My Ripponburn ladies 18:14

Gladys

There were ten ladies this last time! Nellie has broken her hip so is still in the hospital out of town. That is a shame, she has been away for some weeks now. And Sally could not leave her room so I went to her in the very end (and forgot to take the pic). Janice was also not feeling up-to-snuff so didn‘t see her at all.

Doris

Lilian

I started with Doris, Gladys and Lilian as they were last the time before. I brought some brighter colours and polishes I have bought just for them. I also brought some really groovy glitters!! And they all liked them and chose springy colours.

Helly

Especially the lavender and the Zoya Monet topper were big hits.

Ina

If you have been following the manis you may have noticed that Ina has very ridged nails. I have bought some Essie Ridge Filler to try on her. I wanted her to feel like she had shiny smooth nails as she is so adventurous with her colour choices, she should have the best! You can see above that it does make a difference! I think they look smoother, and they definitely feel smoother.

Margaret

Jenny

I really enjoyed using some new piCture pOlish glitters: Gene Doll and Splash. In fact, I think Jenny's mani is especially pretty. I did forget to pack any sort of bronze or copper and I know Dorothy enjoys those tones. Lately, though, she has been into reds so I just plain forgot. She decided on lavender, but simple and Miss Joan – after being so "wild" the last times – was allowed her pink (but with glitter!). That is our little joke together.

Dorothy

Joan - still really soft cuticles!

Mani breakdown:
all had Seche Clear as a base, two coats of base polish and Out the Door as a top coat. After pics then an almond oil cuticle wash.

Doris: NOPI Selena topped with piCture pOlish Color Storm
Gladys: Thai Orchid lavender topped with piCture pOlish Splash
Lilian: Zoya Rebel topped with Zoya Monet
Helly: Thai Orchid lavender topped with Zoya Monet
Ina: Zoya Arizona topped with AKR orange glitter
Margaret: CND Mint Convertible topped with piCture pOlish Gene Doll
Jenny: Alternating accents in Zoya Rebel and Sailor, topped with piCture pOlish Splash
Dorothy: Thai Orchid lavender
Joan: NOPI Selena topped with TBN glitter
Sally (no pic): Zoya Rebel topped with Zoya Monet

52wkCrumpet9: brush stroke and fav brand

This is week nine of Crumpet's 52 week challenge! The "rules" are very flexible and you have all week to accomplish the mani. As always, must be done on your own nails, using the colours suggested (or parts thereof).
This week's prompt: brush stroke and favourite brand (either each alone or combined). I combined. I did have to research what brush stroke was, I was thinking of something different (fantail brush stuff). But then I remembered. And I used my fav brand Zoya - love their polishes.

I started with a two coat base of Zoya Arizona, a really groovy apricot orange. I am totally loving this colour right now. Obviously so much, as a lot of my clients are sporting it as well! You can really hardly see it in the end – even the Mr asked, "where is the cool orange?".

Then I started stroking/dabbing on three shades of Zoya, in this order, and then twice: Pepper (a brick red), Sooki (a tomato red) and Flynn (caramel). Towards the end I also added some Arizona so that I had orange towards the top of the layers.

I didn't take heaps of pics as the mani seems rather self-explanatory and kind of looks the same from every angle! And, I am suuuuper early this week as my son arrives from Europe on Wednesday!! He is moving here and we are all very, very excited and I want to spend time with him. So need to get heaps of projects done and some real work, so did my nails last night!
Take care girls x!

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52wkCrumpet8: books and brown

This is week eight of Crumpet's 52 week challenge! The "rules" are very flexible and you have all week to accomplish the mani. As always, must be done on your own nails, using the colours suggested (or parts thereof).
This week's prompt: books and brown (either each alone or combined). I combined. I was convinced a lot of girls would be doing the newspaper transfer mani so I decided to paint bookshelves and be different. And then I noticed lots of girls did bookshelves, so I wasn't so clever after all!

The base is two coats of Essie Sable Collar. I have had this colour for-ever it seems. I bought it in the wrong time of year, then forgot about it in winter. I like the silkiness of the colour but I am still not a fan of Essie. I find their polishes way too thin. I would have needed a third coat to wear this on its own but settled on two as I knew I was painting on top. There must be a reason why I only have four Essie polishes!

I hand-painted all the bookshelves and books – and my wee cat Harvey sitting on top of one shelf – using acrylic paints and thin brushes. Top coat sealed the deal and brought it all together. There are a couple of reasons why I only did my left hand: 1) lazy! 2) too many nail studio clients and I needed my dominant hand to remove their polish and 3) was almost dinnertime.

left side more in the shade

So on my right hand I applied the beautiful – and very, very similar shade to Essie – Fake Tan from Gelicious. This is a rich shimmering coffee brown colour. I kept it pure, so I have lopsided hands this week! But people will think it is on purpose! And I have removed numerous polishes (with non-acetone remover) and the mani still looks top!

That's me for this week! And now I am wondering what Crumpie means with "brush stroke".

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Zoya Awaken - kind of an adult Frozen!

It was not until I looked at my mani while at the video store that I realized how Frozen my nails are!!! Too funny!! This is my selection from Zoya's Awaken Collection. I bought three, and used them all in this mani. I felt like a simplier look after all the nail art the last weeks.

