This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and every Wednesday, we wear pink to highlight the cause. Each week has a theme for the manicure, and today's was ombre:
I decided that the cause needed flowers, and my favourite pink gradients are usually done with white. I therefore chose a flower that exists in both colours: roses. I used probably my single most used plate stamp - the roses from Moyou Pro XL 07. With a strong, pink like Mundo de Unas 20 (Fuschia), I thought I'd go for a dark base that's a little less harsh than black - Essie's Luxedo, a midnight plum shade. All I had to do was paint the stamp with MdU 20, Konad white, and then mix where the two met with the wooden end of my nail art brush. I then scraped twice in different directions to ensure the mix of pink of white, then picked it up and voila! A stamped gradient of pink and white roses over plum :)
This isn't perfct - I think it shows that it was my first time doing a gradient stamp, but I rather like its imperfections. It has, more importantly, drawn a lot of comments including from my partner, for whom funky nails are a norm so often go unnoticed.
So, go on: why not give it a go yourself, and see how much fun you can have, and how many people you can discuss Breast Cancer Awareness month with? Just remember to use the following hashtags when posting to Instagram ( I'm boldandbeautyfool btw):
#maniroseenoctubre
#enoctubreusamosrosa
#OnWednesdaysWeWearPink
See you next week for flowers :)
The ingredients: Konad White, Essie Luxedo, Mundo de Unas 20 (Fuschia) and Moyou Pro XL 07
So it's Day 12 of She Loves Lacquer Amazing Autumn Mani Challenge, and the colour is Lucky Penny (copper). I have a few polishes in this shade, but one spoke to me much louder than all others - my copper magnetic polish which, with the wave pattern magnet, creates an effect that I refer to as my 'tabby cat manicure'. So, here we have Nails Inc Westminster - the most striking of all their magnetics in my experience!
Nails Inc Westminster (Magnetic) in natural light (no direct sunlight)
Nails Inc Westminster (Magnetic) in natural but dull light
While I do love this polish (and all my other NI magnetics), I get no joy from applying it. It is thick, slow to dry and difficult to apply accurately - even with clean up, this manicure still looks ropey! This is compounded by having to dollop on a thick layer quickly (so fairly inaccurately) in order to get the magnet over it within seconds. So, even after a long drying time this polish is liable to sheeting and scraping damage (SV or HK Girl don't completely save it from this). It's not got great longevity either - I usually get only 24-48hrs chip-free when I wear it, as the formula has been sacrificed to achieve the effect. So, while being a pain and not suitable for regular wear, I still adore these polishes and they are brought out a few times a year. This autumn challenge has been a great excuse to re-air it!
The ingredients: Nails Inc Westminster (Magnetic). The black is Konad stamping polish, but I'm not presenting the stamped mani in full as I hate it! I was looking for a cat print e.g. tiger or leopard in my collection, but had to settle for giraffe and it doesn't work. The plate was Moyou Pro XL 05.
So October 2014 is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and as I found out last Wednesday (thanks to the wonderful Bob Plays With Polish) there is a pink nail challenge on every Wednesday this month in its honour:
My mum beat breast cancer a few years ago, and I am so thankful to the NHS for finding it so quickly and curing her - she is in complete remission after surgery and radiotherapy. I also thank every researcher and medical professional who has made the survival rate so high, having put years of their lives in to finding out more about the disease and thereby how to cure it. I am doing the Race for Life next year, but right now I am part of Go Sober for October, as between my granny's terminal cancer and working in a hospital, I know what valuable work MacMillan nurses do on the front line, caring for cancer sufferers and supporting families who are trying to nurse their own loved ones.
