Audrey's Lace

I had some fun with new stamps and new polishes! This is China Glaze "For Audrey", a very popular color of theirs, but the first time I've gotten a bottle of it. I got a tiny bottle because I wasn't sure I would care for it, but I am thrilled! I'm gonna have to get a full size soon. I put an under color of white (Wet n Wild "French White Creme") so the teal would show up better, but I'm not sure I had to. The I stamped using Fing'rs Heart 2 Art stamping plate kit. They don't number their plates, but so far there are only 2 out there and they come in the same kit. Then on advice from some girls in my nail polish group I picked up "Picture Day" by Cosmetic Arts. It is now my very fav stamping white, beating out Claire's unnamed white and Milani "White On The Spot" and cheaper than all of them at 1.98 a bottle.

Duochrome TARDIS

Guess who got a new stamping plate? This girl did! I have been drooling over MyOnlineShop MJ XII for months as it is the only plate I've seen with Doctor Who images, and you all know I'm a bit obsessed with DW. So I saved up and got it! I will do a review later, but right now it's so bitter cold (-40 degrees in Chicago) that I don't feel like doing anything. I've been trying out a new base coat and I'm pretty pleased with it. Wet n Wild basecoat is only 99 cents but I got it on sale for 69 cents. I did an under coat of Wet n Wild "Black Creme" so that Fresh Paint "Sugar Crush" would stand out on top of it. The decal is Sinful Colors "Endless Blue" with Wet n Wild "French White Creme" accents. I loved this combo so much I made a necklace of it as well. Soon as I get a decent picture of it I'll post it too.

UPDATE: As promised, here is my necklace:

3 Purple Challenge

My purples always photograph blue. I have no idea why.

So  for 2013 the color of the year was supposed to be Jade. I'm not sure what that means, but I love green in all its forms. This year it's supposed to be Orchid so I'm anticipating seeing alot of purples this year. Keeping that in mind I really wasn't surprised to see that this week's stamping challenge was to use 3 purples. What I didn't realize is that I really don't have many purples that look good together. 2 purples would have been easy, but 3 was harder than I thought it would be. I finally settled on the base color Sally Hansen "Grape Race". The ring finger accent is Sally Hansen "Grape Escape" and the rest is Ellen Tracey no name metallic purple using BundleMonster BM322. I wasn't sure I liked how hard it is too see the Ellen Tracy on the other fingers, but its growing on me. I don't think the mani will last long, however. After only a couple hours a break in the paint formed in the middle finger that you can see in the picture. I can't believe it happened so quickly. That tells me it will chip easily. More than likely it won't make it thru work tomorrow.

Gradient Icicles

Snow is moving into the area again. It probably won't be as bad as it was on New Year's but it is coming. Here I wanted my nails to look like icicles and I'm not sure I got the image across all that well. It's Orly "Mirror Mirror" and Sally Hansen "Blue Me Away" in a gradient. I wanted the blue just at the tips. I then stamped in Claire's unnamed white stamping polish using BundleMonster BM319. Not exactly the look I was going for, but it worked out ok. I've been on a bit of a gradient kick lately and having fun with it :D

How To: Fan Brush Manicures

The Fan Brush. Nifty little thing. You don't see mani's with it too often anymore, but I just got my first one and am eager to try a new (to me at least) technique. Pick the colors you will want to use. I went with a base color of Sally Hansen "Straw-ready" and will paint on the colors "French White Creme" and "Black Creme" by Wet n Wild using the brush.

First you need to paint your base color and let it dry.

The fan brush is simply a paint brush with the bristles fanned out in a arc. You can find this at most art stores and some beauty supply stores.

You can use acrylic paint if you like. Paint will be easier to clean out of the brush later, but if you are careful then polish is fine. You just want paint/polish to be at the tips of the brush. If you saturate the brush it will be a huge pain to clean later. I dabbed some polish on a paper plate and just dipped the tip into the puddle. I then tapped excess polish off because I wanted thin pretty lines.

Polish just on the tip of the brush.

In a smooth stroke, brush the polish on the nail from one side to the other. I think I may have dabbed off too much because half way across the nail my polish ran dry and I had to go again starting from the other side to the center.

Do the same thing with your second color and you are done! Very simple artwork that just requires the use of a different sort of brush. You can keep adding more colors or more coats of the same colors. It just depends on the design you are trying to create.

Rainbow Gradient

Mom has the winter blahs and wanted something bright and cheerful. So what's more cheerful than rainbows? She also loves gradients. I wasn't sure I could get that many colors in a gradient but was willing to give it a try. I'll run through the polishes real quick: I started with an under coat of Sally Hansen "White On" to make the other colors brighter. Then I used Essie "Fifth Avenue", Sinful Colors "Clementine", Sally Hansen "Lighting", China Glaze "Tree Hugger", Sally Hansen "Blew Me Away", and Sally Hansen "Grape Race". I painted these in thin stripes on a cosmetic wedge sponge and dabbed them on to the nails. I did 2 coats of the gradient. Then to smooth the transitions I painted over the gradient with China Glaze "Ice Cap" a light sheen of chunky gold shimmer. I like the effect it has to soften the color shifts. That and glitter makes everything better :D I would liked to have done a bit more clean up, but she had to get to work, so I cut clean up short.

Sherlock

This week's challenge in my stamping group was to do a manicure based on a TV show you are watching. Now I usually do Doctor Who, but that show won't be back on till August. To be honest, the show I'm watching a lot of right now is Sherlock. The new episode will be airing next week and I'm super excited for it. Each nail is based on a different episode and I'll go through them one at a time.

First up is the index. "A Scandal In Belgravia" introduces us to Irene Adler, the Woman. I really think that this is the one woman that Sherlock could really fall in love with. I wanted to go with red and black, something seductive, for her. The base color is Essie "Fifth Avenue" and stamped with Wet n Wild "Black Creme" using MoYou Suki 07.

Next is the middle finger. "The Hounds of Baskerville" is a classic episode! I wanted to stamp a black wolf howling at the moon, but apparently I have NO wolf stamps at all. So my black wolf looks suspiciously like a fox. The base color is Milani "Mr. Sandman" stamped with "Black Creme" and MoYou Landscape/Mother Nature plate 03. Odd thing about this plate, it's from the Mother Nature Collection, but the name etched into it is Landscape. I think maybe that was the original name for it before they went with Mother Nature. Oh, and the eyes are dotted with "Fifth Avenue".

The ring finger is based on the episode "The Blind Banker". I painted it with "Black Creme" and stamped a couple times in Sally Hansen "Red-io Active" using BundleMonster BM206. I then freehanded the cipher over the top in Sally Hansen "Lightning".

Finally the pinkie. "A Study In Pink". The base color is Sinful Colors "24/7" and the skull is stamped in "Black Creme" using BundleMonster BM211. Very simple.