Stamping Sundays - The Zebras Came to Funkytown !!

Hi Goddesses

So, you may remember last Sunday I spent a lot of time describing whining about how Stars had won as the stamping theme and not my personal choice of Acid / Funky Zebras.  Now, I am nothing if not a crafty Crumpet who knows how to get her own way, and strangely enough one of the choices this week was a Plate Ending in 7.  And what does Konad 57 have on it ????  ZEBRA PRINT !!!!  AND IT WON !!!! Yay.    Evil fiendish laugh.

Now because of said whining, the pressure was quite high to do something outstanding.  I debated long and hard what the right colour combo should be, and actually wish I had gone with electric blue and electric pink, but never mind.  This mani ???  Boy did it pay me back for being a whiny bitch ......

Step by Step Guide to Trip to Funkytown, Hasty Exit and Creeping Return

The base for this is good ole Barry M and Block Orange.  I love this colour - it is what is says it is - screaming orange!

this was topped with 2 coats of Ludarana Flocado in FLASH, an amazing electric flakie which flashes between acid yellow and acid green.  Love this combo.

Crumpet is very happy so far.   This signals impending disaster.

The aim was to create a zebra that could not possibly exist in nature, but might be seen dancing quite gaily in Funkytown, so I decided the orange should have bright pink stripes. I chose my beloved CG Traffic Jam (about as pink as you can get) and ......oh noooooo, I can't even see you on top of the orange :(  Absolutely gutted :(

So, instead I started stamping with Barry M Vivid Purple, which is dark, but again it didn't show up against the nail as much as I wanted to, and so, at approximately 4pm yesterday afternoon, the zebras left Funkytown, expelled by the high council for their airy-fairyness.

However, as they approached the city walls, one of the zebras had a flash of inspiration and telepathically sent me this message - do another layer of purple!!  Er, what, line the stamp up??  Lol !!  Lolololololololol !!!  But the zebras kept pleading and bleating and so I did ....

And what you see before you is DOUBLE STAMPED funky zebras!   I know !!!!  They still don't look quite how I wanted, but I am soooo impressed with my double stamping lol.  Except the thumb ?  Yes, but we don't need to discuss that ....

See you in FunkyTown !!  Enjoy xxx  :)

Purple Water Marble Fail

Hi Goddesses

Last week, when I was wondering what to do for my 300th post, I thought of this - using my favourite colour (purple) and my favourite style (water marbling).  I am no water marbling goddess, but usually they come out ok.

Well this sucked.  This sucked big style.  This puckered up and hoovered the very life force out of me.  It was hideous, and I hated it, so no 300th post.  However, I am still going to share it, because it's a useful example of what you can do when things go wrong.

Right, you're only going to see this once, cos it's truly hideous - man it's ugly!!  This is a base coat of CG Spontaneous, and then the colours used for marbling are -

CG Spontaneous

CG First Mate

Color Club Jack n Jill

Barry M Vivid Purple

Gah!!  it's all so gaaaaaaaaaah!!  oh, it's so hideous I can barely look at it, though I do like the stripes on the thumb.  So, why do I hate it ?  Well, it's just too DARK.  With water marbling, you need to pick colours that are tonally similar, but these are just TOO similar.  There is hardly any difference between the Vivid Purple and the First Mate, meaning that there are 2 layers of pure darkness in there.  Against this, the pink and the medium purple, just don't stand a chance.

I also have to say, I under estimate Spontaneous A LOT.  Whenever I use it, things go bad.  It looks so similar to Planks A Lot, but it's MUCH deeper.  Also, every time I use it, I have spillage - this time I managed to gloop it everywhere when I overloaded the brush!

As I was still in a water marbling mood, I played a little more, and for the right hand, took out the layer of Vivid Purple, leaving just the blue, the pink and a medium purple.  Doesn't it look better ?  Much more balanced.  And the pink takes the stage a lot more.

