleancolor Metallic Yellow. I still haven't got the hang of this although it did look quite pretty in real life, especially in the sun. I tried doing it just on a bare nail, and also over a coat of polish but neither was very successful. I have since heard that it is worth trying to marble with a small brush rather than a cocktail stick so I might try again...
I'd planned the dry marbling as a base for another mani so when that failed I had to rethink - I used Smitten Claddagh stamped with Emily De Molly EDM16 and Kleancolor Metallic Yellow and then the same image with A England Proserpine - it was gorgeous in the sunshine but you need to see the shady shots to see the stamping a bit better!
The final prompt was Orchid for #30daysofcolourchallenge. I didn't even know orchid was a colour- I had to google it and found it is a purple, or pinky purple, but just to be sure I stamped an orchid-like image from Vivid Lacquer VL014 and used Esmaltes da Kelly Tuco and Chuoisco over my green base.

Smitten Claddagh

Dry marbling with Smitten Claddagh and
Kleancolor Metallic Yellow

Emily de Molly EDM16  with Kleancolor Metallic Yellow
and A England Proserpine

 

 

  

Vivid Lacquer VL014 and
Esmaltes da Kelly Tuco and Chuosico

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

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

September Challenges - Blue and Flowers

I am way behind on my posts again, but here is another combined challenge - Blue for #30daysofcolorchallenge and Flowers for #clairestelle8sept
The blue I chose was A England Proserpine which I actually think this is quite tealy but it is a teal blue, I wanted to wear it and I didn't really have many untried blues.
This is a gorgeous colour - I always thought A England Saint George  was my favourite A England but this is a close competitor. Proserpine is bluer than Saint George but just as dark and gorgeous.
As with all A Englands application was a dream, with perfect coverage. I have used 2 coats but having already stamped with this a few times, I think you might get away with one. This polish does stamp beautifully!
This time however I stamped over it with SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops and Messy Mansion MM20. I love this stamping plate, and I think the combination of the gold stamping and the blue flowers is just stunning. I took a lot of photos!!!
It was my mum and dad's 50th wedding anniversary and I chose these 2 colours partly to match my outfit, so obviously I had to take a few matchy shots too!
Finally, the next day I wanted to test one of my new Vivid Lacquer plates, VL037, so a quick shot of some more flowers with Hit the Bottle Snowed Under.

A England Prosperpine

SV by Sparkly Vernis Gilded Lemon Drops
 and Messy Mansion MM20

Vivid Lacquer VL037 and Hit the Bottle Snowed Under

An InLinkz Link-up