Hi Goddesses
Welcome to the end of the weeeeeeeek !!!! And perhaps my very favourite mani of the week, and one that if I had to wear it for all time? Well, I think I'd be quite comfortable with that.
This one probably looks least like its source pattern than any of the others, but we'll get to that! Let's just love the pictures!
I hate snakes so rarely do snakeskin manis, but really loved this bright version. I used 2 OPIs - I Ate Berries In The Canaries for my violet, and Cajun Shrimp for my off-red. I did 2 full coats of the former, and then dabbed on Cajun Shrimp, going over those areas twice to make sure they stood out.
The problem came with the stamping. The only snakeskin pattern I had was on MoYou Pro 04 and it's a really dense pattern. As you can see in the inspiration pic, the pattern is sparser and broken up.
So I hit on the idea of distressing my stamping, and eating bits of the pattern away with a cotton bud before I plonked on to my nails. This worked to an extent, and created the really interesting things you see on the index and middle nails.
I went for a full blown stamp on the little finger (can you see how black that is!) but then used what was left on the stamp on the ring finger - and I love the faded effect I got.
With hindsight, stamping with purple may have been better, but this mani entrances me on so many levels. It's bright, it's messy, it's gothic and it's glossy. What's not to love! See you next week xx
Hi Goddesses
I'm a little shocked that I ended up with this for my Wild Animal prompt, as it wasn't my intention lol. I think I assumed I would have some Big Cat nails, but as soon as I wore The Shapeshifter by Darling Diva, I knew what I wanted to do.
I hate snakes. I mean HATE. Can't bear the thought of them, can't even LOOK at them, so snakeskin nails have never ranked high on my list of nail art to do. However there was something about the colour of this green which made me think "now's the time".
For this mani, I blobbed my stamping plate with various colours to create a smoosh effect. One of these photos is BAD, but you can see what I was doing.
The stamp is from MoYou Pro 04, and I used The Shapeshifter, my khaki Konad and Color Club Kismet.
I absolutely loved how it turned out, and there's a glassy and spectral quality that I wasn't expecting. However, the pattern was a bit more hidden in the photos than it was on my nails, so I added matte top coat.
I do love how a matte top coat instantly focuses on the pattern. It's like it strips away everything non-essential, and just leaves you with what you should be looking at.
The snakeskin pattern is now clearer, and the texture looks more like a snake, but does it look as sexy as the glossy version? I'm not so sure. I do love them both though.
Hi Goddesses
Too Fancy Lacquer is one of my favourite brands, so why did this one linger in the vault?
I think it's because I wasn't so impressed with the finished result - the size of the stamp was a fair bit larger than my nail, so I didn't feel I got enough detail. This is the only time I've felt that way about a MoYou XL stamp.
Anyway, Tell Me A Sea-cret is a gorgeous mint green with subtle holo properties. There are "pastel jade" tones to this which are really eye-catching. Even thought it's green, I liked this one!
The stamp is from MoYou Pro 04, and as I said, I just didn't like how it translated on the size of my nails.
Some you win, some you lose.
