Snowflakes Inspired by Spellbinding Nails

Hi all! Hope you've enjoyed some nice time off from school or work.

I've had a week off from blogging, and while I've enjoyed having time to relax, and family to distract me from missing certain people, I'm so far behind with reading other blogs that It may take me weeks! That being said; I'm not back in work until Wednesday and so I'm going to try and take today, and a (probably) hungover Tuesday to catch up and get some posts scheduled for the coming week.

Today though I have some nails for you that were inspired by the lovely Sarah over at Spellbinding Nails I was doing my friends nails a couple of weeks back, and was needing some inspiration, so I hit up Google images and fell in love with these.

Here's my nails:

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Color Club - Cornflower

Sponged Colours: China Glaze - Frostbite

Manhattan - 67n

2true - Glitterati - Shade 1 Sapphire

Image Plates: Bundle Monster BM14 BM319

Stamping Colour: Special Konad White

Dotted Colour: NYC - Niagara Foils

Top Coat: Sally Hansen - Advanced Hard As Nails

Here's Zoe nails:

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Color Club - Cornflower

Sponged Colours: China Glaze - Frostbite

2true - Glitterati - Shade 1 Sapphire

Image Plates: Bundle Monster BM319

Stamping Colour: Special Konad White

Dotted Colour: China Glaze - Millennium

Top Coat: Sally Hansen - Advanced Hard As Nails

These photos really dont do the 2true Glitterati polish in Sapphire any justice, the glitter looks like scales, it was so eye catching in person. But more on that polish when I review them :]

Hope you guys like these, I certainly did when I nabbed the idea from Sarah :D

Miss Sporty - Raindrops, Silver Stamping And Green Dots

Hey all! Happy Thursday! :]

I'm slowly but surely catching up on swatching or using my untrieds. Today we have a gorgeous teal, which has such a good formula; Miss Sporty - Raindrop. Since getting this polish at the start of June I've had it on my toes about three times. and on my fingers twice.

Today I'm showing you what I wore for a few days a few weeks back. I started with Raindrop, Stamped with China Glaze - Millennium, and dotted the centre of the images with Models Own - Slate Green.

Base Coat: La Femme

Base Colour: Miss Sporty - Raindrop

Stamp Colour: China Glaze - Millennium

Dot Colour: Models Own - Slate Green

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM213

Top Coat: Rimmel 60 Seconds - Clear

Here's a swatch shot of raindrop, there's some marks in the finish cause I'd painted them before bed, but usually this has a nice glossy finish to it :]

Hope you're all having a good day =]

Lucy's Nails - Gradient & Stamping

Quick post today. I was all organised for posts and having photos blog-ready weekend before last, and then some how things snuck up on me again! But it's almost the weekend, and I shall be good, and organised :]

Here are some nails I did for my.. Niece-In-Law? I don't know. Brothers Girlfriend's Niece :P She already knew what kind of thing she wanted when it came to the gradient, and then went through my plates to pic out some stamps.

Base Coat: La Femme
Base Colour: Essence - Speed Of Light Blue
Gradient Colours:  Marks & Spencers - Unkwnown Mini
                            George - Hoax
                            China Glaze - Frostbite
Stamping Colours: China Glaze - Millennium
                            BYS - Black Satin
Image Plates: Bundle Monster BM316, BM314, BM311
Top Coat: Sally Hansen - Advanced Hard As Nails

On her little finger she had more silver stars, and on her thumb a silver pheonix - or is it a tropical bird? Anyways, I hope she liked these ^-^

Anyhoo I hope you're all having a good Friday!

Using Silver, Bronze Or Gold - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all!
Bit of a delay in the post today, but I shall tell you about that later. This week's challenge for Adventures In Stamping sort of snuck up on me (only doing the nails today on sunday) so I had to quickly decide on what to do. And when I really thought about it I realised I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and what with :]

Base Coat: La Femme
Base Colour: Miss Sporty - Unkown, I thought It was Fatal Black..
Stamping Colours: Miss Sporty - Electric Beige
Barry M - Gold Foil
China Glaze - Millennium
Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM315
Top Coat: Sally Hansen - Advanced Hard As Nails

In real life the colour difference is more noticeable, and maybe i'll have a look through other photos and add a better one in at some point. For a swatch (although old and bad:P) go here.

Here's what I used:

So I was all ready to write this post up about 2 hours ago, but then the weather went wild. At first I was happy as I like storms, especially when I'm in the house, I was just about to make a hot chocolate (sad I know) and then It went downhill.

First I went running around the garden to see if my cat Cheese had been locked in the greenhouse, as she wasn't in the house. She wasn't in there but there were a couple leaks that were pouring, so I stuck out some empty tubs. By the time I ran back to the house with a huge umbrella I was soaking wet, but Cheese was in the house now all safe and sound, so it was all gravy. That is, until I went into my room, and saw the window leaking water everywhere! So yeah I sorted all that out, and moved all electrical bits and bobs away from the splash zone. Now the rain wouldn't hurt you with its sheer force if you went outside, and the water level isn't almost up to the top step of the front door anymore, so there's not so much panic in the house.

So, now I'm back to writing this post, but in the kitchen instead. Fingers crossed it won't rain heavier ;( This is also why there's only one picture of my mani, and lack of time to edit, but also because for the worst part of the down pour, it looked like it was night time outside lol.

I hope you lot are having a nice Sunday to make up for mine! :]

Natural Collection - Antique Coral, Flakies & China Glace - Evening Seduction, Dashica Hello Kitty Stamp

So this is going to be a scheduled post, because I’ll be at work! Yay! It’ll be my first day, and I’m going to be back where I used to work with people I love!  So I hope everything with this post goes well as I’ll not be able to fix things until the night time.

