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Glitter, Nail Art, Uncategorised

Side Frenchy with Il Etait Un Vernis

22nd October 2014

32 Comments

Il Etait Un Vernis Live, Love, Laugh

I’ve seen this look around a lot recently and I’m not sure of the proper name but it’s like a french manicure tipped 90 degrees so the curve sit down one edge of your nail instead of along the tip. We all know how much I love a simple yet sophisticated manicure so I couldn’t resist trying it out myself.

I must admit, I don’t know who did this first to make it take off this year, but I would just like to mention that I posted a ‘Side Frenchy‘ years back (and I’m even linking back to a truly cringe worthy blog post to prove it!) so I call dibs on the name! I actually think ‘Drunk French Manicure’ would be a better name for it. You know, like ‘Go home, French. You’re drunk’ – falling all over the place and sitting there all sideways like that!

You may have seen me Instagram the debut collection from Il Etait Un Vernis with the cute little tote bag it comes in over the weekend. I’m working my way through full swatches of the collection but I just had to add the gold holographic glitter to this mint mani. More info coming soon, but I can tell you now it’s a real winner!

For this nail art, I painted on the glitter – Live, Laugh, Love by Il Etait Un Vernis – using a small nail art brush over a base of Nicole by OPI I Shop Mintage.

Gradient, Nail Art, Uncategorised

Soft Gradient Nail Art with Some Stamping

19th October 2014

15 Comments

Nail Art Stamping | MoYou Bridal 06

My OPI collection is growing little by little and the latest addition is the slightly off-white shade you can see as the base here – Cream in my Coffee. I love the look of white nails but I think pure, brilliant white is a little bit much sometimes. I’ve been looking for a softer, creamy white for a while and this one ticked all the boxes.

The only beef I have with OPI is that their light shades always need quite a lot of coats for opacity as the polish is very thin. Although they make up for it by never seeming to thicken and wearing for days without chipping. This shade needs three to four coats if you want to wear it alone but I used two and then topped it up by sponging on a few layers of gradient.

How To

I used two coats of OPI Cream in My Coffee then used it with W7 Baby Pink to create the gradient.

I stamped on the lace design from MoYou Stamping Plate Bridal Collection 06 using BK Matte White polish.

It’s all topped with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

Glitter, Swatch, Uncategorised

Rimmel Pop Art Top Coat Swatch

16th October 2014

19 Comments

Press Sample

Rimmel Pop Art Top Coat Swatch

Matte glitter has made it’s way in to the mainstream this year. One of the offerings is Rimmel’s Pop Art Top Coat and it’s the first one I’ve tried myself. The polish is a glitter topper with uniformly sized hexes in a selection of bold colours.

Whenever I’m faced with a mutli-coloured glitter, I always have trouble deciding what base colour to pair it with. As you can probably see, this time I just gave up on the decision altogether and tried it over almost every colour of the rainbow! Turns out it perfectly compliments any shade so I needn’t have worried.

I had to use two thick coats of Pop Art, plus some dabbing, to get decent coverage and it still clumped in a few places. I found it a bit tricky to get enough glitter on the brush at first but there’s definitely a knack to it which I soon got the hang of. Despite the thick coats, once I added my top coat, it all dried nice and quickly so I wasn’t left with the ‘layered’ feeling – when you know the top coat is dry but everything underneath is still squishy and liable to shift about!

Polishes Used

Rimmel Keep Calm & Play

Rimmel Keep Calm & Party

Rimmel Keep Calm & Kiss

Rimmel Keep Calm & Shop

Rimmel Cute as a Kitten Heel

Rimmel Pop Art Top Coat

Freehand, Nail Art, Uncategorised

Hugs For Emily: Chevron Tribal Nail Art

14th October 2014

11 Comments

Our friend Emily is something of an exceptional character in so many ways. I’ll try not to get too soppy here but she’s one of the first people I met through blogging and I’ll always count her as one of my best ‘internet friends’! She’s always there to offer advice and recommend a good TV Show. If it weren’t for her, I would still be stuck in a pretty awful place with my photography. What can I say? I owe her a lot! If you haven’t seen Emily’s blog, make sure you check it out here.

She’s going through a bumpy patch at the moment so I’ve joined forces with a few more of Emily’s friends to dedicate a day of blogging to her. Just so she knows we’ve all got her back! We’re all taking inspiration from one of Emily’s past nail designs. I’ve gone with her recent piCture pOlish Blog Fest chevron design. Like really gone with it! I have the exact same polishes in my stash so I tried to copy it down to the last detail. I didn’t know if I’d be able to squeeze all the details on to my nubbins but I just about made it!

For this nail art, I used Barry M White as the base colour where I was going to be painting the chevrons with a thin coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl Top Coat to dry them hard and fast.

I applied Hex’s Chevron Decals and painted each chevron individually using piCture pOlish Chillax and Mad Magenta. I also painted the ‘leftover’ fingers using these shades.

I painted all the details using black and white acrylic paint with a skinny nail brush.

