NAILS Magazine April Challenge Day 22 - Earth Day

Hello everyone! I'm hopping on board the NAILS Magazine April challenge with 10 days lest to spare. With such a busy month I just haven't had the time, but today Scarlett went back to school (although with exam week coming up next week, her 7 year old stress levels are about to go through the roof! Not if I can help it though!), my first Digit-al Dozen week is done and I've managed to sort my nail room to the point where the surfaces of both my desks are visible, so today has been a success and I'm ready to start trying to get ahead again!!!

Apparently, today is Earth Day. In all honesty I'd never heard of it, it doesn't seem to be a big deal over here and let's just say that I'm not exactly good at keeping up with environmental concerns and developments (I know, my bad...), but I read the wiki and am now a lot more informed (about the day if nothing else).

I decided to do a mani using earthy colours, which is a step in a new direction for me anyway, so I stuck with one of my fluid designs (thanks for the name Deb! ;) and a few dots!

I started with three coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff. Once dry, I started by adding some random freehand sections of OPI Taupe-less Beach. I outlined those with a striping brush using Color Club Rebel Spirit and Sinful Colors Exotic Green, and then finished by adding some small dots using OPI Don't Bossanova Me Around and more Rebel Spirit, before finishing with Seche Vite.

  

Although this will be a familiar design style from me, the colours are completely the opposite. I've noticed that I've started buying some neutrals, taupes and nudes recently, but I still love my brights and always seem to reach for them first! 

Tomorrow's theme in the NAILS Mag challenge is "Bow". I've had one of my bright ideas for this one - whether or not it works out is another matter entirely!!!

Sam xx

The Digit-al Dozen does Texture Day 5 - Textured Stamped Floral

Hello everyone! Woohoo! I made it! I have completed my first week with The Digit-al Dozen. I have loved every minute of it but it has been a pressured kinda week and its a massive relief to have the first one out of the way! Everyone in the group is lovely and they have been super supportive, but there is a huge amount of talent between all the ladies and its been pretty intimidating to have to jump in to it!

Today I have gone with my new found fave, stamping! It looks a little more Christmassy than I intended as I used all textured polishes to complete the look and the choices from my stash were limited! I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Sugar Fix and then stamped an image from MoYou Pro XL 06 with Konad Black. Once dry, I filled in the flowers with Sally Hansen Sugar Coat Cherry Drop and Claire's Red Leather polish (with a little help from the super sheer LA Colors Moody Red), and the leaves with more Sugar Coat, but this time Sour Apple (and a touch of Sinful Colors Exotic Green). I finished with a little of L-A Glitter Nails fab copper glitter at the centre of the flowers.

I loved how these turned out! The colours show brighter in real life so it looks more tropical (the irony of posting Xmassy looking nails at Easter is not lost on me!). I wasn't sure how the textured polishes would work together for the "colouring in" but they were great. Rexture over texture can be quite unforgiving so I had to be super careful with placement, but its definitely something I'll try again.

So there you have my first week with The Digit-al Dozen. Its been so much fun and I can't wait for next month. Next week is going to be a busy one, with lots of music/tv/film inspired manis for the NCC and a mammoth catch up with the NAILS Mag challenge on the cards. I also have lots of swatches and reviews to post (can you tell that Scarlett is heading back to school??? Normal service will be resumed)! :D

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen does Texture Day 4 - Gemstone Nails

Hello everyone! Another wholly impractical mani for you today as part of Texture week with The Digi-al Dozen! Those of you that know me know that I also make jewellery. I closed my business before I had my daughter as there was no way I could balance all that work with a baby and now its mostly a hobby, but the occasional piece makes it on to Etsy with the nails and other bits and pieces. Anyway, as a result I have cases full of gems and beads. I was joking with Alessandra (The Sparkle Queen) back in January that I should mix it up with the nails and now that time has come!

I went through looking for the smallest chips and settled on some Iolite (one of my favourites because of its lovely violet blue colour. After the denim debacle I couldn't face gluing them to five nails so settled instead for two and created a skittlette. 

