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

The girliest you will ever see me!

Don't worry, these are MY nails, not those of Katie Price or any of the cast of The Only Way is Essex. I would never call myself a girly-girl (she says with a blog centred entirely around nail polish art and makeup), preferring to do more colourful, eyecatching and badass designs. This manicure is, however, the most trashy-fabulous you will ever see my nails haha. All that's missing is a giant 3D acrylic bow.

I've got exams coming up (BOOOO), so wanted something on my nails that would tempt me away from removing it and doing something else, to maximise revision time. Anyone whose ever had a full glitter manicure on, will know what an utter ARSE they are to remove. I am hoping that the fear of removal will make me concentrate harder on revision, and resist using nail polish as a distraction!

I started with two coats of Catrice Be My Millionaire, a silver polish, then added 4 coats of Models Own Juicy Jules. Juicy Jules is AMAZING, it's a holographic glitter, and catches the light beautifully - perfect for sunny days. I could have got away with 3 coats, but I wanted maximum glitter coverage. I had a hard time photographing the sheer awesomeness of this glitter, and I'm sure that if I had got it perfect, your eyes would have exploded anyway. I resorted to using a lamp directly over the nails, and using the macro setting (as opposed to the SUPERmacro setting) on my camera to blur the image sliiiighttly so you can see more of the holographic-ness. *gets a bit pic heavy from this point onwards...*

Juicy Jules on its own:

blurred so you can see the holographic sparkle

a sharper picture that doesnt show the colours as much! also sorry for my STUPID index finger that broke, I know it looks ridiculous!

I added a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out and create a base for Barry M's new pink crackle polish Pink Fizz. I find the best way to use the Barry M crackles is to apply them thickly, as they crack better, with larger spaces between the pink bits. I hate it when you use a crackle and it barely cracks, so you can only just make out the base colour (I'm looking at you Boots 17!).

I added another coat of Seche Vite to top off the whole thing, and because the Barry M Instant Nail Effects dry Matte.

under the lamp

under the lamp

natural light

I tried my best to capture it, but imagine all that holographic glitter shining through! BLINGTASTIC! Now, this was somewhat of an experiment, but I took a video on my camera to see if I can better show you the sparkle. The quality is pretty poor, but it does give you a good idea of the shine. (bloody nicked my cuticle right before though didn't I?!)

 

Hopefully you get an idea! I actually tweeted this manicure at Amy Childs from The Only Way is Essex (a trashy reality TV show over here in the UK - IT'S BRILLIANT), she is yet to reply though haha :P

Let me know what you think everyone, was it worth it to include a video? I really wasn't sure about it, but thought I would get some feedback from you :) I realise this isn't strictly Nail Art, but that's what I love about crackles, they add instant interest to a Manicure with minimal effort. I know they've been around a while now, but I've not seen this combo before :D

Em x

Stars, Skulls, Swirls, Sponging and Stamping. (Giveaway Winner, too)

God, I love it when an alliterative post title comes together.

The whole shabang for you today, I went a little stamp crazy...

All photos in natural light

Please ignore the smudge-tasic index finger! After all that work, there was no way I was re-doing it haha!

I'd been wanting to use the Skull image from the new Bundle Monster Image Plate set for a while, but was in danger of utilizing it to create some kind of gross emo-dream/Pirates of the Caribbean tribute! I decided, in the end, to keep the colours light, and add some swirly pattern and some stars :D

I started with a base of Barry M Turquoise, and sponged on Models Own Blooboo in differing places on the nail. I then repeated this with Silver, from Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen. Now, I've mentioned this before, but however wonderful this silver is (and it is), it gives you the WORST glitter herpes ever. You can scrub and scrub at your silver-stained cuticles but it Just. Won't. Go. Away. So, I apologise for the sparkly cuticles haha! I also added a little bit of Rimmel Sky High to the sponged base too :)

After adding a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out, I stamped the swirly, planty image from BM225 using Konad White Special Polish onto different parts of each nail. Then, using THIS method, I mixed my own pastel Special Stamping Polishes and stamped some pink, green and purple Skulls from plate BM211. I then did the same with the Star image from BM206, adding them sporadically to make a pattern. I added some coloured rhinestones to the Skull eyes (a later addition - I liked it without, too) that you can get from Nail Art online store Born Pretty.