So while I know that this is just a mani, it's worth doing something on your nails to get people talking - to explain the reason to every curious friend, colleague or stranger that comments on how pretty in pink your nails are. Please also use the following hashtags on Instagram, so that it's easier to find everyone's photos and see just how many are taking part:
#enoctubreusamosrosa
#manirosaenoctubre
Also there is the more generic tag of #OnWednesdaysWeWearPink
In artificial light: pink glitter manicure (Nails Inc Monmouth St, Models Own Magenta Divine, Zoya Snow White) for Breast Cancer Awareness month, October 2014
In natural light (no direct sun)
The ingredients (L-R): Zoya Snow White, Model's Own Magenta Divine, Ebay gem wheel and Nails Inc Monmouth Street
It's never too late to join in, so why not join us for polka dots, ombres and flowers for the remaining Wednesdays in October? :)
So the lovely She Loves Lacquer has set this month's challenge: to paint your nails a beautiful autumnal colour depending on the day of the month. Here's her colour scheme below: how sweet and varied is this? :)
So the 5th October called for a red wine colour, so I dug out my O.P.I. Skyfall, from the James Bond collection. It's a rich, deep red creme polish that is very brown-toned. While that may make it look a little boring in the bottle, it goes on like a dream and is a colour that looks good on my skin - I can't quite believe it's the first time I've used it in about 2 years! Like most OPIs, it does goes on easily (opaque in two coats) and lasts well on me. I did however put it on under a low energy light bulb last night, as my cuticle line now shows in the light of day. I really need a good lamp now that the evenings are pitch black again!
OPI Skyfall in natural (but dull) light
OPI Skyfall in daylight (no direct sun)
While this is lovely, I am however itching to stamp it, and am feeling that a gold design is in order... So, I'm sure this post will be updated soon. In the mean time, why not check out how my fellow participants are getting along :) Feel free to share your blog links so that I can see what you are up to as well! Thanks for reading :)
UPDATE: I have indeed added some gold stamping, with Barry M Gold Foil and Moyou Sailor 07. I'm so pleased with this - I had pictured this exact pattern in my mind, but wasn't sure if I owned it. I love it when a plan comes together!
OPI Skyfall, Barry M Gold Foil and Moyou Sailor 07, in natural light (no direct sun)
The ingredients. Does anyone else get this streaking with pure acetone? It doesn't wash off with hot water and liquid soap: I only find normal nail polish remover to work so far.
This month, I will be taking part in Lady Loves Lacquer autumn colour challenge as often as I can. Sadly her blog is offline at the moment, or I'd share a link and describe the challenge in more detail. I hope she's okay and is back soon!
Day 1's challenge colour was moss green, and I was excited to dust off a colour I haven't worn in over a year, but I love it for its distinctiveness - it's Nails Inc Belgrave Mews, a moss green colour with very subtle copper shimmer when it catches the light.
Nails Inc Belgrave Mews in direct sunlight
As a polish, this lives up to the usual Nails Inc standard - easy to apply, opaque and glossy in two coats, and with a shimmer that just makes me smile. No wonder NI make up 3/4 of my collection really!
.
So, being me, I wanted to stamp this mani (although that's not part of the challenge itself). I chose Nails Inc Westminster (magnetic) to stamp with, as it's a lovely copper colour. In fact, when I wear it using the striped magnet, I refer to it as my 'tabby cat polish'! Despite me remembering all the magnetics as thick and opaque, I found that this was a temperamental and thin beast that required gentle scraping, but oddly enough that worked in my favour. Just as the copper shimmer in this polish is subtle and faint, so too was this stamping over the top, and it's made for a manicure that is even more pretty than it photographs, and is only really visible to other people when it catches the light.
Nails Inc Belgrave Mews stamped with Nails Inc Westminster magnetic and Pueen Encore SE02B. Taken in direct sunlight.
Nails Inc Belgrave Mews stamped with Nails Inc Westminster magnetic and Pueen Encore SE02B. Taken in indirect daylight.
All in all, I'm really pleased with this mani and these two polishes, but I wouldn't use a magnetic again without taking the time to test run it on an outgoing mani, paper, or a painted nail wheel. I'm also surprised at my last of autumnal, leafy patterns among my plates. I seem to have 90% flowers, 5% butterflies, and 5% other stuff! I really need to try and shit on my hands and not just browse Moyou and spend another fortune...
The ingredients: Nails Inc Belgrave Mews and Nails Inc Westminster (Magnetic)
So, yesterday was my last manicure for Tina's September Stamping Challenge. It was a choose your own day, and I wanted to do a technique-oriented manicure; I had a few ideas on my head, but settled on a multi-coloured stamping technique and a theme from a day I had missed - Day 5, birds.
