Galaxy Nails!

Greetings All!

Every single time I do galaxy nails, I kick myself for not doing them more often. There is never quite as much faffing as I think there will be, and without wanting to sound big-headed, I've never done a bad one. I don't think I've even ever seen a bad galaxy manicure! Obviously some combinations work better than others, but it's practically a fool-proof technique.


These nails are actually pretty similar to the last ones I did, because I really liked the orange and pink in them. Horrifyingly, in my last post I swore I wouldn't leave it 8 months between galaxy manicures, and it's been 7 months! Bad me!

My left hand came out better than my right hand. This isn't that unusual for me - I think with this particular technique, it helps when they're slightly less neat. What is unusual for me is that both hands have nails of a similar length - my left hand is normally shorter because they break more frequently.

I do like my thumb - it's all...swooshy!


I used my ever faithful W7 Black as a base, then OPI Arctic Snow to 'map out' the galaxies. The colours are Barry M Gelly in Mango, OPI Koala Beary, Funky Dunkey, and Austin-tacious Turquoise. AT is my galaxy manicure 'hack', and I use it just about every time. Something about the colour and the sparkle just makes it perfect for that ethereal, outer space look. I added a coat of Butter London Frilly Knickers for a bit (or in this case, quite a lot!) of sparkle, and some stars in white.

I wonder how many months will pass before my next one!

WAMM Leopard

Greetings All!

This manicure actually marks a bit of a special occasion. One of my polishes has been plucked from it's home to become one of my stamping polishes, a decision I do not take lightly!

Here's how it works in my little nail world. I have a box with my stamping polishes in (i.e. Konad), and also my 'polishes that stamp'. These are regular polishes that I use nearly exclusively for stamping, for example Barry M Gold and Silver Foils. Polishes that stamp that I also use as regular polish live in their particular drawer in my Helmers, sorted by colour. So for a polish to be in the box, it's 'stampability' must outweigh it's...normal polishing abilities. A good example is Barry M Gelly in Plum. It stamps so well, I rarely use it as regular polish any more.

That crazy rambling aside, Barry M Matte in Mocha is my new polish that stamps. I've been using it a lot for work appropriate stamping recently, and it has met my needs so, so well! Visible, yet subtle, a great shade over nudes, and it also stamps very well.

Good old Barry M! I think apart from Sally Hansen Insta Dri, they are one of the best brands of polish to stamp with (apart from stamping polishes). Most of the Gelly range will stamp at a push, ditto most of the matte polishes, and of course their fantastic foils.

This is Barry M Matte in Mocha, MoYou Punk XL 06, over No7 So Simple (still one of my favourite nudes, two years later).


Is everyone else as...enthusiastic about their stamping polishes? Also, would a list of my polishes that stamp be a useful thing for people?

Colour Me Crazy! Neon

Greetings All!

Check me out, getting the week's post in with time to spare! This is where it all falls apart though, as I don't have any more nails prepped, and so far I have zero inspiration for next week. So well see what happens!

This week the theme is neon. I'm becoming a bit of a neon convert, but I'm still not at the point where I would be happy to wear full on neon nails. I don't like how I can always see them out of the corner of my eye, and I'm not really a neon type of person. So these are neon nails, but I have also covered them in black!

I never seem to use striping tape often enough to get good at it! I also really wish I had repeated the thumb pattern on all my nails (and I did my thumb first, so I have no excuse!).

Long list of polishes used here. A base of OPI Arctic Snow, then Color Club Get Your Lem-on, The Lime Starts Here, I Always Get My Man-darin, Yum Gum, and Raspberry Rush (because I will buy neon polish if it's scented!), an unnamed blue Color Club, a purple neon OPI that I've forgotten the name of (I'm doing well with names at the moment!), and a Sinful Color neon yellow striper, because Get Your Lem-on wasn't quite bright enough. I just painted random stripes with the polish brush, then taped it and covered with W7 Black. Neon nails done!

An InLinkz Link-up

While I'm On The Subject Of Black And White...

Greetings All!

While I was sorting through yesterday's challenge pictures, I was looking at this manicure. I was a little tempted to post it instead, as I prefer it! However I vowed to make the effort not to stamp too much for that challenge, and it seemed silly not to use the manicure I did specifically for it.

I've decided to grab hold of the little bit of motivation I currently have, and post two days in a row!

W7 Black, Konad White, and MoYou London Biker XL 10.

This may be my new favourite stamp! I do like skulls, and it's nice to have a 'uniform' pattern, instead of an individual skull that I'll probably stamp wonky!

Colour Me Crazy Challenge - Black And White

Greetings All!

Yet another week escaped me. I've been meaning to post these since last Wednesday, but I have a major case of the can't-be-bothereds.

It was difficult not to stamp for this prompt. Konad Black and White are regular visitors to my nails, and it would have been so simple. However, I'm making the effort to ...make an effort!

I'm slowly coming to the realisation that I don't really like an accent nail - I prefer them all to match!

For this manicure I opened a new bottle of OPI Alpine Snow, as I finished the last one a good couple of bottles ago! The black on my ring finger is W7 Black, but I used Barry M Black for the dots, as my W7 is getting a little thick. I don't mind painting it on, but it's pretty useless for nail art.

An InLinkz Link-up

Work Appropriate Manicure Monday Returns!

Greetings All!

That's right, my semi-regular, on again, off again 'series' of work appropriate nail art is back! This time I was heavily inspired by my pink Colour Me Crazy nails, and the little swirly roses. Although I was fairly happy with my first attempt, I always trick myself into thinking they'll be perfect next time. And I fall for it every single time!

