52wkCrumpet18: fish braid and non-glitter topper

This is week eighteen 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: fish braid and non-glitter topper (either each alone or combined). I chose both and combined in an ambitious skittlette idea I had throughout the week. I really like this mani and will have a hard time getting rid of it next week. It just all seemed to come together.

I started with a black base (China Glaze Liquid Leather) on all nails. The skittlette is AABBC and I painted the C nail first using my non-glitter topper of Zoya Maisie. I also painted the bottom of the BB nails in Maisie as a base for a reverse French fish braid. The bottom of the AA nails were painted in China Glaze Deviantly Daring.

Then I started the fish braid pattern, the same on all AABB nails: first up was China Glaze Want my Bawdy, followed by Unpredictable and then Deviantly Daring. These are all from CG's New Bohemian Luster collection (which really is no longer new!).

I had no problem layering the duochromes over each other. They all pick up different aspects of the non glitter topper, so a very under-the-sea type of mani that really sparkles in the sun!

I topped first with Out the Door but then added a coat of Poshé to really add some shine. Done deal for the week - now to check out the others! Bye girls x.

An InLinkz Link-up

52wkCrumpet17: three shades of green and/or yellow

This is week seventeen 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: fire, and three shades of green and/or yellow (either each alone or combined). I chose green and yellow combined, wanting to revisit a pond manicure that I did over a year ago. It is also a sunny alternative to the cranberry marbling I just took off. The gel mani was lasting quite well after a week but for the life of me I do not understand how all the Japanese nail afictionados handle all the rhinestones! A couple of mine chipped off after about three days and they were annoying. Always catching on my hair. Pretty, but annoying.

I started with a one coat base of EMS Recombination from Indigo Bananas. This is a shimmery green jelly, perfect for layering and sandwiches. Then I added some random vertical lines in OPI Green-wich Village. Similar tone, but darker. This was covered with one layer of EMS.

Then, using OPI Need Sunglasses?, I added yellow horizontal lines to the tips and some verticals randomly. This was covered in EMS.

Lastly, I added some wisps of horizontal Green-wich and then top coated.

I filed down my nails into more of a square for this one. Going after a horizontal look with the lines. I haven't worn square for a while so it is a nice change. This has been a busy week as I had a major wind disaster at last weekend's market and have needed to 1) rethink my whole layout to windproof better and 2) while I am at it, restyle a bit. So besides creating jewellery and painting a lot, I have been figuring out table placements, enjoying mani clients and writing film articles. Busy bee me! And... I still want to do my Japanese Nail Art lesson!!

Thanks for reading girls x

An InLinkz Link-up

My Ripponburn ladies 1:15

Gladys

This week was my first week back – after the Xmas break – at Ripponburn for 2015!! Start of my third year there. Such beautiful weather that I even ended up walking there.  Only eight ladies this visit, a couple are not feeling well and some had family visiting.

Janice

I had been thinking about Janice and how best to offer her choices. She can't move her hands much, but then seems to always have them in a "clasp". I decided to use OPI liquid sand or Zoya Pixie Dust polishes as 1) these dry super quickly so no smudging and 2) leave it without top coat (even better!). So just really base coat and a coat of polish. That is manageable.

Thelma

Jenny

Thelma and Jenny opted for a bright pink. Thelma was first again, as she had to get back on oxygen. I did Jenny relatively quickly as well. She always seems to be last, not fair.

Margaret

Lilian

Margaret and Lilian went more towards orange: Margaret loved her soft pastel orange, and Lilian wanted something bright and this coral is one of my personal favs!

Joan

Ina

Joan was allowed pink - 'tis a new year and all!! And Ina chose her fav magnetic from Layla. This time I also remembered to bring the Ridge Filler base coat. Can't do it every time but did remember this time.

This brings me to Gladys, who was last this time. Since I only had the eight and still heaps of time till the dinner gong, Gladys got dotted flowers on her nails! The base was a really pretty sky blue, so her nails looked like little meadows. Shocker, but NO glitter at all today! That is definitely a first! Back in two weeks.

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.

Gladys: piCture pOlish Sky with hand dotted flowers
Janice: OPI Get Your Number 
Thelma & Jenny: Ulta Strawberry Sundae
Margaret: Zoya Arizona
Lilian: OPI Live.Love.Carnaval
Joan: Orly Artificial Sweetener
Ina: Layla Silver Galaxy

52wkCrumpet16: film

This is week sixteen 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: film and holo (either each alone or combined). I chose film and am...

truly stretching this out on a limb here. I realize this and am hoping for compassion from the Goddess Crumpie! This week coincides with my Japanese Nail Art challenge workshop and was so loving the gel marbling that I wanted to do a mani myself on my nails. My all time favourite film is "Death on the Nile" (this coming from an old film exec!). It was set in the late 20s-early 30s and this is a mani I could envision the ladies wearing at the time. Art Deco marble, red elegance and rhinestone sparkle.