So, peacocks were the name of the game. I first painted my nails gold with Zoya's Richelle, and got my Moyou plate ready - Pro XL 05. I decided blue and green were the most in-keeping with the peacock colour scheme, so took two Mundo de Unas polishes out for a spin - #3 Navy Blue and #38 - Neon Green. I dobbed both colours on the image, scraped twice to mix them, and then stamped them on my nails. I think the more mixed nails looks better (the unmixed green on my little finger irks me), but it's not bad for a first attempt I don't think!
Taken in direct sunlight:
With flash:
Ingredients:
So, I have a mani of my choice, with a theme of Tina's choice, and using a gold base that will no doubt return again in the Lady Loves Lacquer October Mani Challenge. I look forward to taking part, and seeing what everyone is wearing. This month has been a lot of fun though: thanks Tina for setting up and running the challenge. It's been a blast! :)
So, it's almost the end of the stamping challenge, and it's Tina's 'Your choice' days. Having missed so many of the set themes due to lacking plates for the days I was free, I decided I should do a catch up, so I am going for Day 17 - Candy.
I loved Tina's candy manicure - colourful, sweet and old school. I have no directly relevant plates, so went for the old wrapper of a sweet I have been craving these past few days - a strawberry cream from Cadbury's Roses. Sadly, Google isn't providing me with an image of the wrapper from my childhood - a closely wrapped cerise pink foil with roses stamped over it, so a modern wrapper with it plastic pink cover and print of the word 'Roses' will have to suffice as a poor second:
So, this one I created with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Pink Fast, Konad White and Moyou Pro XL 12. I was in a rush, so haven't photographed my tools - apologies!
In direct sunlight:
With flash:
Moyou Pro XL 12 (Moyou's own picture) - bottom row 3rd image:
This Insta-Dri pink is lovely (although the bottle is ugly and the brush is terrible to use). For £1, it is a great stamper, and actually seems to last a few days without chipping - something fast dryers rarely do. I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of this one!
I have practised a lot these last few months, and been given advice both personally and by blogs and tutorial videos. This has all been really helpful, so the only thing I could think to better it, was to try and summarise it all together in one place so that maybe someone else might benefit from it. So, here it goes! I'm sure this entry will be a work in progress, that gets updated over time with extra things I have learned and been advised along the way.
1) Not all nails are created equal!
Think carefully about your nails before you even start shopping: how wide are they? How
long are they? How different in length do you keep your dominant and
non-dominant hands? Is your nail bed flat, or do your nails curve in a C-shape when you look at them end-on? If you think about this first, it should save you from buying the wrong sized plates. Moyou-London for example, do 18 image plates for short, narrow nails, and 12
image plates for long, broad nails; you don’t want to buy the wrong size, and
end up with images that won’t fit well on to your nails. Full image plates (where the plate is one continuous big picture, made up of various patterns) are
full-proof, but you do still consider the size of the detailing on them. Certainly
as a newbie, I found the choice and control of a whole image plate daunting and
avoided them, but now I have Pueen’s Encore collection and use them a lot, both
using my eye to make sure I keep picking up the same section of the image, or blocking of a section with
washi/masking tape, much like a surgeon’s drape. So, be brave - don't rule full image plates out!
Just remember, ALWAYS PEEL OFF THE PROTECTIVE PLASTIC FIRST! You can't pick up a stamp otherwise. This is the stamping equivalent of "Have you turned your computer off and back on again?"
As you can see from almost any post on this blog, my nails are narrow but quite long, so I own both sizes of Moyou plate. (The small images are fine if they are a stand alone image, not a uniform pattern that should cover the whole nail. The bigger images work best as a uniform pattern - I hit issues with them when the image is too wide to fully appear on my nails).
A Moyou-London 18 image plate - my Pro 02. (These are ideal for my right hand with its shorter nails, and for stamping friends' nails, but are not long enough to cover my longer, left hand nails). One of my large Moyou plates - Pro XL 05. (Whilst the more uniform images on the right work well for me, the butterfly and shells on the left are bit too broad to look good on any nail that isn't my thumb nail). NB: the actual plate itself is the same size as the 18-image plate above.
