Cath Kidston Nails

I wouldn't describe myself as a girly-girl, but I really like Cath Kidston Prints! I would never paper the walls with it, but I love it on accessories. It will always remind me of my friend Alice as well, because she is obsessed! I'm not sure how internationally well-known Cath Kidston is, but she's a pretty well established High End brand over here in the UK. A British Fashion Designer, Cath Kidston is famous for her signature, nostalgic floral patterns and home furnishings. I decided to incorporate my favourite print of hers into a manicure:

Here is the original print I based the design on, and I think it's as intricate as I can get it, seen as nails are SO SMALL.

For the accent nail I switched up the base colour from blue to Leighton Denny Babydoll - my new favourite Pink from the October Glossy Box.

I created the design by painting a base of either Bootie Babe Blue Baboo (see below) or Leighton Denny  Babydoll, and painted the large white flower shapes and polka dots with Claire's White Nail Art Pen. I then added a blob of MUA pink in the centre of each one. Now, I reckon I'm quite well known for my freehand work, and although I seem to be able to do an alright job on Dinosaurs or Super Mario (like in my previous posts), I have never been able to get the hang of drawing roses - I just have no idea why! Because of this I enlisted a bit of help with this design from Bundlemonster Image plate BM04, stamping the rose image on top of the MUA Pink circle using American Apparel Coney Island. After transferring the image to the stamp, I dipped a cotton swab in varnish remover and cleaned off the edge of the image, leaving only the heart of the rose, because I needed the design to be so small. After I had stamped all of these, I added some green foliage with a dotting tool and American Apparel Office and Barry M Spring Green. After a coat of Seche Vite, I was good to go!

I'm popping in a review here too, as I've been waiting on these polishes for AGES from brand new polish company Bootie Babe. Their polishes are packaged in novelty "booty" bottles that look like little bums! It's a bit gimicky, but it's fun and I think that is important with cosmetics! I was sent Blue Baboo and noticed that it was the perfect shade of sky blue for my Cath Kidston idea. The polish formula is O.K...it drags a bit and is a little paint-like, but definitely workable. Now, as much as the bottle makes me laugh, and I think it's a fun idea, the handle is almost impossible to use. It is absolutely tiny, and tapered so it slips out of your fingers. I gave up after a couple of nails and used a different brush to apply it. All in all, I like the idea and the novelty, but the quality of the polish and the handle design could be improved. Here is Blue Baboo on its own, as well as some shots of the bottles!

See how small the bottle handle is compared to my fingers? Very fiddly. You get just over 9ml of polish in these bottles.

A lovely shade of blue and not quite like any other shade in my arsenal. I would definitely head over to their website and check them out, there's loads of other great shades to get hold of.

I hope you like this one guys! I realise I don't post as much as I used to, but I think the posts I put up these days have much more crammed in to them, and have A LOT more time spent on them! I have some great designs coming up for you all :D

In other news, the Winner of my Glossy Box contest from 2 weeks ago was Vicky at Manicured Maniac - Congratulations to her! She has been notified and her very own Glossy Box is on it's way to her! WOOP VICKKKYY!!!

Glossy Box are also hosting a Nail Art competition, and I urge you all to get involved to win the OPI Muppets Collection! Emily's Nail Files also has a mention as a place to go for inspiration! Well, you're already here so you're one step ahead of the game! I'd love to see some of you enter, I know you're all SO creative xxxx

Autumn Leaves

It's getting to that time of year where I can't wait to crack out last years over-sized woolly jumpers, hats and scarves (as well as buy new ones!). Despite it being unseasonally warm in the UK last week, I have to admit that this summer baby is oh-so-keen to bury herself in winter clothes, drink mulled wine and go sledging. My nails reflect my mood and eagerness for the changing leaves:

I started with a base of Nails Inc Jermyn Street, a purple toned brown, and then sponged Nails Inc Candy Orange, American Apparel Manilla (yellow) and Barry M Bright Red onto random areas of the nail, to create the autumn-coloured  mottled effect. I then added a coat of Gosh Rainbow, an iridescent flakie topcoat that adds a subtle flash of red and green, before stamping the leafy image from Bundlemonster image plate BM04 with Miss Sporty Electric Beige. This caught the light differently at different angles and looked really pretty!

