MUA - Shade 19 Swatch

Another quick swatch today of a polish from November. The colour's like... really milky coffee, that's the best explanation I can think of hehe. I really need to see what it looks like compared to my other nude colours, as I think this might fall on the Taupe side of things. I'm looking forward to using it with gold though ^_^

This was two buttery coats :] It's just a shame that on this bottle the brush is all sorts of messed up, so it's more difficult to use. But for only £1 I can't complain :P

Bourjois 10 Days - No.18 Swatch

I feel like I haven't done anything exciting with my nails in ages, I think doing other peoples nails this week has seriously took it out of me, and even then I didn't get any close up pics (pics will be coming via my cousin's iPhone :P)

So I'm just going to post a couple of swatches until I have something good to show you :]

Today is Bourjois 10 Day nail polish No.18, It's such a gorgeous colour, and it's strange that I haven't used to for any Mani's, even though I have wore it a few times now. To me the colour just screams denim, and it's like no other blue I own at all, mainly due to the shimmer, that is not lost on the nail!

This colour's more vibrant in real life, and a top coat really makes it pop. This is two coats, no top coat. I love this polish but I have issues with the brush, it's angled, long, and the stem of the brush (if that is what it's called..) is at an angle too, so there's not so much control going on. My left hand turns out fine, but my right hand is a nightmare, it's like learning to paint nails all over again ¬_¬

Christmas Nails & Christmas Goodies

Today we have the nails I wore for Christmas Day, and the nail goodies that Santa brought me. :D Quick post today, but I should be back to the usual blogging after all my festive cheer is gone :P

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: China Glaze - Millennium
Nail Art Pens: Red & Green
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

 These were a bit rushed, and botched for my liking, but after doing my Cousin, my Aunt, and my Mam's nails I ran out of energy and just couldn't be bothered :/ I was going to do a different design on each nail but I kept knocking the different base colours, and then they all took different times to dry so I decided on a Chrome, just because they take no time to dry!

 Mini Haul!!! Santa was so good to me this year, especially Scotty-Santa. He went a bit crazy with it all :P But don't get me wrong, I appreciate that he likes to buy me nail stuff ^_^ He bought me the Beetle Juice collection, the Konad special polishes, the Konad plates, the Konad book of ideas, the China Glaze, the O.P.I. and a 4 set of O.P.I mini Muppets Holiday 2011 collection. Such a lucky girl ^_^ The rest of the goodies are from friends and family.

Looking forward to trying out that pink, it's more neon in real life.

Looking forward to this plate :D

I think the full size konad is a dark plum colour, but I'm not positive. Can't wait to try the white though!

Can't wait to try these beauties!!!

Snowman, Stripes & Polka Dots!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Essence - Speed Of light Blue
Glitter: Rimmel - Disco Ball
Acrylic Paints: Crimson Red, White, Black, Brown, Orange

 

I wish I'd just done polka dots!

Cracked open a walnut yesterday, and found a heart!

Hope everyone's having a good Christmas Eve, or whatever you celebrate! So excited for tomorrow ^_^ Not sure when I'll post next, maybe I'll pop on Boxing day and I'll do a mini haul with my nail goodies from Santa!


Happy Holidays =]

Gingerbread Men!

I've been meaning to try this stamp out for ages now, and it's so so cute. I love gingerbread men, I really do, and tonight I should be making some =] Nomnom.

Base Coat: CND- Stickey
Base Colour: Beauty UK - Soft Grey
Stamp Colours: W7 - Suede & George - Meteorite
Image Plate: BM222
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

The full stamp didn't totally transfer, but I like the effect that comes with it, it looks like someones taken a little nibble in places ^_^ It's times like these thought that I wish my little fingernail wasn't so tiny!

Christmas Pudding!