One of my full image plates: Pueen Encore SE02B. For an example of a manicure using this plate, please click here).
2) The Stamper is Mightier Than the Sword (Almost!)
Don’t assume that the only stamper you have is the only
stamper that will work (or fail) for you! I originally had a Poundland kit to try out,
and had no luck, giving up on stamping before I had even really began. I then tried a
Konad stamper, as it had come recommended and was so inexpensive… boom, I then had my
first successful mani! (The change in polish helped too – no longer the white
from my French manicure kit, but an opaque silver Nails Inc foil polish that
came free with an issue of Glamour magazine). I found being gentler pressure-wise helped too, but
I have a very curved nail bed, so rolling the image across always felt
precarious with my hard Konad – that one day, perhaps the stamper would slip across my nail. I
kept on with the search, finally trying an infamous marshmallow, and found that it picked up like a dream, but also rolled easily across my nail as
it clings to its shape. (I now have some squishy firms too, and I still prefer
them all to my harsh Konad, which is better suited for a friend's small and flat nails, I think).
Another thing you need to know is that not all stampers are 'born ready': some need a little priming, as they won't pick up polishes consistently at first go. I have had two stampers like this - the marshmallow below, and my rectangular Moyou stamper (squishy firm). Both have just needed a wash in hot water and Fairy Liquid (dish soap), and with some practising on my technique via paper, they have worked perfectly after that. The next stop if your stamper still won't pick up, is to gently file the thinnest top layer away that you can - across the pond, they all swear by a 'magic eraser' to do this, but a nail file will do the same job. This should always be a last resort though, as you can never undo your filing, and it is easy to take so much off that you ruin its chances of picking anything up. Manic Talons has a good, well illustrated tutorial here to help you along with priming :)
My white marshmallow (which gets dirty just thinking about lint) beside my firm, pink Konad stamper.
Why a marshmallow is so called!
3) Preparation, Preparation, Preparation!
When are settling down to do your stamping, get everything you need ready before you start! I'll post a photo the next time I stamp in day light, but my prep list contains:
my designated 'nail towel' to protect my table
pure acetone and glass jar with some decanted in to it (bottle caps are a small but useful alternative, just be wary of how easy they are to knock over/off surfaces)
cotton buds for plate cleaning
cotton pads for plate cleaning, and for drying off the acetone before I reapply polish to the plate
cellotape to clean my marshmallow stamper (NPR is fine for my Konad) and to clean up the excess around my nails
a brush for clean up (mine's a nail brush from Ebay, but am awaiting delivery of an ELF angled brush because it comes so highly recommended)
a bin, for the cellotape and cotton buds that can quickly pile up
kitchen roll/tissue paper to wipe my scraper on each time I use it
my stamping polish(s), with the lid unscrewed and the cap just sitting in place.
4) Don't Underestimate Scraping
Scraping needs to be done swiftly and
at the correct angle – if you’re having to do it several times, then you are
leaving your polish more likely to dry out in the grooves of the plate. I prefer to use a
plastic scraper than a metal one, as it doesn’t leave ugly (but perfectly
harmless) scratches on the plate. 45 degrees is the only angle that works for me, and when I give friends manicures, the speed they remark about is usually my
scraping speed.
5) Hurry Up!
Work fast full stop! I paint, scrape, and pick up in about 5 seconds,
hesitating for a second or two as I stamp (usually putting my finger down on to my
stamper where I can see the image, not putting the stamper blindly down on to my finger). For images requiring you to stamp in straight lines, I find
a rectangular rather than circular stamper can help with lining up the design more
accurately.
6) Your Environs Matters
In addition to working fast, think about where you are
working, as that affects drying speed too: being in a draught, beside a radiator,
under your air conditioning… anything can make your polish dry up faster than
you can pick it up and transfer it, makes your job harder. Don't leave yourself totally unventilated while working with pure acetone, stinky top coat etc though - I'm pretty sure fainting mid-mani isn't recommended either! lol.
6) Top Coat - Gentley Does It Now!
