Funky French Gradient With Studs

Greetings All!

I'm afraid I seem to be stuck deep in a black and red theme at the moment. Well, on my nails. I've had a black and red theme everywhere else for the last ten years or so! Decor. clothing, even my laptop, camera and Helmers are red. So I suppose it's actually surprising how few of my manicures are black and red, on balance!

I'm also very into studs at the moment. Again, it's surprising it's taken me this long!

I think it's obvious from this gradient that thermals have been having quite an influence on me lately! I would love a real red to black thermal, but this will do in the meantime. As per usual, I used Sally Hansen Right Said Red and W7 Black. It still looked a little plain, so I added some studs. I used 40 in total, and it's barely made a dent in the amount I have. I used to think they were sold in ludicrously high amounts, but now they seem just about right!

Black Cat Lacquer Poison Apple

Greetings All!

I am so in love with thermal polish at the moment! I just got some of the Dance Legend thermals (from my lemming list!), and I'll be posting about them soon, because they're awesome. So reactive.

Back to today, and I have the stunning Poison Apple to show you. I initially wasn't very impressed with this, it must have been a very cold day the first time I wore it! I couldn't get any colour change at all, except with hot water. However I gave it another chance, and I'm very, very glad that I did!

This is 3 coats of Poison Apple solo.

And now for the transition pics! This is my favourite part of thermal polish - I love getting my nails really warm, and then watching the darker colour creep in. Maybe I should get out more, but I find it very entertaining!

I bought this polish from Rainbow Connection, and it is currently still available! You can also buy it direct from Black Cat Lacquer. Not that I'm trying to enable you, at all! Come on though, look at it! You need this in your life!

Roses, Just For A Change

Greetings All!

I'm almost getting to the point where I'm getting sick and tired of roses. Almost. This was one of those classic 'I can't decide between...' manicures, in this case roses and glitter. So why not have both!

The roses are BM323 and Konad Black over Sally Hansen Right Said Red. The glitter is Iconic Effect Unicorn Blood over W7 Black.

I'm being a bit more self-indulgent at the moment with my nails. I'm not participating in any challenges for a while, and instead I'm just polishing whatever I feel like. So, probably more roses, and more black and red to come!

WAMM!

Greetings All!

Welcome now the now regular feature of Work Appropriate Manicure Mondays! I have so many nude polishes, and it's nice to get to use them. They are among my most used polishes anyway, but I tend to go through a phase of using the same one over and over, and this way I'm making the effort to mix it up!

One of the easiest ways to jazz up some plain polish is a bit of glitter, and as a proud glitterbunny I have plenty of it around! However, glitter and sparkle isn't always work appropriate. If you can wear any polish you want to work, well, I envy you greatly! But the rest of us have to find ways round it.

This is the pretty, sugary-sweet I Have A Dream by Pocket Money Polishes, over OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square (a black label I treated myself to because...I wanted it!). The combination of a pale nude with pastel glitter does give quite a subtle result, but that's exactly what I'm looking for! I know it's there, and I get to have a sneaky look at my nails and get cheered up by glitter, without drawing attention to the fact I'm wearing polish. This is a perfect glitter for that. Matte topcoat is also a must, I feel!

My Latest Korean Nail Haul!

Greetings All!

Last month when I was buying every kind of nail art supply under the sun (or so it seemed!), I couldn't resist picking up a few Korean polishes. They're always so cute, with pretty colours and a nice mix of glitter. A lot more exciting that the majority of British brands (indie makers aside, of couse!). Plus they cost around £3-4 each, and shipping is often free! I got this latest haul from a couple of sellers on eBay.

The UK Indie Valentine's Polish Swatch Extravaganza!

Greetings All!

Happy Valentine's Day! I've decided to cram all the Valentine themed polish I bought into one large picture heavy post. There was plenty of variety this year on the UK indie scene, and as a fan of red and pink polish I was a little spoiled for choice! I decided to limit myself on the heart theme though, as I have plenty of heart shaped glitter, and as shapes go it isn't my favourite. I'm a star and moon girl!

Galaxy Nails!

Greetings All!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've done some galaxy nails. I make it...June last year! That's a long time!

I love galaxy nails, because they are nearly impossible to get wrong. Nearly every time I do them, I think they look awful right up until the point they are finished. I've even been tempted to start again a couple of times, but I know now to persevere, because they always turn out fine in the end! They're also very versatile - you can use any colours you want, and as few or as many as you want.

In an unusual turn, my left hand came out better than my right hand!

Quite a few polishes used here...W7 Black, Beauty UK White, Barry M Gellys in Mango, Grapefruit and Plum, OPI Austin-tacious Turquoise (which gives a brilliant, ethereal shimmer to galaxy nails), and my favourite Butter London Frilly Knickers for some extra sparkle! Note to self - do not leave it 8 months before the next one!!

