Adventures in Stamping - Multicoloured Mess

Hello! Happy Sunday :)

This week the theme over at Adventures in Stamping was to stamp with two or more colours within the same image. I've done this before fairly successfully, but I wasn't all that convinced with today's result. Maybe because the image  used was wavy and a little abstract it didn't really work? I don't know. ANyway the base was Nails Inc Hampton Court Palace Gardens, and I stamped with Sally Hansen InstaDry Jade Jump, Speedy Sunburst and Konad White. The plate was Pueen 42.

And I unintentionally matched my dress. Kind of...

Anyway, that was my fail this week! Sorry I've not blogged all week, but I've had visitors and time got away from me. I'm thinking of having a little blog revamp in the not to distant future, so keep an eye out for that! I want to get back into blogging proper, so a fresh start may be needed...

Hx

Pin It

Adventures in Stamping - XOXO

This weeks Adventures in Stamping prompt was to use a plate ending in 8. Now, sit back, I'm going to tell you a little story. While my plate collection is not vast, the number I own is definitely in the hundreds - I have the first 3 Bundle Monster sets, a cheeky, a GALS and a Pueen set, 20 or so HB plates, a few sets with 4 or 5 plates in (Salon Express, Nailz Craze, Fun) and quite a few miscellaneous plates - konads and fauxnads, a couple SdP's, an Cheeky XL. You get the picture. Friday night, I sat down with my box of plates and spent about 20 minutes pulling out all of the plates ending with a 9. Hang on, I hear you say, didn't she just say the theme this week was plates ending in 8? Well, yes. Yes I did dear reader. Doh. So, I went a put all the "9" plates back in the right places (about 20 of them), and then spent about another 20 minutes pulling out all the 8s - again about 20. I chose the one I wanted to use and then carefully put back all the others. I started on my base with the box of neatly organised plates sat next to me on the couch, until something spooked the dog and he jumped up sending the box flying. Grr. So then, I had to pick the scattered plates up from the floor with wet nails, which of course meant ruining the base, and even managing to peel off a split I'd been babying. Safe to say this mani was not meant to be...

Anyway, I did get it done eventually, and I rather like it in the end. The ill fated base was OPI Pink Friday, which I added stripes to with Barry M's white nail art pen. Then I stamped using Sallen Hansen Insta Dry Speedy Sunburst and Pueen 38.

After all that hassle, I really don't feel like taking it off tonight... I'll have to replace it with something really awesome ;)

Hx

Pin It

April Tri Polish Challenge day 3 - You've been framed...

Morning!

Day 2 of April's Tri polish challenge, and I'm not sure how I feel about this one... The idea was good, but I'm not so sure about the execution. I started with a base of my turquoise (Rimmel Sky High) and used the cling film technique with Nails Inc Candy Orange (reversed on the accent nail). I was hoping for something a bit more jewel-like, but I kind of got mud. Then to fit in with the gem stone theme I painted a frame with a gold striper - thinking that as it was an antique-y sort of gold it would look like a cabuchon set in old gold...hmm not sure if I got there to be honest. It was ok in bright sunlight, but we don't get much of that in good old Blighty so I think it was a bit of a fail...

I think the accent nail looks better, maybe I should have done them all that way. Or maybe I shouldn't have used a muted gold for the frames. Or maybe I should have done something different altogether...

Hx

Pin It

New 31 day challenge day 12, tape mani

Hello again!

Just warning you from the start: I fail at tape manis. I think I have only ever had one truly successful one, and that was a fluke. Whether I use striping tape, sellotape (scotch tape), masking tape, french tip guides, hole reinforcers, stickers - I always foul it up somehow. Anyway, I've seen a lot of gold and teal coloured manis done with striping tape and thought I'd give it a go...first mistake. Second mistake was the gold I chose, a cheap drugstore brand that wasn't opaque enough and needed too many thick coats. I thought I'd just do an accent nail, and that made all the mistakes more blindingly obvious. But never mind, you live and learn! You can kinda see what I was trying to do, right?

