Rainbow Butterflies

This weekend is going to be all about revamping the blog, but before I start, I wanted to finally post my last mani for the Falling Through the Rainbow challenge.  The group has already seen it, but maybe you would like to also.  Last prompt is, of course, rainbow.  I had a lot of ideas, but settled with a little stamped gradient.  Seems my nails are still refusing to move into a winter mood!

 I just have to say it...."How cute is that!".  The stamping isn't the best I have ever done, but I like the gradient.

This looks like a complicated gradient, but it is not!  I made this using only three colors.  Of course, I started with a base color.  I didn't want things too bright, co I used two coats of OPI Peace Baby, a sheer cream color.

 
I striped a wet sponge with the following colors:

• Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening (yellow)
• Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red (....um, red)
• Sinful Colors Endless Blue (....um, blue)

 

 It takes no genius to know that red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and  blue and red make purple, so I just striped the sponge with red, yellow, blue, and then red again.  When I sponged it on, I went up and down the nail a little to mix the colors and wallah, rainbow out of 3 colors!  Color science, it is amazing!

Finally I stamped with BM-424, from the Bundle Monster Create Your Own collection.  When I first heard about this collection, I thought you got to pick what images you wanted (tee hee).  Turns out that it is a collection with images made by nail artists, the ones who use the plates.  The butterfly wing has been done before, but they all have their own take on it.  I have at least one more plate with a butterfly wing image on its way to me, so it will be nice to have at least two images to work with.  Why?  For some reason it bugs me when every nail looks the same when I stamp.  Guess I like consistency in everything but my stamping :)

 

In the meantime, I just rotated the image on the middle two nails to create some variation.

And as always, I liked my thumb best, so here's a HUGE pic where you can see a bit of staining around the cuticles, the dog hair hanging off the side and how much I need to moisturize (tee hee).  Thanks for looking!
Tina

I Am In Denial

Winter has ambushed me this year.  Seems like fall just passed me by and fell headlong into cold and windy weather.  The winter clothes are out, but the summer clothes have yet to be put away.  Good thing my hubby is around, otherwise the Christmas decorations would never get up!  

All this is to say that my nails are in denial too.  Today's prompt for #crumpetsnailtarts 33DC is "same pattern in various colors".  I suppose I could have gone with blues, but now, I picked brighter colors.  There are many ways this prompt could be interpreted.  I went with a stamping design and several colors.

I started out with three coats of my favorite base, OPI My Vampire Is Buff.  Can I go off on a tangent?  I love this color, not white, not tan, a nice pretty cream color.  However, I am frustrated with coverage.  And it is not just Vampire, it is all those white/creme colors.  To get full coverage without streakiness, you have to apply three coats.  Now I don't mind three coats if I'm not doing nail art, but the only time I use these colors is when I DO nail art.  Three coats?  Ain't nobody got time for that!  If any of you know of a one or two coat white/off white, let me know!

I stamped with PUEEN25 dotted with the following colors:

• Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Snappy Sorbet, a coral color
• Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Speedy Sunburst, a fuchsia pink
• Berry M Grapefruit, a lovely pink
• OPI Casino Royal, a red leaning purple

  
 

Finally I dotted the centers of the flowers with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening.

 I really love this image and the colors, even thought it isn't very wintery.  It makes me happy, and isn't that what a good mani should do?

As always, thanks for looking and commenting!
Tina

My Favorite Pattern

Today's prompt for #crumpetsnailtarts 33DC is "favorite pattern".  When I saw this, I knew what I wanted, I just had to find the right stamp(s).  My favorite pattern is brocade.  Yes, yes, I know brocade is a fabric.  I know because, even thought my wedding was in August, I still wore a brocade dress, and all these years latter, I still would!  Maybe something a bit like this:

Wedding Night :) source

There is just something about this fabric, the weight of it, the contrast of sheen and matte, the intricacy of pattern!  Throw some color in there and you can get all kinds of beauty!  

There are a lot of stamping patterns out there that look like brocade fabric.  What I really wanted was something that would not look the same on every nail, so I started looking through my plates, and look what I found!

 








 

If you look closely at the larger pattern, you can see the smaller heart/swan/whatever pattern in there.  How perfect!  Until I got a hold of it!

 

Can you see what I did?  Yep, I stamped the larger image upside down!  That is what I get for doing my manis at midnight!  I still like it though.  Lets see what this contains.

I started with two coats of Sinful Colors Leather Loose.  This is my favorite from their Leather Luxe collection, and yes, I have almost every one, they are matte after all!  They really need to add more like this sparkly matte lovely to their line up!  (Oooh, alliteration, I love it!)

Next I stamped with PUEEN02, PUEEN24 and Maybelline Bold Gold.  Although I could have left it matte, I decided to add top coat, just to seal it all in and make the gold pop.

Not only did the gold pop, but Leather Loose became this sparkly brown goodness that reminds me a bit of Crows Toes Christmas Crow.  I feel a comparison post coming soon!

 Just looking at these pics makes my OCD tendencies scream, "Do it again!  Do it over!" but it is the day before Thanksgiving.  Ain't nobody got time for that!  So enjoy my imperfect favorite pattern and check out the other faves.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Can you believe there are only two more weeks left in the 33 Day Challenge?  I am sure there will be another one (or two) I will join in for December, but in the meantime, I am enjoying this part, the part where the end is in sight, I have almost all of the others done, and just need to show you, my lovely readers!  The theme for today is lines, so I decided to go with simple race stripes.  Very simple, but I am so in <3 with it (as you can tell by my mood rock :)!

