Glossy Box Competition! I Need Your Help!

Hello Everyone!

I'm glad so many of you enjoyed my Star-Print Manicure from yesterday! Today's Nail Art is my entry into the Glossy Box Nail-Off - a Nail Art contest that they have launched in their facebook!

I'm not going to beg you for votes, as I truly believe that you should make your own mind up over who should win, but if you like the design and think that I deserve a shot, all you have to do is "like" my photo, located HERE! :)

I definitely would have done this design at some point anyway, I think it's really sweet. We were asked to create a design based on what we think Glossy Box is all about, and what it represents. I chose to do a mix and match manicure because, ultimately, Glossy Box is all about trying new things, and a little bit of everything - and a girl can never make up her mind! I chose the gorgeous turquoise, pink details to represent femininity and to celebrate everything fun and girly! I added the Glossy Box logo on the thumb to tie it all together - I think that was my tenth attempt at getting the logo right haha!

The Turquoise base is Nails Inc Haymarket, and the pink details are all with the Glossy Box polish Leighton Denny Babydoll - another little Glossy Box detail! I stamped the roses from BM14 with Models Own Pastel Pink, and added the leaves with a dotting tool in Barry M Spring Green and Claire's Jade Green. The base for the thumb is MUA Shade 2. The little lace design on the index finger is stamped using Konad White Special Polish, from Konad Image Plate M57. I added a coat of Seche Vite and my contest nails were ready to go!

Let me know what you think everyone! I think this is my absolute favourite mix and match manicure that I've ever done, the roses and bow came out perfectly, just how I imagined them! I was sad to take this off!

Again, I would really, really appreciate your vote in the competition, you can even vote for as many entries as you like, so I wouldn't have to be your only vote! There is some fabulous Nail Art on there, so I implore you to check it out! You can give my little, girly Manicure a "like" HERE. :)

(You may have to enable a Facebook app, but don't worry Glossy Box will never post anything onto your wall without your permission, it's simply a bit of red-tape for Facebook! :D )

Thank you so much to anyone that decides to give me a thumbs up, I really appreciate it and it just reminds me that my little blog would be nothing without all of you amazing readers who are so lovely to me every day :) (GOSH I'm gushing now haha!) But seriously, I love you all long time!

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Models Own Purple Ash with Freehand Flower Nail Art!

I had forgotten in the haze of spring pastels and summer brights just how much I really love Autumn shades! Models Own Purple Ash is a lovely deep maroony purple, but I wanted to brighten it up a little with some floral details. I added a stripe of Claire's Blue Glitter, then added a few flowers from Konad image plate M57. Using a pearlescent green Nail Art Pen from eBay, I added some vine and leaf details:

 

This was quite hard to capture, as the glitter and the pearlescence of the green caught the light differently at different angles, but I think you get the right idea of the detail! Models Own Purple Ash is a great polish to apply, and it's perfect in 2 coats. The Nail Star Nail Art Pens from eBay get a lot of stick from around the blogisphere, but I actually get on well with them - except for the horrendous stinkiness of them.

I hope you like it! Overall, I'm finding the transition into Autumn trends rather easy - I 'd forgotten how lovely some of the deep, muted shades are! 

Don't forget that you can still vote for me in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards in the Best New Beauty Blog section! Just click on the pink button on the top right side of the page!!! :D

 xxx

Scotch Tape Zebra Print Manicure

Hello everyone! I know, two posts in as many days, almost like the good old days eh?!

When I was on holiday with my family, we had a very restricted weight allowance for the flights, and so we ditched all the heavy beach gear in favour of lighter alternatives. This included picking up some cheap, light beach towels from Asda, and my, ever tasteful, father chose the most trashy-fabulous, attention grabbing, lurid print that was available - zebra print with a bright purple border. They were amazing. And chavvy. But mostly amazing. They inspired this manicure!

I started with a base of 3 coats of Natural Collections White and allowed to dry before stamping the zebra image from Konad M57 with Konad Special Polish in Black. If you're in the UK, and don't want to splash out for the Konad special Polish, I've heard that MUA Shade 2 - available for only £1 in Superdrug - is a fantastically opaque alternative, though I've yet to try it myself. I added a coat of Seche Vite to dry it all quickly, and ten minutes later added strips of scotch tape diagonally across each nail. I then painted the nail in Claire's Matte Purple (I LOVE mixing textures!) and pulled the tape away while still wet. ET VOILAAA! Trashy Towel Nails.

 

I love how the shiny and the matte finishes look together. The cameras playing tricks on your eyes, the purple is, in fact, a lot more violet and red toned in real life, my camera is in perfect, purple denial, turning it blue. The photos were also taken at dusk, so sorry they're a bit dark and blue. (gawd I need to build myself a light box!)

Let me know what you think everyone! :D

Twist on the Traditional Leopard Print Look

I say "The Traditional" leopard print like animal print nails are the most common thing in the world, but here in the UK at least, you still don't see them that often! I love a leopard print manicure, it's so eye-catching, and there's so many different colour combinations to try out. Today is a grey and silver combo, and my first time doing leopard print with the Konad M57, as opposed to my usual freehand technique - which do you think is better?

moley moley moley moley

All photos are in natural light, no flash. I started out with 2 coats of Urban Oufitter's Sparkle and Fade in Light Grey, and then stamped the leopard print image from Konad M57 using Konad Black Special Polish. Does anyone else find this relly messy to work with?! I find it gets eeeeverywhere and my hands always end up covered in it haha! Maybe I just need to improve my technique! I added silver dots to the centre of the circular designs using Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen. I finished off with 2 coats of Seche Vite Topcoat.
What do you think?  What other colour combos would you try? I'm dying try a neon one!

x

I Won! Contest Prize!

Does anyone remember me entering That's So Fresh's Spring Manicure contest? Well....I won! Wooo hooooooo! I found out a while back, but wanted to have received my prize before letting you all know!

I entered with this freehand Manicure, created before I got any tools, so the whole thing is done with a toothpick and nail art pens: -

 

You can see the whole post on this, HERE.

So I won! How exciting! I was absolutely over the moon when I heard, that was the end of Uni work for the day! 

The prize was a $50 coupon for www.wowsocool.com, a great online supplier of Konad and Nail Art products.Unfortunately, because I live over here in the UK, I had to pay $10 shipping - which I used part of my coupon for, as I'm not exactly minted right now! If you're in the USA or Canada it is free shipping over $20, however. I didn't mind, as it still left me $40 to spend on some stamping stuff :D Here is what I received, it took about 2 weeks to arrive, and was well packaged - no spillages!

Read about these nails tomorrow :D

I picked a selection of Konad Special Polishes for stamping, a yellow because it's difficult to get a regular yellow polish that's opaque enough for stamping, a black because it's an essential, and green and red because they're primary colours and bound to come in handy! I didn't go for any pastels because I can mix them myself (see how HERE).
I also selected M57, beacause I'm curious to test out stamping leopard prints vs. freehanding them. I know you will get a fishnet design on the new set of Bundle Monster plates due to be released, but I wanted it :D and the little flowers are sweet. I bought M29 because, let's face it, who DOESN'T want a pineapple on their nails? Exactly.
All in all, I'm thrilled to have won, because it's given me the opportunity to own some proper stamping equipment, instead of making do with what cheapo stuff I can find in the shops (God, Cinderella much?). Very excited to be trying it all out soon - a MASSIVE thank you to April at That So Fresh! Check out her blog if you havent already, her nails are amaaaziingngng.

xxx