Summer Challenge Day 26 - Euro 2012

Hi Goddesses

So, we're back to the Summer Challenge, and now is the turn of the Euro 2012 Football Championships which have just ended.  

It's one of the many mysteries of my life as to why I decided this particular challenge should happen AFTER the final - surely it would have made more sense before ?  Yes, even I agree with the now-me, so I have no idea what the earlier-me was playing at.

Aaaaanyway, the final was contested between Italy and Spain, 2 fabulous sides who play with flair.  The Spaniards battered the Italians 4-0.   Whoops.

I decided to do my nails half and half for each flag, and decided to go with a sponged gradient.   I used Sally Hansen Right Said Red, CG Starboard and SH White On for the Italian flag.   What was really interesting was that I had planned to do a deep and intense sponging, but when I saw the faded, shabby look of the first layer, I fell in love with it and couldn't bear to make it deeper.

The Spanish flag is missing a teensy bit of detail in the middle, as I wanted a simple, clean look.  This was OPI The It Color for the yellow, and I sponged with Wet n Wild Buy Me A Drink, a deep intense burgundy.

A simple v for "versus" in the middle and voila.  Ready to play ?  Oh, it already finished ?  Oh that's weird.  Well, why is the mani today then ?  I dunno .....

Enjoy xx :)

So What's Coming Up Next on The Crumpet?

Hi Goddesses

So, June was a MASSIVE month on The Crumpet for all sorts of reasons, and the next 4 to 5 weeks are going to be a little more low key, but still fun.

I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at what to expect - 

* this week - Indie Week

* w/c 9th July - Stuck In The Vault Swatch Week - some genuine lovelies that I should have posted before now

* w/c 16th July - Indie Week again - I know!  but I buy so mannnnnnny :)

* w/c 23rd July - Stamping Week.  I have some great stamping manis in the vault which haven't seen the light of day yet

* w/c 30th July - Indie Week AGAIN - but they're so pretttttyyyyy :)

In amongst all that there will still be the Summer Challenge, a return to Monkey See Monkey Do Monday, Adventures In Stamping, Lazy Sunday, Superheroes v Villains and Friday Friends :)  Phew!

August will see a new era on the blog - I'm going to move to a different format, and judging by the comments you've been leaving on the Giveaway so far, I think you'll like it :)  Basically, each day will be a theme day - so one day of the week will be British polishes only, another day will be Recycled Nails, another Indie Day and so on - up to about 10   themed posts per week including ... the newest kid on the block - Time Capsule nails!  

Time Capsule Nails?  Yup!  Looking back at my embarrassing early posts, I thought some manis deserved a do-over, so for a couple of months I'll be showing you how bad they looked then, and hopefully how good they look if I do them now!

There's also a few little odds and ends lurking from the end of Celebration 500 - they're mostly fun pieces that you may want to get involved in :)

Thanks for all your comments - and don't forget to enter the Giveawaaaaaay!

xx :)

Dollish Polish - We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

Hellooooooooo Goddesses  

And welcome to Indie Week.  I have about 3 Indie Weeks planned over the next 4 to 5 weeks.  Why?  Well er because I bought so many (hangs head) but they're so pretty!!!   Some of these swatches are a little old now - I think I bought most of these before April, but I'm finally releasing them into the wild :).

In a nutshell, Dollish Polish is one of my new favourite things.  EVER. Well, this month at least lol, and I cannot get enough of her awesome polishes.  There are now a LOT of indie sellers out there.  For my money, Dollish gives GREAT value.  They are quality polishes, WITH imagination.  None of this pre-mixed glitter in 7 different coloured bases crap.  I'm so glad she's now going to be stocked at Llarowe, as I think this will relieve a lot of the administrative pressure for her, and leave her free to concentrate on new polishes with awesome geeky names :)

We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat (WGNABB) is a gorgeous blue jelly with microscopic-to tiny-to small copper glitter and it's crazy gorgeous.

This took 3 coats for opacity, and was somewhat jellyish, but I think I would prefer to do this again than layer it.  Why?   Because the blue is so amazing and *almost* indescribable.  

