Amy's Flamingo Nails

Hi all

So my laptop is still not fixed, kinda hoping my friend will be able to help me out, but for the meantime I have all the photos from my phone (give or take) to edit on the family computer and post from time to time. So all hope is not lost!

Today we have some nails that I was meant to post many moons ago.  These were totally inspired by Souchka Nails, and this manicure in particular. I found these so freaking adorable that when Amy wanted her nails done, I knew I had to do something with flamingos! Needless to say my flamingo skills need improving upon, but still; flamingo nails = Yes!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colours: Color Club - Blue-ming & Zoya - Solange

Other Colours: Zoya - Solange Acrylci Paints, Models Own - Pastel Pink, Beauty UK - Jelly Bean

Glitter

Top Coat: Advanced Hard As Nails

What do you think of these? I can't recall if I glitter-bombed the thumb nail, or did another flamingo. Either way I love them, and love the colour combination.

Hope you've had a good Tuesday, I will be spending mine at an away day for the service I work for, which means lectures, some training, and a buffet lunch. Nom.

Zombie Hand Nails - New Bundle Monster Holiday Plates

Hi all.

It's a Sunday, which would normally mean "boooo" but I'm not working tomorrow, I almost have normal function of my injured finger (mentioned in last Sundays post) and there is new Walking Dead.... Who's as excited as I am?

This was the fist image from the two new sets of plates I bought from Bundle Monster recently. Honestly it was the one I was the most excited about, and I thought it would help to really get into the swing of Halloween nails.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: 17 - Forever

Sponged Colours: Beauty UK - Purple - No. 5

2True - Shade 12 - Mushroom

Matalan - G - Storm

Image Plate: Bundle Monster H08

Stamping Colour: Konad White

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

And just for funsies, here's a picture of my injured finger. I haven't had it checked out yet, although some movements bring tears to my eyes I can type relatively normal (which is good considering most of my working day is spent typing - especially at Neuropsychology where I'm typing up reports).

Sunday, Tuesday, Friday.

That's all from me today, I shall be back with something later in the week.. And so the count down for Norman Reedus dreams begin!

Favourite Colour Combo - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all, hope you've all had a good weekend.

I've not really done much productive blog-wise recently but I've spent the day trying to organise some stuff together so I'm feeling a little less chaotic, but glad i'm off tomorrow too heh.

This week's challenge in the Facebook group Adventures In Stamping called for a manicure with favourite colour combo. So I opted for Aqua and Purple, these two polishes in particular are favourites of mine seperately, so when I used them together on a manicure I did for Amy a few months back I was eager to try them together again.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colours: Color Club - Blue-Ming & Beauty UK - Jelly Bean

Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM 211

Top Coat: Sally Hansen  Advanced Hard As Nails

And here's the base.

If my nails had been a little bit longer I think I would have been able to make the purple more intense.

Time to have a relaxing Sunday night, I'll be back in the next couple of days with some swatches.

Galaxies Gradients & Crosses

Hi all, happy Saturday :D

Today I have a mani I did a few weeks back now for my besties birthday night out. I absolutely loved them, and although all I can see is the flaws, They're still one of my favourite manis I've ever done. These consist of some gradient nails that have crosses on them, and some galaxy nails.

I'm a total fiend for galaxy/nebula style stuff recently, and even painted a pair of canvas shoes with acrylic paints. I've yet to wear them, but they look bloody awesome, even if I do say so myself.

Base Coat:  CND - Stickey

Other Colours: Rimmel - White, Collection 2000 - Angel Wings, W7 - Black & Night Suede

Beauty UK - Jelly Bean Clubworks - Fuchsia, Miss Sporty - Rain Drops, Gosh Holographic Hero

Acrylic Paints - Ultra Marine, White, Black, Yellow Ochre

Glitter: Rimmel - Disco Ball

Top Coat: Sally Hansen  Advanced Hard As Nails

Hope you've all had a good day so far :]

White Dogtooth over Multicoloured base

Hi all. Happy Wednesday. I say that knowing that there's only one and half days left to work! Can't wait for a little break!

