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 - Tangled In My Saran Wrap

Hi Goddesses

I really don't understand why, but I have found Neon Week really inspiring and liberating.  Maybe it's that the colours are so "out there", that it makes you feel like anything goes, artwise.  Either way, I am a happy bunny this week.

Today's art is super simple, and is a great one for you to try if you want to dip your toe in the experimental pool. 

All the nails started with 2 coats of w7 White, and then got Saran Wrapped!  For those of you who don't know, this is when you apply your 2nd colour over your first, and then, whilst it's wet, attack it with a ball of saran wrap (or cling film, as we call it in the UK).

Now, I am lazy.  I am upstairs in the nail room, and the cling film is downstairs, so I always use what every polishaholic owns - bubble wrap!  I take a piece about 1 inch by 2, scrunch it up, and then dab at the wet polish.

The great thing about this mani, is you can keep going til you get the look you want.  Sometimes, too much white will creep through, but on the next dab, some of the colour (which is now on your saran wrap) will re-adhere to the nail.   If you need more help to rebalance, just add a line of polish to your nail, and maneovre it around.

I love the texture of a saran mani, but top coat does smooth it out.  Whilst it still looks great, it can lose a little something.

Finally, I added everybody's favourite black glitter, Wet N Wild Tangled In My Web, which was just perfect for this mani.

The colours used, thumb to pinkie were - China Glaze Orange You Hot, OPI Ogre The Top Blue, w7 Flourescent Pink, Sally Hansen Limestone and OPI A Roll In The Hague.

Enjoy 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 :)

The Digit-al Dozen Does ..... Halloween ... Spiderssssss

Hi Goddesses

For our 2nd Challenge, the Digit-al Dozen this month are tackling Halloween.   I must admit, although I LOVE seeing everyone else's Halloween manis, I really struggle for inspiration with this one.  I don't know if it's because Halloween isn't (or wasn't) such a big deal in the UK, but I lack the emotional connection with this "holiday".

So, today's nails I actually like.  I warn you though, they get worse as the week goes on ha ha.  

This started with a base of OPI A Roll In The Hague, pretty much the perfect Halloween Orange.   In truth, it's possibly a little too bright for me, but I still like it, and you've already seen it a lot in nail art, where it really just pops.

Applied beautifully, as you would expect.

I wanted to do something slightly different with all my Halloween posts, so they are all framed with sponging.  To be honest, this started as an accident - for this mani, I thought it would add to the dusty cobwebby feel - but it's proved really effective.

This was sponged with Bettina Iron.

And then we have the smorgasbord of Halloween stamps.

My favourite of all is the one on the thumb and middle finger - this is from plate 30 which you can get from My Online Shop.

The big scary spiders are from ... oh.  I know I put it down here somewhere.  Coooo-eeee stamping plate, where are you ???  Truth is, there's so much crap on my desk it could be anywhere.  Ggrrrrr.  Sorry, gonna have to update you.  Fail. :(

Overall, I do love this mani - I love the clash of the orange and the grey and the stamping just pops.

Don't forget to check out what everyone else has done :)  Enjoy xxx

31DC - Day 31 - Recreate Someone Else's Mani

Hi Goddesses

And now .....

the end is here,

And so we paint

our final maaaaani.

And it....

has to be done,

based on one

that's been done already.

And so ...

I picked Jin Jit,

who went and did

this stunning pattern.

But wow,

it was a bitch,

when I did iiiiiiiiiiiiit

myyyyyyyyyy waaaaaaaaaaaay

Thank you, thank you, curtsies, thank you :)  Lol.  I know most of you don't know me for real, but I spend most of the day doing this - making up stupid words to well known songs. Beth has MANY bedtime songs based on Top 40 hits!!

So, from Week 1 I knew what today would be, but typically didn't manage to get it done until this weekend.  Rachel also did it here, and you can see Jin Jit's version here.

This is a Harlequin tape mani, sooooo stunning but boy so time consuming.  I've become quite adept at tape manis, but it took me by surprise how much more effort this one took.

To be fair, it probably wouldn't have taken a normal person so long, but I am very VERY clumsy, and my biggest fear was getting a nail perfect and then smudging it when I did the next one, so I top coated and waited til one nail was bone dry before moving on to the next.

For my base I used GOSH Holographic Hero, a birthday pressie from Kerrie.  I did 2 coats and then Poshe and waited a half hour or so before applying tape.  As I said above, I did one nail at a time.

For my brights, I used all OPI - Kiss Me On The Tulips, Don't Talk Bach To Me,  Roll In The Hague, and Fly, and I think the combination worked perfectly.

You'll notice this mani is far from perfect.   Some of the Hero lines could do with being re-emphasised, but I'm full of cold and sneezing and coughing, and I really thought that was a recipe for more disaster rather than improvement!   Also, the index nail is a bit "thick" - this is because I added new polish to the polish I used for the thumb.  Don't Do This!   It doesn't lead to success!

I hope you've enjoyed these 31 Days, I know I have.  I'm tempted to do a round-up post, but they take a long time, so it might not happen, but as always with these challenges, I really do feel it's pushed me and stretched me, and made me all the better for it.  I've also discovered at least a dozen great new blogs in the process, so make sure you click on the thumbnails, as there really are some blogs out there to treasure.

Enjoy xx :)