Best of 2012 - Purple Polishes (non glitters)

Hi Goddesses

As you would expect, I've had to split my favourite purples of the year into 2 posts (surprisingly I've had to do this for the blues, too).  Today sees the purples that are NOT glitters.

Despite my love of all polishes purple, a lot of my purplishes ended up untried this year.  There's even some in this post that I know I've only used for art rather than a full mani.  Some of them didn't even make it onto the blog!  As usual, click the name of the polish to be taken to the post (if there is one!).

Contrary Polish - Purple Smoke

One of the last polishes I bought this year ended up being one of my very favourites.  Everything you love about Zoya Kelly, but better.  Stunning.

Barry M Gelly - Blackberry

Stunning and devilishly glossy.  Pure dark forbidden fruit.  Pretty much opaque in one coat, and stamps well too.  What more could you ask for ?

KIKO - 334 Dark Violet

I discovered KIKO in a big way over the last couple of months.  Their speciality is super saturated purples and blues, and this is awesome.  I've used this in lots of nail art since I bought it.

Barry M - Magnetic Purple

This is a magnetic polish that's gorgeous enough to wear just as a polish.  Super suedey and a really lovely cold tone of purple.

Bettina 191

Gorgeously dark - I've used this in a lot of nail art, including twice in 30 Days of Purple.

Bettina 28

Still fairly dark, but lit from within with swirly petrol-tones.

Sation - Miss Emo Shun All

Weird name, intense colour.   Super indigo on steriods.  So saturated it freaks the camera out.   Legendary. 

I dooooo so love them all :)  See you tomorrow for the glitters, they be purdy too :)

Enjoy xx :)

30 Days of Purple - Day 18 - Cut Out Water Marble

Hi Goddesses

Wow, I feel I owe you an apology - it is REALLY difficult blogging with a kitten!  Ha ha.  Bluebelle is super cute, and you just want to watch her all day, and then I find myself quickly painting or typing whilst she's having a cat nap :)  Here's a quick pic of her.

So today's post is one I prepared before the challenge started, and you may remember it.  This started out as the water marble for Day 1, which you can see here.

I then used some ultra cool wavy nail strips I have, and painted in the gaps with the STUNNING Bettina 191, and voila!   

I love those stickers so hard, and there's more of them to come before we end the challenge.  They have a really good degree of stickiness to them, so I've found them cleaner and crisper to use than striping tape.

The principle is exactly the same as striping tape tho - do your base mani and top coat it and leave it to dry for a few hours or even til the next day, then apply your tape or stickers.  

I got my stickers off eBay, but if you can't get any don't worry - all you really need is some Sellotape and some wiggly craft scissors, and ta-dah, you can create your own version.

Simple, but stunning - enjoy xx :)

30 Days of Purple - Day 11 - Camouflage

Hi Goddesses

I am really in love with this mani, albeit it's not quite what I had in my head!

This is a camouflage mani, which is ridiculously easy to do - all you need is a dotting tool, some polishes and then off you go, making random squiggles!

I scuppered myself by using the gorgeous Sally Hansen Delphinium as a base.   Because she's quite a pink-toned lilac, I had to go with brownier (rather than bluer) purples, and sadly, most of my best ones are in the bluer group.

Second unfortunateness?  2 of the colours I chose were just tooooo similar :(  So you've got Bettina 191 (the dark one), then China Glaze Jungle Queen (medium dark) and Duri Grape Swirl (palest, and slightly metallic).

That said, I do love this combination of colours, there's something very striking and arresting about it, and it certainly has impact.

If you're scared of camouflage nails, don't be, they are soooo easy.  Best of all, the dotting tool does most of the work for you.  Place your dotting tool on your nail, and drag it halfway or two thirds of the way towards the other side.  As you do so, the line will thin itself out as the polish gets used up - this creates the perfect uneven, jagged appearance of your camouflage stripes.

Enjoy xx :)