Konad M56 & M71 Dainty Yellow

 

Colours used: Nail Paint by Barry M - 307 Lemon I/C, Konad SP White, Konad SP Black.
Plate used: Konad Plates M56 & M71.

I should be going to bed, but I'll post my current mani first, as I prob won't get a chance to post for a few days, as I'm rearing a litter of kittens! (I work in an animal shelter, hence the state of my hands, and every now & then I'm handed oprhan babies to rear.)
So here is my Summer Days manicure (I'm ignoring the fact that we are forcast SNOW- in JUNE!)
Over a base coat I painted two coats of Barry M's Lemon I/C (307). I would have painted another but I was afraid it would chip. It is a much paler colour than it looks on the bottle, I thought it would be a bit brighter. But I still like it :)
I stamped with one of the white tip designs from plate M56 - the thicker tip with the swirl design. This is a really beautiful nail tip, it would look really good on pink too - very girly!
As a focal point I stamped bows from Konad Plate M71 on my ring fingers in Black.
I think this is a very sweet design, much more dainty than I would usually go for, I'm a tomboy at heart ;)

Bundle Monster 206 Glitter Balls ;)

Colours used: Nail Paint by Barry M - 296 Coral, Konad SP Black, China Glaze Fairy Dust.
Plate used:Bundle Monster 206

I bought a beautiful Coral coloured polish & couldn't wait to try it! I love the Barry M colours, (I also bought a beautiful yellow which I will try out asap.)
The Barry M Coral (296) is a beautiful, bold, almost - neon colour. I chose to stamp with black as it would really make the Coral 'pop'.

I stamped on what I can only describe as 'Balls on Strings' design from my Bundle Monster plates. Now Having studied Bundle Monster I have come to the conclusion that they do indeed make great plates with great designs, but there is quite a few that - if sold separately - I would never purchase. This plate is one of them. Apart from the Japanese symbol I have never used it. Abyhow, I have set myself a challenge to dive into the unknown & stamped this design.
I didn't like it. But it did stamp well, so I kept it for a day to see if it would grow on me.

In order to make it a bit more appealing I used a glitter top coat to seal this design. I used China Glaze's Fairy Dust, which is an extremely holographic glitter. Maybe a bit too much for this design, the polish was bold enough, but I like shiny things so I was happy with the finished look :)

Konad M64 Stained Glass effect

Colours used: China Glaze - Gussied Up Green, Konad SP White.
Plate used: Konad M 64

A  nice & simple Mani, I just painted two layers of China Glaze Gussied Up Green. This is an extremely dark green colour, it almost looks black unless it is under natural light. To break up this dark colour I stamped a full-nail plate design, a beautiful stained glass effect. This design stamped beautifully with no missing lines or segments, it proves just how much more impressive the Konad plates are compared to the cheaper ones. You really do get what you pay for :)
Top coat is Konad's own brand, one that I find peels easily unless you do a super thin coat in two - three strokes max per nail.

Mobile Art

Colours used: Konad SP White
Plate used: Konad M73

Just a quick post to show you how I stamped my mobile!
I used the large Floral design on Plate M73, but in order to make the design fit I only put polish on 1/3 of the plate before scraping and stamping. In all it took less than five minutes to complete. No top-coat necessary!!
I really didn't think it would last, I thought it would wear off in my pocket or tru general use, as I use my mobile a lot! But it is as fresh as the day I put it on, which is nearly a week ago now.
And now my mobile matches my nails!!! I just need to find more things now to stamp, thinking of doing my Macbook next, but that may take a while...

BM 224 Flowers For Audrey

Colours used: China Glaze - For Audrey, China Glaze - Ruby Pumps, Konad SP Black.
Plate used:Bundle Monster 224


I cannot tell you how much I love my new China Glaze polishes!!! I bought them on Ebay for under $3 each (& shipping). I was warned previously to only buy 6 at a time or Customs will come banging on my door ;) I have been dying to try out For Audrey polish ever since I started stamping. I'm delighted to say it's not over-rated, it is a beautiful, smooth polish & even works for stamping! Happy days!!!

So I chose the chunkier Floral design from BM 224 (there is two flower designs on this plate, I picked the one with the bigger flowers) and after painting on two coats of beautiful For Audrey polish & allowing to dry, I stamped the flowers with Black Konad special polish.

When I was finished stamping & the SP had dried I dotted the centre of the flowers with China Glaze Ruby Pumps, a delicious deep Crimson glitter polish.

Don't forget to finish with a clear coat for added shine and to seal in your design!!! (Oops an accidental rhyme!)

M83 Leaf Motif!

Colours used: Rimmel Lycrya Pro Professional Polish in 385- Hot List & Rimmel I Love Lasting Finish in 239- Your Majesty.
Plate used: Konad M83

 OK I haven't posted in a while but I've been keeping track of all my mani's & have pics so will post them all up over the next few days. I'll start with this delicious deep Purple mani with a shimmering silver Leaf design.
I bought this Purple/Brown/Red (seriously!!) polish while I was waiting on my delivery of China Glaze. I painted two coats, and couldn't decide if it was beautiful or ugly! It is definitely unique! (I have since decided that I rather love it :D )

Anyway I first tried stamping in Red to try pick up on the red iridescent sheen that goes tru it, but it clashed awfully, so I tried a shimmering Silver. I think it matches much better, in some light the silver cannot be seen at all, which adds to the beauty of it when the light hits it. It is an interesting combination of colours which changes in different light, I'm not usually a big fan of dark coloured nails but this is helping me change my mind!!

