31 Day Challenge : Day 19 : Galaxies

I have done galaxies before, but I wanted to do something a bit different this time. My attempt with special polishes (Picture Polish - illusionist & altered state), didn't quite work out, so I returned to what I knew.

Excuse the bad photo, but I was trying to highlight the glitter "stars".

I used a sponge to add the lighter colours, all at the same time, over a base of Barry M - Black Multi Glitter.

The other colours were,

NYC - Lincoln Square Lavander & Blue Sky

Revlon - Midnight Affair

Models Own - White Light

Barry M - Shocking Pink & Diamond Glitter

 

After my standard galaxy base was dry, I got out my acrylic paints - black, white, red, orange, yellow, green and silver - to add some space stuff.

My arty skills are limited, but I just went for it, and again, I resisted the temptation to put in too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And don't forget my little green alien...... And that's how I did my galaxy nails, a little bit differently.

I am so not looking forward until tomorrow. It is water marbling...... Let's see if I can get a proper pattern out of it for once.

Please click through, and check out the challenge nails from the other girls.

 

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31 Day Challenge : Day 17 : Glitter

Oh I had high hopes for this when I finally got my hands on some glequins, but no. It wasn't to be. I found it quite difficult with the ones I have as they weren't uniform in size. So some were placing fine, and others were too small, cut funny or just around the wrong way. Glequin glitter placement is far more difficult than it looks. I started again and this time kept it simple with these.

A single line of (almost) hex glitter, and double lines for the accent. I resisted the temptation of covering the whole nail.

The base colour is Barry M - Black Multi Glitter, which considering it is packed with teeny, weeny multi glitter, it has a great opaque coverage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a dark shot, with some light to reflect the glitter. Sparkly!

It's been a long time since I've used loose glitter in this way. I should really make better use of my stash in future.

Have a look at what the other girls are doing for the challenge. +Cynthia Lee Perez is out of the game at the moment as she has an injury, preventing her from taking part. I hope she gets better soon.

 

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31 Day Challenge : Day 15 : Delicate Print

Yes, I struggled with this one. I lost count on how many attempts I made, and I ended up resorting to stamps again. I think it's time I sat down and planned out some more for the rest of the month, before this ends up being a total fail. So here we go.

This is just Barry M glitter, ( Superdrug Special Edition - E 334) over a base coat and stamped with one of my more delicate looking stamps.

I am a fan of my delicate stamps, and there's not many in my collection I haven't used.

This one is from MoYou Pro Collection XL 14.

I used Konad white, which I managed to fix(ish), by leaving the top off the bottle for a while. It was quite runny and appeared to be separating, but it looks much better now.

 

I did take these pics with the flash on, I never do this nowadays, but the glitter asked me to. As you know, glitter is bad for photographing, and the delicate print didn't make it much easier.

But there we go, out of the way! Phew! I'm so glad to be back on track.

Remember to check out the rest of the girls doing the challenge.

 

 

 

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31 Day Challenge : Day 4 : Green

I do have some pretty greens in my collection, but it's a colour I don't wear enough.

I wanted to wear a few greens, but keep it simple, so I opted for some super easy wavy stripes.

 

 

Here are the polishes I used :

A base coat of Rimmel - Sage Green

Rimmel - Mermaid Green

Barry M - Diamond Glitter, Key Lime and Spring Green

2true - Arete

China Glaze - OMG A UFO

 

I also used a striping brush.

 

The lack of sun at the moment failed to bring out the China Glaze holographic polish, and the Barry M glitter topper, but I can't have it all!

 

Please check out the challenges from these lovely girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a few snapshots of the nails from my nail buddies from the last 3 days. Sadly, I didn't manage to get everyone.

 

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Metallic Bronze & Stamping

I have been meaning to try out some of my metalic bronze polishes for a while, but I've never got round to it.

With so many pastel nails at the moment, I thought I would go for a dark change. I'm pleased with the outcome, but I am dying to get my hands on some steampunk image plates just for these polishes.

On a side note, I'd just like to say how fantastic the HK Girl top coat is. The more I use it, the more I love it. It really made the black stamping polish pop out on these darker base colours. Thumbs up!

Here's the polishes I used.

