#52weeknailchallenge: purple and grey

It's April Fool's day and also the 6th day of our lock down... I just hope no one does anything stupid.

Someone sent this to me the other day and it's been with me since then... It pretty much sums it up how I feel about this situation. I'd pretty much do almost anything to be at home and not have to go to work and put myself and my family at risk, but I don't have a choice.

Anyway, let's do nails!! I kinda got the idea from Pinterest for this one. Grey with florals, so since the prompt is purple and grey, you have purple leaves and grey.

On my thumb and pinky I started with two coats of Essence gossip girl. On my index and middle finger is two coats of Essence rockablue. On my ring finger is two coats of Catrice plumdogmillionare.

Now, about rockablue, I thought it was grey when I picked it up. Didn't even look at the name until I had to make a note of it. Then I looked at it and it looked rather blue, but I think that might just be because of the stamping. The stamping is done with Konad 17 and Essence prom-berry from Lina @kombucha_witch collab.

I really liked how this turned out. I was actually tempted to use this image for our Triad post, but I decided against. I really do want to use it again. Any ideas? Colours|? What do you think? How does rockablue look to you?

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Triad: Inspired by @nail_art_by_tal

Triad time! This time it was Michelle's turn to choose our inspiration and she chose this by @nail_art_by_tal. I originally had this pinned for recreation too and I'm not sure how I feel about taking it off my list! I feel cheated... But at least I actually end up doing it. Let me show you what I did.

I started with two coats of OPI DS pewter on my ring finger and pinky. On my thumb, index and middle finger I have two coats of OPI don't touch my tutu, with a coat of OPI int'l crime caper over that.

I then stamped from Lina @shannasnailartadventures collab with Mundo de Unas light grey and then Nicole Diary black.

Top coated and then added a coat of essence matt to meet you. I feel like this polish is a dud... On my middle finger it's a proper matte polish, looks and feels matte. On my thumb I added two more coats to get the same effect as my middle finger. Which is annoying!

You can see here my thumb still looks shiny compared to my middle finger. Anyway, what do you think? I love this! I'm bummed about my right hand not being properly matte, but I can live with that. Don't forget to see what Joyce and Michelle did with our inspiration.

Today is also the first day for our country wide lock down... Since the lock down was announced two days ago, people have lost their minds. Everyone and their aunt has flocked to the shops, ignoring the whole distancing thing. I won't be surprised if there's an increase in the amount of Covid cases because of this. 

Just calm your tits and chill. You will still be able to go to the shop and get food, as there will be food. The only thing that is changing, is that you can't go when you want and with your whole household. We are trying to prevent the spread of this virus. Not encourage it!

I, however, will be at work. Among all the other essential workers. So, if you aren't essential, stay home. Get to know your family again. Spend time with them, make the most of this. Start a new hobby, do that thing that you've been putting off because you didn't have time. Read a book! Because I kinda wish I was in your shoes... At home, with my other half. But I can't.

Just. Stay. The Fuck. Home!! Do what you can to prevent the spread!

Thanks for reading!

Friday Triad: Inspired by @gert_nails

It's that time of the month again. This time it was Joyce's turn to choose our inspiration and this mani done by @gert_nails was her choice. I did this mani early in the month and I nearly forgot about the post. So I either forget about it entirely and do it too late or I do it to early. Let me show you what I did.

I started with two coats of essence a hint of love on my thumb, ring finger and pinky. On my index and ring finger I have three coats of OPI don't touch my tutu.

I then stamped a square from Lina feeling shapely 9 with Nicole Diary white. The vertical and horizontal lines are from Lina feeling shapely 1 stamped with Nicole Diary black.

I then added the leaves from Lina Summer 3 and Autumn 1, also with Nicole Diary black. I had to add a matte top coat.

I used the OPI one and I do prefer it to other matte top coats. The rest doesn't have the same affect.

What do you think? I loved wearing this. It did have a valentines vibe, but that was unintentional.

