Chrome Binary…

I have a new love….OPI “Push and Shove”! It’s just amazing, all the swatches you’ve seen, they don’t lie! It’s is the most chromeyest (yes that’s a word!) polish ever!!!! Kathy from More Nail Polish has done a very thorough review, in which she compares it to Layla chrome, top coats it and stamps with it. So please check out her swatches. I have used it today to recreate a look I was never happy with….my technology post.

I have stamped over the top with BM-415 creating exactly the look which I had in mind. I have always wanted nails that looked like they had been chrome plated, so you can see my excitement at this polish. I agree with Kathy it is hard to apply or so you think, but once it is dry (which is very quickly) it all levels out to the most beautiful shine. When I was experimenting, I did apply top coat to some of the nails later and I could see no noticeable difference to the finish.

I also learnt about stamping…..I’ve been doing it wrong! I usually just press lightly down on the image, but with this stamp the middle was not picking up properly. I tried for hours and then I remember seeing a tutorial where the stamper is rolled across the plate. It took me awhile to get the hang off, but when I did, each time the binary code was picked up perfectly! Also check out Copycat Claws post, where she uses “Push and Shove” to create a broken mirror effect….. amazing! I think this polish should be named “Rise and Shine” though.

 

Game Of Thrones Take 2….

The first time I did this theme I knew I wanted to have a different family shield on each pointed nail, this was just too hard to paint so tiny and so neat. So I have made decals using water slide decal paper  that I printed with my photocopier using this image.

If you want to try to make your own decals, make sure to get the correct paper to suit your photocopier. There are two types of paper clear (imagine printing on a clear sheet) and white (like printing on a white sheet of paper). I printed these decals on the white sheet, as there was some white in the design. You also need to seal it if you are using an inkjet printer, I used clear nail polish. I tested what happens if you don’t, the ink just runs off the image when it touches the water. Sealing is not necessary for laser printers so I am told.  You also need to re-size the images using some kind of editing software, I just used the software that came with my printer (HP). To test the image was the correct size for my nail I did quite a few draft copies on normal paper, I really did not want to waste any precious decal paper!

I applied each one to a long pointy fake nail, I wish I could have long nails and my current job, but they just don’t go together. The decals are easy to move around when they are wet, once they were in place I pressed them down with a clean dry make-up sponge, which smooths out nearly all the wrinkles, some very tiny ones did remain. When they were dry I hid the edges with nail polish and finally added top coat to smooth it all out.

Thanks for looking, soon I’ll have some Steampunk nails and maybe some more punk too.

Lord of the Rings…

Two posts in one day, love it when a plan comes together! I was inspired by many great designs on this subject, but one in particular jumped out at me by Sammy the Nailasaurus.

Over a base of Orly “Glitz” I wrote with gel ink pen the Elvish inscription found inside the ring. I recently discovered that gel ink pens write on nail polish, can you believe it?? I saw this on One Nail To Rule Them All‘s blog, how ironic really!! Thanks for looking, back tomorrow!

 

Star Trek…

Another mani in the Nerd challenge, I was kinda stumped for this theme, like usual! I liked the Next Generation, Star Trek.

               

Yes, I do have rather long fingers! On large fake nails that I could cut down to size, I shaped a point and painted on the various Star Trek emblems. Firstly I started with a base of China Glaze “Cosmic Dust” from the Hologlam collection. Then with nail art pen I drew in the shield like shape and went over that with black acrylic paint. I filled in the different shield colours with polish and painted the symbol on each with acrylic paint.

Here is my inspiration….

Game Of Thrones…

Next up in the Nerd Challenge is another tv show that I’ve never seen, but it does look visually exciting and to be set in Medieval times or at least with a Medieval feel to it. I did try to paint the Coat of Arms of each family, but painting a tiny little lion just looked crappy. An image that kept popping up in searches was of a wolf, I really liked the one with blood splattered like claw marks across it.

I had already shaped fake nails to echo the shapes of the coat of arms, so these fitted nicely to represent the shape of the claws as well, bonus! First I painted a base of OPI “My Boyfriend Scales Walls” and then sponged Revlon “Silver” (a mid grey) sparingly in small patches over the top and also some white. Next with nail art pen I drew in the wolf and with Revlon “Red” splattered claw marks across it. You might be wondering how did I manage to get the splatter to go where I wanted it??? I know from previous attempts how far the splatter will fall and in some places I’ve extended the jagged blobby line with a fine brush. A few blobs here and there with a dotting tool and I dragged the polish around abit. A thick coat of China Glaze “Fast Forward” and we’re done! Thanks for looking, til next time….poppets…arrrr!

