Summer Challenge - Flip Flops with Essie Neons

Hi Goddesses

Finally, finally, the end is in sight !!!  This blessed challenge !!  Can you guess, I'm a starter, not a finisher?  To be fair, I've had other stuff going on as well, so I haven't knuckled down to this last third of the Challenge as well as I should have.  Hangs Crumpety head in shame.

This mani is a wonderful reminder of the weekend I spent with the Essie Neons :)  I'm not usually an Essie Girl, but Kellie Gonzo's photos of them persuaded me I needed them, so I got them.  I have a gazillion photos of them I still need to post as a summer swansong, but I'm going to tell you a secret - ssssshhhh - not only are they great colours individually, they mesh together perfectly too, and MANY happy playtimes were had just doing gradients.  Aaaah, those lazy weekends ......

So here's the first thing I did when I got them - a summery skittle, with a teeny gradient on the thumb.  This is -

* index - Action

* middle - Bazooka

* ring - Lights

* pinkie - Camera

* the thumb is a gradient of all 4 

I was so worried when I first put them on as they go very rubbery and totally matte.  Personally, I much prefer them with their top coat on when they get mega glossy - they all had a layer of top coat here.

The stamping plate is BM-309 and it's so perfect for summer as well as so-easy-it's-practically-cheating for today's Challenge.

I do need to try and gather all the Essie shots together - they made for some truly stunning manis.

Enjoy xx :)

Summer Challenge - Fruit Salad

Hi Goddesses

I feel like it's forever since I posted some kick ass nail art, and I am really really happy with how today's mani turned out.

As with a lot of my stuff, this was a happy accident.  I knew all along that I would probably use this particular stamping plate, but not how or with what colours.

This started with 2 coats of Essie Bazooka, one of their AMAZING summer neons, with Poshe to gloss it up.

I then sponged randomly with Bettina Green and Barry M Yellow, to add lemons and limes to my orange salad :)

And then I stamped over it with Konad White and BM-308.

I really love that the overall effect of this mani is so much more than the sum of its parts.   The sponging shows through beautifully, and so subtly - and I love that it makes the fruit look like it's in various stages of ripeness :)

This is one of my favourite manis in a LONG time .... Crumpet needs to get her mojo back.  I think I've been so busy organising challenges and things I've forgotten how to have fun :(  So I'm off to play with my new polishes and get inspired xx

Enjoy xx :)

Monkey See Monkey Do Monday - Gradient + Dots

Hi Goddesses

Today's MSMD mani was inspired by 2 things - the new Essie Collection, and this mani which I found recently on Nail Call.

There's another mani that I love but can't find my pin of, which is a blue to white gradient with pink dots - very striking - and I had both manis in mind as I settled down to play this weekend.

Firstly, have to say - Essie Neons, consider me impressed.  I'm not usually an Essie fan AT ALL, but Lights, Camera, Action and Bazooka, are bright without being sunglasses bright, versatile and they blend together beautifully.

So this is my base - this was 3 layers of Action (it's the sheerest of the 4 polishes), with a Bazooka gradient.

Wow - don't they look good together?  Tell me they don't look juicy enough to eat :)

After I'd spent a loooooooong time staring at my beautiful gradient, I decided it was dotting time.  I toyed with lime green dots to create a real contrast, but when I experimented on paper, it looked wrong (check me out!).   Sooooo I settled for one of the new Barry M Retros - Red.

Retro Red is not the same as normal Barry M red.  Retro Red is darker, more cherry toned, and with buried pearliness.  It reminds me a little of a-England Perceval, but not quite as lush.  Although still nice, obviously ....

To get the dots in diminishing sizes is easy - every time you dot, the polish blob left on the end of your dotting tool gets smaller, so dip your dotting tool into the polish once, dot at the outside edge, and then keeping dotting, and as you draw nearer to your cuticle, the dots will naturally get smaller without you having to change dotting tools.

This mani was soooooo funky to wear, and it just defines summer, doesn't it ?   Look at all those hot hot hot colours and the juicy tones and the aw I just want to squish it!

Lol, so colour me happy!

Enjoy xx :)