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: foil

I was both excited and nervous for this prompt... I have foils, but I've never used them before and they always seemed a little finicky to me. Let me show you what I did.

I started with two coats of Essence gossip girl on my thumb, index finger and pinky. On my middle and ring finger I have three coats of Hean 870.

I top coated my middle and ring finger as I was going to use the foil on them. I waited about 20 mins  and then used Nicole Diary foil glue. I tried for a brush strokey distressed look, but it didn't quite work.

On my index finger I stamped a single line with Nicole Diary black from Lina feeling shapely 1. I then used a piece of foil immediately after wiping some alcohol on the back of the foil. It didn't transfer as nicely as I wanted it to, but at least its there.

What do you think? I'm not sure how I feel about it... Some of it I like more than others, but overall I feel a little meh about it.

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: zig zag

For this prompt I checked out Pinterest, hoping for some inspiration. So I combined a couple of looks. Let me show you what I did.

I started with two coats of essence gossip girl on my thumb, index and pinky. On my ring finger I have two coats of OPI DS pewter and on my middle finger is two coats of essence pink dreams are made of this.

I then stamped the zig zag image from Lina feeling shapely 1 with Mundo de Unas light grey. I'm pretty happy that light grey matched so well to gossip girl.

I added a dot of pink dreams are made of this to all the nails with gossip girl. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

#52weeknailchallenge: dotticure

I slightly cheated on this one and didn't do a 'traditional' dotticure, but went with stamping instead. Maybe next year if it's still around...

Let me show you how I cheated. I started with two coats of essence what is this feeling? on my thumb, index and middle finger. On my ring finger and pinky I have two coats of essence creating memories and a coat of Sinful Colors holo back over that.

I then stamped an image from Lina feeling shapely 9 with Mundo de Unas copper, leaving it on my stamper. I then painted creating memories across one half of the image. Once it was dry rolling it onto my nail.

I kinda like how this turned out and I really like how holo back looks. What do you think? It totally counts as a dotticure since there is dots.

Creating memories also looks like a completely different polish because of the shades used over it, don't you think?

Thanks for reading!

Friday Triad: Inspired by @nail_muse

It's that time of the month again!

Each month Michelle, Joyce or myself choose a manicure for inspiration. And what we do is completely up to us. This month it was Joyce's turn and she chose this mani by @nail_muse. And oh my goodness was I intimidated! I have attempted these marble nails many times and it just never ever turned out the way it was supposed to.

So I watched the tutorial a couple of times and attempted the nightmare myself. Let me show you how it turned out. I started with two coats of Catrice easy peasy green squeezy on my thumb and index. On my middle and ring finger I have one coat of Essence what is this feeling?, on my pinky I have two coats.

I then painted a coat of essence what is this feeling? on my mat and blobbed China Glaze I'll sand by you and Catrice easy peasy green squeezy on the still wet polish.. I used a dotting tool dragging the polish, stamper smooshed over it and let the polish dry.

Once it was dry on the stamper, I "stamped" it on my nail, cleaned up the excess and that's it. My ring finger nail looks so much longer than the rest for some reason!! It's annoying me looking at the photo's, but oh well.

The Fiance said it looks like a peppermint crisp tart. I think he was just hungry at at the time!! What do you think? I think I'll try this again, I feel like I've learned something this time round. To see what the other ladies did, just click on their names.

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: metallic

Okay... So this prompt... Lots of hate for this one! I did this one 3 times!! Because I wasn't happy with it, at all! So I'm going to show all three and you choose a favourite.

First up...

I started with two coats of China Glaze I'll sand by you. I then stamped a wood grain image from Lina Autumn 1 with China Glaze swatch out! The butterflies are from Lina opposites attract and stamped with Nicole Diary white. The wood grain is supposed to be the metallic part, but it's not super obvious.

Secondly...

