Crumpets Nail Tarts: Under the Sea

Hello Readers!


It's Friday again, which means it's time for another 26 Great Nail Art ideas post, and this time around the prompt is "water". An appropriate prompt for the beginning of summer, am I right?

I decided to take this opportunity to use the cute octopus images on the MoYou London "Animal" plates, because I've been wanting to use them forever!

So I started this mani with two fingers painted with "Cinderella" (3-4 coats) and two "Let's Playa" (two coats).

As previously mentioned, the octopus images come from the MoYou London "Animal 01" plate. I've previously used the flamingos and the colorful fish on this plate, but have never tried out these adorable octopi so I was excited to get to do that!

Of course, I had to use the Bundle Monster + Twi_star plate for the water pattern on my middle two nails. I've been using this plate a lot lately, especially for that specific pattern. It's so darn useful- not only can it make water ripples, but it's also great for making an easy marble look.

So then, let's talk about the middle finger. I decided to do a composite here of some different stamping images, and this time I figured it would be easiest to do this off of the nail. This is because the images with long, skinny lines are really easy to warp when stamping them onto your curved nail, and I really didn't want to have to deal with wiping them off and re-stamping, especially since I had the water patteren stamped onto my nail.

So, here's how I created this look. First, I stamped the "Under the Sea" phrase from the twi_star plate onto my silicone mat. Normally I wouldn't stamp images with words onto my mat, because if you are reverse stamping the image will end up backwards, but since I wasn't filling the images in at all it didn't matter.

Next, I took one half of the double line image and stamped it above the phrase, the below the phrase. The middle space in the double line image (second image on the top row) wasn't quite wide enough to fit the phrase, which is why I stamped the top and bottom halves separately.

Finally, I simply added topcoat to all of that, and when it was dry I applied it over my nail in one piece. Much easier to do that stamping on the mat than on the nail- because when you stamp onto the mat you can just stamp straight down without worrying about warping the lines or having them fold on you.

So, I really wanted to try using the chameleon flakies from Born Pretty that I recently reviewed with a masking technique. So after my nails were completely dry, I put liquid latex over the middle part of my middle nail and sponged some flakies onto the top and bottom portions. It's kind of hard to tell, because the flakies have a subtle effect over light polishes. I want to try this again another time over a dark polish though, as it seems to have worked even though it's hard to see.


I hope you enjoyed this oceanic look for today's Crumpet's Nail Tart's post! Be sure to check out the link-up below for more water themed looks!

An InLinkz Link-up

Changing Scales, Ft. MoYou London Animal

Hello Readers!


Today's post is another #clairestelle8challenge post for instagram, and the prompt this go-round is "scales". I thought about being cheeky and doing a music-themed mani with "do re me fa" stamped across my nails, but in the end I really wanted to play with some of my new neon polishes for summer, so I came up with this:

My idea is that the little chameleon is changing colors, but he's still a little chameleon and hasn't quite figured out how to get his tail to change. He's practicing his technique here.

Bunnies love carrots- Ft. MoYou London Animal

Hello Readers!



Today's post is in response to a #clairestelle8challenge prompt on instagram- which happens to be "bunnies or chicks". It turns out I have bunch of different bunny images, but only one chick or two chick images to choose from. I decided to go with the bunnies and their favorite snack.

I think they turned out very "Easter-y!"

I started this mani with two coats of "Lie-Lac", though I probably could have gotten away with just one. Love this polish!

My little bunny images come from this MoYou London "Animal 04" plate.

And I got my carrots off of this Bundle Monster plate from the "Fuzzy and Ferocious" collection. The carrot image above the donkey in the lower right hand corner of the plate wasn't quite big enough to cover my whole nail, so I stamped it twice to extend the image. It overlaps a little in the middle, but it doesn't bother me too much.

Finally, I finished the mani off with some simple stamping with this MoYou London Africa plate. I thought the design somewhat resembles a basketweave design, which I figured was very appropriate for Easter.

