NOTD: Mock Croc

Picked up some of this Barry M Mock Croc stuff over the weekend and thought that it might look nice. With something. Fancied some glitter but didn't because I'm already perma-covered with it, and couldn't be arsed with the removal.

Plan B was pink, and it's one from the chemist - Laura Paige 26 Limited Edition (orginally swatched here). Put two coats of this on, horribly application, then slapped some of the Barry M Mock Croc stuff over it to hide the rubbishness. It came out ... interestingly with the little finger looking the best out of the lot.

Wasn't too keen on this combo at all, but it did have promise. Attempted a fix with some fine silver glitter and that looked a bit nicer, then chucked some ELF matte top coat over it. Much better. Quite like it now, but won't be mega-disappointed when it chips.

Plugs of the Day were abstract orchid ones because I seem to lack a good amount of pink things to stick in my ears. Remedying this.

Holo is My ...

Look, I'm wearing yellow! What's going on? And why won't this post show up in Google Reader if I have the word Crack in the title?

Collection 2000 Hot Looks 22 Oh La La.

No, I've not gone back to chain-smoking, instead I am wearing Collection 2000 Hot Looks Oh La La, a pearly golden yellow that simply isn't my colour whatsoever. Don't even know how it came to be in my possession, must have borrowed it from someone. Sorry if it's yours, you can have it back. I'm so far out of my comfort zone right now that I am situated somewhere near Neptune.

Back to the polish - application was not a problem, four coats were needed for opacity and drying time was utterly ridiculous -- it refused to dry and stayed in an uncured state for most of the evening, so possibly the formula has gone off. It is old and a bit smelly.

I'd read about Custom Painting Pearls and their holographic flakes over at Blingernails (thanks Missus Blingernails, you're my hero) and naturally ordered a nice 25g bag. That's a lot of bling :) Immediately after delivery I got to the mad experimentation and managed to produce this franken of Laura Paige Black Crackle and holographic flakes, which are more like tiny holo glitters.

Holo is My Crack franken. It's not really working as it should

I had to add a lot of the holo glitter to get the final effect, which wasn't all that (but better than the above pic). The glitter also left the franken rather dense and hard to work with, and the amount of glitter added affected the cracking and it didn't crackle as much -- the W7 Earthquake Silver hardly cracked at all with the added holo.

The franken was very powdery, had the same texture as dried cement and needed several layers of top coat to bring out the bling. It wasn't all that holo-y but I still named it 'Holo is My Crack'.

Now with added Spectraflair top-coat and a nice tip-chip

I did initially give the crackle the Spectraflair treatment but it didn't show up at all, which was a bit gutting as crackle would look AWESOME with linear holo. So I chucked some Spectraflair top-coat over it.

TOP TIP: Has your Spectraflair polish gone horribly wrong? Never fear, put some thinner in the bottle, let the Spectraflair sediment settle to the bottom and then pour out the contents onto a paper towel. The paper towel should absorb a lot of the thinned polish, leaving you with a pretty pile of Spectraflair on the towel and in the bottle.

Hatful of Holo

I saw a post quite recently on Blingernails about the wonderful Spectraflair pigment and I had to have a go at it because it looked so gorgeous and colourful and blingtastic. In fact, Blingernails is currently having a giveaway and one of the prizes is some of the luvverly Spectraflair. Go enter!

I scored a gram of it from Custom Creation Paints and it turned up a couple of days later. Hurray. As I'd always fancied a good, black holo polish I made one out of some MUA Shade 2 (black)and some Spectraflair and called it Blimey Holographic.

One coat of franken Blimey Holographic

Dodgy photos today as there has been no sun, and my camera could only pick up the holo under certain lighting conditions, so had to make do with my melting desk-lamp. Have to say that the nails looked fantastic in Costa's yesterday, and I may have done a spot of finger-waggling with my large mocha. Such a poser.

Blimey Holographic in the Ferrari Pose

Some nice holo going on there. This is the bit where I'm unfortunately a bit unhelpful and say that I have no idea how much Spectraflair I put in, just added small amounts with a tiny scoop thingee then thought, "oh that looks OK, I'll put some on now". Didn't add a great amount as there is still LOADS left, really was maybe a bit stingy with it.

