I've been feeling pretty disillusioned with blogging recently, but I have still been doing my nails (and apparently buying FAR too many Mo You London stamping plates!) So today, just a quick look at a couple of the designs I've been wearing.
These nails were more reverse stamping decals. I started with a base of Barry M Pearl, and used MoYou London Flower Power 04 to stamp using Konad Black, Barry M Dragon and Colors by Llarowe This Heart Bleeds.
I really like how these came out! There are a couple of smudgy bits in places, but I'm choosing to ignore them.
These blue nails are the ones I am wearing now - I've had these on for three days now.
I started by sponging on a splodgy, random base using lots of Barry M Gelly blues.
I then stamped using MoYou London Flower Power 08 and Konad White. I managed to get the design pointing in different directions on each nail, but oh well.
The MoYou London Flower Power plates are gorgeous! I had to buy six.
After my first reverse stamped decals the other day, I was itching to make more!
These ones use MoYou London Tropical 14 plate. I started with a base of Barry M Meadow, and stamped using MoYou London Spring Green. I filled in the flowers using several different China Glaze neons.
I was a bit disappointed with the blue flowers, because some of them overflowed a bit. I don't think it's massively obvious, but I wish they were neater.
I really like the design on the middle and ring fingers best - I think I wish I'd done that on all the nails now. Still, I do like the result!
I'm so excited about these nails! I recently bought a silicone nail art mat (I have the Bundle Monster Lotus mats in the small sizes) and was excited to have a go at making reverse stamped decals. My first attempt was really bad, and my second attempt was pretty bad, but I think that third time round, I've managed to crack it.
I used this tutorial by MoYou London, but there are loads of similar tutorials out there. By the way - it's so much nicer stamping using the mat instead of bits of kitchen roll!
I started with a base of one coat of Pantone 14-1220, a nude colour with a very thin consistency. One of my early mistakes was using Barry M Gellys, which are quite thick, and made me end up with a super thick and claggy decal. I then stamped using Konad White and MoYou London Pro XL 26, stamping onto the mat over dried topcoat.
I then used a variety of colours, including Barry M Sugar Apple, Sugar Plum, Blood Orange and MoYou London Bahamas Punch and Spring Green, and a tiny brush to fill in the details in the pattern. I used 5 different designs from the stamper so that each finger was different. Instead of sticking the design down with topcoat (another early mistake, adding another extra layer) I added the second layer of my base colour, and then applied the decal while that was still tacky.
I love the thumb design best! And I match my shower curtain! (Ikea, Cath Kidston design)
I really like the silicone mat - I didn't need it to keep my desk clean, as I already have a glass placemat - but it's great for stamping, nice for swatching and testing designs, works really really well for decals, and just cleans up with acetone and folds up to put away if you want to. I'm surprised at how few of my stamping plates are suitable for making decals though, as very few have a pattern that can be filled in. I'll have to buy some more! What a pity...
