Before & After: Rainbow Butterflies

Hello!

Today I'm doing something a little different--a twin post with the very sweet Laura of Little Laura Loves! Laura discovered stamping recently and is diving into it with gusto! She has been playing with the Salon Express stamping plates, so we decided to use the butterfly image on SE18.

I started with a base of Julep Helen, a soft mauve creme:

Julep Helen

Julep Helen

Then I wanted to stamp a spray of butterflies across the nail in a rainbow of colors, almost like the butterfly is changing color as it goes:

I used my Sally Hansen Insta-Dris for this, in Lightning, Orange Impulse, Rapid Red, Brisk Blue, and Going Grape!. Finally, I thought a layer of China Glaze Fairy Dust would give it a magical fairy quality, but I think it was a misstep:

It just seems like a bit too much, and I prefer the crisp contrast of colors without the extra sparkle. What do you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by, and please don't forget to check out what Laura did with the image by clicking here.

Hugs,
M.

Salon Express SE18
SH lightning, orange impulse, rapid red, brisk blue, grape going
Julep Helen
China Glaze Fairy Dust

Before & After: The Anti-Valentine Manicure

Hello!!

Today's prompt in the February Flip Flop Challenge is--go figure--Valentine's Day! Or you can do French tips. But yeah, Valentine's day. :)

I've again prepared a mixed-emotion manicure--it's Valentine's Day themed, but is on the anti-Valentine's Day side again, lol.

I started with a base of Literary Lacquers Lucy, a vampy red-black-silver glitter jelly:

Then I stamped several Valentine's-type designs with Sally Hansen Lively Lilac and over the top I stamped barbed wire with Pure Ice Silver Mercedes; I used Bundle Monster plates BM08 and BM09, and Salon Express plate SE21:

If you don't have the issues I have with Valentine's Day, lol, you could always just leave off the barbed wire...But I have to admit I like the edginess of it the way it is.

Maybe later today I'll post an actual positive Valentine's mani...Hmmm...;-)

Thanks for looking! And please check out the other participants below.

Xoxox,
M.

MSMD: Denim Nails

Hello!!

Now that my Halloween challenges are over, I can get back in the groove a little, and was excited to have time to do a Monkey-See-Monkey-Do Monday manicure again. In my awesome shipment of British polishes that my awesome friend Dina hunted down and bought for me, was a little denim gem--Barry M's Denim. This is a blue polish that goes on matte and looks like (you guessed it!) denim, so I figured it was time for me to do some denim nails of my own.

I've seen so many takes on denim nails that I can't really credit an exact one for my creation, but I do think the first time I saw someone do a version of them was this one here, at Konad Abuse. So I'm not going to re-do hers exactly, but do my own take on the denim nail concept. :)

I started out with--go figure--Barry M. Denim as my base color. Then I wanted to have stitching going around like each nail was a pocket, so I put white dashes around the edges with Sally Hansen White On. Then, I stamped on some yellow flowers with Sally Hansen lightning, and turned them into black-eyed Susans with black rhinestones in the middle (using Salon Express SE-19). I put little green dots around the flowers, but they don't show up that well in the pictures:

Seriously, how cool is that polish? It really is the perfect polish for hassle-free denim nails, and to wear any time you just want to match your jeans. For you ladies out there who aren't sure where to get this in the US, I believe you can find this shade, and some other Barry M's, at www.ninjapolish.com.

Thanks for taking a look!

Xoxox,
M.