Amethyst Feathers

Purple is definitely my favourite nail polish shade to wear and this polish definitely didn't disappoint me. Sadly I don't have a picture of this glorious colour on it's own as I was originally planning only to stamp on my accent nail but I got a bit carried away with the stamping and covered all of my nails...

On to the design!

I applied Barbara Daly base coat, two coats of Amethyst from Body Collection and 2true top coat. I then stamped with half of the feather design on Bundle Monster plate BM214 with Technic's gold striper polish (their metallic stripers are great for stamping). I finished off with Rimmel top coat.

Amethyst is a lovely dark aubergine metallic purple polish that I loved on it's own. To be honest I probably preferred it without the stamping but I still like the feather detail. A nice autumnal design I think!

Thanks for reading!

Mermaids in a Starry Sky

Let me just start by telling you that I have never seen such a shiny silver polish in my life, it is truly amazing! It's the closest to a mirror I've ever seen in a polish, the pictures definitely don't do this polish justice!

 This is Barbara Daly base and two coats of Starry Sky by Avon. This polish dries really quick and has a lovely shiny finish. Application was good, the polish is thin but has great coverage.

I then applied Technic's Mermaid at the bases of my nails. Mermaid is a pretty blue glitter in a clear jelly base with large hexagon and small circle glitters. I love this polish, it really suits it's name, it looks like little fish scales on your nails! The only issue with this was drying time, it took ages to dry, probably because I was impatient and kept blobbing it on without waiting for the other coat to dry, but still, it was frustrating. I then applied NYC Grand Central Station top coat.

I love this mani, it looks kinda futuristic but at the same time pretty and ethereal. And I love the contrast of the names, Mermaid and Starry Sky, from totally opposite parts of the world!

Thanks for reading!

Pink Mirror

I have the beautiful sister of Blue Mirror to show you today, with a little added stamping.

This foil polish is just as lovely on it's own as the blue version is, just slightly less metallic. Still very eye catching  though! Sadly I was so excited about stamping that I forgot to take any pictures of it on its own. Never mind.

I applied Barbara Daly base and one coat of W7's Pink Mirror (yes it's a one coater, how perfect is that?!).  I then used MUA black and Bundle Monster plate BM208 with the two different smashed/scattered looking patterns. I used the partial coverage design on all but my accent nails and the fuller design on my accents. I then used Rimmel top coat.

I really like this design, the partial coverage design reminds me a little of the sections on a butterfly/dragonfly wing, I might have to incorporate that into a design someday!

Thanks for reading!

Award No. 2 ~ The Liebster Award

I received my second award this week! The lovely Caroline over at Caroline's Nails tagged me, so thank you very much Caroline! Caroline blogs nails and other beauty things, so go ahead and follow her, her blog is great!

This award has rules, just like all the others, so here they are:

1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 11 questions the 'tagger' has set for them.
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There's no tag backs.                                       

 

The Leibster Award is awarded to blogs with under 200 followers to help them gain followers and exposure to other blogs. Sounds like a great idea to me!

11 Things About Me

1. I am starting university in 3 weeks to study Psychology and Biology.
2. I am a big fan of baking.
3. I like to read a lot.
4. I spend a ridiculous amount of my life watching boxsets of TV shows.
5. I am a massive Audrey Hepburn fan.
6. My favourite colour is winey purple/red.
7. My favourite animals are foxes and whales.
8. I really want to visit Alaska (to see Chris McCandless' bus) and Iceland (to see the Aurora Borealis).
9.  I love gangster movies and war movies.
10. I have a list of places to visit before I die, it takes up two pages!
11. And finally, I love Christmas time, best time of the year!

11 Questions from Caroline

1. Why did you start your blog? I really love nail art and I had been reading a variety of nail blogs for about a year when I decided I wanted to have one too.
2. Do you ever feel like you won't get more followers? Do you ever loose hope and think that blogging was a bad idea? Why? I didn't really make my blog with the aim of getting followers. It's more a blog for me to put my pictures somewhere and I can look back on them, having followers and people interested in my nails is just a bonus!
3. What keeps you motivated to keep blogging? It kinda justifies the crazy amounts of nail polish I buy!
4. What is your favorite brand of polish? Ooooh, I would saaaaay... Models Own.
5. What is your favorite nail art trend? Probably gradients or stamping (does that count as a trend?)
6. How do you wear your nails most of the time? Long, short, medium? Plain color? Crazy art? Stamping? I want to know! Normally medium length with an accent nail or stamping.
7. What is your favorite manicure that you've ever done? Post a picture or link! My favourite would probably be my peacock nails. (Picture at the bottom of these questions)
8. With nails, beauty, and blogging out of the way, what are your other hobbies or pastimes? I read and bake a lot. I also watch a lot of TV and I'm really into music.
9. What is your favorite song? Ride by Cary Brothers, its been my favourite song since I was 16.
10. Who is your favorite band/artist? This is hard!! Uhm... At the moment Ben Howard but I go through phases.
11. What are your top 5 favorite blogs? Polished Pinay,
    Clothes, Cosmetics and Chat, Man Polish, Varnished Valkyrie and The PolishAholic

 
My 11 questions for the people I've tagged

1. How long have you been blogging?
2. What motivated you to start your blog?
3. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
4. Does your nail art get noticed by strangers in real life? Do you like this?
5. How many nail polishes do you own?
6. What is your favourite nail colour for the 4 different seasons? (One per season)
7. Have you ever considered taking your hobby further? (i.e. nail/make up courses, working in a nail salon)
8. Do you research swatches/reviews before you buy a polish or are you an impulse buyer?
9.  Are their polishes you can't get in your country that you really want?
10. What is the most amount of money you would spend on a polish and why?
11. Would you even consider making YouTube tutorials of your nail art? Why/why not?

