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

Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday - Week 1

Hi Goddesses   

You'll have heard me rave from time to time about Pinterest, a website where you pin cool photos to electronic "boards".  This is particularly cool for a hobby like nail polish, because you can pin photos of polishes you want, manis you've blogged, and cool designs others have done.

It's the latter category I love it for the most, but for all the hundreds of manis I've pinned, I've never "gotten around" to replicating them.  Doh.  So all that stops this week.  I've teamed up with my Pinterest and stamping buddy Kristen from the Manicured Monkey and from now on, every Monday is Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday.    Hurrah!

Recently I've been seeing a lot of cool pastel gradients which have been SPONGED - like this - 

(I believe this came from weheartit.com but I don't know who the original blogger is as I repinned it - pls let me know if you know).

Now, I love my gradients, and I love my sponging, but I've never combined them .... until now.

What I Used

* 3 polishes - I don't like lemon on me, so I went with CG Kinetic Candy, Zoya Caitlin and Wet n Wild How I Met Your Magenta

* a piece of sponge.  You want to make sure it's a fairly "solid" sponge.  Usually I prefer to sponge with a holey type of sponge, but as there's no base colour here, you need to ensure maximum coverage
* patience - it took 17 minutes to clean this baby up lol - that's more than a splatter OR a water marble :)

What I Learnt

* if you're using a polish you've never used before ... like say How I Met Your Magenta, just check that it's actually a creme and not a jelly.  Jellies do not work.  

* it's ok to sponge twice on each nail for better coverage and better use of your nail polish.  Just use the middle stripe to line it up.  As it's a sponged gradient, it's not going to matter if you're imprecise

* This uses no more polish than a normal manicure

* if you accidentally use a jelly, just paint on top of it afterwards (like I did), and if that STILL doesn't work, add a darker tone to the white edge (like I did, I used SH Back To The Fuchsia).

As you can imagine, there was a lot of clean up needed, but if I'd been a cleverer Crumpet, I wouldn't have used a phenomenally wide piece of sponge :(

This also has a "tie-dye" style to it, and I personally love that you don't get 100% coverage.  If you look really closely, you can see some "holes" in my mani, or parts where the colour is really thin.  Poshe is great for washing over those and making them look artful - personally, they made me love this mani more.

This is RIDICULOUSLY easy to do, and perfect for summer.  It looks like you've put a lot of effort into it, but wow, this is so easy even I can do it!!

Yay!!  Enjoy xx :)