I had this bottle of silver Konad Special polish that wasn't all that, and spent it's life sitting in a box waiting to be used. It got the Spectraflair treatment and I attempted a Konad with the new holoed up polish and fauxnad Image Plate B (design is also on Konad plate m50). The holo didn't show up at all until it got some top-coat over it, then it looked pretty rainbowy. Finished it off with some dots of holo glitter (an ancient bottle of Boots 17 Party Animal) and was all blinged up for the weekend.

Holo base, holo Konad, holo glitter. Don't think I missed anything.

Where's my holo gone?

I have yet to destroy this mani. Go me :)

Paint it Black

I'm a disaster sandwich today. So far, I've spilt things, broken a thumbnail, lost things, dropped things and literally melted off the top layer of my desk with acetone. Also completely wrecked this Gosh Black Passion job wot I started on last night.

Gosh 533 Black Passion before it got ruined.

I know I had black nails the other day but I just couldn't say no to the silver shimmer over the black -- you can just about make out the shimmer in the photo. Colour is nice, application is nice, can't moan about this polish at all.

I only Konaded a couple of nails as they looked OK that way, and I wasn't too sure what to put on the others, so they got left alone -- a first! Used Gosh 549 Holographic as a stamping polish and the star full nail design on Bundlemonster plate BM21. Some of the stars were coloured in with more Gosh 549 Holographic, and the main star got an outer glow of NYC Starry Silver Glitter.

Some mental holo going on there.

:( Was seriously more bummed out about ruining my nails than melting the desk TBH, but was quickly cheered up by Deez Nailz linking here, thanks muchly missus! :)

Goldfingahs!

I got given a Boots 17 gift box a while back and hadn't worn any of them for my giving-up smoking plan. Until now.

Nightshade was my first pick, mainly because it was black. The bottle makes it look as though there's a very dark bluey-green sheen to it, but I've not really noticed it on the nails.

Boots 17 Fast Finish Nightshade Swatch

My lovely son got me some Boots 17 Crackle Top Coat for Mother's Day that was begging to be put on over all that shiny black. This went on fairly thickly with some diagonal brush strokes.

Nice Crack

I don't normally wear gold at all -- I can't even remember the last time I wore it, so gold fingers was a bit of a :0 for me. Quite like it, though,and I've not Konaded it. Shock! Thanks muchly, lovely son, you rock!

Kevin Spacey's Midlife Crisis Thing

Couldn't decide what colour to wear so asked the blokey. He suggested red and black and, since he puts up with my polish habits, I went along with it. I had made this frankenpolish ages ago out of some old 90s red polish and half a vial of red Hobbycraft glitter, and was frankly too scared to use it because of all the glitter.

Today, for my lovely blokey, I shall wear it.

Kevin Spacey's Midlife Crisis Thing Frankenpolish. Oh dear.

I put three coats on and it wasn't too bad -- it reminded me of a bath full of rose petals for some reason, which reminded me of Kevin Spacey's midlife crisis thing in American Beauty. And from this, a ridiculous name for the frankenpolish was born -- Kevin Spacey's Midlife Crisis Thing, hereafter known as KSMCT.

KSMCT itself was quite clunky and lumpy and a bit oogly but I liked the way the different layers of glitter interacted with each other. Sadly, I wasn't too happy with the overall look (it looks fab on my toes, mind) and stamped over it all with Superdrug MUA Shade 2 (black) and Konad plate m64. And then it started to look really badass :)

Kevin Spacey's Midlife Crisis Thing & Konad m64

Yeah, I like this, I feel like I have Darth Maul's face on my fingers. Thanks blokey, you're ace!

*Edit: this frankenpolish was a bit of a pain to remove because of the sheer amount of glitter in there, but it also seriously stained my nails. I mean proper stained, I used base coat and everything, and the franken just kicked it right in the arse.

Thank You For Coming To Knebworth

I've been wanting to see Opeth for years and years and years but never got round to it. This year, they're coming locally to the Sonisphere Festival which is just over there *gestures vaguely*. I'm so chuffed about this that I've done Opeth nails, loosely based on their album 'Blackwater Park'. Cover is pictured on the right there, say hello, album cover!

