Day 21 Merge or Melt!

Hi Everyone! A three day weekend here in the states today as we celebrate Martin Luther King day.  A man full of integrity who had a vision the world can be a better place.  While we've come a long way we still have so very far to go.  Seeing as our fearless leader is not an American she didn't really match up Merge or Melt with Dr King LOL!

And some of you might even be asking what the french toast is merge or melt?  Well you are not alone people!  I asked the same thing and here's my answer, it's whatever you want it to be with a splodgerama of color!  OMG that is my new favorite word--splodgerama.  And just when you think it's not really a word--well it isn't--BUT splodge does mean to make something with a blot or blots! 

I love Debbie I just have to say that!  I love that she's from England because the things they say there and the things we say here are sometimes completely different which really leads to hilarity many times over for us LOL!

I took merge or melt to mean gradient.  Hmmmmm I wonder why?  Probably because I gradient All.The.Freaking.Time!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand
today was no different!

My friend Jin of Superficially Colorful did a KICK ASS Merge and Melt and she showed me a preview of it yesterday.  So in a jealous rage I had to try to top her!  

I didn't really because her's is just SO cool, but I'm happy with this gradient

How do you like this pic ala Chloe's Nails?  I'm sort of digging it!

My nails are almost too long now for the really good Icing magnet to work :(

And last but not least since I chose to do a peacock magnetic gradient I thought it only fitting to add an accent nail

SHAZAM! And there I called it a day!

Since I nailed this one today I wonder if I can manage tomorrow!

Oh yes!  I have the best fabric to use for tomorrow!!!

Let's check out what my fellow Tart's have come up with for today shall we?!

Day 20 Texture

Hi Everyone!!!  I've got a mani on today that drove me nuts!!! Today is texture day in the Crumpet Nail Tart's 31 Day Challenge.  I thought about mixing some flocking powder and glitter today but then I just got too lazy so this is what I can up with instead

I put on some BALLZ!  

I wanted to give a shout out to my fab friend Jin over at Superficially Colorful. She just LOVES holos and I don't wear them all that often so I hauled out China Glaze DV8 which I am actually wearing for the first time and Color Clubs Blue Heaven (which I really wanted to be pale green but wasn't)

I sprinkled on Recollections beads in Ocean and Capri and called it a day.

And by calling it a day I mean there is no way these beads are going to last LOL!  I didn't add a top coat to keep it looking true and when you rub your fingers over them to feel them the color rubs off!

I hope tomorrow is a bit better for me with the challenge.  Let's see what's up

Merge or melt!!! Perfect!!!

What textures did the rest of the Tart's come up with?

Day 19--Your Favorite Polish!

Hi everyone!! Happy Saturday!  Lots going on for me today.  I'm heading out to do my niece Alex and her fab friend Lyndsey's nails.  Alex is asking for neon! Can you believe it?! Dead of winter and she wants neon.  That gurl ALWAYS wants neon LOL!  With both of these beauties away at college I haven't had a chance to their nails as much as I did before so I'm looking forward to it AND catching up on all the good gossip.

Tonight the family is getting together to celebrate birthdays.  We have birthday's in Jan and Feb.  To be honest I'm not looking forward to this.  I turn 50 this year--yes 50 and my dad is not here to celebrate that with me, nor is my beautiful sister Lisa.  Dad's birthday is January 27, Nel's birthday is January 31 and mine is February 12.  We always celebrated our birthdays together.  In our family you were either Virgo--Lisa and Mom or Aquarius me, Nel, and Dad.  We often joked around about it because Aquarians living with Virgos can be super tough LOL!  BUT I will be going tonight and bringing my famous Auntie Laurie's noodle salad and I will enjoy the time I have with my family.  Despite the fact we are broken, we work hard at living among the space left behind by those we love who've left.  We just shift around occupying that emptiness as much as we can.

Today is a great day then to get to wear my favorite polish.  If you've been following my blog since the beginning you know I have a couple of polishes very near and dear to me.  

Pinkie is sporting my beloved OPI Vampire State Building and my ring finger shows the lovely, gorgeous, fabulous Nailventurous Voodoo Doll.

I tossed my franken Midnight Sins on the swear and put Kiko Charcoal on the index and called it a day!

My favorite polishes in the world and the ones and only ones I would have with me on a desert island are Voodoo Doll and Vampire State Building.

I've been into this wearing different colors within the same mani--I wonder how long it will last?

I love today's theme and I really love this mani--and as you can see NO STAMPING.  That's how much I love it!

What's up for tomorrow???

