Pinky Punky Bubblegum Princess

Greetings All!

It's the weekend! I woke up stupidly early for a Saturday, got to doing some tidying...and broke my other thumbnail. My thumbs are really having a bad week! I'm putting a brave face on, but I'm not happy. Not happy at all!

Thankfully I have plenty of nails in the vault. I've been really enjoying my new MoYou plates lately - they have fun images, good sizes, and I've even been trying to get to grips with the 'one large image' plates. For this manicure I used an image from Princess plate 13.

The pink is Revlon Bubblegum, a scented polish that smells of...watermelon, I think. Definitely not bubblegum! It's a pleasant enough scent though, and a pretty polish. I stamped with W7 Black, which is unusual for me. My Konad is on it's last legs, so I decided to try stamping with a rather gloopy, nearly empty W7. It isn't as good as Konad, but it should tide me over until I get around to replacing my beloved Konad Black.

The Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33DC Day 30 - Same Pattern, Different Colours

Greetings All!

We made it to the end of what feels like a very long week! Today I get to debut my new shorter nails - I'm still gutted that I had to file them down. It has given me a chance to file out a couple of knocks and chips, and it does mean I can use some of my smaller stamps, but what can I say - I miss my long nails! OK, they're not even that short, I'm just being childish!

At least without my thumb I was able to execute my original idea for today's prompt, as I could only really manage it with four colours.

I think these are really cute - rosy patchwork quilt nails! The reason it only works with four is I didn't have another colour/matching stamping polish combo, except maybe orange and red, which I didn't really want to do.

Only one untried used here - Sally Hansen Palm Treat (bottle pictured). Fragrance Direct got some new shades in (or new as in, I didn't have them!), so I got a big box of nail mail from them last week, so now I'll probably be getting all SH obsessed again. Watch out world! My other base polishes are OPI Pink Friday, and Barry M Blueberry and Prickly Pear. I stamped with Revlon Vinatge, Sally Hansen Fairy Teal and Thinking Of Blue, and Barry M Plum. The image is from Pueen 22.

Tri Polish Challenge November 2013 - Manicure 4

Greetings All!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating. We don't have that here in the UK, but I am hoping to see some cute turkey nails!

This is my last TPC manicure for November. I completed my own little challenge-within-a-challenge by using all three polishes for all four manicures, and no other polishes. Here's a reminder of those polishes!

Sally Hansen Dorian Grey, Good To Grape and Thinking Of Blue.

I've saved my personal favourite until last. I really liked the look of the cling film nails I did last week with the grey and purple, so I decided to revisit that look.

I really like the marble effect with these colours! I do like cling film nails - they're a fast and easy way to get a really cool effect.

The Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33DC Day 29 - Your Favourite Pattern

Greetings All!

We're halfway through the week! Yesterday I hit 50.000 page views, a big milestone for me. Thank you to everyone who contributed! I know that big picture-wise, it isn't really all that much, but to me that's a huge number, and quite difficult to comprehend! I hope you've all seen something you liked, and it wasn't just a waste of your time haha.

On to today's prompt, which was actually very easy for me. If I had to have only one pattern on my nails forever, it would be this one!

This beautiful image is from DRK-B, and it has featured on the blog numerous times, and on my nails even more than that! It's absolutely perfect - a lovely leafy, swirly design, very forgiving of my placement skills (unlike, for example, a more geometric design or something small that has to be perfect!), and the image size is massive so I don't have to get it lined up perfectly on my long nails! Put together it's a very quick and easy image to stamp, but looks great every time.

My favourite combination is black and gold, but today my base is OPI Funky Dunkey, and untried, but a very recent addition. I've been eyeing up this shade for a few months, so it only took a couple of days before this gorgeous purple hopped onto my nails! I'm also very shocked by the (relative!) colour accuracy shown here, as my camera is notoriously bad with purple. I stamped with Revlon Vintage, which apart from the Barry M Foils is my best non-stamping polish to stamp with. It's a gorgeous colour, and stamps really well, and it's also a great one coat polish! So, lots of things I like in this manicure!

