Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Week 8 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Greetings All!

So, today is the last week of the Girly Girl Challenge! Booooo! I've had a lot of fun with this challenge - a lot of it is nail art I wouldn't have done otherwise, as I'm not a girly girl! But it has forced me to 'think outside the box' a bit, which has been fun, and in some cases I've created nail art that I'm really pleased with! And of course there has been some beautiful nail art from everyone who has taken part. Super inspiring! So here is a last reminder of all the themes we've covered

So the theme this week is 'Girls just wanna have fun', and, as with most of the themes, I had a hard time coming up with something! I mean, fun nails, that's a pretty broad topic!

The nail art I always think is the most fun is animal print. There's still a part of my mind that's completely blown by the thought of having animal print on my nails! Also I thought it would be fun to do it in very un-animal colours, if that makes sense. So here are my fun nails!

So I guess this is what unicorns might look like, if they were zebras? Lol, I don't know. It's fun though, right?

I started with  a base of OPI Alpine Snow, then sponged on the five colours from the Models Own Fruit Pastel collection (like I did for THESE nails), because last time I really loved the look. I then stamped with BM223 and Models Own Pukka Purple, which I think proves that it isn't a neon! I finished it off with a coat of Butter London Frilly Knickers, for a bit of sparkle. I rather like the end result! I think it's very cute.



Please take a moment to look at everyone else's nails, and I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been involved with this challenge, hosting, participating, or just looking! I've had a lot of fun and I'm really going to miss this challenge!

Relaxed 31DC Week 12: Stripes

Greetings All!

It's Double Challenge Friday! For the last week as well - the Girly Girl Challenge finishes today! Sadness. But for now, here's this weeks 31DC, hosted by Rambles of a Polish Addict. The theme this week is stripes.

I figured I would use striping tape for this - no way am I attempting freehand stripes! I've used striping tape a couple of times before, but always in a slightly random fashion so I didn't have to be too skilled or accurate! This time I thought I would test myself a bit, and try pinstripe nails! Eeek!

I am ridiculously happy with how these turned out! I know they aren't all 100% straight and even, but they'll do! They'll definitely do. I love them! I even wore them to work, because I couldn't bear to take them off (which is a major no-no, but as I was the only person there, it was irrelevant!)

I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow (which is getting ridiculously low - it's now just below the bit that says Vernis a Ongles - Esmalte de Unas, so even getting it out of the bottle is an artform!). I then topped it with Seche Vite so I didn't pull any off with the tape. Once this was dry and settled, I cut strips of striping tape, and taped all my nails (well, I did just one first, to check that it would work. Then I did the remaining nails together). I painted a coat of W7 Black on, and I waited about 20 seconds before peeling the tape off.This seems to be a crucial stage - leave it too long, and you get little tails of polish sitting in your stripes. But if I do it too quickly, the wet polish seems to start to pool in the stripes a little.

So, after last week's fail (the technique, but not the manicure lol), I class this as a definite success! Be prepared to see more pinstripes! (Seriously, like, next week)

Be sure to check out everyone's stripy nails!

Denim Effect Nail Polish...From Asda?!

Greetings All!

What? Yes! I was in Asda today, and I often stop to look at the polishes, sometimes I get a couple when they are on offer (£1!), but today I noticed a new little display, and something that caught my eye. Denim polish! I wasn't too fussed about the Nails Inc denim polish, I love my Leather Effects, but denim really isn't my thing (I don't even own a pair of jeans). However for £3, I thought it was worth a little try, in the name of science!

This polish is essentially a dark blue suede, with lots of silver sparkle. At first I was skeptical (it's a supermarket brand, after all!), but then they are the people responsible for all of my matte finishes, thanks to their excellent (and cheap!) matte top coat. I had to use 2 coats here, but only because I had a couple of streaks. Otherwise I could have got away with one. It dried really quickly too.

