31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 4 - 'Green'

Hi all, happy Friday!! Today is day 4 of the challenge and it's a green day.

I have so many beautiful greens, but again, I thought I would pick one that I haven't worn often (or at all).  This is Claires Peaceful/Confident Mood Polish.

 I really like mood polishes but I think they look best on long nails. If you've never seen them before, they have nothing to do with your mood! The warm part of your nail turns one colour and the free edge stays the other colour because it is cooler. If you dunk your hand in either warm or cold water, your nails will be only one colour. 

I haven't seen these anywhere on sale in the UK - these were given to me by a friend who was on holiday in the US some time ago.

This is what the colour actually looks like, lol! I used a DSLR, a point and shoot, sunlight, shade, a light box and every white balance setting on my camera to try and capture the REAL colour. After using three coats and getting a mattified finish, this mani still chipped by the end of the day. You can see where in the picture above.

Who said that this challenge would be easy, eh??

Roll on the blue!

xx

Hand-painted Blossom tutorial

Hello friends, how are you?

At the moment we are in the midst of riots in London (which have also spread to Birmingham and Leeds...so far). I'm not going to go into the negativity that has caused it all, so this post is intended to lighten the mood a little.

Today I have a tutorial for you.

This is my hand-painted flower design.

Here's the tutorial:

1. Start with bare nails and add two layers of Claire's Mood Polish in 'Awesome/Silly' to the tips. Yes, I'm showing my right hand!!!!

2. Add a layer of Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength in 'Diamonds'.

3. Add black stripes with nail polish.

4. Add a dot of white acrylic paint as a guide to the centre of the flower.

5. Start your petals off as'U' shapes. This was the easiest way for me to do it.

5. Fill them in.

6. Add stripes of red paint to make your petals look like petals, lol!

 

7. Add dots of clear nail varnish to the centre of your flower, wait for it to become tacky and then dip your nail into some gold coloured balls.

I hope you liked the design. I'm sorry the pictures of the steps were so amateurish - I painted my nails at night and I was too tired to get the light box out to take pictures. 

xx

Claire's Mood Polish - Awesome/Silly

Hi everyone, how are you?  It's Sunday evening and time to wind down the weekend. I'm going to be really cheeky and post something I did a little while ago.  I'm still enjoying the chocolate manicure so I haven't wanted to change it. I did, however, want to post again today (I posted just after 12am this morning) just because I love to. 

A friend of mine bought me some Claire's Mood polishes a few months ago but I hadn't had the opportunity to post my manicures.  As usual, this is yet another example of the many brands and polishes that I would love to try but do not have access to in the UK *sigh*.  Never mind. When I do take my next trip to the States, forget buying another suitcase to stuff with new clothes from the outlet stores, I'm going to buy a huge wheelie case and fill it with polish.  Yes, I know it will be pretty heavy and I may even have to pay tax on it at the airport, but hey, it needs to be done!!

Awesome/Silly. Oh my word.  I had to put on about 4-5 layers, I kid you not! Sooo streaky.
The heating was on so my hands were hot - hence the 'awesome' all over the nail.

 This was after I cooled down a bit - 'Silly' on the free edge.

My right hand before I broke the index finger to a nub opening the car door!

Overall, I really like the concept of colour changing polish, this is the first I've seen over here.  I don't like the fact that the application was so streaky and that even after a top-coat, which I DID put on, it still wasn't very shiny.
I have three more left to try so I will be back at some point with those swatches.

Take care!

My FIRST followers :-)

I'm so happy! I want to say hello to my very first followers! Now I know I'm not just talking to myself...there are four of us!

So, because I'm so happy (and my friend something really nice to me today), I'm putting up pictures of some polishes that another friend brought back for me from the States.

They sure put ME in a good mood...geddit? MOOD? Funny right?! NO?! Oh, alright then...