Finally I added a few small pastel studs and topped everything with a coat of HK Girl.

Click to see more Hugs For Emily: Paulina’s Passions, Wondrously Polished, The Nail Polish Challenge, Love. Varnish, chocolate, and more…, One Nail To Rule Them All, Nail Polish Society, The Lacquerologist, Lucy’s Stash and Chalkboard Nails who we have to thank for organising the day!

Uncategorised

Cosmopolitan Blog Awards 2014: Photo Diary

11th October 2014

12 Comments

This year’s Cosmo Blog Awards were bigger and better than ever. 2014 is my third year as a nominee, but only the second that I’ve attended the event. I thought I knew what to expect but was still blown away by the amazing bash they’d put on for us. Cosmo sure knows how to throw a good party.

I didn’t win any awards but just to be shortlisted from the many thousands of blogs out there and recognised by traditional media is a huge confidence booster. It also means I got to meet up with a few nail blogging buddies, Alice and Lucie who were also nominated, as we all live so far away and hardly ever get to see each other in real life!

I was a bit too excited about being in First Class on the train (one of the perks of booking months in advance) but then we were delayed due to an accident. Luckily I booked my ride from the station with Blacklane and they went out of their way to make sure there was a car there to pick me up when I eventually got to London. I did feel pretty lucky to avoid the underground on this trip as it’s always my least favourite part of London! I headed straight to the hotel and the three of us got ready to go. We stopped by Nandos on the way for a catch-up and some good grub before wandering our way over to the event.

After the champagne reception, it’s all a bit of a whirl. Because it was such an exciting evening, I should add, not because of the champagne – although the cocktails got the best of me a little later in the evening! I can’t lie, the perfect steak and chips was a highlight for me, but mostly I just enjoyed getting to hang out in a room full to the brim with blogging talent for a few hours! I met Yasmeen, Rachel, Abigail, Katie and even a familiar face from Bespoke Bride (I went to school with Jess!) among many more accomplished bloggers and I hope more than anything that I get to attend more events like this in the future as I keep my blog going and growing!

1. Gradient Nails with a flash of Fool’s Gold obvz!) 2. Travelling light 3. Delayed train

4. First Class First Time 5. Riding in style with Blacklane 6. Meeting up with Lucie and Alice

7. Obligatory group nail art shot 8. Pre-Nandos 9. IZ Beauty of London were doing nails at the event

10. Proper posh seats 11. Throw is the new Frow 12. Build your own cupcakes with Two Little Cats

13. No shortage of cocktails 14. Strike a Pose 15. Biscuitpops

16. Best steak and chips ever. I had 3! 17. Waiting for the train 18. Napping on the train home with Fluffhat

31 Day Challenge, Glitter, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Honor Nails You Love

6th October 2014

12 Comments

Better late than never! I’m here at the finish line of the 31 Day Challenge and amazingly only a few days late. For the very final day of the challenge (oh god, it feels so good to say that!), I have to Honour Nails I ♥ so I’ve selected a design by one of my favourite nail artists – Paulina’s Passions. Paulina was actually inspired by Very Emily – another one of my favourite nail ladies so this mani has given me the chance to pay tribute to two talented artists that I admire!

As you may know, I’m in the running for the Best Established Beauty Blog award at the Cosmo Blog Awards and the ceremony is tomorrow. I’ve had a busy evening spent packing and I’ve managed to get everything I need in to a reasonably sized duffle bag so I’m feeling like a packing pro right now! This is the third year I’ve been nominated but only the second time I’ll be going to the ceremony. Last year was amazing fun and I’m sure this year will be another night to remember. I’ll be meeting up with Lucie and Alice in London and we’ll be representing the nail blogs this year! If you want to follow any of the action, keep up with me on Twitter and Instagram.

For this nail art, I put down my base colours: Barry M White, Essie Go Ginza and Barry M Majesty.

For the patterned nails, I used striping tape to mark off where I wanted the white to show through. I created a textured saran wrap pattern over the top using Nicole by OPI LeaPink for Joy, Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue and Essie Go Ginza and removed the striping tape immediately. There’s a tutorial for the textured saran wrap technique here.

It’s all topped off with two coats of Glisten & Glow HK Girl.

31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Gradient, Nail Art, Uncategorised

31 Day Challenge: Inspired by a Tutorial

4th October 2014

10 Comments

There’s a tutorial that keeps popping up in my Pinterest feed by Hannah Rox Nails for LuLu’s Blog and every time I see it, I promise myself I will try it out one day. Well today is that day! This was the first tutorial my mind jumped to for the penultimate day of the 31 Day Challenge. It looks so beautifully intricate but there are only two really simple steps to achieve it – a gradient and some squiggly freehanding! See the original tutorial for this nail art here.

1. I used Barry M Pearl as my base colour again today, then created the gradient using Rimmel Mind The Gap, Victoria (tutorial here).
2. The detail is freehanded with a nail art brush using Graffiti Nails Ice White.
3. Finally, I topped it off with Glisten & Glow HK Girl.