Started off with a bit of the old Avon Matte Black As Night. I've swatched it for your viewing pleasure, though it is very boring as it's matt black. I apologise for my minging cuticles, I've been abusing them :(

It's matte and it's black -- it's Avon Matte Black as Night.

I started off by sponging the top portion of the nail with light grey acrylic paint. I applied some tiny blobs of black around the tips using a small brush, then dabbed them with a sponge. A small amount of white acrylic paint was dabbed on to the centre and blended in with a sponge. It looked pretty manky at this point, as you can see.

The next Konading part was meant to be painstakingly photographed step-by-step but I got into it a bit and completely forgot to do it.

Stamping in the sillouhettes was first. I used Superdrug MUA Shade 2 as the stamping polish and stamped on the four lines design from the Fauxnad m03 plate. These lines were meant to represent the creepy people hiding in the trees.

Next up was Fauxnad plate m43 -- there was a tree shape on there which would do. I stamped this pattern on twice, once upside down  to make it look like there were trees, though they look like bits of bamboo TBH.

Then it was time for a squiggly design on the Konad m70 plate, I used this with Superdrug MUA Shade 11 and stamped it over the black area at the bottom.

My Nails' Tribute to Blackwater Park

Up there is the end result. It doesn't look like the Blackwater Park album cover at all but I like the overall effect so I've kept it on. It's hard putting album covers on my nails, but it's bloody brilliant fun.

\m/ As Metal As Flippin' eck Nails \m/

Decided to go with some silver today so I've swatched the Saffron Colour 13.

Saffron Colour 13 Swatch. Shiny Silver.

Nice and shiny, it does the job, available from Blush Cosmetics, eBay and maybe in your local chemist, and it costs a quid for a bottle. This is good. What wasn't good was breaking my Boots boycott by purchasing a bottle of Barry M Nail Effects 311 Crackle stuff :O

Barry M Nail Effects 311. It crackles me up.

I applied different thicknesses of the crackle polish to see how it affected the final look; the index finger sported a very thick coat, middle finger was a thickish coat and the ring finger had a thin application. Can't remember what I did with the little finger, anyway I like the thin coat the best. A top coat of Rimmel Ultra Pro Matte Finish finished the job and then a nice plumber came round to fix my cold tap before my nails had dried properly and I gouged a bit out by turning off the stopcock.  Bummer.

Bad Bad Fauxmance

Made me some Frankenpolish today, using that awful Avon Matte Black stuff and some other eBay glitter polish that came from China, and managed to produce some bad Bad Fauxmance, a take on Deborah Lippmann's Bad Romance.

Using the Chinese nail varnish for the picture as there wasn't quite enough glitter in my Frankenpolish.

Cheap, cheerful and you can get high off the chemicals. Nails are dented as I trashed the top coat :(

The glitter in this is well nice, it appears bright pink but goes to purple and red, depending on the light. It also lasts pretty well, considering I've wearing it with the oh-so fragile Avon Matte; I've cleaned the bathroom and done all sorts wearing this and it hasn't chipped, which leaves me wondering, "how on Earth am I going to remove this stuff*".

I also have to say that the Chinese eBay nail polish (DICI is it? DIIC? Don't Inhale It's Caaaah ... ) absolutely stinks to high heaven, it's like a smelly cross between lots of Superglue and paint thinner. Seriously, if you get this you may want to apply in it a well-ventilated area. I didn't and I actually quite enjoyed it %o)

*Removed it with nail polish remover and it came off pretty easily. Win.

Blingtastic Purple

I was out gathering nicotene patches yesterday and I found this stonker for the princely sum of £2.29:

Three coats of bloomin' 'eck

This is a swatch of Laura Paige 43 Limited Edition Voodoo Violet and it isn't what I expected to find in the cheapo nail polish section of the local chemist. It is fab, a purple base with purple microglitter and larger bits of holographic glitter. ISTR there being a silver version of this as well but I was quite captivated by the purple (and I only had a couple of quid spare). It also came with a free black eyeliner, which was rather \o/

It lasts well too, we had a pretty hardcore sesh of Rock  Band 3 last night, resulting in one small break and no chips. Good work!

