Sally Hansen Fairy Teal and Green Tea mix

Here is a skittle using Sally Hansen Fairy Teal and Green Tea. It's almost like these colours where made for each other. The Nailasaurus has also done a great mani with these colours too.

I did two coats of Green Tea on all nails except my index finger, for which I used two coats of Fairy Teal. I used striping tape on my thumb to mark off the areas I wanted Green Tea to be visible and painted over with Fairy Teal. I quickly removed the tape and added mini beads in gold. I did a gradient on my middle finger using a cosmetic sponge. The ring finger is a kind of 'spun polish' look using both Green Tea, Fairy Teal and Sally Hansen Crinoline. All fingers were topped with Seche Vite.

Read on for another picture.

The nails all the bad girls want..

Here is mix and match punk rock mani using using purple colours. I wore these with a matching top and leather jacket. Very punk-rock!  

Thumb: Sally Hansen - Anemone of Mine with mini studs

Index finger: Nail Pop - Glamrock

Middle finger: Sally Hansen - Anemone of Mine and W7 - Black gradient

Ring finger: Sally Hansen - Anemone of Mine with mini beads and black and white gems

Pinky: Seventeen - Hard as Nails Black

All topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

I love how these turned out. It's such a shame I'm a picker when it comes to 3D nail art, these type of manicures never last more than a day!

St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone. 

Paddy's day is massive in Liverpool as we have such a large community of Irish. Every year the celebrations are incredible. If you're looking for a night out in the UK for Paddy's day, and you can't get over to Ireland, I definitely recommend Liverpool!

This mani used A-England - St George, Barry M - Ridley Road, Sally Hansen - Fairy Teal, Sally Hansen - Green Tea and George at Asda - Mermaid. I used striping tape on my index finger to create the lines. On the fingers that I used glitter on I first put a layer of PVA glue as a base coat to make the removal of the glitter easier. All topped with a coat of Seche Vite.

Polish Days: Vintage

This month's Polish Days theme is Vintage. When I think of vintage I automatically think of pearls, lace and subtle colours.  I don't know about all the other Polish Days participants but I really struggled with this theme; I did three mani's before settling on this one. It's simple and subtle and reminds me of a really classy lady. 

For this I used three coats of Sally Hansen Dorian Grey. I then added a coat of Seche Vite to each nail and while this was still tacky on my ring finger and thumb I used an orange stick to add little nail art pearls, gems and beads from a Nail Art Kit that I got from River Island.

Del Sol - Trick or Treat

My sister works on the cruise ships. She recently came back from 6 months away and got me an awesome nail polish! Del Sol is a brand of colour-changing goodness originally from Utah. This particular polish is Trick or Treat - an awesome orange micro glitter that changes to black in the sun. Unfortunately, here in the UK we've had a lack of sun for a while! So at the minute, I'm showing you this polish as it comes with no sun. Clearly this polish was meant for Halloween but it's still pretty epic all year round!

I used a base coat of Collection 2000 - Cloud Nine and sponged on Del Sol - Trick or Treat. On my ring finger I did three coats of the glitter. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Matching jumper and nails!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you've all had a wonderful festive season! I took a little time out from blogging to spend time with my family and friends and generally chill out during my time off from uni. It's been great but I've definitely missed blogging. For christmas I got a kind-of-christmas jumper off my boyfriend. I love matching my nails to my outfits so this is exactly that.

I used Barry M - Blue Plum, Nails Inc - St James and Essie - Ballet Slipper for this look. I created the zig zag with a striper brush and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Houndstooth Graduation Nails

Wednesday was my boyfriends graduation as a Physiotherapist. It was such a good day, he even enjoyed himself considering he originally didn't want to go (men, limelight and all that..). I wore a lovely pair of trousers with a houndstooth design on. Naturally, I wanted to match my nails and I remembered seeing a houndstooth design on The Nailasaurus a while ago. So checked back through Sammy's archives and decieded it was too perfect to change so did a 'monkey-see-monkey-do' type mani. 

I did a base coat of W7 - Black and stamped using Bundle Monster BM322 with Barry M - Gold Foil. I added the studs that I got from eBay with a clear polish and sealed everything with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Mine is nowhere near as perfect as Sammy's. She is definitely the stamping Queen! But I love how it turned out, the stamping design is so seamless!