If people like this look, I may do a sponging/stamping tutorial, because it looks rather busy and difficult, but it's really very simple, when you know how!

Also, I'm going to quickly announce the Giveaway winner (I know it's been a long time coming, soorrryryyyy).
I have contacted her and she's accepted, the winner is...

Lily over at Beauty's Bad Habit!

Congratulations! I'll be posting your goodies after my exams (next week :D)

I used Random.org to select a random number, then simply found that numbered entry in my spreadsheet!

(Didn't want to include your email, Lily!)

So, there we are! My first Giveaway, over and done with! As you can see I had a colossal amount of entries, so they took a while to verify - thank you for your patience, and for entering in the first place!

I hope you enjoy your prize Lily, check out her blog Beauty's Bad Habit!

I also got some great feedback from the giveaway question "What would you like to see from me in the future", so I'll be sharing some of the suggestions with you soon! 

Thanks Everyone!

Easter Manicure

I wanted to quickly show you what I was sporting on Easter Sunday, but first - I have reached 500 followers today! How cool is that?! Thank you so much to everyone who reads! If the 100 follower Giveaway wasn't already running, I would do something to celebrate - I'll rack my brains for something after it's ended!


For this Manicure I used a base of Models Own BlooBoo for all but the ring finger (Rimmel Lemon Drop)  and thumb (American Apparel  Coney Island). I then used Claire's Nail Art Pens and a dotting tool to create the nail art. If you have any questions about any colours, just pop it in the comments and I will let you know - there are too many to name!

 So we have an Easter Chick and an Easter Bunny, who has dropped some eggs off in the grass :D

I love Pastels and Creams, so this was a nice Mani for me to have on! I hope you all had a lovely day and you're not getting as fat as me from over indulgence!

Sorry for the rather sporadic posts, after this MASSIVE piece of work is handed in to Uni, I will be back on form :D

If you haven't already, enter my International 100 Follower Giveaway - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pop your details in the Google Docs form! I can't accept entries that are added to the comments! Good Luuuuck!

Hello Kitty

Morning everyone! I received my Free Gift Hello Kitty Stamping Plate from BornPrettyStore yesterday, so decided to do a Hello Kitty themed Manicure for your viewing pleasure.
I started with a Skittle-patterned base of Models Own Blooboo, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream and Elegant Touch White, here is the swatch, as promised! Remember, you can always click to enlarge these photos, if you really want my hand all up in yo' grill.

Pinky and index are Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Ring finger is Elegant Touch White, middle finger is Models Own Blooboo. A wee smudge on the pinky but sssshhhhhhh.

I then stamped white polka dots on to all but the ring finger from Konad M79. I stamped the Hello Kitty Image off the BornPretty plate, and filled in the bow and nose in Barbara Daley Neon Pink and Miss Sporty Taxi! respectively. I added a pink rhinestone to the middle of her bow using Nail Glue, and free-handed a silver tip with Claire's Nail Art Pen Striper, topping it with 2 coats of Claire's Holographic Glitter Topcoat. Here's how it came out, all without Flash, in natural light. Colours are accurate.

The glitter is really pretty IRL, it's a shame it was an overcast day today.

you can see a bit of that holo glitter in this one

There we are! Let me know what you think :) I have a habit of running my hands through my hair quite a lot, so the little rhinestones snag and annoy me a bit, but apart from that, I like it! I realise it's not very original and there are a ton of other Manicures like this one out there, but I really wanted to try the new plate, so I'm sure you can forgive me :D

In other news, the Blog Round-up that we took part in yesterday was a success, I hope you got to see some new designs and we helped to broaden your bloggy horizons! Tune in next week where there will be even more collaborators. If you're interested in including some of your artwork, please please get in touch! The more the merrier!

