#33DC Indian - With A Sloppy Choppy Blue Gradient

Hi Goddesses

I deliberately kept today's challenge a little vague so that people had the choice of going with American Indian designs or things inspired by the country of India. I went with the latter.

The first half of this post is dedicated to the base- I was enthralled by this, so much so that I didn't stamp over it until a day later, when I did a mani based on this Sari.

This is a "sloppy, choppy" gradient, and it's achieved by doing the usual sponge method, but using oodles of polish, so that it runs a little bit.   I used China Glaze Kinetic Candy, OPI Can't Find My Czechbook and Barry M Blue Grape.   I am in love with some of the patterns it created.

For my stamping I turned to one of my new MoYou plates - this is the skull lady plate aka Artist Collection 11.   I love these big plates that are just full of interconnected designs - the possibilities are endless.  I used the bottom right hand corner (as you look at the photo).

I didn't stamp every nail cos, you know, the base, and I also didn't do full coverage stamping, as I wanted to mimic the way a sari hangs and overlaps itself.

Please make sure you're checking out the other ladies - I've discovered some more amazing blogs to follow!

Digital Dozen Does: BLUE - Ruffles

Hi Goddesses

Yes I am obsessed, and nooooo, I am not going to apologise :)  This is my 3rd ruffle mani in as many weeks.  I love them!

As you know, I am a self-declared Splodger, so I tend to like nail art that's not too exact.  Now, whilst a ruffle is more exact than say .... a splatter ... there's still something sufficiently random about this to appeal to my inner child.

For those of you who like the science, let me lay down a few guidelines for you -

* always use a base colour first, ideally using the palest colour in your ruffle.  When I did the rainbow ruffle, I used a nude, as I didn't think any of the other colours were safe enough (they'd have distorted what I dotted on top)

* think about the order of your colours - are you going from light to dark, or random

* think about which size dotting tool to use.  You want to go fairly large, to get the appearance of dots.  I have large nails and I used the next to largest size

* try to make your dots look separate - it creates a better effect.  Where mine are too close together, it just looks like I did a lumpy line

* pick your first colour, and do all your nails in that colour first.  Then stop.

* be patient - you're going to have to wait til that first colour is dry before you can do your next row.  Again, do all 5 nails.  Then stop

So, which colours did I use this time ?

OPI Ogre The Top Blue

Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue

OPI DS Glamour

China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-le

China Glaze Kinetic Candy - also used as the base colour

Oh My Gosh Cobalt Blue

A random layer of holo or glitter really spices things up - I love the impact here of the Glamour layer.

And there you have it - Ruffles !  See you tomorrow, and don't forget to check out the rest of the lovely ladies.

Enjoy xx :)

Summer Challenge Day 31 - Beach Towels (Recycled Nails)

Hi Goddesses

Well, after being poorly, I broke my unbroken run and missed a Summer Challenge mani.  Usually, I would just post it the next day, but as this one was "pedicure", let's just all breathe a great big sigh of relief, eh ?   I don't know what prompted me to add it to the challenge as feet pretty much gross me out.  Knowing me, it was probably pure devilment, and to make everyone else squirm!  Lol.

So, today's challenge is Beach towels, and this is one of the very first ones I did, the day after the very first Monkey See Monkey Do Challenge, where they appeared as this delicious gradient.

This was so pretty to wear, and I loved the combination of Zoya Caitlin, CG Kinetic Candy and SH Back To The Fuchsia.   The more I stared at it during the day, the more the gradient lines started to look fluffy, and then like towels and TA DAH an idea was born.

So that night, I doodled.   Yup, technical term.   I did a little bit of blobbing (with a dotting tool), and just created the sort of random patterns you can see on towels.

Overall, I still really like it.  You might not see it on the beach, but I love the combo, I love that I got 2 awesome manis out of one set of nails, and even now, 3 months later, it still makes me smile.

Don't forget to check out all the other fairies, and enjoy xx :)

Neivys - http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.com/

Jo @ Northern Nails - http://therockchicksrambles.blogspot.co.uk/

arlene @ http://euzefelus27-nailart.blogspot.com/

Helena - http://nailwish.blogspot.com.es/

Cuti-CLUE-les - http://cuti-clue-les.blogspot.com/

Katee - http://www.agirlandherpolish.com 

Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges - http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/