Texture hmmmmmmmm

I wonder what color is the favorite color from my fellow Tart's?? Be sure to find out!

Day 18 Your Oldest Untried

Hi Everyone!!!  Today in the Crumpet Nail Tart's 31 Day Challenge we have your oldest untried.  I actually have a few polishes that are pretty old and untried so this was a bit of a challenge for me.  Why are they untried--I don't really know.  But for today's challenge I hauled out my OPI Man From LaMancha.  It was released in 2003 which makes it 10 years old!  In the process of putting it on I decided not to stop there and I layered OPI Rent over it.  Not sure what year Rent came out but it's got to be at least 2003 or 2004

I layered it over black as the first coat seemed sheer.  Great idea to layer it over black!

Man From LaMancha is a gorgeous red to orange to amber duochrome.  Check him out in the shade

Here's a pretty decent pic of the fade amber orange to red

I stamped over him (of course) with DRK-C plate

I had some issues with the black not sticking in spots but instead of removing it I left it as is--a distressed wall so to speak!

I need to pull this out and wear it more often.  In fact I'm thinking of a La Boheme and Man From La Mancha gradient in the future!

Let's see what's up for tomorrow!

FAVORITE POLISH!!!! If you know me you know what it is!!

What untried's have my fellow Tarts been sitting on??? Check em out!

Day 17 A New Technique To You

Hi Everyone!! Today is cool mani day!!!  I had been wanting to the do the reverse image technique for quite some time, and tried it once several months ago and it didn't work for me.  The other day in AIS someone posted a youtube tutorial and GENIUS it made the technique look so easy!  The day I got my Shany 2012 set I wanted to use the swan image but just hadn't.  For this technique I came up with a kickass gradient! Check it out!

I hauled out my Revlon Black Pearl and poor no name Hema 42 to do the gradient and mani.  I absolutely love it!

Look how "glowey" it is!!!

Okay so here's my reverse image stamping!

I know it's pretty simple but I just love it!

Even a shot of it in the shade looks good!

And how about that lovely Revlon Black Pearl????? It's a really pretty charcoal shimmer.

Now how did I do this??? Who is the genius behind the fabulous technique I followed????  You can see it HERE!!!!  If you're a stamper you HAVE to try this!!

I feel better after that horrid water color fail now that I've pulled this off!  Let's see if I can continue to feel better tomorrow

Your oldest untried--okay I have a few old untrieds so I'm sure I got this covered.

What technique did my other Tart's come up with???

Day 16--Color Opposites!

Hi Everyone!! Thanks for coming back after yesterday's horrible debacle of a water color manicure!  Today is Color Opposites in the Crumpet's Nail Tart's 31 Day Challenge.  This sounds sort of easy but honestly there is a reason whey they are color opposites!  Color opposites don't really go together, you can't really gradient with them--ok to be honest I didn't try to gradient them lol!  In doing some research on color opposites I came across a picture that I just loved!  AND I had a plate image I could use!

Here's the picture

Isn't this cool and refreshing looking???

Here's the mani I did

I used two of the colors from the Color Club Take Wing Collection, Sparkle and Soar and Sky High

And let me tell you it was hard for this die hard Green Bay Packer fan to wear Chicago Bears colors!!!!!

I used BM308 for the image.  It was a little tricky to guess where the orange slices would line up and some aren't centered great but overall I like this!

Here's a pic with the mani and the picture together

Let's check out tomorrow's theme!

A new technique to you--I've already done two techniques I've never done before for this challenge--saran wrap and water color what else is there???? Wait I have an idea!  We'll have to see if it works tomorrow

Be sure to see what the rest of the Tart's did for their color opposite

Day 15--Water Color

Hi Everyone!! Welcome to day 15 Water Color of the Crumpet Nail Tart's Challenge, it's also what I like to refer to as the ugliest manicure on the planet! UG!  I cannot do a water color manicure to save my life!  I did everything right I followed Miss Jen Fabulous' tutorial on youtube (see it here) But nope! There was no hope for me and this manicure!

This is BY FAR the worst manicure I've ever done.  I'm not going to lie either I had it on about 30 minutes and took it off!

I thought about stamping over it because stamping usually fixes everything but I didn't because sometimes failures should be seen.  I'd like to try a water color manicure again and hopefully when comparing the two I'll see how much better I've gotten at it.

Let's see what's up for tomorrow--hopefully something much better and something I can actually do!

Color Opposites--hmmm hopefully I can pull that off!  I've got a great idea for Day 17 I hope that I can pull that off too!

I'm sure the other Tart's have done some amazing water color mani's let's check em out shall we?