These are from last week, and this is the only good photo I got, before I got other nail varnish splashed on, when I was painting a set of false nails in the same design for Martine. I'm looking forward to wearing a crazy Pick 'n' Mix for my Christmas nails, as I'm definitely going to have a Christmas Pud on one of my nails! And hopefully do a much better job of the holly seeing as I've had practice now :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: W7 - Suede
Polka Dots: Black Acrylic Paint
Icing: White Arylic Paint
Berries: Rimmel - Celebrity Bash
Holly: Nail Art Pen In Green
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

This design was found at D.I.Y Nails, who I loooove.

Christmas Tartan

So I didn't have a lot of time to do these nails, Infact I only had a base colour down, so I took 10 minutes to do some quick and easy tartan. This explains why it's not the neatest design in the world, but from afar it's still super fun =D

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: N.Y.C. Nail Glossies - 215
Nail Art Pens: Red, Green, & Silver Glitter
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

3 Coats As It's Sheer

I originally bought this way, way back in the day, maybe about 4 years ago, when I was looking for a white as I had trouble with white drying etc. When I got home and tried this out I remember being disappointed at the fact it was so sheer, and never really gave it a chance until the other day.

This horrible overcast light does not do this polish justice though, as it has some micro shimmer to it which brightens the whole thing up. But it's actually a really nice change to stark white.

Could've done with another top coat to smooth things out even more.

Blue Gradient, Stars & Snowflakes

I said the other day in this post that I was going to use snowflake nail stickers, but couldn't find them, but then I did find them :P today is a post using those decals. Thinking about it, these decals were bought as part of a Christmas present from my mother, 4 years ago, with my first ever roll of striping tape! I got a lot of nail stickers that time, and got my gingerbread men and candy canes too, best stickers ever!! Recently that striping tape when missing, after it came off the plastic middle it was attached to.. maybe I'll find it next week hehe.

On to the nails :]

Bad photo but I felt like a bottle shot :] L-R: Nubar - 2010 G188, Mac Glitter In White (I Think), Rimmel - Disco Ball, Essence - Speed Of Light Blue

It still makes me LOL every time I read "Just stick on your nail and you will be attractive"

I started with two coats of Rimmel - French Rose, and then sponged on Essence - Speed Of Light Blue, I then added one coat of Rimmel - Disco Ball to the full nail, Nubar - 2010 to half the nail, and pressed in a little loose glitter when it was slightly tacky. When that was dry I used the 5 point single stars, and snowflakes from the pack of Tina stickers. The different types of glitter, and flakes are more noticeable in real life, the flakies give it a nice glow in certain lights ^_^ I think this is my best gradient to date :]

Almost Christmas!!! :D

Half Moon & Holly

These are actually similar to what I wore last Christmas; on the day. Although it wasn't a half moon mani, it was just Sally Hansen - White On, with Maybelline - Ice Princess, and the holly stamped, with.. who knows; cause that's a long time ago :P

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colours: Rimmel - French Rose &  Sally Hansen - White On
Glitter: Maybelline Colorama - Ice Princess
Silver Line: China Glaze - Millennium
Stamp Colours: George - Meteorite & Rimmel - Celebrity Bash
Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM14 (Original Set)
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Just to show why I'm ever faithful to this glitter for my micro glitter needs xD

So I started with two coats of Rimmel - French Rose, and used hole reinforcement stickers to create the half moon shape when French Rose was dry. Then I painted Sally Hansen - White On, and removed the stickers while the polish was still wet. Next a coat of Maybelline Colorama - Ice Princess, and when that was dry I stamped the Holly using Bundle Monster plate BM14, and George - Meteorite, & Rimmel - Celebrity Bash. Originally I was going to paint the half moon line with my Gold Citadel Paint but now I'm glad I couldn't find it, as I think it might have looked god awful :P So I used China Glaze - Millennium, and finished with my usual top coat.