UK Indies - Iconic Effect All That Holos

Greetings All!

This evening I have yet another lovely sold out polish (I'm mean, I know!), this time from Iconic Effect. Their polishes always seem to sell out so quickly! All That Holos is a brain-frazzling mix of all shapes of holo glitter. This is 2 coats over black.

SO much colour and sparkle, it's amazing! I did spend quite a while staring at my nails, and tilting them round for that stunning rainbow effect. There's so much going on, but there's a simplicity to it at the same time that I find strangely soothing!

You can buy Iconic Effect polishes (when they're in stock!) here.

Tri Polish Challenge November 2013 - Manicure 3

Greetings All!

Yet again I've been loving this month's colours together! So perfect for this month - the days are getting very short, everything's a bit cold and grey and dull, and it does put me in the mood for some muted tones. Here's a quick reminder of this month's polishes.

Sally Hansen Dorian Grey, Good To Grape and Thinking of Blue. I do like it when my polishes 'match'!

 I'm saving my favourite manicure until last, so these are today's nails. I took inspiration from a manicure I saw over at Leesha's Lacquer. I do love leopard print, but I wanted to do something sightly different with it.

WingDust Gilt-y Pleasure

Greetings All!

Today I have yet another gorgeous polish I bought from Rainbow Connection. I've been wanting a gold leaf topcoat for a while - I briefly owned OPI Man With The Golden Gun last year, but I decided to sell it (if you can believe it, at the time I didn't think I needed it). This polish is a bit jazzier, and it was in the sale section, and I can always justify a polish on sale! This is 2 coats over black.

I can't believe I ever thought I didn't need a polish like this! I love the shreds of silver and gold, and the iridescent flakes are practically luminous, very bright. The combination really makes this quite special! I was a little worried that the gold and silver would stick up on my nails, but as the leaf is so thin, the few bits that did stick up were patted down quite easily, and hidden by topcoat. I do now think that I need a plain gold one though...

This polish is currently still available in the Rainbow Connection sale section (a favourite hangout of mine!), it's a little pricey at just under a tenner, but personally I think it's worth it!

The Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33DC Day 28 - Lines

Greetings All!

Monday rolls around once again. There are only 2 more weeks left in this challenge, and six manicures. I must say, I think having three a week has been the perfect amount - regular but not overwhelming. Today I had planned on doing pinstripe nails again, as I need the practice! I ended up doing something else though.

Luckily I prepped a couple of manicures this weekend, so I have a few more days before my thumb and my long nails get retired!

My untried for today's nails is Deborah Lippmann Good Girl Gone Bad, a rather stunning polish I regret not photographing plain! Until last month I didn't own any DL polishes, but I found 2 sets of three reduced in TK Maxx, and I can't resist a bargain. Then I taped on some lines, and polishes over it with W7 Black. In hindsight it was a little silly to hide so much of this pretty glitter!

Pocket Money Polishes - December Collection

*These products were provided for review*

Greetings All!

I hope you've all had a good weekend! Mine was...not great. And today I broke my favourite nail! My right thumb nail, which had only recently made a return to the blog after nursing out a few chips...gone. Now the nubbinest of nubbins, no white bit, and a little less pink bit than it had this morning! So of course I now have to file down my lovely long nails, because it looks ridiculous. Halfway through was of course the perfect time to edit pictures and discover that I wanted to redo a swatch, but I didn't want to ruin the continuity (because I'm such a professional!).

Rant over! Tomorrow is the release of the new Pocket Money Polishes Glitter Babies collection, and this collection is based around Dirty Dancing. I'm not really a fan of 'chick flicks' (I'm more of a horror girl, in more ways than one!), and I've never actually seen Dirty dancing (pause for gasps...), so it's possible I'm not the best person to geek out over these polishes. Fortunately Charlie is, and she has a lovely detailed post about the story behind each polish here.

Swatch time!

The Crumpet's 33DC Day 27 - 3 Patterns

Greetings All!

Oh look, another Friday post that's late! I was feeling a little under the weather yesterday, so I stayed in bed and didn't post these nails, even though they were all prepped and everything. I'm lazy at the best of times!

