Darling Diva Polish - Regulus

Morning Goddesses

I'm going to be making a real effort over the next few weeks to empty the vault.  There's just so much in there .. and it's such a shame that some of it has been lingering for months and months.  Some of them will appear in SPAM posts, whilst others will get their own, but to get through them quickly, they'll probably be lower on words than normal.

This beauty was supposed to make it into October's Halloween polishes theme, and never did - and look at her, she's awesome.

Regulus is one of those polishes that I had medium expectations for, and then I put it on the nail and almost fell on the floor.  STUNNING.

This is layered over China Glaze Traffic Jam for added depth.  Although the polish itself is fuchsia, I didn't want a jelly effect.

I loved the thick glaze effect on this polish, and that's before you get to the colour clash of the red, green and black glitter, and then there's also all that spooky irridescent glitter that DDP does so well.

Absolutely bloody glorious.

Enjoy xx

Digit-al Dozen DOES .... Art ... Japanese Screenprint

Hi Goddesses

Phew!  Digit-al Dozen FINISHES Art Week more like !  Lol.  It's been a tough one, but often those are the best, and I have done my best splatter and my best tape mani this week, so it wasn't a total loss.

I'm ending with a mani I'm a bit 50 / 50 about, and as usual it's my striper brush that makes me unhappy, but we'll get to that.

So this was inspired by this random picture, which reminded me of Japanese screen prints / silk screens.  I started with my beloved China Glaze Traffic Jam, wherein lay the first problem - I think it was too dark.

I then added my branches, and tried very carefully to line my nails up.  The brown came from an Orly Instant Artist striper.  The orangey stripe is CG Papaya Punch and my striper brush, which I thinned to make it super skinny - and I still get these thick lines.  I think I need to put in a lot of practice with my stripers, as I'm just not getting the results I want.

After that, I dotted the blossoms using OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Barry M Gelly Blackberry (because red wouldn't show against the too-dark pink I used).   I finished with a matte top coat, which really adds to the Japanese silkscreen feel.

A lot of other people liked this mani.  As I said, I'm 50 / 50 about it, mainly because it didn't turn out how I wanted to.

Oh well, what a hard week over.  I hope you enjoyed !!  Lots of love, and have a great weekend xxx

NEW31DC Day 4 - Pink

Hi Goddesses

Today I am what you call a Chuffty.  Maybe even a Chuffty Cat.  That means I am very "chuffed" with today's mani - chuffed is a British word for "well pleased with meself".  Lol.

This is one of those lovely accidents that just *happened* with no planning or forethought.  The only thing I really decided on was that the pink I used should be an untried so Color Club Wing Fling, here we are.

I really liked the Color Club Take Wing Collex from last summer.  I feel it got way overshadowed by the kerpow from the CG Neons, but this was an amazing collection of summer brights with glass-flecked electrical sizzle.

Wing Fling though, has left me a little cold.  I admit, it looks sensational in these photos, everything a hot pink should be, but in real life, I just wasn't feeling it.  I think it was actually a little too electric for me and felt almost flourescent.  Shame.

So then I thought I'd do a pink splatter, with a bit of black in it to make it rock n roll and ..... OMG I LOVE THIS SO MUCH !!!

I honestly can't tell you how happy I am with how this turned out.  It's bright, it's zappy, and it's just got that little edge to it.  Awesome.

I used OPI Sparrow Me The Drama and Black Onyx and one of my favourite pinks, CG Traffic Jam ... and a very special tool.  I am now going to share with you why this came out with extra awesome in it.

You know how sometimes when you do a splatter mani, the polish lands too heavy ?  You get a great big fat dollop of polish that obliterates half the nail ?  Well, when that happened with THIS mani, I took a cotton bud, and gently lifted some of the excess off.  You can't really tell where I did it, but you can tell the texture is different in some areas, and I really like that.

Ok tomorrow is purple ... damn ... I don't know if I even HAVE a purple !!!  Lol.

Love xx

Go Pink Wednesday - Saran Wrap

Hi Goddesses

Today's post is a simple look, and one that I was going to take a bit further, but I was so ill at the weekend, I literally could not be bothered.  So, apologies!

