Flakes on a Friday...on Saturday

Oh wow. I cannot believe my GFC follower count. I am seriously overwhelmed right now. 701 Google Friends...and that doesn't include those of you who subscribe to my blog in other ways. Thank you all so much for your support. I've had a really hard week (emotionally) and this is just one of the things that's really put a smile on my face.

I have some news. I've enrolled on a manicure and pedicure introduction course and I start next Wednesday. The course is six weeks long and I'll be attending college on Wednesday nights. The same week this finishes, I will start my NVQ level 2 VCTC (vocational course) in Nail Technology. Yep, I'm going to train to be a qualified nail technician! I'm really excited and, if all goes well, I intend to share my knowledge with you along the way.

Here is what I did yesterday. Pure laziness, I'm afraid. Flakies and water decals.

China Glaze's 'Fifth Avenue'.

Slicked with a generous layer of Nubar's '2010', which reminds me, I need do a Nubar and Nfu-Oh haul at some point this year. Maybe as a treat after I graduate from 'nail school'.

Hmm. So I'm posing with the Nubar, but actually have a layer of Rimmel's Matte top-coat on.

Water decals from Viva La Nails (purchased by moi), again with the matte top-coat.

I hated the matte look for a good while, until very recently so I think I need to give mattificationism (it's not a real word but I don't care)  the credit it deserves.

Happy weekend lovelies.

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 24 - 'Nails inspired by a book'

Hey folks. 

I nearly wasn't going to post anything tonight because I was busy gossiping with my cousin until quite late.

Today/tonight is a manicure inspired by a book. I don't often get to read for pleasure, but when I do, I'm afraid I'm a sucker for a Stephen King novel. I have quite a few of his books, but this one seemed like the easiest to capture in a manicure that could be 'worn'.

 Here we have 'Firestarter' a story about a father and daughter who are on the run from a government agency due to them possessing terrifying psychic powers.  The father has the power of suggestion, which has dire consequences upon himself and others. The girl? She has pyrokinetic abilities and can start fires with her mind...great stuff.

Black nail polish, yellow, orange and red acrylic paint with a layer of Nubar's '2010' on too to give the flames a shimmer.

I thought I'd better bring some game, considering yesterday's manicure was pretty sedate.

Happy Friday and a happy belated Thanksgiving to my readers who celebrate it :)

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 16 - 'Tribal print'

Well hi!  How's it going? What's new?

Today was tribal print day in the challenge and I was under some serious pressure. Now, before I'd even reached day one of the challenge, I had decided that I was not going to do Aztec print. Whilst I had seen some fantastic Aztec-icures (new word alert), floating around on blogs, I thought I'd do something different.

At first, I thought I'd pull out the stops and do a Masai jewellery pattern like this:

image

Pretty adventurous after a hard day at work right?

The hubby was eyeballing me because he'd already told me to go to bed a million times already...so I had to scrap that idea. Whilst pretending that I couldn't hear him giving me my marching orders, I came across a blog with this picture on it :

 

image

Now THIS was slightly more achievable!

Here ya go:

 

Collection 2000 'Cocoa' - this is a dusty (old/discontinued polish) and I have had this forever. I slathered it in a coat of Nubar 2010 and then did the squares with my trusty acrylic paints.

Don't mind the blue palms.

Phew, glad I got that one out of the way because it was hard just trying to think of what to do!

Delaynee, to name a few ladies, is doing the challenge.

Right, I'm off. I have a date with my Helmer.

xx

Bulter and Wilson, Nails Inc and my current mani

Okay, so after the Collection 2000 launch, myself and Larry went off in search of a swift half, before bedtime.  As we wandered around, we came across some shop fronts that totally blew our minds. 

Check THESE out!

 We found these beauties at Butler and Wilson. These iPhone covers are not as expensive as you might think... Maybe if you're really good this year Santa might sort you out?

Nails Inc have also launched a Magnetic Polish range.

Apologies  for the poor quality shots; I had my face pressed up against the shop front window to get a snap of these bad boys. 

The display video in the window shows the nail technician painting the nails of a customer, taking the lid of the bottle (which has a magnet in it) and placing it near to the wet nail for a few seconds.  When the lid is removed, magnetic particles in the polish have been pulled into a pretty pattern. For those of you who haven't seen this before, it is definitely a sight to behold. Usually I don't rate Nails Inc polishes because I don't think the £10.50 - £11.00 price tag is always worth it. These bottles are £13 each! I don't know... would YOU buy these?

And now onto MY nails! This what I wore in the last post:

 Collection 2000's Fruit Salad with Nubar 2010 on the thumb, index and ring fingers. The stickers were a bit of a nightmare to get off the plastic backing sheet but I managed not to tear too many of them.

Hah. I tried to do an artsy shot like Anastacia but it wasn't quite the look I was going for. We don't have much in the way of plant life in our back garden!


Until next time!


xx

Nubar Absolute and my new BM plates

Hi friends, how's it going?

I got my BM plates a few weeks ago and just had to try them out.

Here is an image with Nubar's Absolute.

Love.

xx

Beauty UK Peach Melba and white lace nails

Happy Hump-day friends.  I hope your week is going well so far.

