FingerFood's Theme Buffet - Freestyle Barry M Paisley

Hello everyone! I'm back!!! Sorry to say I missed out on last week's prompt - something had to give and I decided it was more polite (how very British!) to skip my own challenge rather than anyone else's! Anyhoo, I'm back, still under the weather, but with the super exciting news that I am now part of The Digit-al Dozen. You have no idea how thrilled I am - well, you probably do as I haven't stopped going on about it since I received the invitation, but its a big deal to me and something I aspired to, so it'll take me a while to adjust :)

So, on to today's prompt - Freestyle! I fancied a paisley so picked out a set of my favourite Barry M colours and got to work! The base is two coats of Greenberry. Once that was dry I painted in the paisley shapes in white and then dotted the border of each shape with Indigo and an inner border with Fuchsia. I then added in some little flowers with Tangerine and Cobalt Blue before finishing with Seche Vite.

So there you have some summery, neon-ish, freestyle paisley. Loving these and would love to keep them on for a while but duty calls :p 

Be sure to check out all the other fab freestyle manis - there are some great designs on show this week!

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

Get Lucky Nail Art Challenge - Shades of Green

Hello everyone! Todai is the first day of the short but sweet Get Lucky Nail Art Challenge, hosted by Jessica from Be Happy and Buy Polish. There are four prompts, starting today with "Shades of Green". Time was a factor today so I had to keep it simple and went for the trusty distressed nails look (original tutorial by Chalkboard Nails here), but I was really happy with the finished set!

I started with a French White base and then pulled out some of my favourite greens (Jessica Victorian Crush, Sinful Colors Exotic Green, Barry M Key Lime, Color Club Abyss and LA Colors Sea Foam). I wiped each brush until they were almost dry and dragged them across the nail quite randomly until most of the white was covered. I then finished with Seche Vite.

Despite the fact that none of these colours looked like they'd work together, I think they all create a jungle-ish, tropical rainforest vibe that is pretty cool! 

Tomorrow's prompt is "Ireland Inspired" and I will be back with that one tomorrow. In teh meantime, follow the links below to see a sea of green ;)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

The NCC presents "Inspired by a Tutorial" #4 - Kayla Shevonne's peacock feathers

Hello everyone! Today I have for you my final NCC mani for January and this one was inspired by Kayla Shevonne. I've always done peacock feathers in a very different way but loved this version so thought that this would be a good opportunity to have a go.

I followed the tutorial fairly closely, only really changing the polish selection, so I started with a base of Collection 2000 Hot Looks Shimmy Shake and added the black detail with LA Colors Black Velvet. For the colour detail, I used Color Club Sky High and Fly With Me, LA Colors Morning Glory and Barry M Teal.

So that's it for "Inspired by a Tutorial" month, and February welcomes "Inspired by Summer"! I'm very much looking forward to the opportunity to welcome summer several months early and bring in some bright and bold colours! In the meantime, check out all the other fab tutorial-inspired manis linked below!

Sam xx

NAILS Mag 31DC Day 24 - Chained Hearts

Hello everyone! As always I've been avoiding the Valentines manis up to this point, but as its a prompt for the 31DC I thought I'd give it a go and maybe put my own little anti-Valentines spin on it :) I'm not against love, romance or anything like that (quite the opposite in fact!), but I'm against a day where flowers, champagne and chocolate all cost 75% more than they do the week before or after, especially as it means that I have to stock up on all three in advance! So my "chained hearts" mani reflects all that in one way or another...

I started with a base of LA Colors Black Velvet and then painted in some white hearts. Once dry I went over the white with LA Colors Red Carnation. I then added in the chain effect with a dotting tool using Nail Essentials Silver Shimmer and a little more black. All finished with a healthy coat of Seche Vite.

I can't say that this mani turned out exactly how I expected it to, or that it even went remotely in the direction of what I had in my head when I started, but I still think its cool. I still have my last few 31DC manis heading your way, but due to a hectic posting schedule (get me!), they'll be saved for February :)

Sam xx

FingerFood's Theme Buffet - Sparkle Week!

Hello everyone! Today I have for you something of a glitter bomb! Seeing as its Sparkle week over at FingerFood's Theme Buffet I couldn't really resist! I decided to go with my beloved Color Club Glitter Vixens collection and put together a shattered stained glass look with a ton of glitter :)

I started by painting random sections of nail with base blue, green, purple and silver and then added the corresponding glitter over the top (managing for the most part to stay inside the lines!). The blue glitter is Sexy Siren, the silver is Sex Symbol, the green is Object of Envy and the purple is Tru Passion. I allowed these to dry for a while before carefully lining the sections with black and finishing with Seche Vite.

I'm glad I had a chance to do a bit of full-on glitter. Its been too long! Definitely not a look for every day though and the fumes from being around the open glitter polishes definitely sent me a little bit giddy!

Our theme for next week is Birthdays/Celebrations (as its my birthday on the 4th), but while you wait for those manis, check out all the other fab manis full of Sparkle using the links below!

Sam xx

NAILS Magazine 31DC catch up post - Metallic and Stripes

Hello everyone! Today is another catch up post for the NAILS Magazine 31DC and I managed to cover two prompts in one mani! 

I have the complete collection of LA Colors Metallics so decided to put them to good use with some ombre stripes.

I painted each nail in a different colour starting with Metallic Silver on my pinkie, then Metallic Pink, Metallic Purple, Metallic Blue and finally Metallic Green on my thumb. Once dry, I taped off the stripes and went over the metalllic polishes with two coats of Black Velvet before carefully removing the tape and finishing with Seche Vite.

I love the effect of the metallics shining through the black, and I'm happy that my indecision made me use five different metallic colours too!

This is the mani that is going to see me through the weekend and I'm going to be sad to have to change it on Sunday, but onwards and upwards! So many challenges, so little time (and not enough nails!)!

Sam xx

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