Dry Brush Flamingos for Clairestelle8 ft. MoYou London Tropical

Hello Readers!


Today's post is for the #clairestelle8challenge over on instagram, and today's prompt is "dry brush". I decided to try to pair dry brushing with flamingos, since flamingos have some subtle texture and color variation on their feathers I thought I could use dry brushing to try to portray that.

Also, flamingos are fun!

I kept my colors pretty simple; I thought gray would be a good compliment to the pink of the flamingos. For my dry brushed nail, I started with "Let's Playa" and added the dry brushing with "Peaches and Cream" and then "Cool Cadet." I also stamped over the white nails with "Let's Playa".

Beach Selfies ft. Bundle Monster Kawaii emoji

Hello Readers!


Today I have a very summery mani inspired by the Bundle Monster Kawaii Emoji collection. I was trying to decided what I wanted to do, and flipping through the pin board on Pinterest I made of all my plates (because it's much easier to look through them on pinterest and really see the images than it is to look at them in real life), and I noticed the turtle image on the MoYou London Animal plate. I thought I could do a beachy themed mani with the turtles and the little camera.

I kind of imagine a beach goer stumbling upon a flock of freshly hatched turtles stumbling to the water and quickly pulling out her camera to get a shot of the amazing sight.

For this mani, I started off by painting all my nails with Sinful Colors "Mint2Bcool". I did a lot of my stamping today with Sinful Colors "Navy I Do", but also used an actual Bundle Monster stamping polish for the red stamping.

The adorable little camera image comes from the vacation themed Bundle Monster Kawaii Emoji plate. I think this is my favorite in the collection, though the fruit-and-veggie plate is a close second. I also used the little strips of tiny images along the bottom to decorate my french tipped pinky/pointer fingers... more on that later.

The turtles come from this MoYou London Animal plate. Some really cute images on here, but this is the first time I've featured it here because when I used it before it was on my right hand, thumb, and a couple of nail fails that I never published. ;)

The typography images on the pointer/pinky come from this Bundle Monster plate from the "Hangloose" collection. 

I pulled out my trusty MoYou London Frenchy 09 plate to help with the french tips. I decided to do these as decals and then place them over my nail rather than attempting to stamp the direct-to-nail, because I was concerned about messing up the placement and having to re-do it a million times.
So I stamping them once- then stamped over that a second time to get a better opacity. Next, I stamped the little images from the Kawaii emoji plate over it in white and finished it off with a nice thick layer of topcoat. When it was dry, it was really easy to peel that up and place it perfectly on my nails.

26 Great Nail Art Ideas: Spring Animals ft. MoYou London animal

Hello Readers!


I've been looking forward to this Crumpets Nail Tarts prompt for quite some time now, because I love doing animal themed manis and of course seeing other people's animal themed manis! I'm posting this a day early to avoid two posts on the same day; I really want to post a St. Patrick's Day mani tomorrow!

The theme this week is "Spring Animals", and the first thing I thought of was the adorable bunny image on one of the MoYou London "Animal" collection plates. Adorable sweet bunnies sitting on tree stumps.

I wanted to keep my colors kind of on the pastel side to fit with the "spring" theme, so I started off with a base of Sally Hansen "Mint Sorbet."

I love the color of this polish, but it's a pretty runny formula.

30 Days of Color Challenge: Up-to-no-good Cat ft. MoYou London Animal

Hello Readers!


Today's post is for the 30 Days of Color Challenge, and this week's prompt is "blue". I decided to go with an image on a plate that I have always wanted to use as my inspiration: the little fish bowls from a MoYou London Animal plate. I figured, the water in the fishbowls would be blue... but what would I pair with it... and then I decided my fish bowls needed a mischievous cat.

Tee-hee.

