GOT Polish Challenge Flowers - Silver-lined daisies

Hello everyone! My biggest achievement today is that for the first time in forever I remembered to use only old polishes!!! I dug out the Ciate minis from my 2012 Mini Mani Advent Calendar and picked out a few that I haven't shown the love to in a long time.

I started with three coats of Power Dressing (over a very thick layer of Cacee Nails base coat - this blue is a stainer, but its worth it!). Once dry I dotted on the flower shapes with LA Colors Metallic Silver using one of my larger dotting tools. I then went over those with a smaller dotting tool using Ciate Cupcake Queen which creates the "silver-lined" effect. I finished by dotting Power Dressing in the centre of each flower and a coat of Seche Vite.

The flowers themselves are simple, but I think having the extra layer of silver gives it a little something extra. The metallic silver really catches the light when I move my hands (and being quite Mediterranean, I use my hands a lot!)

Take a look at the links below to see all the other fab and groovy flower manis from Crumpet's Nail Tarts :D

Sam xx

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The NCC presents "Music/Movies/TV" - The Mystery Machine

Hello everyone! Today I have my last NCC Mani for April and I'm quite relieved! I think there was just so much choice for this theme that my brain couldn't cope with it! I was looking at options for another upcoming theme week when I stumbled across this idea and decided that it would fit well for my final mani. Who doesn't love Scooby Doo??? :)

I started with a base of Barry M Gelly Key Lime, and then added in the lower turquoise section with Barry M Gelly Guava. I separated the green and blue with a fine(ish) line of Ciate Vintage and then allowed it to dry before painting in the orange flowers with Revlon Siren and outlining them with a little more Vintage. I finished with Seche Vite.

This was a little bit of a last minute throw together mani (when I realized that there was only one day of April left to post this!), but I think its worked out ok in the end :)

Next month I am far more excited about our theme, which is "Skittles"! The troublesome nerve in my neck is playing up again, but luckily I've got the jump on this one, so hopefully I won't be posting on the last day of the month next time! Hopefully... ;)

Sam xx

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FingerFood's Theme Buffet (Gothic) and NCC Movies - Nosferatu

Hello everyone! Today I have some nail art to show you that I am insanely proud of! The theme this week in FingerFood's Theme Buffet is one that is very close to my heart as its been a huge part of my life for over 20 years now! It was suggested by the lovely Sarah from Penny Pinching Polish and I was so happy that she put it forward :) This also fits in with the NCC's Movies/Music/TV month so its a double win! 

Goth isn't all maudlin black and it has grown its own set of sub genres over the years (including the fluffy, neon cyber goths), but I'm pretty much old school apart from my nails, so I decided to try and recreate an iconic image from "Nosferatu", the 1922 film starring Max Schreck.

I started with a base of LA Colors French White and sponged on the "frame" using Color Club Silver Lake, Ciate Vintage and LA Colors Black Velvet. I used a black Sharpie to draw in guidelines for the bannister, doorway and Dracula himself, and then carefully painted them in with more black, using a little more of the Vintage and Silver Lake for detail. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Here's the image I worked from:

This is one of those manis that I had to try once I'd had the idea, but had no hopes of it turning out well enough for me to be able to post it! Instead I am really pleased with myself! I know that it has areas which need refining, but I think it captures the essence of the original image and this style of nail art is way out of my comfort zone!

I have one more NCC mani coming at you for April and the theme for the Buffet next week is to try "something new". I'm going to take the rest of the evening off and look at these nails some more, and I will be back with you soon - please follow the links below to check out all the other fabulous NCC and Buffet manis :)

Sam xx

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An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen does Texture - Day 1

Hello everyone! I am so excited (and not just a little bit nervous) to bring you today's post as it is my first with The Digit-al Dozen! 

I was thrilled to be invited to join this group of talented nail artists, but I was so nervous when I saw that the first theme was Texture! In fairness though, it could've been "Animal Print Abstracts and Neons" (there's my comfort zone!) and I would've been just as nervous, so here goes!!!

Starting with a confession - I'm a gamer. I love my Xbox. While thinking about this theme I've been playing Fallout 3 which features Rivet City (pictured at the end of the post) as part of the post apocalyptic landscape. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to try and recreate the rusty metal texture of the city wall (please note the use of the past tense - "thought" it was a good idea...).

