#52weeknailchallenge: neon

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do for this prompt. I knew I didn't want to do another gradient, as I did one last year for the yellow and green prompt.. And I used neon polishes for that... But then I thought screw that and did a gradient anyway.

I started with two coats Ulta3 tahiti on my thumb, on my ring finger and pinky I have two coats of Ulta3 fruit tingle. On my index and ring finger I have one coat of Hean white not worrying about opacity.

For the gradient I used Ulta3 tahiti and Ulta3 fruit tingle. It looked better blended in real life than in the pictures. It definitely didn't have a visible line. Once that was dry I added a tattoo-esque stamp from Konad Square 7 with Nicole Diary black.

What do you think? I liked it, mostly because neon polishes make me look more tanned!

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: yellow and green

Another late post... Hopefully I'll catch up soon.

Let me show what I did for this prompt. I started with three coats of Morgan Taylor go for the glow on my thumb and index. On my middle and index I have a coat of China Glaze daisy know my name. On my pinky I have three.

I then did a gradient with go for the glow and daisy know my name on my middle and ring finger.

Once it was dry I added a coat of Sinful Colors holo back over the gradient. Then I added some decals.

What do you think? I love how this turned out! Especially the neon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday Triad: Inspired by @thenailartbabe

It's that time of the month again... Each month one of us chooses a mani as inspiration and we go to town with it. This month it was my turn to choose the inspo. So I chose this mani by @thenailartbabe, I originally had something else in mind, but it was similar to another design we did recently.

Let me show you what I did. I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white, not bothering about opacity. I then did a gradient with China Glaze for Audrey at my cuticle, Hean I love Hean 401 and China Glaze emerald bae.

I then top coated as I was going to use vinyls.

I then placed the vinyls on my nails and painted a coat of Pahlish Salazar on my tips, removing the vinyls immediately. Sadly the store I got these vinyls from is no longer available. So I'm using them rather sparingly.

I am super happy with how this turned out. I got a butt load of compliments and that's always fun. What do you think? Don't forget to check out what Joyce and Michelle did... I'm suspecting someone used pink or purple.

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!

#52weeknailchallenge: gradient

I wanted to try a different set of colours than the ones I would normally reach for when doing a gradient. So my solution was to ask the Fiance what colours he would choose. And so he chose blue, orange and red. Then started the task of showing him multiple shades of each colour and him choosing. And we finally settled on the right shades. Then the question was in which order, but by then I had started to annoy him and he was no longer interested.... Men!

I then turned to my faithfull polish loving Polished Pretties group, hoping someone will be available to help. And they did not disappoint. But I'm dragging this story out way too long for a rather unimpressive gradient. Let me show you.

I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white. I then sponged on the gradient with City Fashion 169, 178 and 189.

And that's it. I didn't do anything fancy, just a plain ol' gradient.

I won't even mention the flaws I see, I'm hoping you don't.

What do you think? I kinda like it, and definitely not the normal colours I would choose.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Friday Triad: Inspired by Ruth (@adornedclaw)

It's quite interesting to which realisations you can come to in the shower... Like remembering why the crazy looking lady waving out the car looked familiar or the fact that tomorrow is the last Friday of the month and your Triad mani is due and you don't have a whole week left like you thought you did....

Luckily since it was absolutely freezing I decided to shower early. And am definitely not trying to pull a Joyce style midnight mani. Just frantically getting pics cropped, watermarked, getting the Fiance to charge his Mac so I can use that for the post and listening to some calming music (cue the pop music).

So Joyce chose this very green looking manicure by @adornedclaw and I was in LOVE! I knew that I was going to recreate because it was green and stunning! I ended up with more than 10 polishes on my table in the attempt to find the perfect shades. Which are glaring at me since they haven't been put back yet, but let me show you what I did.

Once I had all my polishes lined up I started on my vinyls by placing a diagonal alley from becauseishop on my miracle mat. I then painted each line one of the colours I was going to use for the gradient. Once that was done | started with two coats of China Glaze baroque jungle on my thumb, ring finger and pinky. On my index and middle fingers I painted one coat of Essence play with my mint as the base for the gradient.

I then did my gradient with play with my mint at the tips, Essence kiss the freaky frog and Essence island hopping at my cuticle. I then top coated and attempted to place a massive ass stud on my middle finger in a somewhat straight line, which was sealed in with another coat of Seche. The stud on my pinky received the same treatment.

I peeled my by now dry decal from my mat and used a clear stamper to place it. And top coated again. I really like how this turned out. The colours are totally my jam and I actually have an idea for another set of colours. I've been having a hard time with one of the prompts of the 52 week challenge and had someone tell me my nails look ugly... So I needed a boost.

What do you think? Don't forget to head on to Joyce's and Michelle's place and give them some love! I'm certain that they pulled something stunning and here I only did a recreation again..

Thanks for stopping by!!

#52weeknailchallenge: french tip

I've been wanting to do a rainbow gradient french for ages now and I finally did it... I'm not super happy with how it turned out and the flaws are more noticeable in the pictures, but I did it and that's all that counts.

