Digit-al Dozen Animal Week; Day 1

The challenge this month for the Digit-al Dozen is animals; this is the first mani I came up with!

Started with a base of two coats of Essie Jazz. 

Now, this next pix will make no sense at all because I messed up the mani (this whole mani was a mess and to be honest, I almost didn't post it...)  because I did a sponge gradient but when I did, I did it upside down!  So the blue was at the tips and the brown was at the cuticles, which wasn't in the plan. And I had all five fingers done before I realized my mistake believe it or not! So I took both colours and sponged them on again; the blue is Essie Borrowed and Blue.  A couple fails here; there are big ol' fibres in both the middle and index finger and the sponging turned out all lumpy and gritty looking on a couple fingers.  I didn't mind the gritty look so much as I thought it would add to the look of sand which was my intention, but I still don't know if the lumps were part of my sponge, or from over sponging and not waiting for the base to dry fully.

Topped with SV.

Added in mountains from fauxnad m50 using Konad black gold special polish. I messed up the middle stamping so drew it in with a brush but ultimately removed some of it because it didn't make sense what I did! I had a really hard time stamping in these mountains straight...you may or may not be able to see the behind the mountain on the middle finger where the base is thin from me removing it and taking some base off in the process.  I was pretty fed up by this point and all I could think of was I sure hope I have another mani in archives to use for the challenge as this one is a disaster!  And the mountains have lots of stamping fails in general. *sigh*

Stamped in dinosaurs.  Plates used were hot topic (thumb), SdP 46 (brown one on index), unnamed OMG XL (middle) SdP 49 (ring) and VL 002 (small on pinky and black one on index).  The stamping polishes used where Konad black and brown and I mixed them for a custom one on the thumb.  Really messed up the placement of the dinosaur on the thumb but couldn't correct it easily so by default, it was left in.

Added sun using Konad yellow special polish from fauxnad m50.  Also added a couple birds from H18 using black Konad special polish.

Zoya Pixie Dust in Godiva was added at tips to mimic sand then did some free hand grass using green and apple green Konad special polishes.

Decided to add snow to the peaks of the mountains so free handed white caps to them using white Konad special polish.  Also added some random grass to the mountains using apple green Konad special polish too.

 My fave digit; I think because I like the look of the mountains the best! Too bad about mis-stamping the dinosaur is right into the mountains; not very good placement at all.  It was just part and parcel of this whole mani which was one fail after another! 

Topped with SV.  I prefer the look of the mani without SV as I think it gives it more character, but its very odd to me not to topcoat a mani, so did it.

Despite so many fails along the way with this mani, it didn't turn out too badly! 

Thanks for looking....and don't forget to check out the other ladies mani's which are spectacular!

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Unknown Digit-al Dozen, Essie, Fauxnad, fauxnad m50, H18, Hot Topic plates, Konad, OMG XL, SdP, SdP 46, SdP 49, sponge gradient, Sponging, VL002, zoya

Goth Nails

I'm about as Goth as Betty White (but not quite as old!), but this past week, the FB AiS was Goth Nails. This is the mani I came up with.   

Started with a base of two coats of Manglaze Fuggen Ulgy and accent of Manglaze Hot Mess, three coats. 

Stamped using black Konad special polish and  Fab Ur Nails Red Wine. Image plates used were Hot Topic (skull on index, skull music notes on ring, stars on pinky), T48 (roses on middle), fauxnad E (single rose on index), SdP 76 (bats on thumb), SdP 77 (graveyard), SdP 19 (spider on pinky),  Konad Q1 (random silver stars - which were stamped with Nicole by OPI Give Me The First Dance).  Seems I forgot to jot down the cross plate, I'll update the post later.  (Edit:  cross on ring ringer is T07.)

I didn't do a great job stamping the index finger; of course, it's an image that must be stamped perfectly or its sooo out of place, but it was late when I did this and I couldn't remove the mis-stamp with some remover and do again as it was a matte polish and any attempt to remove it would have wrecked the polish underneath as there was no topcoat.  So I lived with it.  A crooked cross would have to do.

