Spring Is In The Air

Everywhere I look around.

Yes, it's here, early. Actually we never really had much in the way of winter around here. 

Meanwhile I felt the urge to push forward with a little more stamping. 

A few things first: somehow I found a super squishy stamper, this has made a HUGE difference in applying the stamps. It was one that came with something, I don't know what, I think an Essence. 

First up here is New York Color Palm on the Beach:

Very bright parrot green that seems to have gone a bit diffused thanks to my camera. Quick note about the formula, NYC in these little tapered bottles never lets me down. Love the formula. I purchased this at the Dollar Tree and was from the 2014 summer collection. It's a beautiful, intense green with a faultless formula.

On to the gradient and stamping!

I used this and Sally Hansen Marble Creme to make a little nail gradient for my stamping base. SH Marble Creme looks blue by comparison.

I used a homemade version of Liquid Palisade. The recipe was tweaked by Ravenclaws on MUA, but masking fluids have been around the blogosphere for a bit of a while. From tape, to liquid latex, etc.

I used an empty Sephora by OPI bottle (a crackle gone wrong) and it filled with glue and some 91% alcohol. This was not quite enough. I think the alcohol has the same kinds of functional groups as water - OH - so they don't help with evaporation.

 Thanks to Ravenclaws, I added nail polish to 1) help it dry and 2) help see it on your skin - she added a gel food coloring, but I think that would have been a challenge on my skin, so I picked a pink polish. It's still hard to see, but I think it's a game changing element in stamping, gradients, and especially marbling!

Here is a photo of me taking it off:

No, I didn't use my teeth to take the photo, I propped the stick up and took it with my other hand. Hehehe.

It makes a big difference. I will try it again with marbling, man, if it works, it will be great!

Here is the resulting stamping:

I am always trying to get this blog print look with stamping, I don't know why. I think the pinky (and this is all one hand) kind of makes it work. 

These polishes are a mix of the ones which I got from the nail stamping machine.

Here's a photo of the stamping plates, they are all from Pueen:

It's from the Sumptuous Gallery

Plates 18, 20, 23, and 24. I love these plates and will do more with them.

Thanks for reading my little nail polish journal!