Christmas Pick n Mix

Hey guys!

I think this is my last Christmas mani, so I'm posting it now so It doesn't get neglected until next christmas!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Index: Barry M - Red Glitter

Stamp Colour: Konad White

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM 20

Green Striping Tape

Middle & Thumb: Barry M - Gold Foil

W7 - Black

Barry M - Yellow Topaz Glitter

Ring Finger: Essence - Kiss On Top Of The Rock

Nails Inc: Electric Lane

Stamp Colour: Konad White

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM 318

Ohter Colours: Acrylic Paints

Pinky: W7 - Black

Stamp Colour: Barry M - Gold Foil
Image Plate: Konad M57

Other: Barry M - Red Glitter

NOPI - Fell From The Tree

Top Coat: Sally Hansen - Advanced Hard As Nails

I really loved wearing these, the index finger was amazingly bling and pretty. However the flash washed the glitter out a bit, and after a day and a half the striping tape decided it was gonna start coming off. Does anyone have any tips for this?

Hope everyone's had a good Wednesday :]

Fesitve Leopard Print

Hi everyone! Officially a week until Christmas *squee*

I'm still wishing it will snow, but I doubt it :( it would totally make if for me if it did. But still; I'm looking forward to the family, the banter at the dinner table, the food, the drinkies ;] and all the bits in between :D Is anyone else excited?

These nails were inspired by a post I seen about a week and a half back, and I can not remember for the life of me from where :( So if you know where I got this idea please let me know!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Barry M - Gold Foil

Stamping Plate: Konad M57

Image Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Dotted Colours: Barry M - Red Glitter & NOPI - Fell From The Tree

Accent Glitter: Barry M - Yellow Topaz Glitter

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

I took these photos at work, using my coworkers SAD lamp as the light source, I'm still not used to it, and I was leaning all the way over my desk, so next time I'm gonna try and pay more attention so not to get shaky pics.

The Gold/Holographic glitter is one of the new ones I've recently purchased from Barry M - I'll have a post up tomorrow showing the four I recently bought on some sort of glitter binge :D It's a really lovely mix though. Micro holo glitter, small gold and holo glitter, and medium gold and holo glitter, very sparkly in real life.

I hope everyone's having a good Tuesday so far!

Leopard Print, Crosses, Gradients & Studs

Hi all, happy Thursday! I'm one follower away from 501, and my next giveaway ( I started following myself recently) yay!

Today we have some nails that I loved wearing, so so much, these made me feel a bit like a bad-ass :P

I started with a base colour of Beauty UK - Soft Grey, and created gradients on all my fingers using three other colours, Gosh - Berry Me (index), Barry M - Gold Foil (thumb & ring) and W7 - Black ( middle & pinky) I then stamped over my ring, and index nail in BYS - Black Satin using Konad M57. I added a stripe of black down my thumb, added studs, and added some crosses made of striping tape to my middle and pinky fingers.

A couple of days later I added in some dots to the stamped nails in opposite colours, which was the original plan, but I was doing these for a "night out" & I didn't want to mess them up.

What I used:

Base Coat: La Femme

Base Colours: Beauty UK - Soft Grey

                      Gosh - Berry Me

                      W7 - Black

                      Barry M - Gold Foil

Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M57

Gold Striping Tape

Silver Round 2mm Studs

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Above is the added dots,and below is the thumb :]

And a picture of the sponged base for good measure, ignore the chip in the index (thank god I have a replacement CND - Stickey in my little mitts now :D)

What do you guys think of these? I'll definitely be doing this sort of mix and match again, or maybe even this design again.

Leopard Print Over A Pink & Purple Gradient

As I mentioned Thursday today's post will be covering some nails I did for my friend Vicki. I really wanted to do a gradient with stamping, so I started with a base of Models Own - Pastel Pink, and Sponged on both Pastel Pink, and Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl. I then stamped with good old Konad M57 in BYS - Black Satin.

Daddy's Girl is a polish I lusted after a couple of years ago, but totally forgot about it, until I spotted it in the pound shop. I still don't have any swatches even though I've wore it a few times.

On to Vic's Nails:

Base coat: La Femme
Base Colours: Models Own - Pastel Pink
Sinful Colors - Daddy's Girl
Stamping Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: Rimmel - 60 Seconds Clear

I really love the colour combo, and i'm planning on wearing it at some point with a different stamp, or some free hand stuff maybe.