Oooh

I layered some on over Avon Matte Black (the stuff that chips like a potato) and it looked pretty cool; the purple microglitter shows up beautifully though I'm not sure what happened to the holo glitter. This one will be staying on for a few days, it's bloody fantastic.

That's A Bit Girlie

I loved the Not Like The Movies that I had on yesterday, but it gave me a weird zombie flesh tone and I didn't want hands that looked reanimated. Thought it would make a good base for Gosh 549 so slapped some of that over it. then took an awful picture of it.

Simply can not work effectively in these conditions.

Gosh 549! Now with Flash!

Then I got some new ink done (lillies) by the lovely Jim at Triple Ace Tattoos, Bedford, which made me so :) that I did my nails with flowery things. Using the Gosh 549 as a colourful base I stamped over it twice with some MUA Shade 2 using Konad plate m36. Then I put some Saffron Colour 04 glitter over the butterflies and some Nubar Opulent Pearl over the flowers.. Unfortunately, couldn't put any top coat over it as it killed the holo effect, so it all resulted in a bit of a splodgy mess.

Horrible splodgy mess.

It would have looked better if I'd taken the photo just after I had done them but the light was bad then I trashed them a bit by playing Rock Band 3 and now they're :(

Space Nails

This nail bling continues on from yesterday's Avon Matte disaster and subsequent glitter repair-job. The glitter did look like a nice starfield, and I'd not long seen a right groovy tutorial on Space Nails at Nails by Asami, so I thought I'd give them a whirl.

It all seemed easy enough, matte black base, holo and duochromes and glitter; I was halfway there already. Using a sponge that started life as one of those washing up sponges with a scouring pad on, I sponged away with me polishes and worked out that I had managed to apply 11 coats so far:

Base coat, two coats of Avon Matte Black as Night, spot of Konading, two coats of Sally Hansen top coat, two coats of the Saffron Colour 06 (black with silver glitter), a sponging of Gosh 549 (holographic and so very  shiny), a sponging of Nubar - Peacock Feathers (purple and green duochrome) and one coat of NYC Starry Silver Glitter (chunky blue, silver and lavender glitter). Blimey.

It's a bit spacey, I suppose.

I was going for a nice opulent cloud look there which was actually working quite nicely, until I put some chunky glitter on. It went a bit clunky after that and spoilt the opulence really, so I opted to add even more polish to that lot.

Space Nails II - Peacock Feather's Revenge

That's more sponged-on Gosh 549 and Nubar Peacock Feathers and some of the Saffron Colour 06 glitter. Oh, and a quick layer of some random top coat I found in a drawer that was a gift in the 1990s. The excessive glitter still ruins it, unfortunately, and the picture came out a bit clunky because my camera is a phone-cam and because I have 15 coats of nail polish on, but they look nice and shiny in real life. Yay!

Glitter Makes Everything Alright

I tried some Avon Matte Black as Night out today and we really didn't get on. It went on OK, dried quickly and looked pretty damn fine but it was very fragile and chippy. It chipped so quickly that I couldn't even get a photo of it :( I decided to go for a quick repair-job instead of taking it off and putting something shiny on, and a spot of Konad seemed the way to go.

No, it's still a bit Pete Tong

I stamped over it using Konad plate m63 with Maybelline Forever Strong - Lilac Pearl, which is a damn good stamping polish and it's 99p on eBay. But it just wasn't right. The photo is awful, the Avon Matte kept chipping so I had to repair the stamped bits by hand using an old liquid eyeliner applicator and I just wasn't sure about it. Nor was the Avon Matte, as it kept chipping away until I got the right hump with it and went over it all with two coats of Saffron Colour 06 (black with silver glitter, about a quid for a bottle).

Saffron Colour 06 Saves The Day

You can still see the Konading beneath the glittery layer because of the flash and because I missed bits out on the sides, but it looks fine in normal light, like a shiny shiny starfield. Nice.