Sarah - http://www.ynails.blogspot.co.uk/

bec - http://lacquerdreams.blogspot.com.au/

Misha - www.enigmatic-rambles.blogspot.com

Sharon - http://whatcolorismycoat.blogspot.com/

Melissa - http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/

Laurie http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.com/

Lucie @ Lucy's Stash www.lucysstash.com

Emma @  http://manicurity.blogspot.com/

Caitlin - www.caitlinscreativecorner.blogspot.com

Jane- http://absolutevarnish.blogspot.com/

Amber www.nevernakednails.blogspot.com

Vic @ Glowstars http://glowstars.net

Jackie- http://memasmanis-jackie.blogspot.com/

Rychelle @ Colorsplash Nails- http://colorsplashnails.blogspot.com/

Stella - http://mywetnails.blogspot.com

Missy @ http://missysmanis.blogspot.co.uk/

Kim @ http://apolishedaddiction.blogspot.com/

Christine @ http://lost-in-my-reverie.blogspot.com

Angie @ http://ourpaintedworld.wordpress.com

Bazzia @  http://polishmymind.blogspot.se/

Missy the Manicured Maniac @ http://melissahenderson95.blogspot.com/

Michelle @ http://lacquerorleaveher.blogspot.com/

Nikki @ http://www.lilgreenheart.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth @ http://nailpolishismycrack.blogspot.com/

Ana Cris @ http://www.estacerradaladrogueria.blogspot.com.es/

Shayleen @ http://simplyhandyallyear.blogspot.com/ 

Dina @ http://secretarysnailart.blogspot.no/

Nayade @ Toxic Vanity http://www.toxicvanity.com

Karen @ http://nailsbykaybel.blogspot.com

Kelly (aka Nail Obsessed) @ http://crazynaillady.blogspot.com

Noniq @ Noniq Diary http://noniq.blogspot.com

Marce7ina - http://marce7ina.blogspot.com

Courtney - http://cute-iclechronicles.com

Chrisie @ http://fingersandtoads.blogspot.com

Emily @ http://emily-nailtailes.blogspot.com

Summer Challenge Day 17 - Retro

Hi Goddesses

Today's challenge actually has the longer title of Retro / Hippie / Summer of Love and once again, I've ended up with something that bears no resemblance to what I thought I would do!

Originally I thought I would go tie-dye or neon or those stripes that look like striped toothpaste, but the more I Googled retro, the more I kept seeing the same things - aqua, and a layered square or circled pattern.

So, without intending to go in this direction, I ended up with a stamping mani and I do really like it.   

I used CG Kinetic Candy for the base, just a sublime creamy aqua, and stamped with Konad White and 3 of my new MASH plates -

Mash 42 is the squares

Mash 50 is the circles

and Mash 45 is the flower pattern on the middle finger

It looked really nice at the aqua and white stage, but I wanted to add in some Konad red because red is one of the main colours you get when you Google retro.   So I stamped over a couple of fingers, using the same pattern that was already on the nail, but trying to place it differently, so that the pattern overlapped and showed some differentiation.

Overall I really like this.  It's the model of a retro kitchen, and I think I would feel serene and calm and un-Crumpet-like if I could live in a world like this :)

Enjoy xx :)

Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday - Week 1

Hi Goddesses   

You'll have heard me rave from time to time about Pinterest, a website where you pin cool photos to electronic "boards".  This is particularly cool for a hobby like nail polish, because you can pin photos of polishes you want, manis you've blogged, and cool designs others have done.

It's the latter category I love it for the most, but for all the hundreds of manis I've pinned, I've never "gotten around" to replicating them.  Doh.  So all that stops this week.  I've teamed up with my Pinterest and stamping buddy Kristen from the Manicured Monkey and from now on, every Monday is Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday.    Hurrah!

Recently I've been seeing a lot of cool pastel gradients which have been SPONGED - like this - 

(I believe this came from weheartit.com but I don't know who the original blogger is as I repinned it - pls let me know if you know).

Now, I love my gradients, and I love my sponging, but I've never combined them .... until now.

What I Used

* 3 polishes - I don't like lemon on me, so I went with CG Kinetic Candy, Zoya Caitlin and Wet n Wild How I Met Your Magenta

* a piece of sponge.  You want to make sure it's a fairly "solid" sponge.  Usually I prefer to sponge with a holey type of sponge, but as there's no base colour here, you need to ensure maximum coverage
* patience - it took 17 minutes to clean this baby up lol - that's more than a splatter OR a water marble :)

What I Learnt

* if you're using a polish you've never used before ... like say How I Met Your Magenta, just check that it's actually a creme and not a jelly.  Jellies do not work.  

* it's ok to sponge twice on each nail for better coverage and better use of your nail polish.  Just use the middle stripe to line it up.  As it's a sponged gradient, it's not going to matter if you're imprecise

* This uses no more polish than a normal manicure

* if you accidentally use a jelly, just paint on top of it afterwards (like I did), and if that STILL doesn't work, add a darker tone to the white edge (like I did, I used SH Back To The Fuchsia).

As you can imagine, there was a lot of clean up needed, but if I'd been a cleverer Crumpet, I wouldn't have used a phenomenally wide piece of sponge :(

This also has a "tie-dye" style to it, and I personally love that you don't get 100% coverage.  If you look really closely, you can see some "holes" in my mani, or parts where the colour is really thin.  Poshe is great for washing over those and making them look artful - personally, they made me love this mani more.

This is RIDICULOUSLY easy to do, and perfect for summer.  It looks like you've put a lot of effort into it, but wow, this is so easy even I can do it!!

Yay!!  Enjoy xx :)