Thanks for stopping by. I have some amazingly-festive nails for you tomorrow!! 

Queen of Hearts!

This past Friday was my university inter-departmental christmas party for all post-grads and staff. The party as a whole has a theme of films and each floor/department chooses a film to go as. My floor decided to go as Alice In Wonderland and I choose Queen of Hearts! I love fancy dress and obviously had to match my nails!

The polishes I used were Barry M - Matt White, Barry M - Gold Foil, W7 - Black and W7 - Pillar Box Red. I also used hex glitters from the Born Pretty Store. The details were created with a striper brush and a dotting tool and finished with two coats of Seche Vite.

Polish Days: BLINGnails

I'm so excited! This is my first ever polish days. If you havn't heard of Polish Days, it's an organised monthly posting event where Hannah from Polly Polish creates a theme and subscribed bloggers sync their themed posts to be posted at the same time. You can subscribe here.

Today's theme is BLING nails in honour of the coming party season. I really think this is quite a festive mani aswel...great for the christmas parties!

I used two coats of Technic - Damson and used a cosmetic sponge to create a glitter gradient with Technic - Carnival. I finished with Seche Vite.

It's a simple mani but I absolutely love the finished result. It's just the right amount of bling for me.

Take a look at all the participating bloggers and their wonderfully blingy designs that'll make Beyoncé proud!

Grey ombre stripes!

I've been M.I.A for a while and I am sorry. It's the last couple of weeks of a uni project and things are abit hectic at the minute. I cannot wait to break up for christmas!

First I did two coats of W7 - Black and waited until it was completely dry. The I sectioned off a section of the nail with striping tape and painted on Essie - Power Clutch. Again, I waited for that to be completely dry and sections off another section and painted on Sally Hansen - Dorien Grey. I finally finished with two coats of Seche Vite.

I do love stripe mani's but this just absolutely ages to do. I suppose using Seche Vite between coats would have sped up the process but at £9 a bottle I'm reluctant to use it for anything but a topcoat!

Tape-icure.

Hey all. Really sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life has been hectic, hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon.

I love all the tape mani's that everyone seems to be able to do effortlessly. Let me tell you, it takes alot of practice! This is my first attempt. I'm really pleased with the outcome, regardless of a few lines that did not work out perfectly.

 I did a base coat of Barry M - Gold Foil on all nails but my index finger. I used striping tape to create the lines and painted over with W7 - Black, then carefully removed the tape. On the index finger I added square studs and I finished all with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Lest we forget. Remembrance Day Nails.

They shall grow not old, 

as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Today, 11/11, is the anual Remembrance Day that marks the end of World War I in 1918 at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. In todays post I give thanks to all soldiers who have fought in our wars, many of whom have sacrificed their lives in order to protect our country. But let us remember that our men and women fight for our safety all year round in many hostile environments and should not only be remembered and honoured on one special day, but all year round.

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day. Poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their brilliant red colour an appropriate symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

I used two coats of Barry M - Matt White and poppy decals from an eBay seller. These decals didn't work as well as previous decals I've used, they seemed more like paper and peeled off in corners before I added a coat of NYC - Grand Central Station and then a coat of Seche Vite. My index finger also smudged when I tried to fix the decal.

Regardless of my awful application. This mani is to show respect to all service men and women, past and present.

Lest we forget.

Bloggers against bullying: No H8!

Bullying is not funny. It is not cool. It is not right. And more importantly, it is not okay.

Most of us are, thankfully, residents of countries that support tolerance and many of our families have settled in these places simply for that reason. Generations later, it is our responsibility to perpetuate that message of tolerance across our new social platforms, including the internet.

As members of the nail polish blogging community, we all share a love of beauty, color, and lacquer. Other than that, we are remarkably different: from our race to our religion to our hair color...even to our polish application techniques. To marginalize anyone because of those differences is completely unacceptable and today I take a stand against that. I refuse to allow other people's view of "normal" dictate how I behave, believe, and blog. 

In solidarity with a multitude of bloggers linked below, my purple manicure represents my proud commitment to the No H8 movement. Today, November 8, I dedicate my post to ending bullying of any kind and to encouraging diversity and imperfection among our colorful community.

