What are you wearing today?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hits gato-Mia
Orly spazmatic

Twenty Seven Polish - Fairytale

An indie I got from Etsy

Senoshi, those pink dots are gorgeous. Really gorgeous, simple but so effective. I'm going to go check out your blog!

I'm most definitely in your colour camp, blues, greens, teals and purples for me, mid and light shades mainly.

LoolaBeanbag wrote:Senoshi, those pink dots are gorgeous. Really gorgeous, simple but so effective. I'm going to go check out your blog!

I'm most definitely in your colour camp, blues, greens, teals and purples for me, mid and light shades mainly.

Awww, Loola, thank you! The dots really are easy to do, but they always look lovely! You should try out some dotticures too!

Hey, we can be polish sisters at this rate! I have tons of blues, purples, greens and particularly teals & turquoises, they're my favourites! <3 My shades are usually brights and darks though, light shades have a tendency to turn my yellow-toned skin very sallow-looking!

I have a gazillion pinks too but rarely wear them. Why pink?! I'm not even girlie! And they make my uber pale skin look weird

My daughters are my excuse for the 'rarely worn but had to have' pinks!

Senoshi, I recently bought some dotting tools and have indeed tried a dotticure. It didn't quite look like yours though, more like primitive Abo art!

I've been to your blog and my hot favourites on there are the barouque and the gradient. I was going to try a gradient last night and stood poised, sponge in hand.....and shandied out. I may have a go over the weekend when I have a little more time (theoretically!).

My favourite teal is actually an Avon one Yup, a cheapie that never fails me, sequined turquoise. It's also my top stamping polish, the formula is perfect. Jasmina's Orly looks tasty too!

I love the baroque one too, so pretty!

Hits No Olimpo Ares

pre clean up

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Awww, Loola! Dotting takes a bit of practice, but once you get going they're one of the easiest ways to spice up a manicure! I dot one line down the centre, then do a staggered line on either side to work my way out to the edges. That said, the Abo art idea sounds pretty awesome anyway! (Maybe with a nude creme base and then some neon coral & white dots?)

Gradients are easier than you'd think! The cleanup is a bit time-consuming, but the actual sponging is remarkably forgiving! The first time I tried it I thought "oh god, it's so patchy!", but the wonder of topcoat smoothes and hides many problems I found the Nailasaurus tutorial very helpful, I'll find a link if you want? (Also I use cut up yellow kitchen sponge, not white cosmetic - the denser sponge always seems to give me too much trouble!)

Thank you for the compliments, by the way ladies! The baroque was inspired by Mr Candiipants, I just did a monkey-see monkey-do kinda thing, hehe! Acrylic paint is much easier for small details than nail polish; doesn't dry so quickly and easier to fix mistakes!

Ooo Sarah, that holo is so pretty! Spaaaarkles! I'd be staring at my nails for ages, lol!

Ares is so gorgeous!! I've been lusting after it forever, one day it shall be mine.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Purple & gold nails for the team I'll (reluctantly) be supporting in the Super Bowl tomorrow night.

Wow! They look stunning!

Jasmina wrote:

starrystarry wrote:

Muffy wrote:A-England Dragon. Reminds me of Nubar Reclaim.

I've had my eye on Dragon for ages but I've already got Reclaim. Is it not worth me having both? Are they very similar? In the pics I've seen Dragon looks darker.

I have both and don't think they are all that similar. Dragon is more holographic and stronger golden sheen.
Nubar is very subtle IMO

I think compared side by side they don't look that alike, but when I had it on I just kept thinking they were similar.

I have A-England's Holy Grail on today.

~MY 100th POST~

Gradients are easier than you'd think! The cleanup is a bit time-consuming, but the actual sponging is remarkably forgiving! The first time I tried it I thought "oh god, it's so patchy!", but the wonder of topcoat smoothes and hides many problems I found the Nailasaurus tutorial very helpful, I'll find a link if you want? (Also I use cut up yellow kitchen sponge, not white cosmetic - the denser sponge always seems to give me too much trouble!)

I tried it last night Senoshi...........it all was all going rather well until the polish started to try and as I was dabbing clumps of the sponge came off and stuck to the nail. I guess the solvent in the nail polish starts to weaken the sponge if you take too long. There was no shiftin' the bits, I tried with tweezers so I ended up with a 'textured gradient' It's not a good look........ I thought I may try again with scrunched up cotton fabric, the actual colours looked well blended and pretty. I used Layla Jade it all, Picture Polish Warning and OPI Pink Friday. I will have a look at the Nailsaurus though, thanks x

Lain, those purple and golds are magical!

Opi princess rules. Love this one!

