Mint Mani for TaliaJoy

I'm a day late with posting this, but I really wanted to take part in Nail Polish Wars' wonderful idea to create a mint manicure in honor of Talia Castellano aka TaliaJoy18. If you have not heard of Talia, she was a beautiful 13 year old girl, a talented make-up and nail artist, honorary Cover Girl and an all around sweetheart who never stopped smiling. Sadly, she lost her battle with cancer last Tuesday. Her last Instagram pic was a mint manicure, so to honor her here this is my mint mani...

Sunday Stamping using Multiple Stamps Over a Gradient

After taking two weeks off from Sunday Stamping challenges, I am excited to once again participate. Every week the members of the group Adventures in Stamping vote on a challenge theme. For the first time this week there was a tie between choices, stamping over a gradient and stamping using multiple stamps. Since both won, I thought it would be fun to combine both challenges in the same manicure.

Hawaiian Sunset

This is an exciting post for me because it means that tomorrow I will be heading off on my vacation to Hawaii. I will be sneaking away with my mom for some much needed rest and relaxation as we leave our boys to fend for themselves. To mark the occasion, I created a Hawaiian Sunset manicure. I've seen ones like this before and have always wanted to try it...

I started out with two coats of Color Club Almost Famous (yellow) and sponged towards the base of the nail with Color Club Warhol (neon pink). These are both from the Color Club POPtastic collection and happen to be the same colors used in the flames manicure a few months ago. On top of Warhol, at the base of the nail, I sponged Sinful Colors Let's Talk, a pretty metallic purple. The tip was then sponged with Wet 'n Wild Black Creme.

The palm tree was stamped using Wet 'n Wild Black Creme and Shany plate SC19. Since the stamped palm tree is just an outline and I wanted it fully shaded, I filled in the shape with a small detail brush and black acrylic paint. I love how this turned out. I'm hoping to see a sunset just like this...

Here was the image that I used for inspirations. I found it here. Such an amazing sunset...

Source

I would love to know what you think of this!

Also, just to let you know, I have prepared swatches and some nail art for the time that I will be gone. I do not plan on having internet access, so I will respond to any comments left when I return! :D

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)