Monday, December 16, 2013

Nail Polish Canada's 2013 HOLIDAY NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 3 - Holiday Memories


Hello everyone!



This is my entry for week 3 in Nail Polish Canada's 2013 HOLIDAY NAIL ART CHALLENGE. This week, the challenge is Holiday Memories. And it's been interesting to read about my participant's memories. You can look at the other entries, and vote for your favourite nail art here.

When I was a child, dad always took me and my siblings and the dogs with him into the forest to find a Christmas tree. It was a long walk, but we had fun. Sometimes we found animal footprints and animal poo, and dad teached us which animals had been there. He always let one of the dogs carry the axe! :-) She held her head high, and looked very proud. We searched for the perfect tree. And then we "helped" dad carry/ drag it all the way home.


Products used: 
Nailstation: Gomme
Konad SP: Black
Konad SP: White
Stamping plates:
BM-H02 (forest)
MoYou London: Princess collection- 03 (dog)
HB23 (snowflakes)


I bought Nailstation Gomme after seeing it on Marias Nail Art and Polish Blog. It's a gorgeous pastel blue, and according to Norway Nails, it's cruelty-free!!! :-), 3- free, and French.

Lani

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Nail Polish Canada's 2013 HOLIDAY NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 2 - DECORATIONS

Tinsel & Christmas Ornaments


Hello everyone!



My new e-mail from Nail Polish Canada explained that: "This week's nail art challenge is DECORATIONS. Lights, trees, tinsel whatever your favorite holiday decorations are." My favourite Christmas decoration is a palm tree decorated with lights, but that was too difficult for me, so I tried to make tinsel and Christmas ornaments.

To vote for your favourite, and look at all the entries, click here. If you want to participate, you can see details and still register here.









What I did:

I started with the dark green sparkly textured nail polish; IsaDora #112 Emerald Crush, that I bought in October. It's opaque in two coats. This is what it looks like on it's own:




For the tinsel I used a silver holographic bar/ string glitter; IsaDora #861 Shanghai, that I bought on Friday. I put a little on my palette, not to get too much clear polish, and applied the glitter with a brush, and later a doting tool. Then I sealed the stripe of glitter with the clear polish. For my Christmas nails, tinsel is enough, but for the competition, I added a little more.





For the Christmas ornaments, I tried to make 3D circular shapes. This was not easy, so I had to do some clean up. They were made with one layer of Seche Vite, one with silver nail polish (only in the beginning), multipurpose glue, and finally I used a Q- tip to apply the holographic nail foil. (I have written about how to apply nail foil here.)



Products used:

IsaDora: #600 Clear
IsaDora: #112 Emerald Crush
IsaDora: # 861 Shanghai
Palette (a stamping plate)
Brush
Dotting tool
Seche Vite
H&M: Metallic Grey
Q- tip
N.NAIL Shiny Silver Nail Foil Transfer [NNAIL-E24] and glue -used here and here (10% KKCenterHk coupon code: Nailphotos by Lani)






If you want to participate, look at the other nail art entries, or vote for your favourite, use the links above.

I hope you are all doing well. I'm especially thinking about everyone affected by the wind/ hurricane in Europe. Have a nice weekend! :-)

Lani

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Nail Polish Canada's 2013 HOLIDAY NAIL ART CHALLENGE WEEK 1 - SNOW


Hello everyone!



I was very surprised when Nail Polish Canada invited me to participate in their 2013 HOLIDAY NAIL ART CHALLENGE. It made me very happy! :-) I remember the beautiful manicures for last year's challenge, and and it's been very interesting to see what has been made so far this year. The challenge will run for three weeks (one mani per week). And we can participate one week or all three. The theme this first week is Snow, and we can make anything related to snow. This is my entry for week 1. As you hopefully can see, a snow fairy tried to make pink snow in her little Winter Wonderland on my nails. As usual, I have more photos of this manicure, and further down, you'll find a list of products, and I'll tell how I did this.

Although I can't win the prizes, (because I don't have a mailing address in Canada or the U.S.) you can vote for me. Just click here to vote for your favourite, or if you want to take a look at the other entries. If you want to join in, you can find all details and sign in here.








What I did:

1. I started with white nails. Then I made a pink- white gradient. I mixed pink and white nail polish on my palette (the back side of a stamping plate) with a dotting tool, and used a sponge.
2. For the layer of snow on the tips, I used the one stroke technique. I used pink and white acrylic craft paint for that, and a small angled brush. Usually I use fast drying top coat between layers, but this time I added a shimmer top coat first; one coat of IsaDora #769. (It shows IRL.)
3. Then I used different stamping plates, and a XL stamper for the fairy. For the snowflakes I used a Konad stamper most of the time, and white, pink and red Konad stamping polishes. And I made some dots from the fairy's wand.
4. The photos were taken inside. Because it was dark outside, I brought  a bag of snow to the kitchen, and made a little snow photo studio. I used an Ott- Lite, and held my hand in a shoe box with white sheets of paper inside. To not get everything wet, I placed a plastic bag under the snow. I've recently started taping pizza baking paper on the Ott- Lite, after seeing this photo tutorial on My Awesome Beauty. An Ott- Lite lamp is a good alternative, if you live in Canada or other places where there's little winter daylight.

After taking photos with Ott- lite yesterday, I had a chance to take photos in daylight this morning. The one taken in daylight is the first photo, and there you can see the shimmer better. But the gradient shows better on the other photos.



Products used:

IsaDora: #600 (base coat)
IsaDora: #603 Tip White
GOSH: #598 Bubble Gum (pink)
dotting tool
sponge
Acrylic craft paint: Titanium White (white), Rose (dark pink)
small angled brush
IsaDora: #769 Mother of Pearl
Seche Vite (fast drying top coat)
Konad stamping polish: Red, Psyche Pink, Pastel Pink, White
XL stamper
Konad stamper
lint roller (to remove polish from the stamper)
Stamping plates:
Fairy and snowflakes: MoYou London: Princess 07
Snowflakes:
MoYou London: Princess 02
MoYou London: Artist 04
HB-23
BM- 323
1 little bag of snow (for the photos)



I hope you liked these pink snow nails, and that you'll participate in this challenge too. I wonder what the next theme will be.

Lani