I started with my current base coat and stamped the french with Lina feeling shapely 9 and Nicole Diary white stamping polish. I then used my simply peel liquid latex around my cuticles and to cover my nail, leaving the white bare.

For my gradient I used:
Yellow - China Glaze Daisy know my name?
Red - CG red-dy to rave
Orange - CG glow with the flow
Purple - CG violet-vibes
Blue - CG DJ blue my mind
Green - CG treble maker

And so my troubles started. The liquid latex didn't want to peel clean off, I suspect I should have top coated... So it kinda lifted the polish from the white and I was left with white lines sticking out. Which I couldn't acetone away because the white made everything else white.
So I made do with what I had... Added a coat of OPI int'l crime caper, hoping to hide the imperfections, but I'm fairly certain that did not help! Also the pink to purple gradient wasn't great either...

What do you think? Don't judge too harshly.

Thanks for reading!

#52weeknailchallenge: pink & gold

Sooo this post is a little late again!. I will get to a point where my posts will be one time! Just not today...

I decided on a gradient for this prompt. I started with two coats of Hean City Fashion 150 on my thumb and index finger. On my pinky I have two coats of Hean Sugar 852. For the gradient on my middle and ring finger I used City Fashion 177, 150 and Tip Top gold mine.

I wanted to use CF 150 as it has this pretty gold sparkle, which you cannot see after top coat! You can only see it in bottle and before top coat.

What do you think? I kinda like how this turned out. The only thing that bothered me is the weird shrinkage I got at the tips with gold mine. But I suspect it's because it's a foil and doesn't want to gradient.

Thanks for reading!

Friday Triad: Inspired by Jema (@nailsbyjema)

So last night just after 10 feeling rather sleepy and telling myself it's almost time for bed... I decide to check my emails and there's this email from Joyce saying she forgot to remind us, but tomorrow our Triad post is due. And I was like "nah can't be, I still have time"... And here we are, with a hastily written post, quick watermarking of photos and a slow laptop.

My watermark is different as the app I always use have decided to remove the font I prefer, making it a paid perk. So new font it is! Anyway, let me get to the Triad part of this post. It was Michelle's turn to choose and she chose this mani by @nailsbyjema. This was one that I had saved as well for recreation at some stage. I just loved the whole negative/sheer look! Let me show you what I did.

I started with a coat of Hean City Fashion white on my thumb, index finger and pinky. On my middle and ring fingers I have two coats of a sheer black polish I mixed myself. I wasn't too sure about my colours yet, but I knew I didn't want to do the pink combo, although I did consider it.

The day before I did this I bought Essence kiss the freaky frog and I was drawn to it. Matched it with Essence play with my mint and I had a decent gradient. At my cuticle is kiss the freaky frog, play with mint and CF white. On the sheer black I stamped from Lina twirls and swirls 1 with Nicole Diary black.

I of course had to add OPI matte top coat. Being matte the stamping is a little more visible and I can't decide which version I like more. I also love it when a gradient comes together!

What do you think? Which version do you prefer? Head on over to Joyce and Michelle to see how they've nailed this! I suspect someone may have used purple... I have a good feeling about purple :P

Thanks for stopping by!

#52weeknailchallenge: red & orange

And thus we start a new year and a new challenge! Some started the challenge early and will be a week ahead, most are spot on time and here I am... Late! It's not that I wasn't prepared, I had my mani all ready to go. Then I realized that I never even started on my blog post! So here you go, fashionably late.

And there's the new prompts in all it's glory, just in case you decide to join! Let me show you what I did for orange and red.

I started with two coats of Hean I love Hean 440 on my thumb, ring finger and pinky. On my index and middle finger I have a coat of Sinful Colors snow me white.

I then did a gradient with Revlon provoke and 440, with 440 at my tips. When that was dry I added some decals over it.

I wasn't too sure about this initially as the orange mostly gets lost in all of it. But it grew on me! What do you think? Since I'm so late with posting this I've seen an influx of red and orange mani's on Instagram and most went with a gradient. 

Thanks for reading!!

#52weeknailchallenge: Halloween

I decided to use an old mani for this prompt. I originally did it last year for this prompt and I ended up using something else, so here you go. This was inspired by @nailsbyjema, the link for the original. Don't judge me too harshly.

I started with a coat of Ulta3 lily white on all my nails. I then did a gradient with Tip Top sea me now and crushed grapes on my pinky and thumb. Once that was dry I added a coat of Tip Top indulgence.

On my index, middle and ring finger I used the web vinyls from becauseishop and did the gradient with sea me now and crushed grapes, removing the vinyls immediately. I then added flower decals from Aliexpress.

I kinda like how this turned out. It doesn't have the crisp lines the original does and I'm not sure for what reason I added the glitter, but I like it. What do you think?

I also think I need to stop showing old mani's. Show them all at one time and done, no more, fresh start.

Thanks for reading!