Neon Candy Stripes

Hi Goddesses

Today we have a mani that didn't quite go according to plan, but reminds me of boiled sweets lol.

This started as a neon splodgerama using -

China Glaze Papaya Punch

Sally Hansen Limestone

w7 Fuchsia

Sation Flirt

and a white NYC polish

I never quite got the base how I wanted it - I think I was aiming for something a little more defined, but in the end it all sort of smoooooshed together.

I then added the white stripes on top, and although it might annoy some people, I really like that some of the colours in this mani bleed into the white. It gives it a random quality that appeals to me.

I'll definitely do this mani again, as it lends itself to so many colours.

Boiled sweets anyone?  Enjoy xx :)

The Digit-al Dozen Does It All Again - Art

Hi Goddesses

Every now and then, we get a Digit-al Dozen theme where everyone raises their game and knocks it out the park.  I remember Art Week being one such week, and being gobsmacked Every Single Day by some of the manis my friends had come up with.

So when the theme rolled round again, I knew straight away that I would be looking to recreate someone else's mani, and eventually I settled on BeautyGnome's Mondrain mani, which looked super simple.

I decided to give it a neon spin using China Glaze Igniting Love, Papaya Punch, I'm With The Lifeguard, Beach Cruise-r and Aqua Baby.

On the screen this looked so simple to do, but either the execution was harder than I expected, or I MADE IT way harder than expected lol.

Not blessed with neatness, I taped off sections of my nail to get the coloured squares and rectangles, and then used a striper brush and w7 Black to outline them and add the remaining black lines.

Overall, I like it, but it's not as neat or perfect as it should be.  I dip my striper brushes in the bottle, but I think the black had a really low tide lol, so my brush kept getting too messy.  And yup, you ARE seeing Cardinal Rule #17 being broken - if you're gonna use a matte top coat, remember to use a normal one first!

Enjoy xx :)

Digit-al Dozen DOES .... Tape Manis .... NEON

Hi Goddesses

This month, Digit-al Dozen is doing tape manis, a style that has fascinated me for 2 years.  They're not easy - a bit like stamping, they demand practice, practice, practice - but the pay off is immense, so much so that I think today's nail art is possibly THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE!!

I first came across tape manis on Nailside's blog, with her famous laser manis.   Since then, I've seen others - mainly Nailasaurus and Manicurator - take them to new levels of patience and precision.  My week this week is quite mixed up - there are a couple of more complex manis, as well as 2 extremely simple ones.

So, remember last week how I said Neon Week wasn't really over?  Uh huh, Exhibit A, m'lud :)  I did this last weekend and didn't take it off for 4 days, somewhat of a record for me!  It's just so damned bright and cheerful.

It's also one of those manis that's a sum of more than its parts.  It works, spectacularly, but not because I've done anything special, just because the colours ROCK, especially that green, which I almost didn't use.

So what do we have going on?  Well, the base was Jacava Mont Blanc, which I reviewed yesterday, and then I laid my tape on top.  Using small nail art brushes I then used -

* Sally Hansen Limestone

* China Glaze Papaya Punch

* OPI A Roll In The Hague

* China Glaze Igniting Love 

* w7 Fuchsia

Enjoy - I'll be back tomorrow with a reciprocal gradient tape mani.  Yeh, dig that!  Lol xx :)

Neon Week - Splatter!

Hi Goddesses

Today I have a neon splatter for you, and words cannot express how much I loved wearing this mani, or how fabulous it looked.

Unfortunately, now, in photos, all I see is the really messy clean up (and man I scrubbed at this for hours) and somehow, none of the photos seem to convey the intense HAPPY of this mani.

Let's start at the top, with the polishes.  White base, and then 4 colours - OPI Roll In The Hague, China Glaze Papaya Punch, China Glaze Hang-ten Toes and w7 Fuchsia.  I was going to do you a posh photo of them, but decided to show you how they look amongst the continual clutter of my nail desk!

I absolutely LOVED how this splatter fell on my nails, and the colour collision was just perfect.  

Those cuticles though - I am so sorry.   I don't think I appreciated how much harder the neons might be to remove lol, and despite spending ages on, just couldn't get those last bits out.  I think my clean up brush just lost the will to live in the end.   In real life, they weren't so noticeable; in photos - yikes.   Still, I don't believe in Photoshopping my pics (don't even know how to) and I know you like to see when even I make a big mess.  I'm just bummed it detracts from the overall awesome.

Don't forget to check out the other Luscious Ladies - enjoy xx :)

Back In Time - Hot Hot Hot Aztec

Hi Goddesses

Oh I am very conflicted about this post!  I changed the essence of the mani ... and now, well I don't even know whether I've created something better lol.

Recap - Back In Time, where myself, Missy and Ashley go back to this time last year and recreate a mani.   I picked this mani from last year, which had a ruby-orange-yellow gradient, with some Aztec-ish stamping on top.

I remember quite loving the mani at the time, and thought it looked ripe for a makeover.  The gradient is crude - I believe I did one colour at a time - and the stamping isn't even centred ....

This time, I went with a lighter red, China Glaze Igniting Love, LACC 1964 and CG Papaya Punch.   I did a proper 3 layer gradient with a sponge, and trust me, once it was done it was so smooth, it looked like a ripening tomato.

And I think this is where the mani loses some of its charm.  That gradient is so damned subtle, you can't even tell there are 3 colours in there.   It's a little more obvious in real life, but I had to try very hard to capture the yellow on camera.

And then there's the stamping.  I'm so much better than I was a year ago, but you'd never know it from these photos! This stamp did not want to pick up for love nor money, and when it did, it wouldn't deposit it all on the nail either!   The only difference between then and now?  At least now I know it's not ME that's the problem - bloody stamping lol.

So although I do like this mani, mainly due to the tomatoey goodness of the gradient, I think I prefer the rough-edged charm of the original.

Which one is your fave?  Enjoy xx :)