Koi Carp Nails

Greetings All!

I recently treated myself to some new Konad stamping polishes. I needed a new black and...things just...happened. I ended up with a dozen! So now I need to use them to justify them!

The first I've used is apparently Gold Brown, but it's an orange with a gold sparkle. Whatever it is, I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it.

I started with a base of Look Nail Pop in Milk. Then I got totally distracted cataloging my stamping polishes, an evening well spent I'm sure you'll agree!

The next day I stamped with the konad 'gold brown'  and MoYou Sailor 05. Unfortunately I got very little gold sparkle on my scales, and it wasn't as opaque as I was hoping for. I was tempted to just remove it, but as it had taken me so long to get to this stage I decided to try and rescue it with a bit of glitter, in the form of Feenix Candy Corn.

I'm quite pleased with the result! And I was happy to use a Halloween polish outside of October!

A2Z Series - B For Bold

Greetings All!


We're onto week 2 of this challenge. Last week brought some beautiful manicures, and I'm excited to see what everyone comes up with this week!

The prompt is Bold. I had several different ideas for this prompt (all involving stamping). As per usual, despite my massive collection of stamps, I still didn't have the images I was picturing! I wish I could make my own...

So here are my Bold nails.

I was very lucky to get my new bottle of Konad Black in time for this manicure - weak black lines just wouldn't have been bold enough! I've stamped over OPI Arctic Snow using MoYou Princess 12. The neon studs are from ebay, and were a last minute decision. I just felt it needed a little something else!


You can check out all the nails for all the prompts here.

An InLinkz Link-up

UK Indies - TarasTalons Bonfire And Fireworks

Greetings All!

Tonight is Bonfire Night here in the UK, and I happen to have two perfectly themed polishes to coincide.


This is two coats of Bonfire.

Yellow can be a difficult polish, but this bright crelly is perfect in two coats. The effect with the glitter is lovely and fiery!


Next is Fireworks, two coats over black.

I'll admit that with a name like Fireworks, you might expect something more colourful. However this gold glitter in a black base has a lot of depth and sparkle, and I'll probably be wearing this some time over the Christmas season (which I can't believe I'm mentioning already). It's definitely my kind of polish.


You can buy TarasTalons polish here, and remember you can use the code SpecialGirlNails for a 15% discount!

Autumnal Gradient And Glitter

Greetings All!

I'd better slip some Autumnal nail art while I can, before it slips into Winter! Don't get me wrong, Winter is good - dark colours are my favourite after all. I just want a chance to use a few browns and oranges while they're season-appropriate!

For this gradient I've used some of the newest Barry M Gellys. They look so good together, it really takes the work out of picking polishes for a manicure.

The Gellys in question are Mustard, Paprika, Chilli and Cocoa. I then added a dabbed on coat of Indy's Indies Autumn Leaves.

Could my nails look any more Autumn?!

Lynnderella Love, Lace And Lilacs

Greetings All!

I have a quick swatch for you today. Most of the bargain Lynns I bought on eBay a few months ago have been sitting untried - isn't that terrible?! I feel like I should be itching to get them on my nails, but I'm taking my time, and wearing them when they feel right.

Obviously, I had to layer this over a lilac. It's right there in the name! I tried to be a little more imaginative, but in the end I really like the combination. This is 2 coats of LLAL over Boots No7 Lucky Lilac.

It's so pretty and feminine, it and does look lacy! I love it.

Boudoir Roses

Greetings All!

For my birthday last month I got the OPI Gone Noble set. I hadn't heard of any of the polishes in the set - there is an excellent post here by Pocket Money Polishes explaining where they come from, with swatches and comparisons. I was very taken with the colours, especially the red, Rendezvous In My Boudoir. My red collection is fairly...robust, but OPI do reds really well, so I've always got room for another one!

With a name like that, I had to include some slightly boudoir-esque nail art.

This is two coats of RIMB, with MoYou Gothic 03 and 05. I have the same image in two different sizes, so I thought I'd use both. It looks a little off, but I do like the smaller roses on my little finger - sometimes the MoYou XL images are actually a little too big! I had to stamp with W7 Black again - thankfully I'm now back on the Konad!

My Happy Halloween Nail Art Extravaganza!!

Spooky Greetings All!

Happy Halloween!!

