52wkCrumpet26: Mosaic-Stained Glass

Yay!!! Halfway!
This is week 26 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: Mosaic-Stained Glass, and pink and orange (either each alone or combined). I chose mosaic. It is getting very cold and autumnal here so not much in the mood for pinks.

I started with a kind of skittlette of alternating CND Blue Rapture and CND Dark Lava. I haven't worn CND Vinylux for a while so thought I would bring it out again. From the start I had decided to do mosaic-stained glass on only my left hand. We had a holiday yesterday so another short week and I have too much to do to devote heaps of time to doing my nails. Oh well.

I wanted to do a bit of a churchyard scene so first drew the outline of the church and yard in black acrylic paint.  Then I added the colours for the stained glass windows, crossed the crosses and added sky. When all was done I added some Dark Lava to the church to tie the colouring together. Two coats of top coat on the painting as the acrylic paint was bumpy, otherwise one.

As almost always, from a distance the stained glass looks much better than in close up scrutiny! And I love the regal purple shimmer, works well with the smoky blue. I probably should have done mosaics on all nails but honestly didn't feel like it and wanted to do a landscape this week. Hope all is well, girls! Thx for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Saran wrap poppies

After I was finished, I realized these are probably poppies. Was going for red nondescript flowers but they do look like poppies. I got this idea off, I think, Crumpet's FB group - but I can't remember. Looked pretty much the same so I will give credit and thanks out there in the wonderful wide web of nail art to someone!

The base is two coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff - a neutral vanilla cream. This is a great base for art, not as stark as white but light enough to showcase what's on top. And it looks fab matte (as you will see below).

Using the saran wrap technique, I squished up a piece of saran wrap, dipped it in polish and applied it haphazardly to my nails. I used CND Vinylux Serene Green. This is a nice deep green. I didn't need much, probably one dip / hand.

I wanted a tomato-y red so chose China Glaze Hey Sailor and just did dot flowers. I pulled them together to form petals and then added Vampire dots on top of that and some black accents. Pulled it all together with top coat.

right hand

With whites and blacks (i.e. extreme darks and lights) I think it is a good idea to do cuticle clean up regardless. My lines were pretty good but these colours just seem to bring out the worst in a mani! I wore this a couple of days then decided to matte up the whole thing! There is something about pastels and lights that look great with a matte top coat.

In the photos it is hard to see a difference! But I can in real life. So, the three above pics are all with matte top coat. The mani is still looking pretty good after three days and I will also wear tomorrow to my second time out at the Queenstown faire. And I will continue to wear it tomorrow night (movie date night!) as I have no time to change. But am hoping to do something new on Sunday as I have some newbies that I am dying to wear.

Crackle ... and pop: CND Dark Lava

First off I will apologize for the poor state of my cuticles and hands. All I seem to be doing is packing, unpacking, tossing and pulling my hair out! And when I get nervous or feel too overwhelmed, I will revert to hang nail picking. Bad me. The base of this a beautiful new shade (for me) from CND called Dark Lava. It is a deep raisin.

It is a tad difficult to photograph in normal lighting. It is a deep plum red, reminiscent to OPI Germanicure. The base is two full coats topped with CND topper. Very shiny, and a good fall-winter colour. I am liking the CND polishes. They are smooth and velvet thick, cover well, no need for base coat, and last a good week. At the end of the mani I had to do cuticle clean-up as the deep plum needs to be as accurate as possible - don't want it looking messy.

My idea was to add a crackle to give the nail visual texture. So, one coat of OPI black crackle. Then, I decided to dig out my acrylics for a change and mixed up a purple tone (red and blue and white). Drew some random flowers and added some green dots.

The crackle took away all the shine and I top coated with Out the Door before drawing the flowers. Then I top coated again, and again. Really hard to photograph the texture. Very subtle, as the raisin is so dark. But it is there.

right hand

The next days in my world will be very full. I am still engulfed in putting café items together for the garage sale on Easter Sunday-Monday. What a massive undertaking. When we bought the café there was heaps of junk in the attic areas from previous owners. The owner we bought it off of was totally non-interested in cleaning out (just in our money!). At the time (my fault) we were too anxious to get in and go. So, sorting through that. I have a friend who helps and the Mr is doing a good share when he can (but super busy harvesting grapes right now).
Then, due in part to my accident and in the local shop purchasing my goods (!), I am in major design mode to get jewelry together for the craft faire this Saturday. Should all work out well, but sometimes it gets overwhelming. Feel behind on my etsy and fb work as well.
Then 2, I have Ripponburn Thursday avo and our last film night, the members only night, of the society for this year. Last film on the season and in the venue. Lots going on right now. I think the world will look different – and feel better – in a week's time.

CND blue rapture with one stroke flowers

I have not been lax in writing. It is just that my last mani (the purple butterfly one) lasted 6 days!! In fact, it would have still been good but I was over it. I had to top up the tips with black ever so miniscule, and always top coated every other day. But, it was time for a change and I felt like the beautiful grey blue of CND Blue Rapture.

The CND Vinylus polishes apply very smoothly and evenly. I really like them and have just ordered two more (from candygirl). I have never had any problem of nail stains from lack of base coat. So, I started with two coats of Blue Rapture on naked clean nails. Then I top coated with CND Weekly top coat. I use this top coat for my glammy mani clients and the only reason I don't use it more often for myself is that I have a jumbo refill bottle of Out the Door. But for the price (about $19) you cannot beat it for durability with any polish - and it is fast dry as well. And it is shiny!

After about ten minutes I started with acrylics and painted one stroke flowers on my nails. Acrylics dry pretty fast, so when that was done I dabbed some glitter (LA Colors Aqua Treasure) and purple dots (a england Avalon). Then I drew some "leaves" and "stems" through the flowers, and accented some petals. This was topped with Out the Door.

Looking at these photos I am shocked at how dry my hands and nails look. I put on hand creme before taking the pics and to my naked eye, things looked great. But this damn macro on the camera makes my skin and cuticles look terrible! Oh well, at least the nails look good!

right hand

I have two glammy mani clients late afternoon - something to look forward to! I dropped off my flyer to some hairdressers in town and in Alex. Maybe that will bring me some word-of-mouth and a client or two. Hoping, hope, hope!