October Autumn Colour Challenge: (Belated) Day 1 - Moss Green

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!
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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)

Leaf pattern from Pueen Encore plate SE02B

September Stamping Challenge: Day 18 – Leaves

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)
•      Nails Inc New Kings Road
•         Mundo des Unas Neon Green (38)
•      Pueen Encore SE02B

September Stamping Challenge - Day 8: Inspiration Mani (Clothing)

So, once again I looked to Tina's wonderful list for stamping inspiration, and found myself sadly lacking in dragon stamping plates. So, what did I do instead? Well, I copied the clothing I was wearing of course!

My favourite every-day top is a forest green and white patterned long t-shirt:

I also think dark greens are under-rated as a nail colour, with black and navy seeming more popular for people going for dark shades. While I had originally planned to use a Moyou plate and then use a dotting tool to add the spots, I had a look through my brand new purchase - the Pueen Encore plates, and found this pattern! Not an exact match by any means, but has 5 petal flowers including stems, foliage and some dotting.

So, here is the resulting mani. It is far from perfect: I didn't always pick up well, but find it so hard to see the white Konad polish against my white marshmallow stamper. If anyone can recommend a coloured marshmallow, please do let me know! I do like the bit of variety in which part of the image I placed where on my nails (I would have used masking/washi tape if I'd wanted the same uniform pattern and placing across my hands). Given it's my first time using these plates, and my first time using a full-image plate, I'm happy enough :) Half the fun is in the practising along the way anyway!

The main ingredients were:
-Nails Inc Emerald Street
-Konad White stamping polish
-Pueen Encore plate SE03B
-(OPI Matte Nail Envy and HK Girl as base and topper)

Thanks again for looking :) Don't forget to check up on Tina's progress here, or see what my fellow participants are up too as well (listed here).