I think it does actually kind of look like denim! And I like the cute little bottle, with the leather patch and the jeans cap. I'm loving suedes at the moment too, so overall I'm pretty happy with this purchase! I don't own the Nails Inc, so unfortunately I have no idea if this is a dupe, but from the pictures I've seen, they look quite similar.

This polish is apparently a limited edition, so if you're in the UK and you fancy some denim nails, well you can pick a bottle up with your shopping! That way, you aren't even really buying polish - it's just groceries!

Random Swatch Spam: Pink Essies

Greetings All!

I bought some essies last month from Fragrance Direct (which is fast becoming one of my favourite polishing haunts. I'm there at least once a week, checking out what's new), and as it's the first time I've used this brand, I thought I'd share my thoughts, and some pictures!

OK, so this brand has a lot going for it! !) Square bottles stack more easily in my Helmer. 2) Excellent, gigantic wide flat brush (which I know some people don't like, but it's great for me!) 3) Great formula, application, coverage and dry time! However, £7.99 is a little more than I like to pay for polishes (I always compare things to OPI, and I'm not even happy to pay £8 for them!). I don't think I would be building up a collection of them for that price! Fortunately they are £1.99 on Fragrance Direct (although stocks are currently pretty low), and for that price they are a bargain!

I bought six in the end, and I thought I would share with you the three pink shades I chose (like I don't have enough pinks!)

Cascade Cool is a lovely blue based, bubblegum pink. It's similar to OPI If You Moust, You Moust (my favourite!) but a little deeper. This is 2 coats.

This is my favourite kind of pink to wear, so obviously I love this! It's very wearable, and you could get away with doing one thick coat. Usually if I wear plain polish, I'm picturing all the different nail art that could go on it, but I would be happy to wear this plain!

We're In It Together is a much lighter, girlier baby pink, with a subtle blue shimmer running through it. This is also 2 coats.

I assumed I would dislike the shimmer, as I do most shimmers, but this one is very subtle, only appearing at certain angles in certain lights, and only really making an appearance on the skin around my nails (thanks, second favourite cleanup brush! I give you a chance...well now you're relegated to third). I quite like the fact that it's blue shimmer in a pink polish...maybe we'll get on OK!

Whimsical is a sort of pinky, lilac, grey colour, very pale and very unusual (to me anyway!). Once again, 2 coats.

It's a very delicate colour, pretty and soft. I initially thought it would be quite 'meh' on the nail, but I think it's lovely! It's all soft and dreamy, and it would look gorgeous with some subtle stamping.

So overall, 2 definite winners, one I'm still 50/50 on, essie have a new fan (albeit an extremely cheap one lol) and my pink collection has never looked better!

What 'big' brands haven't you tried yet?

Jelly Stampwich With My Pointe Exactly

Greetings All!

My posting has been a little erratic over the last few days - apologies for that. I've been swatching like a fiend, so I haven't had as much time for nail art. Something amazing happened yesterday though - I finally swatched the last of my Sally Hansens! All 58 of them (yikes!) have now been at least tried on. There's been a big group of them in the untried pile forever, but I finally knuckled down and tried them all on. It's a very small achievement, in fact it's not really an achievement at all, but I'm still happy about it.

On to today's nails. Do you ever get an idea for nail art, and get that brief moment of 'have I created something new here?'. A quick Google revealed that no, I haven't. Again.

I recently bought some of the jellies from the OPI New York City Ballet collection, so I've been testing them out with some jelly sandwiches. For some reason I thought to myself, 'what if I did a jelly sandwich, but with stamping?'. It seemed like an amazing, epic idea, so I went with it!

I wish I had gone with a different colour stamping polish, but this was essentially a test to see if the technique would work, and my Konad black was within arm's reach!

So this is 2 coats of OPI My Pointe Exactly, stamping with BM316 and Konad Black, then 2 more coats of MPE. I think it's a really interesting look, and I can't wait to try it with a nude jelly and white stamping for work! Then maybe some brighter colours with gold or silver? Luckily I'm building up a small collection of jellies (I love 'em!), so expect to see a lot more of these!

