Marianne Nails Africa plate No. 13

Hi everyone,

I've got a beautiful new stamping plate from Marianne Nails called "Africa" and tried something new: grungy tone-in-tone stamping.

I'm not really sure how I feel about these nails, but the plate is superb! The etching is perfect and the patterns are pretty cool.

As for the grungy effect - I was trying to follow Meghan's Dreamcatcher tutorial, but my grungy border got out of hand ;) I guess I'd have to practice more. However I like the idea of tone-in-tone stamping and would definitely try this style again.

Base color: two coats of Barry M Coconut
Grungy effect: China Glaze Foie Gras, thinned with some polish thinner to build up the color towards the edges
Stamping: patterns from Marianne Nails plate "Africa" No.13, stamped with Mundo de Uñas Chocolate.

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31DC2014, Day 1: Strawberry Nails

Already late with the first post for the 31 Day Challenge, here I come with "Day1: red nails".

I wanted to do strawberry nails for ages. So finally, with the autumn looming over Hamburg I decided it's high time to do it. My inspiration is this fantastic mani by Coewlesspolish.

Base color: Hot tomato red by Inglot #724 (bought on my holiday in NY) and Barry M Coconut
Strawberries: free handed with a thin brush and Inglot #724 and two additional shades of red. Leaves is China Glaze Starboard. Yellow dots are KBShimmer Chick Me Out

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Roses with Dance Legend 186

I was seeing these beautiful floral manis all over the internet - roses, sunflowers, violets, daisies... I decided it's time I learn how to paint flowers. So here is my fist attempt on roses:

I didn't know how to create this shading on petals, so I watched countless tutorials on youtube. Just search for roses... and spend the evening glued to the screen ;)

I used nail polishes and a very, very thin brush which I cut down as shown in this post (scroll down, there is a link to a tutorial how to cut your brushes).

It was a bit easier than I thought and surprisingly didn't take ages. The main thing is actually to have a thin brush and try to paint with very light strokes. I tried not to press the brush too mush, just barely touch the nail. Frankly, at first it looked really bad, but my top coat blended the colors together and it looks kind of cute now, right? 

The Dance Legend polish #186, which I used as my canvas is "solar active"  - it changes color to pink, when exposed to the sun. In my case the effect wasn't as as strong as shown on their shop page, but it was still very pretty - maybe I just move my hands to much when I talk :D. And the shadow/indoors color is just pure elegance for me. As for the formula, it's a dream - not streaky, self-levelling and fast drying. I'm wearing two coats.

Base color: sun active Dance Legend Magic Sun polish #186, bought online in their shop. If you are in Germany or North Europe, Hypnotic Polish  shop would be a better option.
Roses: pink Inglot 674 (from my NY trip), white highlights with Barry M Coconut (got it in here, Germany only )
Leaves: Formula X Fearless (the same NY haul) and darker Leighton Denny Femme Fatale (TK Maxx outlet) Read More......

Pink chevron mani

The inspiration for this mani comes from this beautiful design by @carlysisoka.

I probably should have stick more to the original ;) I like the color combination, although a paler glitter polish would have been better, right?

Base color: Barry M Coconut (ivory alternative to OPI's My Vampire Is Buff)
Chevrons: chevron-shaped tape stickers from Nail Vinyls, Dance Legend Glam Rock and pale pink China Glaze Go-Go Pink Read More......

Turquoise mix'n'match

This design is inspired by Meghan's tape mani from her blog Will Paint Nails For Food. I thought the gold trimming made the look interesting, so I applied the idea to my skittle mani today.

I wanted to use my newly created glitter polish, so turquoise had to be one of the colors in the mix. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of my thumb, so you can see only a mini-glitter gradient on my index finger.

Base color: OPI My Vampire Is Buff and Barry M Pure Turquoise
Gold stripes: gold polish p2 Next Exit Party, applied with a striper brush
Glitter: custom mix with glitters from Glitter Unique
Studs: 1mm studs from Essence

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31DC2013, Day 26: Inspired by a pattern

I must confess, I was a bit of a chicken to proceed with the next topic of the 31 Day Challenge 2013. I played with the idea of using one of my stamping plates - I mean there are so many fantastic patterns out there (think MoYou!!!)... But a challenge is a challenge, so for me that meant a free-hand pattern.
I got a fabulous body butter for Xmas, which also has a pretty retro style pattern on its cover. So here I come with my Inspired by a pattern mani:

I really love the color combination - it's quite bold with all this bright turquoise and orange and a bit of mustard yellow, but somehow it really works, right?

It took ages again - two episodes of The Blacklist to be exact ;) - but it wasn't as difficult as it might look. I didn't have to be very precise and that was really relaxing for a change. I even managed to do the right hand pretty well. I used acrylic paint and a very thin paint brush and a dotting tool.

Base color: fantastic gelly-ish creme called Pure Turquoise by Barry M
Pattern: acrylic paint Read More......

Barry M bubble gum gradient

For this cute bubble gum look I used my new Barry M shades - Prickly Pear and Strawberry Ice Cream. The colors are beautiful, if slightly sheer. It was difficult to achieve the gradient effect - there are three coats of the lilac Prickly Pear over the pink base color.

  

Base color: two coats of Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream and Prickly Pear (middle and ring fingers only)
Gradient: Prickly Pear
Glitter: fantastic golden-pinkish holographic flake glitter Nfu.Oh # 49 Read More......