Here I started with three coats of Essie muchi, muchi on all my nails. I then stamped a floral image from Lina let's doodle 3 with Essence pink dreams are made if this. I then stamped another image over that on my middle and ring finger from Lina opposites attract with Rimmel rock the metal. Here both stamped images are metallic, but again not super obvious.

Lastly...

This was totally inspired by a previous Triad post. I have two coats of China Glaze swatch out! on my thumb, ring finger and pinky. On my index and middle finger I did a gradient with Tip Top dunes of desire, toasted nuts and bare with me. On my ring finger I used some Diagonal alley vinyls from becauseishop and coloured it in, in order of the gradient.

What do you think? Which one is your favourite? To be honest I like them all, they just failed at the prompt!

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: country

I didn't have any set ideas when I started with this mani, because I didn't know what country to do, or do I just do 'country side', which is not quite the same. So I settled for a little of both. Let me show you what I did.

I started with a coat of essence shade of happiness, not worrying about opacity as I was going to do a gradient over. For that I used shade of happiness and Tip Top cherries in the snow.

I then stamped an image from BP-16 with Nicole Diary black.

On my thumb I have a zebra that is also from BP-16 and coloured in with Hean City Fashion white.

When I showed the Fiancé, he told me it's boring as I chose my own country... Which I obviously disagree, it might have been slightly predictable, but there is nowhere else in the world that people believe we have lions roaming the streets. Now wouldn't that be awesome. What do you think?

 Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Triad: Inspired by Juli

It's that time of the month again for Triad!!

This month was my turn to choose our inspiration and I went with this one done by @juli_addicted. It seemed simple enough until my lines seemed to straight and then too wonky and then the top coat ate my decal. So fun and games. Let me show you how this turned out.

I started with essence shade of happiness at my cuticle then Tip Top cha cha cha then Omega stormy weather and then another line of cha cha cha.

 I tried to not have my lines too even and in the immense concentration of getting the lines uneven I forgot to alternate my colours! So we have a rather uniform manicure here.

Once my base was dry I added my decals and then used my smallest dotting tool to make the dots with Ulta3 black satin. I'm not sure if I should have gone with less dots or not. And then of course my top coat ate my decal!

All in all I'm kinda happy with how this turned out. What do you think? Don't forget to check out what my two partners in crime did! I'm certain Michelle and Joyce knocked this out the park! As they normally do.

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: purple and silver

I was stumped with this prompt. I didn't have any ideas and there was a definite lack of inspiration. Even after browsing pinterest I was still not feeling this prompt. Eventually something clicked and I had something to work with. Let me show you what I did.

I started with two coats of Essence prom-berry on my thumb and index, two coats of Tip Top fairy dust on my middle and ring finger and I sponged on Tip Top snow capped on my pinky.

I then stamped some random images from Lina Feeling Shapely 9 with prom-berry and Rimmel rock the metal.

I'm somewhat chuffed with how this turned out. I never know when is enough and I'm hoping I didn't overdo this. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

#52weeknailchallenge: stripes

I'm going to start by saying this was a bit of a fail and I should have used last week's prompt for this one instead... That being said let me show you what I did and you can judge.

I started with two of Hean City Fashion 200 on my thumb, index and middle finger, on my ring finger and pinky I have two coats of OPI DS pewter. Did I mention before how much I like this polish??

I then used Mundo de Unas forest to pick up an image from Moyou trend hunter 2. I then dabbed on some Essence I (heart) my golden pumps on the leaves only and left it to dry. In the meanwhile I stamped the checkered design with forest from QA95, a stamping plate I got from BPS.

Once the image on my stamper was dry and I wanted to place it on my nail, only part of the design transfered.... It was too dry! The leaves also had a checkered background. So lesson learned. Coat the nail or whole design with another coat of polish to make it tacky.

I feel this is a design I might try again... I kinda like the spot of glitter showing trough the leaves. What do you think? Complete fail or just a little one?

Thanks for stopping by.