A stamping obsession - it all starts right here...

Hello everyone! I am tying my Mother's Day nails for FingerFood's Theme Buffet together with my full and frank confession about stamping. Its a vintage floral that my Mum loves and has asked for as her next mani (she will happily let me paint her nails in any colour/pattern combo - despite being at the top end of her seventies!).

I have been painting my nails for years, been down with the whole nail art "thing" for a couple of years and blogging consistently for over a year now, but I have always resisted stamping, despite how much I loved looking at the awesome stamped creation of some of my nail buddies (some named and shamed in this recent post). I had a full set of BM plates that were okay but I've always been more into the idea of honing my freehand skills (at this point, I'm going to mention that this will not change), and got caught up in the idea that stamping is kinda cheating (I know, don't all shout at me at once!).

Anyway, I'm a sucker for a good gimmick and I saw the MoYou London plates and the packaging and immediately fell in love. Then I looked at the images and they caught my interest unlike any other plate had before. Finally I saw this mani by Canadian Nail Fanatic and that was it! I was on that site ordering plates and counting the minutes until they turned up. Yesterday they did - Pro XL plates 03 and 06:

I immediately went for a floral design in the top right corner of the 06 plate as I knew that I Could play with some jelly polishes and my OPI sheer tints. Here's how it came out stamped with Konad black:

I smudged the thumb a bit, but I'm not one for doing things over and figured that most of that would get covered up by the colour. I them added the OPI sheer tints and watered down a few other colours with acetone to add some depth. I Can Teal You Like Me with Color Club Bright Night, Don't Violet Me Down with LA Colors Edgy and I'm Never Amberrassed with a very watered down Barry M Gelly Mango. I used Sinful Colors Exotic Green for the leafy bits and finished with Seche Vite.

So I know it needs improvement, but I am very happy with my first attempt at this leaded light, painted porcelain effect. Plus I have a ton of lovely stamping images to play with to get the technique right.

Sorry to all those I doubted about stamping, I am officially a convert :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

The NCC presents "Untrieds" and Polish Party "Spring" with OPI Sheer Tints

Hello everyone! Today I have my final March mani for the Nail Challenge Collaborative and itis "Untried" in more ways than one. I have been resisting getting into stamping for several reasons for a long time, but seeing some of the fabulous manis out there (especially Sarah's over at Penny Pinching Polish, Ali's at Fixin To Faff) and having a chat with the fabulous Rebecca at Lane's Lacquers (who assured me that it was a good idea!) I caved and ordered some MoYou plates. Obviously I couldn't possibly sit and wait patiently for them to arrive, so I dug out some old Bundle Monster plates that I never used and had a go. What I finished up with seemed to perfectly fit the "Spring" theme for the "Polish Party" group that I have just joined on Facebook, so I decided to combine the two :)

I received my big, juicy OPI nail mail and it seemed like a good opportunity to road test the Sheer Tints, so I layered each of the four colours - Be Magentale With Me, I Can Teal You Like Me, I'm Never Amberrassed and Don't Violet Me Down over a white base. I stamped the accent nail with Konad Black polish and then filled in the gaps with the tints :)

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about the tints, but once I knew that it was best to apply them generously, they were very easy to work with. I'm planning another post when I've had time to explore the nail art options a little more, so there will be some gradient/dotty/floral/abstract goodness featuring the Sheer Tints asap :)

So that's it for "Untrieds" month with the NCC. Next month, our theme is "Music/Movies/TV". I am super excited as I have had some great ideas for these manis - whether I can actually execute them so they look as good on nails as they do in my head is another matter entirely though! The theme for the "Polish Party" will be chosen later in the month (as we post towards the end of the month) so I will update you with that info as soon as I have it :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

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