I started with a base of Nail Essentials Silver Shimmer and then added in some guidelines for the panels with Ciate Vintage. I sponged along those lines with LA Colors Fiery Orange and Jessica Electric Teal to create the rusted effect and then redefined the lines with a little more Ciate Vintage. I dotted the rivets and screws with Silver Shimmer and Vintage and then sponged around a little more "rust" before finishing with OPI Matte Top Coat.

Finally, here's a picture of Rivet City:

 So, there's my first post for The Digital Dozen! I know its not exactly pretty nail art, but once I'd had the idea, I had to see it through and I'm actually pretty pleased with the results! 

I have four more Texture themed manis to show you this week, some a little more traditional than others ;) You can see all of today's other fabulous DD Texture manis by following the links below and I'll be back with another one for you tomorrow :)

Sam xx

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A bright wavy abstract - the "almost ran" wedding nails :)

Hello everyone! As I mentioned there was no post yesterday because we were in Portsmouth at a wedding - it was a stunning day on board HMS Warrior and it was lovely to see two lovely people who deserve nothing but happiness getting hitched :)

As I also mentioned when I showed you my nails I painted for the wedding, there was a change of wardrobe at the last minute. I switched dresses as I thought a maxi dress was a bit impractical for climbing about on the ship (its definitely easier to pretend you're a pirate in a knee length dress!), but I had already painted some matching nails for that too, so I'm going to show you those today :)

I started with a plain white base to help the colours stand out and then added sections of colour (two tones to each section). The greens are Barry M Gelly Greenberry and Sinful Colors Exotic Green. Purples are LA Colors Illusion and Barry M Gelly Blackberry, and Corals/Oranges are Barry M Gelly Papaya and Ciate Speed Dial. I separated those sections with LA Colors Black Velvet and finished with Seche Vite.

I don't have a pic of the dress but its a black maxi with a bold tropical flower print working its way up from the hem trailing off at the waist. As you can see my nubs are back and I'm back on the Jessica Restoration system to try and get them strong and long again. I'm now at the point though where I can't see them starting to grow out again until my health improves so there's a little bit of grim acceptance there lol! Hopefully I'm nearing the end of this run of ridiculous health fails and I'll be back to loud typing and not being able to comfortably use the touch screen on my phone very soon!

Sam xx 

Tri Polish Tuesdays March #1 - Marine Candy Stripes

Hello everyone! Today we begin a new colour scheme for the March installment of the Tri Polish challenge. Our colours for this month are green, blue and purple - my favourites! I decided to start off with something simple, but bright.

I started with an opaque French White base and then added tape diagonally but at random widths. I then filled in with LA Colors Illusion (purple), LA Colors Aquatic (blue), and Ciate Mojito (green). I removed the tape and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

I love these three polishes together and cannot wait to do more with this month's colours! Check out the links below to see what everyone else is doing in this week's Tri Polish Tuesday, and I will be back later with a Mardi Gras themed mani for the NAILS Mag 31DC :)

Sam xx

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FingerFood's Theme Buffet - Cute

Hello everyone! I've had this mani ready for a few days but just haven't been able to find a slot for it in the posting schedule! For this week's "Cute" theme, I had already decided to paint bunnies, but decided to go with a landscape style. Its a bit "Watership Down", but the least said about that book/film the better as I'm tearing up just thinking about it now...

I started with a base of Barry M Gelly Blueberry, sponged on some fluffy white clouds with Models Own Snow White and then painted the grass with Ciate Mojito and Sinful Colors Exotic Green. I dotted in a few flowers using LA Colors Moody Red, Rimmel Sunshine and Models Own Lilac Dream. I then painted in the bunnies with Color Club Silver Lake and Sheer DIsguise, and Ciate Vintage. I finished with Seche Vite.

Some of the bunnies are a bit iffy, but I especially love the thumb bunnies (hence the giant photo of that one at the top lol!).

Onwards and upwards to our next theme - Flowers! This one opens at midnight tonight so if you haven't joined in one of our theme weeks before, why not start now? Come visit us here!

Sam xx

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GOT Polish Challenge - Orange

Hello everyone! Today's theme for the GOT Polish Challenge is Orange! Its not my favourite colour, but despite that I seem to have a lot of it! I do use it a lot in nail art so it appears that I've picked one up from all my favourite polish brands over the years and I chose four of those for this colour block mani.

I taped two different patterns over a French White base and added Color Club Psychedelic Scene, Barry M Gelly Satsuma, LA Colors Spat! and Ciate Speed Dial. 

