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Nail Art

    Freehand, Gradient, Stamping, Uncategorised

    Hunger Games: Catching Fire Inspired Nail Art

    26th November 2013
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    I’m a huge Hunger Games fan so of course, going to see Catching Fire was on the top of my to-do list last weekend! The second book is my favourite from the trilogy and the film very nearly lives up to the magic of the book.

    Throughout the film I kept getting distracted by the outfits that the tributes wear in the arena. The honeycomb pattern, that was most noticeable on the shoulders, with the gradient effect in all those different shades of grey was just calling to me and I kept thinking that it looked identical to one of the designs in the new Bundle Monster set. Before I even left the cinema, I knew exactly how I’d be paying tribute to the movie! This isn’t the most exciting Hunger Games nail art that I’ve created but it’s one of my favourites.

    I started with a base of Barry M White. I covered my cuticles with Liquid Palisade to protect them from any mess and created a gradient using Rimmel Grey Matter. There’s a gradient tutorial here.

    I added the honeycomb pattern using Rimmel Grey Matter with Bundle Monster Plate BM422.


    It’s all topped off with two coats of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

    Previously:
    May the Odds be Ever in Your Favour
    Nails on Fire

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    Glitter, Stamping, Uncategorised

    Pop Pop!

    24th November 2013
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    I’m still exploring all the possibilities of my MoYou plates and I came across some amazing pop art designs on Pro Collection – 10. Mix that with some pastels and brights and I found myself with a manicure that just screams, POP POP!

    The base colours I used in this mani are NYC Lavender Cupcake, Rimmel Aqua Cool and Maybelline Ceramic Blue. 
    The neon glitter on my ring finger is Wicked Polish Fairy Blood Splatter.
    I stamped the designs from MoYou London Plate Pro Collection 10 using an unnamed bright pink from Kriston and NYC Water Street Blue.
    I topped it all with one coat of Cult Nails Get It On and then one of NYC Matte Me Crazy.
    I’m going to take a leaf from Accio Lacquer’s book today and illustrate this post with a topical gif! Any Magnitude fans out there?

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    Stamping, Uncategorised

    Day of the Doctor Nail Art

    23rd November 2013
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    Back in the day, I used to be a big Doctor Who fan although I cannot claim to be a true Whovian. After Rose’s time on the show came to an end, I started watching it less often and still haven’t really come around to the idea of Matt Smith as The Doctor. Nevertheless, I’ll still be watching the 50th anniversary episode this evening! After all the best Doctor (don’t argue with me, you know it’s true), David Tennant is returning and I’m sure there will be more than a few familiar faces and other surprises along the way!


    For the base colour I chose a polish that fits the theme perfectly… Cult Nails Time Traveler – a polish named after the Doctor’s big blue box

    On my ring and pinky fingers, I stuck some 1 mm flat backed pearls and painted them copper to look a bit like Daleks!

    My index finger is painted with Essie As Gold as it Gets and stamped with W7 Black and a design from MoYou London Plate Pro Collection 10. This is meant to look a bit like The Master’s fob since this is a piece of imagery that really stood out to me back in the days when I used to watch the show. Wasn’t The Master a brilliant character?!

    The galaxy nails were created using a couple of polishes including the holographic polishes A-England Rose Bower and Princess Sabra.

    Finally, it’s all topped off with Cult Nails Get It On.

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    Glitter, Uncategorised, Waterfall

    Autumnfall

    19th November 2013
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    When I do nail art, I hardly ever wear the same design on every nail. I’m an advocate of the skittle manicure but lately I’ve been completely obsessed with this double accent style. One just isn’t enough any more! I’m revisiting the waterfall today. It’s been more than a month since my last one and I’ve been itching to do one for a while. This combination was inspired by the glitter polish on my accents – KBShimmer You Autumn Know. I tried to match the colours in the glitter polish as closely as possible and decided to apply it over a shimmery gold base which is perfect for autumn!

    The glitter accents are two coats of KBShimmer You Autumn Know over one of Barry M White.