All the nails were painted with a base of Sinful Colors Glass Pink. I added a layer of nail glue and added the Iolite chips to my middle and ring fingers. I had to place a couple with tweezers to fill gaps, but for the most part they adhered really well! I added a coat of Color Club Covered in Diamonds to the index finger as the large holo flakes added to the gem effect. For the thumb and little finger, I used a ton of striping tape to create a triangular pattern (again similar to the Iolite effect) and filled in the sections with Nail Essentials Silver Shimmer, Barry M Gelly Picky Pear and LA Colors Illusion.

This is far from being one of my favourites, but its one of those things that I had to see through once I'd had the idea, and despite how it turned out, I'd put too much work into it not to post it!

One more to go for my first DD week and its been a blast! :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

The Digit-al Dozen does Texture - Day 3

Hello everyone! Halfway through Texture week already - its flying by! Today I have something a little different for you, there is polish involved but you can't see much of it! A week or so ago we had a lovely warm spell and I was looking for something cool (and cool!) for Scarlett to wear. I found some jeggings that still fit perfectly but were a bit short and decided to hack them into cut-offs for the summer (they look fab by the way!). This left me with some stretchy denim and an idea!

I painted the nails with Sinful Colors Glass Pink and then cut sections of denim a little larger than the nails (the fabric contracts as its glued on so if you ever plan on trying this each piece definitely needs to be bigger than the nail to start off with) I added a few little rips and holes to each piece and then brushed some nail glue on to the nail and stretched the denim over. Once the glue had dried, I cut closely around the edges with curved nail scissors.

This is not the most practical mani I have ever done, but you can't deny its fits the texture theme! I sat there stroking my denim nails for quite a while when I was sitting in Costa staring out of the window, so its one of those that makes you look a little odd if you venture out in public ;)

So that's three down and two to go! I also have some lovely swatches coming up for you this week - in the meantime, have a look at all the other fabulous manis from the Digit-al Dozen ladies below...

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

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 

NAILS Mag 31DC Flowers - Zebra or Roses? Can't decide? Have both!

Hello everyone! Today I have a very quick post for you - Scarlett had her first school dance this evening (she's only 7!) and I have had a procession of 7 year olds wanting nails to match their dresses!

Luckily I had done my nails before they descended, so I have these to show you today. I had also applied my first Flexiglaze treatment (there will be a more detailed post about that over the weekend) and wanted to see how polish went over it. I couldn't decide between a floral or an animal print, so I did both.

I started with a French White base and added zebra print with a striping brush and LA Colors Black Velvet. Once dry, I added in the roses with a dotting tool using Jessica Purple Burst, Nails Inc St. Martin's Lane, LA Colors Edgy, and a little more white. The leaves are LA Colors Mint and Sinful Colors Exotic Green.

So I hope you are all set for an awesome weekend! Sorry for the short post today, but I have plenty coming up over the weekend to make it up to you!

Sam xx

The NCC presents "Untrieds" - A Strawberry Skittlette

Hello everyone! I've been meaning to paint this for the longest time, but I didn't have the right red glitter. Well, now I do! My glitter polish queen (Lyka-Ann from L-A Glitter Nails) had a sale that I took FULL advantage of, and when this little beauty arrived, I knew it was exactly what I needed.

I started with a white base topped with Ciate Angel Wings for a bit of shimmer. I then painted my ring finger with Color Club Sultry Diva and added dots of L-A Glitter Nails Strawberry to my middle and index finger. FOr the thumbs, I painted the strawberry shape in with the Strawberry glitter, added the leaves with Sinful Colors Exotic Green and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Emerald City, and used Sultry Dive to add the pips. I finished with Seche Vite.

I am so happy that I finally got the chance to paint this idea, and as it heavily features an untried polish it works for the Nail Challenge Collaborative's March theme, the timing couldn't have worked out better :)

I will have two more NCC manis for you this month and have managed to acquire some new untrieds (amazing what you can justify to yourself when "Untrieds" is your theme for the month lol!). In the meantime, check out everyone else's fab nails by following the links below :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Buffet Flowers and NAILS Mag 31DC Inspired by Nature

Hello everyone! I'm doubling up today as luckily the 31DC challenge matches up with the Theme Buffet Flowers prompt! I'd been wanting to paint lillies for a while but a lack of time/inclination/cojones had always put me off. I needed some distraction and a bit of a challenge this week though, so decided to give it a shot.

