NEW31DC Day 3 - Gold .... ah!

Hi Goddesses

Sorry, I can't say Gold without singing the Spandau Ballet song lol.  Good morning, and today it's Day 3 of the challenge.

Firstly, the photos.  These were taken whilst Beth had found the urine-toned setting, but because the polish is gold, it didn't annoy me so much.  Hopefully you'll briefly dig the olde fashioned sepia-tinged vibe it's giving the polish!

Yesterday was silver and the amazing Jade Psicodelica, and today it's gold and its twin, Mystic Gold.  This is one of THE most sensational polishes of the last year.  I mean, yes it's indecently holographic, but just look how deep that colour is too!

I absolutely love this polish and I'll be needing a back up soon. You've seen it in quite a few posts already.  Even if you're not a gold fan it's worth owning - it's quite extraordinary.

I stamped over this with BM-205 and Born Pretty red stamping polish.  The pattern looks a little leafier on the plate, but on the nail I thought it really looked like Poinsettias.

The matte of the stamping really contrasts with the holographic dazzle of the polish.

A simple, but effective combo.

Tomorrow?  We go PINK !!!  

Love xx :)

Sat-ART-Day Club - Something Christmassy !

Hello Goddesses

You may have noticed I've not been keeping up with The Sat-ART-Day Club recently, a result of over-extending myself and the whirlwind of stress that has attacked me recently.  But today, I felt the NEED to do something ridiculously bright and cheerful, so here we are.

Today's theme was Something Christmassy and I didn't really plan what I was going to do.  All I knew was that I wanted to use Color Club Santa's Cinnamon, as I hadn't used it since I got it in a swap loooooong ago.

Now, sometimes I am stupider than the Prince of StupidLand and today is one of those days.  As I was painting my nails, Beth came to join me in the nail room and I asked her if one of the jelly beans she'd just eaten was a cinnamon one, because she smelt of cinnamon.  She hadn't ..... and it took me another 20 minutes to realise it was me lol.  I HATE scented polishes with a passion (crappy sinuses) but cinnamon is one smell I adore, and this hasn't grossed me out at all.  Phew!

As for the polish, wow, what a glitterbomb.   Not in a heavy layered way, just a subtly intensely sparkly way.  This polish says EVERYTHING about Christmas.

Super red, super glossy, super sparkly - you really can't go wrong.

For some reason, I decided to go with silver and gold as my accent colours.  Both are from the Jade Holographic range - Mystic Gold and Psicodelica.   

Originally, most of the nails were going to have the stripes you see on the little nail, but I STILL feel like I can never control a striper brush.  I knew dots would be in there somewhere too :)

What I didn't plan on was replicating one of the Christmas Trees from this week's Digit-al Dozen mani, but don't they work well ?   Most of you loved that tree the best, and I have to agree, AND it's easy to do.

After the week I've had and the events of yesterday, I just want to take a moment to celebrate love.   At this time of the year, more than any other, we should be grateful not just for what we have, but WHO we have in our lives.   Whether you get to hug them everyday or whether you hold on to their memories like angels, squeeze tight, and love hard.  It's the only thing worth anything in this mad and crazy world.

Enjoy xx :)

Autumn Fishbraid - with OPI Schnapps Out Of It

Hi Goddesses

First and foremost, sending hugs and safe wishes to all my friends on the East Coast of America.  The photos I've seen this morning are incredible, and I just hope that you're all safe.

It almost feels a bit wrong to be doing an autumn post on a day like today.  I think it's the fact that it's New York that makes Sandy seem so unbelievable.  As someone who lives in the UK, NY has this image of being unbreakable, and it always comes as a shock to see it under attack.

Well, today's post is another piece of art with one of the OPI Germanys, which are soooo autumnal in colour.  This one is Schnapps Out Of It, and it's another that got a bit slated for being a granny colour.

I'm torn, to be honest.  It's lovely, it's creamy, it's rich, but it is a colour I've moved away from in the last 2 years.  It's that "not quite pink, not quite brown" kind of shade which does look great on older ladies, but it's hard to funk it up with glitter or art.

I'd wanted to try a fishbraid mani for the longest time, and I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out.  I used Jade Mystic Gold and OPI ... ah, either Germanicure or Oktoberfest.  

Surprisingly, I think the colours do work well together, and I love how the gold just pops against the darker colour.  

A word of warning though - a fishbraid is NOT a quick mani. Unlike a lot of nail art, this can't be rushed, and you need to wait for the previous stroke of the plait to be dry before you do the next one.

The good news is that it WASN'T as difficult as I thought it would be, but I would still refer you to my Number 1 piece of advice - practice it on a mani you are about to take off, and start with just doing an accent nail.

Enjoy!  xx :)

Zoya Ray - Swatch, Stamp and Review

Hi Goddesses

As most of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and from tomorrow, I will be posting 5 Pink Wednesday manis with a great group of girls.

October is ALSO Depression Awareness Month, something very dear to my heart, and too close to my head.  I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to honour that yet, but I will.  It's too important not to.

As the colour for Depression Awareness is the GREEN shoots of recovery, today's mani is dedicated to everyone who, like me and countless others, struggles with depression.  You are not alone.

Zoya Ray is the green from the Diva half of the Collection, dark, metallic and shimmery.

To be fair, it's not a good combination for me either in tone or texture.  I also don't understand how 1 12-polish collection needs 3 greens ?!  And so similar !!!

I decided to have some stamping fun with my new Cheeky Plates and Jade Mystic Gold.  This is Cheeky CH33.

I like how the gold lightens the green of Ray.  I think this might have looked better using a gold foil, but I didn't want to do a Zoya-green-gold-foil combo again, so soon after Noot.

I do love this stamp pattern - I have some cool plans to use this again shortly.  Other than that, this leaves me very cold :(

Enjoy xx :)