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 :]

Precious Stone - We Stamp On Sundays

I honestly had no idea what to do for this challenge, I debated using Revlon - Emerald Green, but then I had no idea what do stamp, so in the end I settled on my other only remotely good idea I had; Tiger's Eye. Although It's only a semi precious gemstone It's all I had to work with :P

Base Coat: La Femme
Base Colour: Catrice - Genius In A Bottle
Other Colours: Rimmel - Hard Edged
                        W7 - Gold Mirror
                        W7- Suede
                        Barry M - Gold Foil
Stamping Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: Rimmel - 60 Second Clear

I started with a base of Catrice - Genious In A Bottle, and added lines of the other darker polishes, dry brushed on some golds, and striped on some more gold, and some more dark colours, wasn't really a method to this one, I did a top coat and stamped, then added a top coat again.

Here's what I used:

And for those of you that don't know about Tiger's Eye here's a picture :]

Source: http://www.free-images.org.uk/

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!

Interview Nails Pt 2 - Models Own Nude Beige & Konad M57

Because I'm not yet ready to get into the mode of blogging and organising; here's some photos of some more recent interview nails, really boring, but fun for the day. And mission accomplished with playing it safe for the interview.

These look much better on than in typical bottle photos, I just think from your own view point looking down, cuticle to tip, the perspective gives a better proportion to the tip design.

Ever since I got this plate, pretty much at the start of my stamping days I've wanted to do this design in white over a sheer or nude colour. On my thumbs I had the leopard and lace print design going diagonaly over.

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: Models Own - Nude Beige
Stamp Colour: Konad Special White
Image Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

 

I figured I'd write this up on the train on the way home so it's all ready and sorted so I can just chill when I'm in, but that only happened partially until I realised I had no free Wi-Fi and felt awkward not fully posting xD

Edinburgh was great, really really great ^_^ On the first night we caught up with our friend Aidan who's living back in Edinburgh (been about a year or so since we last seen him). He cooked us dinner and he didn't poison us! ( long story :P) and then went out on the town, to quite a few places I went when I first went to Edinburgh some years back. So that was fun, was feeling a little delicate on Valentine's day when we went to Edinburgh Dungeons, so uneven flooring, dim lights, and loud noises wasn't the best idea in the world, but later on Wagamama made everything better, mm ^_^

Anyhoo I'll stop rambling on! I want to watch the new episode of The Walking Dead & some How I Met Your Mother :D

All in all I had a great time, but I'm glad to be home and have a snuggle in bed watch The Walking Dead, and cuddle Cheese (as she's the only one who ventures on the bed). She huffed a little bit when we first got in, wanting picked up but pretending like she didn't. She then cabbaged on the bed loving getting her belly rubbed! My brother and his girlfriend are glad we're back so they don't get trampled on tonight by her, she loves padding and clawing when you're asleep, and also walking over your face and head until you let her under the covers... It's a good job she's so cute :P

Again with the rambling! I'm looking forward to catching up with the mahooosive amounts of posts I need to read tomorrow! Nighty! x

Guest Post From Esme Over At Nail Addict!

So today I have my very first guest post for you :] I hope you enjoy! :]

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Hey everyone! today Jenni and I agreed on doing guest post on each others blogs! So I want to thank her, shes so sweet for having me over! Id also like to mention that sometime in March, she and I will doing a spring challenge (stay tuned for that). Now onto my mani! I was inspired by these fishnet tights . I did the base to be a sort of a bronzed/tanned skin tone! Enjoy! 

-Seche Retain

-Petites: Sand Dune

-The Color Workshop: No name (a nude iridescent with a gray undertone) 

-The Color Workshop: No name (a gold shimmer) 

-Konad: M57

-Wet n Wild: Black Creme 

-Sally Hansen: Anti-Chip Top Coat  

*Dont forget to visit my blog Nail Addict, to see what Jenni did for her guest post!!

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I love the combo of the nude colours and shimmers!! Hope everyone's having a good Tuesday!

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!

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

P2 Pink It Up Chrome Zebra Konad

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: P2 - Pink It Up
Stamp Colour: China Glaze - Millennium & N.Y.C. - Foil For You
Plate: Konad M57
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

And a quick swatch pic. This is one of the polishes that I won in a giveaway, the formula is so so good. It goes on so smooth and perfect the chrome actually had a bit of a problem sticking. From now on I think before stamping with a chrome polish I'm going to do a thin base coat over the colour to help it stick.

Lace stamped

I did these a wee while before I even contemplated creating a blog, but I used a different flower for the stamping. I think maybe I used a full rose image. Not sure, anyways, here's the updated version :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Models Own - Nude Beige
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plates: Konad M57 & Bundle Monster BM06
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Waffle Nails

Recently I've been trying to get into more free-hand stamp free designs, but i'm a bit out of touch when it comes to the skills department.

So I decided to start small; and not very detailed just to get used to it again. So I decided to go for a drip design, or strawberry nails. So I bought some acrylic paints - my nail art pens aren't amazing.

I wasn't going to use a stamp aswell, but my recent purchase of a couple of browns gave me a tasty idea!!

Base: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel 10 day wear - Milk Chocolate

Plate: M57

Stamp Colour: W7 - Suede

Paint: Wilkinsons - Burnt Umber

Mini Haul & Odd-Bling Leopard

Last week I took a trip with my parents to Chester-le-street (about half an hour drive I think) in hope of finding some nail goodies on the market there.

And I did, two very luminous (despite what the photo looks like) neon's from the market, and five others from Boyes. The market it's self was disappointing though very blah :(

It's a very rare occasion that I get to go to Boyes, I used to love Boyes as a kid, getting false nails and random makeup goodies, but that was when I was staying at the caravan with the family near Richmond, or visiting family in Northallerton / going to Darlington. I forgot how much I love that place!

On to the goodies :]]

L-R: Yssy - Name Is Unkown, Revlon - Minted, Color Craze - Power Outage, Yes Love - Neon Green,
Color Craze - Static Electricity, Rimmel - Milk Chocolate, Color Craze - Atomic

I picked the neon's up just for fun, and at 50p each I couldn't resist. From Boyes I first picked up the LA Color polishes and i wish i had gotten all the others they have by them. They're very jelly like in application and some don't cover my nail line too well with thin coats, but thicker coats aren't a drying problem. 

I wish I'd bought Revlon - Minted when I was lusting after a mint, though streaking can be tricky it's so so so much nicer than Collection 2000's Mint Mojo. Though I still like the colour.

Base colour: LA Colors - Color Craze - Power Outage
Glitter: Mac - Crystalled Fuschia
Stamp colour: BYS - Black Satin
Plate: M57
Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Top Coat - China Glaze - no chip top coat

What you can't see in the photo is that there's violet shimmer throughout this polish - so pretty. The glitter that I pressed on when the Polish was tacky is actually quite a bright pink that flashes Lime green & sometimes Lilac.

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.