Also, it was the darkest, dullest day ever when I took the pictures, so it looks doubly awful. Anyway, I was in love with the mani I did for tomorrow's challenge so I hope I will redeem myself!

Hx

Pin It

NOTD - Peachy Plait or Fishtail Fail?

Morning!

I must have pinned 11tybillion of these fishtail/braided designs, so I decided the other day to try one, in my favourite peachy tones. I used Barry M Peach Melba, Collection 2000 Hot Looks Fruit Salad and Barry M Gold Foil. I did two accent nails, ring and middle, with the plait detail and the other three fingers with the separate colours. Every version I've seen of this has been beautiful, and the tutorials have looked so deceptively easy - but can I just say I didn't find this easy at all! It was a pain in the arse, messy, took ages because I had to let each stripe dry before I could do the next one and when I was finished I didn't like it. Hmph. I forced myself to keep it on (mainly because it was about midnight by the time I was finished and I couldn't face the prospect of going to bed with naked nails) and it's grown on me I guess. It doesn't look so bad now it's cleaned up, and I've had some compliments on it so I guess it doesn't look too bad...

Maybe if my nails were a bit longer it would look better? I don't know, I'm just not sold on this one, on me at least. Maybe it was just more effort than it was worth! Kudos to everyone who does on every nail - you have more patience than me!

So what do you think, peachy plait or fishtail fail?

Hx

Pin It

Adventures In Stamping - Ready for Fall

I would just like to categorically state that I am NOT ready for fall/Autumn. I feel like we haven't even had summer yet, so autumn can wait! But ready for fall won the Adventures In Stamping vote this week, so ready for fall it is...

Maybe it should have been ready for FAIL because that's what this mani is. It wasn't the stamping that failed, it was my colour choices. The base colour was too dark and shimmery so the stamping barely shows. Good idea, bad execution. The base is Sally Hansen Arabian Night and I stamped with Color Club Revvvolution and BM206.

Can you see it? Thought not. Here is the image I was going for...

And if I wasn't cheesed off enough, then this happened.

(Ironic how you can actually see the pattern a little better here, no?)

Le Sigh. Was not my day.

Hx

Pin It

31 Day Challenge - day 29 inspired by the supernatural

*Queue X-files music*

Actually, I had another fail...BUT it wasn't my fault this time! I decided to use a Claires Mood Polish that I bought from a blog sale, but it didn't work :( I used Lonely/Loved, which should be a teal/light blue that changes according to heat. But NOTHING I do to this polish will make it change. Hands in freezer, nothing. Hands in oven, nothing. Maybe it's an old bottle and the whatever particles inside have worn out. Maybe my nails are too short. Maybe NAIL POLISH HATES ME!1! /emo

I thought whatever jiggery pokery is inside the polish would be appropriate for supernatural nails. It's MAJIK, obviously! But it didn't work so I stuck an alien sticker on my ring fingers. Lame, I know, sorry!

Pretty still, and super sheer! This was 4 coats!

Never mind, onwards and upwards! Only two days left and then it's time to break out the Christmas nails!

Tomorrow is inspired by a tutorial and I am going to spend the evening looking through a load :) Bliss!

Hx

Pin It

NOTD - I don't wanna see your Peacock...

Hi!

Today I have a fail of a polish to show you. I swear it wasn't my fault, I wanted to love this polish, I love the colour but it wasn't to be. 17 Fast Finish Peacock is a pretty turquoise metallic. But that is where the "good" points end. Firstly, it was super sheer. 4 coats and there was still VNL under some lights. Secondly, the colour just didn't suit me, not the polishes fault I'll admit, but I think I was expecting more teal and less green. Thirdly, 17 weren't joking when they called it fast finish - it was too bloody fast! After the first coat the polish started drying on the brush before I even got it anywhere near my nail so it was draggy and streaky and a pig to apply. There were even a few lumps in there. Ew. But, I somehow managed to get sheet marks and wrinkles, even though I didn't go to bed until at least 2 hours after I finished painting. Finally, I got a duff brush. I was pretty unhappy with this mani from the word go, but I wore it for a day and didn't have time to change it last night, so to be able to bear it another day I did what I do best and shattered all over it.

