Pink & Lilac Roses for 52 week pick n mix challenge

So, this week's pick n mix challenge is roses and/or pink and lilac as a colour choice.

I've got to be honest, I've had a crazy busy weekend (with lots of nail challenges to fit in!!!) and this one somehow slipped under my radar - oops!!!

I hate being late with anything and was about to set about creating a quick mani when I remembered that I'd already created one recently that fits the bill (or indeed prompt!!!) 

It was my first attempt at Tattoo nails for week 1 of Wiki'd Nails Challenge. I tried to create Cheryl Coles famous Rose tattoo, and whilst I was pleased with the design I took the photo on my iPhone and wasn't pleased with the picture quality - so I rejected it :-(

I kept the photo though, and have decided to use it for this challenge 

Excuse the blurry shot, but I hope you can recognise Cheryl's Tattoo on my ring finger!!!

Pink and Lilac roses for 52 week pick n mix challenge 

Xoxo

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Wiki'd Nail Challenge - Tesla!!!

So, it's Wiki'd nail challenge time again and this week the prompt is Tesla.

I've got to be honest, I had no idea what or who Tesla was and so needed to look up on Wikipedia so that I could get some inspiration for a mani.

Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла; 10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian American^[3][4][5] inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, physicist, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current(AC) electricity supply system.

For some bizarre reason I was drawn to Tesla's moustache and so decided that this would be the inspiration for my mani. 

I decided to go with a black and white colour scheme and used Rimmel London Black Out and White Hot Love.

 

I then decided to see what the mani would look like with the photo in black and white.

So there it is, my simple black and white Moustache Mani for this week's Wiki'd challenge - Tesla.

Xoxo

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McCrumpet Plaid!!!!

So, my regular readers (I hope I have some!!!) will know that Monday morning means Crumpet's Nail Tarts 52 week pick n mix challenge.

This week the prompts are Plaid and/or Red, Green and Orange and I decided to do both prompts.

I started with a base of plain red, using my gorgeous Christian Louboutin Rouge Louboutin Polish. For those of you that haven't used this polish before, it is so heavily pigmented that it only needs one coat to get a mani like this (with no top coat needed!!!)

Next, I added green diamonds using Sinful Colours Envy and finally thin freehand cross cross lines using Revlon Sorbet. I finished the mani off with a top coat of my favourite Glisten and Glow HK Girl.

I don't think you'll find this plaid anywhere in the shops, so I have decided to name it after Debbie Crumpet who started the Facebook group - McCrumpet Plaid!!!

Xoxo

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Wiki'd Nail Challenge - Water Babies

So, last week saw the start of a 10 week challenge called Wiki'd Nail Challenge. Each week there is a random prompt taken from Wikipedia and this week the prompt is Water Babies

Here's the Wikipedia definition 

The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley, written 1862-63.

I'm ashamed to say I've never read this classic tale and so had to Google some images to try and get some inspiration for the mani. So I googled, then googled again and then googled some more,but my creative juices just weren't  flowing!!! I was beginning to panic a bit so decided to think outside the box. 

This picture caught my eye, mainly because of the colours used but also because of the quote at the bottom by the main character Tom (which just happens to be my eldest sons name!!!)

I have created lots of blue based manis recently so wanted to avoid blue and thought the colours in this photo would work well in a mani.

My first thought was to create a gradient, but again, I have done a lot of these recently (and I hate the clean up part!!!) Then I remembered seeing a mani created using sharpies over a white "undercoat" 

I reached for my son's pencil case and selected 6 sharpies that I thought would work well for the colour scheme I was trying to recreate. 

Next, I painted a white undercoat using Rimmel London White Hot Love. Unfortunately, I was so keen to start colouring on my nails that I forgot to take a photo - but in good "Blue Peter" style - here's one I did earlier!!! 

The next stage in the process was to get a small bowl and colour directly onto it with the sharpie (please excuse my naked nails on my right hand!!!)

