31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 12 - 'Stripes'

Day 12 of the challenge and...oh dear.

I'm not sure what to say, other than I'll be glad to get the acetone out for this. Yet again, it looked good in my mind's eye, but having worn it for a full day, this baby needs to go. The acrylic paint just sort of sits on top of the polish as if it's uncomfortable. It makes ME uncomfortable looking at it!

Maybelline's Midnight Blue layered with their Flash Cosmic (a clear jelly withe green and blue opal glitter).

On to the next one!

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 11 - 'Polka dots'

Hey everyone!

So today is polka dot day! I'm pretty late in the day posting this, but only because I didn't want to take off my gradient pattern. Whilst I'm enjoying this challenge, it's irking me that I can't wear the mani longer than a day - especially after putting time into it. Okay, so no-one is threatening me with a flogging if I don't change my polish everyday, but I don't want to let the challenge drag (I'm actually looking forward to letting my nails rest for a bit).

Anyway, here are my nails.

The Face Shop nail polish with Sally Hansen's Golden Cinnabar dots, topped with Wet 'n' Wild's Tipsy.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help but pose a little with my new toy. I had my old 3GS for two years so I'm pretty impressed with the latest iPhone technology *cheesy grin*.

See you tomorrow with 'stripes'!

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

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 9 - 'Rainbow'

Hi all (and a big hi and welcome to my newest readers)

Today is rainbow day!

These 'rainbow nails' were one of my favourite manicures to do. I used a base coat and then my trusty acrylic paints. Thinking about it now, the pinkie is missing a stripe of pink...ah well.

Sally Hansen's 'Diamonds' was layered over the acrylic paint twice. I bought this from Superdrug for 45p - I kid you not!

I decided to stamp over the manicure and used the M60 image plate that I bought from Bornprettystore
Admittedly, I'd been looking at this plate on-line for a while and when I saw it in the sale, I snapped it up.  I'm happy to say that the images were clean and crisp; sometimes you get plates that have defects in them; they have spots or nicks that end up with polish in them and get transferred to your nail, thus ruining your manicure. The only issue I had with this plate was that this image was just too narrow for my nails. I had to transfer the entire image and go back in and a re-stamp again. You can see how messy it looks on the index finger.

I'm a little disappointed because I actually really like the pattern on the top left. It's a shame that it didn't fit. Nevermind, I'll just have to be creative with my applications in future!

I'll be back tomorrow with gradient nails...

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 8 - 'Metallic'

Hey everyone, hope you are all well.

Today is metallic day of the 31 day manicure challenge, so I've decided to go for 'Metallic Green' by Peripera.  This polish has a fragrance once it's dry, but for the life of me, I can't smell it (yes, I still have a cold).

 How cute is this green? It has golden shimmers in it and looks completely different in the sunshine:

 Here it is in the shade:

How are you all doing on your challenges?

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 7 - 'Black and White'

Day seven of this challenge and things starting to get a little more interesting.Yes, we've come to the end of the easier part.

Here's my offering for black and white:

Barry M's Matte White. This was terrible in application I'm sad to say, but it is the only white polish I have! This polish is a dull white and is far from dazzling or brilliant. It took  forever to dry despite me using a fast dry top coat. As I knew the temperament of this polish already, I decided to paint just two nails with it.

The black was one of my favourites, by MUA and the patterns were done with acrylic paint. They aren't great because my detailer brush was just too thick, but I as with a lot of my manicures, what I have in mind does not always translate onto nail!

I hope you like it anyway :)

xx