Estee Lauder inspiration

Oh. My. Goodness.

Weeks without posting here on my blog. Absolutely appalling.

Without further ado, I present to you...

 Some Estee Lauder inspired nail art! That's right. I've been completely and utterly neglectful and have failed to provide my lovely readers with regular updates and nail-candy.

These nails are actually modelled on a cosmetics bag that was being given away as part of a promotion in Debenhams recently.  The black is acrylic paint and the rest is all nail polish. Check out the Swarovksi Elements Crystals too *wags fingers* - does the shine hurt your eyes much? I pushed the stones into tacky polish and then dabbed around the edges with clear polish to set them. As I knew that this manicure wasn't one I was going to be wearing for too long, I didn't bother with gel top coat. As I'm doing a lot more manicure work nowadays, I tend to slather all of my manicures in a Gelish top coat.

 One more picture before I go!

Thanks for reading - have a good week.

xx

Nail designs from last month

Here are a few things I've done over the past little while:

 

Water colour effect with outlines.

 My favourite in a long while: Water colour effect with gold border

 Patchwork nails

Hand designed 'Mock Croc'

These were some nails that I was preparing for a photo-shoot, but I'm not sure if I'm going to use them yet.

On that note, I'm off...until next time :)

xx

Faded Sour Apple

Hello friends.

Tonight I want to show you a manicure that I have been wearing, without a chip, since Sunday.

This is 'Sour Apple' by The Garden of Colour from Viva La Nails.

For the blue tips, I used Face it's BL607 - a polish sent to me by Anastacia some time last year.

I really like this green!

The crystals are from eBay and they were stuck on with only nail polish. 

Next post I'll have pictures of a few designs that I've done recently...

xx

To gloss or not to gloss? That is the question.

Hello there!

Tonight, I want to share one of my Poundland bargains. I have at least 15 Revlon polishes - only one of which was bought for the full price (£6-7). This one was bought for £1...

Revlon's 'Red Ribbon'. Yes, it's a matte polish and yes, it did look like suede...but when adhering the rhinestones, the polish became glossy in some areas. To fix it, I covered it with a glossy top coat.

Admittedly, I do love glossy polishes. I'd rather turn a glossy finish into a matte by using a matte top coat, because that eliminates streaks (for me, anyway).

This is what happens when you use cheap rhinestones! As soon as I embedded these rhinestones in the top coat, their backs started to wrinkle. Any integral shine they had diminished immediately. I ended up smothering them in top coat in the end. Now they don't even look like rhinestones!

So, how do YOU feel about matte polishes? Are you a sucker for gloss, like me or is matte the way forward for you? Let me know in the comments box.

Take care!
xx

Gems and glitter.

Hi everyone, happy Hump day (the hump being the middle of the week, just in case you didn't know. I'm not being condescending...I'd never heard that phrase before until last year. I kid you not!)

I was hankering after a bit of embellishment last week and came up with this. I even rocked this for a couple of days at work - hence the tip wear.

Sally Hansen's 'Red Carpet' in it's glittery goodness.

 I used Swarovski crystals here, so even after putting on a layer of Seche Vite, the shine wasn't dulled.  I have found, in the past, that some of the cheaper rhinestones can be dulled by clear polish. I put some holographic glitter polish on the area joining the black and red and then stuck the stones into it whilst the polish was still tacky.

My right hand thumbnail was slightly different.

All in all, I actually enjoyed wearing this, but did experience some evil staining underneath the stones :( I know it's probably more fitting for a night out than a week in the office, but since when has that ever stopped me?

I'm not the only one who likes a bit of 'grrr' on their nails am I?

Kiss Meh Nude!

Happy Monday folks.

Today's manicure is inspired by a lot of talk on Twitter about red lipstick and also a pair of leggings I saw on  last night's episode of Dancing On Ice. Inspiration comes to me from the strangest of places, I have to admit.

Black nail polish, red acrylic paint lips and dots.

Please ignore how dry my cuticles are. I could do with a paraffin wax manicure because my hands are obscenely rough.

Here is another manicure that I was wearing the other day. The Mannequin Manicure was created by Sophy Robson and I remember seeing it in a magazine some time ago. I'm really not found of nude colours on myself, but it seemed like a great concept so I thought I'd try it out.