Once the colour is in the bowl, I sprayed it with alcohol spray (I think perfume would probably work too) The alcohol dissolves the ink from the sharpie, allowing it to be picked up with a small nail art brush.

 

Here's the result of the sharpie mani after a top coat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl. All it needed now was a bit of nail art to resemble the original photo.

 So here's my mani, complete with Dragon Flies!!! I've created a photo collage with the mani and my nail art so you can compare the two.

Wiki'd Nail challenge - Water Babies

Xoxo

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52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge - Bright & Happy Patchwork!!!

So, it's 52 week pick n mix challenge time again and this weeks prompts are Bright & Happy and/or Patchwork

Before I go any further, I must just apologise for the late post - the Bank Holiday confused me and I spent all day yesterday thinking it was Sunday!!! Hence why my mani wasn't ready to post - I only realised this morning so it's been a quick mani followed by a quick blog - apologies in advance - I won't let it happen again (polished pinkie promise!!!)

With this challenge I usually try to do both prompts so my first task was to select some Bright and Happy colours

What better colours than these gorgeous Rimmel London ones - from left to right the colours are Bestival Blue, Hot Tropicana, Lovey Dovey and Roll in the Grass - think they fit the prompt really well!!!

And here's the second part of the prompt - Patchwork. I finished it off with my favourite Glisten and Glow HK Girl top coat. I love how this mani turned out - even if it is 24 hours late!!!

So, better late than never, here's this week's 52 Week Pick n Mix Challenge- Bright, Happy Patchwork!!!

Xoxo

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Button Moon - Blast from the Past or Blast Off

So, it's day 3 of the Challenge Your Nailart "Space" themed challenge and today's prompt is Blast Off.

My first thought (and I know this shows my age!!!) was of Mr Spoon in his Baked Bean can rocket , blasting off of Button Moon (it was actually a very slow shaky lift off but with a bit of childlike imagination......) I used to love watching this program and could still sing the theme tune to you now - We're off to Button Moon, we'll follow Mr Spoon, Button Moon, Button Moon (those of a certain age will be humming the tune right now!!!)

So that is where the inspiration came from for my "Blast Off" mani. I've not done a mani before that is a continuous picture over 4 nails and I'm not sure I'd do one again!!! I found it difficult to line my fingers up for the photo!!! I also think I need to work on my the scale of my nailart (I know Button Moon was only a button but even so!!!)

I had a lot of fun creating this mani and reminiscing back to my childhood. Not sure I got the prompt right though - you decide.......

Button Moon - Blast from the Past or Blast Off!!!

Xoxo

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What Planet are you from???

So, if you read yesterday's blog, you will know that I'm taking part in a 4 day FB challenge, where the theme is "Space"

Yesterday, the prompt was Space Movie and just in case you missed it, this was my contribution - I'm not a big fan of Space Movies but you've gotta love this little fella - Wall.e!!!

So, now onto today's challenge and the prompt is Planets. Again, this isn't one of my favourite topics and my knowledge of them is very limited (although I can still name them in order of distance from the sun - amazing the things I can remember from my school days!!!)

I was really tempted to use the same background colour as yesterday, as I loved how it looked, but I resisted the temptation to reach for my trusty China Glaze Fairy Dust and instead grabbed my all time favourite "go to" black China Glaze Liquid Leather (I'm not sponsored by China Glaze - I promise!!!!)

I love how shiny and glossy this black is with just one coat (and it's great for nail art too!!!) Talking of which (this is a nail art challenge after all!!!) I decided to keep it simple and stick to a gold and silver theme.

I used Ciate Ladylike Luxe and Opi My Silk Tie to create the stars and planets and then finished the mani off with my favourite "go to" top coat of Glisten and Glow HK Girl.

Outer Space (as you've probably guessed) doesn't really float my boat (or my spaceship for that matter!!) and I don't personally believe there are aliens out there - but what I do sometimes think to myself, especially when someone is behaving strangely, is "what planet are you from???"

Xoxo

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