Happy Birthday January

I know I missed out on December's birthday post. I did have a plan for it and that did not involve the December floral emblem of holly. There will be another December to post in since the world did not end. ;)

Many of you would know that the birth stone for January is the garnet. The rhinestone flowers I used in this manicure represent garnet. I know that most people picture garnet as a different shade of red but that was the best red I had in my wheel of blossoms. What you may not know is that the Chinese plum (aka Japanese apricot) is the January floral emblem in China. Plum blossoms are a common oriental motif that I like so I thought I would bring it back to the blog after the last appearance in Spring.

My base colour is a-England Dragon. Two coats were applied but the beauty could not be appreciated when I first took pictures as it was overcast. I am not going to complain because the coolness the weather has brought is a welcome relief from the high temperatures we have had lately. The sun did peep out for a few moments after I had applied some cuticle oil. A dash was made to take at least one picture to show the scattered holographic loveliness that is Dragon.

Using Konad plate M66 I stamped my favourite stone fruit blossom image in China Glaze Cherish. I did consider a red for the stamping but I decided for the chrome of Cherish instead. Seche Vite was applied over the stamping. What is unusual is that I stamped directly on the dry base colour. This colour dried satisfactorily fast to enable me to stamp without waiting hours for the firmness required.

On each fully stamped blossom a rhinestone was placed on the wet Seche Vite. That brings us to the end result. I think the manicure turned out well but the red and green could have a Christmas vibe to it. Still, I like it and I hope those who celebrate their birthday in January do as well.

Pink Ribbon Day

Due to this moving operation, I have not been able to do my nails. They have turned my nails into shabby nubbins. I was supposed to post for Pink Ribbon Day yesterday but what could I put on here? I decided that there was only one thing I could do.

A few months ago I was going to do a manicure with China Glaze TTYL. I think it is a lovely peachy pink holographic and I was planning on doing some nail art over the top. After I snapped some pictures I had to go to work. By the time I returned home the polish had chipped beyond rescue but I saved the pictures. My intentions were that I would do a manicure design with this polish as the base colour but...

All of these Breast Cancer Foundations seem a little confusing. There are four major organisations in Australia and they all work together. Thank goodness. The National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) also uses the symbol of the Pink Ribbon for their logo. When you buy something with the pink ribbon logo with money to support breast cancer research, this is the organisation your money should be going to. NBCF's focuses exclusively on research with the hope of no death from breast cancer by 2030.

Happy Together! - Rainbow Smiles

For some reason my manicure makes The Turtles' song "Happy Together" get stuck in my head. Is it the rainbow of colour? Then there is the extra rainbow goodness from the holographic polish... Maybe it is just because there are so many happy faces all together on my nails?

So we have:
Thumb - China Glaze Gr8
Index - A-England Dragon
Middle - Spectraflair franken made from Rimmel Blue My Mind
Ring - China Glaze LOL
Little - Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Pink Rose Diamond

I made a little bit of a mess on my little finger by stamping a little too hard and smooshing my polish.

My stamping was done in Konad White Pearl and I used a Bundle Monster image plate. The plate itself is BM-304. On my right hand I used the negative image that is also found on this plate. I did an even worse job on my right hand I did on my left. This is what happens when you try to rush through a manicure in the morning before work. I also have a hard time trying to photograph my right hand. I know, any excuse.

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together...

Inspiration: Purple Animal Print Jacket

Recently I was trying to pack for a little weekend away. What do I pack to wear? I am not usually one for animal prints but I liked a jacket in a purple and cream animal print. It inspired me to have a manicure to match.

To start with I used Sephora by OPI Don't Feed the Hand Models so that I would not need so many coats of Avon Vanilla Shake. Two coats of Vanilla Shake was applied and then I let it dry. A gradient was sponged on with a make up sponge with both Vanilla Shake and China Glaze Cowgirl Up. I alternated the direction of the gradient to match the jacket better.

