Pick N Mix Week 15 - Dotting Tools / Pink & Aqua

I'm really fond of odd colour combinations. Orange and blue, purple and green (Hulk smash), and pink and aqua.

Alas, my aqua turned out a little more green that I wanted.

Pick N Mix Week 8 - Book / Brown

I tried desperately to think of a not massively popular book series to do and failed miserably which is such a let down as I read loads and loads of books. So I went for brown, which is a bit of an under-represented colour in the polish world.

Pick N Mix Week 4 - 70s / Grey & colour

Despite not actually being any where near born in the 70s, I have this really guilty pleasure for 70s era clothing. I love the earthy colour schemes, and the sometimes quite hideous mustard and brown combos that were frequently seen. And so, inspired by pinterest and all the fabulous 70s clothing on there, I present....

... 70s sweater vest nails!

Pick N Mix Week 2 -3 colour Gradient / Pink

Week 2 of the Pick N Mix challenge, and the prompts this week are 3 colour gradient and Pink.

My nails aren't really long enough for 3 colour gradients at the moment - I cut them right back when I went on holiday at the end of august and they've been quite slow in growing. I also have quite short nail beds, so its not the best.

Instead of a 3 colour gradient including pink, I went for a pink ombre - I have far more pinks than I thought I did!

Nub Club - Christmas Reindeer

A few weeks ago I bought some gorgeous little deer charms from She Sells Seashells, but there was one little problem - my talons were (at the time) too big for them! I was devastated. The poor things would have just looked completely lost on my nails.

So the nail breakage was kinda good, as it means I can finally get my cute little (rein)deers on to my nails!

Armed and Ready ... to stamp!

I've been pretty good in December - I put myself on a no buy last pay day (22nd Nov) and I can honestly say I've not bought anything.

Mr Painted Claws, on the other hand, saw me looking longingly at the Essie that is the base colour for this mani and promptly informed me that he couldn't let me go home without it. 

In which I manage to stamp properly...

Quick one for you all tonight - I think I've managed to "get" stamping.

With thanks to my brand spanking new MoYou London stamping plates, I present...

... neat stamping! I'm so proud of myself.

Hallowe'en 2013 - Gothic

Slightly delayed Hallowe'en post - unfortunately I've been a bit under the weather the past week and a bit so nail were put on a bit of a back burner whilst I attempted to sleep it off.

Hallowe'en 2013 prompt 4 - Gothic

ER31DC Week 29 - Inspired by the Supernatural

I did try and do mermaids for this one, but only after I had painstakingly painted my nails with a super sheer polish did I realise that I did not actually own the fish scale stamping image that I thought I did. And then hand drawn scales came out badly.

So I went on to do the obvious... Vampires.

Not the crappy sparkly kind though. I grew up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer with proper vampires in it.

ER31DC Week 27 - Inspired by an Artwork

OMG I'm so late with these! I've had these done and photgraphed for about a fortnight to be honest, and for some reason I'd absolutely convinced myself that I'd post them (when I clearly have not!)

Inspired by the artwork of Andy Warhol, or more specifically this print of Marilyn Monroe.

I was never good at appreciating art, I'm not gonna lie.

ER31DC Week 14 - Flowers

Last week's flowery stamping has come in useful - I don't read ahead for this challenge, I just do the weeks as they pop up and thus this is a fabulous coincidence.

My favourite flowers are Cherry Blossoms.

They're so pretty, and delicate. And when they drop from the trees the look like pretty pink snow.

Stamping Attempt #2 - Flowers

As well as getting the hang of leopard print this weekend, I figured I'd give stamping yet another go.

I've only ever managed one set of stamping that hasn't come out as a complete and utter mess, and that was for my 31 day week challenge Blue mani. Clearly blue is my lucky colour when it comes to stamping, as I've managed once again to get something that doesn't look like a complete fail on to my nails.

Spring/summer/the slightly warmer season has arrived in Newcastle with a vengeance this weekend, resulting in a frenzy of sandals buying and skirt wearing. I decided to try out a couple of floral full nail designed from the two Bundle Monster sets I have, more specifically with plates BM306 on my thumb, BM318 on my middle finger and BM16 on my pinky, all stamped in Sinful Colors Snow Me White over L'oreal Color Riche 611, Sky fits Heaven.

ER31DC Week 4

Considering how many blue polishes I have I could have done about four people's worth of skittle and not duplicated a base colour, but I felt quite restrained this week and ended up trying stamping.

This was a risky move on my part - I've never really gotten stamping to work for me yet, and usually it ends up as a bit of a disaster. But bravely I soldier on, trying to get the damned things to work.

Plate used for this was BM-316, stamped with Sinful Colors Snow Me White over Nails Inc Gosfield Street. I've got quite a few dark blue Nails Inc polishes and Gosfield street is my favourite - dark enough for an impact, but still visibly blue and lovely. It goes on well too - two coats is enough if you make them slightly thicker, and it doesn't take too long to dry.

As you can see, the stamping didn't work perfectly - I'm missing little bits at the end of the thumb and on the side of the ring finger, but otherwise I'm quite liking it. Darker blues look good as the background for delicate prints like white lace.