    I create the waterfall nail art (tutorial here) over a base of Rimmel Sunset Bronze. I used a nail art brush to apply the stripes using Barry M Gold Foil, Rimmel Purple Reign, Essie Jag-U-Are, China Glaze Dandy Lyin’ Around and Sally Hansen Sun Kissed.

    It’s all topped off with a coat of Seche Vite.

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    Review, Stamping, Uncategorised

    MoYou London Stamping Plates Review

    17th November 2013
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    It seems the whole nail world has gone MoYou London crazy recently and I’m no exception! I’ve had my eye on MoYou London for a very long time, always admiring their designs from a safe distance because I knew that if I ever bought one, I would just have to buy ALL the MoYous!
    Well now I have a few of them I realise I was right, there’s an air of collectibility about them, much like you get with rare nail polishes or beanie babies! They’re split up in to collections which makes collecting that much easier and they release new products every week. My favourite collections at the moment are Time Traveller, Pro and Sailor. After using these plates for a few weeks I can confirm that they are truly amazing and a very good investment for any stamping enthusiasts out there.
    MoYou London Stamping Plate Review

    The plates themselves look incredible. They’re rectangular (which is new to me) and each comes in a cardboard sleeve which is great for storage. The range of designs is very impressive – they have everything from pop culture icons’ faces, to comic strips, to pretty patterns. Some plates even feature a design that stretches from corner to corner and these truly are works of art.
    MoYou London Stamping Plate Review
    I think the identity and aesthetic that MoYou London have created for themselves as a brand really makes them stand out from the competition. Their website and packaging are very easy on the eyes and it’s obvious that each collection is very carefully thought out. Each collection is based around a character and the designs on the plates reflect that. You’ll probably find yourself identifying with one girl more than the others. I wish I could say I was a Roxy but I’m really a Nova at heart!
    MoYou London Stamping Plate Review
    I know that when buying new plates, most of us want to know how big the ‘all-over’ designs are to figure out whether they will cover our whole nail so I’ve taken the liberty of measuring the designs. MoYou London offers plates that have XL images as well as the regular size which is ideal for people with particularly long or wide nails.
    Regular MoYou London Images
    12 x 15mm
    XL MoYou London Images
    15 x 22mm
    For comparison: Bundle Monster Images
    13 x 17mm
    MoYou London Stamping Plate Review
    MoYou London Stamping Plate Review
    Each plate is secured on to a thick sheet of plastic but this is not like the backing we’re used to with Bundle Monster and Konad. It’s a completely separate piece of material slightly bigger than the plate, so you have a white border of plastic around the metal area. At first glance I thought this would be an ugly annoyance but I’ve come to love this feature as I noticed that it minimises damage to any surfaces I lay the plate on whereas some other plates I’ve used are scratchy at the edges.
    MoYou London Stamping Plate Review
    So far I haven’t come across a single design which hasn’t transferred perfectly on to the stamper and then on to my nail. I’ve been using a credit card to scrape of excess polish and MoYou London’s pink stamper for transferring the designs. They also offer a double ended stamper with a huge surface at one end and a smaller stamp at the other. The stampers are very squishy – at least compared to the Konad stamper I’ve been using for the past 3 years – but they work without a hiccup.
    You can buy MoYou London plates from moyou.co.uk for £4.99 each. Standard shipping within the UK is completely free and they ship worldwide for very reasonable rates.
    You can get 20% off your first order when you use the code, SAMMY20, at the checkout. Just make sure you’re signed in to your account on the website first or the code won’t work.
    Here are a few of my manicures that feature MoYou London stamping. Click on any picture to go to the original post.
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    Stamping, Uncategorised

    Pearly Whites

    16th November 2013
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    This textured white polish from Barry M is one that I featured in my top 3 holiday nail shades this week on Divine Caroline. I wasn’t a huge fan of it at first but now that the winter and festive season are closing in, I have a new appreciation for the effect it creates. It looks just like freshly fallen snow, with a bit of extra glitter!

    I used a coat of China Glaze Dandy Lyin’ Around followed by two coats of Barry M White Pearl for the white accents.

    The pink is China Glaze Pink-ie Promise. I added a few 1mm pearls and some stamping from MoYou Sailor Collection 05 plate with BK Matte White polish.

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