Sun-Tried-Day: Boots No7 Swatch Spam

Greetings All!

Today I wanted to show you some polishes from a brand I've recently taken a bit of a shine to. I've been aware of Boots No7 for quite a while - they make one of my favourite opaque nudes, So Simple (I just started my second bottle!) - but they cost £6 each, and being such a cheapskate, if I'm paying more than a fiver for a polish, it has to be something fairly special, especially as they are essentially a 'drugstore' brand.

Fortunately Boots often has offers on, like 3 for 2, and they also regularly have vouchers for £3 off No7 cosmetics. So I have a few bought cheap from Boots, plus a few I've found on market stalls, and in joblots on eBay.

I swatched two of these quite a while ago, maybe 6 weeks? Trying on polish is very important, especially with nail art, because you need to know how the polish will behave (how many coats will it need? Will it dry quickly? How dense is the glitter? Etc etc etc), but I hate putting on polish only to take it straight off. I also don't necessarily want to do a full manicure with every polish I'm testing out. So I tend to take pictures of most of the polishes I try on. I figure, even if I never use them and they end up deleted, it still seems less of a waste of polish somehow!

And that's how you end up getting these swatch posts! I do feel a bit guilty about this, as they are rarely new, exciting polishes, and I know my photos are...well, they're pretty poor really. I'm trying to use the tools I have, rather than blowing my polish budget on cameras and lightboxes lol. Polish wins every month!

Anyway, ramble over, on to the swatches!

Hot To Trot is a pale, bronzey, champagne coloured metallic. It has the veneer of being suitable for work, but it is rather sparkly. I think this is 2 coats.

Unfortunately you do see a lot of brush strokes, but I love the metallic, yet very neutral, almost nude finish. It's almost like it's halfway between full on bling, and plain nude!

Salsa is a spicy, hot red metallic. Again, I think this is 2 coats. Possibly three.

Phwoar! If I wear red polish, it's always a creme polish. It's the classic look. This makes me rethink things though! And look, I've cleaned up and there's no sign of red stained cuticles, or halos of glitter either! Which is nice. I just know this is going to get lots of use around Christmas!

Finally, Poolside Blue, which is blue (gasp!). 2 coats (1 might have actually done)

This is the sort of loud, bright colour I usually avoid. My eye was instantly drawn to it, of course, but I prefer my nails to be eyecatching in a nail art sort of way, not a garish colour way.

Having said that, I do like this. yes it's bright, but it's also very rich and creamy, it's nearly a one coater, and you might actually see me wearing this in Summer! Well, how could you miss me lol

Hot to Trot and Salsa were bought from Cosmetics Fairy, and Poolside Blue was bought on a market stall (3 for a fiver! Get in!)

All three dried fairly quickly, I had no issues with application, but I do find them to be a little chippy (but then the vast majority of polish is on me. I don't know what it is I do to my nails, but they often look like I've been digging through gravel or something). I would recommend them, but probably not for £6 a bottle. Shop around, people!

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Week 7: Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice

Greetings All!

It's still Double Challenge Friday! Earlier I posted my Relaxed 31DC nails, and now it is the turn of the Girly Girl Challenge, hosted by Ramblings of a Closet Diva. Here is a quick reminder of all the themes:

So the theme for this week is 'sugar and spice'. I've taken the theme quite literally and my manicure is based on some of my favourite sweets! This was helped by the fact that I got a cup of pick and mix this week (when I was young, pick and mix came in bags. Now it's all about cups for some reason). The sweets they are based on are sour, fizzy cherries and strawberries!

My base colour is OPI If You Moust, You Moust, which is definitely my favourite pink - a sugary, bubblegum, blue based shade. I then stamped with CH42, BM21 and OPI The Thrill of Brazil, which is not only my favourite red, but an excellent stamping polish too, which just makes me love her all the more!

I could only fit the cherry stamp on my 2 smallest nails - thanks Bundle Monster first series! I have no idea how I managed to do those black wallpaper nails on my banner picture, as they're from the same series, and they're so tiny!

