Mardi Gras Nails!

Today is Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday; here are the Mardi Gras nails I'm wearing today!  

Started with a base of two coats of CND Bicycle with accent nails of one coat each of CND Green Scene and Butter London Bramble.  Shown with no topcoat. 

I thought I'd do a radial gradient using the same polishes but it wasn't very successful!  I think I blended too much, then just had navy nails.  I sponged in some more yellow at the end to at least have a lighter colour (not that it would matter once the decals were applied but I didn't know this at the time).  (I had applied GB Border Patrol and it snapped up on the ring finger which is the blob you see on it; I tried to remove it with tape but it was a no go.  I figured it wouldn't matter because of the decal that was going to be applied but not the best for pix.)

Stamped the thumb with MoYou Purple Rain and the pinky with MdU 11 using Chez Divers 004 then top coated all with Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC before stamping. 

Made stamper decals using combination of polishes and acrylic paints.  This image is from Chez Fete 003.

Another stamper decal from MJ XXXVIII.  I might have to use one of the harder clear stampers for making decals to see how accurate I end up making them.  Even though I used the finest brush I had, I'm still way outside the lines on these.  

Applied the stampers decals from Chez Fete 003 (middle and index) and MJ XXXVIII (ring) then top coated all with Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC.

Added image to the thumb using Chez Fete 003 using MdU 11.  

Have a good one if you are celebrating!

Thanks for looking!

Mardi Gras Nails

I did this mani exactly a year ago today.....I think it's appropriate for Mardi Gras so thought I would (finally) share it now!

Started with a base of Essie No More Film; this is one coat, no topcoat.



Did a funky french using Darling Diva Polish Seriously Serious, no topcoat.



Bottle pix of Darling Diva Seriously Serious.



Stamped using white Konad special polish using T47.



Added a few dots to the flower centres to accent using China Glaze Running in Circles.



Topped with SV to finish.



Thanks for looking!

Nails from Last Summer!

I've had this mani stored in archives for a long, long time; since last summer.  Hard to believe that this much time has passed and I still hadn't posted it...so I thought before even more time goes by, I had better the pictures posted!

I recall at the time that I had just bought new FingerPaints colours at Sally's so was eager to try them out; remembering that one of these, FP Plum Startled, was getting lots of loving at the time.  So did skittles using them, alternating FingerPaints Plum Startled with FingerPaints Fall-ing For you; two coats each, topped with SV.  The picture below was taken in natural daylight.

This picture was taken in the shade.

Stamped using SdP 67 using CND Gold Chrome polish.

Dotted centres of the flowers with the opposite base colour.

Topped with SV.

I remember thinking that these colours would work well for a Mardi Gras mani; I'll have to try to remember this for next Mardi Gras!

Have a fantastic weekend; thanks for looking!

Mardi Gras Nail Fail

For some reason, Fat Tuesday kinda snuck up on me and I hadn't done any Mardi Gras nails. This is a huge faux pas for a theme mani kinda gal like me! lol! I think this is mainly because I thought Mardi Gras was in March for some reason.... anyway, after I posted last night, I did the Mardi Gras theme mani I was looking forward to doing the most. This is the pix of the best of the worst:



I took this pix after placing the decal on the pinky, thumb and middle nails, but just before I top coated the last nail, which was the index finger, which is why the index finger decal isn't all funny yet. I had seen each of the other designs go all funny once they were top coated so I thought I'd snap one quick pix before the last image on the index finger went funny too.

I used Nicole by OPI Positive Energy for the base; this was one coat topped with SV.



I waited about half an hour after applying the base coat before starting to apply the decals to make sure the base was dry. I've used these water, slide on kind of decals in the past (Thanksgiving mani) and while they are a little tricky to apply, I was able to remove and place them decently. In fact, I'd say these slid off the paper backing better and had more play to them that the other brand I used. But after I top coated the design, the design kinda evaporated to one degree or another! Even when I did topcoat the index finger, it ended up looking like this.