Today I have some more "sandwich bag" method where you dab colours onto your nail and use plastic to gently mix the colours. Unfortunately for me, I didn't re watch the video, or do any googling before I tried this, and I actually mixed the colours on the plastic, and then transferred to the nail, which seems a lot messier than the original idea. After trying this method out for these nails I wanted to do a more purple and teal mix.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel White
Other Colours: Sally Hansen - Fairy Teal, Color Club - Hydrangea Kiss, Beauty UK - Jelly Bean & W7 - Pink
Image Plate: Konad M65
Stamping Colour: Konad Special White
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

 And here's the base before stamping.

I like the way these turned out, so I'm going to try it again, perhaps even the "right" way so I don't get covered in excess polish!

Have a good day!

Purple Gradient with Pink and White Stamping

Hi all

Yay Thursday! Almost the weekend! Sorry again for the lack of posts recently I really feel like I have zero energy when I'm home after work, and all I want to do on the weekend is relax!

These nails aren't really as good as they should have been, but I think that has something to do with the image plate itself. I think It may been etched too deeply, I think I need to maybe get in contact with Cheeky and see about getting a handful of plates replaces. I'm not having much luck :(

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colours: Collection 2000 - Angel Wings & Beauty UK - Jelly Bean

Stamping Colours: Konad Special - White & Psyche Pink

Image Plate: Cheeky CH50

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

See what I mean about the image? There's meant to be lines between all petals, and the ends are meant to be pointed like Cherry Blossom, and it just didn't really work at all :( These did look really quite fun from arms length though as the colour combo was nice and bright.

Here's a couple pictures of the base gradient:

Well that's all from me today. Hope you're all having a good one :]

Halloween Blood Splatter

Hi all!

I know I've been slacking lately, and even forgot to add the polish picture to my giveaway, but I promise in the next week I'll try to get back to normal posting, or at least try to keep up with my reading list, which is really really huge right now lol.

Tomorrow I'm not going to be doing a stamping challenge, as I'll be chilling with my favourite girl post Halloween night out. However you might get some gore-tastic Halloween snaps :]

These are not the nails i'll be wearing, these were done a week or so back. I tried to do a straw splatter mani, but after getting frustrated, and even trying to splat with a brush handle I reached for the rough side of a kitchen sponge and went to town. I will do a straw splatter mani some day!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Elf - Desert Haze

Reds: Beauty UK - Purple

Essence Nail Colour3  - Kiss On Top Of The Rock

Rimmel - Celebrity Bash

Top Coat: Sally Hansen - Advanced Hard As Nails

Hope everyone's having a good Saturday! When this posts i'll be covering my face in latex and tissue getting my zombie onnnn!

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.

Essie - To Buy Or Not To Buy & Multi-coloured Stamping

Hi all, happy Tuesday!

Small post for you today as there wasn't much daylight knocking around when I was trying to take these photos. I also have some polish-pimped plugs at the end :]

I started with a base colour of Essie - To Buy Or Not To Buy, which is a gorgeous lilac colour with some really pretty ice blue fleck-like shimmer. It does hide on the nail, but not as much as these pictures would make you think. I then did some multi-coloured stamping using this method, using Beauty UK - Jelly Bean & W7 - Blue Lagoon

Base Coat: La Femme

Base Colour: Essie - To Buy Or Not To Buy

Stamping Colours: W7 - Blue Lagoon

                                  Beauty UK - Jelly Bean

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM 321

Top Coat: Rimmel 60 Seconds - Clear

Unfortunately I didn't get a good shot of the base colour, due to my base coat making things bubble like crazy (something that's never happened to me before but you can't see in these pics too badly) and I was honestly chasing the sun around the house. I'll definitely be swatching this colour properly some time soon to show just how pretty the blue fleck-like shimmer is :] Above is two coats, and the first layer bubbled like crazy due to my base, and the second kind of helped to cover it up.

