Superheroes v Villains - Marvel Hero

Hi Goddesses

Ok girls, let's get this show back On The Road!  

After the DISASTER of Tuesday's villain mani, where I painted Gandalf with Barry M magnetics lol, today, I DID IT PROPER!!!

Can you guess who it is yet?  (Best Rolf Harris accent).  No ?  Don't make me angry, cos you won't like me when I'm angry ...... YES it's The Hulk !

I actually do know who the Hulk is, and I have distinct memories of watching this with my Grandad on a Friday night, and being confused why the same actor didn't play both parts lol.  I guess it was the first time I really understood the trickery and magic of TV and films.

I always used to watch the show eager for that moment when his bicep would twitch and those clothes would rip - ah, something SO satisfying about that noise lol.

So 2 of the nails pay tribute to the Hulk's outfit - the white shirt and his purple trousers.    The index finger is his eye.  I finally managed to get a good pupil by using the end of one of my brushes, and I have to say, I found him a little freaky, staring at me like that all day.

For the thumb and pinkie I decided to just go with patterns in the colours I'd chosen, so a splatter on the thumb (which hasn't photographed well, but irl was probably the BEST splatter I have ever done), and then some stripes on the little finger.  And nooooooo, of course they didn't smudge when I top coated, it was deliberate ............

By the way, the green is the delicious Lime Green by Barry and his M, and the purple was Orly Charged Up.  I was remarkably happy with this mani, and it was very popular at work too, although mysteriously no one could guess what it was until I explained it ..... hmmmmmmm

Enjoy xx and don't forget to check out the other SuperHeroines :)


Sammy @ Nailasaurus
Debbie @ the crumpet - meeee :)
Sarah @ Spellbinding Nails
Jo @ NorthernNails
Charlotte @ Charlottes Nails
Kerrie @ PishPosh and Polish

Acid Wash Nails

Hi Goddesses

I promised you a few special posts for Celebration 500 Month, and this is the first - Acid Nails.  I used being off last week as an opportunity to try both things I hadn't tried, things I'd wanted to do for ages and also a couple of "oooh I wonder what happens if ...." type things :)

Acid Nails is achieved using acetone and layers of nail varnish.  You might think all the layering makes it take ages, but actually, no, I didn't think it was too bad.  We're going to talk next week about Recycled Nails and this is a GREAT Day 2 mani.

So, I'm going to go into instruction mode :)   Your first step is a normal mani - so, base coat, 2 coats of a polish, and top coat.   For my base I used Albert Place from Nails Inc, a great intense baby blue that I'm using a lot at the mo (mainly cos it's opaque in 1 coat).

Once your mani has dried, you can then start applying layers of polish.  I'd suggest you want at least 3, but you can have more.   As this was my first try, I learnt lots on this mani, like who knew orange over even pale blue would create such an amazing rust colour?  I loved the colour, but it over-dominates this mani.   

Also, there's a red polish in there too.  Pardon ?  You can't see it?  No, me either, and that's because I put it on top of the orange - once I started doing acetone magic, they were just too close in colour to be distinguishable.   Finally, I did a coat of Orly Charged Up on the top.  I only used 1 layer of each of the colours that went on over the top coat - I know people who have used more than 1 layer, and I think there are times when it would be a good idea.  It's all about experimentation.

So, once your polish is dry, you start playing.  I just want to point out at this stage, that the only top coat you should have put on is the one over the first colour - no more after that!  The reason is that TC is a barrier.  You need to preserve the bottom colour (unless you want to eat through all the colours and show some nail), but using it in between the other colours will make your next job impossible.

Now the fun part.  Take a cotton bud, dip it in acetone, and swipe, press, whoosh all over your nails.  More pressure will eat through more layers of polish, less pressure will eat through fewer.   Make sure tho that you don't put acetone all over your nail as you'll have no top colour left!

I went for random patterns, and I like what I ended up with.  Partly this looks quite Aztec to me, but it also reminds me of oxidised copper due to that rusty orange and the pale blue.  I love the distressed look it gives off.

There is one however .... now that I've experimented, next time I'd vary my technique and use "implements" of differing thicknesses - so a thin brush, a medium brush, maybe even a dotting tool or cocktail stick ....

So there you go.  Next week I'll have another version for you  that's appearing as a guest post on another blog.

Til then, enjoy xx :)

ORLY Charged Up + FingerPaints Twisted & Flashy

Hi Goddesses

OK, so this is another classic "from the vault".  Seriously, this time I have NOOOO excuse - as you'll see, I'd even written the post (weeks ago, but I have kept it as it was).  The only thing I can think of is that I took about a trillion photos and then just could NOT be arsed to edit them.  Cos seriously, this mani ROCKS ASS and it's a crime I have withheld it from you.  So without further adoooooo, here we go ....

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days - I have been trying to fight the flu off all week, my legs have felt like lead, and just when it looked last night like the flu had won, I've pulled level again by playing my trump card of an 18 hour sleep!   I still like jellied poo, but I've got to write this post, cos I need to take this mani off to do the all challenges I'm late for.

So, you know me, impatient, opportunistic, demanding - yup, all those great qualities blokes love - and the minute I found out about the Finger Paints Flakies, I had to have them.  Unfortunately, because we all wanted them before they were even released - man, what is WRONG with us lol - they weren't easy to get, but Heather Harrison on PAA found a set and I barged myself to the front of the queue - 1 beautifully easy swap later and here they are - my preciousssssss :)

Lol.   The other half of this post is Orly Charged Up, which came to me from a swap I did with the lovely Emma of Manicurity.    Emma is one of my best polish friends, and was brave / stupid enough to try and find me some purples I didn't have - brave or what!   She picked this, a flat medium dark purple, that's a really great colour, and a lot warmer than the photos.

Now, the reason Emma was able to find a purple I don't own is cos I usually avoid Orly like the plague.  I find them thin and unreliable, but this is a great colour, and because I've been poorly, I've worn this mani for 3 days with no chipping and hardly any tip wear.  Consider me astounded :)

So, let's get to the juicies.   The left hand is wearing Finger Paints Twisted, pretty much everyone's fave flakie.  Why?  Well because it has everything you want a flakie to have.  It's multi-coloured, and therefore more exciting than the others, which tend to stick to one main colour.

Twisted has orange, pink, blue, green, gold ALL dancing together and shifting colours as you angle your nail in the light.  It really is super pretty, and super wow enough to heal most Clairvoyant lemmings.   I love when the pink / blue flashes through - just so unexpected, and a real extra dimension.

Then on the right hand we have Flashy, which in the bottle is an orange flakey syrup.  I love how the orange clashes with the purple - it's just stunning, like hints of lava flowing outwards.   Flashy mimics Nubar 2010 and Essie Shine of The Times with its green shift, but mostly this has stayed orange for me.

By now, we all love the flakies, and most of you will probably have them already.  I predict much fun ahead for us, and I've even done the unthinkable and bought a matte top coat to enhance our playtime.  I know !!!   That's like a vegetarian devouring a burger!

So, sorry this post is slightly dull but I'm playing the flu card, ok ??   Right, energy, come to momma, we have some challenges to do :)

Enjoy xxx