Wednesday 27 February 2013

Steam Punk Nails

Hi all

Little bit of a late post today, but If I don't do it now i'm going to crawl into bed until morning!

These, in my head, were awesome, but something about the stamp didn't really work. I think the stamp may be engraved too deep, as only one nail out of ten came out with actually spikes on the cogs, instead of smooshy circles.

That being said, I really enjoyed wearing these, I like how the whole thing pulled together. If only the stamp had worked out!! Yikes, ignore the blurry photos!
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Jacava - Chocolate Melts
Sponged Colours: W7 - Suede & Black
Stamping Colour: Miss Sporty - Electric Beige
Image Plate: Cheeky CH33
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Here's the base before the stamping:




Hope you guys have had a good Wednesday! I spent mine working, and snacking on Seaweed heh.


Sunday 24 February 2013

2true Glitterati Shade 1 - Sapphire

Hi all, no Adventures In Stamping post for me today as I just didn't get round to it.

So instead you can have a couple of swatch shots of a polish that's unique to my stash. This is two coats over black with a top coat. I still haven't tried this by its self, but its really pretty for layering. and it dries really quickly too. Its a blueish base, with fine blue micro glitter, silver hex glitter, and iridescent hex glitter that flashes blue and green.
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: W7 - Black
Glitter: 2true Glitterati Shade 1 - Sapphire
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

It was kind of hard to capture the iridescent flashes that a lot of the glitters in this have, just look to the bottle for what kind of other colour flashes you get while wearing this.

That's all for me today I'm afraid.

** This product was sent to me for possible review**

Tuesday 19 February 2013

H&M Snow White Skittles - Glitter & Stamping

Hi all, happy Tuesday!

No doubt by the time this posts I'll be powering through work not even realising the time!

This is a mani I did a week or so back, with the H&M polishes that I won from Rainbowify Me. Make Me Blush Is the nicest peach I've ever found with my skin tone, and although the formula is a little runny, the coverage is amazing. Nothing like the dreaded Revlon Peach Smoothie. I decided Snow white would look quite cool over black, so I've used that layering combo for my ring finger. Also the Silver Frost is a lot nice than it looks here, the flash on my camera kind of kills the lightness that the glitter gave to the mani.
Base Coat: CND Stickey
Index & Pinky: H&M - Make Me Blush & Silver Frost
Middle: Three Coats of H&M - Snow White
Ring: W7 - Black & One coat of Snow White
Image Plate: Born Pretty Store QA5
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

I did a gradient on my thumb using Make Me Blush, and W7- Blackm topping with two coats of Silver Frost
And here's a couple shots of the base colours themselves.
Index & Pinky: Two coats of H&M - Make Me Blush
Middle: Three Coats of H&M - Snow White
Ring: W7 - Black & One coat of H&M - Snow White
Please excuse the lobster hands in the next photo, but it really shows how bright Snow White is even in horrible lighting.
Snow white is really much more than a silvery white frost, it's really beautiful in decent light, and I'm going to try and capture that this weekend if I can.

Hope you've all had a good start to the week :]

Sunday 17 February 2013

Crazy Neons - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all, been a little MIA this week again, but I've just been shattered!

This week's stamping challenge over at Adventures In Stamping was to use crazy bright neons. I decided to do a "plastic bag" smooshie style base for these, and then stamp over with black.
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel - French White
Neon Colours: Kiko - 356 - Melon
Alessandro - Pomegranate
Clubworks - Pink
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M85
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Here's my base, before a top coat, and the method used didn't really work, so I filled in some of the whiter spots with a cotton bud with polish on.
 Here's what I used:

Hope you've had a good weekend! I should be getting ready to head out to stuff my face with yummy food, probably Wagamamas, nomnomom noodles! And then to go watch Wreck-It Ralph :D

Tuesday 12 February 2013

Giveaway Winnings - H&M Snow White Polishes

Hi all.

Small post today to quickly show the polishes I won last month from the lovely Marianne from Rainbowify Me.

I won her 400 follower giveaway, and gained three very pretty polishes to my collection. I have a mani coming up later this week using all three, but for now this is the package shot with some delicious chocolates too nnomnomn. Those gold ones were amazing!
L-R H&M - Make Me Blush, Snow White, and Silver Frost

There is shimmer in Make Me Blush, and Snow White has the most beautiful subtle green and red sparkle under certain lights, it looks especially pretty under artificial light. Silver Frost is a mix of medium silver hex glitter, and micro round glitter.

So chuffed with these, so thank you again Rainbowify Me! :D

Hope you're all having a good Tuesday :]

Sunday 10 February 2013

Valentines Day - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all, I'm totally not feeling valentines day this year surprise surprise. So while this week's challenge over at Adventures In Stamping is for Valentines Day stamping, you guys get my nails from last year that I never posted.

