P...p...paint on a Penguin!!

Okay, totally lame title but hey, it's Monday!

Here's a quick guide to how I did my penguin nail at the weekend...

I used a Catherine Arley Black Holo, I had never used it before and thought the holo would be quite fun but in actuality (is that a word?!) it wasn't very holo! Its a good enough polish but not very easy to get hold of and personally, I wouldn't bother.  Sidenote: If you are really keen on a holographic polish then could I recommend you check out iconic effect as they have a superb holo topcoat and you can pick the intensity, all the swatches I have seen look amazing and it means you can holo all your fav colours you already own! Squeeeee!!

Back to the nails, once you have painted your base colour, which doesn't have to be black btw, if you want a pastel pink penguin, you go ahead and paint that pastel base right on!  Get yourself a dotting tool or kirby grip and dab it in the colour you have chosen for your eyes and tummy.  I'm using the plastic top off of a Whiskas Dentabits container to splodge my polish into, pringles lids are also excellent.  I have a bundle monster set which contains quite a few tools but I only really use the dotters.  You can pick up dotting tools on Amazon and eBay really cheaply and Bourjois also do one although I am not quite so sure how widely available that is.  For my little guy's bits, I'm using the old faithful, Barry M Matte White. 

Do two relatively big eye splodges, you can be as symmetrical or asymmetrical as you like here, asymmetry just adds character...right...I find it is best to put fresh polish on the dotter for every dot or dab.

Draw on your little dudes tummy, again, it's upto you if you want a fatty penguin or not.  I did a kinda fatty one purely because that is the best of my artistic abilities.

Next, get your black and splodge a bit on your polish receptacle i.e. plastic lid and, using the smaller end of the dotter or kirby, apply a dot into the centre of your white eye 'splodges'.

I have yet to get this bit symmetrical and it always reminds me of those googly eyes you used to get on cards as a kid! Like I say, character!! 

Next up, we need to give this badboy some features.  I used an orange Revlon polish called 'Siren' for the first time, seemed pretty good although it was a bit runnier than the other two.  If you had your heart set on penguins of this colour scheme, best thing to do would be to go to Boots or Superdrug and take advantage of the 3 for 2 offers running on the likes of Barry M and Sinful Colours. 

I digress... Using the bigger end of the dotting tool, I used one dot of the Revlon Polish for each 'foot' or is it flipper? and then used the smaller end to dot a wee (kinda) triangle for his beak.

ét Voila!! 

It's now upto you if you want to get really arty and draw on scarves and what not, just bear in mind that you will need to also paint the same on your dominant hand with your non-dominant hand. 

Make sure you let each coat dry a little and DO NOT put topcoat over until it is completely dry as it will inevitably smudge your little guys eyes and the orange from his beak will be on his tummy and you will be sad!!! 

Hope you give this a go!

Hugs,

Jodi

xxx

Weekend Mani #15

Pinch, Punch, it's the first of the month!

December, seriously?!?  I was feeling a little bit Christmas-y this weekend and so this weekends mani definitely reflects that.  I was also at a a wedding and was wearing a berry coloured dress and so this colour complimented my dark hair and dark outfit quite well. 

Meet 'Honey Ryder' one of the delectable Bond Girls released this year as part of a six piece liquid sand collection by O.P.I. 

Love it. I applied this on a minibus, in the dark, going up some country roads to my chums wedding venue (we were going for the evening reception as we had both been working all day.) This went on like a dream, you could pretty much get away with one coat of this, similar to the other liquid sand, 'Get Your Number' , here.

The colour was more of a metallic sandy gold and dried down well.  It wasn't too gritty but the texture definitley gave it an extra dimension and gave a twist to what could have been a very safe mani.  Did I mention I love it?! I have a wee tutorial coming up involving this which would be great for christmas ;-) 

It doesn't have a multitude of different glitter particles, it does just appear to be a proper 'suits any skin tone' gold.  It doesn't lean too warm, too bronze or too cool, it's just right. I fear I may be starting to gush a little! 

The one problem that I'm finding is that it seems to be sold out on a lot of sites, what I would recommend is to keep an eye on sites such as nailpolishdirect, asos etc in case they restock (it is gold and it is christmas so we can hope!).  You can also get it on the likes of Amazon and ebay but always be wary that there are quite alot of fakes going around nowadays.  Also be aware that polishes sent from the states may never reach you as there are a lot of restrictions in place regarding posting polishes now. Phew.

In this picture, I'm trying to show that although it is a textured polish, it doesn't leave nails looking all bumpy and uneven.  I don't mind the texture of the Liquid Sand polishes but I know for some people it's a big no-no, that is something to keep in mind if you are thinking about buying it for someone else.

The colour doesn't change much in different light sources either.  As I mentioned, it applies easily, even on a minibus, and it has the typical O.P.I pro-wide brush.  It dries super duper quick and after 36 hours I had no chips and that was with no base coat *gasp* and no topcoat.  I didn't get round to trying it with topcoat to see if that changed it much. 

Ideally I would have used the foil method, see here for that, to remove this polish but it's going to be another one of those walking to work whilst removing my polish mornings tomorrow.  Pretty much dragging the weekend out as long as possible!

Also, there is a facebook group called 'Nail Sale' where a lot of lovely ladies buy and sell polishes, I think this is where I got this one.  Some polishes may be brand new, some may be swatched once or twice but for brands such as O.P.I and Nails inc, you can sometimes get them at half price.

Have you tried any Liquid Sands?

Have you got an Advent Calender this year??

Hugs,

Jodi xxx