Some days, I might have considered tarting this up with a glittery or shimmery top coat, but there was no point really, it came straight off!  I just HATED it. 

Looking at the photos now, some of them aren't too bad, and I do like how the ring finger looks a bit like a purple peacock feather.

So, this one gets chalked up to the god of Learning.  We will NOT be making this mistake again lol.  But I guess the real joy of water marbling is that because every nail looks so different (unless you're Colette lol), you CAN get away with making some tweaks and changes.

Enjoy xx  :)

Barry M VIVID PURPLE and a potted history of UK polish

Nails I Love

BARRY M – Vivid Purple

Hi Goddesses

2 interesting stories with this one, so let’s start with the one where you all get to laugh at me.  I wore this last night, took photos in the poetic morning light, washed my hair, checked the photos, and took the mani off.  5 hours later I slapped my forehead as I realised … I hadn’t written the words!  Aaarrgghh.  I didn’t want to do it from the photos, because as you’ll see, this Barry needs a LOT of adjectives.  Silly Crumpet.

The 2^nd story is quite an interesting observation which came out of the comments on my GIVEAWAY (which is still live).  Someone said they’d love to see some Barry M posts, and the penny suddenly clattered through the mush of my brain:  because I am in the UK, and have access to Barry M, it stands to reason you would all want to see it, so why haven’t I blogged it before ?

Weeellllll .. I think there’s many reasons.  Firstly, UK polish doesn’t inspire me much.  Also, the UK brands don’t do seasonal collections like the US companies do, so there’s no great hoopla about them.  Of our brands, we have 2 that are sold through BOOTS (a big retailer) which I do not rate, No7 and 17 (although the latter has recently made an effort with its magnetics).  Then we have Models Own, which I don’t think I knew was a UK brand until this week!  Butter London …although it has London in the name, it’s actually a US brand.

So that leaves Rimmel and Barry M (and tbh, I thought Barry was American too lol).  Rimmel has been around for years, revamped itself with Kate Moss, and now is a solid average priced product.  Average quality.  It does nothing much for me – it could be a lot better, as it fits the Color Club / Wet n Wild mould without being as exciting as either.

And then we have Barry M.  Dear dear Barry and his M.  Dear Barry M and his nail PAINT.  Yes, not polish, or varnish; PAINT.  Now if I wasn’t such a nail snob, I would have lots of Barry Ms by now .. but that’s a whole different story lol.

So let’s zoom in on Barry and his M …

The positives

• Hard wearing.  Despite the average price tag, this does resist chipping really well
• Reasonable price.  They are £4-5, so $7-8 but quite often on offer at 3 for 2.  In the UK, that’s CHEAP
• His colours are bold and bright – a pure rainbow
• Has had some really good glitters which are great for frankening

The negatives

• The colours aren’t as subtle or varied as say Zoya.  There will be say 3 cracking purples, but not 8 or 12 to choose from
• The colours lean towards the poptastic – overbright pinks, oranges and blues.  Choice is limited if you like a more subtle palette
• Easily confused with Boney M

So, here she is, your first Barry on The Crumpet – VIVID PURPLE – and what a beauty she is.  She is dark, delicious and vibrant; electric and dazzling; sizzling and singing.  She really is an amazing colour.

VIVID PURPLE has some colour bend with the light – shifting from cold purple to violet flashes.  There is no warmth here.  This is purple as it would exisit in space, ice, electricity or freezing fires.  There’s no brown, no red; just pure er .. vivid purple. There’s a lot of movement too, and I do love any colour that chameleons itself with the ever-changing light.

I really like this a lot.  It’s a peacock of a colour, strutting it’s violent violet magnificence.  Dark yet bright, deep yet incandescent, this is a contradiction within itself.  Schizophrenic, possibly.  Majestic, totally.

You’ll be pleased to know I picked up 35 Barry Ms on good ole eBay at a crazy price, so look out for some super swatching over the next few weeks.

So that was your first Barry and his important M – I hope you enjoyed J xx

J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.