I started with one coat of Thankful, a nude. This was topped with Antique Rose, a bronze-y tan shade. This set the base for the marbling (each layer was cured). I used Queen of Hearts as the first red (a brick shimmer) and swirled and dabbed the gel with a brush a tad dipped in clear gel. This was cured. Then I applied a thin coat of Cranberry and did the same again. In the end top coat was applied with rhinestones on the accents.

The accents are different: one is classic French, the other inverted French. I like the inverted better myself. The marbling resembles holo, but it is not!

Again, I apologize for the faux pas and will be back on track next week. But the marbling was so much fun and so creative, as you can mix together heaps of colour combos. Working with gel in this instance is quite easy, once you get the technique down. And you should know your colours so you can get the effect you want. Happy week all x !

An InLinkz Link-up

52wkCrumpet15: dotting tools

This is week fifteen 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: dotting tools, and pink and aqua (either each alone or combined). I chose dotting tools and I at first tried combining with those colours but did not like the look at all (big at all there) so did a new mani after a day with just dotting tools. This week has been a fast and furious week and all of these pics were taken at the wrong time of day with almost no consideration to the state of my hands – and after working with clients too quickly after top coating so things got nicked. Truly, the mani looks better in real life in non-microscopic view! This will also explain the lack of photos deemed worthy enough for a blog.

I started with a two coat base of piCture pOlish Marine, a unique sea blue – you could even call it dark aqua. Aqua is a weird shade, goes really from green to blue. But I was not aiming for this but chose it as it is a crisp summer-y blue that I personally have not worn yet.

Then, using dotting tools, I drew little simple flowers towards the tips of my nails. A combo of orange (Zoya Arizona), coral (OPI Live Love Carnaval), yellow (Konad stamping yellow) and white.

right hand

My first mani included hand drawn cherries (which I actually liked, and it is cherry season here) with aqua and fuchsia pink. But I was in a hurry, top coated too soon and the dots smeared too much and I did not like the aqua green. I got a lot of compliments on the mani when I went in to town, but yick, no.

Others in the Crumpie group are also doing a January 31 day challenge so the InLinkz are all a bit combined. I chose the dotting tool link as I skipped the pink and aqua part.

An InLinkz Link-up

3D cable knit Japanese gel nail art

Happy 2015! Who would have thought a year ago that my first post this year is about gel nail art??? Not I... I am a bit grateful that this week is a slow salon week (everyone must be too busy soaking up the rays and generally being lazy!). This gives me time to practice my Japanese Nail Art lessons. The blue cable knit nail is the exact lesson recreation and the brown one is my interpretation.

For the nail art I am using soak off Gelicious gel polish that I offer in my studio. The instructor uses real gel and that is probably a lot easier to work with, i.e. gives better results. But I do not offer hard gel or extensions so want to work with what I offer for clients. I learned quite a bit while just starting the blue nail, but I wanted to finish it – errors and all.

In the lesson Jasmine worked off a blank nail thus having a negative space cuticle smile area. I did change that for my blue nail and added a light coat on only the cuticle side of the nail of Sympathy Hook Up, a light grey. Then I followed the lesson using Aztec Blue. I did not mix in clear gel with the paletted blue as the soak off is easy enough to work with. And I do not have a matte gel top coat so I top coated then added a coat of Orly matte top coat. When that was done I started on my other nail.

Here I think I did a better job. I understood what the technique is supposed to accomplish and why you do certain steps. This is just the very beginning of my gel nail art so I still need to understand and learn a lot. I started with two coats of French White but did not top coat and just continued. I blobbed some white on my palette and using a fine long brush I started with the two middle lines. I placed them further apart than on the blue nail and made the line a tad wider. That gave me room to build the lines and also for a larger cable pattern. I cured.

Then I drew a larger cable pattern in the middle and cured. Then I added different sized dots on the side and cured. The whole point of curing as often as you can bear to is that the gel starts to run. By curing it almost immediately you keep the thin thick lines and can keep building up. I did small sections at a time and kept adding white gel to areas that needed more build up. Maybe up to five times in some areas, others just three.

It is true that the top coat will eat up the layering and slightly squish it down. So I made sure I had a good relief on the nail before continuing with my idea. I cured a final time with the white.

When I was happy with all I added a thin coat of Chocolate Binge to the surface. I went over and over the nail with an almost empty brush to get the coat as sheer as I could.

My idea was to have the white shine through the brown, like gradiented wool. I am quite proud of myself (pat, pat) for figuring this next step out by myself! I dipped a wide brush in rubbing alcohol and very, very gently stroked over the nail. You have to work in one stroke from the top or bottom of the nail. If you start in the middle then you get holes of white. Then I cured. One coat of top coat finished off the nail, cured and wiped.

I am really happy with these and so look forward to my lessons!! Using the soak off gel was no problem. Now I have two nail art samples in my gel nail art display!!!! Go Neiru!!!