Beautiful or ugly...I can't decide!!!

M57 & M71 Lovely Lace Design

Colours used: Essence Colour & Go in 36 Enchanted Fairy, Rimmel Lycra -500 Peppermint, Konad SP Black & White.
Plate used: Konad M57 & M71


Officially my favourite mani to date!
I absolutely adore this, it is quirky, pretty & very very simple to do :)
I started off by painting a quick base coat and allowing to dry. Then I taped the top 1/4 of my nails with regular sellotape (I stuck it to my jeans first to remove some of the 'stickiness' so I wouldn't rip off the base coat when removing)

I then painted two layers of Essence's shade 36-Enchanted Fairy on the untaped 3/4 section. After this had dried (and without removing the tape) I stamped the net motif from Konad M57. I then sealed this with a glitter top coat and allowed to completely dry.

I then carefully removed the sellotape by peeling it off slowly and carefully.
I painted the top 1/4 of my nail taking care not to paint over the section I had already painted. (This is where the top coat comes in handy-if you do make a mistake you can easily remove the overlap without having to re-do the entire nail) For this I used Rimmel's Lycra polish in 500 - Peppermint.

After the top coat had dried I carefully aligned the lace motif from Konad M71 to overlap the green & pink colours. This was very easy to align as the sellotape guide at the start gave me a straight line to stamp across :)
I then sealed with a clear top coat.
Again I love love love this! It looks like stickers on my nails, it is really pretty & perfect, I'm tempted to keep it for a few days instead of my usual 24 hours, it's a design I won't get bored of looking at easily :D

Konad M64 Red and Gold

 Colours used: Barry M Nail Paint - 273 Raspberry, Revlon -  900 Gold Get 'Em & Konad SP Black
.Plate used: Konad M64.

I just bought this great new red nail varnish called Barry M - 273 Raspberry. It is a lovely colour with a hint of raspberry/cherry fusion.

 

I applied two coats and then sponged on gold tips using a transparent glitter gold varnish, I used Revlon's Gold - 900 Get 'Em.
I use a make-up sponge for this technique, starting at the tips and working half-way down the nail so that there is more varnish on the tips. After it has dried I go over the top-most parts for added colour-blending.

At this point my cat Lucy decided to lie on the cushion I was using to photograph my nails on, so I used her instead =^..^=

Lucy sticking her tongue out - she's usually much prettier :)

I then chose Konad M64, the criss-cross motif, and stamped it in black.
Then a thin layer of top-coat to seal the design, and Voila!! ***The gold stamp took aaaagggeeesss to dry, next time will ensure that I pick up less varnish with the make-up sponge :)

M83 Fatal Polish!

   
Colours used: Essence multi Dimension xxxl shine Nail Polish in shade 20-Fatal Black & Konad SP White
.Plate used: Konad M83.

I done something very scary today, I bought black nail varnish  :O
I have never ever worn black, I always thought it was a goth-only colour and stayed at the other end of the colour spectrum! But today I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.
I'm loving Essence polishes lately, they're cheap and cheerful & so far I've been lucky as none have chipped. I chose one called Multi Dimension in shade 20-Fatal (what a great name!) It is a beautiful wet-look polish, and only €2.99.
I needed two coats as the first was kind of a liquorish transparent colour - not nice, and it took about 20 minutes to dry - even then it was still tacky, but I deemed it ready to stamp.
Now a bold colour needs a bold pattern, so I picked a beautiful Lotus-like print from plate M83 which always reminds me of Harlequin wallpaper. I stamped in Konad White.

This Mani was just going to be a test as I'm going out tonight and had planned a spectacular French Mani in pink & silver, but I think I'll keep this. It will definitely get noticed and I'm looking forward to hearing some feedback!

Konad M73 & M71 Flowers & Lace

 Colours used: Rimmel Lycra Pro in 293 Pop Rose, Konad SP Black & Konad SP White
.Plate used: Konad M73 & M71

I painted two coats of Rimmel Pop Rose & allowed to completely dry.
(I forgot to photograph the next bit so I'll try be overly descriptive!) When it had completely dried I took small squares off a roll of sellotape and used it to tape of the top corner of one nail at a diagonal angle, from just under the tip at one side to 1/3 the way down the nail at the opposite side. Ensure that the base colour is completely dry before putting sellotape on it or it will peel the colour straight off your nail. I removed some of the 'stickiness' from the tape by sticking it to my jeans first!
I then stamped with the beautiful floral design on plate M73. This always stamps really well for me :)
Before removing the sellotape I went over the stamped design with a top coat.
I then removed the sellotape and in the section left I carefully aligned the white lace design from Konad Plate M71. I stamped this slowly, using the slight line left behind from the top coat as a guide.
I then sealed the entire design with Essence Glitter Top Coat, I actually used two coats of this as the glitter is very sparse & small.
This design took about an hour to complete, mainly because of the time required for the varnish to dry completely between coats.