Today I needed a manicure with three different patterns. I didn't want to go down the road of three random patterns - I wanted them to...tie together. The idea I eventually had was really cool in my head, and I stand by the idea, but as a manicure it really didn't wow me. At all.

See, the principle of this totally works. Three patterns coming together to create one image. It's just kind of rubbish as a manicure! Not something I would want to wear. I'm also regretting the use of a metallic green for the leaves, as I wanted to use all untrieds.

Speaking of which, I used five for this manicure! The base is Kiko 341, which I got in a swap from my friend Charlie of Pocket Money Polishes fame. It's my first Kiko, and it's my favourite kind of blue! The branches are OPI A-Piers To Be Tan (love!), the leaves are Invogue Green Sheen, and the flowers are Ruby Wing Fate and Cypress. I know most of these barely count as tried, but they'll count for me!

UK Indies - NailsInspire Thermal Polish - Satin Kiss

Greetings All!

As polish fans, we're quite spoiled for choice these days. The vast array of colours, styles and finishes blows my mind sometimes! One style I've quickly become a little obsessed with is thermal polish. I still remember seeing the Dance Legend thermals with the glitter in. I spent a couple of months pining for one! Finally last month I popped my thermal cherry (there's a phrase I didn't think I would ever type!) with this polish, and currently I'm up to seven thermals!

Today's polish is extra exciting because as well as being a thermal polish, it's also a UK indie! I saw swatches of these shortly before NailsInspire launched, wiped the drool away and then waited patiently! Stocks were very limited (the whole collection sold out pretty quickly), so I'm very happy that I managed to get all four. I'll be posting them separately, as and when I wear them (I like to keep them on for a couple of days!).

The first one to get on my nails is Satin Kiss, which changes between a browny burgundy, and a vivid red. This is 2 coats. It dried to quite a suede finish, but I was wearing dented base coat (this was after work!) so I needed topcoat to even it out a bit!

Thermals are so hard to take pictures of! Luckily I captured the 'gradient' so I didn't bother with the hot and cold versions. You can see them both already! This is a beautiful polish, the colour change came easily (no hiding under the duvet to warm my hands this time!), and I'm just generally super impressed!

You can buy NailsInspire polish here (unfortunately these are all sold out though!).

Tri Polish Challenge November 2013 - Manicure 2

Greetings All!

Just a quick post before I head off to work. This is my second manicure for this month's TPC. Here's a quick reminder of the polishes I'm using this month.

Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Dorian Grey, Good To Grape and Thinking of Blue.

I started with Dorian Grey, then used Good To Grape and some cling film for a nice mottled effect. Finally I stamped with Thinking of Blue and Cheeky Jumbo plate 'Wild At Heart'. TOB isn't the best stamping polish, but it'll do in a pinch!

The Crumpet's Nail Tarts 33DC Day 26 - Something From Pinterest

Greetings All!

We're now approaching the final leg of this challenge, and for this manicure I needed to get inspiration from Pinterest. I don't tend to use it much, I've tried but I just can't seem to get into it! Nails I like get bookmarked in a folder called, surprisingly, nails I like. That's just the way I like to do it. Pinterest has way too many lovely nails on there - my head explodes every time I click on it! I also find it quite weird to see some of my manicures pinned on there - I think probably because it's an unfamiliar setting. Don't get me wrong, I'm very flattered, it just feels a bit weird!

For today, however, I had to venture over there. I did really well and managed to pick a manicure within 10 minutes. This is the manicure I took inspiration from, and also the comment about wanting to try it with colour instead of black and white!

So I changed the colours, and the accent fingers (I think this is my preferred style of accent finger, I've just decided!). They are slightly similar to the nails I posted yesterday, but I actually painted these first...I guess they were in my head when I came to do my TPC nails!

Two more untrieds used here - Crush and Caramel from the Barry M Matte Collection. It occurred to me half way through that I might have issues if I needed to use a topcoat (what a waste of the matte finish! Should I matte it again?), but fortunately they weren't too bumpy. They remind me a bit of Maltesers, and now I want some!