This is a saran wrap mani using 2 very contrasting shades of pink - anyone else think the finished product looks like one of those yoghurts where you mix the fruit in yourself ?  Lol.

This is a base of 2 coats of China Glaze Traffic Jam, a fabulously intense fuschia.

For those of you who haven't done a saran wrap before, I'm going to take the next steps slowly - 

1.  Once the polish is dry, the important thing now is that we are only doing 1 nail at a time.  It is vital you do this while the polish is wet, so you can't paint the whole hand.  1 nail at a time !!

2.  I then layered 1 thick coat of OPI Steady As She Rose on top of my DRY thumbnail.  Thick and sloppy.

3.  You then need something to "dab" with.   Choices I've seen used are - a roughly scrunched up bit of paper, wadded tissue, some scrunched up saran wrap (hence the name) or (and this is what I used) some scrunched up bubble wrap from that day's nail mail lol!

4.  You then need to quickly and roughly dab at your wet polish.  As you do so, it lifts up in random patches, exposing the colour underneath.

5.  Be aware of The Tipping Point.  There is a point in this process where 1 more dab is a dab too far!  Keep an eye on what you're doing.

6.  Gone too far?  I thought I had too much Traffic Jam showing on one nail, so I just added another thick stripe of SASR and dabbed a teeny bit more and  - bingo!

7.  top coat = smooooooth and lush

I really love these manis.  They are so simple and they are perfect for "splodgers" like me.  I love the texture they create too - they look like woolly fluffy clouds!

Enjoy xx :)

Spring Challenge - Pink Polka Dots

Hi Goddesses

How are you?  Are you enjoying the Challenge?  There's some great bloggers taking part (see the list at the bottom) and you can still join in by clicking the Purple Crumpet Fairy link on the right.

This Challenge was designed to be an easy one, as you could just dot over whatever you wore for Your Favourite Spring Pink.  Amusingly, I think we all ended up going for something completely new !!

I did this on top of my beloved Butter London Disco Biscuit (which you can see in her solo glory here).    I used 3 pinks of various colours - CG Traffic Jam, CC In Bloom (the base for my Candy Shop dupe fact fans) and OPI Steady As She Rose.

I started with the darker dots on all the nails, then added the other 2, and then wen back and added some random ones in various colours on top to give it a less structured feel.   

It's not perfect, but I will definitely returning to this again as it's simple and it's soooo cheerful !!  You can't fail to be happy with this mani on your paws :)

Enjoy xx :)

Fancy Phalanges

Gnarly Gnails

Only Always Soccermom

Purple Fairy Dust

Nail Newbie

Angelina's Nails and More

MeMa's Manis

Pish Posh & Polish

The Crumpet

Geeky Owl

Of Knit and Nails

Bee Polished

Fanning the Fumes

Color Splash Nails

Okay Now Joy

Manicurity

Confessions of a Nail Polish Junkie

Obsessive Compulsive Nail Painting Disorder

Happy Nails

The Girl with the Rainbow Hands

No Junk Nail

Munia's Nails

More Valentines

Hi Goddesses

I'm going to try and keep this one short because it's just a Valentine's mani.

For this one I used my beloved CG Traffic Jam and stamped with CG Snow.  I was playing with this new stamping plate ....

.... and to be honest, she was a little tricky to use!  I used this plate for a couple of designs (I'll post the other one later), and I found it to be smudgier than other ones I've used.  I'm not a stamping expert, so it could be my poor technique, but you can see on the little hearts near the tip of the nail that I'd get bits of polish pool in one area of the design.  

I was then a VERY brave Crumpet and attempted a bit of desmudging with a Q-Tip and some polish remover.   I managed to clean up the worst of it without ruining the design, but some of the edges are still a bit mushy.

I ended up double stamping the double heart on the middle finger because the first transfer just wasn't opaque enough - luckily, I think the design lets me get away with it.

So there you go ... not perfect.  A bit like me!!

Enjoy xx :)