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Red

Christmas, Freehand, Glitter, Uncategorised

Festive Floral Nail Art

17th December 2013

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Does anyone else feel like December has completely flown by?! For once, I’ve actually been fairly organised and I finished up my Christmas shopping yesterday. Gotta love online shopping at times like these, it’s almost unbearable to be real-world shopping on a weekend in the run up to Christmas. Sit me at my desk with a hot chocolate and a mince pie and I’m happy!

I had the strongest urge to paint some roses on my nails this week so I picked a festive colour scheme to go with it! The main colours here are Barry M White and Rimmel Heart on Fire.

The red glitter is two coats of Sally Hansen Cha-Ching over one coat of Heart on Fire.

I’ve written a tutorial for the freehanded roses so click here for that! I then dotted around them using Barry M Silver Foil and a dotting tool.

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

iVillage invited me to write a tutorial for their 30 Days of Christmas DIY series and I chose to do Christmas Puddings! Click here to see the full tutorial!

Review

Revlon by Marchesa: Royal Burgundy Review

8th December 2013

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Press Sample

I knew as soon as I saw these Revlon by Marchesa nail appliqués that they were something a bit special. So special in fact, that I’ve been holding on to them for a suitable occasion and now that party season is upon us I thought it would be the perfect to show them off.

It seems that 2013 was the year of the nail wrap and I think the standard of these products has really stepped up across the board. Because my nails are very curved, any wraps that I wear have to be the thin stretchy kind or just insanely adhesive to have any chance at staying attached. These fit in to the second category!

These nail wraps are very sticky and thin enough to get a good purchase on your nails without too many crinkles. As with all wraps – the flatter your nail beds, the less chance of crinkling. As you can see in my pictures, there are few bumpy bits near the edges but they aren’t noticeable from a distance.

These are applied by sticking them in place on your nail and then filing off any excess that extends past your nail tip. The mini nail files that came with the wraps for getting rid of the excess were very rough so I opted for my glass nail file instead which did the job with no unnecessary damage to my nails.

The range contains 8 different and exquisitely crafted designs each inspired by a dress from Marchesa’s archives. The design I’m sporting is Royal Burgundy. Each pack contains 18 appliqués in a good range of sizes so you’re guaranteed to find a match for your nails and it comes in handy if you mess up a few! I have some left from this set which I’ll be saving to wear as accent nails on occasion.

The sets run at £8.99 each which is a few pounds more than most nail wraps you’ll find on the high street but justified by the exceptional 3D designs. This is the kind of item that I would reserve for a special occasion where I’m going to get dressed up! I think they’d also be perfect for a bride on her wedding day. Silk Rosette (blue florals on clear) could be your something blue and Crown Jewels (gold details on clear) over a pale pink or shimmery white polish would look breathtaking.

I couldn’t resist added a gold spark to my usual make-up to match my nails!

Revlon by Marcesha Appliqués are £8.99 from Boots.com and in selected Boots and Superdrug stores nationwide.

Christmas, Glitter, Stamping, Uncategorised

My First Christmas Nail Art of 2013

28th November 2013

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I know that today is Thanksgiving but I don’t have any thanksgiving themed nail art for you. Being that I don’t celebrate it here in the UK and I’m painfully jealous of everyone feasting on turkey dinners today, I thought I’d kick of some Christmas festivities to remind me that I have a delicious roast dinner coming to my dining table soon enough!

This year I really feel like everything’s been done when it comes to Christmas nail art but I’m determined to come up with something at least semi-original before the 25th. If you want to see the Christmas designs I’ve done in the past, you can flick through the archives here!

For starters I used Essie Jag-U-Are (which is the metallic red) and stamped on a fair isle design from Nailz Craze Plate NC03 using BK Matt White. The snowflakes on my thumb are from MoYou London Kitty Plate 09 and the crazy cute decal on my middle finger is from She Sells Seashells. It’s a deer but I think it can pass as a reindeer!

The milky white polish with the green and red glitter is Sonnetarium Peppermint Kiss over one coat of Barry M White. The green and gold mix on my pinkie is W7 Cosmic Green over one coat of Ulta3 Mermaid Green.

Finally, I topped it all off with two coats of KBShimmer Clearly on Top.

