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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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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Liquid Sky Lacquer : Eternal Promise & Glam Polish : Lucky

My first proper post with my new look blog. I also decided to change the background on my photos, but I'm undecided on the result. The lighter background does seem to help the light in my pics a bit more.

My previous post still has me thinking on what kind of blogger I'd like to be. One thing for sure it, not one that needs to be glued to the laptop. So I'm trying to focus on taking better photos with my iPhone, that require no lightening or editing, other than my watermark and a crop.... These 2 things are what I usually do anyway. But if my photo is better to begin with, that's half the battle. Now onto the polish. 

Firstly the accent nails. This is Glam Polish's Lucky. I just love that colour, but that's no secret. It has a scattering of turquoise and green glitters. A subtle amount of bling for this colour. This is 3 coats. I may have been a bit heavy handed applying it, but in future I will probably layer it over a similar base colour.

And this is Liquid Sky Lacquer, Eternal Promise. It is a milky white base with gold scattered glitter. The larger glitters sometimes seem quite green, so it matches quit well with the Glam Polish. How "Lucky" is that? This too was 3 coats, so again, layered over a decent white base will help the expensive stuff go a bit further.

I had no idea where I wanted to go with this mani, so I turned to the stamps, and my fave Barry M Gelly - Guava. Mmmmm. I stamped the guava with MoYou Fairytale Collection 05, and Konad white with MoYou Pro Collection 10, stretching the image to fit my thumb. 

I rarely wear white, but I am pleased with the result.