Lovehearts

Hi guys,

I know it's been a while, but to tell you the truth I've been doing some thinking recently about maybe just posting things on my instagram account instead of keeping this blog.  I'm doing an exceptionally bad job of being part of the blogging community these days, which is very sad, but it seems to be just how it's happened.  I haven't fully decided, and I still have a huge backlog of photos, and i'm still continuing to do my nails, but these days I'm just not into it as much as I used to be.  I blame the fact I'm a lot more sociable than I used to be, but when I decide what I'm doing I'll post about it.

Today we have my nails I wore for Valentines Day.  I've never been one to really celebrate Valentines Day, always just using it as an excuse to definitely do something with the person I care about.  Last year was a solo one for me, and although this year I had a partner for it, it was considerably worse than being alone haha; but that's another story!

Less ranting, more photos:

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Liz Earle - Knockout

Stamping Colour: Konad Special White

Image Plate: Bundle Monster Holiday Collection BMH16

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Matte: Rimmel - Matte Effect

This lovely polish was actually part of a present that I received at Christmas from one of the Psychologists that I work with, so thank you Dorothy =]

This was my first time trying any Liz Earle products, and was very pleasantly surprised at the formula on this very creamy polish, two coats and it was perfect coverage, which for some reds (and my nails) is hard to come by as I have a slight dip in my nails where the free edge begins, and reds tend to make that obvious for some reason.

I'll be posting more soon. Hope you all have a good weekend :]

Interview Nails, Barry M Vanilla & White Stamping

Hi all,

Yay Wednesday. I say yay as It's a four day week for me, with a four day weekend, followed by another short week, and yet another long weekend! Thank eff for Bank Holidays!

I'm still working through a backlog of manicures I've done over the last four months, and today is the turn of the nails I wore for my interview at the end of January. Interviews are one of those lovely times I do a nude or peach base with subtle stamping. This isn't because I don't like the combo, but I'm such a fan of bold manis. Oddly enough as I already knew the people I was being interviewed by, and they both love nail art themselves (now!) I still chose to do a nude to go with my outfit.

On to the pics:

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Barry M - Vanilla

Glitter: Nails Inc - Electric Lane

Stamping Colour: Konad Special White

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM419

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Everytime I look at this particular stamp all I want to do is stamp it in a blue over white and have china nails!

Please excuse the dry hands, Winter was taking it's toll on me! Hope you've all had a good week so far :]

French Manicure

Hi all,

This is a crazy crazy week for me for free time, so I'm not sure how much I will be able to post, this is a lovely little french manicure I did for my bestie Dom's mum, and I'm doing her nails again tonight so will post those soon too.

Base Coat: CND - Sticky

Base Colour: Essie - Muchi Muchi

Tip Colour: Rimmel - French White

Stickers: Nailene

I'm hoping to be back some time soon with some christmasy nails. Hope you're having a good week so far!

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!

Spring Flowers - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all.

Happy Monday, start to a four day week, four day weekend combo - I like! I always feel a little strange posting these on Mondays, but as it was getting so so late last night I decided to take advantage of the fact I can now set up posts in my lunch break!

This week's challenge over at Adventures In Stamping called for spring flowers. When I started these I didn't know what stamp I was going to use, or what colours, just that I wanted to stamp over a gradient. So I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey
Base Colour: Rimmel - White
Gradient Colours: Catrice - London, H&M - Make Me Blush, Revlon - Teak Rose
Stamp Colour: Sally Hansen Fairy Teal
Image Plate: Cheeky CH44
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

 Two coats of white:

Then I sponged on the three colours at once, and did two coats of this, these pictures were taken without a top coat.

Here's what I used minus the stamping polish: 

Hope you guys like these!

Back to work I go :(

H&M Snow White Skittles - Glitter & Stamping

Hi all, happy Tuesday!

No doubt by the time this posts I'll be powering through work not even realising the time!

This is a mani I did a week or so back, with the H&M polishes that I won from Rainbowify Me. Make Me Blush Is the nicest peach I've ever found with my skin tone, and although the formula is a little runny, the coverage is amazing. Nothing like the dreaded Revlon Peach Smoothie. I decided Snow white would look quite cool over black, so I've used that layering combo for my ring finger. Also the Silver Frost is a lot nice than it looks here, the flash on my camera kind of kills the lightness that the glitter gave to the mani.

