#52WPNMC - Grey + A Colour - Autumn Leaves

Hi Goddesses

Autumn is one of my very favourite seasons.  The nights getting darker, the puddles, the mounds of crunchy leaves ... and sadly there's not a lot of Autumn on the blog this year, as I decided to go all out for Halloween instead.

However, this Autumnal orange-a-rama does make it through the spooky stuff.  The colour prompt was grey and a colour, and I knew I wanted something bright and obnoxious.  Step forward orange - well, 6 oranges to be exact.

The base is the lovely Count Your Shadows by Digital Nails - lovely and pale, and with some amazing flakiness going on inside.

I then stamped with MoYou Tropical Plate 04 and my orange Konad polish.  For some reason, I also decided to create a super large version on my ringer finger. Nope, no idea.

And then a strange feeling came over me - how empty and barren my mani looked in this world of leadlighting.  Isn't weird how a mani you would have been proud of a year ago can leave you feeling like an underachiever lol.

So I cracked out my oranges and coloured in!  I used - 
Different Dimension - Tubular
Darling Diva - RuPaulogize
OPI - Lighten Up, You're Two Pence!
OPI - Call Me Gwen-Ever
OPI - Where Did Suzi's Mango?

An InLinkz Link-up

Floral Week - Wrong Handed Watercolour Field of Flowers Nail Art

Hi Goddesses

I mentioned earlier in the week that my middle nail had broken to the quick, and I still had more awesome manis to do for Floral Week.  To say I was bummed is an understatement - I am on holiday next week too, and it looks like I won't be able to spend so much time playing with my nails as I planned to.

So it left me with some choices - post the 2 stamping failures I had already mentally put in the trash bin; abandon the challenge; do nail art featuring the hideous nubbin ..... or do some art on my wrong hand.

To be honest, I've arted on my "wrong" hand before.  In fact, a year ago, I did almost an entire Christmas Challenge on it, so I knew it could be done.  The question though, was how good would it be ?

Well, as it turns out, not tooooo bad.  I deliberately picked something doable, and whilst I'm sure it would have looked better on my proper hand, I prefer it to the 2 stamping manis (which I'll post tomorrow).

This started with 2 coats of Elevation Polish Alphubel, a gorgeous glossy pale blue, with a slight lavender lean and shimmer.   I then sealed my mani with Poshe and then added my flowers with a dotting tool before dabbing them with acetone.  I used Barry M Blood Orange and Blackberry, and OPI Call Me Gwen-Ever.

Finally, I used my acrylics to add the green stems, and then, as something seemed lacking, added some sunshine (not sure that was the right move though).

So, tolerable?  Enjoy xx 

Missy at Gnarly Gnails

Emma at Manicurity

Kerrie at Pish Posh & Polish

Ashley at Smashley Sparkles

Tri Polish Challenge - Day 4 - OPI Call Me Gwen-Ever Skittles

Hi Goddesses

Today is a super exciting day in the UK - we now have 4 days off work til Tuesday.  Ooooooh so many polishes to play with!  I have a lot of swatches to finish as well as Floral Week to prepare for :)

So, here's my final Tri-Polish mani, which if you remember features 3 OPIs - Call Me Gwen-Ever, Thanks A Windmillion and Vant To Bite My Neck.

If I'm honest, this is my least favourite of the 3.  I love the coral tones of Gwen-Ever, and I think she shines through with a LOT of glory in this mani, but the overall effort is not quite what I wanted.

I think I'm most miffed about my leaky half moon :(  I seem to have real issues keeping tape and stickers stuck down on my nails, so if you have any tips, please leave me a comment!   Usually - as in this mani - something lifts near the nail wall and I end up with a big puggle of polish :(

Also, the index finger didn't work.  You can't tell, but there's a medium sized dot, surrounded by smaller dots, with 2 of those small dots feeding into the next circle, and so on.  I thought it was SUCH a cool idea.  I think I'm going to have to try it with different colours.

I hope you've enjoyed the Tri Polish posts.  It's certainly a different kind of challenge, and it's been really cool to see everyone come up with something different.  It's not too late to get involved, just click HERE.

Enjoy xx :)

Tri Polish Challenge Day 3 - Balls of Wool

Hi Goddesses

And welcome to Day 3 of the Tri Polish Challenge.  Today, I'm using all 3 polishes again - all OPI - Thanks A Windmillion (green), Call Me Gwen-ever (coral) and Vant To Bite My Neck (purple).

I don't think I ever really knew where I was going with this mani, but I love it lol.  Even once it was done, I was looking at my nails wondering if I'd made a holy hot mess, but I really like the finished result.

This is a mixture of a splodgerama and a stamping mani.  A splodgerama, if you remember, is sponging colours onto your nails in random places to create a random effect.   To make the colours POP I sponged over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

The stamp is a Konad lovely that I have meant to use for MONTHS and never got round to lol.  It reminds me of a ball of wool, how the lines intersect.  This is Konad m56.

So what about you?   Have you ever had a mani you couldnt' decide if you loved or hated?

Enjoy xx :)

The Tri Polish Challenge - Day 1

Hi Goddesses

I am really excited to launch this challenge with my good friend Ashley from Smashley Sparkles.  It's the type of nail challenge I'm more drawn to now - short and loose!

The Tri Polish Challenge involves picking 3 specific polishes for 4 challenge manis.  You are also allowed free use of white, black, gold and silver.  You can stamp and you can use glitter toppers, and the themes are free for all - whatever floats your boat!

Unfortunately Ashley chose 2 of my most loathed colours in green and coral, (although she did pick purple too).  Here's what I'll be using in the 4 manis -  OPI Thanks a Windmillion (green), Call Me Gwen-Ever (coral), and Vant To Bite My Neck (purple) from the new Euro Centrale Collection.

I'd had this crazy leopard print idea for a couple of weeks, but never in a million years did I think it would look so GOOD!  Definitely a nail art high point!

The highlight was Beth not commenting on it, but just holding out her paw to me and looking at it, and then at me, as if it say "come on then, it's actually good, I'll have some of that".  Bless her.

I started with a small-to-medium dotting tool, making my random splodges, and then used a small dotting tool to colour some of the edging in, in black.

This may look intricate, but it's the total opposite - super easy :)  

Don't forget to check out the rest of Crumpet's Nail Tarts, and we'll all be back on Thursday with Mani No 2 !!  :) xx