Sunday on Saturday?

Just a quick post to show you my Sunday Adventures in Stamping mani.  Yes, last Sunday, not tomorrow (tee hee).  

The theme was "plate ending in 8".  

This started with three coats of LynBDesigns Sacre Blurple.  This is a gorgeous cobalt blue gellie that is much darker with a purple tinge in real life.  Love this!  You know how I am about visible nail line, but with three coats, it doesn't show in anything but the dreaded macros.  You can find this and many other lovely polishes at her Etsy store HERE.  Right now Jenna is having a SALE through August 16th!  Just use the code THANKYOU for 40% off your entire order through the 16th.

Next I stamped with PUEEN48 and Aly's Dream Polish #64 Copper.  Right now Aly's store is closed, but like her on Facebook HERE to keep up to date on her new store opening.

Simple but lovely, if I may say so myself.  Hopefully I will see you tomorrow with an on time AIS mani!

Tina

SYTYCD Fashion Friday on Saturday

With all the challenges I have this month, I have been neglecting my So You Think You Can Dance Fashion Fridays :(.  Now that the Black & White challenge is over, that is going to change!  Here is the latest.

 This was inspired by Mackenzie Dustman's elimination dress during the top 14 episode.

Per normal, it was hard to find a decent image of this dress.  The image on the right is/was more color accurate, but the quality sucks, so I added the other so you could get a closer look.  Aren't they all gorgeous!

I started with two coats of PIXI Luminous Lilac.  Please forgive the pre-clean-up pics. This is one of those colors that can't decide on what it wants to be in life...purple?....pink?  In some lighting it is definetely pink with a delicate silver twinkle.  In others it looks like a pink tinged lavender.  The formula was pleasant, self leveling and good coverage with one coat.  In fact, this might make a good stamping polish.

Next I stamped with Layla Retro Pink and PUEEN44.

 

 Next I stamped with QA46 and Finger Paints Black Expressionism for the black lace at the top.  Finally I added the flowers with MM07 and China Glaze Poetic. 

Final look for comparison?

 

What do you think?  Pink?  Purple?  Pirple?  Thanks as always for looking and commenting!
Tina

 

Trying for a Snow Leopard

The black & white challenge is almost over!  After this there is only one more.  Today's theme is faux fur.  I was going for a snow leopard look.

I went for a double gradient, base and stamping.

This started with two coats of Revlon Pure Pearl.  This was one of my first polish purchases, and I honestly didn't think I would ever use it as a base.  This is one of those polishes that show every single brush stroke, but I really like the pearl finish.

Next I did a gradient with Finger Paints Black Expressionism.  The first three fingers went really well, and the last two (ring and pinkie) not so much.  I think it was because my sponge got too saturated with the polish by the last two nails.  Next time I will try using a new sponge half way through and see if that helps.

Next I stamped with PUEEN09 and a gradient of Black Expressionism and Sally Hansen White On.  I do this by putting a stripe of one color at the top of the stamp and a stripe of a second color halfway down the stamp.  I then scrape the polish so that one polish bleeds into the other.  Does that make any sense?  You can actually do this with several different colors, if you wanted.

What do you think?  Look like a snow leopard?  Check out all the other animals.

Black & White Bling

I have been suffering with a sinus infection, so am running a bit behind.  Trying to catch up with the black and white challenge.  Here is my Bling!



The bling is the base.

 

This is three coats of Different Dimension Selene.  This one is not available at her shop right now, but you can find many other wonderful polishes at Missi's store HERE.  Selene is a clear base with a mix of white glitters, including a white pearl glitter.  So purdy!  I have used this as a glitter topper before, (especially during the holidays) but this is the first time I have used it strictly as a base.  It shows some bare nail in the macro pics, but you don't see it IRL.

Next I stamped with DRK-B and Finger Paints Black Expressionism.

 Check out all the other black & whites.

Black & White Catch Up

Tee hee!  I crack myself up.  I swear, I am such a dork!  What's so funny?  See the heading?  I am trying to think of what would make black and white ketchup.  Told you I was a dork!

Enough laughing at myself, on to the nails!  Today's theme for the black and white challenge from Nail Art Challengez is freehand.  I will be honest, I think my freehand is for shit, but sometimes I surprise myself.  Not today....today I took the easy way out.  Too much to do to agonize over this mani!

 

Yep, just a simple doticure.  I LOVE this, no matter how simple it is!  So very strong woman, punk, dominatrixish.  

