Tuesday 9 December 2014

52 Week Pick 'n' Mix Challenge - Dark Green & Camo, and Red & Gold

Hiya lovelies!  So, it's still very quiet around here, but today I have 2 mani's to share with you.  I painted a mani for last weeks Pick 'n' Mix challenge prompt, but I didn't get around to posting it in time, so I figured I might as well post it along with my mani for this weeks prompt.........

So, last weeks 2 prompts were "Dark Green" and "Camo", which is a very easy combination to put together,  I wanted to do something a bit different for my camo, so I decided to do a brushstroke/dry brush mani with 4 shades of green to create my camo base.  I started with just 1 coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Jade Jump, and then started adding random brushstrokes with Barry M - Guava & Key Lime, and Revlon Top Speed - Emerald, and added a top coat.
Then I used a wax pencil to place some square gold studs in a straight line down my ring finger and thumb, and sealed them in with 2 coats of top coat.  For the remaining nails, I stamped some star studs from MoYou London Punk 04 with Barry M - Gold Foil.
When it was almost dry, I mattified the whole thing, being careful not to touch the studs as I wanted them to stay shiny.  I could have just put the studs on once I'd mattified, but I find they come off way too easy if I do.  This way they have a chance of actually staying on more than a couple of hours :D

I really liked how this turned out, it actually remind me of a little camo jacket I own, (not that it fits anymore, but one day....) I think the brushstroke technique lends itself really well to camo, and I love the military feel that the studs and stars help to create.


So, that was last week, but this week our prompts are "Red & Gold", and "Chevrons".  I decided to just do the red & gold prompt, although I may try and squeeze in a chevrons mani later this week too.  (I bought a load of chevron vinyl's in the She Sells Seashells black Friday sale that I am yet to try out so I'm hoping I can find the time)
For this mani I knew exactly which two polishes I wanted to use without a second though; Dark Metal Lacquer - Flashy Sparklies, and A-England - Perceval.  I applied 3 coats of Flashy Sparklies, and 2 coats of top coat as I wanted a nice smooth base for stamping straight lines.
Once my top coat had set, I stamped this candy cane stripe image from MoYou London Festive 03 with Perceval.  I had to re-stamp 3 nails, and I still have a bit of a wonk going on on the ring finger.  I don't use straight lined images very often, and I still need to work on making my stamping action a little smoother, but I was fairly happy with this attempt anyway. I've done much worse haha :D
So I loved how this mani turned out.  These 2 polishes are just perfect for Christmas, and I love the way you can see a tiny bit of the holo peeking through the red.

So, that's it from me today, but I will be back this week, as I have quite a few posts to catch up on.  Hopefully I can get a few posts prepared in advance before I go back to work on Thursday :D

In the meantime, you lucky lot get 2 sets of thumbnails below if you'd like to see what the other Nail Tart's have come up with for this week and last.




2 comments:

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