N.A.I.L. - October - Spooky

Hi all!

Today is Halloween for those of you who celebrate it. I never have, it's not a tradition here. Nonetheless I have enjoyed seeing Halloween mani's in the blogosphere, and this will be this year's last addition from me. Spooky translated, very traditionally perhaps, into ghosts.

The not so spooky polishes:

• W7 - 28 Black
• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White
• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Hulk Smash

I started with a black base and a layer of top coat. Then I wanted to achieve something like Chalkboard Nail's smoke, but I haven't mastered this watercolour technique yet. So my ghosts didn't look that mystical as intended. That is when I decided to dab on some Hulk Smash. Hulk Smash is a green glow in the dark polish that gives the ghosts a bit more spookiness. I used a dotting tool to add the eyes and mouths and another layer of HK Girl top coat to seal it in.

I don't have a place where I can photograph the glow in the dark, but it did glow a bit.

In the end I think my ghosts didn't turn out that bad, they are kind of cute. I hope you have a great Halloween!

More spookiness down here!

52WPNMC - 80's

Hi all!

For this week we had the following two prompts: 80's and 3 dark colours. I decided to just go with 80's this week after I stumbled upon this pattern. Technically it even has 2 dark colours, so I'm almost there *winks*

Today's polishes:

• Barry M - Nail Art Pen White
• NYC - 003 Prey of Grey
• W7 - 28 Black
• La Femme Beauty - 132 Ultra Pink
• La Femme Beauty - 128 Ultra Yellow
• Max (Action) - Shocking Blue

I started with my base of Prey of Grey, 2 coats. Plan A was to make decals of the colours, but it didn't dry quick enough (ideally you make the decals hours in advance). Plan B was freehanding them. So I added white triangles with my nail art pen to make the neons pop. I filled them in with my neon polishes and a nail art brush. The only neon yellow and pinks I own are frosty and sheer, I had to go over the triangles twice to make them looks better. Using my striping brush and my black polish I added the black stripes. When it was dry (or so I thought) I added a coat of G&G HK Girl top coat. I smeared my black line on my index finger *grumbles*.

My black polish is getting thicker and goopy... I need some nail polish thinner. If any Dutchy knows where to get it, let me know, I have never seen it near nail polish supplies.

I really like this combination, although it would have looked sharper if I had had time for Plan A.

More 80's and/or dark colours down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Stripes - Subtle plaid stamping

Hi all!

Today I've got the last mani of this month's theme for you, and it's plaid again. This time I stamped the plaid pattern, unlike the previous mani's this month. Let me tell you, stamping plaid is hard. I'd rather do it freehand, honestly.

The mossy greens:

• Essence - 139 Walk on the wild side
• Digital Color Cream - F22

I also used a Vivid Lacquer stamping plate, VL015.

I started out with 3 coats of Walk on the wild side, which is a gorgeous polish, just a bit sheer. Then the hard part... stamping. The image has a lot of very fine lines and big patches that need to be covered in polish at the same time. So you have to scrape the polish over the image just right. Harder even is to align it on your nails. I think I succeeded there, but still I managed to warp some lines while transferring the image. I practice on my cinderella hand, so those images are not straight at all. Because the image covers so much of the base polish, I left my middle and little finger plain. I still wanted to be able to enjoy the pretty shimmer *winks*. When it was dry I added a coat of G&G HK Girl top coat.

In my thumb close up you can see the fine lines this stamping image has, they transferred nicely.

From a distance you can't see my stamping, it's subtle, but I like it, matches my mossy green sweater. Next month we'll be doing four mani's inspired by books! I better start thinking about them!

More stripes from the other ladies down here!

The Nail Challenge Collaborative presents: Stripes - Dragon plaid

Hi all!

My previous two "stripes" post this month were plaid and I decided I'll do plaid for this entire month. Today's the third plaid for NCC, this time I've gone with my easy plaid design. You can see more examples here, here and here.

But first I want to show you my base polish. This is Lucky 13 Lacquer's Drogon (Black Dread). It is discontinued, but it was part of the Valar Morghulis (Game of Thrones) collection. It is simply gorgeous.

My bottle shot shows the gorgeousness of this polish, it is that shimmer, from pinkish red to golden green. It sits in a black jelly base.

I am wearing two coats and top coat. It does not dry to a high shine, hence the top coat. Application is like similar jellies, it is thicker than a creme, first coat is  sheer, second makes it opaque. I had to work fast to avoid dragging, as it dries fast. I love that shimmer, it is just gorgeous.