Work Appropriate Manicure Monday - The Stampwich

Greetings All!

Yay! More than one post means that, to me at least, this is officially a series! WAMM is go!

I find it really difficult to wear plain polish these days - it always needs some glitter, or stamping, or some nail art. Something. I just can't leave plain nails alone. They look...unfinished. I don't think it's a bad thing, it just means that I end up spending a lot of time on my nails!

One of my favourite things, ever, is the stampwich, or stamp sandwich. I used to love a glitter sandwich, but stamping is just that much better! I also think it's the perfect nail art for work when worn with a neutral jelly, as it makes the stamping soft and subtle and lovely.

OPI Barre My Soul is by far my favourite nude jelly. I'm wearing three coats here in total, and you still get a little hint of vnl, which I quite like. I stamped with Konad White and BM016 (from the new larger set) over 1 coat of BMS, then added 2 more on top. I can't get enough of this look, especially for work - I get to have my nail art, no one notices I'm even wearing polish, everybody wins!


Stay tuned next week, because I am now so determined to make this a regular thing!

Purple Star Princess

Greetings All!

I hope you're all having a good weekend. Today I have a quick little stamped manicure. I've been using Barry M Plum quite a bit lately, for stamping and nail art, but I haven't used it as a base colour for a while, so I thought I should!

Barry M Gelly in Plum for the base, stamped with 2true Metallica in Artemis, and MoYou XL Princess Plate 13.

Studded Roses

Greetings All!

I mentioned in my recent nail art haul post that I had already used some studs in a manicure, one I was rather pleased with! I also probably gave the game away by describing them as 'rosy'. I mean, what else am I going to do with that?! I do have a bit of an obsession.

So, predictably, here is yet another rose manicure!

I love these. I'm not super-duper happy with the leaves, but apart form that this looks exactly like it did in my head. My ultimate 'nail success' is when I can make my nails look like the image in my head. I don't know if this happens to everyone, but I nearly always have a very specific image of what I want a manicure to be. Most of the time, they don't turn out quite right. But these did!

I used Sally Hansen Salon Manicure in Terracotta as a gorgeous tan base. The roses are an unnamed Sally Hansen Insta Dri (well, the name fell off, and I can't remember it!) and Boots No7 Rose Truffle for the detail. The slightly iffy leaves are SH Insta Dri in Jade Jump, with Essie Pretty Edgy for the detail. The pink studs are from eBay. They were advertised as red, but I can't really be annoyed at that because I still managed to use them almost straight away!

UK Indies - TarasTalons Disneyland And Fairy Brains

Greetings All!

Happy Hump Day! Today I have two random swatches from TarasTalons, or rather I should say The Tara Emporium! There are changes afoot, and Tara is expanding her empire! Exciting.

First up is Disneyland. Tara had a bottle shot of this polish on her Facebook page before it was released, and it feels like it was taunting me for ages! This is 2 coats over Butter London Billy No Mates.

Wowzer. It's like there's a party on my nails, and everyone is invited! Such a lovely rainbow explosion. I've had trouble in the past with the larger sized mouse heads, but these ones are much smaller and barely stick out at all. This is a really fun, cheerful glitter.

Next is Fairy Brains, which is a fantastic name. 2 coats over Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Jade Jump.

This glitter is so cute and pretty. I especially like the white flowers, and there are circles, so you can't go wrong really!

Both of these polishes are still available, along with many others, here.

Work Appropriate Manicure Monday!

Greetings All!

This is the first post of hopefully many! Last year I briefly attempted to do a series of work appropriate nail art, but it never really went anywhere and I wasn't wearing much polish at work.

I'm not really supposed to wear polish at work, as I work in a bakery and I do handle food, but a) I'm very rarely handling it with my nails, because I'm a person and not a bird of prey, and b) I make an effort to use my best quality polishes, and I always use a good base and top coat, so my polish never chips. I'll rock a cheeky work manicure maybe once or twice a week, but I'll only wear nude or neutral shades.

So this is hopefully going to be a regular(ish) series of work appropriate nail art, which basically means subtle nail art on nude! I've decided I'll be referring to it as WAMM. Here's this weeks example (if you read my post yesterday, you will have seen a sneak peek!):

The base is OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, which is definitely my favourite opaque nude at the moment. It's a great shade, and it gives good coverage too - I find it just slightly too streaky for one coat, but two coats are perfect! I stamped with PUEEN22 and Konad Light Bronze, which is a gorgeous polish, but very glittery and therefore a complete PITA to clean up!

Someone noticed this at work, and I believe they referred to it as 'like wallpaper for nails'. They had a hard time believing I'd done it myself *sigh*. I guess I should take that as flattering, but it's not. It's annoying! How dare they doubt my artistic prowess!


What sort of polish do you wear for work?