Please remember to check out everyone else's nails, and to see if they are sweet or spicy! I guess I'm sour lol.

Relaxed 31DC Week 11: Polka Dots

Greetings All!

It's Double Challenge Friday! I like doing two nail art posts on the same day - makes me feel like I've been doing well, keeping up with my nail art. And I don't feel as guilty posting plain swatches on other days!

Later on is the Girly Girl Challenge, but for now, the (very) relaxed version of the 31 day challenge, hosted by Rambles of a Polish Addict. The theme this week is polka dots. I'm not very good at polka dots - I can do, like, random dotted manicures, but I can't seem to get the precision right for polka dots. They all have to be the same size, and in a uniform pattern (at least they do to me!)

I've tried stamping them, but that didn't work out too well either! So in the end I did them freehand and they're OK, but they're far from perfect!

I started with a base of OPI Alpine Snow, then randomly sponged on the five polishes from the Models Own Fruit Pastel collection for a dreamy background. I then dotted on some Boots No7 in So Simple.

The dots aren't the same size, or even the same shape, and they aren't in a nice neat pattern. So I consider this a bit of a fail, even though that pastel sponging is blooming lovely! I should have taken a picture of it plain! As I said, I think it looks ok, but not great. I would say I need more practice, but I've been using dotting tools for longer than brushes, and I just can't seem to get the hang of it! I concentrate, I use good lighting, I clean my dotting tool after each dot, and I change the polish when it gets stringy, it's just a skill that eludes me. Ah well, it's a small part of life!

I'm sure the other ladies have some much better dots!

She Who Does Nail Art Challenges: Jewellery

Greetings All!

My second post of the day! The theme for this weeks challenge, hosted by She Who Does Nails, is jewellery. Now, I don't wear much jewellery. I have quite a few necklaces that I wear from time to time, but that's about it! However, I do have a sort of 'permanent jewellery' - my piercings and tattoos! So I did some nail art based around that! (Personally I think it's a pretty awesome idea, but that may just be me lol)

So I started off with 3 coats of OPI Samoan Sand, which is very 'skin toned'. I then found stamps that were pretty close to some of my tattoos.

OK, there's quite a bit of explaining here! By some good fortune I had stamps to match the tattoos I couldn't easily take a picture of, but as only one is an exact match anyway, I'm only a little bit annoyed.
I stamped my thumb with BM322, to represent an ankh tattoo I have on my hip. It doesn't have the 'flashes' around it, but my selection of ankh stamps is fairly limited (there's a sentence I never thought I'd say).

My index finger I am very proud of - I used BM206 to make a decal that is an exact match to a tattoo I have on the back of my neck! If you are unfamiliar with this technique, I read about it HERE, I was directed by...I can't remember who, I'm sorry. Anyway, it's a method of turning nail stamps into decals, where you can 'colour them in', in my case with OPI The Thrill of Brazil. It's a bit fiddly, and you can see I got a couple of air bubbles trapped in there, but I'm pretty happy with it for my first try!

My middle finger has bats, courtesy of BM213, to represent the bat tattoo on my arm. It was my first tattoo, although I did add more bats to it at a later date. I used Konad Black for all the 'tattoos'

My ring finger represents my three lip piercings, the oldest of which I have had for nearly 13 years! I stamped with BM02 and OPI The Thrill of Brazil, then added silver caviar beads as my 'piercings'.

My little finger has a chain, stamped with BM12 and Barry M Silver Foil. A lot of my necklaces just have simple chains like this (I couldn't find a fifth tattoo stamp lol)

I finished it all off with matte topcoat, to give it that 'skin' look (eewww!).

So, big thanks go to Bundle Monster for their excellent selection of stamps!

Here is a bonus picture of a tattoo I could take a picture of, and it couldn't really be more fitting.

That is on my left wrist. Yeah, I'm pretty weird.


Please be sure to check out everyone else's jewelly nails!