The dragon and his minions:

• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Drogon (Black Dread)
• NYC - 261 Red me the news
• L.A. Colors - NP472 Black Pearl

This plaid is very simple, I just dipped my thin striping brush in a blob of polish and flicked it across my nail in different directions. I did it with the red first and with my gunmetal grey next. When it dried I sealed it in with G&G HK Girl top coat. Done.

It's a very subtle plaid, but I like it with these vampy colours.

I hope you're not sick of plaid yet, because there's still one other NCC mani to go this month!

More stripes down here!

N.A.I.L. - October - Pumpkin

Hi all!

There are tons of pumpkin mani's out there, often with a carved face. As we don't celebrate Halloween over here and don't carve pumpkins, I wanted to do something simpler. Just about the pumpkin, because they're delicious. The picture I used for inspiration is this one here. Also, I did this mani last week, so these are still the long talons *winks*.

Just two polishes today:

• W7 - 28 Black
• Catrice - 04 Orange-Utan

I am wearing 3 coats of Orange-Utan as my base. It looked even with 2 but I had a visible nail line, so it needed one more coat to get rid of that. With a small nail art brush and my black polish I painted the pumpkins. Sealed it all in with G&G HK Girl top coat and these pumpkin nails were done!

Pumpkin close ups. I love pumpkins... to eat them. Roasted pumpkin from the oven, or pumpkin soup... I don't make soups often, but when I do, it's most often pumpkin soup.

Might have a craving for my pumpkin soup now... how are your feelings towards pumpkins? Let me know!

Love, Brethil


More pumpkins down here!

52WPNMC - '70s Grey with colour

Hi all!

This week's two prompts are the '70s and Grey + a colour. Personally I think greys are very underrated, I always love them and have a couple of lovely indie greys I adore. I did a quick google image search for '70s and grey and found this dotty image here and this swirly image here. I thought they'd combine in a nice skittlette mani and I own the perfect grey indie polish to go with these too! Take a look!

The greys and colour in a row:

• LynBDesigns - IOU
• NYC - 003 Prey of Grey
• Catrice - LE NEONaturals - C05 Have A Good Day
• Miss Helen - 24

I am wearing 3 coats of IOU on my index and middle fingernails. I've blogged about IOU before, you can see it here. On the other nails I applied two coats of Prey of Grey to start with. On my little fingernail I added dots with Have A Good Day first and when it dried with either Prey of Grey or with the red polish, making sure they were not centered. On my thumb and ring finger I used my striping brush to add the swirly lines with Have A Good Day, and one or two with red for contrast. Everything is sealed in with G&G HK Girl top coat.

I really like the little pop of colour on the greys, I really enjoyed wearing this! Also, it reminded me of cable knit sweaters.

IOU is still available here if you want it. Do you wear grey often?

Love, Brethil

More '70s or greys down here!

31DC 2.0 - Galaxies

Hi all!

A day late (or early seeing as the founders of this challenge took a break), but here is my galaxy mani. I decided to remove the patch from my ring fingernail yesterday (to fix this), it has grown out enough as you can see here. Plus the thickness of the patch and polish started to annoy me. So today you'll see slightly shorter nails (but not short). You still get to see two mani's with my long nails though. For today's galaxy nails I chose another Lucky 13 Lacquer as my base: Why is There A "G" in Night.

Kyoti describes this polish as a: Deep indigo jelly with fine teal hex, tiny red and sky blue holo hex, fine charcoal grey holo hex, and large silver holographic hex and stars. It nearly looks black, but you can see it isn't by the thin layer on top of the bigger glitters.

I'm wearing two coats and top coat in my photos. I found that you have to apply quickly as you might otherwise pull gaps in the polish where it is starting to dry. I did have to fish for some of the stars, but the big glitters aren't that evenly distributed in my bottle (and I only briefly rolled it before using).

I felt a bit bad covering it up with some nail art, this polish is gorgeous on it's own. But I did anyway.

For the galaxy I used:

• Lucky 13 Lacquer - Why is There A "G" in Night?
• L.A. Girl - 3D Effects - Teal Dimension
• Sinful Colors - 101 Snow Me White

On top of my base I sponged Teal Dimension and Snow Me White using a itty bitty piece of sponge and tweezers. I mixed both polishes as well creating the more opaque tealish turquoiseish colour. I added white dots with a toothpick and a needle (because it is smaller than a dotting tool). With my small nail art brush I added the big stars. I sealed it all with a coat of G&G HK Girl top coat.

 (Excuse the oddly lighted photos, but the weather here has gone from pouring rain to sunshine and back all day).

As with each galaxy mani before, I love this one as well, they are just so interesting to look at!

Love, Brethil