Winter Wonderland Nail Art!

I suppose I should've waited for it to snow before posting this manicure (the synchronicity would be satisfying!), but I still feel bad for leaving you all alone for a month so I'm cracking out all my best stuff.

Now, I really like the design of this manicure, but it was executed badly - this, I fully admit, is my own fault. I acquired the base colour (Barry M Aqua Blue) from The Clothes Show Live, and I didn't realise it was so sheer before I began applying it. Had I known, I would've used a pastel blue base because it took about 6 coats to achieve opacity. Too many! This, paired with the 4 coats of Claire's Holographic Silver Glitter Topcoat that I added to the tips, created that horrible "too many coats of polish" look. It's kind of bubbly and icky and raised off the nail - not a fan! As if it wasn't bad enough, my Seche Vite has gone thick, and caused shrinkage, exposing the very tip of my natural nail. Here are the photos anyway, just try and ignore the poor execution and focus on the pretty glitter and snowflakes! Eeee!

cuticles are GRIM, sorry sorry sorry!

How I created the glittery snowflake tips:

Once my Barry M Aqua Blue base was dry, I added a thin layer of Claire's Holographic Silver Glitter Topcoat, starting about halfway down the nail. On the second coat of glitter, I started my brush strokes slightly close to the nail tip, and repeated for another two coats to create the glitter gradient effect. Once dry I stamped the Snowflake image from Bundle Monster Image Plate BM14 at different places on each nail tip using Konad Special Polish in White. With Claire's White Nail Art Pen, I filled in some of the gaps with dots, to make tiny snowdrops. I topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite, to make it super smooth.

Thanks everyone! Let me know what you think on the comments, I'd love to see it if any of you give it a go! I kept this on for a few days, I really liked it, especially when it caught the light!


xxx

Boots 17 Magnetized Polish

I'm not a fan of this metallic nail polish trend. I just don't like the finish of metallic polishes, it feels a bit childish and cheap to me - this  Boots 17 magnetized polish, however, is one aspect of this trend that I can fully get on board with, I LOVE IT. Maybe I'm just a sucker for novelty (I love my Del Sol colour changers for example), but I really love how the effect looks! It's like crazy robot fingers, they look so 3D! Like the recent crackle trend, this technique is maximum nail art effect, with minimum effort.

Magnetized polish works by formulating the lacquer with iron particles, and by holding a magnet with a pattern polarized into it over the nail, the iron particles become attracted to the patterned magnet, and the design appears in the polish. It's pretty innovative and scientific! Don't let anyone tell you the beauty industry is dumb haha!

17 are not the first company to bring these out, LCN, Fashionista and Essence both have a magnetized polish range, and in the UK, Nails Inc have bought some out too. Nails Inc magnetic polish retails for £13.00, however, and my 17 version cost me £4.99 and they literally look exactly the same. (I also bought the blue one, and 17 are giving away a free gift with 2 products bought - WINNER. Any way to justify my addiction).

Here is the finished look. Definitely took me a bit of practice, but I nailed it after a couple of tries! (Pun intended, haha):

The polish comes with the patterned magnet slotted on top of the polish handle, and it just lifts off:

This is what the polish looks like when un-magnetized (this is an option, don't forget! You can still just use it as a gunmetal, metallic polish! 2 for the price of 1!). It's a shimmery, gunmetal silver that is actually very pretty, and bang on trend. I took this photo with flash so you can see how sparkly it is, as well as how amazingly 3-dimensional the magnetized nails look:

The magnet has to be held over the polish while it's wet, and the best way to get the most pronounced effect, that I found, was to apply a thick layer and immediately place the magnet over the top as quickly as possible. The wetter the polish, the more defined the effect will be. The magnet has a little lip on one side, so you can rest it on your finger while you magnetize. It takes 5 seconds, maximum, to create the pattern :

And voila!:

I also bought the blue one, but I couldn't get it to work as well. I need to keep experimenting I think! I'm not sure these polishes are in every single boots, the advantage of living in Nottingham (where Boots originates from) is that they usually stock absolutely everything. You can, however, buy them online very easily. I really want to try out some different magnet patterns, I know LCN did a starburst one - now THAT would look awesome. Has anyone tried these magnetic polishes from 17? How do they compare to Nails Inc or Fashionista? I absolutely love them, and am so glad I bought 2 different colours!

