White Space

Back again with the galaxy nails! These were hugely inspired by Kaitlin at the Daily Polish's Tumblr Nails. As we know, galaxy nails are this week's obsession and I knew I just had to try it with the white space after seeing Kaitlin's creation.

I have a few little snippets of news to share today. Tomorrow marks the first day of my summer holiday but fear not, there will be plenty of new stuff for you to read on this blog whilst I'm gone. I've lined up a couple of guest posts from some very talented bloggers while I'm away and I can't wait for you to see all the amazing nail art they've created!

I'm also very excited to tell you that this blog has been nominated for best established beauty blog in this year's Cosmo Blog Awards! It's such an honour to be nominated again and your votes are very, very much appreciated. If you'd like to vote, just click here to go to the voting page and you'll find me in the first category!

1. I started with a base colour of Barry M White and topped it off with No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.
2. Once my base was dry, I used scotch tape to mark off the sections where I wanted to keep the white showing.
3. One nail at a time I created the galaxy look by sponging on NYC MoMa, NYC Lavender Cupcake and NYC Raindrop (tutorial here). I topped the galaxy off with Calvin Klein Blue Wants to be a Millionaire which is a blue tinted holographic polish which works well as a holographic top coat.
4. As soon as I was done with the galaxy on each nail, I peeled off the tape and added the star details.
5. Finally, I added two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat to smooth things over and keep it shiny!

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Unknown blue, Calvin Klein, Galaxy, glitter, NYC, purple, Sponging

Pastel Planets: Matte Nebula Nails!

Pastel galaxy nails have been on my to-do list for the longest time. Why it took me so long to do them... who knows?! I think I was sceptical that it wouldn't work without a dark polish underneath but I proved myself wrong there. I ♥ these nails so much... a new obsession has definitely been sparked here!

1. I started with a base of Sally Hansen Green Tea.
2. Using small pieces of sponge, I dabbed on China Glaze Tart-y For The Party (pastel purple), NYC Raindrop (pastel blue), Essence Choose Me (blue shimmer) and Essence Irreplaceable (nude shimmer) to create the nebula effect.
3. I used White Acrylic Paint with a dotting tool and nail art brush to create the stars.
4. I used a coat of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat to dry it all through and then topped it with NYC Matte Me Crazy for the matte finish.

Here's the look before the matte top coat. I definitely prefer the matte version, what do you guys think?

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Unknown essence, Galaxy, green, Sponging

Snippet: Stay Optimistic

Press Sample

China Glaze Tart-y for the Party

Stargazer White

Aphrodite Lacquers Optimistic

Gradient tutorial here

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Unknown Aphrodite Lacquers, china glaze, glitter, gradient, indie polish, purple, Snippet, Sponging

Digit-al Dozen, Books; Day 1

It's Book Week for the Digit-al Dozen; here's the mani I came up to kick it off!

Started with a base of two coats of Borghese Almondine; no topcoat.  Two coats wasn't quite enough to give full coverage but I knew I'd be sponging and stamping on top so left it.  I'm on the fence is this colour is for me...maybe as a neutral base for layering.  It just seems at odds with my skin tone.  Blah!

Sponged using an assortment of polishes; Barry M Mushroom, Essie Brooch The Subject and CQ Vintage.  I was going for the look of old paper that one would find in an old book.  Not sure if this translated into what I was going for though!

Stamped using Konad S2 (thumb), BM311 (ring), VL003 (middle) and MJ XVIII (index and pinky).  The stamping polishes used were red and black Konad special polishes and Kiko 323 for the brown (an awesome brown for stamping!)

I filled in the cross on the book image on the thumb from the S2 stamp as I just wanted a book, not the Bible...every plate image like this had a cross on it.  Topped with SV (first pix). 

I found this weeks challenge...a challenge! Not that I'm not a reader; I am in fact an avid reader....I read one of the books I'll be featuring this week in its entirety this past weekend...and finished another book and started another too! I'm so much of a reader that I purposely read mainly during the weekends. The reason for this is because I'm one of those readers that can't put a book down if it's any good...and before I know it, its 4 am!  I learned a long time ago that I would read well into the night; which really means until the wee hours of the morning, if given a good book...which made me very sleepy for work the next day when going in after only a couple hours sleep. So I limit myself to the weekends in the interest of getting some sleep!

This is my nightstand where I spend my weekends during the summer months....just a few books waiting to be read!  So I read mainly on the weekends when it doesn't matter usually what time I get up in the morning...or during the day relaxing on the deck with a coffee...another favourite pass time!  The problem I had with the challenge is translating some of the books I've read recently into a mani...but I have a couple mani's done and a couple more ideas so I think I'll be good for the week!

This mani also featured a new to me plate, being the MJ XVIII, which I've used here for the first time.  Here's a few pix of the images on plate. 

These new MJ plates are available here!  They are also available via Ninja Polish here.  A few of the new plates have some misetched images and are discounted here. (pssst....please check back for upcoming giveaways of a few of these plates!)

Here's the other ladies Day 1 Book Mani's...much more creative than my boring books! 

...

Thanks for looking!

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Unknown Barry M, Beige, BM311, Borghese, CQ, Digit-al Dozen, Essie, Fauxnad, kiko, Konad, Konad S2, MJ XVIII, neutral, Sponging, VL003

Digit-al Dozen, Animal Week; Day 5

I'm a little late in posting my Day 5 challenge mani for animal week; this is what I came up with!  A warning; this post is very picture heavy!

Started with a base of one coat of Sinful Colors Cool Gray, no topcoat.  This was pretty good coverage for one coat; I didn't do two as I knew I'd be layering it.

Added Barry M Grey at tips with sponging.

More sponging using FingerPaints Black Expressionism.

Decided the sponging on the thumb wasn't quiet was I was looking for so added a bit more, then did cleanup.

Prior to adding stamping, sponged in a little grey at the cuticle on the thumb.  Added the wolf using LLC10 which was stamped using black Konad special stamping polish.  Also added the moon using A53 using yellow Konad special polish.

Added tree branches using LLC B using black Konad special polish. In hindsight, I like the look of the mani at this stage, but I did add more.

Added stars using NC02 using white Konad special polish.

Stamped in a few clouds using grey FUN stamping polish from Konad m79.

Added a few more clouds with a custom blend I made on the image plate as I went along by mixing grey FUN stamping polishing with a drop of white which was mixed with a toothpick on the plate, then scraped.

Using a brush, extended a few tree branches using black Konad special polish.

Topped with SV.

(Couldn't decide which pix I liked better!)

Here's the other ladies Day 5 mani's; they are fantastic!

Hope you're having a good weekend; my next post will announce the winner of my impromptu giveaway....thanks for looking!

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Unknown A53, Barry M, Digit-al Dozen, Fauxnad, FingerPaints, FUN stamping polish, gray, Konad, LLC 10, LLC B, M79, NC 02, sinful colors, Sponging

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