Base Coat: CND Stickey

Index & Pinky: H&M - Make Me Blush & Silver Frost

Middle: Three Coats of H&M - Snow White

Ring: W7 - Black & One coat of Snow White
Image Plate: Born Pretty Store QA5
Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

I did a gradient on my thumb using Make Me Blush, and W7- Blackm topping with two coats of Silver Frost

And here's a couple shots of the base colours themselves.

Index & Pinky: Two coats of H&M - Make Me Blush

Middle: Three Coats of H&M - Snow White

Ring: W7 - Black & One coat of H&M - Snow White

Please excuse the lobster hands in the next photo, but it really shows how bright Snow White is even in horrible lighting.

Snow white is really much more than a silvery white frost, it's really beautiful in decent light, and I'm going to try and capture that this weekend if I can.

Hope you've all had a good start to the week :]

Crazy Neons - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all, been a little MIA this week again, but I've just been shattered!

This week's stamping challenge over at Adventures In Stamping was to use crazy bright neons. I decided to do a "plastic bag" smooshie style base for these, and then stamp over with black.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Rimmel - French White

Neon Colours: Kiko - 356 - Melon

Flor Mar - N007

Alessandro - Pomegranate

Clubworks - Pink

Stamp Colour: BYS - Black Satin

Image Plate: Konad M85

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Here's my base, before a top coat, and the method used didn't really work, so I filled in some of the whiter spots with a cotton bud with polish on.

 Here's what I used:

Hope you've had a good weekend! I should be getting ready to head out to stuff my face with yummy food, probably Wagamamas, nomnomom noodles! And then to go watch Wreck-It Ralph :D

Valentines Day - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all, I'm totally not feeling valentines day this year surprise surprise. So while this week's challenge over at Adventures In Stamping is for Valentines Day stamping, you guys get my nails from last year that I never posted.

This time last year I was getting ready for an interview, and planning what to take to Edinburgh. I had planned these nails before hand, but then it got really late the day before we traveled so I rushed them.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Colours Used: Models Own - Pastel Pink

                          MUA - Shade 20

                          La Femme - Pink Creme

                         Sally Hansen - White On

                         Clubworks - Fuchsia

                         OPI - Excuse Moi

Nail Art Pens: White Green & Pink

Green Acrylic Paint

Striping Tape

Stamping Polishes: Konad Special White

                             BYS - Black Satin

Image Plates: Bundle Monster BM03, BM08,

                     Konad M60

Top Coat: China Glaze - No Chip Top Coat

Forgive me for the quality of the picture and the rushed job. Oddly the guy at Edinburgh Dungeons who takes the photos when you're in the stock with an axe complimented me on these.

Hope you've all had a good weekend. I spent my Friday night chilling, and my Saturday back and forth to the bathroom feeling like I was going to be sick :( Gladly I feel better today.

Inspired By A Book - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all! Bit of a late one today, but I've been enjoying films and chilling today ^-^

This week's challenge over at Adventures In Stamping is to create a manicure inspired by a book you're currently reading. So as I'm not a massive reader I nabbed the book my mother's currently reading. I'm the kind of girl who will slap on some SPF and lay out on the grass in the summer with shades on and a book to read, with a kittie by my side (usually Cheese) in the shade I'm creating. So while I'm currently hoping for snow, I've already started a list of which books I wanna read this summer :D

So this manicure is inspired by Valley Of Silence by Nora Roberts, I was in a rush to do these, and haven't even read the blurb so I have no idea whether I should recommend or not!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Rimmel - White

Glitter: Barry M - Pink Sapphire Glitter

Stamping Colour: Miss Sporty - Fatal Plum

Image Plates: Cheeky CH50, Bundle Monster BM05

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanved Hard As Nails

Here's what I used:

I added the glitter as it seemed like there were too many white gaps. Also, notice the fact I have the summer Cheeky plates, I'm so excited, I haven't tried them all yet, but there's so much I want to do, so expect to see a lot a lot of Cheeky stamping soon once I've checked they all work!

Hope you've all had a good weekend, mine has gone far too quickly, and I haven't had a chance to remotely play catch up with my reading list! Always tomorrow though ;]

Icicle Nails

Hi all! Happy Sunday!

