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Nail Art

31 Day Challenge, Stamping, Uncategorised

31DC2012: Violet Nails

20th October 2012

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If you couldn’t tell I’m totally obsessed with skittle manis at the moment. We’re on the last day of ‘plain colour’ challenges today so the frequency of skittles will probably decrease severely over the next couple of challenge days as it’s just a nice way to spice up a plain colour.

For today’s nails I used two coats of Models Own Purple Grey as a base. This is where it gets complicated! On my forefinger, I added two coats of Sinful Colors Daddy’s Girl. On my ring finger I stamped the fishnet design from Bundle Monster Plate BM209 with Barry M Lilac Foil and on every other finger, I used two coats of JENsations Fantasy. Phew!

I’m very excited to see Cris and Rie’s manicures today. I do love me some purple nails!

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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Glitter, Uncategorised

31DC2012: Day 4 Green Nails

16th October 2012

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You all know how much I love a bargain and my base colour today, you’ll be pleased to hear, was indeed a bargain. I’ve mentioned before that I found some Essies in TK Maxx well now I’ve found some in The Original Factory Shop for £3 each. I picked up two and this is definitely my favourite, Navigate Her. It’s a mint green for autumn. There’s just a hint of something in there which makes it less pastel and more creamy.

I sparkled it up with JENsations Buried Treasure, then went freestyle with Sinful Colors Last Chance and La Femme Lime Cream. Finally, I topped it with two coats of Seche Vite.

Rie and Cristina will also have some green manicures for you today!

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Stamping, Uncategorised

Late Polish Days: Get Sentimental

15th October 2012

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I totally missed Polish Days last week. The date completely passed me by and I didn’t even realise until this weekend! I’ve had the idea for this theme since I received the first email and I didn’t want to let it pass me by so I’m posting it today, almost a week late. Whoops!

The theme for October is Get Sentimental so I went back to the very first manicure I ever posted on this blog and recreated that. You can see the post here. Looking back is so cringe worthy. Let’s just say I didn’t have any concept of decent lighting or healthy nails back then! When you look at that picture and these pictures side by side, you wouldn’t even know it’s the same hand.

In other news, I got some Seche Vite this week. After the rather long post about my top coat history last month, so many of you have been offering me recommendations for potential new beaus. The ones that cropped up the most were INM Out The Door and Seche Vite.

The only reason I’ve never tried Seche before is the price tag. I know it’s amazing from everything I’ve heard but I just could never bring myself to spend £10 on a top coat that will be all used up within a few weeks (at the rate I paint my nails!). A lovely lady on twitter tipped me off to Urban Outfitter’s sale where they’re selling Seche at £5 a bottle plus an extra 10% with the code UO10 and free delivery. How could I not buy it?! If you want some yourself, you can buy it here.

I ended up ordering two bottles for £9 and the delivery was insanely fast. So far I love the stuff but I’ve yet to experience the dreaded shrinkage!

Both of the polishes I used for that manicure are long gone so I had to use new ones. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue as my base and stamped with Sally Hansen Plum Luck and GOSH Metallic Purple using Konad Plate M57. I finished it off with one coat of Seche Vite.

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Freehand, Uncategorised

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

13th October 2012

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To make up for not posting for the three whole days this week, get a whopping 3 posts this weekend! You had Day 2 of the challenge this morning and you can expect day 3 tomorrow as well as this gem in the middle.

In case you couldn’t guess, this mani was inspired by playing cards. I’m not big on card games myself, I can just about manage the simpleton ones like rummy and pig but my brother is big in to poker. For his 18th birthday I wanted to take him on a night out to play casino games but totally chickened out. What a lousy sister I am! Maybe that will have to be his surprise this year.

I used two coats of OPI Samoan Sand as my base colour and then freehanded around the shapes with a nail art brush to get the cutout effect. They really remind me of a set of window shutters I once saw that looked something like this.

The red is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Rapid Red and the black is… of course W7 Black! It’s topped off with a coat of Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as Nails plus one coat of thickened Essence Better Than Gel Nails to smooth everything over.

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Stamping, Uncategorised

The Ones That Didn’t Quite Make It

5th October 2012

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Next Monday, Tadashi Shoji are launching a Nail Art Contest on their Facebook page and they kindly invited me to be a part of the line up amongst some other amazing nail bloggers!

This is a set of nails inspired by one of Tadashi Shoji’s SS13 dresses that didn’t quite make the cut. That’s not to say I don’t like them though, I still think they look good so what’s the point in keeping them a secret?! You’ll see my final design next week when voting opens and I’m so excited to see the other bloggers’ designs. I’m going up against some stiff competition, let me tell you!

I used Cult Nails Cruisin Nude as a base colour and stamped on the swirly design from Bundle Monster Plate BM314 and W7 Black. I used a striping brush with the W7 Black to freehand the sections at the side. Finally, I topped it with two coats of Essence Better Than Gel Nails.

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Stamping, Uncategorised

Winter is Coming

3rd October 2012

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I had an exciting evening last night which is which meant I didn’t sit down in front of a computer all evening, which NEVER happens! I finally got myself a new phone, the Samsung Galaxy SIII, which made me realise how ancient my previous model, the Nokia 5800, really is. I also picked up a Helmer so I can claim back a lot of surface space in my room that’s been lost to bottles of nail polish! I haven’t had a chance to assemble it yet but I’m sure that will be another highlight to the week. I’m not even being sarcastic right there, I genuinely love me a bit of flat pack furniture!

Winter is most definitely coming. This week I really started noticing it when I have to force myself out of bed in the mornings. Stepping out of a hot shower in to a cold room is one of my least favourite feelings ever! I used to look forward to the winter but this year was the first time I ever really enjoyed the summer weather and I’m going to miss it.

My base colour is GOSH Pool Party and I used GOSH Metallic Blue to stamp on a snowflake design from Bundle Monster Plate BM323. I added some holographic glequins from Born Pretty Store to add an extra icy feel and finished it off with a top coat of No7 Stay Perfect.

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Stamping, Uncategorised

A-England Gothic Beauty: Jane Eyre Swatch

30th September 2012

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I’m so behind on all the nail news. I didn’t even know A-England have a new collection out – the Gothic Beauties. The collection contains 5 shades which are all black based with coloured shimmer and flecks, bar Dorian Gray which is a metallic-y pewter shade.

The hints of colour in these polishes are very pretty in the bottle but not so obvious once it’s on the nail. As a lover of black nail polish, this is of no concern to me! Jane Eyre is full of bronze and light pink flecks in a perfect black creme base. The swatches are two coats of Jane Eyre* with a top coat of Essence Better Than Gel Nails.

I stamped on a Red Angel design from plate RA109 using Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Quick Brick. This is definitely some of my favourite stamping ever! It’s very subtle but still striking and it looks very oriental. Definitely something I’m going to be trying with other colour combos.

You can buy Jane Eyre from the A-England website with free worldwide shipping!

*This item was sent to me for review. All opinions are my own. See my disclaimer for more information.

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