These are not perfect! But again, I am quite happy with them. They're only borderline work appropriate (according to m own personal definition) because they are a little bit colourful. However, today is a Bank Holiday, so I'm allowing it.

I did initially consider doing these on bare nails, but I wasn't brave enough. I settled for two coats of OPI You Callin' Me A Lyre? to leave just a bit of vnl (and hide the staining!). The roses are Etude House Ice Cream Nails in Peach, and Barry M Gelly in Grapefruit, so they're fruity as well as flowery! The leaves are Color Club New Bohemian.

And now, a very rare sight, my left hand. The hand that does all the work! Polishing my left hand is something that really puts me off doing freehand. I can manage stamping very well, or a gradient, or weirdly, leopard print (I think the irregularity/shaky handed brushwork helps in that case), but I wasn't looking forward to this.

For me, this isn't too bad at all! I'm strangely proud of the one on the right on my ring finger.

Colour Me Crazy! Week 7 - Purple

Greetings All!

I'm slipping in just in time with my purple contribution. Again, I have no good excuse for leaving it so late. This manicure has been sitting ready for a few weeks!

So here are my purple nails.

Good old leopard print! I must confess, often with challenges I will just paint the one hand, as they aren't always the sort of manicures I would choose to wear. However, I loved this one so much I painted my other hand to match and wore it all weekend!

I started with Models Own Grape Juice, then I made a gradient using that and Color Club Pucci-licious, which was quite brave/foolhardy of me, as I haven't used it before, and not all polishes gradient well! The leopard print is Sally Hansen Purple Posy and Pat On The Black, and it's all finished off with Asda Matte Topcoat.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pineapples

Greetings All!

So, pineapples appear to be a 'thing' at the moment. My friend Charlie from Pocket Money Polishes has a bit of a pineapple passion, so while she was eagerly awaiting some pineapple stamps I was inspired to create these.

My base is OPI The 'It' Color. I recently bought a second bottle of this polish, as the one I have is on its last legs. It's rare for me to finish a bottle of polish that isn't black, white or nude, and quite bizarre that it should be a yellow! It is one of 'my got to' yellows though (the other being Sally Hansen Yellow Kitty).

I added some Sally Hansen Evening Glow with a bit of clingfilm to try and get a mottled effect. I then stamped BM203 using OPI A-piers To Be Tan. I don't have a specific pineapple image, but I think this image works fairly well, with a bit of artistic licence! It was a little on the small side for some of my nails, but as I was adding leaves at the top (in Revlon Emerald) it didn't matter too much.

Colour Me Crazy! Week 6 - Pink

Greeting All!

I'm very much continuing with my little break from life/society/reality/everything, but I've bullied myself into just spending ten minutes writing up a post to keep participating in this challenge. For the last two years, nail polish and nail art are things that have given me a lot of pleasure, and I don't want to lose that. Plus they're all prepped and ready. That helps a lot!

So here are my Pink nails.

I've been trying out a new-to-me technique for polishing roses. You put two little dots of polish next to each other, then swirl them together. This is actually my first attempt, and it's a bit of a mixed bag, but I'm getting the hang of it.

My base is Sally Hansen Sgt. Preppy, the roses are Barry M Gelly in Rosehip and Pomegranate and the leaves are Sally Hansen Palm Treat.

An InLinkz Link-up

Colour Me Crazy Challenge Week 5 Blue

Greetings All.

You may or may not have noticed my absence for the last week (probably not). I haven't run out of nails, and I haven't been doing something more exciting. I just haven't had the energy or motivation to hoist myself in front of the computer, and try and think of words to type. I still can't, which is why I'm just being honest. I'm not getting any enjoyment from anything - I've barely even painted my nails this week.

I thought about leaving things until I feel better, but a) who knows when that will be, and b) if I fall behind in the first challenge I've done this year, then that's one more failure to add to the pile. So here are my blue nails.

Barry M Gellys in Blueberry, Damson and Blue Grape for the gradient, Butter London Frilly Knickers for the glitter, and Sally Hansen Nightwatch and Collection 2000 Button Moon for the pretty appalling freehand.

An InLinkz Link-up

Lynnderella Deep Blue Seeing

Greetings All!

I mentioned last weekend that I had recently become the proud new owner of some Lynnderellas. Today I have a swatch of the first Lynn I bought! I'm not normally a blue girl, but the swatches I saw of this polish were just gorgeous.

Deep Blue Seeing, 2 coats over Sally Hansen Nightwatch.

For what is essentially a 'plain' blue glitter topper, this is so so pretty! Almost as pretty on me as the lovely swatches that convinced me I needed it (this one in particular!). And for the record, I do like blue, there are just many other colours that I like more!

Models Own Microdots

Greetings All!

So, did anyone else blink and miss July? Where did that month go?! That's my little introduction to the fact that it's August, which means two months until October, and Halloween nails. Is it weird that I'm already excited about that? And planning nails?

Today I have a polish I received in a mystery bag. You pay an amount, you receive some polishes, you don't know what they're going to be. It's a risky game, but a lot of fun! This particular polish has been on my list of polishes I like, but I (try to) convince myself I don't need, so I was very happy to receive it!

This is two coats of Microdots, over Barry M Gelly in Key Lime. I went for a bright, Summery base, although I imagine this would work over all sorts of colours (including black!).

The main reason I convinced myself I didn't need this was that when I first heard the name, I was hoping it would be circle glitter. Don't get me wrong, it's a very pretty topper, but imagine it with circles.