 

This started with one of my all time favorite polishes, Nails Inc Noho.  I have serious love for textured polish, but this one is unique.  It is a shiny with a subtle texture that looks like leather on your nails.  What could be more perfect?  It is one of a handful of polishes that I have worn as a base more than twice and it will not be the last time you will see it.  Serious polish crush.

 

Next I dotted with clear polish and smaller dots of Revlon Pure Pearl.  I was temped to put little pearl beads, instead of the dots, but I didn't think it fit with the freehand theme....Although I do put them on with my free hand (tee hee).  What do you think?  Is this your style?  Don't forget to check out all the other B&W manis!

Thanks for looking and commenting!
Tina

 

Final Flower a Little Late

Quick little post to show you my last flower mani for The Nail Challenge Collaborative's July challenge.  I am going to be sitting out for the August Challenge as I feel I already have my hands full with other challenges and would like to do some dupe posts this month.

This started with two coats of Above the Curve Genevieve, layered with Ninja Polish The Midas Touch.

Then stamped with BM02 and China Glaze Agro, plus Messy Mansion MM07 and Sally Hansen Rapid Red.

Simple quick and too the point.  Enjoy your weekend!

Tina

  

Black & White Love

The theme for today's Nail Art Challengez Black & White is stamping...You know that I was all over this!


 
Now I have to be honest....black and white is not my favorite combo.  It is a bit too stark for me, so I decided to do a stamping sandwich, kinda like a gellie glitter sandwich, only with stamping instead of glitter.

This started with my new favorite black, OPI Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees (SSitP from here on out).  This is one of those complex colors that I love.  How can black be complicated?  Well look at it.  In the shade it looks like a black creme, but bring it into the sunlight (or flash photography) and its true nature is revealed, black with a grey shimmer.  I have heard this described as a dark blue...or grey with a blue tinge.  I just don't see it.  Sure, the shimmer has a bit of a blue tinge to it, but even with the shimmer showing it still sits greyed black in my eyes.

Under some lighting it looks more like a very dark grey.  But below is the way I like it best in all it's shimmery glory.
 

Unfortunately the shimmer rarely makes an appearance, but the fact that I know its there is enough for me.  You know how I love a secret on my fingertips.  This is three coats.  I will tell you about the formula soon.

Next I stamped with Konad Special white and stamping plate QA10.  For a while now, I have been looking for a black gellie for gellie sandwiches.  I was beginning to think I was going to have to franken one somehow, until I found Suzi.  Here is what I mean.

This is one coat of SSitP over the stamping.  Here (and when I applied the first coat) the real formula of this interesting polish shines through.  It isn't a cream or a black filled with shimmer.  It is really a thin, transparent grey filled with tons of miniscule black particles, almost like it hasn't been shook up enough.  That is the only way I know how to describe it.  

  
After the first coat, I thought it would take at least four coats to become opaque, but it only took two.  I don't know how, but it is true.  One coat over the stamping makes the white look a mottled grey..

I love how this ended up giving this mani an antiqued feel, like a weathered love letter.  Of course, the dreaded Konad smeared.  Here comes the search for the perfect stamping white.

Thanks for looking and commenting!  Check out the other black and whites.

   

Playing Catch Up

I am playing catch up on a couple of challenges, so there will be multiple postings today.  Please forgive me....and if you don't....why are you reading my posts anyways!  This is for Llama Nails Inspired by Artists.

 What the *bleep* is this?  When I look at the pics, it looks like a muddled mess.  But this is what inspired it.

Now does it make sense?  This is inspired by Seurat's Alfalfa Fields Saint Denis.  Maybe I should have used "inspired" instead of "recreate" tee hee.

 
There is no way I could create this with Seurat's famed pointilism, so I used a sponge instead.  Instead of my typical makeup sponge, I used bits of a kitchen sponge.  Once again, I learned so much doing this mani (this is why I do challenges).  I started with a wet sponge, which worked perfect.  As I went along, however, the pieces of sponge started to dry out and did not give the same effect of small dotted texture (see my ring and pinkie for examples).  Also, for sponging different colors, I really needed to let each color dry before adding the next, otherwise it would remove the color under it when applied.  I even added a few of the buildings.

 

For some reason, I missed getting a pic of all 5 fingers, so here is my thumb.  What do you think?  Thanks for looking and commenting!
Tina