OPI How Great is your Dane and foil stamping

Hi all,

I can't believe it's been a full two months since I've last posted anything. I've only just checked my blog email account for the first time too.  Even my actual digits are feeling neglected, barely getting re-done every week.

I still have a monster back-log of manicures to post that need editing etc etc, and since moving in with my boyfriend I feel like majority of the photos have been taken on my iPhone so the quality isn't great.

Maybe some time this year when we've moved house, have gotten settled and have a little Frenchie pup I'll manage to catch up with everything and start fresh!

Until then, here's some wintery nails which I think are from September October time, when I had started growing my nails into a long almond shape, but after a bad break after much filing/growing/care I soon went back to the usual, and easy square shape.

Base Coat: CND Stickey

Base Colour: OPI - How Great is your Dane

Stamping Colours: Barry M - Gold Foil, Revlon - Copper Penny

Image Plate: Moyou Bridal number unknown

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as Nails 

And here's a swatch of the lovely How Great is your Dane:

It usually takes a lot for me to love a brown, and this shade ticks every box.

Until next time!

A Few Manis From November

Hi all.

I've spent a few hours today editing through some old photos (most of which were taken on my iPhone, so aren't the best quality) so I have a few mani's to show you today, and hopefully will get some more set up to post so I can start posting regularly again!

Base coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: NOPI - Pretty In Plum

Stamping Colour: Barry M - Silver Foil

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM417

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Please excuse the tip wear in the next one, and the not so great stamping. I actually think that this purple and yellow combo was from mid October!

Base Coat CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Sinful Colors - Amethyst

Stamping Colour: Konad Yellow

Image Plate: BM423

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Revlon - Emerald City

Stamping Colour: Revlon - Copper Chrome

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM415

Image Plate: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Not the best pictures, but the first mani I especially loved. The base is Nicole by OPI - Pretty In Plum very lovely shade, and it looks quite different in different lighting.

Other than that there's not much more to say! Hope you've had a lovely weekend, mine has been a let down; as per. But at least I have a busy three days before I have an interview on Thursday, and then I'm not back in work until Monday!

Christmas Pick & Mix

Hi all, happy Friday!

This week has been a loooooong week, but I'm hoping that this weekend will help me recover further from my cold/cough and a night out with the bestie will get me into the festive mood further!

I've been sporting these nail since Sunday, and while they are currently chipped on a few corners, they're holding up quite well!

The white base on most of the nails is Rimmel - French White, and the glitter on those nails is Nails Inc - Electric Lane. Not sure why I love white with glitter like this, but I do! I really still need to buy a new white as this one has been thinned so much it smells more like thinner than polish!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Coats: Rimmel - French White, NOPI - My Cherry Amour & W7 - Night Suede (pinky)

Image Plates: Bundle Monster BMH01 BMH03

Glitter: Ciaté - Sequin Mistletoe Magic (thank you Debbie-dumpling for this :D)

Stamping Colours: W7 - Suede, Konad White, Rimmel Black, Revlon - Emerald City

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

 And for funsies here's the stamping without dotting or a top coat. Rudolph freaked me out so much at this point with his zombie eyes!

Hope you's like these :] I'm hoping to post more festive-themed nails soon when I do some more peoples nails!

Spring Flowers - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all.

Happy Monday, start to a four day week, four day weekend combo - I like! I always feel a little strange posting these on Mondays, but as it was getting so so late last night I decided to take advantage of the fact I can now set up posts in my lunch break!

This week's challenge over at Adventures In Stamping called for spring flowers. When I started these I didn't know what stamp I was going to use, or what colours, just that I wanted to stamp over a gradient. So I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel - White
Gradient Colours: Catrice - London, H&M - Make Me Blush, Revlon - Teak Rose
Stamp Colour: Sally Hansen Fairy Teal
Image Plate: Cheeky CH44
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

 Two coats of white:

Then I sponged on the three colours at once, and did two coats of this, these pictures were taken without a top coat.

Here's what I used minus the stamping polish: 

Hope you guys like these!

Back to work I go :(

Halloween Nails & Costume

Hi all!