For the 30 Days of Color Challenge, we are encouraged to use a polish that we have never used before, and for this mani that was the light blue "Cinderella" color. It was a polish I've heard a lot of people talk about but I always shied away because it is on the sheer side, but I thought it would be the perfect light blue color for this mani. I really love this polish, even though it took 3 thick coats because the shimmer in it is really lovely.

Bee Mine ft. MoYou London Animal

Happy Valentines Day, Readers!

I have a little fun mani for you today to celebrate the day of love.

Because I think bees are adorable.

I pulled out my favorite rosy pink and my favorite yellow for this mani. Both these polishes are shown at two coats here. 

Valentine Turtles ft. MoYou London Animal

Hello Readers!

Today's mani was a wish-fulfillment type mani that didn't quite turn out as I hoped it would. When I first laid eyes on this MoYou London Animal plate, I noticed that a lot of the animals on it had tiny hidden hearts or more obvious hearts, so I thought it would be a great one to use for Valentines Day. Unfortunately, I kinda made a rookie mistake with my pattern mixing and I'm not crazy about the mani, but here it is anyway:

So the "rookie mistake" was trying to put together the hearts and the small turtle image. I feel that because they are so close in scale and from a distance, they are kind of a similar image, having them both on there makes the mani a bit too "busy". I wish I had painted my pointer/pinky fingers just the straight dark pink and maybe added a little stud to them or some light pink stamping of just a tiny triangle, or simple stripes. BUUUUUUT  I really wanted to emphasize the hearts because I wanted it to be more valentines-y.

So my base color is another one of those light, shimmery, sheer pinks but this time it's a Revlon Gel Envy, which I always find to have excellent formulas. This was better than most polishes in this color family, and I only had to put on 3 coats. If you squint you can still see the faint outline of my nail line, but I was ok with that.

So my turtle images come from this MoYou London plate, as previously mentioned.

And the texture images I used for the nail with the turtle come from this plate. First I stamped arrows in pink, then placed the turtle decal. Next I added a swipe of dark pink polish to give the turtle something to stand on, and I felt like it looked empty so I added stamping over that in black.

26 Great Nail Art Ideas: Black and White Valentine ft. MoYou London Animal

Hello Readers!


I'm pretty excited to be getting into February, with it's Valentine's Day manicure possibilities! To kick it off, the prompt for the Crumpets Nail Tarts group this week is "Black and White Valentine". I really love the look of black and white manis, so I was pretty excited about this prompt. I think it's been since the 31 day challenge that I have really done a black and white mani, and just like in the afore-linked look, I couldn't resist adding a little pop of color to this one.

Alligators need love too. It seems that for this holiday of hugs, this reptile wants to put aside the silly feuding between gators and people and just show some appreciation for his favorite snack.

Wintery Orcas ft. MoYou London Animal and Enchanted

Hello Readers!

After last week's tropical mani, I was ready to come in from paradise and create something a little more winter-themed, to pay respects to all those caught up in snowstorms right now. We have no snow on the ground here- and likely won't, considering it's in the 50s-60s, so I put a little bit of snow on my nails instead!

Also, Orcas. Because all of the animal images make me smile. 

For this mani, I started off with a peel-off base coat because I sure don't want to bother trying to remove a heavily glittery polish with acetone. It's been a while since I have used Wintermint, and I'd forgotten how sheer it is! It's super thin though, so while I lost count of how many coats I put on my nails at about 4-5, it doesn't seem heavy on my fingers. It's a good thing it's pretty! Also, now my nails smell minty-fresh.

Little Fishies with *new* MoYou London Animal Collection

Hello Readers!

I'm so excited to be playing with MoYou London's *brand new* animal collection because it is absolutely adorable and you know I love playing with cute images. Today's mani focuses on the beautiful fish. I just fell in love with these fish, mostly because of the tiny little patterns on their sides.

The details on those little swimmers! I can't stand it. 

I find myself reaching for my white as a base so often. I decided to use a sort of muted color palette for this mani.