[#WNAC2015] September Jewel Tones: Stained Glass

I could't resist to join into the last topic of weekly nail art  challenge 2015(#wnac2015): stained glas in jewel tones. I'm in love with my emerald-gold mani! The color and the holo particles are just gorgeous in the sun:

I used acrylic paint to draw the lines. Do you notice, I'm getting better - the lines are almost straight!.Yeeey! :) 

My base color is the beautiful Il était un vernis called In Teal We Trust. This polish is perfection: fantastic formula, almost full coverage in one coat, smooth finish with a lot of depth. I used two coats here.
The glitter polish is not another brand, but In Teal We Trust, mixed with gold holographic topper China Glaze Angel Wings. I mixed a drop of ITWT with two/three drops of Angel Wings and added a drop of nail polish thinner - this way the mix was a bit more fluid and didn't dry so fast.

In the indirect light of my photo box the mani looses some of it glittery magic, but under direct electric light the small holo particles come alive again:

Base color: Il était un vernix called In Teal We Trust
Glitter Polish: In Teal We Trust mixed with China Glaze Angel Wings and a drop of nail polish thinner
Lines: acrylic paint and a thin liner brush

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Golden Rose #70 and water decals from Ali Express

Couple of weeks ago I've ordered a huge set of water decals from Ali Express. I don't even know why it took me so long to do a mani with one of the designs. It so fantastically easy and fun to wear!

I wasn't impressed with the wearability of these decals - after a day on my quite soft nails I had a serious tip wear and some white spots where the color had rubbed off. Maybe my top coat layer was just too thin? Let's hope other decals from the set would hold longer...

What I prefer to do with water decals, is to do the accent nails first and then select the complementary color using my huge swatch collection. No magic or great creativity involved ;)

This time I went for my new Golden Rose polish. This brand is new to me - I haven't seen Golden Rose polishes in Germany and decided to buy some during my trip to Istanbul. Since GR polishes are quite low priced compared to Essie and OPI I didn't have high expectations in regards of quality, but I was positively surprised!
Rich Color collection has a wide brush, which I loved. The formula of this pastel-ish green color (elegantly named #70 ;) ) was great: full coverage in two easy coats, no bland spots or chalky streaks.


Base color for the decals: Essence matte white
Color: Golden Rose Rich Color #70 Read More......

31CD2014, Day 04: Formula X Fearless

I'm on holiday, so my posts are a bit irregular again.
I decided to do some free hand practice and paint some leaves for the  31 Day Challenge:

I used Formula X Fearless as my base color. The leaves are acrylic paint. I cannot say I love the look, but better some nail art for practicing then nothing, right? Otherwise how am I suppose to get better? :)

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31DC2013, Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial. Camo Nails!

It was hard to go back to the  31 Day challenge from last year, but with only two manis left,  I just have to finish it!!!
The last "Inspired By" topic is "Inspired by a tutorial". There are so many techniques I haven't tried yet - lead light + stamping, pond manicure, free handed roses, etc., etc. I also though military/camo manicures look kind of cool... So here are my first camo nails:

I planned to add some dark, almost black green as well, but after I did my thumb I chickened out and left the rest as it was:

A friend of mine said she liked my thumbs better. And I still cannot decide ;) Maybe my thumb just had too many small spots... Next time I'd go for bigger shapes as on my middle and ring fingers.
Which alternative do you like more?

Pointer and pinkie: dark teal Leighton Denny Femme Fatale (got in a set in TK Maxx)
Camo Pattern: light green OPI Stranger Tides, medium green Formula X Fearless (my NY super haul), Leighton Denny Femme Fatale
Studs: 3mm square studs from ebay

There are a lot of tutorials on how to create military nails, but I these these two the best for me:



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piCture POlish kryptonite

Do you have any polishes by piCture pOlish? This Australian brand has some really awesome shades, but unfortunately is very rare and quite expensive in Germany.  So I've given myself a Xmas present - I ordered some polishes from their online shop ;).  I got them last week and they are awesome!!!
Look at this fabulous emerald green!

The polish applies like a dream and is opaque in two coats. I wore it on itself the first day and then decided to pimp it with some dragon patterns from Messy Mansion stamping plates.

Base color: piCture pOlish Kryptonite
Stamping:  patterns from Messy Mansion stamping plates MM05 and MM21 (ordered online from their shop) stamped with Jolfin stamping polish in gold

If you order 7 polishes you get two additional shades for free. With shipping to Europe each polish comes at less than 8€!  So grab your nail addicted friends and order together! Read More......

31DC2013, Day 21: Inspired by a color

Ta-daaaa! Please welcome the fantastic Dragon, an absolutely marvelous, shimmery, warm, forest (dragon-) green nail polish made by A-England.

I thought about this polish as soon as I've seen the "Inspired by a color" topic of the 31 day challenge.

Think about perfection polish-ified: great formula, opacity in just one coat, scattered holo effect, warm golden shimmer. Ohhh, I'm about to drool now! :-D But look at it! It is impossible not to, right?!?

I painted two coats - more out of habit than for coverage.
The cute fly is from Hexnailjewelry  and it's actually a bee ;). I first saw this charm on a fantastic gradient mani done by Sarah from Chalkboardnails. I loved the green-gold combination and had to have the charms as well!  I ordered online and it worked like a charm (pun intended ;-) ). I paid something like $2 for shipping of 16 charms to Europe - a really great price compared to some other shops.

I used nail glue, but after three days, the charms still didn't fell off. I had to use brute force to remove them and ruined the charms :( Next time I'll just put the charms on my wet top coat.

This post marks the end of the easy part of the challenge.  Next comes the "inspired by ..." section - inspired by a song, book, movie... Damn... Since I'm still really bad with free-handing, I'd have to think of some creative ideas to cover the upcoming topics... Well, it is a challenge, right?..

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