Stained Glass Springtime

Hi!

This week's adventures in stamping theme was spring, and I thought I'd try out a new technique. I blogged a while ago about some sheer tint-esque polishes I made, with this technique in mind. The idea is that you stamp a pattern on a white base, and then "fill in" the image using these sheer polishes and a little brush or dotting tool, making it look like stained glass (or leadlight). Because they're sheer, the colour will only show over the white and not the black stamping lines. For a first try, I'm quite pleased with how this manicure came out - I used MoYou XL Pro 06 and pink, raspberry, purple, yellow and green home made sheer polishes. The unstamped nails are China Glaze Keep Calm Paint On, which is my favourite mint and as such has gone a little gloopy. I love it so much though it finally made me order some thinner!

It's not perfect but for a first go I don't think it's too bad! And a little bit of wonk adds to the charm ;)

Hx

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Nub nub nub!

Hello!

Over the weekend I managed to break two nails - not super low but they were flaky corners so I decided on a cull and chopped them all short! I was dreading it, but am actually loving my neat little nubs for once. They're all even, tidy, no splits or peels, easier to stamp and I'm at less risk of poking the children's eyes out when I wipe their faces. Win win.

Anyway, to celebrating the nubbing, I wore this very special polish my birthday club friend Ashley made me. Yep. MADE me. Just me, all mine! And it's so pretty! Holo, sparkles, flakies and purple. Perfection! And we even got some sunshine on bank holiday Monday to show it off with. Lots of pics ahead...

In shade you can see the flakes of goodness...

With flash the holo sparkles peep out...

And then in sunshine struts it's stuff!

Thank you so much Ashley, my very own polish named after me :)

Hx

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NOTD - Hoppy Burpday to meeeeeeeee!

Hi loves

It was my 30th Birthday on Wednesday - something I was not looking forward to! Not just another year older, but another decade...ouch. Anyway, while I wasn't celebrating I couldn't resist having a little party on my nails. I used lots of coats (3 or 4) of China Glaze Love Marilyn on all fingers but my middle, which I used my pink Whimsical franken (which I have named Hoppy Burpday), stamped a cupcake using Fab Ur Nails metallic pink stamping polish and added a rhinestone for a cherry. I had trouble getting the image to stamp :( I've had trouble with another image on this plate though, and since I haven't had a major stamping fail in a while I'm blaming the plate.

I should have layered Love Marilyn over an opaque polish - a silver foil perhaps. I'll remember that for next time! It was a pita to remove, even with foil. I had me a bad case of teh Glitta Herpes...

Hx

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Frankenduping...sorta

When I first saw Deborah Lipmann Glitter in the Air I wasn't that impressed. The glitter was sparse, it was sheer and I just wasn't all that keen. But then Revlon starts duping them like a Chinese sweat shop and my interest is perked... I still don't rate the DL but Revlon's version, Whimsical, I want. Have Revlon released it here in the UK? Have you ever seen me in a bikini? The answer to both of these is no. And apparently Whimsical is getting hard to find in the US too. So I thought I'd cut out the middle man and have a go at making Whimsical myself! I wasn't entirely successful, but what I managed is still pretty... I used around a third of a bottle of a pretty glitter I got in Claires - round/hex pink, blue and red glitter and smaller silver glitter in a clear base. I poured about a third of the bottle into an old topcoat bottle and added a glug of a cheap clear polish, then a few drops of Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream and some white. Here's 3 coats of the result:

I also made a pink version, kind of a cross between Revlon Starry Pink (another one they didn't bring to the UK...grrr) and Lipmann's Candy Shop:

Now while I LOVE my Whimsical franken (which I have named Capricious) I still want a real Whimsical. Time to replace Facets of Fuchsia on your concessions PLEASE Revlon!

Have you ever tried to dupe a polish?

Hx

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NOTD - Shattered Franken

As is becoming customary for me, I have to add something to my manis for a day to make them last a bit longer. Last night I decided to use my white shatter over my sparkly lilac franken to cover up the tipwear and few chips. I applied W7 Earthquake White using diagonal brushstrokes, which gave more of a random crackle look. I really like it, although it does look a bit tippex-esque.

Slightly odd thumb angle so you can see the holo glitter peeking out...kinda...

Will be taking this off this evening as it's pink Wednesday tomorrow, which is a good job as it's chipped already. I'm excited about my pink mani for tomorrow, which probably means it wont work! But we shall see...

Hx

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NOTD - My first franken!

Hi guys,

Today I have to show you my first attempt at frankening! I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, although it's not perfect I love it all the same!

The base polish is NYC Starry Silver Glitter, silver glitter and larger blue and pink hex glitter in a clear base. Then I added a good blob of Barry M Indigo and Collection 2000 French White to make it a lilac colour. Then to make it more 'jelly' I added some clear polish by Natural Collection and then because you can never have too much glitter I added a splash of Barry M Hologram Hexograms, large silver holo hex glitter pieces in a clear base. I don't know exact quantites as I just added randomly until I was happy with the result, and here it is!

 Artificial light, miserable day here. Horrible yellow hands but most colour accurate for the polish. 3 coats plus top coat of NYC Grand Central Station.

Natural (rainy) light. The polish is not as blue irl.

Barry M Hologram Hexograms, Barry M Indigo, NYC Starry Silver Glitter, Collection 2000 French White, Natural Collection Crystal

What do you think? I really like it, think I will buy more SSG and make different colours :) Think a mint green would be awesome :)

Any ideas on what I should name it?

Special thanks to KarenD at Frazzle and Aniploish whom I bombarded with questions about how to go about cleaning the bottle out, and she was very helpful, so thanks Karen! I ended up not washing the bottle out, just pouring the gloopy contents (an old base coat) into an old envelope so I could throw it away, and then getting started! Actually much less messy than I thought it would be!

Hx

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