Green Jelly and Hot Pink Chrome Stamping...

Hi guys, every time I post these days I feel like somewhere in the text is an apology!

I don't want to be one of those people who's full of false promises, or always saying I'm planning to do certain things by a certain time.  I'm doing my best. The truth is, my love for blogging and nail art just isn't the same.  Don't get me wrong, I still love sharing what I've done with my nails, and I've even bought some new stamping plates recently.  However, as life is a mushy haze of work, driving lessons, gym (no matter how short my visit :P) and people I love, the effort I put into my nails comes after that.

At the moment I'm actually letting my nails grow slightly, and they're oval/round rather than the mostly natural square they grow in.  I'm debating going for slightly more of an almond shape in a week or so too.

Anyhoo... onto the nails rather than the tiny rants.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Barry M - Watermelon#

Stamping Colour: NYC - Foil'er Up

Image Plate: Cheeky Jumbo Viva Mexico

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

So this was a little bit of an odd combination, and I'm not 100% how it came about as this was about two months back now.  I think it may have came from not owning many stamping polishes other than chromes that can stamp over dark colours.   Now, Barry M - Watermelon is not the darkest, but it is a very strong bold colour.  I think NYC - Foil'er Up sort of works.  Sort of.

Here's a swatch shot of Watermelon in case I haven't shown one before.  Lovely Deep Green that's almost muted.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend. Mine was another lazy one, snugged up in bed or the sofa watching TV. Bliss.

Nude & Navy

Hi all.

It's been quite some time now since I've last posted, been doing a lot a lot of stuff, and haven't had much time for chilling or blogging, nor the energy.  Some of the highlights from the last month of no-posting: I've started to take driving lessons, and I experienced my first ever festival, so no apologies from me!

Today we have some nails I did back in Easter.  These were done using the Holiday Plates from Bundle Monster, and these are actually Easter egg designs, but as my nails are small, and the images quite large it's pretty easy to just see these as a pattern.

I started with two coats of Barry M - Vanilla on the ring and thumb, and two of Barry M - Blackberry. From the few polishes I own from the Gelly line which Blackberry hails from I bloomin' love them, their opacity and formula are really great.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colours: Barry M - Vanilla & Blackberry

Stamping Colours: Barry M - Vanilla & Blackberry

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BMH10

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

The lighting at work really shows the true navy beauty that is Blackberry. Here's the base before stamping:

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

Born Pretty Foil Review

Hi all.

Hope you've all had a good weekend, I've had a pretty decent one so far, and I'm planning on doing a massive spring clean of my clothes and shoes this evening so I'm sure I'll be feeling marvelous when there's less clutter.

Today I have my first ever experience with nail foils. I was contacted recently by the Born Pretty Store and I decided It was time to finally try nail foils. I was sent numbers 76, and 1, and these can be found here, there's so many designs to choose from though, so good luck trying to pick!

Now, I'm not saying I'll never try foils again, but I had such a hard time with the timing of waiting for the polish to be tacky, but not too wet.  Trying to get the holographic part of the foils to show through was also quite a tough task, and although the nails below were my second attempt at using foils (the first attempt at these was so bad I didn't even take pictures), you can still only see the holo part on the ring finger.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Barry M - Blackberry

Foils: Born Pretty Store

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

So although I struggled with these, and really struggled with the other colour I tried I love the effect nail foils can give.

If you're interested in any of these foils, or any other products the Born Pretty Store offer use coupon code DS5X31 for 10% off.

**These nail foils were sent to me for review**

NOPI - Cinna-man of my dreams & Nude Stamping

Hi all. Yay Saturday. Thank god it's the weekend. I feel like I've been non-stop this week!

Today I have a couple swatch shots of the lovely Cinna-man of My Dreams by NOPI.  It's a reallllly dreamy bronze matte glitter that tends to lead on the rosey side. I wore this quite a bit when I first got it back in November/December it was just perfect with the weather, neutral but warm in a way.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Nicole by OPI - Cinna-Man of My Dreams

This was two coats, really lovely and opaque.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Nicole by OPI - Cinna-Man of My Dreams

Stamping Colour: Barry M - Lychee

Image Plate: Bundle Monster - BMH12

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

My manager loved this polish so much, along with A-Nise Treat when I first wore them she actually went out and bought a few polishes from the collection.

That's it from me today :] Hope you're all having a good weekend, I'm pooped from the gym this morning so I think I might have a nap and then hibernate from the world!

**Cinna-Man of My Dreams was sent to me for consideration of review**

Barry M - Lychee - Grey and Aqua Horses & Cowboys

Hi all. Happy Monday :]

Barry M - Lychee is a polish I was lusting after for a while, but every time I'd call in to a shop to see if they had it, nowhere did. Until a few weeks ago when I called into Boots on the morning before work to pick up some lunch. Since then I must have used it about 4 times already. I love it. The formula's so so nice, and the colour (although it doesn't really look it in the pictures) is quite a nice nude for me.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Barry M - Lychee

Stamp Colours: W7 - Night Suede & Aqua Suede

Image Plate: Cheeky CH34

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Such a pretty nude!

When I first bought the Cheeky plate set I thought this was a really cute image, but wearing these I totally fell it love with it. From afar it looks like some sort of dog tooth pattern, and then when you stop and look you see that it's actually horses with cowboys. Well I say cowboys cause that's what I want them to be, but they're probably just jockeys.

Have a good day ^-^

St. Patricks Day - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi alllllllll! Happy Sunday.

Hopefully by the time this posts I shall be painting my wardrobes and finishing the decorating that I started 2 years ago. The likelihood of that actually being the case however, is kind of zero :P I'm so lazy.

This week's Adventures In Stamping Challenge was for St. Patricks Day. When I heard this was the case I knew the kind of thing I wanted to do immediately, which was a pleasant change!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Barry M - Lychee

Other Colours: Yes Love - K011, and Kiko - Melon

Flakies: Golden Rose, Scale Effects - 03

Stamping Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Image Plate: Bundle Monster - BM206

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Here's the splodged on colours before stamping:

Base colour with flakies:

Here's what I used:

Hope you've all had a good weekend!