Digit-al Dozen DOES Recreation Week - Lesley's Zebra

Hi Goddesses

Sometimes in life, the right people cross your path at the right time, and I am so grateful that Lesley from workplaypolish was part of our group for a time.

As well as having mad skills, Lesley was the epitomy of generosity, and her genuine nature was truly inspirational.   For the most part, I was staggered by every mani she posted, but when she posted this one, I was gutted - because it looked so Crumpet-y, yet I had never thought of it!

This mani comes from Animal Week, over 2 years ago, and I was shocked that Lesley had a) stamped and b) done something so splodgy.  As you know, I created the splodge and the splodgerama, where colours are randomly sponged on the nail, but sadly, Lesley opted for a SPLOTCH, where she dabbed the colours on.

I always loved the electric-nature of this mani, and sadly I really feel that mine doesn't measure up for a variety of reasons - 

* firstly, I used one of the Color Club pastel neons as my base.  Feathered Hair Out To Here was STILL streaky after 3 coats, and I wasn't sure it would ever dry, so I Poshe'd it


* my splodging, although beautiful, left too much of the base covered, so you don't get the full impact of Lesley's mani


* because of The Pastel Neon That Would Not Dry, when I stamped, it er ... splodged - the plonker must have felt it was compressing a big fat sandwich and it smooshed both the polish underneath (you can see the odd wrinkle) and it created cracks in the zebra stripes.  Booo.


* and then there's the stamp itself.  Lesley used the brilliant Konad m57 but man those images are small.  My next best zebra was on a genius plate called MoYou Punk 09, but the thickness of the stripes really over-dominates the mani.

That said, I doooooo love how this turned out.  It's still bright, it still has some wow, it's still a head-turner.  It's just not as gorgeous as the original.


Polishes used
- Color Club Feathered Hair Out To Here
- Girly Bits Julia
- Girly Bits Hip Hoop Hurray
- Girly Bits Don't Paddle Break A Nail
-w7 Fuchsia

Don't forget to check out what the other girlies are up to.

An InLinkz Link-up

Neon Candy Stripes

Hi Goddesses

Today we have a mani that didn't quite go according to plan, but reminds me of boiled sweets lol.

This started as a neon splodgerama using -

China Glaze Papaya Punch

Sally Hansen Limestone

w7 Fuchsia

Sation Flirt

and a white NYC polish

I never quite got the base how I wanted it - I think I was aiming for something a little more defined, but in the end it all sort of smoooooshed together.

I then added the white stripes on top, and although it might annoy some people, I really like that some of the colours in this mani bleed into the white. It gives it a random quality that appeals to me.

I'll definitely do this mani again, as it lends itself to so many colours.

Boiled sweets anyone?  Enjoy xx :)

Neon Roses

Hi Goddesses

It feels like the end of summer today in the UK.  It's a bank holiday, and the kids go back to school next week.  And then it will be autumn.  And dark nights.  And Christmas lol.  So, what else to do today but go out with a bang?

I've got a few neon manis left, and I'm determined I'm going to keep doing them throughout the winter.  These have cheered me up so much, and they look so happy on the nail.

This mani features - 

w7 White

Color Club Daisy Does It

Pretty n Polished Crush

Sation Flirt

w7 Fuchsia

For each of the roses, the petals were done with acrylic paint, as I didn't want a neon-on-neon "my eyes!" experience lol.  The leaves were also done with acrylic.

I still can't get enough of roses.  So simple, yet so bloomin' lovely.

Enjoy, and have a great day :) xx

Digit-al Dozen DOES .... Tape Manis .... NEON

Hi Goddesses

This month, Digit-al Dozen is doing tape manis, a style that has fascinated me for 2 years.  They're not easy - a bit like stamping, they demand practice, practice, practice - but the pay off is immense, so much so that I think today's nail art is possibly THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE!!

I first came across tape manis on Nailside's blog, with her famous laser manis.   Since then, I've seen others - mainly Nailasaurus and Manicurator - take them to new levels of patience and precision.  My week this week is quite mixed up - there are a couple of more complex manis, as well as 2 extremely simple ones.

So, remember last week how I said Neon Week wasn't really over?  Uh huh, Exhibit A, m'lud :)  I did this last weekend and didn't take it off for 4 days, somewhat of a record for me!  It's just so damned bright and cheerful.

It's also one of those manis that's a sum of more than its parts.  It works, spectacularly, but not because I've done anything special, just because the colours ROCK, especially that green, which I almost didn't use.

So what do we have going on?  Well, the base was Jacava Mont Blanc, which I reviewed yesterday, and then I laid my tape on top.  Using small nail art brushes I then used -

* Sally Hansen Limestone

* China Glaze Papaya Punch

* OPI A Roll In The Hague

* China Glaze Igniting Love 

* w7 Fuchsia

Enjoy - I'll be back tomorrow with a reciprocal gradient tape mani.  Yeh, dig that!  Lol xx :)

Neon Week - Splatter!

Hi Goddesses

Today I have a neon splatter for you, and words cannot express how much I loved wearing this mani, or how fabulous it looked.

Unfortunately, now, in photos, all I see is the really messy clean up (and man I scrubbed at this for hours) and somehow, none of the photos seem to convey the intense HAPPY of this mani.

Let's start at the top, with the polishes.  White base, and then 4 colours - OPI Roll In The Hague, China Glaze Papaya Punch, China Glaze Hang-ten Toes and w7 Fuchsia.  I was going to do you a posh photo of them, but decided to show you how they look amongst the continual clutter of my nail desk!

I absolutely LOVED how this splatter fell on my nails, and the colour collision was just perfect.  

Those cuticles though - I am so sorry.   I don't think I appreciated how much harder the neons might be to remove lol, and despite spending ages on, just couldn't get those last bits out.  I think my clean up brush just lost the will to live in the end.   In real life, they weren't so noticeable; in photos - yikes.   Still, I don't believe in Photoshopping my pics (don't even know how to) and I know you like to see when even I make a big mess.  I'm just bummed it detracts from the overall awesome.

Don't forget to check out the other Luscious Ladies - enjoy xx :)