Summer Challenge Pink and Purple - Anatomy of a Mani

Hi Goddesses

I hope you're all well and Hump Day is treating you well :)   I'm going to try something slightly different today, and if it works, I'll look to do it once a week.  It's a not quite tutorial of how a mani gets created, layer by layer, and hopefully you'll find it useful.  I'd really appreciate comments, good or bad!

So, today's Summer Challenge is Pink and Purple and I had 100000000000 ideas.  I even did a mani for this challenge called Pink Parrots, but that will have to wait for next week :)  So why did I end up changing it and doing another?  Welllll because some Zoyas arrived lol, Kimber and Carly from the Surf n Turf Collection.   So, let's take it slow.....

This started with 2 coats of Kimber, a salmony shimmery pink, full of warmth and with that secret glow to make it special.   Just paint your nails as you would for a normal mani.   If you do all the steps I show you, but on different days, you could get 4 total looks out of this mani.

I then sponged on Carly.  Carly is lovely.  Carly quite gorgeous.  Carly a little metallic but oh so mmmmm.  Look at all that texture and shimmer.

I only put Carly on my sponge, and dabbed the excess off.  First of all, you want to apply it to your nail where you want it to be darkest, and then work backwards to where you want it to look more blended - that way, if there's still excess on your sponge, you won't create a massively noticeable "colour block" style gradient :)

I applied the sponging twice, with a smooth make up sponge.  Please excuse the little bits of sponge sitting so prettily on my nail - this is because I was being Scrooge-like with the Zoya, and the sponge got too dry.  I haven't tried it yet, but a lot of people wet their sponge before they start to keep it moist, and I might give this a try.

Top tip from Nail Nerd - if your gradient doesn't look smooth enough, dab back over the blend line with the first colour, and you can smooth them together.

So far, so pretty.  I then copied Nicole from Polish Wars who applied a holographic top coat to her gradient.  Voila one coat of HITS Hefesto.

I like this and I don't like it at the same time.  Part of me prefers the gradient before the holo, but I love the sugary fruit pastille look the holo gives.   It gives it a really other-worldly quality.

So, so far you have 3 manis.  Kimber.  Gradient.  And holo gradient.

Finally, I stamped, using my new DRK-B plate and my trusty Konad white.  I decided to go for a "sugary" type of pattern to match the base I had created.

So this is Zoya holo gradient cupcake nails lol.  Wow, so catchy.

I hope you enjoyed that style of post - please let me know if it's the sort of thing you want to see more of.

Enjoy xx :)

Summer Challenge Day 31 - Beach Towels (Recycled Nails)

Hi Goddesses

Well, after being poorly, I broke my unbroken run and missed a Summer Challenge mani.  Usually, I would just post it the next day, but as this one was "pedicure", let's just all breathe a great big sigh of relief, eh ?   I don't know what prompted me to add it to the challenge as feet pretty much gross me out.  Knowing me, it was probably pure devilment, and to make everyone else squirm!  Lol.

So, today's challenge is Beach towels, and this is one of the very first ones I did, the day after the very first Monkey See Monkey Do Challenge, where they appeared as this delicious gradient.

This was so pretty to wear, and I loved the combination of Zoya Caitlin, CG Kinetic Candy and SH Back To The Fuchsia.   The more I stared at it during the day, the more the gradient lines started to look fluffy, and then like towels and TA DAH an idea was born.

So that night, I doodled.   Yup, technical term.   I did a little bit of blobbing (with a dotting tool), and just created the sort of random patterns you can see on towels.

Overall, I still really like it.  You might not see it on the beach, but I love the combo, I love that I got 2 awesome manis out of one set of nails, and even now, 3 months later, it still makes me smile.

Don't forget to check out all the other fairies, and enjoy xx :)

Neivys - http://maquiclubgirl.blogspot.com/

Jo @ Northern Nails - http://therockchicksrambles.blogspot.co.uk/

arlene @ http://euzefelus27-nailart.blogspot.com/

Helena - http://nailwish.blogspot.com.es/

Cuti-CLUE-les - http://cuti-clue-les.blogspot.com/

Katee - http://www.agirlandherpolish.com 

Alyssa at Fancy Phalanges - http://fancyphalanges.blogspot.com/

Sarah - http://www.ynails.blogspot.co.uk/

bec - http://lacquerdreams.blogspot.com.au/

Misha - www.enigmatic-rambles.blogspot.com

Sharon - http://whatcolorismycoat.blogspot.com/

Melissa - http://www.misadventuresofawannabemartha.com/

Laurie http://dressedupdigits.blogspot.com/

Lucie @ Lucy's Stash www.lucysstash.com

Emma @  http://manicurity.blogspot.com/

Caitlin - www.caitlinscreativecorner.blogspot.com

Jane- http://absolutevarnish.blogspot.com/

Amber www.nevernakednails.blogspot.com

Vic @ Glowstars http://glowstars.net

Jackie- http://memasmanis-jackie.blogspot.com/

Rychelle @ Colorsplash Nails- http://colorsplashnails.blogspot.com/

Stella - http://mywetnails.blogspot.com

Missy @ http://missysmanis.blogspot.co.uk/

Kim @ http://apolishedaddiction.blogspot.com/

Christine @ http://lost-in-my-reverie.blogspot.com

Angie @ http://ourpaintedworld.wordpress.com

Bazzia @  http://polishmymind.blogspot.se/

Missy the Manicured Maniac @ http://melissahenderson95.blogspot.com/

Michelle @ http://lacquerorleaveher.blogspot.com/

Nikki @ http://www.lilgreenheart.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth @ http://nailpolishismycrack.blogspot.com/