Anyways I'm gonna take this time to tell you about Vicki's new Facebook store she's just opened, Blingin Covers.

Blingin Covers specialise in hand made bling iPhone covers using Swarovski element crystals. At the minute she only sells iPhone covers but is looking to expand if demand is high enough. She also sells some seriously cute headphone jack plugs, I think my favourite being the Giraffe which I'll show you later. I think these plugs (or dust stoppers) are such a great idea. My last phone I had used a regular sized jack, and it broke because of dust and fluff getting stuck in the jack.

So here's the Giraffe dust stopper dangle I was talking about:

 So yeah check her out if you're in the market for some iPhone goodies, or some dust stopper dangles :] She accepts Paypal or cheque, and is so much cheaper than American competitors.

Happy Saturday :]

Elf Desert Haze Gold And Brown Leopard Print

Hey all.. Simple Leopard print today. I'm still trying to catch up with all the mani's I've done but haven't posted, so these are from a few weeks ago. I've done this combo before on a nail set, but with Models Own - Nude Beige, and I think the warmth of that shade helps tone down the brassy look of the Citadel Paint, so I'm not fully a fan of these. But I like them matte =]

Base Coat: Nai RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: ELF - Desert Haze
Stamp Colour: W7 - Suede
Image Plate: Konad M57
Gold: Citadel - Shining Gold
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

Elf - Desert Haze, 2 coats

And here's the basee colour, the first Elf I've ever tried; and I loved it. The formula was so great, and dried so quickly! I think it's my favourite nude right now. Then I added a coat of Rimmel - Matte Finish.

Hope everyone's had an okay day.

Acid Leopard

These are actually from a few months back, and I'm not sure why I haven't posted them, as It's really not like me. I like posting things in the order I do them :P

This was my first time using a real konad stamping polish (this was before I used Konad White), and I was not expecting there to be so much of a difference between special polishes and regular ones. I had to re-do a lot of nails because of the smearing that occurred. Usually when I stamp, the image that's transferred is already dry within a few seconds, but with the special polish I had to actually wait before top coating, and be more careful with the brush strokes. The nails that I had to re-do were a total, total streak fest. Every little bit was streaked and smeared! Urgh!

Oddly though I don't have this problem with Konad White, so maybe It's just because this colour was so pigmented.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Clubworks - Neon Green
Stamp Colour: Konad Special Polish - Red Wine (I Think)
Image Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

 

I personally love these. The base is such a weird acid 80's vomit green, and with the wine red combo, it's so wrong it's right in my books!

Plate Ending In 7 - We Stamp On Sundays

Third challenge for the Adventures In Stamping! This time the challenge was to use an image plate ending in 7, I had a few to chose from, I think it would've been five, two from the first set of Bundle Monster, two from the second set, and Konad M57.

I really struggled in picking a plate to use, I was going to use a tips plate, but recently cut my nails down, so the ratio was a bit off ;(

Anyhoo I spent a good hour thinking of ideas, and then the toothache kicked in (Thursday) so I decided on good ol' leopard print :P

Of course I couldn't help doing some sponging.. And adding flakies! I started with my favourite yellow, sponged on an orange with gorgeous glass flecks in it, added some Nubar flakies, and then stamped with my trusty BYS black :]

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: Manhattan - Lemonade
Sponged Colour: Deborah - Sunset Cocktail
Flakies: Nubar - 2010 G188
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

 Again, no real lobster hands! Just very cold when I did these!

Was really quite hard to capture all the flakies, but in real life they really did shine their way through the space they had :]

Hope everyone's had a good weekend!

Nude Leopard Print, Models Own & W7

I've always lusted after nude leopard print manis, but never did one until now, just because I was hoping to have more nudes in my collection. I love nudes, I'm not sure why but nudes and taupes are my thing.. Although I wear a lot, a lot of brights xD

Anyhoo I did this using Models Own - Nude Beige, which is half empty and still applies like a dream, and used W7 - Suede, and a black nail art pen.

Base Coat: Nail Rx - Stuck on you
Base Colour: Models Own - Nude Beige
Spot Colour: W7 - Suede
Nail Art Pen In Black
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

For the last two days of wear I added Rimmel - Matte finish

 These were really fun to wear, especially matte.

My Cousin Frans Nails!