No stamping challenge from Adventures In Stamping this week, I have family up so I'm sitting this one out :]

Today I have Icicle nails for you! I started these with a white base, added some striping tape and sponged over a mixture of acrylic paints to form the bricks, then I used acrylic paints for the icicles themselves. Basically you can see no polish!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Rimmel - French White

Sponged Colours: Acrylic Paints - White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna

Icicles: Acrylic Paints - White & Phthalocyanine Blue

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Sadly I forgot to wrap my tips when I did these, and they started peeling off in the shower later that night :(

I'm not sure If i'll be very active over the Christmas period, so if not; Merry Christmas to those that celebrate :]

Red, Green & White Festive Stamping

Hi all! Happy Thursday!

Today we have some nail stamping that was inspired by Colores de Carol I seen these and loved everything about them, so I just had to try it for myself :D

Sadly I didn't pay enough attention to the way I was placing the colours, so mine aren't nearly as pretty as hers!

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Rimmel - French White

Stamping Colours: Essence - Kiss On Top Of The Rock & Manhattan - Green Piece

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM306

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

Hope you're all having a good day. I'll be in the middle of a mad day at work while this posts - Away day, buffet, and Kerry's mad winter quiz.. Bound to be a good day :D

The Polish Bar - Violet Sky

Hey all! Happy Thursday! So close to the weekend I can taste it! hehe.

Small post today to showcase The Polish Bar - Violet Sky. This is two coats over Manhattan - 67n.

I really love the combination of glitters in this one, and I imagine the purple glitter would really pop on a different base, which is something i'm going to try in the future, maybe in one of my Christmas mani's as I find this quite festive in the snowy sense :]

I hope everyone's had a good week so far, mine as flown by but I suppose that is what happens when you're only looking forward!

Green Flakie Argyle

Hi all!

Quick post today, another mani from at least a month back now, this lack of daylight is starting to really annoy me! Also the flakies, and Diamond Drops looked so much better in proper sunlight, but there was literally not a sprinkle around when I had my camera near by.

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Kiko - 296 - Meadow Green

Flakies; Catrice - C04 - Shake It! Flakie It!

Rainbow Shards: Color Club - Diamond Drops

Stamp Colour: Konad Special White

Image Plate: Konad M60

Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

I probably could have done with two coats of Catrice - Shake It! Flake It! I would have used two if I wasn't going to add Color Club - Diamond Drops, and then stamp too.

So above is two coats of Kiko - Meadow Green. Not really much to say on this, the formula was amazing, which is a running theme with every single Kiko i've ever tried. The colour's glossy and bright and evens out on the nail so nicely.

That's all from me today! Happy Thursday :]

Winter - We Stamp On Sundays

Hi all!

I hope everyone's had a good weekend! This week's challenge over at Adventures In Stamping was for winter themed nails. Originally I was going to attempt the "winter jumper" look done with a lacey print, and a stag like these lovely nails by So long, kitty. But I had a bit of a fail with the first nail I did, so I picked a different stamp, and just got on with it as I'm feeling pretty horrific (fell down some stairs on Friday) so all I want to do is get this post done, and get back into bed :P

Base Coat: CND - Stickey

Base Colour: Models Own - Raspberry Crush

Stamping Colour: Konad Special Polish White

Image Plate: Bundle Monster BM 315

Top Coat: Rimmel - 60 Seconds Clear

And here's what I used:

 

I really need a new white, not much left! Also the Models Own Polish I got free in a copy of More this week :]

Happy Sunday!

Amy's Nails - Mint, Blue & Pink Gradient, Diamond Drops & Owls

Hi all, happy Friday!

It feels quite weird posting today instead of my usual Thursday, but I was just too tired yesterday to function properly :P

Today's nails aren't even my own. These are some nails I did on my friend Amy probably about a month back now. By the time I was done (I took ages, sorry Amy!) the light was starting to go, and Amy snapped some photos on her phone.

Base Coat: La Femme

Base Colours: Color Club - Blue-ming

Color Club - Hydrangea Kiss

Essie - Tour De Finance

Shredded top coat: Color Club - Diamond Drops

Owl: Barry M - Gold Foil

Black Nail Art Pen, Rimmel - White Tip

Essie - Tour De Finance

& Gold Gems
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails

These were so pretty! I love the gradient colours so much :D I'm a little bit gutted with how the owls turned out, but considering I hadn't done any free hand stuff in months I can't complain too much. I wish I'd taken my acrylic paints though instead of using nail art pens, as I much prefer working with acrylics.

I hope yous like them!