Topcoated with SV just before heading to bed as otherwise, I'm sure it would have been chipped by morning, lol!

This mani isn't something I'd wear everyday but it was fun for the challenge.  (Anyone just checking out the blog will be going how did she go from cute bees to Goth? lol!)  

Not terribly sure how *Goth* it is, but it was fun trying! 

Thanks for looking!

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Unknown FAB UR NAILS, Fauxnad, fauxnad E, Hot Topic plates, Konad, Konad Q1, ManGlaze, matte, Nicole by OPI, SdP, SdP 19, SdP 76, SdP 77, T07, T48

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday....he shares the birth date of this famous fellow....



Elvis!

I did this mani last night because I knew I'd be visiting with my dad this afternoon and Elvis is one of his all time favourite artists. My dad thought the mani was very cool!

Started with a base of OPI Bride's Bouquet (white); accent is OPI Yoga-
to Get This Blue; two coats of each. Topped with SV. No picture of just base polishes as I've used Bride's Bouquet and shown it a lot and the next pix shows the accent blue well. Stamped using Konad black special polish using FAB II (Elvis head), Konad m58 (guitar), SdP D-11 (boots and cowboy hat) and BM 08 (crown on pinky).



Then added full finger image plate on accent finger using plate FAB IV with Konad white special polish. My FAB UR NAILS plates arrived late last week and it was great that I was able to use a couple of them for this mani!



Stamped a few accents using Konad red and royal purple special polishes. Image plates used were Hot Topic (skull music notes), SdP C-12 (small and medium size crowns from the image) and Konad m73 (music above cowboy hat and above). I had stamping fail here as only half the lines under the stars went on the nail...this was because I took too long in trying to position the stamp on my nails and the polish dried up. Oops! In this case, the only way I probably could have corrected it would be to remove all the stamped images because those lines are on top of Elvis' head and I doubt I could remove the stars and lines without disturbing the head image...but ultimately decided it didn't look too terribly bad so just left it. Lastly, topped with coat of SV.



Happy Birthday, Dad!

Hope you had a great weekend...and thanks for looking!

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Unknown BM 08, BundleMonster, FAB II, FAB IV, FAB UR NAILS, Fauxnad, Hot Topic plates, Konad, m58, M73, OPI, SdP, SdP C-12

'Moves Like Jagger' Mani!

Lately, I've been obsessed with this Maroon 5 song. The first time I heard it, I actually thought it was a little lame with that whoo-ooo-ooo-ing. The next time, I thought it was so so, then after a while, I thought it was a little catchy, but when I seen the video, I decided I loved it...especially all those clips of Jagger and the those imitating him! LOVE!

So I decided to do a 'Moves Like Jagger' tribute mani last night and this is what I came up with.



If you've seen the video, you'll understand the pinky finger as otherwise, it may not make sense...and I really wanted to add a big old floppy hat to incorporate Christina, but couldn't find one in my plate stash.

Here's mani in progress. Base coats are OPI Brides Bouquet (white-three coats), Illamasqua Boosh (black-one coat) and OPI Red My Fortune Cookie (two coats).



The very first thing I did before I did any amount of stamping or even painting my right hand was free hand the flag....and my apologies to anyone who I've offended in my bad interpretation of doing it! lol! I thought if the flag doesn't go well, I'll have to resort to starting over and doing another mani so didn't want to invest a great deal of time painting my nails if I was going to take it all off anyway if it was a fail.



This was first attempt at freehand nail art...I had a hard time putting dots on manis initially and have no idea why I thought I could freehand something, but oh well, I tried. I think my downfall was using a too large brush from the start when I did the red lines. I moved to a smaller one when I was doing the blue lines and in hindsight, should have used the smaller brush from the get go....lesson learned for next time! The red used for the flag was OPI Red My Fortune Cookie and the blue is CND Anchor Blue.

When I was done, while not terribly happy with the flag, I thought it was decent enough, especially for my first time, so decided to proceed with the rest of the mani.



First placed the main images using fauxnad D08 (Mick), fauxnad E (hot dancing girl), H12 (black stripes) and SdP D-1 (Stones logo; chez delaney D series also has a similar logo) using Konad red, black and white special polishes.



