Tri Polish Tuesdays May - Patch Pockets

Hello everyone! Today sees the start of a new colour scheme for the May Tri Polish Challenge! At first I thought my choice of red, purple and green was super clever. Then I thought about it some more and started to doubt myself. Then I slept on it one more time and was relieved to have come up with an idea. Well, kinda someone else's, but you'll see what I mean ;)

I've been a big fan of Brethil's manis over at Druid Nails for a while, and I've been dying to have a go at her stitch effect nails ever since I first saw them on her blog a couple of months back (check out this post). I don't know why I thought they'd look good in these colours, but I pulled out some Barry M Gellys and got to work!

I started with a base of Key Lime and then painted in random (but regular) shapes using Passion Fruit. Once dry, I used Blackberry to add little stitches before finishing with SV.

My stitches aren't as neat as I would've liked them, but I like the quirky, fun look and will be looking at other ways of playing with this technique :)

In other news, I'm looking for a new top coat. I've been getting headaches on days where I do a lot of polishing and after a lot of research, it could (please note the "could") have somehting to do with my choice of top coat. It also might not, but I'm on the look out for a new quick drying top coat that won't drag my designs and stamping - can't hurt to try eh? I'm thinking Poshe, and I know a lot of people swear by HK Girl, but are there any I'm missing that I should consider???

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a personalised blog planner - all the details are in this post here :)

Sam xx

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Tri Polish Tuesdays - April's Glitter Bomb!

Hello everyone! Today is the last day using April's Tri Polish Challenge colours of yellow, pink and blue. I've already done a couple of manis including all three colours so I settled for two today.

I decided that a ton of glitter with some negative space was the way forward (obviously!), so I freehanded sections of Orly Pink Waterfall and OPI Can't Find My Czechbook (you can probably tell fro my choice of polish that glitter wasn't originally in the plan - I wouldn't normally use Orly or OPI as base colours for glitter!). I outlined the sections in black and sat back thinking it just needed a little bit of something extra. I decided that was a coat of L-A Glitter Nails Peacock over the OPI. The I sat back again and decided that it needed some L-A Glitter Nails Grape over the Orly. Once I'd done that I was happy (mostly because there was nowhere else for me to add glitter!), and finished with Seche Vite.

Here's a quick pic before I added the Grape glitter:

So that wraps up the April installment of the Tri Polish Challenge. The colours for May are red, green and purple, so there's a whole new palette to play with kicking off next Tuesday!

Sam xx

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Tri Polish Tuesdays April #3 - A quick neon dotticure

Hello everyone! I have been so preoccupied with The Digit-al Dozen week that I almost forgot about Tri Polish Tuesdays! I figure that if I can get through this first week and stay on top of all my challenges along with having Scarlett home and working, then I'm probably doing okay :)

Having said that, I realized at 7pm that I needed to do something quick so settled for a dotticure with some bright neons. I started with a black base of All About Nails Liqorice and then added dots in white so that the neons would pop. I covered over most of the white with LA Colors Flicker and Absolute, and Color Club Otherworldly before finishing with Seche Vite.

Despite the fact that I literally threw this together at the last minute, I love the colours and its been ages since I did a dotticure! 

Tomorrow will bring another DD mani and I already have my GOT ready for Thursday so I can continue to pretend that I'm on top of things :)

Sam xx

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Tri Polish Tuesdays April 2 - A good ol' technicolour abstract

Hello everyone! Today its back to basics for me! I've had a real run of trying new techniques and stamping recently, so today I'm really happy to have gone back to one of my favourite "pick some colours and throw them together in a swirly abstract kind of way" designs using the pink, yellow and blue for this month's challenge :)

I started with two coats of Nail Essentials Silver Shimmer and then freehanded sections of Nails Inc Baker Street and Kleancolor Neon Yellow and Neon Pink before finishing with Seche Vite.

I felt completely back in my comfort zone with these! Who'd have thought it was even possible to have comfort zone issues when it comes to nails? Meh, I'm rambling now. Anyhoo, I'm loving these :D

Be sure to check out all the other Tri Polish manis by following the links below and I will be back soon with some more nail art :)

Sam xx

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Tri Polish Tuesdays April #1 - Yellow, pink and blue!

Hello everyone! Here comes today's catch up post! As expected, the school holidays have sent my blogging and painting schedule completely out of the window! Having OH home for a week as well also makes for constant interruptions so I really didn't stand a chance! Never mind, onwards and upwards!

Today (or yesterday) sees the start of another colour combination for April and this time its yellow, pink and blue. I chose a simple sponged rainbow using Models Own Lemon Meringue, and LA Colors Aquatic and Pink Bubbles and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

I'm really loving this retro tie dye effect that is created by sponging just a few colours together! 

