The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents "Skittles" 2 - Colour blocking

Hello everyone! Today I have a quick post with my second NCC mani for May. The theme for this month is skittles and I'm loving this month! 

I got my striping tape out for today and went for geometric colour block skittles. I started witha  white base and then taped off different shapes on each nail, before filling in the individual sections with either Cuccio Cheeky in Helsinki or Barry M Gelly Blueberry, Greenberry or Papaya, before finishing with Seche Vite.

I am so pleased with these, the lines stayed so crisp :) The colour combination isn't one I'd normally go for either, but I wanted to play with my new Cuccio and I think it works.

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 NCC presents "Untrieds" and NAILS Mag 31DC "Your newest polish"

Hello everyone! Today I have a double post for you as the prompts for the NCC and the NAILS Mag 31DC cross over - yay!!!

I recently took advantage of Kleancolor sale and managed to pick up some neons and a glitter for £1 each. I hadn't bought Kleancolor polishes before and couldn't decide which to use, so in true FingerFood tradition, I used all of them! I also couldn't decide which pattern to do so I did a few of those as well and created another skittlette. This mani can pretty much be summed up with this picture- it also comes with a sunglasses advisory...

I colour blocked my thumb and little finger nails with tape and filled in the gaps with Neon Yellow, Neon Pink and two Neon Purples (they are meant to be the same colour but there had been a problem with one batch and it was lighter than the other purples - I liked it anyway!). I used the Neon Yellow as a base for the middle and ring fingers and then painted bubbly/dotty/spotty shapes using all the other colours (over a bit of white to keep the colours clean - spot the unintentional pun?!). For the index finger, I painted City Never Sleeps over Neon Purple and then glued it all together with Seche Vite :)

Okay so its a bit mad/random, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! I think it works in a quirky, bright kind of way and I got to showcase all my new Kleancolor polishes in one go!

I am super excited to show you tomorrow's mani - its another double prompt post for Tri Polish Tuesdays and Nails Mag 31DC. Its a different kind of design style for me but I am hoping you're all going to like it - you won't need protective eyewear to look at it either, promise!

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

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 

An InLinkz Link-up

My OH does my nails!

Hello everyone! When I saw a suggestion in the British Nail Bloggers group on Facebook that we all get our OH's to paint our nails, I barely had time to get the words out of my mouth before Scott told me he was up for it, asked for a sheet of nail templates and started drawing ideas (he also muttered something about 80's bay thrash metal). Here's us in various incarnations (we've known each other for 19 years, although the school uniform pic was only a couple of years ago for my birthday!):

Here's what he had to say about it all:
When asked to paint my wife's nails my heart immediately sank. Imagine Leonardo da vinci's other half being asked to emulsion the back bedroom. It's not going to go well. Still, it sounded like a laugh so I jotted down some ideas from what I'd seen her do in the past and decided to keep it deceptively simple. Dots, stripes and dark, gloomy colours to match my love of heavy metal. In reality, they looked bright, jaunty and oddly optimistic! I found the whole process quite relaxing and I think the finished product turned out better than expected! Now I'm going to sit back and wait for my Jessica endorsement. Scotty x 

He asked for striping tape, a brush, dotting tools and chose some "intreresting" colours before he got to work. Now I'm a control freak at the best of times but when it comes to my nails (which are in really bad shape at the moment for various reasons), I had such a hard time with this! I spent most of the time looking anywhere else but at what he was doing! I took a few snaps though. As you can see by his posture, its a good job that he doesn't do nails often lol :)

And here's what he came up with, using Jesscia Ruffled Bottoms, Color Club Age of Aquarius and Take Me To Your Chateau, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Wet Cement and All About Nails Licorice :)

I'm the first to admit that I was actually impressed and quite proud of him! It worries me slightly that he already has ideas for "the next one". I can just see all the OHs getting competitive and starting their own challenge ;)

We've all linked up so go and check out what all the others have got up to - there are some crackers in there! :)

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

FingerFood's Theme Buffet Week 2 - Shapes/Geometric

Hello everyone! Today I have a Theme Week mani for you - for those of you that follow, I'm a little late posting this week but I hope its worth the wait.

I decided to test my patience as far as possible with many fiddly bits of tape (I think I'm now done with tape for the year and its only January!), because I thought squares would be cute.

I started with a French White base and allowed it to dry. Next I added three pieces of tape vertically down the nail and six pieces horizontally This was a tad time consuming - and not at all good for my OCD. Next was the fun part - I added (from tip to base) Barry M Gelly Blackberry, LA Colors Edgy, Electra and Wisteria and finished with Barry M Gelly Prickly Pear. I then carefully removed the tape and finished with Seche Vite.

Despite the fact that they took forever and it makes me angry and impatient just to look at them - I do like the way these turned out. They remind me of paint colour charts and I'm happy with the gradient effect of the colours.

Our theme for next week is Weather, time for something wild maybe? :) In the meantime, follow the links below to see the fabulous geometric creations by the other ladies in the group. And if you would like to join us, click here for all the details :)

Sam xx