On to the polish-pimped plugs I mentioned:

These are just some plain black saddle acrylic plugs that I wear (in my stretched lobes) from time to time, and I decided they needed a boost. I've been wanting to do this for a while now, as they're just sitting in my piercing box along with many other items, all boring and plain. When I first got Golden Rose Scale Effect 04 I was tempted to do it, but I kept forgetting!

For these I put down a coat of black polish, and then one coat of Golden Rose Scale Effects - 04 and a top coat. I still need to go over the edges again and maybe put another top coat on to help them last, but for now I'm pretty happy with how awesome they look, with about 10 minutes of effort!

What do you think about the plugs?

Beauty UK - Jelly Bean & Gold Paisley Using Bundle Monster 315

Ahhh! Happy Friday my lovelies!

I am feeling a little better recently, I'm not going through a mass of tissue blowing my nose every 10 minutes, so things are looking up :] I also have such an amazing  polish to show you today, and I may need to buy a backup bottle because I love it that much hahaha.

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while now; you may have heard me talk about "Saints Row purple" and how I've been on a hunt for the perfect bright purple polish that's not too pale and doesn't lean too plummy. After buying a watch that I thought was the perfect purple (it looked it online) about a year ago and it was too warm, I'd almost given up hope.

That's when the new Beauty UK candy collection comes in. Jelly Bean, oh Jelly Bean, where have you been all my life! Pretty fitting as I some times get called Jelly Bean or Jenni Bean hehe.

This is the best polish formula wise that I've ever came across from Beauty UK. It's opaque in one, more vibrant in two, and dries really quick too. It dries the typical neon matte ( I have no photos sorry) but looks pretty with top coat too.

Base Coat: La Femme

Base Colour: Beauty UK - Jelly Bean

Stamp Colour: Barry M - Gold Foil

Image plate: Bundle Monster BM 315

Top Coat: Rimmel 60 seconds - Clear

  

Here's some swatch shots to show it in a different light.

So yeah, look at that beauty! Ignore the little glittery specks, I must have had something on my top coat brush :(

Hope you're all having a good Friday :]

Beauty UK - Peach Melba & Purple Double Stamping

Still on the mission of powering through some mani's from the "vault" so today we have some summery nail stamping. Double stamping on super shorties.

I started with a base of Beauty UK - Peach Melba, which was a little tricky if I'm honest, and I think I should've spent an extra pound on the Barry M, and had a friendlier brush to deal with. The base is two coats, then stamped with Max Factor - Fantasy Fire and Bundle Monster BM20, and then Barry M - Indigo and Bundle Monster BM08.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Beauty UK - Peach Melba
Stamping Colours: Max Factor - Fantasy Fire
                             Barry M - Indigo
Image Plates: Bundle Monster BM08, BM20
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

I'm a little gutted that this is the only decent photo I got of these, It was so so hard trying to capture a photo of the shift sparkle going on in Fantasy Fire, but trust me it was there. It almost looked like little veins of sparkly goodness when I moved my fingers. That may be a gross description, but it's the only one I've got :P

And here's two shots of Peach Melba.

Sunlight

This is probably the truest representation of colour.

Such a pretty polish, just like all those pretty peaches around though, but a bargain at £1.99.

Glitter - We Stamp On Sundays

This week over at Adventures In Stamping the challenge was to use glitter in the mani. As soon as I heard that I knew I wanted to use some of my mac glitters, and while I couldn't find my fuchsia one, I settled for using Crystalled Lime, and a Teal glitter by Lanmei that I got for 50p years ago.