The photos are still censored but I'm pleased to say that although its still not pretty, its all looking a little bit less gruesome, so I think I'll be dispensing with the "censorship" of new manis as of next week. I think this mani has changed my opinion of orange a little. Maybe I should be a little more open minded to its zesty, bright goodness in future! :)

Our theme for the GOT Challenge next week is Skittles - yay! I love painting skittles, and with no colour restriction I can really go for it :) Check out all the other fabulous orange creations by following the links below.

Sam xx 

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Tri Polish Tuesdays February #2 and #3

Hello everyone! Its Tuesday again and I'm on a catch up mission with the Tri Polish challenge! I haven't posted the last two weeks so I have two very different manis for you today.

The first also comes with an added bonus - censorship! I cut my finger quite badly last Friday and managed to cut through my cuticle in two places. I have a very attractive flap of skin that I am desperately trying to get reattach to the nail. Not working so far but the teabag technique isn't going to cut it here lol :/ Anyway, I didn't think any of you would be remotely interested in seeing the result of my stupidity, so I censored it :)

Back to the nail art. I started with a base of LA Colors French White and them used a striper to add random sections of LA Colors Electra which I outlined and added to with Ciate Vintage. I finished with Seche Vite.

The second one I painted a week or so ago but never got around to posting, I still haven't decided if I like it or not, but here it is anyway. I started with three coats of Ciate Vintage and then added blobs of Models Own Nude Beige and Nail Essentials Classic Pink. I used a dragging tool to create an unholy mess of the two colours over the top of the grey and then topped with Seche Vite to even it all out.

So that's our Tri Polish selection for February over with. This colour selection really seemed to split opinion, but then again, that's also pretty much why I picked it. Some of the colour combos in this month's manis have been amazing and I've certainly put together colours that I normally wouldn't have considered! Next month we have a combination that's a little more simple to work with - green, blue and purple!

Check out the other Tri Polish manis via the links below :)

Sam xx

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The NCC presents "Inspired by Summer" #1 - Grey English Summer

Hello everyone! Today I have my first February mani for the Nail Challenge Collaborative. Our theme for this month is "Inspired by Summer", and summer feels pretty far away at the moment! So I thought I'd put a little spin on the traditional English grey, rainy summer and go monochrome!

I started with three coats of Color Club Sheer Disguise. I then dotted on flowers using Ciate Vintage and Color Club Silver Lake. Finally I added some cute little black and silver dragonfly stickers and finished with Seche Vite.

Its simple, but its a cute, quirky summer mani and I'm really happy with it. I've decided that I should use greys more often. I promise that my next summer mani will be a little more traditional in terms of colour at least! :)

Be sure to check out all the other (probably brighter!) summer designs by following the links below!

Sam xx

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GOT Polish Challenge - DIstressed Blue

Hello everyone! We're already on to the third week of the GOT polish challenge and the theme for this week is blue! I'm lucky that blue is one of my favourite polish colours so I have some going way back into my polish stash! I also needed to find a design that wasn't going to take too long but wanted to try something new, so I had a quick look through my inspiration boards and decided to have a go at Chalkboard Nails' Distressed look (click here for the tutorial). I didn't work from the tutorial but followed the basic instructions of using nearly dry polish brushes to create the distressed effect.

I started with three coats of Ciate Power Dressing and waited for that to dry. Then I used wiped brushes of Models Own Feeling Blue and Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau to create the distressed effect. I topped with Seche Vite to finish.

I am definitely going to do this look again! The technique is so simple and the options with regard to colour and coverage mean that it is so versatile! I'll be back with a "dotty" GOT Mani for you next Thursday, and in the meantime, check out all the other fabulous blue manis using the links below :)

Sam xx

FingerFood's Theme Buffet - Weather

Hello everyone! Another week has flown past and a new theme  has started. This week our theme is weather! I had a few ideas for this but it seemed appropriate after a storm killed my laptop a week or so ago, that I go with lightning! Especially as I'm smugly typing on my new Chromebook in between extended periods of app browsing :)

I started with a black base and allowed it to fully dry, before sponging on white and various shades of blues, greys and purples (Ciate Vintage and Power Dressing, Sally Hansen Insta Dri Grape Going and Revlon Impulsive). I then added the lightning by layering French White and Models Own Sun Kissed and finished with Seche Vite.

I am so in love with these - I love the stormy sky effect! The hint of yellow in the lightning didn't show up in the pictures very well but in real life added a little more depth and crackle!

Take a look at all the links below to see all of our weather inspired manis and maybe join us for next week's theme - Sparkle!