Don't rush the top coat: I usually clean up my nails with the cellotape and the brush (dry brushing at first to clear up the edges, then picking the remainder up by dipping it in acetone and blotting excess off on cotton pads) to give the stamping polish ample time to dry. Also, take your time with the actual application of the top coat, floating it so that your brush doesn't actually touch the image. (In other words, leave a good sized bead of TC on the brush, set that to your nail, and just use the brush gentley on the bead's surface to move it all the way across your nail, rather than pushing so hard that your brush goes straight down through the bead and touches your stamp. This is especially important with top coats that melt and set your polish, such as Seche Vite and HK Girl, which are fab toppers for stamping, they just need an extra second or two of care).
7) Try, Try Again!
The best but most boring piece of advice is practice, practice, practice! There are no magic words and
no short cuts – it just has to be done. Here’s a few sneaky tips that I have picked
up along the way though:
Paper is your friend: stamp on to paper, and do
so for a whole host of reasons - to check that your polish is opaque enough to
stamp with, to check that your new plate is deeply enough etched, to check that your
stamper is picking up, to check that you are working fast enough to pick up and
stamp down cleanly and crisply, to check that you are using the right technique
(rolling side-to-side or up-and-down vs. pressing straight down) along with the
right stamper (marshmallow, firm or anything in between) for you and your nails
(their width and curvature will affect what’s best for you), to check that you are
using the right amount of pressure (less than you might think). Also, invest in
some black paper: this lets you know if your polish is opaque enough to stamp
over dark colours, as well as over light ones.
Have an unchipped, plain mani? Stamp it, just
before you remove it. There is nothing quite like stamping on real nails; luckily I have keen friends to practice on as well most weekends!
Want to get more practice in but can’t be
bothered with all the time it takes to paint your nails first? Treat yourself
to a gel manicure (cured under a UV lamp) - these come up in my local area for about £10 on Groupon all the time. You can stamp over the top of these manicures at home, removing and restarting as much as you like as nail polish remover will only dissolve your normal/stamping polish, but not the gel polish the beautician
has applied. Some strongly pigmented gels can bleed a little though (e.g. reds), so do let your beautician know, as they may want to cure a second top coat over your manicure just to be sure.
Checking out 2 new plates on paper (Moyou Tropical 02 and 06). Most of these were with my new marshmallow at the time hence giving me more practice with that too, but I did check out a difficult image on 02 with the Konad. A good acetone-clean of the plate and a bit more careful technique meant that I got there with the troublesome flower in the end though (on another sheet of paper).
8) Normal Polishes Can Work, But Stamping Polishes Are an Investment
I won't litter the internet with another essay on normal polishes that work for stamping (see here, for example), but typically polishes that have the following characteristics are good contenders:
One coaters: thick and pigmented enough to be opaque in a single coat. Gel effect polishes usually fit this bill (and I love the Barry M Gellies for stamping).
Metallics/foils: many people actually find normal silvers and golds (e.g. Maybelline, Barr M, China Glaze) work better than stamping golds/silvers (e.g. Konads).
Holographics.
Old, thick and gloopy polishes that you thought were destined for the bin
Certain brands are also known to work well e.g. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (often available in Poundland and B&M in the UK), and many (but not all) Sinful Colors (I've seen some of these in Poundland too). Friends across the pond also rate Kleancolor Metallics, but I have never seen them available in the UK.
So, if you're trying out your regular polish collection, this is where practising over white and black paper come in handy, bearing in mind that some polishes will work only over pale colours and not dark ones. Stamping the bottle itself or the lid can be a good way to remind you if that polish works just over light colours (e.g. white stamp) or if it works over both contrasts (e.g. black stamp your bottle).
For white and black stamping, I use trusty Konad stamping polish. The holy grail of specialised stamping polishes are really Mundo de Unas though, available directly from MdU or via Rainbow Connection in the UK. I have 5 minis and love them, but do be prepared for the whiff! Rica stamping polishes have also been recommended to me, but I haven't seen the need to fix what isn't broken with my Konads and MdU.
9) The Common Mistakes We All Make
So, while I think common errors have been implied along this post, it's hard to beat a visible check list to see where you might be making mistakes:
Working too slowly: paint, scrape, and pick up within seconds, pausing only to check that your image has been successfully picked up and the alignment on your nail before stamping.