I only needed one coat of White On, with touch up to only one nail. Which is a surprise as normally I need 2-3 coats for full nail coverage. At the start of this bottle I only needed 2 coats for full opacity, but as it's getting older, and emptier it's getting a little harder to work with. Even though I've thinned it once or twice already. So having two coats of a faster drying French Rose must really help.

Gold Glitter Sponged Tips & Stars

I say stars in the title... But they're not very star like. Originally these were meant to be snowflakes, but I just couldn't achieve this. The idea came when my friend Amy posted an image on my Facebook of gold glitter fade with snowflake decals on. I thought it looked lovely, and I remembered that I had some snowflake stickers somewhere, but when I couldn't find them I settled for trying to do them free hand. Unfortunately doing them freehand meant that they weren't as delicate and perfect as I'd wanted them to be. So I settled for some "stars" made of lines... And the next day I found my Snowflake decals :P

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel - French Rose
Golds: Miss Sporty - Gold Backstage & H&M - Wa Wa Woom
Acrylic White Paint
& Glitter From An Old Nail Art Set

A thank you goes to my sister-in-law Martine for lending me this french manicure colour, as I don't own one :]

Khaki & Bronze Feathers

No Christmas nails today, but they're kinda Autumnal, and were quite fun to wear. This is one of three new polished Scott bought me recently. Originally I'd picked up this one, and a nude shade, and then we were told at the checkout they were on 3 for 2, so I got a bright pink too. 

This was actually a colour I included in my giveaway, and I'm glad I was still lusting after it, as I have no other green like this. The formula on these is amazing too, fast drying, with great coverage. But I do have a slight hate for the brushes; for £1 a bottle though; no complaints from me :]

Direct sunlight

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: MUA - Shade 23
Stamp Colours: Cutex - Sweet Pea
                       Miss Sporty - Electric Beige
Image Plates: Konad M65 + Bundle Monster BM15

Frozen Swirls - Pale Blue And Bronze

Icy cool nails today. I loved wearing these though the stamp was quite hard to from a distance, I love the colour combo as both colours are cool toned. Apologies for the naff photos. I still haven't really sussed out how I'm going to take photos in the winter, as I can't afford day light bulbs. Booo. So I think I might only change my nails when the sun's out so I can take photos xD

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: George - Smarty Pants
Stamp Colour: Miss Sporty - Electric Beige
Image Plate: Bundle Monster 201 (new series)
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

I love this stamp though. :]

Glitter Candy Striped Nails

I am aware that in reality these really should be diagonal to do the classic candy cane type nails, but as I've said before, I love vertical too much xD I was actually just playing with my new striping tape that arrived in the post, and then I really loved these, and decided to keep them on ;]

I started off with a white base, and placed on some striping tape leaving different space in between to create the thicker stripe in the middle. I then painted Barry M - Red Glitter on top and peeled the striping tape off :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Sally Hansen - White On
Glitter: Barry M - Red Glitter
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Please excuse the lobster hands in the first pic, it was freezing in my room ;(

 These are the tapes I received from eBay. It was lucky dip for colours, and I received White, Red, Silver, Gold, Holographic Gold, Pink, Purple, Holographic Green, Fuchsia, and Navy.

It cost me £1.07 for 10 of these with free postage, and if anyone would like the linky link again let me know :]

W7 Blue Lagoon & Flakie Magic

This polish is an oldie for me, it's about 3 years old, if not a little more. I didn't need to thin this polish at all. And there was no clean up required. NONE! It was seriously the perfect consistency. Sadly most of the pretty purple shimmer and the micro glitter hide in the bottle, but from what I remember when I got this the glitter was always really sparse and random, which I love quite a bit. The colour is very vivid, and I thought it would be a perfect blue for some flakies as I never got around to showing George Boom with Nubar.

Two coats of W7 - Blue Lagoon

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: W7 - Blue Lagoon
Flakie: Nubar - 2010 G188
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Mmm Matte. One coat of Rimmel matte top coat.

Just to show the pretty glow :]