Frances and my aunt Rosie came to stay with my family over Christmas for about 5 days, in that time I did Fran's nails three times, my aunts once, and my mams once; for the first time ever. Because these were all done at night and we had stuff to do/ were sleeping during the best hours of light I only have pics of Fran's designs. Also partly because her iPhone flash doesn't bleach out your fingers like my camera flash does!

The penguin design came from a You Tube tutorial, after I spied it on Copy That, Copy Cat and fell in love with it :] Sorry for the messy clean up, I haven't found my perfect cleanup method for acrylic paint & polish just yet, not while the nails are wet yet anyways.

Base Coat: CND - Stcikey
Base Colour: Sally Hansen - White On
Acrylic Paints: Black
Other Polishes: China Glaze - Frostbite
Nail art pen: Yellow
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Models Own - Aqua Violet
Stamp Colour: N.Y.C. - Niagra Foils
Image Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Models Own - Golden Green
Glitter: Rimmel - Disco Ball
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M85
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Now Frances is gone I feel a little bit stuck doing just my own nails :P

Purple & Green Leopard Print

Halloween isn't that far away, and I have no idea what to dress as, like not one clue, so I've been looking around for some inspiration for a costume. And got reminded of a colour combination I rather like.

Again, I wish I'd done the spots a little smaller. I really need to invest in some dotting tools rather than using the brush from the bottle. I like the outcome anyways :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Cutex - Sweet Pea
Spot Colour: Cutex - Eggplant
Nail Art Pen In Black
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

WAH Inspired Pick 'n' Mix - Pic Heavy

I actually did these about two weeks ago, so my nails are slightly longer again now. If I was to do these again I'd freehand the leopard print so I didn't have a chance of messing up the Konad xD

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Index Finger:
Base Colour: Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream (3 coats)
Drips: M&S - Unknown Mini Pink
I used an orange stick for the drips

Middle Finger:
Base Colour: China Glaze - Millennium (1 coat)
Glitter: Maybelline Colorama - Ice Princess & Rimmel Disco Ball (1 coat each)
I then taped off the bottom with a zig-zag edge.
Blue: L.A. Colors - Static Electricity
White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On (used a pin)
Black: Nail art pen

Ring Finger:
Base Colour: George - Smarty Pants (2 coats)
Metal studs were bought from Rhinestones Online an eBay store

Little Finger:
Base Colour: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On (2 coats)
Lines: L.A. Color - Static Electricity, George - Buttercup Shine, & Models Own - Pastel Pink

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colours: Models Own - Pastel Pink & Barry M - Berry Ice Cream (2 coats)
Plate: Konad M57
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Just so you can see the glitter

And here's the polishes I used.

L-R: CND - Stickey, Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream, M&S - Unknown Pink,
Models Own - Pastel Pink, Barry M - Berry Ice Cream

L-R: China Glaze - Millennium, Rimmel - Disco Ball, Maybelline Colorama - Ice Princess, Black Nail Art Pen.

L-R: George - Smarty Pants, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On, George Buttercup Shine,
China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat, BYS - Black Satin, & the studs I used.

You can also see my cat Cheese's Whiskers xD

Camo Leopard

My first try at free hand leopard print :] didnt go too bad. And I really loved the colour combo.

Base Coat: CND -Stickey
Colours Used: Cutex - Sweat Pea & Revlon - Peach Smoothie & Yes Love - Neon Green
Nail Art Pen: In Black
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Beige & Turquoise Leopard Print

The first of many Leopard print to come.

<3 Animal Prints, and love the M57 Plate.

Pre-Cleanup

Konad: M57
Stamping Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Base Colour: Models Own - Nude Beige
For The Dots: Beauty UK -Turquoise Shimmer

Top Coat: Rimmel 10 Day Wear

Easter Egg - Leopard Print

I was in the mood for colour, but it wasn't until the second day of wearing this combination that I realised these looked more like crazy easter nails, rather than fun leopard print.

Needless to say they were still fun to wear ^-^

Stamping Plate: M57
Stamping Colour: BYS - Satin Black
Base Colour: Collection 2000 Hot Looks - Button Moon

Dot Colour: BYS - Fools Paradise

                 Rimmel - Pop!

                 Miss Sporty -

Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

I think my nails are the strongest they've been in years, and I honeslty believe that's down to the top coat that i've been using religiously since I bought it.