So, my excitement has led to me creating too many manicures. Strangely at the same time I feel like I didn't do enough!

Today I have my final four manicures to share with you. It's mostly down to poor planning. No, wait, I mean I totally meant to do it this way!

First up my actual Halloween manicure, on my nails right now. I've been buried alive!

A2Z Series - A Is For Angles

Greetings All!

I'm interrupting my Halloween manicures because I'm involved in a fabulous new challenge! Along with some very talented ladies - I'm a little bit intimidated about the level of nail art, but I'm hoping that will push me to step up my game a bit. You can see who is participating here, and when you see their nails, you'll understand why I'm worried!

We'll be posting every Thursday for the next 26 weeks. That seems like a long time, but I just know that very soon I'll be on 'Y' and wondering where all the time has gone! This week for 'A' the prompt is Angles. The prompts are fairly broad and there is a lot of room for interpretation, which is great because I think we'll be seeing a lot of variety. I went fairly obvious, and just painted some angles on my nails!

I originally planned to do all my nails like my middle finger, but I thought it might look a bit odd with my nail shape. It doesn't, which is slightly annoying, but I still like the random look.

My base is Look Nail Pop in Milk. It's a really nice off white, creamy colour, and much more wearable than a bright white. It's not the most exciting colour ever, but I was actually pretty excited by it, because I still can't bear to wear plain white polish and this is just soft enough to get away with. It makes a gorgeous base for all kinds of nail art.

I used striping tape, Barry M Gelly in Blood Orange and W7 Black for the angular bits. I'm determined to master striping tape! I don't think I did too badly this time - I got fairly clean lines, and these colours are not very forgiving!


You can check out the rest of this week's manicures, and all the nails throughout the challenge here. I'll be back tomorrow with several Halloween manicures!!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Nightmare Before Christmas Inspired Stripes

Greetings All!

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my very favourite films. I did intend to do some more detailed nails, but time just got away from me. I can't believe October is almost over already!

I can't see black and white pinstripe without thinking of Jack. I like pinstripe trousers for the same reason!

I'm also (somewhat hesitantly) sharing my previous TNBC manicure. Back in October 2012 I had only been doing nail art for a few months. I hadn't learned to stamp yet, so I did a lot of freehand. I spent hours with just a small brush and little puddles of polish! At the time I was very proud of my TNBC manicure. Two years on, it looks very rough to me (I hadn't learned to cleanup either!) but I do think the nail art itself isn't too bad. I wish I put this much effort into my nails now!

Tomorrow I'm starting an exciting new challenge, so all my remaining Halloween manicures will be posted on Friday!

Skull And Crossbones

Greetings All!

Today I'm wearing another Halloween polish from last year. The big glitter shape last Autumn was skull and crossbones, and I probably ended up with enough polishes to last a lifetime of skully manicures!

I've also done something I rarely do - glitter placement. I do push glitter around on the nail if needed, or dab a little on to even it out, but I generally let it lie where it chooses. For this manicure I did some fishing, and some careful glitter placement! Oh, and also some stamping.

Over a black base I've used Konad White and MoYou Punk 04, and TarasTalons Skeleton. This polish has all sorts of white shapes in - I initially only intended to use the skulls, but I just couldn't resist a few stars as well.

It's quite a high maintenance glitter shape - it took two coats of Gelous, and two of SV to tame them, and then they was still smooth but bumpy. However it's a price I'm more than happy to pay!

Bats Galore

Greetings All!

I'm doubling up on the Halloween nail art today in an effort to fit it all in before Friday, so you get two bat manicures for the price of one! Both manicures feature the same stamp, from MoYou Festive 15. This full nail, bat swarm stamp came just in time - my nails are currently too long for any of my other bat stamps, although with all the cold weather approaching I bet that soon they'll be short enough!

Here's manicure number one, bats over a purple gradient.

For the gradient I used Sally Hansen I Lilac You, Barry M Gelly in Prickly Pear, Color Club Pucci-licious and Beauty UK Jelly Bean. I added a coat of Butter London Frilly Knickers for some sparkle, then stamped with MoYou Festive 25 and Konad Black.


Manicure number 2, gold bats on a night sky.

The base is TarasTalons Dark Nights, two coats over black, again stamped with MoYou Festive 15, and Mentality Dapper.


I hereby promise - no more bat manicures this month!