Birthstone - Peridot - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all.

I would say happy Monday but this means I will be back at work when this posts and that means I'll be melting as the aircon is broken, and i'm almost certain the heating is actually on.

This is my first time in a long while taking part in Adventures In Stamping We Stamp On Sundays, so although I didn't have any amazing ideas I wanted to give it a shot.

This challenge was for Birthstones, and mine is Peridot, so I reached for the first green I thought of and had a think of what I could do.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Models Own - Golden Green

Flakies: Golden Rose Scale Effects - 04

Stamping Colour: Barry M - Gold Foil

Image Plate: Faunad M28 (Konad M33, and Bundle Monster BM318

Glitter

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Had As Nails

I'm a little bummed the gold kind of gets lost, and if you were to see these from a distance you probably wouldn't even think there was any nail art on!

Here's what I used:

The fauxnad plate M38 is actually the copy of Konad M33 so I'm not too certain why it's named differently. But a big thank you to Susana for sending this to me in one of our swaps! And here is the base before stamping:

Green, Purple And Gold Animal Print

Hi all. Happy Sunday.

Not taking part in Adventures In Stamping this weekend as I haven't got a clue what to do for it!

These were meant to post yesterday but after having a lush little trip to Seahouses (clicky here) on the Friday  & Saturday and seeing Despicable Me 2 as soon as I got back into Newcastle there was no way I had the energy to do anything but be lazy and snug.

I did these the start of May which is crazy! I loved wearing these though, and they were were definitely more interesting to look at in real life as the stripe of flakies shifting colour broke up the nail completely.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colours: W7 - Mauve Suede & Cutex - Sweet Pea

Flakies: Golden Rose Scale Effects - 13

Stamping Colour: Barry M - Gold Foil

Image Plate: Konad M60

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Better representation of the colours here.

Before Stamping

Above is two coats of the gorgeous Mauve Suede, I could have got away with just the one if I was more careful about coverage. Below is two coats that has a little of hand lotion on so it's not as matte as it normally is.

And for good measure he's a couple pictures from Friday night when myself and Amy were running along the beach like loons trying to catch the sunset!

Hope you've all had a great weekend like I have!

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!

Dotting Tools - We Stamp On Sunday

Hi hi all, hope you've all had a good weekend. I have a feeling tonight is going to fly by and I'll be back at work before I know it :(

Sad times aside, yesterday when I did my nails for this Adventures in Stamping challenge it was actually sunny! So there's quite a few photos ahead, not loads, but a lot more than the couple of images I've been restricted to recently due to the use of flash only.

I also have a pretty special polish to show you (special to me) as it's gorgeous, and one of only two true matte polishes that I love the formula of. I believe to be a dupe for Orly's Iron Butterfly. This is amazing to be, cause I've wanted a polish like this for a couple of years now, and with W7's bargain price of £1.99; yes please!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: W7 - Night Suede (also used for dots)

Flakies: Golden Rose Scale Effects Polish - 13

Stamp Colour: Barry M - Silver Foil

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM224

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Matte coat: Rimmel - Matte Finish

Above is with flash, pretty green!

Below is before I added to extra matte coat.

And for the base and flakies only combo, which looked quite nice as flakie polishes tend to dry a little matte.

This flakie is still true love for me, in fact the four I own are. Never disappointed when I reach for them. Here's what I used for the mani, and I will show you swatches of the beautiful Night Suede after that.

Now; onto the pretty pretty Night Suede. This first picture is a rough one coat, no clean up required! The other two are two coats, totally effortless polish to use.

So W7 - Night Suede looks pretty much like dupe of Orly - Iron Butterfly, but as I own it I can't compare. It's a gorgeous dark charcoal with tiny silver flecks, and it looks great matte or glossy, but matte for the win!

If anyone owns Iron Butterfly let me know what you think.

Until next time my pretties, I'm gonna go stick on a film and order a curry =D

Pink, Flakies & Reptile Skin Water Decals

Hi all! Happy Thursday!

I so cannot wait for the weekend to come around, my last amount of time off I spent doing preparation for my assessment, and writing up a butt-load of stuff for my interview, not had an alarm free day at all! So this weekend I'm gonna get up when my body tells me to, and be all super organised with the blog :]

These are from a few weeks ago now, and something about them screams 90's to me. Maybe it's the Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air colour theme.

Base Coat: La Femme

Base Colour: Essie - Tour De Finance

Flakies: Golden Rose Scale Effects ( I can't remember the number!)

Water Decals: WDBLE974

Top Coat: Rimmel 60 Seconds Clear

These were sent to me to review what seems like an age ago now, but I just didn't know how to use the sheet. They're from KKCenterHK which sell a huge amount of nail art goods, as well as other things like eye lashes. What I will say is that the comic water decals I've used here, here, and here, were a lot easier to work with, and when handled loads they didn't start to tear unlike these this type. Though I did faff on a bit trying to get them centered. You can buy this reptile skin sheet water decal from here.

Anyways, these were super easy. Base coat, flakie coat, and then I used craft scissors to cut the water decal into zig-zag strips before using them.

If you're interested in anything in the store use coupon code: goldspecknails for 10% off, this code is valid until January 31st, 2013.

*This product was sent to me for review

Blue-ming Swatch, Flakies & Stamping

Hi all. I've kind of been neglecting the blog recently, and I really can't help it, my mind is just else where, hell i haven't even painted my nails since last Tuesday!

Today we have a mani that I did a few weeks back now, and unfortunately I didn't get any swatch shots on the day due to the fact I've still got to get a daylight bulb/light box set up, so a week or so later I seen the sun and speedy speedy got the lovely Color Club Blue-ming back on my nails to get some pics.

I love love love this colour, I have no other colour like it. It's pastel but it's bright, turquoise, and leans blue or green depending on the lighting, and the formula is so so good. I need more Color Clubs in my life.

Base Coat: La Femme

Base Colour: Color Club - Blue-ming

Flakies: Golden Rose Scale Effects - 02

Stamp Colour: Sally Hansen Insta-dri - Tealy Fast

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM314

Top Coat: Rimmel 60 seconds - Clear

And here are the swatches. So pretty, and while it's not a dupe for Illamasqua - Nomad, it' has the same bright tones I lust after, so I'm a happy bunny.

 

Hope you all are having a better day than I am :] Oh and the Giveaway will be posted tomorrow :]

My Flakie Collection Swatched, Golden Rose Scale Effects & Nubar 2010

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a good Thursday!

Today we have some swatches of my flakie collection, just because I love flakies and I want to share pretty pictures! Four of these came to me via Ingie over at fyeahilovenails when I won her giveaway, even though there was only one flakie up for grabs; she sent me four cause she's a sweetheart like that!

These are all just one coat over black and white.
1) Golden Rose Scale Effects - 13
2) Golden Rose Scale Effects - 04
3) Golden Rose Scale Effects - 03
4) Golden Rose Scale Effects - 02
5) Nubar - 2010 - G188

 Firstly, just one coat of flakie magic, no top coat

This is the flakie polish I chose to receive from Ingie as I've always wanted a blue/green flakie. Such a beauty!

Next up with top coat. I think it was a W7 top coat but I can't remember.

 It's much harder to see the flakies over white in general, but is easier to see in the shade.

And last but not least the Matte versions, using Rimmel - Matte Finish

 You can see here that number 3 has gives a slight orange tint to the white base.

So which is your favourite out of the bunch? Mine is still number 2 (Golden Rose Scale Effects - 04).

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