Ana Cris @ http://www.estacerradaladrogueria.blogspot.com.es/

Shayleen @ http://simplyhandyallyear.blogspot.com/ 

Dina @ http://secretarysnailart.blogspot.no/

Nayade @ Toxic Vanity http://www.toxicvanity.com

Karen @ http://nailsbykaybel.blogspot.com

Kelly (aka Nail Obsessed) @ http://crazynaillady.blogspot.com

Noniq @ Noniq Diary http://noniq.blogspot.com

Marce7ina - http://marce7ina.blogspot.com

Courtney - http://cute-iclechronicles.com

Chrisie @ http://fingersandtoads.blogspot.com

Emily @ http://emily-nailtailes.blogspot.com

Celebration 500 - Post 8 - Recycled Nails Part 2

Hi Goddesses

I promised you that today I would take you through one of my Recycled Nails manis in detail.   The final design was a very popular post from a few weeks ago - Patriotic Tigers!

What I loved about this mani was how it evolved, and how I loved each and every stage (which isn't always the case).   Quite often, the middle stage of a Recycled mani can be a bit "meh" on it's own, but this was a total winner.

The first layer of this mani was a swatch of Nails Inc All Saints Road, a luscious bright blue which I wore because I didn't want to sell my daughter to buy Baker Street lol.    

I haven't posted the swatch yet, but it's in the vault, waiting, with a few other Nails Inc buddies.

I've been on a glitter kick recently and a colour clash kick, so I wanted to pick a glitter that would really strike the eye.  I settled on Animate from the LA Girl Glitter Addict range (one of my favourite brands of glitter full stop).

Again, this hasn't seen the light of day yet, but it will, probably in some sort of layering post.   I really love this combo.

I then decided to stamp over it (just because I could) and white seemed the best colour choice, as nothing else would have been able to compete with the red or blue.  I wasn't particularly looking to do tigers, but the pattern seemed dense enough to stand out, whilst also letting the base peek through.

It was also a very unintentional red, white and blue mani - but I loved how they turned into Patriotic Tigers.

The other thing about Recycled Nails is how much FUN it is.  It's pure experimentation, and it needn't ruin your mani for the next day.   

This is how it should work - wear the base colour, and then the night you are due to take it off, play with it.  Add a glitter or a gradient or dots, or something else.   If you hate it, you were about to take it off anyway, but if you LOVE IT, you've got another day's wear out of your mani.

Recycled Nails will not be for everyone, but they're a great time saver AND a great way to build your skills, explore your comfort zone and HAVE FUN.  Remember girls, polish is the grown up equivalent of a colouring book!  It Should Be Fun.

And with that, enjoy xx :)  Tomorrow sees a review of where The Crumpet is right now and a look at my numbers.

Celebration 500 - Post 7 - Recycled Nails

Hi Goddesses

Today’s post is all about Recycled Nails.  It’s something I stumbled on by accident, but something that has helped keep me sane and time managed as a blogger lol.  It’s also something I’m going to make into a weeklyish feature on the blog.

I’m going to take you back in time.  During the Christmas Challenge there was, appropriately enough, a Christmas Miracle, and I did some nail art of an angel that was both okay AND looked like an angel.  So good in fact, that I didn’t want to take her off, only to redo her for some other manis that were coming up later.  So, what does a Crumpet do?  We recycled her, and eventually she appeared in 3 manis –

What does this accomplish?  Well, it saves time redoing stuff, which is a smart way to work.

This then collided with one of my other philosophies – always experiment on your nails before you take them off.  Itching to try a tape mani?  Do it on your current mani, just before you take it off.  Want to know if you can do a gradient?  Do it on your current mani, just before you take it off.   Want to try a watercolour mani?  Do it on your current one, just before … yeh, you get it :)

Gradually, this experimentation mutated into a bit of a game with myself.  How many different looks could I get out of the same mani ?  Usually I manage 3.  At the weekend, I paint each hand different colours, so eventually I end up with 6 manis.  And that’s how you help your scheduling problems.

I thought I’d take you through some examples of when I’ve used this on the blog.  I see some other bloggers doing it, but probably not to the extent I do, but believe me when I say it’s a sanity saver.

So, first of all, let’s go back to the Spring Challenge.  Day 2 asked for your favourite spring pink.  Easy – OPI Sparrow Me The Drama.

Day 16 asked for a Spring Gradient … which I prepped on the same day as Day 2 … using my base of Sparrow Me The Drama …..

And then I stamped over it, and a few weeks later I posted “Squiggles”.

3 posts from one mani.  Recycled Nails.

A couple of weeks ago I wore Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid.

I then wanted to do a gradient with it, so picked up OPI Give Me The Moon, and I wore my nails like this for another day.

And then I stamped over it – puddy cats!

3 posts from 1 mani.  Recycled Nails.

Sometimes, the recycling is different.  Day 6 of the Summer Challenge was Summer Sunrise.

When I looked at it from another angle, I also realised it looked like a farmer’s field of crops, which is what it then became for an Adventures In Stamping post.

1 cool gradient.  2 posts.  Recycled Nails.

This style of working won’t be for everyone, but I find it gives me variety, AND more crucially, encourages me to play with my polishes more.  Every single mani in this collage is a Recycled Nails mani, meaning it started life as a completely separate idea or swatch, with its own individual blogpost.

Tomorrow, we’ll go through my favourite Recycled Mani so far :)   Enjoy xx