This time last year I was getting ready for an interview, and planning what to take to Edinburgh. I had planned these nails before hand, but then it got really late the day before we traveled so I rushed them.
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Colours Used: Models Own - Pastel Pink
                          MUA - Shade 20
                          La Femme - Pink Creme
                         Sally Hansen - White On
                         Clubworks - Fuchsia
                         OPI - Excuse Moi
Nail Art Pens: White Green & Pink
Green Acrylic Paint
Striping Tape
Stamping Polishes: Konad Special White
                             BYS - Black Satin
Image Plates: Bundle Monster BM03, BM08,
                     Konad M60
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat
Forgive me for the quality of the picture and the rushed job. Oddly the guy at Edinburgh Dungeons who takes the photos when you're in the stock with an axe complimented me on these.

Hope you've all had a good weekend. I spent my Friday night chilling, and my Saturday back and forth to the bathroom feeling like I was going to be sick :( Gladly I feel better today.


Friday 8 February 2013

Sally Hansen - Quick Brick & Yellow Stamping

Hi hi all. Yay Friday!

This will be a scheduled post, but I already have that Friday feeling!

Today's nails start with a base, which is actually one of my favourite red polishes because it's so vibrant, and with all the Inst-Dri polishes I've tried the coverage is just amazing. So after a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Quick Brick I then decided to stamp with Konad Special Polish - Yellow, which at the time seemed like a fun move to make, but I'm not certain if it's the cheeky plates, or the special polish, but things just aren't working out!
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Quick Brick
Stamping Colour: Konad Special Polish - Yellow
Image Plate: Cheeky CH46
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails
I had quite a bit of problems with the stamp smearing or more like stretching I suppose. And not picking up the little bits inside the stars. I've just started to work my way through my cheeky plates testing them on paper, so hopefully this was just a bad attempt on my behalf and not some deep engraving!

And this is a shot of Quick Brick without top coat, with flash. Nomnomnom!

That's all from me today :]

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Born Pretty Store Review

Hi all, recently I was contacted again by the Born Pretty Store to see if i'd want to try out any of their newer products, I chose two plates and a polish to try out, and today I have some swatches to show you.

For those of you who aren't aware of Born Pretty Store, they sell a massive range of nail art products, and many other items.

Here's what I asked to try:

Below is two coats of the BK Polish in number 1

Please excuse the dings and scratches, totally my fault. This is without any clean up at all. And honestly this was totally opaque in one coat I only added the second as it feels odd only wearing one coat.
Image plate QA5  Above is stamped in Konad polish, below is In BK #1 Sweet Candy Fast Dry
As you can see most of the images transferred really well, and there were only two images on this plate I actually had problems with. The smallest of the bow image below, and the two pointy bows above that should have stitching detail. Other than that I'm really happy with this plate and I'm looking forward to using the bow images especially.


 And last but not least; the angry birds image plate QA17.

These all stamped amazingly well, but they're larger than I expected so I'm yet to see what they look like on my small-ish nails.

So there you have it. I'll have some mani's coming up with one of the bow images shortly. If you're interested in anything from the Born Pretty Store, don't forget to use my coupon code DS5X31 for 10% off your order.

**These products were sent to me for consideration of review**

Sunday 3 February 2013

Green Skulls and Cutlasses Nail Stamping

Hi all, hope you've all had a good weekend =]

I'm not taking part in this week's challenge at Adventure In Stamping, cause I came up with seriously no ideas!

So instead I have for you some Pirate themed stamping using Cheeky Plate CH49.
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Yes Love - K011
Stamping Colour: Models Own - Emerald Black
Image Plate: Cheeky CH49
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails
Blurry, but yay shimmer!
And here's a swatch of the lovely base colour


So what do you guys think? I really loved wearing these, and the cutlass image stamped so perfectly.

Friday 1 February 2013

Barry M Glitter Swatches

Hi all, hope you've all had a good week!

I can't believe it's the start of February already! Time seriously flies when you work full time. I still haven't settled fully into a decent routine, which is why my posting is still a bit sporadic, so more apologies from me!

Today I have swatches for you lovelies of all the Barry M glitter polishes I bought in December.
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: W7- Black
Glitter: Barry M - Special Edition Glitter (2 coats I Think)
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Here's some swatches over black and white polish. These are all one coat, some thicker than others.
Barry M - Special Edition Glitter - SLE 2012 (1)
Barry M - Pink Sapphire Glitter (2)
Barry M - Yellow Topaz Glitter (3)
Barry M - Rose Quartz Glitter (4)
 
 

I love the little micro holo glitter that exists in Rose Quartz Glitter (4) & Yellow Topaz Glitter (3). These two are basically the same glitter, medium coloured glitter, holo micro glitter, but Yellow Topaz Glitter has medium holographic glitter too.

The Special Editon Glitter (1) has no holographic glitter at all but the mix of colours is really nice, however, looking at these photos it seems like the green glitter in it looks like it's started to curl.. Pink Sapphire Glitter (3) has pink holographic medium glitter, and holographic bar glitter with some fuchsia micro glitter.

Do you have a favourite from the bunch? Expect to see a lot more of these, I'm really loving glitter at the moment!