Day 31 of Crumpets 31 DC - Recreation

I have mixed feelings about this, the final day, of the challenge.  Woo hoo, it's the last day!  Boo hoo, it's the last day!  Once again I have learned so much and pushed my creative envelope.  It will be awhile before I do a 31 day challenge again, although I have some more relaxed challenges coming for February.

The last day is to recreate someone else's mani from the challenge.  I chose Cazzy's acid wash mani found HERE.  I have seen a lot of acid wash manis on my many web travels, but Cazzy's was the first that I actually really, really liked.  Her's was the one that made me want to try the technique.  Her's, of course, is better than mine, but I still am happy with how this turned out.

I was going for a wood grain look, so I layered 4 different shades of brown/tan. 

• Two coats of Revlon Bare Bones
• Finger Paints It's Baroque
• Nina Beige A View
• Orly Chocoholic

I used one coat of topcoat between each layer, then removed spots with acetone and a small paintbrush.

I think I was a little hesitant with the acetone.  I could have been more aggressive.  Oh well, it was, as always, a learning experience.

Now go see all the other recreations.

Day 30 of Crumpets 31 DC - Favorite Technique

If you can't figure out what my favorite technique is, you haven't looked through my blog hard enough (tee hee).  My favorite technique is the one that started my whole nail obsession...Stamping!  This is not my best stamping, but it will have to do.

I started with three coats of Sinful Colors Cinderella.  I wish I would have photo'd this lovely color on it's own.  If you want to see a good representation, check it on The Daily Varnish HERE.  I purchased all my Sinful Colors before I heard about the whole stealing image hoopla, and haven't purchased any of them since, but I have to say that I'm glad that this beautiful blue is in my stash.  It is a sheer light baby blue with glass flecks.  I LOVE glass flecked polish.

 Next I stamped with Bundle Monster BM-206 and Avon Forbidden Fudge.  I wasn't concerned with how perfect the stamping was, because I knew I was going to be taping off most of it.  You can see on my index finger that my learning curve with this stamp was steep.  Some images require cleaning after each stamp, and this is one of them, which I learned a little late.  This image with this polish also required a delicate hand, soft stamping on both the plate and the nail.  Oh well, now I know for future reference.

Next I added small triangles of tape and pained with China Glaze Ingrid, a beautiful soft brown with a gold glitter.  In real life, the stamped brown and Ingrid matched better....that damn macro once again shows all the inconsistencies.

I really liked how this turned out...the pics, on the other hand, don't do it justice.  Now go see all the other favorite techniques.

Day 29 of Crumpets 31 DC - Inspired by a Blogger

Day 29 is inspired by a blogger.  This was a difficult one for me.  There are so many talented bloggers out there, and I follow so many of them.  One of my favorites is the lovely Marta from Chit Chat Nails.  I used her mani HERE as inspiration.  Her's is so much more gorgeous than mine!  Here is what I came up with.

I am not wild about these.  Maybe it is not the right colors, I don't know.  Anyways, here is how i did it.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, then added one coat China Glaze Fast Track and another stripe of Zoya Yara.

Next I stamped with Bundle Monster BM20 and Oztic Scatter 910.

Now to check the other blogger inspired manis.

Day 28 of Crumpets 31 DC - Favorite Color

The theme for day 28 is your favorite color.  My favorite color is black, but that is a little boring, so I added my second favorite color, cobalt blue.  Here's what I came up with.

I started with two coats of one of my favorite "blacks", Essence Jacobs Protection.  You can see pics of Jacobs Protection on it's own HERE.  It is a black polish with a gorgeous cobalt glitter.  Mmmmmm, I love Jacob!

Next I stamped with Bundle Monster BM11 and Orly Dazzle.

 
Finally I dotted with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Cobalt Blue.  Now, go check out the rest of the faves.

Day 27 of Crumpets 31 DC - Inspired By Me

I am so sorry for going missing the last couple of day.  Although I completed almost all of the final manis this weekend, I have been sick the last two days and just have not had the energy to post.  Still feeling under the weather, but on the mend.  Needless to say, this is going to be a post heavy day, as I hope to catch up with all my missed posts.

Day 27 was "Inspired by You".  I decided I would get a head start on an idea I have to try and recreate semiprecious stones in manicures.  I have this thing about stones, and have made semiprecious stone jewelry for awhile.  It seems natural that my stone obsession should show up in my nail obsession.  Oh, and get ready, I broke a nail and decided to trim everything down to nubbins instead of trying to patch it.  Needed a new start and all.  Here's what I came up with.

