Saturday, July 31, 2010

Water bird and crystal sands

Hello ladies,

I absolutely adore water birds. They are so majestic, often evoking feelings of tranquility. There was a blue heron that lived on the the pond behind my parent's house. I remember hanging laundry and the blue heron coming up on the back lawn, watching me. I once dated a man in New York City. On each trip, I walked through Central Park to visit the resident egret.

This stamping image from fauxnad plate H30 could represent several varieties of water birds. Which do you see? Perhaps with the egret on my mind, I chose Konad special polish in white. I mixed blue and purple crushed shell at the tip for a funky french. I love this look for summer.















Magens Bay Blue is one of the three shades Diamond Cosmetics released for summer. This is probably my favorite of the grouping, though Pelican Peak Purple is noteworthy. If you like blue, I recommend adding this polish to your wish list. I believe this shade has the potential to be as popular as Oh Tiff! I needed two coats for opacity. The application was simple and quite pleasing.

Adding crushed shell to a manicure was so much easier than I expected. I applied fresh top coat to the tip of my nail and dipped it into the tiny pot containing the purple shell. I took a pair of fine point tweezers and tapped the shell up the nail to distribute it evenly.

I then dabbed topcoat in some of the negative space at the tip. I used the tweezers to sprinkle the blue shell into the remaining open area. The tweezers helped me to tap the blue shell into position. I added a thick coat of topcoat to the entire nail. The crushed shell is adhering well. It feels textural, but not at all sharp. I will definitely be using this again. It looks so much like a mosaic.

Magens Bay Blue was sent to me for review. US residents can purchase this color at diamondcosmetics.com. Please see this post for international shipping options. For the opportunity to win 12 polishes from Diamond Cosmetics plus a treatment product, stop by the Ladies' Choice of Diamonds Giveaway. The contest closes at the end of the day August 1st. Hurry on over to enter if you haven't had the chance yet.

Image plate H30 was provided for my consideration. The full line of stamping nail art plates is available at chez-delaney.com. Would you like a chance to win your choice of eight design plates? Stop by the Pick Your Plates Giveaway to enter.

The Art Club crushed shell is part of the new additions to the Sprinkles line. These will be available for a fall release date. They were sent to me for review.

Happy painting, ladies!

26 comments:

  1. oh my lord I LOVE these. These are up there with the peacock manicure. Simple and gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really like the crushed shells and the stamping- it is an awesome combination (and now I know how I can use the crushed shells I got ^^)

    ReplyDelete
  3. OH MY GOD this is by far my favourite mani you've ever done. The little crushed shells set it off perfectly, and I just love the change up in texture

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is one of the prettiest manicures I have ever, ever seen, seriously. Sooooooo perfect! I can't praise you enough for this one!

    PS:I love all types of birds! Haha...

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are ready for a vacation on the beach.
    For some reason I thought the squirrel and bird images were appealing but might look cheesy when stamped. You chose the perfect enviro for them to look spectacular.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The birds look wonderful with that color!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love how the blue pops from the white,its so pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a perfect pairing. We have many water birds in FL. But I have to say, I have yet to see a flamingo in the wild.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh, WOW, that really works well together! I wonder what it would look like to put the egret on one nail as an accent, leaving the shell across all the nails as a beach. You could even do the occasional wispy cloud in the sky on a nail or two as more of an accent.

    Still, it's absolutely lovely as it is!

    ReplyDelete
  10. So stunning, it looks like the bird is standing near the pebbled shore of a lake.

    ReplyDelete
  11. wow this looks looks so pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is possibly one of my favourite manis of yours so far. It's beautiful. Elegant. Lovely. Bright. Pretty. Cute! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love this mani! And I hope your sister gets better soon. :***

    ReplyDelete
  14. Breathtaking. It reminds me of growing up in Florida.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a pretty summer mani! The crushed shell on the tips add the perfect finshing touch.

    ReplyDelete
  16. wow i really really love this design diana! the extra detail of the "sand" is unbelievable! BRAVO <3

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is lovely. I like how he's floating on water/sand.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful! Watch out this bird does take off and fly. Love the crushed shells also. These birds ae just fascinating to watch. Even more so stamped on your nails with the perfect shade!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ooo, pretty! I love the french mani thingy, the crushed shells. So iridescent!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh man, I love that. It looks super perfect for the summer! I'm such a sucker for natural and earthy colors that I get stuck in fall a lot..

    ReplyDelete
  21. These are gorgeous! I love what you've done with the tips! c:

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for stopping by! I do my best to answer comments. I read every single comment. If you have any questions or links that are unrelated to the post, please e-mail me.

Please be respectful and avoid leaving your blog link in the comments unless requested. Refer to the FAQ if needed.