I'm off for another round of Minecraft tutorials/cake pop making/7 year old nail painting (delete as appropriate!) and I will be desperately trying to have tomorrow's GOT Pastel mani ready on time!

Sam xx

An InLinkz Link-up

Tri Polish Tuesdays and NAILS Mag 31DC "Holo"

Hello everyone! I am totally in love with the nail art that I have to show you today. I realized that I always seem to work with plain backgrounds and usually add the glitzy detail over the top, but decided to work it the other way around for today! I've used all three colours in my other March Tri Polish manis si went with just the blue and purple this time round

I started with a base of Nails Inc Motcomb Street and topped it with Cacee Nails Sapphire Dazzle which is a simply stunning holo glitter topcoat (glitter toppers are allowed!). I then added a freehand painted a floral swirly design (technical term for you right there!) using a blend of China Glaze Spontaneous and Barry M Gelly Prickly Pear before finishing with Seche Vite.

I know I may have cheated slightly with the two purples, but hopefully you'll let me off for this one!

We have our new April colours starting next week - yellow, pink and blue, so there will be some new Tri polish looks popping up as of next week. Here are the colours I have chosen for the next three months:

Don't forget to check out everyone else's fab designs via the Inlinkz below!

Sam xx

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Tri Polish Tuesdays and NAILS Mag 31DC - My favourite nail product

Hello everyone! Today I'm doubling up as I have so many manis to fit in this month! I had already decided to do a sponging mani as they are my current obsession, and that tied in (tenuously, but I'll take it!) with the 31DC prompt! So my current favourite nail product is technically not nail specific, but make up sponge it is!

I started with a white base to make the colours really pop and then sponged on several layers of LA Colors Mint, Aquatic and Edgy before finishing with Seche Vite.

Its got a retro, tie-dye, lava lamp effect that I love, plus it features some of my favourite colours! I I originally planned to put something else over the top, but I loved the colour combo so much that I couldn't bring myself to add anything else.

Follow the links below to see all the other fabulous Tri Polish manis and if you are thinking of joining in, we have the colours themes for the next three months now posted in the group. We have one more left in this colour scheme though so check back next Tuesday for the last green, blue and purple creation :)

Sam xx

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Tri Polish Challenge March #2 - Name that mani!

Hello everyone! Today is the second installment of the green, blue and purple March for the Tri Polish Challenge! I doodled this idea down a while ago and decided to use it for today.

Staring with a base of LA Colors French White, I freehand painted sections of Color Club Pucci-licious, Bright Night and Abyss, and separated all the coloured sections using LA Colors Metallic Silver before finishing with Seche Vite.

I have no idea what to call this, so all name suggestions gratefully received! Inspite of that, I really like it and this doodling designs idea is really working out well for me. I always have a nail template and a pencil next to me to capture ideas and its so much better than sitting at my nail desk trying to figure out what to paint exactly when I need to paint it!

Hope you all like this one, and don't forget to check out all the other ladies TPC nails by following the links below :)

Sam xx

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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

An InLinkz Link-up

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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Tri Polish Tuesdays - February #1 - Hello brown, pink and grey!

Hello everyone! A new month and therefore a new colour scheme today for the Tri Polish challenge! For February the colours are brown, pink and grey. I chose these colours as I was trying to think of something a little different, and as I started to think about all the shades available, some really interesting colour palettes sprung to mind!

I've gone with all Color Club for my first February mani, starting with three coats of Positively Posh. I then added two flowers to each nail in diagonally opposite corners using She's Soooo Glam and Silver Lake. I then added a few curvy lines of graduated dots to complete the look and finished with Seche Vite.

I think these are cute, despite the fact that I've used colours that I usually steer clear of. I also hadn't used many of my Color Clubs for a while and I have since used the excuse that today is my birthday to go online and order a ton of new ones! 

I'll be back with another spin on these three colours next Tuesday and in the meantime, take a look at all the other Tri Polish Tuesdays manis by following the links below :)

Sam xx

Tri Polish Challenge January #4 - Thermal dotticure

Hello everyone! Today is the final Tri Polish mani for January using the colours yellow, orange and red. I've gone for a simple dotticure, but graduated the size of the dots in opposite directions. It reminds me a bit of the colours on weather maps, which explains the title in the hope of making it sound slightly less random!

I started with two coats of Nail Essentials SIlver Shimmer and then added the dots using Models Own Lemon Meringue, Barry M Gelly Paints Mango and Blood Orange. I finished with Seche Vite - simple!

I'm glad I accidentally discovered the graduated dots - I had originally planned on the dots being a lot more uniform, but I like it so I'll definitely be doing it again!

So, next month out TPC colours are brown, pink and grey. I already have some of these ready as I loved the idea of putting these colours together :) Check out all the other Tri Polish manis following the links below and I will be back with you soon!

Sam xx