In the bottle, this is quite a medium-dark blue, and it does dry a little lighter on the nail.  It's like a jade-tinged turquoise with a dash of royal blue too.   The blue is bright, but has a petrol-type green phosphorous haze to it, that floods it with green every now and then.   That's not to say it's a duochrome, because it absolutely is not, but this is bright blue, petrol-aqua-blue and jade-blue all rolled in to one.

The copper glitter provides the perfect accent - it's just sublime.   It's quite fitting that a polish named after a famous line from Jaws should be so jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Finally, on the 2nd day, I used this as a base for a tape mani, and this became Recycled Nails, beautifully layered with Zoya Savita, which just clashed perfectly with it.

Enjoy xxx :)

Celebration 500 Guest Post - Kirsten from The Geeky Owl

Hi Goddesses

The final Guest Post from Celebration 500 comes from a really dear friend, Kirsten of Geeky Owl.

She's done a smorgasboard of awesome for me - thank you sweetheart, I loves xx :)

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Hello All! This is my first ever guest post that I have written! It’s a bit intimidated to do, especially doing one for The Crumpet! I sat and stewed for a while trying to figure out the best mani I could do for The Crumpet. I ended up coming up with two! A serious one and a not so serious mani. :)

This is my serious purple mani for The Crumpet. I used OPI Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI, which is a gorgeous purple crème with orangey/red shimmer. I then did a funky french tip using Milani Purple Gleam. Purple Gleam is a gorgeous glitter jam packed with sparkles!

Here is a swatch of OPI Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI all by its lonesome self.

Here is me showing off the lovely shimmer that accompanies OPI Dutch ‘Ya Just Love OPI. Isn’t’ this a polish just made for The Crumpet! I think it suits her well!

Alright, now on to my not so serious mani. I had a blast doing this one!  Hahaha!  This is my take on the different blood manis that The Crumpet has done for both her Lostathon and Potterathon weeks! Hahaha! Only The Crumpet could truly get away with a mani that portrays blood as art! Haha! :) Now, mine isn’t such a perfect blood color as The Crumpet’s, because I do not own the best blood color nail polish which is OPI Royal Rajah Ruby. I had

to make do. My base is OPI Skull & Glossbones. I then sponged one a  layer of Nina Ultra Pro in Maple Syrup topped off with Zoya Sooki. I then blotted a little more Maple Syrup for good measure. :)

I had so much fun trying different combinations to get the blood just right!

And I hope you enjoyed my manis of a serious and not so serious nature, because we all know that The Crumpet (bless her heart) is both! :)

Lazy Sunday w/c 24 June 2012

Hi Goddesses

I feel I've been completely behind the ball this week, racing to catch up and not quite getting there :)  Luckily,  I had a day off on Wednesday and got to create 15 manis, which was super fun, AND a crapton of polishes arrived on my doorstep too.  

So why don't I feel excited ?  I don't know!  Lol, maybe it's the anti-climax of the end of Celebration 500.  The month was soooo well structured, I didn't really have to think too much, and now it's over and I DO have to think, and owch that hurts!   Also, the end of Celebration 500 was supposed to be the dawn of a new era, and yet I start July with about 80 manis sat in the vault.  

So here's Crumpet, caught between the past and the future.  I've never been good at limbo, so as soon as I get my new structure sorted out, I'll be fine, even if it means I decide 80 manis never see the light of day.

So what did I get up to this week?   Well Summer Challenge, obvs, and this week had some hideous curveballs lol.

There was Wimbledon

and Underneath The Stars

and water marble

and blue, aqua, green - I chose to do a splatter.

There were guests posts from Roisin, Victoria, Louise, Bee, Helen.

I promised you another cat story last week.  Well, as I went to bed, Pumpkin and Parsnip were having a standoff in the bedroom.  I split them up and climbed into bed.  However, I then heard Parsnip darting around in the bedroom and the noise awakened a horrific memory - she was darting around trying to catch a mouse ......