It further faded even after I took this picture to the point that only the face is visible on my index nail right now. I haven't figured out it if had to do with using SV as a topcoat which maybe is too harsh of a topcoat for these old decals, or if the design was too wet or dry when I top coated it, or if it was too thick of a coat...not really sure what was the caused this! I'm going to experiment a little bit more or google/youtube some hints to see if I can figure out what I did wrong! I had plans on adding some minor stamping to compliment the decals but with a fail this bad, I just thought I'd save the stamping polish for next time!



I've never used these Sally Hansen decals before; the ones I used at Thanksgiving were a different brand. So if any of you have used them recently and got good results without disintegrating the decal, I'd love to know your tips! If I find out anything, I'll post about it as I bought a few packages of various holiday designs as they are just so darn cute! I'm wondering if this is inherent with the design of the decal and if this is why Sally Hansen doesn't make them anymore? Maybe just too finicky?.....



Anyway, in case you were wondering about my accent nail, it was two coats of China Glaze Jumpin' Jupiter and one coat of Aurora Borealis as I thought these two would go well seeing how they are moreso traditional Mardi Gras colours! But this failed me to...not only am I not too much of a fan of this furry bar glitter, it came off in one big swoop when I was moisturizing my nails before I went to sleep...almost two hours after I finished this mani! So right now, in addition to having barely there, fudged up decals on my nails, I have no polish at all on my accent nail...I'm naked in public for the first time in years!

The best nails in the house right now are these:

DD did her nails last night; she had seen something like this somewhere in the blogesphere (if I knew where or anyone knows, I'll gladly credit) and did them herself while I made dinner last night. While she has stamped her nails plenty of times, she had never done a tape mani before and I think she did a fantastic job! Pretty cool nails and great job for a teen..heck, I think her cleanup of the black Konad is better than mine most days! I think I may have to try this some day!

The only good thing about nail fails is that its easily remedied by remover...which I plan on doing promptly as soon as I have time tonight!

Thanks for looking!

Edit: After a bit of googling, I did read that a thin coat of topcoat should be applied over decal; when dry, to apply another coat over the entire nail and NOT to use quick dry topcoats as they contain solvents that will damage the decal...so I'm guessing this was the cause of my decal failure. I will be trying out these decals again using these new found tips as I bought a few and the designs are really cool...IMHO!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Last night found me with a bit of free time, so I thought, why not do another Mardi Gras mani?


Used same plates as last mani as their aren't too many image plates out there for this theme and I'm just not creative or talented enough to do anything freehand!



IP's Konad m77, fauxnad m19, fauxnad T20 and fauxnad T39. All images were stamped with China Glaze 2030.



This time, I tried to find deep, rich jewel tones that, to me, say Mardi Gras. Polishes used (starting on thumb and working clockwise) Misa Like it Like That, Cheeky Monkey Raunchy B*tch, Misa Quirky Smile, Cheeky Monkey Brazen Hussy and Misa Spark my Heart Thats a Start. Here's the polishes before stamping:



I wish I had enough more colours like the deep finish found in these Cheeky Monkey polishes--love love love them! Any recommendations? I'd love to know your suggestions!

Thanks for looking!

Mardi Gras Nails

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras and being the theme kinda gal I am, I couldn't resist a Mardi Gras mani. Here's what I came up with:



The above pix was taken the morning after doing mani in nature daylight.

Base coats are CND Gold Chrome and Sally Hansen Turquoise Opal. Here's Turquoise Opal only...you can see the purple and blue but green hue was illusive...

IP used were Konad m77, fauxnad m19, fauxnad T20 and fauxnad T39.

Stamping polishes were Konad Green, Royal Purple, Violet Pearl, Beautiful Scratchers Iron Red, Sally Hansen Royal Purple Chrome and CND Gold Chrome.

Thanks for looking!