52wkCrumpet25: lilac and green

This is week 25 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: Mermaid, and lilac and green (either each alone or combined). I chose lilac and green and this time I have done an entirely gel polish mani.

The base was the nude and the green marbling off last week's mani. The flowers were drawn in a Japanese nail art gradation method using lilac, green and white. I purposely left negative space under the flowers so they seem like they are floating.

If all my pics look different it is because I am trying to use my new Foldio lightbox. It is really hard to do your own nails in the lightbox, holding the iPhone. Also trying to take better "both hand pics" as well.

I really like this mani and am getting lots of comments. It is very soft very the colour palette but also different. My fav finger is the index finger on my right hand – so drawn with my left non-dominant hand. I think that hibiscus turned out very well.

One thumb is in the marbling with a side flower. On the other thumb I did a tie-dye marbling effect with and three shades of gel. Below a couple more both hand pics. One is totally out of focus!!! True learning curve this!

An InLinkz Link-up

52wkCrumpet24: non-US brand

This is week 24 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: Kids TV and non-US brand (either each alone or combined). I chose the non-US brand as I couldn't think of anything worth wearing for a longer period of time with the Kids TV prompt. And again, this is a mix of gel and traditional polish.

The base is a gel mani of delicate pink-nude with the accents in white. I added shades of green for the gel marbling on the accents (four fingers). The gel I use, Luxio, is a Canadian company. Score 1! I mixed blue and yellow with white to get the green shades (as I don't own a true green yet).

I decided to do a negative space mani on the remaining six fingers (three each hand). This turned in to sort of a skittlette, though mix-matched. Here I used only non-US brands: Sky Blue from piCture pOlish (Australian), green base on the tips is Layla Mojito (Italy), the white hex glitter on the blue is again piCture pOlish (Storm) and I used some Jealousy (again, pp) to help glue the rhinestones (Swarovski - Austria) into place. I did the negative spacing freehand. I was going to use tape but the tape I first tried didn't stick as it was too old and I was too lazy to go get the new one out of the drawer! So, score 2!

The whole rhinestone idea is growing on me. I really like them and have invested in heaps, and continuing to buy more – also studs, larger gems, etc. Only buying Swarovski or Preciosa crystals as they reflect the light so much better. Works well with the gel nail art. The whole 3D thing. Even clients are starting to embrace the idea!!

I am also playing around with my new Foldio lightbox. It is really difficult to photograph your own hands in this smallish lightbox. And also use props. But I love the Foldio as it collapses, therefore mobile, and uses a 9V battery for power! Also, I am using my iPhone with my macro lens on it (sometimes), trying to figure things out. Bye girls! x

An InLinkz Link-up

52wkCrumpet20: hearts and purple

This is week twenty 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: hearts and purple (either each alone or combined). I chose both as it is Valentine week and I like purple. I also wanted to try out some of new Neiru techniques, though in normal polish vs gel.

This is an alternating accents mani. The four accents were done in the galaxy marbling technique. The remaining six nails were painted in the beautiful OPI A Grape Fit. Two coats on the purple.

For the accents I started with a white base. Then I added drops of Layla Purple Galaxy and A Grape Fit to the nail. I used acetone-free remover and a somewhat larger brush to dab the liquid on to the polish drops. You keep adding drops of the liquid and the polish colours until you are basically happy with the flow. I added some white as well. It all comes together with top coat – before it just looks like a big mess! For these I top coated with Poshé – I find that thicker yet still very quick drying.

One one accent nail I decided to do negative hearts. While I like my hearts I am really not happy with the white back(fore)ground. Find it too harsh. But I was going off a Japanese nail art lesson and was trying to follow that. There, though, the marbled background was softer and more pastel. I drew two hearts with a fine line brush – one going up and one down – and the bottom of hearts on the sides to fill in the gaps.

Then I painted all the spaces around the hearts in white using a finer brush. I had to go over a couple of times. This is where the design would be much easier with gel. On the side spaces I added some glitter (China Glaze Prism, a purple-silver mix) and over the white and in the whites of the galaxy nails some OPI Pirouette my Whistle (a fine dusty silver-white glitter). Good coat of Poshé finished it off.

It is nice to wear purple for a change. One of my fab colours but never seem to get it out much. So big thx to Crumpie for selecting purple!! This has been a week of marbling; from Sharpie marbling to acetone marbling to galaxy marbling. Is fun, and relatively easy and effective. Cheers girls!! Happy V-Day!

An InLinkz Link-up

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