Look at those little nubbins.  They are opals, of course.  The first ring my husband ever gave me was an opal ring, and I love how opals are filled with fire, flashing sparks of different colors from their depths.  I feel like I did a pretty good job capturing this effect with several layers of different flakies I have in my stash.  Here's how I did it.

I started out with two coats of OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdamn.  I took a couple of pics, but couldn't get an accurate color representation, no matter what I tried, so I googled and found that I wasn't the only one.  Most of the swatches pull blue, just like mine, but I found a great representation at The Daily Varnish HERE.  Rotterdamn is a lovely pale grey with a glass fleck..  It made the perfect base for my opals.   Next I added one coat each of:

• Confetti Ice Ice Baby - A clear coat with blue sparkle
• Revlon Moon Candy Universe - A clear coat mylar flakie with pink and gold flashes.
• Revlon Moon Candy Moon Dust - A clear coat mylar flakie with blue and green flashes.
• Color Club Snow Flakes - A clear coat flakie with green and copper red flashes.

The Revlon Moon Candies were a bit difficult to manage, with lots of fishing and placing on the nails, but they were perfect for this as they gave depth and texture, whereas the Confetti and Color Club applied like butter and gave flash without any texture.  I think the use of all the different flakies is what made this successful.  Here is a few pics to give you an idea of the effect.
 

Finally, I tried to make it look like jewelry and added a frame with Orly Solid Gold.  Don't know if I liked the framed effect, but it is what it is.  One last pic then check the other lovely manis.

 

A Vote Would Be Appreciated

Day 27 will be up soon, but I wanted to ask you all a favor.  I entered a contest at Lisa's Nail Obsession HERE and would appreciate it if you all went and looked at all the lovely manis.  If you like mine, I would love it if you voted for me....only if you like it of course :)  Thanks for all the comments and views, my lovely followers!

Tina

Day 26 - My Country and 50 Followers!

Before I show you my mani, I have to acknowledge something....I have passed the 50 followers mark!  I know I said that I would do a giveaway when I reached 50, and I will, just not right at this moment.  My plan is to begin the giveaway the first week in February, so watch for it!  I have sooo many goodies, I can't wait to show you!  There will be at least two prizes, possibly more.  But enough of that, on with the nails!

The theme for day 26 is "Inspired by your country".  I had a lovely stamped manicure all planned out...stars, stripes, the whole thing....but then Bria didn't want her bananas (see my last post if you don't know what I am talking about).  "Okay Bria, I have to do inspired by country, so it has to be red, white and blue".  (I had already started day 27 on my own fingies)  I showed/explained my well laid out plans.  "Mom," (add a little whine to this phrase.  Not too much, just enough to soften your heart) "can't I just finally have a heart with wings?"  See, a heart with wings is kind of our family "symbol", so to speak.  My hubby has a tattoo of one.  He adds one to each note he writes me or the kids, and now Bria does the same.  Bria has been asking for "a heart with wings" since the Christmas manis went away, but there was always something else she "needed" to model for me.  She has been such a good model, never complaining about what I wanted to put on her tips and even sometimes liking it.  I had to listen to her this time, to thank her for being so patient while I painted, for twisting her fingers and hands into uncomfortable positions while I photographed, for allowing ME to wear the same manicure on BOTH hands for MORE than 12 hours.  So I made it work.  Here is my "I Love My Country" mani.

Oh look at her poor dry cuticles!  I always forget to remind her to put on lotion before the pics.  Here's what I used.

 

• One coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Cobalt Blue.  Could have added another coat, but she had already sat through one , somewhat detailed, manicure, so I skipped it.  The Insta-Dris are really good as one coaters.
• Stamped with Bundle Monster BM-310 and Konad Special White
• Filled in the heart with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red

If you actually read this blog, not just look at the pictures, please give a shout out to Bria in the comments.  She reads all the comments posted on her nails and has made this challenge....well....less of a challenge (tee hee) for me.  Now check out the other Countrified manis.

Day 25 of Crumpets 31 DC - Banana Pants

The theme of day 25 is childhood.  I thought and thought...my childhood was good, but nothing really jumped out.  So I looked through my Pinterest files and it STRUCK!  I totally forgot that I pinned Emily's mani HERE.  I pinned it because it reminded me of my childhood!  When I was in elementary school, my mom, bless her, made a lot of our clothes.  It was the 70's after all.  My favorite piece of clothing was a pair of pants that she made for both me and my sister.  They looked like jeans....but they weren't.  They were like those fake jeans you see advertised on TV.  But they were better....they had bananas printed all over them!  Don't believe me?  Check the picture!

