Blue & Gray

A friend of mine at work today had gray nail polish, and it inspired me to do mine in Pure Ice "Kiss Me Here." Then I wanted to stamp with a design I hadn't used before, and this criss-cross flower one from Pueen plate #23 caught my eye. Love this bright blue Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Blue Me Away!" for stamping :o)

It's a Girl

I'm throwing my friend a baby shower tomorrow, and it's a girl, so we're doing everything pink. (I hate reinforcing traditional gender roles, especially before the kid's even born, but it's a cute theme.)

This was one of my more involved manis. I started with a base of Wet n Wild "Tickled Pink," and then used a sponge to create a gradient with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Love Train" on the tips. I almost left it like that because it looked so nice, but I went ahead with my original plan and used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Slick Slate" to stamp a design from Pueen plate #59. The gray tones down the pink nicely.

Gradient Dots

Inspired by a few "dotticure" pictures I pinned on Pinterest, I decided to try a kind of gradient version. On top of a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Brisk Blue," I dotted Pure Ice "Black Out," "Kiss Me Here" (gray - that name makes no sense), and "Superstar" (white).

It turned out neat, but I'm not 100% happy with it. It took me a couple nails to figure out a pattern, and on the dark base, the white really sticks out, as compared with the black and gray.

Next I'd like to try a gradient base with a single color of dots on top!

Gray Butterflies

I have a busy week coming up at work, so I wanted to do something that wouldn't look bad when it starts to chip, haha! So I went with my much-loved Nina Ultra Pro "Spun Sugar," and stamped my ring fingers and thumbs with the butterfly design on Konad plate m20 using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Grey Area."

I bought this and a couple other Konad plates when I first started stamping, and have barely touched them since, so it was nice to pull this one back out.

Sophisticated Silver

Inspired by Am1e's recent "Sophisticated Saturday" post, I decided to use this design from Pueen plate #28. The base is Sephora by OPI "Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam," and I stamped with my new Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Gone Gray," which in the bottle looked like a very dark metallic gray. In real life, it's just... silver, and isn't as "one coat" as most of the other Insta-Dri colors. It's nice, it just wasn't the look I was expecting.

"Buffet" of Hearts and Stars

When I saw the new Pueen "Stamping Buffet" collection, I fell in love! But then it sold out and wasn't available to purchase for a couple weeks. The minute it was back in stock, I ordered mine!

For my first try with the "all over" style of plates, I went with the hearts, stars, and spirals on plate #63. I love how every finger is different, but they all go together.

I used Sephora by OPI in "Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam," and stamped with Sally Hansen InstaDri in "Vigorous Violet." The InstaDri polishes are usually really good for stamping, but I always forget that this particular color is a little more sheer, so it came out a little lighter than I'd like.

More Bird Stuff

Wasn't going to stamp tonight, but then I decided to add a little something. Of course, I have a hard time lining up images, so it might have been better to just leave them plain.

This is Sephora by OPI in "Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam" (no clue when this came out, I found it on sale at a Big Lot's recently), stamped with Wet n Wild in "Black Creme." The bird is from BM-401, and the feather (which you have seen many times before) is on BM-419.

Pinned it and Did it: Gray Vines

Here's another Pinterest-inspired mani! I found this one actually while browsing Instagram, and loved it! However, I have some events coming up and didn't want to go quite as dramatic as using black on the light background, so I stamped in gray (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Slick Slate") on a base of Nails Inc. "Porchester Square." The stamp design is the same, from Pueen plate #33.

Pinned it and Did it: Gray Feather

I find a lot of inspiration photos on Pinterest and Instagram, but I've never tried to really duplicate one before. I really liked the look of this one, though, and I just got these Bundle Monster plates, so I decided to try it. It was easy enough, and I think it turned out well, except at first glance the pink nails look like I forgot to paint them...

I don't know what colors were used in the original, but I used OPI for Sephora "Dance Til Fawn" for the gray and Nina Ultra Pro "Spun Sugar" for the pink (just picked this up at Sally and I love the color!), and the feather is from plate BM-419. Here's the original next to my version:

Pink Polka Dots

I really like the color scheme here; gray + pastels seems very current. This is Sephora by OPI "Dance Til Fawn," with dots of Wet n Wild "Tickled Pink." Tickled Pink has proved not to be so good for stamping, and gets streaky as an all-over color, but it's great for dotting. I almost went with more of a fuchsia for the pink, but I'm glad I ended up going with the pastel.

Monotone Swirls

After a week without any stamping, I wanted to do something a little subtle. So I went with a base of OPI for Sephora "Under My Trench Coat," and stamped some swirls from Pueen plate 46 in Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Grey Area." Hopefully neutral and something I won't feel like updating right away.

I did get a little bit of streakiness when I added the top coat, but it's not horrible...

The colors are probably more accurate above, but the picture below is clearer, with the flash:

Coffee Table Rings

This circle pattern on Pueen plate 47 reminded me of the rings left on your table when you don't use a coaster.

The end result was a little more subtle than I'd intended. The Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes I've tried have been pretty opaque and good for stamping, but I guess "Vigorous Violet" didn't have quite enough pigment to stand up to Pure Ice in "Kiss Me Here" (which is a weird name for a gray color, btw).

Here is a picture after I added a top coat - it didn't streak too badly:

Subtle Strings

I'm not too happy with this one... I've liked this design on Pueen plate 45 since I first saw it - it sort of looks like strings of beads. But I chose the wrong color to use for the stamp: Revlon "Black with Envy." It was just too sheer. However, I love the base color, Wet n Wild in "Rain Check."

The result is a bit more subtle than I'd like.

So I added a little Wet n Wild "French White Creme" on top, and ... I guess I am happier with the results? Next time I'd like to try something a little more bold and graphic.

Blue Jewels?

I had this awesome multicolored stamp all planned, and when I actually went to do it... it just wasn't happening. It's possible these Pueen plates have some kind of residue on them that needs to be cleaned off the first time, but that hadn't occurred to me yet, so I scrapped that idea and went with something else.

Instead, I painted my nails with Pure Ice in "Kiss Me Here" (gray), and used three of the designs on Pueen plate 26 with Wet 'n Wild "Black Creme." On my middle three fingers, I used the one on the right that looks kind of like chandelier beads in varying lengths. For my pinkies, I used the similar one on the left where they're all the same length, because I didn't want to risk having the mostly blank area end up on my nail. And for my thumbs, I used the swirly dot pattern at the top to cover the large area.

I then went back and added dots of Wet 'n Wild "Bijou Blue" on top of some of the larger gem/teardrop shapes. Unfortunately, when I added a top coat, a lot of the designs smudged :o( I think this was mostly because the top coat is kind of old and gloopy now. That's going into the trash :o/