Bundlemonster, the creators and distributors of the image plates I own, are also holding a contest over at their Facebook page so if you own any of their products, get involved! There are 25 prizes to be won! 25! waheeey! I'm definitely going to enter (what have we got to lose....right? Gulp.) so may be asking your valued opinion on a few designs and ideas before submission day!

Anyone else in the UK watching Friday Night Dinner?! I've just watched this week's episode and it made me creeeeaaase! Bloody love it!

In with the Cat Theme of this post (and trust me, there won't be many as I am hideously allergic to the bloody things and have therefore developed a general dislike for any and all feline creatures - except Lions. Lions are sik), Katy Perry has a cat called Kitty Purry - Baaaaahahaahahaaaaaaaa, it's funny cus it's like her name but for a cat, innit.

Finally, Happy Blogiversary to Sam at Nailasaurus :D

Starry Eyed - Sponging and Stars!

I really was very uninspired last night, and started with a base of Model's Own Blooboo. Anyone else get bubbles with this polish? Maybe it's the way I apply it, but it happens with this polish more than any other. Here is Blooboo on its own:-

It is a lovely Pastel Blue Cream, but it has a lovely royal blue shimmer in the bottle that doesnt translate onto the nail, not even a little bit.

I decided to sponge on some silver using Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen -  I really like this silver, it's very sparkly and metallic, almost like it's made up entirely of teeny tiny bits of glitter.

Nice gradient going on there! Looking a bit wintery, like I should be adding some snowflakes! I added some purple stars instead: -

I've got a bad case of glitter herpes from the Claire's Silver, it's an absolute bugger to clean up, I can't for the life of me get it all off! I stamped the starry image from BM21 with Claire's Matte Purple. I'm never using this polish to stamp with ever again, although nice and opaque, it just dries far too quickly and I struggle to pick up/transfer a complete image - which is a shame. I wish I'd used something like Barry M Cobalt Blue instead, but by the time I'd realised, I was past the point of no return!
It still turned out alright, but it's not my favourites. It looks much better from a distance, in a dim light - much like most men.

Let me know what you think everyone!

Models Own - Flowers!

quick note first of all - I finally got Twitter the other week (I'm still getting to grips with it, it's embarrassing, really) so if you want instant updates on the blog; giveaways and posts etc (as well as my very own rambling brain farts) you can click on the little tab on the left side of this page to follow! Alternatively, you can search Emilysnailfiles :) "Look at me Mum! I'm getting with the timez!!"

My Manicure today is more fanciful than yesterdays, thank goodness, and I've used two of my new Models Own polishes, Purple Ash and Blooboo. Now, I realise Purple Ash is from the Autumn collection, but by adding some lighter pastel accents, it can make a really sophisticated summer evening look, say for a summer Barbeque, or Evening Garden Party (which are my absolute favourite bits about summer!).

Purple Ash is a gorgeous Red-toned muted purple, and I've never seen any polish quite like it, certainly none in my own collection. The Models Own polishes are great, I can't really say enough good things about them - affordable, streak-free, fashion forward, high-shine and the colour choice is astounding. Love them!!! (and they're 3for2 in Boots at the moment, winnneerrrrr)

I added some little flowers from BM12 in Blooboo, a cool-toned pastel blue with the slightest royal blue shimmer - which you can't see on my nails, but its pretty in the bottle. Application is a dream, really lovely and smooth.

Here we go kids!

Back by popular demand, LES ORANGE.

and in the shade - you can see the silver better - and the SHINE!

I added Silver to the middle of the flowers using Claire's Nail Art Pen. Click to enlarge the photos! The little flowers look really pretty close up!

Have a lovely weekend my Darls! I need some new blogs to follow, if you've come across one recently, or have one of your own you'd like me to check out,  let me know on the comments, as well as what you think to this manicure :D