A coat of MUA Nail Quake in Broken Arrow and order was restored. I even think it looks kind peacock feathery, doesn't it? And I got lots of positive comments on it at playgroup today. I swear all the other Mums think I'm bonkers. They might have a point...

Hx

Pin It

NOTD - Natural Collection Topaz + Stamping

Well, this mani turned out as a semi fail, and I lay the blame completely on the Natural Collection polish. I'm so disappointed, I had high hopes for this polish (even though it's lain untried for months...) The bottle shows a gorgeous pearly blue but on the nail the blue disappears and you're left with a bubbly, brush-strokey mess. Boo. I have another Natural Collection polish, Raspberry (which I blogged about when I was starting out but the pics are too awful to link to, you can look back if you want a laugh) and I loved it. I would say you can't win them all and these polishes are less than £2, but so are Beauty UK and MUA polishes...

Anyway, once this hot mess was dry I stamped stars over it using Miss Sporty Hypnotic Turquoise and two of the first Bundle Monster plates, BM05 and BM20. It's a subtle look, over powered by the mega-pearly Natural Collection I think, but I'll try it again, with a different base colour.

So pretty in the bottle. On the nail, ew. Look at the mess that's the middle finger!

What do you think? Are you a pearl finish lover or hater? Any polishes, cheap or otherwise, that have let you down this badly? So sad it's not prettier :(

Hx

Pin It

NOTD - Mint Choc Chip

This mani came as a result of a big ole fail. Toyomi suggested when I posted my untrieds that I try a giraffe design, and I thought it was a great idea! I don't wear browns very often and I seem to be accumulating them, So I watched a few youtube tutorils, painted my nails in 2True Fast Dry Shade 9 as the base and while that was drying tried out some ideas on paper. After trying a few times with different yellow and white polish and my new brushes I tried my acrylic paint and that looked better so I gave it a go on my nails. Half an hour later, left hand done, it looked pretty pants. In fact it looked awful. I tried to redeem it by adding a coat of Revlon Gold Get 'em, but it wasn't as sheer as I thought it was and that looked even worse. So off it came, I repainted my left hand and then rummaged through the polish drawer, coming out with 17 Lasting Fix Mint Choc Chip, a minty blue-green. I removed the 2true from my ring fingers, replacing it with the Mint Choc Chip, and then added dots in the opposite colour in a line down the centre of the nail. I really like this mani, I think it makes my nails look longer, even though the dots aren't equal, or even in a straight line (it was late by then and I was in a bad mood because the OH had ripped the piss out of my giraffe attempt grrr).

The 2true polish was just one coat (although two on my right hand because my application wasn't so good) and applied well. They're thin tall bottles and the brush is flat but not too wide. I did find it hard to not get too much polish on the brush, as pretty much the whole brush is immersed in polish, but otherwise had no problems. The 17 polish, however, was streaky and hard to handle, although in the end I only used 2 coats (could have done with three). The brush is short and awkward, and the brush flooded my cuticles and then didn't have enough polish to get to the tip of my nail. Strange. Worked out in the end though.


I will definitely try this mani again (and make my dots more straight and equal) with different colours. I also want to do stripy nails with these colours, so look out for that!


I'm still a bit butthurt about my fail though :( Oh well, I'll try again someday. Or just buy a konad plate with a giraffe print... At least I can move a couple more polishes from the untrieds...


Hx


PS Revlon Strawberry Electric has given me some horrendous staining. Nice colour, stupid name, awful staining....

Pin It