Not to worry. No living (or otherwise) butterflies were harmed or disfigured in the making of these nails.
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| Sparkly glitter makes everything more fun! |
First off, this design is not my brainchild. I was invited to join in another Birthday bash - how cool!! Today is Leonie's birthday and this design is a recreation of one of hers. She is very talented and well-known to us in the nail community - in fact, she is one of the ladies who run the group When Colours Collide!
Another very fabulous gal, Diana - who I have followed since before I started blogging, offered to host this surprise party and a bunch of us spammed Leonie on Instagram beginning at midnight (in her time zone). I include all the fun stuff, details, and more in this post - hope you'll read on!
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| Isn't this just the cheeriest collage for Leonie's Birthday!! |
Diana not only collected all of our designs, but she made this collage (above) and a super fun slide show (Instagram link)! Thanks so much to you for the finishing touches to all of our warm wishes for a Happy Birthday!!
Below is Leonie's design that I attempted to re-create. I don't think I did hers justice, but I was still glad to have submitted something and participate in her surprise party. Leonie has over 1,000 designs on Instagram...it was enjoyable to look them all over. Then, it was overwhelming. She uses so many different techniques - yet still has her own distinct style.
Ultimately I chose this design because to me, Leonie is like a butterfly - fluttering in to our lives, sharing her beauty, inspiring us and then fluttering on to the next. I'm not alone in awe of her work and efforts, like I'm not alone in being fascinated by butterflies.
Info/Credits:
Leonie - IG @leonies_nailart, Facebook Page - Leonie's Nailart
Diana - IG @dianavnisselroy, Blog - D.I.A.N.A.
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| My "solo shot" from the collage |
Besides not doing a very good job imitating Leonie's awesome gradient in the background...I was pretty bummed at this flub-up at the final stage. Alas - you can plainly see, I am not a nail-art robot (yet) - still very human, still very flawed.
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| My base before stamping |
It has been a LONG time since I've done a sponge gradient - and well, I'm definitely out of practice! Mine looks more like a smoosh or random sponging. I still liked it, the result was just a bit more different than Leonie's than I had wanted.
Design Details
I started with a couple thin coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Chartreuse Chase. Then I used a make-up sponge with three polishes: the same one near my cuticles, Polish My Life - Kiwi Coolata, and Confetti - Green With Envy. Then on top of those, I lightly sponged China Glaze - Cha Cha Cha to add a little more shimmer (this hid the gradient effect a bit though). |
| Shimmers and glitters - oh my! |
I used two different stamping images because I didn't have the same plate that Leonie used. I like hers as the butterflies are more random in pattern. I also wish I had removed the large butterfly on the bottom as it looks weird because only the tips of the wings are on the edges of my nails. (Hindsight....damn you!)
I stamped the group of butterflies on my middle & ring using Ejiubas plate EJB-01 and the solitary butterfly image on my index and pinky is from Mash-28. Both of these I purchased in sets from Amazon.com. The stamping is done in Konad Black.
Using a small nail art brush, I added the glitter We Kill the Sparkly Ones for Free (Gold) from Supernatural Lacquer. This topper was perfect for the butterflies!! (I very much like that Leonie used a green glitter - but I don't have one....500+ polishes and you'd think I have everything - NOPE!)
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| Outside, my butterfly nails resting on, what would be to them, giant leaves |
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| Even this Hydrangea bud would be massive to them |
Other than the last two pictures taken outside with my cell phone, all of the rest in this post were taken under studio lights and flash with my DSLR inside my Kolor Korner. Speaking of my Kolor Korner....it's still a work in progress....I'll be so excited when I have it all settled. And - then I can show it to you all too! :)
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| My camera captured the glitters & shimmers better...but green can still be a tough color to photograph with my fair skin. I tried lots of different backgrounds/colors. I thought this one looked softer than the rest. |
This was a fun and cheery design to make. My stamping image on the middle two fingers was a bit too heavy when using black like I did, but all in all - I have good memories of it. Yup - it's not on my fingers right now....got to keep going with new designs. ;)
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| One last parting photo.... |
Thank you again to Diana for including me and Leonie for being such an inspiration!
Oh, and last but not least, if you're on Instagram, I include a clickable list of all the talented ladies who joined this collaboration - please give them some love too!
Till next time,
Kimett
PS - I apologize for those of you without an Instagram account - the viewer program I previously used changed. Now, I'm searching for a new way to include links so that you can see as well.