So yeah, less of the excitement, more of the nails! This is a colour I never did swatch, I’ve had it in my collection for about a year now, and it’s my only true coral (I think, haha.) Gorgeous coral, with tiny blue glass flecks running through it. It had thickened a little bit in the year it’d gone neglected, but the formula was still pretty good, though I had a little problem with streaking 3 coats was perfect.

If I didn't want to take a swatch shot, I could've got away with 2 coats easily, especially with the flakie top coat too. So after this I added Golden Rose - Scale Effects 03, and then used two images from my Dashica Big SpD-A using China Glaze - Evening Seduction. I really love using Evening Seduction as a stamping polish as the base colour changed the outcome slightly. I've used it over lilac and got a true dark berry purple, and here it looks more like red.

Base Coat:  La Femme
Base Colour: Natural Collection - Antique Coral
Flakies: Golden Rose - Scale Effects 03
Stamping Colour: China Glaze - Evening Seduction
Image Plate: Dashica Big SpD-A
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

These were so adorable to wear! I had stripes/waves on my thumb too.

I also got my Bundle Monster plates in the mail today (Wed) so I'll be testing them out this weekend, and will do a post about them. I'm curious if you'd want to see swatches of the plates too? If you do I'll test them out a little neater :P

Guest Post Over At Sekhmet's Purple Castle

Today I'm doing a guest post over at Sekhmet's Purple Castle for Lydia so go check it out :] And if you haven't paid a visit to Lydia's blog yet you should; as she really has some great manis.

A Plate Ending In 5 - We Stamp On Sundays

This weeks challenge over at Adventures In Stamping was to use an image plate ending in 5. I'd actually just finished these when the voting was over and the challenge was announced so I figured I'd use these :]

I started with Frostbite as my base, and sponged on a no name bronze to the tips before stamping with black. I think the bronze polish is called Elyse but it's hard to tell as the name's rubbed off. I think this polish is like 5 years old :P

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: China Glaze - Frostbite
Tip Colour: Elyse - Bronze (not sure)
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: Konad M65
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

And for good measure here's a picture of Miss Cheesy, being totally distracted by the reflection from the image plate on the wall when I was taking bottle shots. Her tongue looks so weird!

Using 3 Colours - We Stamp On Sundays

This weeks challenge over at Adventures In Stamping was to use 3 colours. I dunno if it was meant to be three colours including the base or not, but I think it's open to interpretation. Unless it's regarding green/blue and teals :P Hehe.

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: Models Own - Utopia
Stamping Colours: China Glaze - Frostbite
                             George - Hoax
                             Miss Sporty - Unknown Colour
Image Plate: Konad M64
Top Coat: Models Own - 3 In 1

What I used :]

Kind of hard to see the change in purples, but you can better see the colour changes on the ring and pinky finger.

Stamping like this is my favourite kind. Don't get my wrong; I like nothing more than striking stamping on a plain base colour, but I just love mixing colours.

For stamping like this, where I don't want any harsh lines, I always use the polish left on the scraper not using the first stamp. :]

Pre-Valentines Day Mani

Pretty quick mani tonight, as I'm wearing my mani for tomorrow's Stamping Challenge. And I'm chlling with some beers. So this was from a few days before Valentines day. It's pretty cutesy, and I hadn't used China Glaze - Awakening in an age. :]

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: China Glaze - Awakening
Stamping Colour: Konad Special White
Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM209
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Carrying on my obsession for Konad White. I am seriously still making up for all those times I did a design stamped with white, and it wasn't thick enough, and all those times I decided to use black instead and wish I had a decent enough white xD

Hope everyone's having a good Saturday  :]

China Glaze - Frostbite Blue & Black Zebra

I was totally stunned by this colour when I first got it, and clearly still like it now. It's so bright, and so shimmery. but it really comes alive when a top coat's applied. These photos really don't do it justice as it was a blah day out. And my nails look longer here, because they're from a week back :]

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: China Glaze - Frostbite
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Image Plate: BM223
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Two coats

 

Under The Sea - We Stamp On Sundays

Recently I joined Adventures In Stamping on Facebook, and wasn't sure if I'd join the the weekly challenges. This was mainly because I'm slightly lazy, and I've never given any challenges a go so I'm not sure if I'll be very good with posting when I need to.

However, seeing as I have loads of free time I figured what the heck :] I missed the first challenge, which was to use green, but joined as "Under The Sea" theme was decided.

So here it is :]

Base Coat: Nail RX - Stuck On You
Base Colour: George - Cloudless Sky
Sponged With: George - Under The Sea
                      Clubworks - Neon Green
                      Models Own - Golden Green
                      Models Own - Emerald Black
                      Cutex - Sweet Pea
                      O.P.I. - Warm & Fozzie
                      China Glaze - Frostbite
                      Rimmel - Disco Ball
Stam Colours: Konad - Special White
                      George - Meteorite
                      Miss Sporty - Electric Beige
                      Models Own - Emerald Black
Image Plates Used: BM03, BM04, BM05, BM08, BM12
Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

I think I maybe did a little too much sponging and layering I went a little wild with the amount of polishes I used too this is going to be a nightmare to label! I wanted the skelly Fish to be sponged over, but I forgot to do a top coat before stamping Electric Beige so it took on a rough kind of texture.

After this I added a Matte Top Coat, and it helped bring the stamping out a little bit, especially the bronze colour, but the light had just ran away and I don't want to get out of bed to go take photos now, and delay the whole process even more. But mainly.. bed is warm!

The polishes used, Minus George - Under The Sea, Konad White, and Top & Base Coats

Plates Used

And last picture.. While doing my nails I turned around to find my cat Pickle sleeping like this....
I have no idea if that could even be comfortable for her!

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

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!!!