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!

An InLinkz Link-up

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.

52wkCrumpet4: 1970s design with grey and red

This is week four 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: 1970s design, and grey and another colour (either each alone or combined). I combined.

right hand

I went to high school in the 70s so grey was a fab choice as my school colours were grey and red. So those are the colours I am working off of. The very bottom base is still the Gelicious Lemon Meringue gel that I applied last week. Using non-acetone remover I removed my yellow flowers. My polish choices are Layla Ceramic Effect Sweet Concrete (grey) and Zoya Sooki (red) and I applied in alternating accents (ring, thumb, index, pinkie). Two coats each then I top coated. I think grey and red are a nice combo and this red has a tomato aspect to it - so, very cheerful.

I have vivid memories of my jean situation during the 70s. It seemed that the proverbial "everyone except me" was wearing these cool bell bottom jeans with double button up fronts. Or double zips. Like sailor jeans, but wide and bell-bottomy. I had to wait for-ever until the style was at FedCo where we always shopped. I was so proud of those jeans! I felt like I fit in and was finally "cool". They were a faded jean with double brass buttons – and actually long enough for my tall skinny legs!!

Using black acrylic paint I drew the bell bottoms then highlighted with bronze acrylic paint. So, that is my interpretation of 70s design this week. More a 70s memory, or a 70s style than a design per se.
Looking forward to seeing the others - ciao bellas x

An InLinkz Link-up

Coral-red-caramel color block ruffian design with striped tips and flowers

Wow! Had no idea what to call or how to concisely describe this mani. I guess I have been going to SEO school too much as that is what it reads like. I wanted to personally use my new Zoya Cashmeres (that I won - thx Zoya NZ). I have used four of the six colours on clients already, but I wanted a turn at it. My next mani will probably be blue based (to celebrate my son coming to visit!!), so I wanted something very non-blue.

The base is a two-tone. I started with one coat OPI Live.Love.Carnaval over the whole nail. This is an absolutely fab summer coral - bright and carefree. My fav from the Brazil collection. I applied a second coat only on the cuticle end and up the one side. Then I applied two coats of Zoya Livingston on the one side, steady Freddy in a line up the middle. Livingston is a good dense red. A tad orange-toned vs blue-toned but still red. Doing your own nails is goofy as you approach your hands at an angle (well, I do) so some of my middle lines are slanted. Funny enough, my right hand looks leveler than my left.

Using Zoya Flynn I created a ruffian on each nail. Two coats here. Flynn is a beautiful shade and very cashmere-y. A camel caramel latte light brown. Definitely opaque in two coats with the red and coral underneath. I can imagine this being a really good year-round base for glitter and nail art. I top coated with Out the Door and started mixing acrylic paints.

The tips were painted using four shades of red, orange, coral and rose pink. I used a long thin striper brush, alternating colours between the nails. I think I started with coral and worked from there. When done I placed some white dots randomly around the tips. I think this would be a good idea for the entire ruffian as well – but I was too lazy to do that and left it with the tips. The tips almost look like sugar spun, kind of. From a distance.

I thought I was finished but the nails needed more, of something. So I painted petals with Livingston and using black acrylics added wisps and lines. In the middle of the flower I applied a dot of China Glaze Blonde Bombshell, a really thick micro gold glitter. Another idea was to apply rhinestones but that would be a waste as I am sure I will redo my mani Sunday night. Another coat of top coat and done. Also, I only did my left hand  and my accent right as time - and patience – was running out.

right hand without accent done but with harvey

This is a very warm soft feeling mani. The caramel shade looks like tanned summer skin and the coral and red together just give a Caribbean vibe.

French blue gradient tips with sparkle

This is what I would call my go-to mani for those days when you want some sparkle, just a little nail art (usually due to scheduling problems) and some elegance. I always think this is a very classy nail art solution. You can use almost any tip colour - from French white through darks. Maybe not black. Would look like dirty nails – or that you're trying too hard to be Lorde!

The base is the simple beautiful OPI Bubble Bath. One coat. That is enough to give a sheen to your nails as well as a nice base to work off of. I used OPI Unfor-greta-bly Blue for the tips. I sponge gradiented them in different areas. Trying this time to get more of a marble effect. Then the gradient "line" was covered with Zoya Electra. Top coat brings it all together.

And that was that. Easy peasy. Touch up on tip wear is fairly easy, if need be, with just sponging on some more blue and top coating. I will probably keep these on for this Saturday's market. They look a bit winter-y with the icicle type glitter and blue shimmer tips.
Today has been a bit of a non-event. The internet keeps shutting itself on and off. I heard from Internal Affairs and they need my actual birth certificate (vs an authorized copy). I spent three hours looking all over for it! Finally found it. Therefore, the day flew by with nothing much accomplished!!! To calm myself after my nice long walk to the post office, I made a red wine and thyme stew that is simmering on the stove.

Autumn leaves on a Zoya Godiva base

Another pixie dust!!! The Zoya Pixie Dust collections are so beautiful and I have just two (boo). I just received this in another destash (well, bought, not received!) and am so happy. This is Godiva, a beige nude, and I decided to draw some foliage for an autumnal look. This is a difficult mani to photograph. Not only are the leaves non-centered (so going in "wrong" directions), the glistening of the nails reflects.

I started with two costs of Godiva. This is probably a colour I would need to wear now or earlier towards summer. It is a great nude, and it looks darker towards my skin tone in real life. But it is still very light and beige-y. So am afraid I would look too washed out in winter. But as a base for art it is great! I top coated before continuing to 1) level out the pixie unevenness a bit and 2) no smudges! Oh, and 3) had to get dinner started.

I drew the leaves randomly on each finger. Then I used dotting tools to draw in the leaves, one colour at a time. So, all my nails with the burnt orange, then red, then gold.... Top coat followed and when that was dry I went back and added some black lines and accents to the leaves. Then more top coat to set that.

After the fact I notice that this looks a bit Xmasy. But that was not my intention! I was aiming for autumn and some of the leaves look really good. To give the whole manner more "fall shimmer" I top coated with Nfu Oh 49 flaky so that when the nails hit the light, they glisten in orange. That was followed by yet another coat of Out the Door. All in all there are four coats of top coat on my nails and they definitely do not feel uneven. Below a list of the colours used.

right hand

Colours used:

base: Zoya Pixie Dust Godiva
reds: Kyo burnt orange, Zoya Sooki
copper: China Glaze Harvest Moon
green: China Glaze Agro
gold: OPI Goldeneye
brown: China Glaze Midtown Magic
top: Nfu Oh 49