This just makes me want to strap on some leather and hop on a Harley, or at least the hubby.  Wait, did I just say that out loud?

 This started with Julep Karmen, a red packed full of gold glitter.  So purdy!

Next I added some stripping tape and covered with Nails Inc Noho, my favorite black texture (so far, I am waiting for OPI to come out with a liquid sand with gold holo glitter.  Hear that OPI?)

 
After peeling off the tape, I had this stunning mani that makes me think of muscle cars and motorcycles.  What do you think of?  Give me a shout out to let me know!  Now on to the other stripes.

I've Been Blinged

Okay, I'll acknowledge it, this post is a bit late.  I had to work this morning, then I had to do Bria's nails for our Doctor Who party (watch for those soon) and then we had the party, so there's that.  But here we have my purple mani for the Falling Through the Rainbow challenge.

 Wow!  Look at all that bling!  Don't usually go in for that sort of stuff, but I actually like this.

This started with two coats of OPI Planks A Lot, a lovely lilac purple creme.

 Next I added some hole reinforcers and then added Sinful Colors Top Me Off with a stripping brush.

Sinful Colors Top Me Off is from the Decorate Decadently collection.  It is a purple holo micro glitter.  I think this could be a full coverage glitter, but I haven't tried yet.  It is pretty and sparkly and purple, what more could you ask for?

After I removed the reinforcers, I added some rhinestones along the curve.  I think this would make a great special occasion mani!  Just think of all the color/glitter combinations!  Now that I have dazzled your mind, go check the other purple manis.  And as always, thanks for looking and commenting!

Tina

As Blue As the Sea

I have been waiting for this day since I first even thought of hosting the Falling Through the Rainbow challenge.  The day of blue.  Why?  I have been wanting to do an under the sea mani for a long time, just needed the incentive.  Here is what I came up with.

This started with a gorgeous water marble using Orly Pretty Ugly, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Blue-Away and Revlon Aquamarine.  I was so excited to get on with the rest of it, however, that I forgot to take a picture of it!  Bad Tina!  Bad!

 















Next I created some stamping decals using DRK-C.  The outlined fish above shows how you paint on one side, and when you flip it over, it looks like the one right next to it.  These fish are so tiny, you can see that I did not get every bit filled.  I think I need some magnifying glasses :)  By the way, if you click on the plate photo above, you can see it much larger.

I added some Zoya Godiva to the tips for sand.

I tried to add some depth by doing different layers with top coat.  For example, on my thumb above, I painted on some seaweed, and added the clown fish with a coat of topcoat.  Then I pained some more seaweed and added the blue fish with more top coat and finally added the red fish with another layer of top coat.  Yes, that is a lot of top coat!

I changed it up on each nail.  You can see the seaweed going over one of the fish there on my middle finger.  I don't think that I totally achieved what I was going for, but I don't really care, I loved these anyways.  No fail today!

What do you think?  Can you see the depth?  Would you use this much top coat just to get a little depth?  Think it would work better with Poshe?  Don't forget to check out the other blues!

My Love for Pinterest

Oh Pinterest, how did I organize my inspirations before you?  Bookmarks.  Ugh!  This is the way my hubby organizes the sites he wants to go back to.  His bookmarks need their own book and finding what you want takes more time than a google search.  Pinterest is where I keep all my brain, each board a little room with all that I want to remember.  I have 75 boards, 85% of which are dedicated to polish/nail art.  My "Indie Wants" board has become so big, I am in the process of breaking each brand into it's own board.  If you want to check what I love, you can find some of it HERE.  

My favorite Pinterest board is my "Fashion Inspiration" board.  For awhile I was doing a "Fashion Friday", but with all the challenges the last few months, it has fallen into a blogging black hole.  Don't worry, it will definitely be coming back soon.  In the meantime, with the Crumpets Nail Tarts 33DC theme today being "Something From Pinterest", it was the perfect chance to visit Fashion Friday on a Wednesday.

Source

 
 The inspiration for this was this Giambattista Valli (Thank goodness for copy/paste!) look from his fall/winter 2012/2013 collection.  I have a thing about netting/lace on my nails, so this seemed a great juxtaposition of so many elements, I just had to try.

 When I did this (back when I first knew this challenge was coming 2 months ago) I was really happy with it.  I look at it now and see all the ways I could have improved it.

The stamping could have been better!  This was before the squishy stamper entered my life, and if I wasn't so lazy (tee hee) I would have redone this, but you are getting the original.  Ain't nobody got time for redos.

  
I started with three coats of Avon Ballerina, just to give it a nude look but also to cover my nail staining.  With the flash, I see I didn't get it all covered :(

 Next I stamped with M71 and Konad Black (mistake as I had major smudging when I added top coat.  Should have used Finger Paints Black Expressionism.), BM04 and Maybelline Bold Gold.  I used m78 and Konad Black to create stamping decals for the butterflies filled with A-England St George.

Gotta go and visit my Pinterest boards now for some inspiration (tee hee).  See you tomorrow!
Tina