I'm a blogging baby in comparison to the majority of blogs I read religiously. I couldn't imagine being new to a community, all united by a love; be it polish, films or football, and have people slander something I love to do. I have been very fortunate and have had a lot of encouragement and support even though I'm far from where I want to be; my photo's are awful at times, my cuticles get into really bad states and I've posted some dodgy designs but I love what I do. The blogging bully's far outweigh the supportive and genuinely nice people in the nail blogging community and I'm very thankful for that. Don't let people get you down.

Today I'm wearing purple as a stand against bullying and for any blogger that has ever been made to feel they are not good enough. 

YOU ARE!

For this mani I used two coats of Nail Pop - Glamrock. On the accent nail I added a coat of NYC - Grand Central Station and, while it was still tacky, I sprinkled over MUA Constellations - Scorpio. Scorpio is fill of gold, pink and green mini beads. I added a coat of Seche Vite to all but the beaded nail (I've previously tried this and it ruined the beads).

The MUA nail constellations are really amazing for creating 3D nail art without the Ciate price tag; at only £3 a bottle, you just can't say no! The lid can also be turned up-side-down and double as a funnel for pouring in beads that didn't quite make the cut back into the bottle, minimising waste..genius!

The rest of the collection includes Pisces, Leo, Gemini and Libra.

Nail Pop (Look Beauty) - Petticoat Swatch

As I said in yesterday's post, I got a couple of Nail Pop by Look Beauty polishes from superdrug. This beauty is Petticoat. A lovely pinky nude. The polish is suprisingly opaque, this is 2 coats and a coat of Seche Vite and application was smooth. It's a really subtle colour and will suit most skin tones. Nail Pop cost £5 each but I got this and Glamrock in a 2 for £6 offer.

Nail Pop (Look Beauty) - Glamrock Swatch

I go into Superdrug at least once a week and I almost always buy a new polish. Last week I picked up this beaty called Glamrock buy Nail Pop (Look Beauty). I wouldn't spend £5 on a bottle of polish unless I absolutely needed it, but luckily Superdrug had a 2 for £6 offer on Nail Pop so I bought this and Petticoat (more on this soon). 

Glamrock is an amazing purple glitter in a plum coloured jelly polish. It's just beautiful. Glitters are usually a nightmare to remove but this is actually quite easy. This is almost a dupe for Nails Inc - Bow Street. I finished this with a coat of Seche Vite.

It's a great winter polish. I'm in love! 

Minnie Mouse Nails

Who doesn't love Minnie Mouse?! She's adorable! These nails where inspired by this post.  

I used two coats of W7 - Red and two coats of Barry M - Matt White on my ring finger. I then used a dotting tool to add black dots with mouse ears on my ring finger with W7 - Black and white polka dots to the remaining fingers. I used a detail brush to add small bows to the minnie mice. All finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Peter Pan Collar's

I have many tops with the peter pan collar. They're really cute and very feminine. I've seen quite a few interpretations of this in nail art and so I had to recreate it. I love the outcome! 

I used a base coat of Rimmel Nail Rescue and then used hole reinforcers to create the half moon shape with two coats of W7 - Black. I then used a striping brush to add the 'collars' with Barry M - Matt White and a dotting tool to add the 'buttons' with Barry M - Gold Foil. All finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Abstract Nails!

I'm really excited about showing you these nails. They were really fun to make and I love the outcome. This was one of them designs that sort of took shape as I started using the paint brush.

I used one coat of Barry M - Matt White and freehanded the designs with a striping brush using Revlon - Tropical Temptation, Barry M - Shocking Pink, Barry M - Cyan Blue, Technic - Lolli Pop, MUA - Shade 5, Rimmel - Lemon Drop and W7 - Black. I also used a dotting tool for the dots and finished with a coat of Seche Vite.

Have you noticed that I've figured out the sizing issues with my images and my cuticles are a lot better? Vaseline and cotton gloves to bed! Who knew?!

EDIT: These nails featured in Reader Nail Art Week - Day 5 of The Daily Nail!! 

I'M TOO EXCITED TO BE ON HER BLOG!!