There seem to be a few different styles of animal print on the jacket. I decided to use the cheetah image from Bundle Monster plate BM-221 and I stamped with Konad Black.

This manicure was effective and I think it matched my inspiration well. Cowgirl Up's shimmer also mimicked the sheen from the material. I am very pleased with my first animal print manicure. Maybe I should try another?

Wear It Purple Day for Rainbow Youth

Wear purple? Of course! I love to wear purple. To team wearing purple with a good cause such as bringing awareness to the risks of suicide and the plight of "rainbow" youth, now that is even better. My Strumpet brought it to my attention that it was not just Wear Teal Day and with this type of cause it deserves another manicure and another post today.

You have the right to be proud of who you are.
Wear it Purple exists in order to help GLBTIQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer) youth at risk. Run by students, we aim to stop the ignorance, bullying and suicides.

From the Wear It Purple website.

The perfect to colour in my opinion is a purple holographic polish. It is both purple and rainbow. My only purple holographic polish is China Glaze LOL. Of course I had to add a rainbow row of rhinestones. Wear It Purple and wear it proud.

Bee Obsessed Dad - Featuring VL002 Honeycomb Image

Happy Father's Day Dad! This one is especially for you.

The reason why I perk up my ears when something involving bees comes along is because of my Dad. He is an apiarist and is currently showing Mr R the tricks of the trade. Bee related things also make for great presents for both him and my mother since they have a good bee collection.

When I was browsing etsy for Indie nail polish, I came across Vivid Lacquer's store. My attention was immediately drawn to her stamping plates. Honeycomb alert! I had to wait for a little while for some disposable income but buy both plates I did. They arrived in excellent condition in their own plastic bag inside of a black box. The plates also had blue plastic film to protect the surface of the plate.

Two coats of China Glaze Happy Go Lucky were used as the base colour and the stamping was done in essence Just In Case. When I tested Just In Case for stamping on paper it seemed to do well. It did not stamp so well with this plate. I chose Just In Case because I thought it would go well with the yellow and I did not want to stamp with gold or black. The honeycomb image is from VL002. In my opinion the stamping on my thumb seems to have worked the best and this was the first nail I stamped on. Using nail glue, I affixed a fimo slice bee to my middle finger.

In my pictures I am holding a candle that Mr R, Miss L and I made with honeycomb foundation. Bee keepers often attach sheets of this to frames in their bee hives to help the bees out and to maintain neat honeycomb production. You don't want the bees making their honeycomb anywhere they want.

Awesome Aussie August: Duck Feathers aka Ozotic 505

Some time ago when it was much warmer than it is now, I was at the park with my Strumpet and our children. There is a creek that runs through this park and some ducks inhabit the creek. It is not difficult to get me started on nail polish since I am obsessed with it. My Strumpet said that she thought it would be great to have a nail polish that flashes the different colours of a duck's feather.

I finally have something to offer here that I think resembles the flash from green to blue to purple. Just like a duck's feather. Yes, it is Ozotic 505 and it will always be Duck Feathers to me. Sadly it is discontinued. Each time I look at it I am always mesmerised. I catch a glimpse of emerald green or the elusive pink and gold shift. Sometimes it is purple and teal. How many pictures you could take of this and still not capture the beauty.

Just out of the water - the pink and gold shift.

My manicure is two coats of Duck Feathers over the Fantasy Maker's Wet N Wild Black. It would take too much to try to build it up to opacity. Sadly, I don't have pictures of the emerald green shift because my camera will not co-operate with the awesomeness of the multichromatic pigments in this polish.

To complete the theme, I stamped some feathers with China Glaze 2030. Both images are from Bundle Monster. The single feather is from BM15 and the other is from BM-214.

I think I need more moisturiser with this harsh Winter weather.

Again and again I try to get the colours and emerald green is there on my nail but not on the camera. I did capture this glorious purple.

To my Strumpet,

I hope you love Duck Feathers as much as I do.

<3 ME xoxoxox