LoolaBeanbag wrote:I tried it last night Senoshi...........it all was all going rather well until the polish started to try and as I was dabbing clumps of the sponge came off and stuck to the nail. I guess the solvent in the nail polish starts to weaken the sponge if you take too long. There was no shiftin' the bits, I tried with tweezers so I ended up with a 'textured gradient' It's not a good look........ I thought I may try again with scrunched up cotton fabric, the actual colours looked well blended and pretty. I used Layla Jade it all, Picture Polish Warning and OPI Pink Friday. I will have a look at the Nailsaurus though, thanks x

Oh, darling! I'm sorry it didn't work, but your description did make me giggle! (Textured gradient! I love it!) I had trouble with bits of sponge trying to stick to my nails too when I used white cosmetic sponges; I use the yellow bits cut off from those kitchen sponges with a thin green scrubby bit on the bottom? They seem to work best for me! (One side of a sponge chunk per hand) Also, sometimes painting a base coat of the lightest gradient colour can help, as you don't need to sponge on so much? Cotton sounds like an interesting idea though, I might try that too!

I have a new phone to play with, one which actually takes half decent pictures of my nails, so images now have random backgrounds as most of these are taken in the office at lunchtime/when I have a spare few minutes. Colleagues haven't noticed yet but I'm sure I will get some strange looks when I'm spotted. Sorry for the large pics, I've cropped and resized and they are still coming up massive!
This week I've been playing with my new A-England stash. I love the colours but by the end of day two the polish just peels off.
Guinevere and Princess Tears
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Tristam with silver doodles - didn't realise how blurry the pic was when I took it!
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Elaine with Luxe and Lush (CG)
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
and finally some stamping with my favourite China Glaze - Harvest Moon and Electrify
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

My Nails Inc lucky dip just arrived so can't wait to get started on those. Only ended up with one crackle which will get donated to my niece, rest are all mine mine mine!

It's really interesting how different people get on with different polishes - I used A-England Lady of the Lake a little while ago and it's one of the few manicures in the last few months that I've left on until it had grown out so much that I had to remove it. Not a single chip.

Very pretty manicures stationaryace I love the one with Tristam - your bow is perfect!

Senoshi wrote:Pink at the moment! (Surprising for me; I'm normally a teal/blue/purple kinda girl!)

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I LOVE the dots. So wish I could make them look like that. I need someone to show me in person I think.

Lain wrote:Ares is so gorgeous!! I've been lusting after it forever, one day it shall be mine.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Purple & gold nails for the team I'll (reluctantly) be supporting in the Super Bowl tomorrow night.

Wow that's lovely. How did you do that?

Lain, that purple and gold mani is gorgeous! I keep looking at it and going "ooh" and "aah" at my screen!

HanSpan, if you're in the Kent area and don't mind meeting random people from the internet, I'd quite happily meet up at Bluewater or somewhere to show you how to dot! Otherwise I can try to whip up a photo (or video, eek?) tutorial for you, if you like?

stationaryace, those manis are all so lovely! My favourite is the Tristam one - that little bow just makes it so perfect!

ha, thanks Sam and Senoshi. Blurry photos can hide a multitude of sins as that was a very wobbly bow. I was half watching Top Gear at the time and got distracted by the tiny little car.

I love the dots but it's something I've never tried. I'll be googling that later when OH is watching the football, then slyly buying the tools when he isn't looking. He's staying up for the Super Bowl so if he does notice then I'll convince him tomorrow it was all a dream.

Senoshi wrote:Lain, that purple and gold mani is gorgeous! I keep looking at it and going "ooh" and "aah" at my screen!

HanSpan, if you're in the Kent area and don't mind meeting random people from the internet, I'd quite happily meet up at Bluewater or somewhere to show you how to dot! Otherwise I can try to whip up a photo (or video, eek?) tutorial for you, if you like?

stationaryace, those manis are all so lovely! My favourite is the Tristam one - that little bow just makes it so perfect!

I'd love to meet random talented nail painters but I'm the other side of London in Hertfordshire unfortunately
I've actually met some of my favourite people from what used to be usenet groups and this is the closest thing really. I do love it here even if I don't post that much.

Awww, Han! I've met loads of people online from various places (other forums, MMORPGs, friend-of-a-friend), they've all been lovely! (I even met my boyfriend online, haha!) Distance can be tricky tho, London's usually the best place to squash everyone together, but if you get too far north then it's not worth the journey for some

stationaryace, the dotting tools are pretty cheap on eBay, I shouldn't imagine hubby would complain that much! (If you're really stuck, you could use the end of a hairpin? Or a pin pushed into the end of a eraser-topped pencil?)

Spurred on by the array of lovely dotted nails I've seen over the last few months on this forum, I finally bought some dotting tools from eBay today for £1.00 including postage. Fingers crossed they'll do the job!

Babafette wrote:Spurred on by the array of lovely dotted nails I've seen over the last few months on this forum, I finally bought some dotting tools from eBay today for £1.00 including postage. Fingers crossed they'll do the job!

I bought cheapies from Amazon, they're absolutely fine! It's just the human element that goes a bit bandy........