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Essie

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.

Glitter, Gradient, Halloween, Uncategorised

Happy Halloween!

31st October 2013

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Press Sample

I have two Halloween manicures that I never got around to posting this month so I thought I would smash them both out today while I still have the chance! The second look will be coming later today.

I got a package from Harlow and Co this week and inside I found an amazing Halloween glitter – KBShimmer You Go Ghoul! It’s a black jelly with purple and orange glitter bits of all shapes and sizes. It’s a shade that you could wear all year round unlike some holiday polishes that are really only suitable for 3 weeks out of the year.

I used two coats of KBShimmer You Go Ghoul! over one of Barry M Plum for the accent nails.

The gradient (tutorial here) was created with a base of Essie Fear and Desire and Barry M Plum. Clean up was a bitch on this one! I didn’t use my trusty liquid pallisade to protect my cuticles and the surrounding areas from the Orange polish which is why there’s a bit of staining there.

I used two top coats of Rica Glossy Glam.

Glitter, Uncategorised

Could Have Foiled Me

15th October 2013

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I have to put my hands up and admit that I was a bit quick to judge the Color Club top coat. It actually is a really good topcoat. I painted these nails last night and today – no sheet marks. Sorry Color Club, my bad!

Thank you all so much for your top coat recommendations. It seems that Glisten and Glow’s HK Girl topcoat was by far the most popular suggestion so I think I need to get my hands on a bottle on that fact alone! Another one that stood out was Revlon and since I can easily dash in to Superdrug and pick up a bottle any time, that’s exactly what I did. I haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet but it’s very… pungent. I hope that means there are some super strong drying chemicals in there!

For this nail art, I used a base of Essie Good as Gold with a coat of Essence Better Than Gel Nails Fast Dry Top Sealer.
When that was dry, I placed on the Striping Tape to mark off where I wanted the foil shade to show through, then painted over it with Barry M Guava. I removed the striping tape immediately, while Guava was still wet.

On my accent fingers, I used two coats of Sally Hansen Big Money over Essie Good as Gold.

It’s all topped off with two coats of Color Club Top Coat.

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31 Day Challenge, Gradient, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial

30th September 2013

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Today’s inspiration comes from Storm and Stars who created this nail look a while back for Blog Fest. Click here to see her post with the tutorial. I went through a phase where I was completely obsessed with chevrons so when I was searching for an inspiring tutorial for today’s nails, this look reignited that flame in me. I immediately pulled out my funky scissors and scotch tape and set to work!

I chose a different colour scheme than you’ll see in the original and added a glitter accent nail because GLITTER! I’m really really in love with these nails, it’s a very simple technique for such a striking look and although it’s quite time consuming to do the whole hand, it would make an excellent accent nail in any mani.

To see how this is done, hop over to Storm and Stars HERE for an amazing tutorial.

The colours I used for the gradient are Barry M Guava, NYC Blue Sky and Essie Navigate Her. The glitter on my ring finger is H+M Jo Is In The House applied over Navigate Her.

My top coat is No7 Stay Perfect.

Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial 2012

Day 30: Inspired by a Tutorial 2011

See what’s coming next in the 31 Day Challenge 2013!

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31 Day Challenge, Freehand, Uncategorised

31DC013 Day 5: Blue Nails

5th September 2013

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I was really stuck for ideas today but I quite like the nail art I came up with in the end. I wanted to do something freehand and when I thought of blue the only thing that I could picture was Facebook!
My nails seem to be growing at double speed recently and I’ve been wondered if I should try to grow them out a bit and see how long I can get them. At the same time I love my nubbins, I kind of feel like short square nails are my signature look and I find long nails kind of annoying to have on me! It’s like telling yourself you’re gonna grow out your hair down to your waist but inevitably end up chopping it all off anyway! What do you guys think? Should I stick by my shorties or try a longer look?

I used Essie Mezmerised as my base colour and freehanded the details using a nail art brush and white acrylic paint. I added a little bit of detail on the ‘Like’ using Barry M Blueberry. It’s all topped off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

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31 Day Challenge, Gradient, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 2: Orange Nails

2nd September 2013

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This challenge is bringing a few issues to my attention. Today it was the fact that although I have quite a few bottles of orange polish, they’re all pretty much the same shade! I seem to have a real penchant for bright, tangerine orange. I eventually found something a bit different – Barry M Papaya which is a creamy, coral orange and decided to mix the two up in a gradient for Day 2 of the challenge.

I started with a base colour of Barry M Papaya and created a gradient with Essie Fear & Desire. Click here for a gradient tutorial. It’s all topped off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

Find out what’s coming up next in the challenge here!

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Stamping, Uncategorised

White (and Blue) Russian

8th August 2013

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So I mentioned a while ago that I’d ordered a few Nailz Craze plates which were Tattoo, Magical and Russian and this is the first manicure I’m posted using them! This pretty pattern is from NC03, the Russian plate. I really only bought that one for the amazing argyle pattern which I’m saving for Christmas (which is less than 5 months away by the way, how fast has this year gone?!) but I think I’ll get a lot of use out of this pattern too.

I’ve tried Natalie’s tutorial for creating coloured decals out of stamping designs a few times but I always fail when it comes time to apply it to the nail. I’m determined to master it because I love what she did with the tattoo plate!

I used Essie Bikini So Teeny as my base colour and then stamped on the design from Nailz Craze NC03 using Born Pretty Matte White. It’s all topped with a coat of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

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