I thought I'd post my nails from Saturday, and my costume. I only have one photo of my complete outfit (hair done, mini hat, and medals) but it's a group shot, and I'm too lazy to ask the ladies if I can post it here :P

What do you think? I loved it, I actually scared people while I was out; it was great :D Wearing dark contacts made me wish I had dark eyes though hahah.

These nails aren't actually the finished product - but I ran out of light before I had a spare moment to take any photos.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: MUA - Shade 19

Other colours: Cutex - Sweet Pea, Revlon - Teak Rose

Acrylic Paints

Topped with Essie - Muchi, Muchi

Matte: Rimmel - Matte Finish

Later I added Rimmel - Celebrity Bash to make the blood glossy

Got this idea from Samarium's Swatches I added too many coats of Muchi, Muchi though and hid most of the random grossness of the acrylic paints. These looked much better as a finished product!

Hope you're all having a good Tuesday =]

Something I Love - We Stamp On Sundays

This week’s challenge over at Adventures In Stamping is 'Something I Love' I knew what I wanted to post for this so it was easy. Especially easy as this is a manicure I had already done. It is something I love though. I love gradients, rainbowness, stamping over gradients, and stamping images like this one.

This image is actually my favourite from the Big SpD-A Dashica plate I own. And that's quite a statement as there are so many awesome ones. But yes, images like this, that show majority of the base are one of my favourite types to use; especially over gradients or multi coloured backgrounds, this image is so detailed too.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel - White
Sponged Colours: Revlon - Sunshine Sparkle
                           George - Buttercup Shine
                           Clubworks Neon Orange
                           P2 - Passion
                           No7 - Poolside Blue
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Dashica Big SpD-A
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

  And a bad photo of them matte (Rimmel Matte Finish), which is actually how I wore them.

This was my first time trying the 'paint on the sponge method' for this gradient, and it turned out really beautiful as the colours worked so well together, but then I decided I wanted them more vibrant - and it went downhill from there, trying to blend each colour into the next became a little bit of a nightmare, and that's why I haven't included any photos of the gradient alone; because it looked like crap!

Bit of a dodgy scan/crop but you can see how pretty it is :]

I hope everyone's had a good weekend!

Revlon - Emerald City & Golden Rose - Scale Effects 04

Another quick post today, I'm not really feeling too sociable so I'll just share some pictures. These again are from a while back, I need to wear Emerald City again as it's so, so gorgeous!

Revlon - Emerald City 2 Coats

I wouldn't really describe this as matte finish; I would say It was a satin finish for sure. This was the best Revlon I've ever tried, and I think that is down to the finish of the polish, I've never had such an easy two coats from revlon. The only time I've managed two coats with a Revlon was because of the coats being extremely thick.

Adding a top coat really made this beauty pop though. So much gorgeous shimmer! The photo below does not even do it any justice.

Then I added a coat of Golden Rose - Scale Effects 04 a gorgeous flakie top coat that shines blue to green. I've been lusting after a flakie top coat that's blue-green ever since I discovered flakie top coats, so wearing this was a dream. You guys might get a load of flakie mani's soon hehe.

I hope everyone's having an alright weekend.

Revlon - Sunshine Sparkle

Hi all! TGIF! Little swatch post today, it needs to be a quickie post as I have a lot to do :] My interview that was going to be near the end of the month has been moved up to Monday, so I have some planning to do, I have no idea what to wear either :/

Anyhoo - Sunshine Sparkle is a really pretty yellow, I thought it was going to be a horrid formula but It wasn't really that bad in the end, pretty milky yellow with glass flecks. This is three coats, no base or top coat.

Revlon - Sunshine Sparkle

Time to go play dress up! Hopefully I'll get up to date with my reading list tomorrow :]

Green Gradient & Frog Stamping

So after testing out the images from the plates I recieved from the Born Pretty Store I decided to do some stamping, and I was in the mood for the froggie so I used  M30, and used a green gradient for the background :]

This is more colour true.

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base colour: Rimmel - Tip Whitener
Sponged Colours: Yes Love - Neon Green - 23
                                  W7 - Matte Green
                                  Revlon - Emerald City
Stamping Colour: Konad White
Image Plate: BPM30
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

The gradient's a lot prettier in real life, but it was bad photo weather lol. I hope everyone's having a good Thursday!