W7 - Metallic Saturn

Barry M - Copper

GOSH - Galaxy

Revlon - Rich

Collection - Gothic Glam Deadly

Konad - Black Pearl for stamping.

 

 

 

The W7 - Metallic Saturn was a great find in the bargain bin, also a great choice to put on as a base, as the other metallics have glitters, and need multiple coats for full opacity.

I was surprised at how nice this one was, as W7 formula tends to be quite thick and streaks very easy when applying. But this one was smooth.

 

 

GOSH - Galaxy was used for the middle and ring finger, but after remembering about my Revlon polish, I removed the ring finger and repainted it. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph before stamping. The Revlon had more silvery hues, compared to the gold, bronze and blue in this one.

This is one coat over W7.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deadly, from Collection, was the darkest of the polishes. This is probably the first time I have used it, and I'm impressed. Application was smooth, it's an attractive colour and it was very cheap. I might even get the others in the Gothic Glam collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barry M - Copper. It is exactly what it says on the bottle. It was perfect for layering over my base coat, I just wish it was more opaque and suitable to stamp with. I'll just have to settle for stamping over it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It might have helped to get my thumb in focus, but it isn't bad. The finished set with Konad - Black Pearl, and MoYou Pro collections, 03,06 & 10.

I'm having a hard time trying to decide which one is my favourite......

 

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Picture Polish - Ultra Violence & Friends

 

 

 

Today I decided to try out my first Picture Polish goodies from Rainbow Connection. They are the most pricey on offer, so I'm trying to be careful with them.

This was the finished result after the base polish, some chevron nail vinyls (which you can barely notice in the pic), and some stamping.

 

 

 

 

So here is the glorious Ultra Violence. It is a stunning glittery purple could have worn on it's own, but that's not me, not today anyway.

 

I was expecting a bit more from this, considering the very high price, as it needed 3 coats. But it sure does look pretty.

 

 

After that dried I added my chevron nail vinyls to my ring finger and thumb, and dazzled them with Picture Polish, Altered State, along with a top coat of the same for my index finger. I think this topper would be better suited to a black base but you do see there is a subtle difference here.

 

My middle finger and pinkie got a top coat of Polish Me Silly, Mind Blowing. And really I could have stopped there. Obviously I didn't.

 

 

 

Out came the MoYou stamping plates. Happy times!

The ring and index fingers were stamped with the Sailor Collection 03 plate, using a mix of both silver and gold Barry M foil effect paint. I stretched the images on the stamper as these are really too small for my nails. I'm pleased with how they came out.

The rest of the fingers were stamped with Pro Collection 06 using Konad special polish, Black Pearl.

From this angle you can see the underlying chevrons reflect in the light.

 

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Braided Nails

This is probably the longest polish process I've done. Waiting for each stripe to dry before moving onto the next layer.

Braided nails. 

My first attempt turned out quite well, with the combination of my favourite technique, gradients. I also combined this with matte, shiney and glitter, so there's a bit of everything. 

I felt a little rushed on this attempt, possibly because I didn't have much to do between each stripe but wait. The addition of Max Factor's Fantasy Fire in between the braids livened this one up. 

I had a theme in mind for this, but like a lot of mani's, they don't always turn out the way you imagine. 

Challenge Accepted - Nail Polish Queens

Being part of the G+ community - +Nail Polish Queens is like having a world of nail gurus in one place. One of the highlights of the group is the weekly challenge set by +Sarah Short. Always fun and always a challenge.

This week the challenge was Viva Las Vegas. After all other ideas I had were posted, only one thing stuck in my mind. Elvis! I think I managed to pull it off as I tested my 11 year old daughters' recognition of my accent nail. 

All you need is red, white, black and gold. A detailing brush and a dotting tool. The studs and feather glitter was an extra bit of Vegas glam. I look forward to the challenge every week. Bring on the next one! 

Mmmmm Guava

After so many colour combos I started to think that doing my nails just one colour was boring. But then I found matte top coat. 

This is Barry M Gelly Gauva - one if my favourite colours! There's something magical about it that I just can't resist. Half coated with Rimmel Pro matte finish and finished with a matching teal glitter. The accent nail is the hi-shine guava with dots of matte top coat. I was super pleased with the result. But I think anything would look great with that colour!