[AiS]: Stamping over a striped background

There was an interesting challenge in Adventure in Stamping FB group for today: stamping over a striped background. I thought combining stripes and stamping would not be easy, so I decided to try it :)

It was a tough job to think of a style with stripes and stamping. I didn't want to stamp hearts, bows or kisses, so I ended up with this. I cannot say I love this mani, although it'd be probably a cute look for a holiday at the beach.  But hey, a challenge is a challenge, and I'm glad I've managed to think at least of something :)

Base color:  p2 Gel Look Crazy Beauty  (matches perfectly to the MdU stamping polish!) and Cult Nails Tempest (white)  for my middle and ring fingers.
Stamping: Stripes from MoYou Pro XL 01 plate, stamped with Mundo de Uñas #49, Lavender. Flowers from MoYou Pro XL 06, stamped with MdU #29 neon pink.
Studs: 1mm neon studs from Ebay Read More......

Yeeey! Fing'rs decals from ChitChatNails!!!

It's hard to believe, but I won the Fing'rs Nail Tatoos Giveaway from Marta's blog ChitChatNails!!! Yeeey!!! I got the decals last week and had to use them for my mani:

Look at this, this or this post from ChitChatNails. Now you know where my inspiration comes from ;) Marta is the queen of skittlettes - this cool mix'n'match styles, where at least two nails are different from the others. My skittlette obsession started with her blog. If you're not a fan yet - check out her skittlette-tutorial and start following!

Base color:  P2 Sweet Like Sugar and OPI My Vampire Is Buff.
Glitter: Ligne D'Or Azúcar Canela - the best textured glitter I have. Bought for $1,50 during my holiday in South America.
Water decals: Fingr's Nail Tatoos

The rose colored P2 polish is a new addition to my collection - bought it in my local drugstore yesterday. The color is beautiful - slightly dusty rose with some soft shimmer. The formula however is a nightmare for me - thick, streaky, dries quick on the surface and doesn't level itself out much. I had to use tree careful coats to hide bold spots. If you do thin coats and usually manage to paint a nail without going twice over the same spot, you'd be fine with two coats.


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31DC2013, Day 18: Half Moons a.k.a. Ruffian

I saw this black mani and decided to create rather the crescent moon than the red half moon design for the 31 Day Challenge.

CND for Ruffian Fall 2010

This style is also called Ruffian, since it was created first by CND artists for the Ruffian Fashion Show in 2010. As for me, it looks much more elegant AND modern compared to the classic retro half moon mani. But for a 50-ies dress, I'd probably go for red half moons :). Dior 2010

It is VERY easy to do and no special tools are needed. Check out for example this tutorial on Youtube. I thought it would be difficult to achieve the clean line without any clean up, but it was much easier than I thought!  I'll definitely do this style again.
Do you see my poor broken pinkie? I didn't just break the nail, I flipped it completely over. It doesn't hurt anymore, but looks terrible. Hopefully, it will heal soon...But nobody died of a lost nail until now, right? ;)

Base Color: two coats of pale gold by p2, 900 Next Exit Party
Second layer: one thick coat of shimmering pink by Yh Beja, Color 10,  bought in South America Read More......

#31DC2013: Day 06, Violet nails

I had a wonderful holiday in Riga (think Hotel Papa ;) ) and had some quality time with my cute little nephews. Now back in Hamburg,  it's high time to proceed with 31 Day Challenge. I'm totally late, but still determined to go through the themes.
The next theme is Violet Nails. I've been looking forward to try out the China Glaze Ombre set I bought on ebay. I first saw the gradient on Chalkboardnails blog and just fell in love with the beautiful colors. This is how it looks on my nails:

I know, it doesn't look as fantastic as on Chalkboardnails, but hey, that's just me, my limited nail art skills and rather ungraceful roundish nails. Who cares! I matched my mani with a violet silk scarf to work and felt like a diva :D.
But I think I'm rather a skittlette girl, so I used my Cheeky Plates to mix things up the next day:

Base color: Gradient with China Glaze Grape Expectations
Stamping: ikat pattern from the Cheeky Plate A stamped with silver Jolfin stamping polish
Skittlette: pinkie with Essence silver polish and textured P2  Sand Style polish  called "Strict" on my ring finger (I'm in love with Cheeky Plates, btw)

Since I don't have silver studs, I just used some gold ones, which I covered with silver polish as shown at Lucy's Stash Blog, and pimped up my thumbs with them.
It's amazing how you can change your mani with nail art, don't you think?

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Doppelgänger by Different Dimension

Oh, I just love polishing my nails! It really relaxes me. By now I have a huge collection of polishes and stamping patterns, and with all those nail art blogs to have as inspiration, it is a really hard to decide what to try out next :).
Couple of weeks ago I bought some fabulous indie nail polishes from Different Dimension on Etsy. Doppelgänger was one of them. It is a grey tinted jelly polish with pink glitter and small hexes. There are also some big silvery hexes, which I tried to avoid this time. Without any base color, this grey base didn't go well with my skin tone, so I had to try something else. I tried to be creative and used a new stamping pattern. I really love how it came out!

I tried to use the dark grey Astor polish I have on my ring finger also for stamping, but it didn't work out well, so I had to switch to the gunmetal grey color from China Glaze Romantique collection.

Base color: just one coat of P2 Volume Gloss 020 Business Woman (pale mauve/lavender color) and dark greige Astor Quick'N Go! 324 for my ring fingers.
Stamping: pattern from OB-NAIL XXL Plate E bought on Ebay from us-nails-arena, stamped with China Glaze Awaken (gunmetal silver).
Glitters:Doppelgänger by DIfferent Dimension
Seche Vite as top coat. Read More......

Mint gradient

I tried an aqua-minty-ish gradient this time.  After I've seen some awesome mix-n-match designs shown by Nailasaurus or Manicured Amateur, I find this one really boring. But since it totally matched my huge patterned silk scarf, I tried to be easy on my beginner mani ;)

Base color: two coats of light blue China Glaze Kinetic Candy
Gradient: sponged stripes of P2 Volume Gloss Fresh Sister + metallic turquoise P2 Lost in Paradise
Glitters: China Glaze Fairy Dust Read More......