Is Christmas a distant memory now? For me it is

Today I thought I'd share a very short-lived manicure with you.  I'm sure that many of you would have already seen or heard of manicures using either real lace or hand-painted lace patterns.  I've heard about it for some months now and last year saw this YouTube video by LOVE4NAILS. I thought it looked nice, but back then I wasn't really doing my own nails - I was going to those cattle market nail shops (they usher you in, don't talk to you and then boot you out after hacking at your nails with an e-file). I'm not one for wearing 'this season's trend' in nail polish or nail art so I didn't bother trying it. Until now.

For this I used some white lace border bought from Hobbycraft for £1 a metre (I think), Nubar 2010 - a gorgeous opal flaky glitter in a clear base polish and the very yummy Peach Melba by Beauty UK. I didn't use a topcoat per see.

 First I painted on two coats of Peach Melba after my basecoat had dried.

 I cut some random strips of lace to fit my nail, painted on one coat of Nubar 2010 and quickly placed the lace on a fingernail and pressed down. The lace is very, very fine so I put pressure on the thicker, patterned parts of the lace. Had I put pressure on the thinner sections, they would have disappeared into the polish. This is also why I didn't use a top coat.

 I painted a little white polish here and there and added a few dots. I put a few dabs of old, thick topcoat on the edges in an attempt to stop the lace from lifting. It actually lasted through showers, hand washing, dish washing, children washing and when I did try to take it off, it was pretty stubborn!

If this was something I had intended to wear for more than a day I would have used a thicker white lace with more patterns OR black lace. Had I put a topcoat on this lace, it would have penetrated the fabric immediately and become transparent. With black lace, it probably wouldn't have happened and I would have used several layers of topcoat to anchor the lace. I might even have been able to put a layer of UV gel or acrylic over it for extra longevity...but I'm not using any of those things at the moment.

Do you like 'lace nails'? Have you worn such a manicure and if so...what did you do to make it last?

Check ya later.
x

Red Franken

Hello everyone. How's it going?

I'm sat here typing with my chipped and battered Christmas manicure so, for today, no gratuitous nail shots or photo spammage from moi. I did manage to pick up a few nail stickers for £1.50 from my local Savers today, so I'll put them to use tonight and get back to you...

For the past couple of weeks I've been on an on-line hunt for Studio M Slamming Red (look at Enamel Girl's, it's gorgeous!).  It's a nice reddish glitter polish that is highly coveted by many polish lovers. It's also one you can't get here and I can't find any on Ebay either. Unless I beg another wonderful, kindly, super generous blogger to do a swap with me, I'm not going to get this polish any time soon.  Sooo, I thought I'd try to make my own to satisfy myself for now.

I was perusing the cosmetics section of my tiny, local pharmacist last week. Well, I was actually on my hands and knees with my face buried in the discounted make-up basket and I found these little beauties just sitting there waiting for adoption - 3 for £1.  I couldn't leave them behind could I? It would have been rude.

 They only have numbers, no names. I don't even know who made them!

 I reckon they are less than 5ml in volume too.

 I thought I'd be clever and use one of the two reds I bought, Nubar Essence (because it looks gross on me on its own) and Juicy Jules to franken my own knock-off Slamming Red.

 This is what I ended up with.
.

Okay, so it's not quite a match but it will do for me...unless of course, someone has a spare one of the real Slamming Red just gathering dust that they wouldn't mind swapping for a UK brand...
I haven't even swatched it yet. Right, where's the acetone - I've got to get a-mending and a-painting.

On that note, see you later ;-)

My trip to Inglot - loads of pics/swatches

This weekend just gone, we (myself and the family) went for a wander down at Westfield London Shopping Centre in Shepherds Bush.  I know a lot of people love it, but since it's been open, I've only been a few times...and I'm not totally swung by it. Yet.  I like to be able to go straight to a store, get what I want and get out - a mall of this magnitude frustrates me because I hate having to faff around with lifts (especially because I usually have a buggy and another set of small legs in tow).  Saying that though, if you know where 'your' stores are, you can plan your drop-off point, hit your main points quickly and get out again without feeling too harassed. 

On this occasion, I'd already done my research so I didn't have to walk all over the place to find Inglot.  

This is only the polish section - the rest was filled with yummy make-up and brushes galore.  I took these pictures with my phone simply for my own pleasure...I was trying to be discreet because we were the only customers!

As an early Christmas present, Hubby bought me three lacquers:

Colour 703 - black base with gold micro particles.

Only 2 coats!! Fantastic coverage, easy, fluid application.

Colour 703...it dried with a rubberised/matte look (nice surprise!)

Three coats, coverage was okay.

  

 With a shiny top-coat, although I think I'll use a matte one in future.

Colour 969 - a mint green

Needed four coats and I could still see streaks.

Whilst in there, I found several different opal flakies that could pass as duplicates/substitutes for Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasures, Nubar 2010, Gosh Rainbow and some of the clear Nfu-Oh opals (for those who want them but can't find them). From what I remember, the prices range from £7-10 for the lacquers and the glittery/opal ones were £7 for smaller bottles. The staff were friendly and helpful and there were leather sofas for those with tired bodies and minds.

The only issue I have is that you can't order on-line...and that there is only one store in England. Otherwise, I'm totally loving Inglot.