Dillon

Rebel

I applied an alternating accent PITR base in Zoya Dillon and Rebel. Both are light and airy shimmer colours, very springlike. Dillon is an icy green, Rebel an icy turquoise. Coverage was great (as always with Zoya - slowly my fav brand), two coats each.

In the shade

Then I applied one coat of their Monet glitter top coat. The polish looks beautiful in the bottle but is a tricky one to apply and have an opinion on. Seems like a large pastel-ed version of Maisie, but would have to try on a dark to see how that would work (note to self). It is full of holographic hex glitter in a jelly clear-pink base. I used the dab method to apply, otherwise the specks would be few and far between. You can see in the shade pic how there is an almost mosaic look to the glitter top coat. Like the flecks are embedded in the polish. I am on the fence on that: sometimes I think it looks great, then I think it makes the nails look "dimpled". I top coated with Out the Door.

A lot of bloggers use this on pink so I may try that next time with my ladies. Seemed a bit too much of an obvious choice. I really like the coolness of this mani, without clashing with my skin tone. The colours still look light and summery and the bling factor is Wow in the sun!

I have quite of few Zoyas right now (almost 30) and just bought some more in the giant Candy Girl 50% off sale!! (CandyGirl shop). Their consistency is one of the best and I love their colour choices. I admit, a tad pricier, but the product is worth it.

My Ripponburn ladies 17:14

Margaret

When I walked in it seemed like I had a room full, but then I realized that they had another country singer and half left when they stopped singing!! Still I had my usual suspects and a great crowd. The manis (well, some) are getting a bit more involved and I like that.The ladies are getting more adventurous and are loving the ideas they get to sport for a couple of weeks.

Margaret

Ina

Especially Margaret and Ina really enjoy the mani time. And Ina has the best eye for ideas, too. Margaret got glitter and wisps of accent colours and Ina accented tips.

Thelma

There was some sadness in the room as Thelma's husband, Murray, had just passed away. The funeral was in two days time so I gave her a special mani in darker colours, but not too depressing. The base is dark blue and I painted two Ms on her accents in purple. One M was facing her, the other faced outwards. Subtle, but there. And she loved them.

Sally

Joan

Joan has achieved the smoothest cuticles by using her oil! Both she and Sally wanted the metallic blue and I was so happy that Joan - on her own! - chose a non-pink!!!

Lilian

Dorothy

That said, soft pink was still the hit with others (even if it was more of a "posh" one). My last two ladies wanted green. So quite a well-rounded bunch this week!!

Doris

Gladys

Mani breakdown:
all had Seche Clear as a base, two coats of base polish and Out the Door as a top coat. After pics then an almond oil cuticle wash.

Doris: Layla Emerald Divine
Lilian & Dorothy: Nostalgic Lacquer Hey You Guys
Sally & Joan: Base of black, China Glaze Deviantly Daring
Gladys: Zoya Logan
Ina: China Glaze Rare & Radiant with No Plain Jane tips and vice versa accents
Thelma: Zoya Sailor with "M" accents in a-england Avalon with BYS Cold as ice
Margaret: Zoya Flynn with Thai orange glitter, accents in China Glaze Life is Beautiful with stripes in Flynn and China Glaze Wicked Style and also glitter

52wkCrumpet7: wild animals and yellow

This is week seven of Crumpet's 52 week challenge! The "rules" are very flexible and you have all week to accomplish the mani. As always, must be done on your own nails, using the colours suggested (or parts thereof).
This week's prompt: wild animals and yellow (either each alone or combined). I combined. Yellow is a colour I do not wear often enough and wanted to try some different freehand animals. I love giraffes! So I went for giraffes standing in the pampas of the African plain – even if some look like dinosaurs or emus. Fun fact that I learned on safari once: giraffes sleep mainly with their heads upright because if they lie them on the ground they do not have enough strength to pull them back up. How bizarre!

you can kind of see the base shimmer here

I started with a base of Butter London Cheeky Chops, my oldest yellow. What a mission! It is one thing to use the colour for nail art by dribbling drops of it on a palette, another to paint your nails. The colour was a bit thick and the bottle half full. I was too lazy halfway through to thin it down and just trudged on with two coats. To give a bit of a pop I topped this with a coat of NfuOh 029, an old untried (man, I am ticking all the boxes this week!) holographic jelly yellow. Basically clear, it is a holographic in a yellow liquid. I top coated before moving on.

right hand

Using black acrylic paint I drew giraffes in either profile or semi profile. Some look rather like aliens from The Jetsons but the Mr figured it out all on his alone! My right hand doesn't look half bad, either, so improvement. Even if, in hindsight, my right thumb looks more like a donkey!

I wisped on some grass stalks using different polishes and a longer brush: China Glaze Happy Go Lucky (another old yellow and a bit darker than BL), OPI Don't Talk Bach to Me (a greenish yellow) and an older Thai polish with no label or name that some may classify as orange, but I am calling amber. Keeping with the safari theme, I added I Herd That to the tips (China Glaze On Safari collection). Now to scroll through the other creations - bye girls x!

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