French Tip Challenge

Over at FB Adventures in Stamping, this Sunday's challenge was using a french tip design.  This is what I came up with. 

French tips are my nemesis...but I've been getting better on the lining up over time, but they are still far from perfect.  So for this challenge, I thought if I *had* to do a french tipped mani, I was going to try using a traditional, white french tip image.  Looking at my nails, while they have a little staining, they aren't terribly bad so I thought I could pull it off...maybe....but before stamping, I added a coat of China Glaze Love Letters for a hint of skin tone colour on my nails.  Personally, I can hardly tell the difference that it was added.

Then did french tipped stamping using m19 with Konad white stamping polish.  I didn't line it up that well and I had to double stamp to cover all the tips.  And about this point, I didn't think I was even going to do the mani so didn't even take a pix...then to top it off, I went to pick up a bottle of polish and really nicked the stamping on the middle finger.  So I had to come up with something to cover it so used unnamed Glamour glitter as a gradient and then Midie no. 8 on top.

 

Here's a pix at this stage...you can see my really bad job of lining up the tips and I think if you click on the middle finger, I'm sure you can see the wrinkle too. You can also see my multi stampings of the french tip to make it thick enough to cover my tips.  What a mess!  Anyhoo, I thought I better add some more stamping to cover up my french tip stamping fail, so used black Konad stamping polish and added a trio of flowers on the top of the tips using Konad m25.

Then topped with SV to finish. 

Here's a pix of my right hand...I didn't do too bad of a job on the tip and the trio of flowers.

Topped with SV.

I think my french tips still need some work, but I didn't mind how this turned out.  In fact, I could easily see myself doing something like this again, maybe changing up the flowers or using another design along with the stamping colour.  Maybe with enough practise, I'll eventually get it right!

Hope you're having a great weekend...thanks for looking! 

Konad Basic Kit 2 + Konad Giveway by Nail Polish Canada

This is another mani I came up with using the Konad Basic Kit that was sent to me by Nail Polish Canada. 

Started with a base of Essie Bikini So Teeny.  This is two coats, with no SV.  This has a gorgeous hidden shimmer...too bad its in hiding in these pix...even on the nail, it wasn't that visible.  Just in the bottle, you can see it...maybe that's why they call this 'So Teeny'...the shimmer is so teeny you can't see it? 

Started a gradient on the tips using FingerPaints Sapphire Shimmer.

Further gradient layering using Magic Visage Glamour.  This is another polish that nailXchange was good enough to send me from her travels; unfortunately, I don't see a name.  So I called it Glamour Silver and Blue Glitter.

Bottle pix....I only wish I had have been a little more messy or not so heavy handed with the FingerPaints so the dark gradient line wasn't so obvious. 

Stamped using m36 which is included in the kit.

It's coming up to the weekend which got me to thinking that this kit would be a good for travelling.  The compact size would make it a great travel companion if you wanted to jazz up you mani's while on vacation without taking a lot of supplies. I could easily see myself putting the contents of the kit in a plastic baggie with a small bottle of remover, some cotton rounds and a couple of the small Essence nail polishes for a couple quick mani changes while away!  So I thought I'd put together a little travel kit in a sandwich baggy just to see if the mani basics would fit and it does....this has all the mani supplies you'd need for some polish changes and stamping...in fact, enough room for a few more plates and more polishes if needed! There's enough here for a quick mani change for a weekend away or while on vacation and the small size of the baggy won't take up a lot of suitcase room...or you could carry it in your purse if you wanted.

I was over at Nail Polish Canada checking out what polishes they have available, and when I was browsing the site, I also seen they are offering another awesome giveaway regarding Konad products.  If you are interested, please go here and click on the giveaway box.  Open to residents of Canada. 

Have a great weekend....and thanks for looking!

Sharing My ROAK

My fellow Canadian nail pal, nailXchange, spent a few months in various countries in Europe.  Her and I met up a few days before she left Canada last year for a swap that we had in progress (maybe even the night before? I can't remember now - it was half a year ago!).  Anyway, when we parted ways, she mentioned that she'd send me polishes that she thought I might like.  I told her no, she didn't have to, but she insisted.   

If you follow her blog, you'll know she has found some absolutely amazing polish finds in her travels.  (If you're not following, I'd suggest you check it out as she does beautiful stamping.)  I was thrilled that not once, but TWICE, she sent me packages while she was away.  The polishes have been sitting at my nail station, patiently waiting while I figured how out to use them  (it took so long cause I'm not really that great in visualizing how the layering of polishes will turn outand what goes well over that...I'm just not that creative as you can tell from the layering combinations I do, if that makes sense! Most of the time, I need to do test swatches just to make sure the end result is somewhat decent! lol). 

So not too long ago, I decided to use one of the new Mash plates for a mani; this is what I came up with.

Started with a base of two coats of Essie Raspberry.  This pix has no topcoat.

Layered gradient with Glamour glitter nail polish.  I'm sure it has a name but nothing I could really pick out specifically to be a name as I don't read Polish.  I called it Glamour Raspberry Glitter in my notes, lol!

Bottle pix of 'Glamour Raspberry Glitter'.

Closer to the tips for a futher gradient look, added Midie 08, which is a holographic glitter in various sizes in a clear base.  Topped with SV.

Stamped using white Konad special polish using Mash-46.

I wasn't terribly thrilled with the bare spot left on the middle finger where I didn't line the image up too well, so I isolated one of the flowers from the plate and stamped it at the base to cover.

Topped with SV.  As usual, its still not too creative in the polish layering but the two polishes accented Essie Raspberry well....at least, I thought so!

Here's bottle shots of the first package I received.

Bottle shots of the second.

Close up of three of them.  The middle one, I'm dying to use but haven't quite figured out what base to use and haven't had time to do any sample swatching.  It and the far left bottle just seem so unique and unlike anything I have in my stash. 

Thanks again nailXchange for your amazing packages!  :)  You really shouldn't have, but I love them all and appreciate your thoughtfulness!  I hope to use the other polishes soon...if only I can come up with something creative enough to do them justice!

Thanks for looking!

PS:  I just remembered nailXchange is having a giveaway; if you are interested in checking it out, please go here!