Purple Mosaic

Hi Goddesses

So here we are, at the penultimate mosaic post.  There's just one more to go, the green, and let's just say - it's everything this is not.

To tell the truth, I really did not like this version.  It was the 2nd one I did, and I learnt a LOT from my mistakes.   First let's take a look at the polishes - 

* base - OPI Planks A Lot

* a-England - Lady of the Lake

* OPI DS Original

* Leighton Denny The Heiress

* Urban Decay AC/DC

* Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac

And of course ... a PURPLE striper.  This really was not a clever idea.  It might have worked better if the purple was blackcurrant-dark, but this insipid mediocre nastiness did not cut my mustard.  Learning of Lesson 1 - Black Striper Best.

Then there's the mix of polishes, or the congruence.  Purple is a VAST colour (I should know, I have oops 250 of them) and this led to real issues when making choices.  And I went wrong.  I tried to cover too many bases and it didn't work.  You will notice I managed to keep it all cool toned purples, but the metallic and the holo are just too similar AND they're darker than the striper.  Learning of Lesson 2 - Choose Wisely.

Then there's the holo overload.  Although vastly different, in this pattern, the polishes look too similar and totally over-dominate.   Then the metallic is similar too, meaning half the nail looks too tonally alike.  Learning of Lesson 3 - Less Is More.

After a while this mani did grow on me, and it's alikey mushiness gave it a camo style pattern. It also looked better from a distance - the closer you got, the more "meh" it became.   It totally lacks the POW WOW tho of the teal or the pink.   

I know!  Me, not liking a purple mani!  I will redo this at some point, and it will look waaaay cooler, but for now .... ack, who am I kidding - just WAIT til you see the green.

Enjoy xx :)

Spring Challenge - Spring Splatter

Hi Goddesses  

Happppppppppppy Weekend!   I have had the week from hell, so I am planning a whole weekend of relaxation, food, films and polish :)  I have been a seriously bad Crumpet this month, which is bad for the bank balance but AMAZING for the haul post (soon) and play time :)

Anyways, back to the splatter, Crumpet!  Soz.  Yes, so I LOVE splatters.  Love them, love them, love them.  They fit into my "perfect" category of "structured mess".  You can't go wrong with them really, and even if you do, there's so many way to fix them.

I decided to heed the master on this one.  I was going to just pick 5 pastels, and basically do the same on every nail, but I remembered Sarah from Chalkboard Nails stating that a splatter works better when you use black or white in it (creating greater contrast).  And lo, an idea was born ....

So the nails all have a base of a pastel colour, a splatter of white, and then a splatter of the darker version of the pastel, which I think is kinda neat.  The white was my staple, SH White On.  Here are the other colour combos -

thumb = OPI Sparrow Me The Drama, and CG It's Poppin', which has a little bit of shimmer in it which looked awesome in the splatter

index = SH Lacey Lilac and OPI Planks A Lot

middle = Barry M Blue Moon and Orly Snow Cone

ring = OPI Stranger Tides and Orly Ancient Jade

pinkie = CG Lemon Fizz and OPI The "It" Color

Now, I know I'm biased, but I LOVE how this turned out.  It's so happy and colourful, and just, ah, I just LOVE IT.

So, let's talk technique.   Usually, I take the polish brush and swoosh it inside the straw before I blow.  However, lately, I've found this creates a splatter that's too big, especially as I can't find thin straws in England.   This time, I again listened to the Chalkboard, and dipped the straw INTO the polish bottle.   Now, this DID create better splatter, but oh man, I made myself really messy.   Next time, I'm going to try an old Bic pen, as the hole is narrower.

So, what do you do when you splat too much ?  Well, I took one of my cheap eyeshadow applicators that I use for sponging, and sponged IN some of the excess, to make it look more mushy.  I also used a tissue to soak UP some of the excess, and again, it didn't matter that the tissue pressed into the polish, because the effect you are creating is so random.

I love splatters.  Love them.  Yes you make a bit of a mess, but every single one has some wow factor to it.

I can't wait to see what the other girls on the Challenge come up with today - it should be a very pretty day :)

Enjoy xx :)

The Crumpet Likes Cupcakes Too !

Nails I Love

Franken Time – Rebecca Like Cupcakes …. And so does the Crumpet!

Hi Goddesses

The first time I ever saw a franken that made me go “wow, I gotta get me some of that” was when I saw Rebecca Likes Nails’ lilac franken, Rebecca Likes Cupcakes.

There was just something so perfect and girly about it that I instantly fell in love.  It also looked really simple, so for a novice it seemed the perfect thing to start with.

For my version I used about ¼ of a bottle of Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac with an equal amount of clear (to create enough dilution so that you can see the glitter through the layers) and then added about a 1/3 of a bottle of Wet n Wild Party of Five.

With most frankens, the trick is to go slow so that you can keep testing your ratios.  For someone like me, that’s really hard, cos I just want to plonk it all in and give it a good shake lol, but even I have learnt some caution is worth the time investment.

I kept testing this on my hand over a few days, adding a bit more Lacey Lilac, but never quite got the colour I wanted – it kept looking a bit sickly and a bit too pink.  It took a few days for inspiration to finally get to me, but I eventually added a few drops of Zoya PINTA (an amazing midnight bluey purple) and that just worked like magic, immediately zapping away the sickliness and leaving instead one cooooool lilac.

I so love this.  To be fair, it’s definitely a spring and summer mani, but there’s just something so delicate about it.

By the way, Rebecca named it perfectly – it is good enough to eat!

Enjoy J

J

Top Tip – if you’re ever unsure what a nail colour looks like, go to Google images, which will give you plenty of contrasts and compares.