Stamping, Uncategorised

Remember, Remember

6th November 2013

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Press Sample

The highlight of my week was going to a firework display yesterday for Guy Fawkes Night. In firework terms, it’s the closest we get to Independence Day in the UK and I was like a little kid at Christmas stood there gawking up at the sky! What does that have to do the nail art, you may be wondering? Well I always think of V for Vendetta on November 5th and today’s nails feature red roses, as does the movie. Can I have that? Oh go on!

For this mani I used Sinful Colors Island Coral as my base. I used more colours for the Nimbus accents than I can list here! I just kept picking out colours and adding them on top to get the effect I wanted. The main ones you see in the mix are Barry M Papaya and Sally Hansen Sun Kissed.

For the rose patterns, I used Barry M Passion Fruit to stamp from MoYou Plate Pro 04 which isn’t on the site any more but you can get the same images on Pro 07 in the XL size.

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

31 Day Challenge, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 24: Inspired by a Book

24th September 2013

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At the risk of sounded terribly uncultured I’m just gonna come straight out and admit that I’ve only read one book this year. Shameful I know. I used to read every single night before bed but in recent years, nail art and blogging has taken over any spare time I have, so I guess some good has come of it!

As I’ve probably mentioned before, I spend a lot of time watching TV and Movies (in the background while I’m doing nail art mostly) so for today’s literary inspiration I decided on Darkly Dreaming Dexter – a book that spawned an amazing TV series by the name of Dexter. Dexter is a ‘forensic blood spatter pattern analyst’ so I created some blood splatter nails. Analyze that, Dexter!

I used Barry M White as my base colour and created the splatter using a straw. I blobbed out some Barry M Blood Orange on to a sheet of plastic, dipped in the straw, pointed it towards my nail and blew through it sharply. Jen at The Polishaholic has a more in depth tutorial on her blog.

I topped it all off with two coats of No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat.

Day 24: Inspired by a Book 2012

Day 24: Inspired by a Book 2011

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

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31 Day Challenge, Uncategorised

31DC2013 Day 1: Red

1st September 2013

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My red nails for Day 1 of the challenge aren’t too adventurous as I wanted to keep it classic to go with the red polish. I went through a phase when I was crazy about this polish, Rimmel Heart on Fire, but it’s been sat in its drawer unloved for a few months. I was very glad to dust it off and give it a whirl today.

1. I started with a base coat of OPI Nail Envy and waited for that to dry before applying hole reinforcers to mark off the half moons near my cuticle.

2. I then painted the rest of the nail with Rimmel Heart On Fire and removed the sticker straight away. Fragrance Direct currently has loads of Rimmel Lycra Pro polishes for 99p including Heart on Fire!

3. When it was all dry, I added on the accent lines in Barry M Gold Foil with a nail art brush.

4. Finally I topped it all off with two coats of Sally Hansen Dries Instantly.

I did a pictorial for half moons over at Divine Caroline if you’d like to see the process in a bit more detail.

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Holographic, Swatch, Uncategorised

Cirque Bejeweled and Vesuvius Swatches

17th August 2013

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Press Sample

Cirque’s Arcus collection has been sitting on my desk for way too long waiting to be swatched but I’ve been a bad blogger and not given it the attention it deserves. I got a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of swatching a full collection of 12 polishes and kind of shied away from the whole thing which was silly. I’ve decided that it’s best to work my way through it at a reasonable pace so I want to show you guys my favourites over the next few weeks at my own sloth pace!

Today I’ll be showcasing the to holographic polishes in the collection – Bejeweled and Vesuvius. I’m a huge fan of holographic polishes and these two are both welcome additions to my collection. I don’t have anything else similar to these and the blue just makes me go weak at the knees. There’s not too much to say about these polishes except that they’re perfect. They apply like a dream and the colours are stunning but you guys can see that for yourselves!

This is two coats of Bejeweled with a top coat. I also couldn’t resist adding an accent of Queen Majesty!

I would describe Vesuvius as a dark salmon colour. It’s very romantic and dreamy. I don’t have many polishes of this shade in my collection but after wearing this one I think I need more.

These particular polishes retail for $15.00 but most of the other colours in the collection are $13.00.

Cirque nail polish is available on the Cirque Colors website if you’re in the US or Sally Magpies for UK buyers. There’s a full list of stockists on the Cirque website so be sure to check that out if you’re in the rest of the world!

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