31DC2013, Day 23: Inspired by a movie

Hey there, I went skiing, but came back with all limbs still attached. Phew! ;)

I'm on day 23 of the 31 Day Challenge. So no way I'm giving up now! The movie topic was a tough one. I've seen so many Nemo, Despicable Me and Superman manis, I had to think of something else. How convenient that my hubby gave me the James Bond stamping plate for Xmas!!! ;) I had it on my wish list and since my dearest is a big fan of 007,  he was instantly convinced that I really need it :D

Aren't they fun? I think I love these blood splatters the most! Some of my friends instantly started humming the Bond-theme, when they saw my nails :D

And this is the VL-007 stamping plate by Vivid Lacquer I used:

I had a tough time to decide which images to stamp and how to combine them. The wave pattern on the top is too wide even for my nail shape, so I positioned more to the left on my ring finger.  It would surely cover your nail completely, if you wish so. 

 

I was too eager to stamp, so I didn't even think that Mr. Bond would end up being upside down ;)

Base color: white Cult Nails Tempest and Cult Nails Fetish for my pinkie
Stamping: Vivid Lacquer stamping plate VL-007 bought on Etsy with delivery to Europe, stamped with Konad black stamping polish; blood splatters with Rapid Red Insta Dri by Sally Hansen (got it on sale in a TKMaxx outlet store in Hamburg)
Top Coat: matte top coat Wax That by Cult Nails

Which patterns from this plate would you combine? I'm not sure about using other colors... What do you think?

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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 22: Inspired by a song

I had surprizingly many ideas for the next topic of the 31 Day Challenge. But it had to be something I could actually pull off ;). There is this really cool technique for Distressed/Grunge-Nails I wanted to try out for ages. So here I go!

Who can inspire a Grunge manicure better than Nirvana, the Godfathers of Grunge?!?

"Come as you are" is from the 90ies (1992 to be precise), but unlike some electro experiments from the same time (*shudder*) it still sounds really cool, I think. I was humming the song all the time I did my nails and the next day as well! :D

Come as you are,
As you were
As I wish you to be.
As a friend
As a friend
As an old enemy...

Yeah!!! :)
Gunge Nails is something anyone can do. Really! Check out this awesome tutorial at Sarah's Chalkboardnails and try it out! I used acrylic paint for the letters.

For beginners out there: I didn't trust my shaky hands and painted the letters on a smooth plastic bag. After the paint was dry, I covered it with clear top coat, waited a bit and then used tweezers to pull this self-made decal from the plastic and place it over my freshly painted nail. It's cheating, but who cares if it looks good, right? ;)

Base color: one coat of white Cult Nails Tempest
Grunge effect:  neon pink China Glaze Pool Party, marker-yellow China Glaze Sun-Kissed, bright blue Shopping Day at Bluemingdales by Catrice and black Cult Nails Fetish
Accent Nail:  Cult Nails Fetish and white acrylic paint
Matte Top Coat: Cult Nails Wax That...

Familyyy-yyy-yah!
Familyyy-yyy-yah!
(still humming ;))

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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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31DC2013, Day 20: Water Marble

Last year I decided to join the 31 Day Challenge to improve my nail art skills. The challenge was for September 2013, so even the last nail-snail (lol!) has finished it, except me ;).  I never manage to do more then two or max three manis in a week, so I've just reached the Day 20!

With most water marble designs I see, I don't get this "Gimme polish, I wanna play NOW!!!"-feeling. I'm not into swirly things, I guess. But challenge is a challenge. So water marble it is!

I really like how Meghan from Will Paint Nails For Food has adopted the water marbling technique to her own style for example in this mani. Unfortunately I couldn't manage those frayed color stripes. Basically my water marble is terrible... I said "Whatever!" to myself and added the studs :-D

To match my ring finger I covered the studs with the same dark purple polish. Check out this blog entry from Lucy's blog to see how to create custom colored studs  - it is really easy!

Base color: pale pink Cult Nails Enticing (bought in Cult Nail's online shop with shipping to Europe). The color is beautiful, but the formula is a little runny and I kept flooding my cuticles. Dark purple on my ring finger is China Glaze's Crimson, which was a part of purple Ombre Grape Expectations set I bought on Ebay.
Water Marble: mix of the base colors
Studs: 2 mm round studs, bought online at Borne Pretty Store (all prices are with shipping), topped with Crimson

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