Saturday, August 26, 2017

on 10 comments

MilvArt dragon scale with Berry Good Looking (which is no longer purple)

Over the last week, I've been working away at preparing some manis ahead of time for the 31 Day Challenge. I was up to the violet prompt so I pulled out one of my favourite purple polishes from the last few years, Cupcake polish Berry Good Looking. I started with two coats of Berry Good Looking, and I thought to myself, wow, this really doesn't look all that purple. But I pressed on.

I created possibly one of my favourite looks in ages.  On top of Berry Good Looking I applied some Gold MilvArt water decals that appear like a snake skin pattern - pattern F151 in gold (you can also get the same design in black and silver). After I had applied the water decals, I used some gel polish to create textured domes between the gold lines.  When my daughter saw them she asked if I had placed jewels on my nails. These were so tactile to wear and were real attention grabbers.

After I finished, and then took photos I kept thinking, this is pink, not purple. I don't think I can use this for the 'Violet' prompt in the challenge.  My pink suspicions were confirmed when I asked my daughter if my nails were pink or purple. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Mum, they are pink!"

Boo, I'm so disappointed my Berry Good Looking isn't purple anymore.  





The blue flash from the holo flame almost makes it look more purple, but you can really tell the base is a much more pink colour.


Check a google image search, you can see how purple they all look. Given my polish is 18 months old, I'm not going to seek out a replacement or anything, but I'm also not going to buy another one, as I don't want to purchase another polish that is going to change over time. Especially when pink polishes is probably one of my least favourite colours.

I'd love to know if anyone else has one that is no longer purple. I've googled it, but not found anything really. Maybe it's been talked about in Facebook groups that I'm not in?

Saturday, August 19, 2017

on 8 comments

The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge 2017


September is almost here, and that means the 31 Day Challenge is almost here, too! This will be my 5th year participating and again I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Sarah from Chalkboard Nails, who I've always looked to for her leadership with the challenge, is probably not participating this year. But she has kindly provided me with her words of wisdom (and photoshop files) to help me get things off the ground this year.

So in true Chalkboard Nails spirit, I invite you to all to join me! If you're interested in challenging yourself and your nail art, The 31 Day Challenge is perfect for you.

Unfamiliar with the challenge? Check out the 31 Day Challenge FAQ and inlinkz to learn more. Looking for the inlinkz? they're on the same page.

And don't forget to use this year's hashtag: #31DC2017

Here are the 31 Day Challenge prompts for 2017! Feel free to share, repost, upload to your blog, put on Instagram, etc. Click to enlarge.



Will you be joining us? Let me know in the comments?


Friday, August 18, 2017

on 3 comments

Digital Dozen does Book Genres - Thriller

And so today brings and end to another Digital Dozen themed week.  I've got to say that my bottle of JOSS Will Not sure got a work out this week. It was my base polish and photo prop for the entire week. Rightly so too, it's one pretty awesome while polish. All my photos have been only one coat of this awesome white.

For my final look I admit I got a bit lazy. I've printed some water decals.  Hats off to you if you know what they are.  These are the four elemental ambigrams from the book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. An ambigram is a word, art form or other symbolic representation whose elements retain meaning when viewed or interpreted from a different direction, perspective, or orientation (thank you wikipedia). For the record, my thumb had Illuminate on it.

Tomorrow brings news of the 31 Day Challenge for 2017 so make sure you swing by for that!





Around this way they are easier to read.



Thursday, August 17, 2017

on 3 comments

Digital Dozen does Book Genres - Romance - 50 Shades of Grey

I'm glad this week is nearly over, it's been a bit of a challenge to come up with fresh ideas each day. Plus, because I'm disorganized and I'm only doing each mani each night, I'm feeling the pressure!

Today for the prompt, I've gone with the the romance genre.  Would you believe I've never read a romance novel in my entire life.  When trying to think what to paint for this genre, I started looking at romance novel covers.  They are all hilarious.  They have a half dressed Fabio with a woman in his clutches on the cover, you really should google it, it's quite funny. 

Instead of attempting something like that, I did something abstract and a little cold looking.  I was going for 50 Shades of Grey, but when I counted all the shades across a full set of 5 fingers, I only had 34 shades of grey. It doesn't have quite the same ring to it though, does it.






Wednesday, August 16, 2017

on 3 comments

Digital Dozen does Book Genres - Young Adult: Twilight

No laughing at my freehand efforts today ok!  Actually I'm ok with the blood drips and fangs, but unless I explain what the picture is on my ring finger you will have no idea!

Today I chose the genre of Young Adult for the Digital Dozen Book Genre week, and to represent this genre I have Twilight themed nails.  Do you get what that image is on my ring finger yet?  It's my attempt at the hands holding the apple on the front cover of the book.  The ring finger is silver sparkles representing their skin in the sun.






Tuesday, August 15, 2017

on 4 comments

Digital Dozen does Book Genres - Crime novels

Gee I love it when I can do some quick stamping to pull off a challenge prompt.  I'm very happy with how this one turned out and it was so quick and easy.

For day two of the Digital Dozen Book Genres week, I chose crime novels.  All the images are from Messy Mansion plate MM28. I painted all my nails white, except one which was yellow, and then I just stamped in black and red.

My favourite nails are the blood ones. I think the spatter ended up looking very realistic, as did the finger print.  With the finger print, there were a few fine lines that didn't pick up, and I think that is what made it look so realistic, because a real life blood fingerprint is never going to look perfect.





Monday, August 14, 2017

on 2 comments

Digital Dozen does Book Genres - Children's: Slinky Malinky

Another Digital Dozen week has sneaked up me and I'm not prepared.  I have only one mani done so far, so it looks like I will be doing nightly designs this week to stay on top of it.

This month's theme is Book Genres.  Who is it that is coming up with these, cause I seriously doubt I voted for this as a theme. Let me just say that I'm not a big book reader.  Sure I enjoy reading, but I just don't get time for it. I can't even remember the last book that I actually read. Not counting kids books of course, cause I sure get to read plenty of them to the kids.  Which leads me to my first genre choice. Children's.

I chose to represent one of my favourite children's books, or series of books, Slinky Malinky by Lynley Dodd.  Slinky Malinky is a family favourite actually, so much so that my daughter is dressing as Slinky Malinky at the end of the month for Australian book week dress up day.

Slinky Malinky was blacker than black, a stalking and lurking adventurous cat. He had bright yellow eyes, a warbling wail and a kink at the end of his very long tail.





To create this design I used these perfect cat ear shaped nail vinyl french tips I received from MilvArt.  The vinyls meant that I was able to get the perfect ear shape design on every finger, which is not something I could have created freehand. They stick cleanly to my nail to create sharp lines, but weren't too sticky to pull up my barely dry base colour.


Nail vinyls provided for review.


About Me

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I live in Canberra, Australia with my husband, Mr Ten and Miss Eight. My blog is all about nail polish, and a few other bits in between. You can contact me at morenailpolish@iinet.net.au