This was the only picture I could find of my beloved pants...only it was my sister wearing her's, so I cut her out so she wouldn't be embarrassed (tee hee).  I mean really, check that combo!  Anyways, here is my beloved banana pants on the tips of Bria's lovely fingers.

I started with one coat of Maybelline Styled Out, one of my lovely matte blues.  Then I added the bananas with my black striper, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening (the dark yellow) and NOPI Ladies in the Limelight (the lighter yellow).  I love these!  They make me smile and giggle.  But Brianna refused to wear them to school!  She took them off right away and asked for something else.  You will see what I replaced them with tomorrow.  To think that I actually wore those pants to school all the time and she would not even wear bananas on her nails!  Like I said, it was the 70's.  (Oops, am I revealing my age?)  One more pic and then on to all the other childhood manis.
 

Tee Hee!

Day 24 of Crumpets 31 DC - Game

Another late post, but I will catch up today!  I feel like my creative mojo has been running a bit low lately, so although there were plenty of easier manis I could have done, I decided to try to create something based on the first video game I was every REALLY addicted to, Final Fantasy X.  When we first got our Playstation, I played this for hours and hours, trying to find every secret, defeat every creature, and steal every treasure (with Rikku's help :)

I pulled a rookie mistake and painted my nails "upside down".  Oh well, I got to enjoy them form my point of view.  For those who don't know this game or it's characters, here is a breakdown of each nail from pinky to thumb.

Yuna

Rikku

Titus

Kimahri Ronso

Lulu

 Another semi successful free hand mani!  Now go check all the other game themed nails.

Day 23 of Crumpet 31 DC - Nature

So sorry for going missing yesterday!  I can claim nothing but exhaustion.  I didn't touch my computer all day, came home from a stressful day at work, went to bed early and slept for 10 hours straight.  Here's my missing day, inspired by nature.

I had such high hopes for this mani.  I learned a lot during the execution, so I thought I would pass those lessons on to you.  I started with two coats of Zoya Yara.  I love this polish.  Application is smooth and easy.  The color is a swampy green with a gold glitter.  What one might consider an ugly color, but I happen to like it.

I had these skeleton leaves in my art stash and thought they would work like a the lace manis floating around the web.  It might have been a good idea, but poorly executed.  My first mistake was not adding a topcoat over Yara.  This would have protected the basecoat from smudging.  I started out trying to "embed" the leaves in my topcoat.  This might work for lace, which is more flexible, but not with these, very flat, somewhat inflexible leaves.  After this did not work, I tried nail glue.

I swiped the corners with the glue and added the leaves.  Unfortunately, only small sections were glued securely.  If I were to do this again, I would glue this in small sections, working from one end to the other.  This would allow the leaves to more closely follow the curve of the nail.  Next I trimmed the leaves with cuticle scissors.

Finally I covered with two coats of Sech Vite.  Although I feel like this wasn't a total fail, it also did not turn out as well as it could have.  But I learned better how to do this technique, and therefore it was worth the try.  Now go check all the other, more successful manicures.

 

Day 22 of Crumpets 31 DC - Fabric

I am dead tired so this is going to be a quick post.  Today's theme is inspired by a fabric.  The fabric I chose is the carpet runner on our stairs.

 

And here is what I came up with.

 

I started with three coats of Zoya Gemma.

 

I have a love/hate relationship with Gemma.  She is a very thin polish.  I started with two thin coats and then added one last generous coat.  If I was doing it right, I would have done four thin coats, but I didn't have the patience.  The result was a dent on my thumb.  Dry time was decent, but with the thin finish, it took too much of my time.  HOWEVER, this is one of those polishes that I am willing to wear, despite the need for multiple coats.  There is nothing else like it in my stash!  It is a sage green that leans yellow with a teal blue shimmer.  Although it doesn't show in the non-flash pic above, it does show IRL.  Check out the flash picture and you can get an idea of how beautiful this really is.  Although I wouldn't consider this a jelly, it really does give that jelly feel.  I have heard some bloggers describe this finish as "squishy".  Don't know if I would put it the same way, but it has such a depth filled silky feel.  LOVE it!

 Next I stamped China Glaze Kalahari Kiss and BM-206.

This is a simple mani, but I really ended up liking it.  One more pic and then on to the rest of the fabric covered tips.

Look at that blue shimmer showing through the stamping!  What a beauty!