On a side note, the voting for Cosmopolitan's Blog Awards is now closed, thank you to every single one of you who both nominated and voted for me, I really appreciate it! I'm up against some incredible, incredible blogs with thousands of subscribers, so don't get too excited haha. It is a great achievement for me just to be nominated, and never imagined this little blog would come so far. (This is starting to sound like an acceptance speech!) The reveal party is next week, cross your fiercely manicured fingers for me!


xxxxx

Snakeskin...

...'cus I'm classy like that. This is deliciously White Trash, I feel like I should be wearing a matching pair of trousers and Crocodile handbag. Mmmmm.

I reckon I'm probably building up to some sort of crazy safari manicure, with the theme of animal prints emerging! I had wanted to try this image from the new BundleMonster set for a while, I was just trying to figure out the colour combos, which I'm not sure I've got spot on! I started with a coat of Barry M Mushroom (I'm not sure if this is because it's quite old now, but this is now a perfect one-coater, though I'm sure it's not always been!). I then sponged on Claire's Jade Green, down either side of each nail. I used Miss Sporty Electric Beige to stamp with:

I remembered after the pictures, that I had used Electric Beige instead of Catrice Be My Millionaire!

I added Claire's Matte Topcoat over the design, and I really prefer it! What do you think? I love the feel of mattified nails as well, they're all smooth and velvety, I keep rubbing them on my face - weird? Yes.

 

Wooo hoo, snakey fingers, I'm off to explore the Jungle (and by Jungle, I mean Pub).

In keeping with the wildlife theme, I entered the Tiger Nail Art into Swaafie Blog's Inspired competition, and voting is now open! If you love me, you can head over and give me a vote! My design is number 3, and you've got until the 8th! There are so many amazing designs, and you can vote for your favourite three, so GO MENTAL! I would really appreciate you taking a look :D:D

"Check out Swaafie's contest, it's GGRRRRRRREAT!"  (I'm a loser) click here to see the original post

I hope you're all having a wonderful Monday!

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!

Diet Coke inspired

I was sat in the sunshine, guzzling a gallon of Diet Coke (more commonly referred to as Dissertation Fuel/Hangover Cure) and decided to transfer the pattern on the ASOS.com Competition bottles onto my naaaailllzzz. I could've incorporated some fun freehand in to this, but wanted to do something quick and easy.

I started with a base of Catrice Be My Millionaire (acquired recently from a giveaway win over at colourful bottle - thanks Dolores!). This is a rather sheer silver, so I applied 4 coats. I then used Barry M Bright Red to stamp with. I chose not to use the Konad Special Polish in red, because I wanted some of the shininess of the Silver to show through! Here is the bottle I used for inspiration, and some sunny pictures of the Mani!

 

I tell you, I think my nails are becoming free advertising space! This was a fun, and it was nice to do something quick, bright and eye catching! 

News on the Bundle Monster contest is that I didn't win, unfortunately, but never mind! I was going to buy the new set of plates (the prize) anyway, and it was fun to enter - thank you to everyone who gave me a vote, it is very much appreciated :D

I have just returned from an over night Spa day at a fancy hotel, for my 21st birthday (which isn't until June - any excuse eh?!) so I am nice and relaaaaaaaxed! I hope you're all well and lovely!

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!

Matte Gun-metal and mini-haul

As I promised you yesterday, here is what I picked up on my trip to town :

The offer in Claire's is 4 polishes for £7.50, and I just can't resist EVERY TIME! The challenge isn't staying away, its deciding which four to buy! Claire's polishes also don't have names so I'll describe them for your viewing pleasure.  From top left to bottom right, these are:

• MUA B6
• MUA 43
• Miss Sporty "Taxi!" - bright neon yellow with veeeery subtle shimmer
• Claire's Jade Green
• Claire's shimmery topcoat, very fine silver shimmer
• Claire's, this is a matte Bronze
• Claire's Matte Gun-metal Silver.
• The fabric it's sitting on is my new dress from forever 21! I'm wearing it out tonight, its very colourful :D

Here are some swatches of the Matte Silver. It actually looks gorgeous as it goes on, it's got a lovely shimmer to it, which seems a waste in a matte polish. Because of this its more of a suede finish, but I think I might try and play around with this one, see if I can put that shimmer back in!