 

Dr Who…

Its funny the things you remember as a kid, for example one of the things I remember about Dr Who is the ending credits. How scary the music was and what I like to call “The Chocolate Tunnel”. It seemed it was this big swirling chocolate black hole that would suck you in, where all the monsters from Dr Who lurked…..arghhhh!!! It still gives me the creeps a little!  I think I was only 6 or 7 at the time, Tom Baker was The Doctor.

What a good excuse to do some watermarbling, I’ve used OPI My Vampire Is Buff, another cream and two shades of brown. When it was all dry,  I added touchs of black polish with a small brush to create more depth and a black hole. Clean up is so much easier if you put chapstick (or something similiar) around your nail and even on the underside of your finger, then the polish can’t really adhere to your skin.

Thanks for stopping by, til next time….

 

Hunger Games…

Well I haven’t seen the movie or read any of the books, but the story sounds interesting to say the least! I wanted to get away from the fire motive a little and this picture caught my eye.

I like it when I see an image and can visualize how it could work as a nail design. I had in mind a hot pink base and then realized I have an Emily de Molly polish, “Where Boys Fear To Tread”, which is a beautiful pink holographic and untried….shame on me! This polish is gorgeous and opaque in two coats. What a good choice of colour, the holo is really fiery in the sunlight.

When the polish was dry I painted the outline of the bird in watercolour, only because it took quite a few attempts to get it right. Then I painted over it in black polish and washed the watercolour away. I then wiped most of the polish off the brush and twisted the bristles as I dragged it lightly across the other nails. I was happy with the whispy smokey effect that it created. For the flames behind the bird I used a pin dipped in polish and did the same, twisted and dragged. Below is a photo from the lightbox.

Star Wars…

Well I’ve been a bit absent lately as I went on holiday, so as usual I’m behind in the challenges, oh well, I’m always behind. The theme Star Wars had me stumped, I’ve seen such great manis on this subject. So I thought I’d go for something easy-ish and choose Chewbacca.

I had some brown corduroy material lying around and tried to shave some fluff off it, but that didn’t work at all. Then I bent it gently and was able to trim the tufts off the main part of the fabric. This worked well and it turned out quite nice and fluffy. I painted one nail at a time with brown nail polish and stuck the brown fluff on with tweezers. For Chewbacca’s face, I painted the features in watercolour paint and yellow nail polish for his teeth. I painted brown polish around his feature and gently stuck a tiny bit of fluff on. I brushed alot off and then stuck on some beige lambs wool, that I’d also turned to fluff with scissors. Its quite fun having fluffy nails, I think I might go to the shops or the beach like this and see how long it lasts! Thanks for stopping by and up next is Frida Kahlo.

Zombies…

Gruesome?! My mission is accomplished then! I didn’t really know where I was going with this theme, so I looked up a couple of tutorials on youtube, where a girl makes it look like she has a nail through her finger. Another one shows how to make it look like your nail has been broken and is about to fall off.  Another image that came up in searches ,was of nails that had been sewn together.  I then bought some cheapo thin fake nails, got together all the blood and bruising coloured polishes, some thin black wire and started to play. I ripped, glued,punched holes, stitched and smeared polish randomly. When looking for a nail or something to puncture with I found I had some rusty old needles in my polish supplies box and what could be more fitting than to have one sticking out of a nail. The colours on my fingers are make up pencils and for once I didn’t try to hide the unsightly scar on my middle finger, but accentuate it. 

Lego nails….

Today we have Lego nail art as if you can’t tell! I would like to say I was inspired by Varnished Valkyrie, as I did search for a few ideas. Now that I go back to give her credit, I see that I pretty much copied her design! Which just happened that way, as I did pick the colours up at random. Two out of five nails, I’ve chosen the same colour on the same nail and all have the same amount of “lumps”! All I can say is great minds think alike. I created the “lumps” by first applying a coat of polish and then pushing acrylic gems into the wet polish. I found it was easier to match the gems with the base colour , so they needed minimal coverage with polish and the colour blended together well. Thanks for looking, tomorrow Picasso will be dropping in!