Working in the wrong place: remember, don't sit under your air conditioning, in a draught etc, as your environment can affect how your polish is drying.
Using the wrong polish: have you done the white/black paper tests, to see if it's opaque enough? Or have you done a test swatch on a nail wheel, with your stamping colour over the coloured polish you are wearing? Are you working at the right speed for the type of polish you have? (Many polishes require fast work, but stamping polishes like Mundo de Unas can sometimes be crisper if left for 5 seconds before pick up).
Is your stamper ready to use? Remember to try your stamper out on paper/ a nail wheel before using it for a mani you intend to wear out, as you may find it doesn't pick images up straight away. A hot wash in Fairy (dish soap) usually works for me, but you may need to very carefully file the slickness away (and here's a great tutorial on how to prime your stamper).
Misjudging the pressure: are you pressing so hard that you blur the image and are at risk of your stamper slipping? Are you pressing so lightly that you will never pick up all the image? Are you adjusting the pressure for your stamper, if for example, you have just switched from a hard stamper to a marshmallow?
Pick-up and transfer technique: are you pressing your stamper directly down onto your plate and nail, or are you rolling the stamper across either/both? You need to find out what works best for you and your chosen stamper, but I found that rolling left to right with my round stampers (both Konad and marshmallow) on the plate and my nail was the right thing to do, but that rolling up and down with my rectangle Moyou stamper works best. (Straight down has never worked for me, but I have very curved nails, so this likely never will; it makes sense to me to pick the image off the plate in the same way that I am going to transfer it on to my actual nails).
The wrong stamper: you have worked on your speed, got hold of proven polishes, and still not been successful? Don't despair! In most cases, you have the wrong kind of stamper for your technique, nail shape, or just your preference. There are no hard and fast rules - it's trial and error, so often it means buying a few. I try never to see it as a waste of money though - for doing decals (coloured in stamps - see the pic below), you paint the image in on the stamper, let it dry, and then put it on your nails. It really saves times if you can put the image on to several stampers to paint and dry at the same time, rather than being limited to one image and one stamper! (A tutorial video to explain decals is here).
Plate problems: is your plate definitely properly etched? Does it need an acetone wash before its first use? (I find Moyou plates with fine detail benefit from a wipe done with 100% acetone before first use). If I am still failing despite several basic checks, then I change the stamper and scraper, and switch to a polish I know works if I'm having an issue with my current one: if it still doesn't work, then it could be a plate issue, but thankfully this is rare amongst brand names (in a 'you get what you pay for' type way). Also, look up your plate's code/name online: have other bloggers had similar problems too?
Decal photo, courtesty of LuvMyLacquer. Now, imagine colouring in one stamper 10 times and waiting for the layers to dry, versus painting in multiple stampers just the once or twice!
10) Ask (Preferably Before All Else Fails)
Finally, don't be afraid to ask anyone for help - be it the stamping community in general, or me specifically via the comments. I have learned that there really is no such thing as a silly question: more skilled stampers than me have helped me with stamper recommendations, my technique, suggesting plates that contain a certain image that I'm after, and have inspired me not only with their current creations/works of art, but also by being honest and showing their poorer manicures from when they started off as a newbie too. I think it's important to realise that even the pros make mistakes, so don't let that put you off, and don't be afraid to post things that are short of perfect; they often provide the best way to learn :) I follow blogs but am in a lot of great fb groups for stamping too: just get in touch if you'd like me to recommend you a few for you.
The first stamping manicure that gave me hope (Xmas 2013), using Barry M Gelly in Guava, Nails Inc silver foil, and a Moyou Pro XL plate (I don't have the details, as I wasn't even thinking of blogging back then):
The first manicure will all the correct kit for my nails (Konad white, a marshmallow stamper, plastic scraper etc). Again, pre-thoughts of blogging, so lacking details (but it was a Moyou Pro XL plate, Nails Inc green that bled in to yellow after using Seche Vite top coat, hence the pre-clean up photo to show the colour change at my cuticles):
So please, feel free to get in touch with questions, comments, or your own tips for getting things right :) Or, why not do your own 'then and now' post and share the link with us, to see how far your stamping has come along, and give all of us still on the learning curve even more hope that practice really does make perfect?! :)
A very quick post during my tea break, showing how a 'zhoozhed' up a French manicure using a stamp - my favourite rose pattern from Moyou Pro XL 07.