I broke the corner of my index fingernail yesterday, and it's really bugging me! It's not that noticeable, but it keeps happening! If I remedy-file them anymore, I'll end up with an oval shape haha!
Stay tuned for more swatches of this haul, what do you think to this matte silver?

Here comes the Bride?!?!!

...No don't congratulate me on my upcoming nuptuals just yet, I've got to find a boyfriend (victim) first! Todays manicure came out exactly how I imagined it, yet only when it was on my nails did I realise how bridal it looks!! I still think its pretty, and at least now I know I can do my own nails for my wedding day....ha!
 I started with 3 coats of Collection 2000 French Pink which is a sheer, light pink perfect for french manicures. It's a bit streaky in two coats, but the third evens it out. It says 5 days wear on the bottle, but ive never been patient enough to keep a manicure on that long to find out if it really works!!! Here she is on her own:

Shiny no?! I didnt need a topcoat with this polish, its dead shiny by itself, but i applied one anyway before using the full nail daisy image on BundleMonster's BM16, and adding silver dots to the centre of the flowers:

 

I stamped with Rimmels French White (which is a bit sheer for stamping to be honest) and used Claire's Silver Nail Art Pen for the flower centres. Very subtle and girly. Would love it if I had some Rhinestones to add.
This is my most recent manicure, and my nails have really grown since I've started this blog - theyre usually quite weak and I have a tendency to piggle at them. Taking pictures of your nails everyday sure is an incentive to keep them in good condition though! I've also started using Lush's Lemony Flutter again, which is great for the cuticles, and is keeping my nails strong I think. It also smells HAMAZING.
I think I'm getting better at photographing my nails - I hope you enjoyed this manicure, let me know what you think! Is there anything you'd like to see from me in the coming days/weeks?

Gleek and Gypsy Nights.

 So my housemate is fantastic. As you know, I went home for the weekend and returned this evening to 2 lovely presents from Sophie, one of my favourite people with giant hair. One was a “glee” Easter egg, complete with Mug – which I’m thrilled about, one of our favourite things to do together is drink copious amounts of tea, eat copious amounts of chocolate, and spend a copious amount of time talking about Everything and Nothing. The other present was a “knit your own boyfriend” kit....which I'm not as thrilled about....hahaha!

Rubbish phone pic...but look at the size of that mug! Cheers, Sofa!!!

 On to the Manicure!! I recently acquired an interesting polish from Topshop called “Gypsy Nights” which is quite a sheer black with holographic glitter and flakies! I snapped it up; you don’t see flakies very often over here in the polish middle ages (UK!). I applied two coats of it over two coats of Claire’s Black polish, and then added a silver stripe at the very tip of my tips with Claire’s Silver Nail Art Pen. Topped it off with Barry M topcoat, and here are the results, as best as I could capture the glitter effects! 

Shiny shinnnnyyy

 You can't see the holo glitter tooo much here, but if you look at the pinkie, you can see the iridescence of the flakies in it.

I've seen some exciting effects created with flakies by adding a matte topcoat, so i decided to matte it up with Claire's Matt topcoat (which should be spelled "matte" - really bugs me haahah - I'm a fiendish English student/grammar Nazi!). Here we are:

With Claire's matte topcoat.

I liked the effect of the matte topcoat, it did, however, dull the holographic glitter, but I like that it's a bit different. i decided to keep it like this for a couple of days before I was boooorrreeeddd!!! I went to a 21st birthday party over the weekend for one of my best friends, I've known her since she was a tiny babba, and it was lovely to see in this milestone together - love you Rachie poops. I'll post my party manicure tomorrow!

Another exciting installment - my bundlemonster plates arrived! WOO HOOOOO now I can start this Konading business properly!! Look out!!!