First I painted my nails with on my favourite polishes (especially before I started this blog) though it has been quite neglected, and I haven't worn it in over a year! No swatches though sorry ;( I used a top coat and waited for it to be tacky before pressing in the glitter, added top coat, stamped, and then top coat again. :]

Base Coat: La Femme
Base Colour: Beauty UK - Turquoise Shimmer
Glitter: Mac - Crystalled Lime
Lanmei - Teal
Image Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Dashica Big SpD-A
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Before stamp, before top coat, you can clearly see the difference in between the glitters, The Mac glitter went on so smooth, and the Lanmei glitter just clumped.

This is the first week where there will be no bottle shot/ photo of the plate, and that is because I'm feeling way too lazy to do that :P I hope everyone's had a good weekend :]

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 12 - Earth Day Nails

So this is the last day of the challenge myself and Esme embarked upon. And I'm going to be sad to see it go. I feel like I get stuck in nail ruts some times, sticking to stamping for a while, then free hand, then back to stamping, but I feel like I need to work on mixing it up in the future. And the Spring Challenge has made me see that challenging myself is fun ^-^

These nails are for Earth Day, which is on Sunday. My idea was to make them sort of look like satellite images of the Earth. I started with my base colour, sponged on some greens, and took a small dry brush to add some detail, then sponged on the cloud colours.

Don't forget to check out Esme's post for today to see what she came up with :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: George - Cloudless Sky
Sponged Colours: W7 - Matte Green
                              NYC - Nail Glossies - 215
                              Cutex - Sweet Pea
                              George - Meteorite
                              Beauty UK - Soft Grey
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

 

Looking at these now, I almost wished I'd used a slightly deeper blue, But I'm not sure I have a creme between this sky blue, and navy (that isn't bright) any excuse to buy a new blue ;]

So what's been your favourite mani from mine and Esme's challenge?

Spring Challenge - Day 11 - Sky

So I was gonna do a night time sky gradient, but it went horrifically wrong, so I opted for sponging some "clouds" and dotting some "stars" It worked out better in my head :P

Don't forget to check out Esme's post for today to see what she came up with :]

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: Miss Sporty - Pop Fiction
Sponged With: Rimmel - Black Satin, Barry M - Grey, Beauty UK - Soft Grey
Dotted With: Nubar - G188 2010, Rimmel - Disco Ball
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

The dots of glitter/flecks flattened out for this photo, which looks so much better.

I actually didn't mind these so much in person. But the photos just feel like a bit fat let down :/

Here's some swatches of Miss Sporty - Pop fiction, which is amazing. I found out about this colour via Nail stories here, and it looked so incredible. So I lusted after it for a while, and then recently bought it. It was so worth the wait, and the tiny price of £1.99. The formula on this bad boy is incredible. It has already graced my fingertips more than once in the two weeks I've had it.

So this is the second last challenge of the Spring Challenge - I can't believe it's almost over!

Next up, and the final challenge is Earth Day Nails! :]

Spring Challenge - Day 10 - Rain

Todays Spring Challenge is Rain. Since the start of this challenge I knew what I wanted to do for todays and was looking forward to it.

Don't forget to check out Esme's post for today to see what she came up with :]

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Beauty UK - soft grey
Large Cloud: Barry M - Grey
Rain: Bourjois 10 Day Wear - Number 18
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

These were so so fun to wear. Nothing particularly hard to do, but really fun and bold in a way :]

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 ^-^

Spring Challenge - Day 4 - Worms

Happy Friday! Yayy!

Today the spring challenge myself and Esme of Nail Addict are doing calls for worms! This was my first idea, and I just rolled with it, so I hope everyone likes these :P

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: W7 - Suede
Sponged Base: Barry M - Grey, Beauty UK - Soft Grey

Worm, Grass & Mud: Acrylic Paints
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

I love Mr Worm... These were so fun to wear; especially with the matte top coat so there was no bothersome glare.

 

I thought of Mr Worm as happy; with a little black crooked smile; but when I shown these to Scott what he originally seen was a grumpy worm! 

I love that he has a smile and a gurning face :P What do you see? 

Check out what's to come:

 

Don't forget to check out what Esme came up with :]