Moyou-London's official picture of the plate (and I used the bottom row, second image in):
So, I'm not usually a fan of weird and wonderful coloured tips on French manicures - I like them traditional or not at all. Well, at least I thought I did, but having seen some lovely stamping such as Tina's here, I do feel it's an option I need to play with more in future
So, for this mani I used Nails Inc Elizabeth Street as the nude pink, and Zoya Snow White for my tips. The roses were stamped with Konad white. Sadly, I was photographing on the fly, so it's not the best lit - apologies for that!
Before stamping (with flash):
After the addition of accent roses on the ring finger:
In dappled, evening sunlight:
While I don't think I've photographed this well and you can see the day's wear on the tips, I like it a lot... in fact, I think it's a contender for my bridal manicure (given that in my head, that's always been a French manicure, perhaps with room for a subtle twist, particularly a lace-type design on the ring finger). So, I'm still not ready for overly busy or colour twists on a French mani, but I am enjoying dipping my toe in to a brand new pool for now :)
Remember to keep up to date with Tina's challenge here, and see what us fellow participants are doing here. Thanks for reading! :)
So another day, another mani for Tina's monthly challenge, and this is a technique I have been meaning to practice for a while as it takes careful placement - using a stamp that only covers part of the nail. (To see what the other participants have been up to this month, find them all listed here).
I started by choosing a polish I owned but hadn't got around to wearing yet - Color Club Cherubic, a nude shade holographic. With a subtle, taupy shade, a stamp with fine detail felt appropriate, so out came Moyou Pro 02, and the 2-sided partial on the bottom row.
As well as Cherubic and the Pro 02 plate, I also used Konad black stamping polish, OPI Matte Nail envy (base) and HK Girl top coat.
I try to take photos in natural light, but with a holo, I have included the obligatory 'with flash' photo!
I do rather like the understatedness of this mani; I just need some more placement practice :)
Natural, direct sunlight:
Natural but indirect sunlight:
With flash:
As always, thanks for looking, and please feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments, so that I can see what you're up to as well :)
So, I have finally managed to get another of Tina’s great
suggestions on my nails, albeit on the day suggested. Oops! With the time to do 1-2 manicures per
week though, that was to be expected.
I was excited about today’s manicures as it uses one of my
staple polishes – a navy with green shimmer (Nails Inc New King’s Road), it was
my first time using a mini Mundo des Unas polish that I got recently from
Rainbow Connection (38 – Neon Green), and it was my first time using the Pueen
Encore plate SE02B (and I’m still enjoying the choice and challenge of using
full image plates). This photos have been a bit rushed, so pardon the fact that
clean up isn’t finished and that I haven’t oiled my cuticles yet!
The list of ingredients should come as no surprise:
(OPI Matte Nail Envy as a base coat, HK Girl as
top coat)
Apologies for my tardiness in posting, but life has been busy! I have finally done one of Tina's set manicures on the relevant say - a rainbow manicure. I just can't believe it's taken me 2 days to post it! (Voting in Scotland's Independence referendum first thing this morning has paid off by giving me more time to spare than anticipated).
So, I don't have a rainbow on my plates to make a stamping decal from as it's not really my cup of tea. I took a different approach though: to go rainbow with the colours themselves and create a skittle mani. Once I had the colours on, the plate pretty much decided itself: Moyou Tropical 02 and its exotic summer flowers just spoke to me!
The ingredients list is a bit longer than usual:
- (matte OPI Nail Envy base and HK Girl top coat)
- Nails Inc Seymour Walk (pink), Royal Botanical Gardens (powder blue), Notting Hill Carnival (yellow), Mornington Crescent (orange) and St John's Wood (heather).
-Moyou Tropical 02
(Apologies for any poor formatting - the mobile app really isn't all that great for Blogger)!
