Blue Textured Gradient with Born Pretty Store QA82

Hello.....*sheepish grin*.  What started as a short break has stretched into 23 days!  The short break was to give me some extra time for this.....

Yep, my lovely girl graduated!  Despite her learning disabilities, she graduated Cum Laude!  She was so proud, almost as proud as her mamma!  One more pic.

Despite it being out of focus, I love this pic.  *sob*  My precious girl!  Okay, I will pull it together....

Once I took a few days off of blogging, it has been hard to pick it up again, despite having manis done.  To be honest, I love having a nail blog, but actually writing the posts is my least favorite part of the whole process.  I will be getting back into the swing of things starting with a late post for The Glittah Pirates Never Ending Pile challenge.

Very apropos that these are Bria's nails, don't you think?  This was originally for the gradient prompt, but it never got posted.  Might as well use it for the blue prompt?

I started with a gradient of Zoya Godiva, Zoya NYX and Zoya Sunshine.  I have used Godiva and NYX to accent some nail art, but never as the main part of a mani, so I consider them "unused".  Look at that MESS!  I used masking fluid around her nails, but even after I peeled it off, there was sandy, gritty pieces left behind.  I love the outcome, but would highly recommend the tape method instead.

Next I stamped over the gradient with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Cobalt Blue and QA82, which I received from Born Pretty Store for review.  They have a good selection of stamping plates at very reasonable prices.  To be honest, I didn't have high expectations for the plates I received.  I have had some very low quality plates in the QA series from other suppliers, the these are top notch!  It is well etched and stamps beautifully.  I chose this plate for its outline stamps as they will be great for lead lighting or stamping decals.  LOVE this plate!  Right now, selected plates are 20% off and, if you use my discount code, you get an additional 10% off the sale price!

Now on to the pic spam.

Bria loved this mani, so I had to include a mood stone pic!  Plus, with the flash you can really see how well the small details on this image stamped!  This mani made me want to go to the beach....in Hawaii of course!

It feels good to be back to the blog!  See you soon!