Lamp on, go and see Parsnip.   Laundry basket is too close to wall and Parsnip can't get her paw or jaw in there - I move it away from the wall.  No mouse.   But Parsnip is still  obsessed and pawing at the base of the laundry basket, and then it dawns on me ...... mousey is UNDER the laundry basket.  Crap in a bucket!   So I lift the edge of the basket an inch off the floor, and before my eye has really registered it, Parsnip's paw dives in, retrives mouse, clamps it in her chops and carries it off to eat.  Under the bed.  Whilst I'm trying to sleep.   

Jeez, no wonder I turn to polish!  So this week I showed you my stamping polishes

my brushes and tools

my untrieds

and my latest haul

There was also the Superheroes v Villains Challenge, which this week landed on Disney.  I chose Cruella de Vil for my villain

and the Disney Princesses for my hero.

There was also some post swatches on the blog.  Nubar Peacock Feathers

DS Glamour

There was also Stamping Sunday which this week landed on Gothic - I was thrilled with how this turned out.

And finally, there was Friday Friends with Roisin, a post about my favourite blogging friends, and a post on some of the Best Bloggers on the Block.

Wow, what a week ..... AND .... it ended with a Giveaway - make sure you enter for your chance of winning 15 British polishes and a load of sweeties and treaties :)

See you next week for a new era in Crumpetland :) xx

Celebration 500 Guest Post - Aimee from Persistently Glittery

Hi Goddesses

Today I have the final 2 Guest Posts for you from Celebration 500.  As usual, I overdid things, and planned far more than could be fitted in.

Today's post is from the lovely Aimee at Persistently Glittery.  Aimee is lovely and her designs are always cool.  She's really good at mixing stamping and nail art, and just for me, she chose one of my favourite things for her Guest Post :)  

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Hello lovely! This is my post for you! I did kitties especially for you :) I know you enjoy a kitty or two.

For the kitty nails I used Zoya Kristen dotted with OPI Pink Friday, and the kitties are A-england Bridal Veil, with China Glaze White on White for the eyes.

The purple nails are Zoya Tru with Cult Nails Seduction which is a super gorgeous sheer purple jelly with lots of lovely flakie goodness going on. I stamped with Konad Special Stamping Polish in White using the bow and hearts image from Konad M84.

Thanks so much for letting me do this Debbie! It's an honour to be allowed a post on your blog. You sexy thing, you. :) xxx

Aimee x

Stamping Sunday Meets Recycled Nails - Circles!

Hi Goddesses

Wow, can you believe it's July?  I can't.  Typically, as I look out my window at the British summer, all I can see is wind, black clouds and looming rain.  Triffic.  Do they not know I have HOLOS I want to wear?

Today's Stamping Sunday theme was circles or dots and I layered it on top of yesterday's Summer Challenge mani which was Water Marble!  Why ?  Well, as you know, Recycled Nails Rule, and also, I ran out of time a little.  Celebration 500 took a lot of planning, and even then I still didn't cram everything in, AND I have 3 challenge manis due this week which I still haven't started - argh!  Crumpet does not like to be behind :(

So, here is how this mani looked yesterday, a water marble of 3 of the CG Neons - Pink Plumeria, Under The Boardwalk, and Love's a Beach.  I cannot tell you how BRIGHT this pink was - super obnoxious lol.

I then chose this lovely design from Cheeky CH10 - it reminds me a little of clockwork - and the plan was to do it over the pink in an equally obnoxious colour, so that we could have the clash of the vulgar brights!   Alas, this didn't work.  Pink too strong.  Pink fight off stampers.  :(   So I turned to Konad white - ironically the blandest colour of all was the only one that could shut the neons up!

And this is why I love Recycled Nails.  The water marble on its own would have lasted a couple of days, and then stamping over it extends it for a couple more.  If I was keeping it, I might then have glittered over it - and before you know it, your mani has lasted the whole week, or at least Monday to Friday.

Right, lots to do, see you soon, and don't forget to enter the Giveawaaaaaaaaaaaaaay :)  Enjoy xx