Nails Inc's 'Balmoral', topped with Rimmel's Matte top coat.

Bleh. This colour washes me out terribly and the lighting was horrible too.

I have come to the realisation that I cannot be happy with a manicure if it not enhanced or adulterated with 'stuff'. Ah well, what are ya gonna do eh?

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 18 - 'Half moons'

Oh gosh! An hour left for me to show you my 18th manicure of the 31 day challenge...half moons.

Now, I actually like half moon manicures and I really don't know why I haven't done them more often.

Here are the photos... a LOT better than yesterday's!

 

China Glaze's 'Seduce Me' and rhinestones from Viva la nails and the golden steel balls? I can't remember where they're from.

As these were only going to be worn for one day, I didn't use glue - I stuck the rhinestones onto a layer of tacky clear polish and I didn't use a top coat on them either.

I hope you likey. 

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 10 - 'Gradient'

Hey everyone, hope you are well.

Today's manicure is one of my favourites of late and I'm loathe to remove it, if I'm honest with you. I enjoy doing gradients and sponging - mostly because it's pretty easy to do.

Essence's Purple Diamond, sponged with Rimmel's Pompous and stamped with Stargazer Silver. Pinks and purples are my most favourite colours to use for a gradient.

The rhinestones were a part of a sample pack that was available for review, provided by Viva la nails.
I don't know about you, but whenever I use rhinestones, I find myself debating whether or not to use a top coat or just glue them on and go. Sometimes a top coat will dull the shine of the stones but failure to use one can also result in them falling off into your cornflakes at breakfast time. Not good for the teeth or the digestion.  Luckily, after using a top coat with these, I'm happy to say that they are still pretty shiny. Good stuff.

 I have so many to play with and if you look closely, you can see that the stones come in three, if not four sizes.

The plate used.

I'm going to enjoy wearing this for the day, but I'll have separation anxiety after removing it :(

Until tomorrow...

xx

Peripera Pussy Cat

Don't you just LOVE that pussycat? I got her and a load of other goodies from the lovely Anastacia recently in a swap. If you don't already know her, you might want to visit her - she's a doll.

This polish thinks she's so posh, she doesn't even have a name or number. When it dries, it has an interesting smell. Sort of fruity methinks. Don't quote me though; I've had a cold for about a month and can barely taste or smell a thing. One of my friends told me that I should start charging this cold rent because it's been with me that long.

The plate used was BM024 - from the newer release of plates.

You know I'll try to help you save money where you can, right? Well, MUA are the best for a black stamping polish. No lift, no drag, quick drying...all for £1.

My work colleague said that this mani looked like an Easter egg. Is she right?

xx

Practice makes perfect.

Hellooooooooo and kisses to my readers (seasoned and brand-new)

School is back in and the weather has started it's steady decline. I shudder when I see conkers on the ground, because it means that the leaves are soon to follow...and the rain will start.

Speaking of school, my 6-year-old started back at school on Wednesday and was a little concerned about the 'difficultness' of the new work she will have to do. The extra long words in her spelling tests, new sums, new kids, a new teacher; all of these things were making her nervous.  I told her that if there is something new that she doesn't get right straight away she shouldn't panic. She's a Leo though, so failure is NOT an option for her. Daddy and I tell her regularly that 'practice makes perfect' and now, this is her mantra. She yelled this at me the other day when she swung back and forth on the monkey bars that used to taunt her at our local park.

So what does this have to do with nails?

I don't know about you, but I usually start off my manicures by staring at my nails for ages and then adding bits until I come out with a good (or bad) result.  Quite often, the manicures are wrong 'uns so I don't post them! Surely if I actually PRACTICED the design first, it would reduce the likelihood of creating a doozie? I think so.

Here is what I've done so far.

L-R Bubble Hearts, Pearly Blouse and Polka Heart

L-R Okay, so the first one IS a doozie (lol) and the second is Coral Floral

I liked Coral Floral so I tried it again and came up with the below:

I think they look better than the original.

So, if you are like me and marvel at the gorgeous designs some other blogger's are producing, just remember that they make doozies too. Whilst some are born with an artistic flair, others (like moi) have to work towards one! Keep watching those tutorials and practicing your designs!!

xx