What do you think? What's your favourite part of Autumn?

Not my favourite song from him, but it's pretty appropriate, and I can't stop listening to him at the moment, everything he does is stunning:

Plus...I love a good ginger.

xx

Nails Inc Victoria and Bundle Monster Nail Art!

Hi Everyone!

Today I'm showing you one of my favourite Nails Inc London polishes, called Victoria. It is a gorgeous dark, dark, plum red, that deepens with the more layers you paint on. The first coat is almost a bright cerise colour, but by coat three, you've got a really deep sexy red/black - it's how I imagine Vampire Blood would look like, only much more sophisticated and beautiful, OBVIOUSLY.

It looks almost black indoors, but when the sun shines on it you can really see that deep, claret colour coming through. This is sans topcoat as well, it is the glossiest polish ever!:

You know me, I just couldn't leave it alone, could I?! I added some nail art, using Miss Sporty Electric Beige to stamp the swirly image from BundleMonster image plate BM04.

 

I know it's not quite as interesting today, but sometimes I do like to look sophisticated, as opposed to ridiculous, ya knooooow?! Haha, it's a far cry from banana nails, that's for sure. I'll make up for it tomorrow, you can count on that! 

What do you think to this shade? It was the quickest Mani ever, so great if you're in a hurry to do something smart, but you've not left enough time to get ready - story of my life!

Hope you're all having a lovely Tuesday, stop by tomorrow because I will be having a GIVEAWAY. NOOICE!

In other news, if you all "like" Cadbury Caramel Bunny on Facebook, you might get a nice surprise on Friday! (Hint: IT'S MY FACE. And Manicures!)

Champagne anyone? *pic heavy!*

Today's Manicure uses MUA's B6 (is it too much trouble to actually NAME your shades, Superdrug?!), which is a pearlescent champagne kind of colour. It is a lovely shade, butIi think it would look a lot better on a darker skin tone, it kind of washes me out a bit.

This colour was quite hard to capture, it's slightly more beige IRL, and not quite as silvery (except at certain angles, in the light). The brush for this polish is NOT my favourite, the bristles are really thick, making the brush a bit clumpy and hard to keep neat round the cuticles. This was especially a problem as the pearlescence of this polish shows up every brush stroke!! I had to work hard to make sure each stroke was straight to avoid wiggly lines. A topcoat did help with this after the fact, however.
I then added the leafy/spotty image from BM04 using Claire's Black. This is not my favourite Mani, I think it's a bit "old lady", I prefer using creams and nice fun, bright colours!

Today is the online release of the new Illamasqua "Toxic Nature" collection, which has some interesting pieces, including some brilliantly pigmented, multi functional creams. Head over to their website to check it out - look at these promo pictures! Make-up for your alter-ego indeed!

I love the makeup - but if someone did that to my fringe I'd punch them very hard.

outrageous, no? They've also bought out some great looking nail polishes, including one called "Bacterium":-

Bacterium on the left, Purity on the right.

Now, I'm not claiming that my little MUA B6 is a dupe, but have a look at these swatches from Leanne over at DoNotRefreeze - She's lucky enough to own Bacterium, and has swatched it for us:-

PHOTO BELONGS TO LEANNE AT DO NOT REFREEZE!!!!

Considering MUA is darker IRL, this could be considered a cheaper alternative seen as Bacterium is £13.50, and my tight arse paid £1.00 for B6. It may be a bit more silvery (and obviously not as good quality), but I think I can make do with that when considering the price difference! Y'all need to go and check out Leanne's blog Do Not Refreeze by the way, easily one of my absolute favourite blogs to read!

Have a lovely day everyone, let me know what you think!
xxx