I used LA Colors Sea Foam as a base. Its a really unusual colour. One of those ones that you spend hours trying to describe. Then you settle on one but look at it again 24 hours later and its different again. Hey ho, maybe its just me... ;)

I then used my finest detail brush from Roo Beauty to paint in the lily petals with French White, and then added the petal detail with Jessica Blushing Princess. I dotted in the centres using Color Club Psychedelic Scene and more Blusking Princess and then used Color Club Gimme A Grape Big Kiss to add some colour to the edges of each petal. I then painted in some stems using Sinful Colors Exotic Green and Barry M Gelly Key Lime and finished with Seche Vite.

I am glad I had a go at these as they turned out better than I expected! I want to spend more time with freehand painting of actual objects, rather than my favourite stylized objects and abstracts. Its also another step towards biting the bullet and having a go at one stroke! This nail art game is vertainly never boring!

As far as the Buffet goes, we have just settled on our themes for the next few months and they are up for your viewing pleasure in the group :)

Don't forget to check out everyone else's fab florals below!

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

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

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish Challenge - Green!

Hello everyone! Today I am back on board the GOT polish challenge - everything got a bit hectic last week and I missed it, but I'm back for green! I love greens and have now decided that I don't have nearly enough. I got out all the greens I own that are more than one year old and once again tried to decide between them. Then realized, again, that I couldn't so used them all! Again...

I started with a base of French White and then added sections of each green, starting with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Teeny Greeny Bikini, then Revlon Sassy and Sinful Colors Exotic Green. I finished by adding Color Club Fly With Me between each colour and a top coat of Seche Vite.

Looking at the pictures I realize that I've created something similar to the rainbow mani I did last month, but this one is a green rainbow (maybe I should've saved it for St Patrick's Day!). I'm in love with most of these greens and even though they probably shouldn't all ever be seen together, I think it works!

Next week our theme is Valentines, so many manis to come up with for this theme - hmmmm... :)

Follow the links below to check out all of today's other fabulous green manis!

Sam xx

NCC "Inspired by a Tutorial" month #3 - Green and Purple Abstract

Hello everyone! Today I have my third January mani for the Nail Challenge Collaborative and our theme this month is "Inspired by a Tutorial". Today I have picked a tutorial by Raquel Pimentel from her YouTube channel LOVE4NAILS. 

She paints a lot of abstracts using great colour combinations and I have been a fan of hers for a long time. A favourite of mine has always been this green and purple abstract design, so I decided to try my hand at that! I used all nail polish instead of acrylic paint, but other than that I followed all the instructions.

I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Glass Pink, and then added a wide French using LA Colors French White, then used Color Club Fly With Me and Revlon Impulsive to add the abstract pattern following the tutorial, and topped with Seche Vite.

I love Raquel's YouTube channel! She has such a huge variety of designs and styles. Her tutorials are concise and clear and I also adore her accent! 

I have one more tutorial-inspired mani for you this month and I'm finding it hard to pick the last one! There may have to be a few more scattered over the blog so I can get round to doing all my favourites! Check out the other NCC manis in the links below and I will be back with you soon! Happy Sunday :)

Sam xx

NAILS Magazine 31DC Day 17 - Green

Hello everyone! Today I have Day 17 of the NAILS Magazine 31 Day Challenge for you and the theme for today is Green! I love green, but I struggled a little with a decision on a design as I wanted to use only greens (apart from a little coincidental black and white)!

I sat staring at colours for a while and then started scribbling down a few ideas before starting to paint. I started with a French White base which I topped with Ciate Angel WIngs for a pearly shimmer. I then added sections of Revlon Zealous and Sassy, and Sinful Colors Exotic Green using a striping brush. I carefully added in some black outlines with LA Colors Black Velvet and dotted along some of the black lines to finish the design. I allowed it to dry for 5 minutes to avoid any colour dragging before adding a coat of Seche Vite.

I'm glad I took a little time deciding on this design as I love it - and my nails are also ready for the weekend :)

I'm blogging all of my NAILS Mag 31DC manis slowly but surely as I have so many other posts to fit in, but if you'd like to see them all so far, they're on Instagram and you an check them out there.

Sam xx