Then added a few random stars and the music skull notes from the Hot Topic image plates using the same special polishes, as well as the CND Anchor blue for random stars.



Lastly topped with coat of SV. I was really disappointed that I got SV drag plus it terribly faded the white stamping of the skull music notes on the pinky...I normally take pix of my mani's before applying SV in case of drag, but forgot this time. It was really disappointing to have SV drag as I wait a little while for the stamping polish to dry plus I had just thinned it earlier in the week...oh well, what can you do...except more of a reason to change your nails again! But I'm actually going to keep this on until I see a friend Saturday night who loves the Stones...I'm sure he'll get a kick out of it!

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Edit: My friend loved this mani when he seen it! He frequently rocks old vintage Stones concerts tees and I was hoping he had one on when he seen it (but didn't). My DD also requested I replicate it for her nails, which I'm going to do soon!

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Unknown CND, Fauxnad, fauxnad E, H12, Hot Topic plates, illamasqua, Konad, OPI, SdP, SdP D-01, SdP D-08

I'm With The Band...

Not!

Never played a musical instrument in my life...unless you count Chopsticks on the piano...or spoons if they are classified as an instrument (lol)....



OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte with accent thumb of Manglaze Fuggen Ugly. Stamped using OPI Positive Energy and Revlon Chrome Punch using Konad plates m58and m73, one of the hot topic IP's, and fauxnads T37 and A27.

I have to admit that the music notes with skulls is one of my most favourite images on the hot topic plates, and it drove me absolutely crazy looking for them....hard to believe tho that I've had the plates for a couple months and first time using the music note image.....but the image is just so cool! (Thanks Brooke!!! Can't thank you enough! You're the best!!)

Here's mani before stamping....



This is mani in progress...I actually thought I was finished and then got thinking that the nail with the drum looks a little bare...so risked putting a star in the middle of it...I was pleased to see it was centred well as there was no way I could remove and restamp using a matte polish. Once its in place, that's where it stays or the whole nail has to be removed. Didn't get the sheet music too straight but couldn't do too much about it or would have to redo...I'm sure some would have redone but it just give me another excuse to redo my nails tonight...plus they are already chippy as I didn't topcoat....*sigh*....




Thanks for looking!

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Unknown A27, Hot Topic plates, Konad, m58, M73, ManGlaze, matte, Nicole by OPI, OPI, revlon, T37

Most Awesome Swap Everrrrrr!

My #1 all time lemming has been the Hot Topic image plates since I started stamping. Of course, by the time I discovered stamping, the Hot Topic image plates were long gone and now, very, very hard to find and extremely elusive. I never thought I'd ever, ever have them...however, I was contacted by the ever so generous Brooke who offered them for swap. The swap was finalized and a short time thereafter, they were sitting in my mailbox....

As much as I love polish, my thing is stamping and I can't thank Brooke enough for swapping these with me! Here's my first time using them with Cheeky Monkey Romp:



Used the stars as a somewhat funky french tip with Nicole by OPI Positive Energy for stamping....otherwise, didn't do too much as it was almost 2 am when I did my mani....I wore this mani for four days and it held up well (other than the dreaded SV shrinkage...)


(notice in this picture that after just a few minutes, SV shrinkage has already started on middle finger....urgggh Why SV, Why!!! I so need to find something else as my attempts at wrapping my tips obviously aren't successful!)

I really like the iridescence in this polish; its the same as Nina Ultra Pro Royal Purple that I posted here....I wish I could find this finish in every colour.....Here's two coats of Romp by itself....I have quite a few Cheeky Monkey polishes but haven't used them yet...I think that will change soon....so much polish; so little time!





Do you swap? I have to thank everyone who does as it is a great way to obtain polish/plates etc that you otherwise would never have as well as help someone else out in obtaining their lemmings...I've even swapped with some of you!...so thank you! The nail blogesphere has some awesome, amazing ladies out there and it is an amazing concept so kudos to whoever thought of it!!

Thx for looking!

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Unknown Cheeky Monkey, Fauxnad, Hot Topic plates, Nicole by OPI, purple