*This product was sent to me for review*
They also offered a 5% off coupon for you guys using code DS5X31

Guest Post Over At Northern Nails!

Hey everyone! I know I've been a little bit quiet the last few days, but Scott has had a few days off work so we've been chilling watching films, 30 Rock and geeking it up (playing saints row / call of duty) :P So it's been nice :]

Today I thought I'd let you know about a guest post of mine for Jo over at Northern Nails. Apologies for the naff pictures, I was having a bad camera day :P

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: Revlon - Sunshine Sparkle
Stamping Colours: LA Colors - Static Electricity
                                   Rimmel - Pop!
                                   W7 - Matte Green
                                   Gosh - Berry Me
Image Plate: Dashica Big SpD-A
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

Revlon Teak Rose Swatches

Just a little quick post today, I'm trying to catch up with the back log of mani's I have. 

So yes, Teak Rose is quite a strange polish, it's a dusky pink that reminds me of dark terracotta... It's very odd. This is one of the better Revlon formulas I've tried, the best so far is Emerald City, but I think that's because of the matte formula. What you're seeing below is three coats, please excuse the dings and any tip wear, I was mid wii fit, when then sun came out so I slapped on another coat to try and hide any wear... but then I knocked them :P

Revlon - Teak Rose

I swear this polish photographs more pink than in real life, I thought the polish matched these tiles on the sittingroom windowsills.

Peach & Green Using Dashica Big SpD-A

Bit of an odd combo today, but I really loved the shimmer against the creme. This was done with Dashica's Big SpD-A double stamping one of the images, turning it around. I can't believe I forgot to take photos of the base colour, but all I know the formula and the brush was a total PITA. I should've spent an extra quid on a Barry M instead I think.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Beauty UK - Peach Melba
Stamping Colour: Revlon - Emerald City
Image Plate: Dashica Big SpD-A
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

Last photo's a bit out of focus but you can see the shimmer from Emerald City more clearly. I almost feel like I should've stamped something else over these...

Spring Challenge - Day 8 - Easter Nails

Today's nails for the Spring Challenge are Easter nails. For these I had a few ideas, and knew I wanted to do a Pick 'n' Mix / Skittles mani. I got the idea for the Mini Eggs from Emily's Nail Files with this great tutorial. At first I wasn't really feeling the colour combination I had going on, but changed some things around, and after the 3 days I had them on I'd grown to love them.

Don't forget to check out Esme's Blog to see what she came up with for today!

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colours: Models Own - Utopia & Pastel Pink
Free Hand Colours: Revlon - Minted
                                Mini M&S - Yellow
                                W7- Suede
                                Models Own - Pastel Pink
                                Sally Hansen - White On
Stamp Colour: Konad White
Image Plate: BM19
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

Then I added a matte top coat to make everything soft :]

Mini Haul

I was feeling pretty crap the other day so I decided to buy some polishes. I was going to be going down the shops anyways (originally with family before they decided to leave without telling me) and then I felt the sudden urge to have some new pretties. I knew I wanted Pop Fiction after seeing it over at Nail Stories, and a Peach colour, but the rest was just because they were cheap ^_^

Beauty UK - Peach Melba -£1.99
Revlon - Sunshine Sparkle £1
Revlon - Teak Rose £1
Revlon - Emerald City £1

Miss Sporty - Pop Fiction £1.99
Gosh - Golden Dragon £2

I have no idea why Golden Dragon photographs so dark, It's such a gorgeous green in real life.

Anyhoo; just a quickie post from me today. Friday's Spring challenge is Easter Nails - so keep an eye out ^-^

Revlon Whimsical Swatches

I know most of you have seen way too many swatches of Whimsical. But I can't not share mine too! This was the polish I swapped Fantasy Fire for with Iris.

I loved this polish, I wish it was slightly more opaque, as I'd rather not layer it and get more squishy goodness, but I can't be bothered for the 4/5 layers that would take. Other than that the formula was good, I did have to place some of the glitter though. Turns out I'm a little heavy handed and just brushed the glitter off.

Two Coats of Essence - Speed Of Light Blue & Two Coats of Revlon - Whimsical

I think the next time I use this I will be more careful with placing the glitter before the second coat so I get more depth to it. Hope you guys enjoyed my swatches :]