Now for the 11 people I've tagged (this just reminded me that I never got around to tagging for my first award!)

1. Polished Pinay 
2. AbbieNail
3. Figgy Lane
4. Maggie's Nails
5. Nail Narcotics!
6. OMFGyournails 
7. Polish Crazed
8. Sunshine Rose 
9. Wendy's Delights 
10. the2BEAUTYBLOGGERS 
11. Lacquer Enhanced 

Thank you again to Caroline for tagging me!

Holo Chrome

I saw this polish on one of the blogs I follow a few months ago and I was completely taken with it. I HAD to have a bottle. This polish was the whole reason I ordered my Kleancolors polishes and it definitely didn't disappoint.

I applied Barbara Daly Goodbye Yellow base, one coat of Essence's Chuck ( a lovely blue creme), two coats of Holo Chrome and 2true top coat.  Holo Chrome is a little gritty so the top coat is definitely needed to even that out but after that it's perfect.

Holo Chrome sits in a purple jelly base with tiny holographic glitters and slightly bigger (but still tiny) blue glitters. The blue glitters keep the polish looking primarily purple despite the holographic rainbows it throws off in the light.

This picture is super blurry but it shows off the rainbows a bit better than I was able to clearly photograph. (It still looks way better in real life). And my grandad's a fan, you can't really go wrong with that!

Click to enlarge the pictures, they look so much better blown up!

Thanks for reading!

Freehand Frenchie

One simple thing I've never been good at is French manicures. I just cannot get the tips right and it drives me crazy. So when I bought Konad's M19 plate it was perfect for me. However I decided to give a freehand French manicure a go and I didn't do too bad this time!

I applied Rimmel base, then used Allura white for the tips, Allura French pink over my whole nail and then topped it off with Allura top coat. The tips are still a bit wobbly and nowhere near perfect but they were acceptable!

The only problem I had with the Allura polishes is that they went kind of matte and they felt strange to the touch. Kind of soft, if that makes sense?

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Chunky Holo Purple

I came home to a delivery of six new Kleancolor beauties and I am so excited to show them to you guys!

The first one I tried was Chunky Holo Purple and it is absolutely marvelous.

I applied Rimmel base, one coat of a purple creme from Flormar (shade no N009), one coat of Chunky Holo Purple and 2true top coat. I probably could have done with another coat of the holo but it was still pretty with the amount I had on.

The holo consists of tiny circular holographic glitters in a sheer purple jelly base. The holo throws off gold, red, purple, blue, green and pink depending on the light. It was extremely hard to photograph! The only downside would be the drying time. I am extremely impatient between coats so I ended up with bubbling plus indentations after I had finished my nails because they still took a while to dry.

But trust me, in person it was fabulous!

Thanks for reading!

Sexy Gradient

These gradients are becoming a bit of a habit!

This time I decided to do the gradient as an accent nail instead of my whole hand.

I started off with Rimmel base on all my nails. I then applied one coat of Tiger's Shade 57 which is a brilliant black creme (and its a one coater, perfection!) to all my nails bar my accent ones. I applied three coats of Allura's white polish to my accent nails.

To create the gradient I painted the white, OPI's Pedal Faster Suzi! (a pale pink full of silver micro glitter) and OPI's Kiss Me On My Tulips (a hot pink creme) onto a sponge in that order and applied it to my accent nails. I then added a coat of Sexy (a beautiful glitter that changes from gold to green depending on the lighting) from the B and M set I bought a while back. I finished off with 2true top coat.

This gradient worked even better than the previous ones I thought, possibly because I used three colours which gave it a more gradual change. Although it might just be practice that's helping me to improve.

Thanks for reading!

Holo French Manicure

I have another holographic to show you today!

This one I bought a while back on a trip to Livingston and the Bodycare shop. It was only £1.99 so I didn't have high hopes, but I thought it would be worth a try.

On a side note, a Bodycare shop opened up in my city a few weeks ago and I bought some other Technic polishes. One of them is completely fine but the other one smells like really strong sewage, I'm not even joking! I have no idea if its the formula for that colour or if there is something wrong with my bottle but its terrible! I'm really tempted to take it back to the shop just to see the shop assistants face when they smell it! Haha, safe to say I wont be using that polish!

Anyway, onto my nails.

Without top coat

Without top coat

Without top coat

I applied Rimmel base and two coats of Technic's nameless holographic. I was pleasantly surprised! The holographic is really quite visible, even indoors. Definitely better than what I was expecting! The formula is quite thick as well, so two coats was all I needed. My Catherine Arley holo either has to be layered over silver polish or you need quite a few coats for full coverage.

With stamping and top coat

With stamping and top coat

 

I then decided to add a little stamping. I used Konad plate M19 and Konad black Special  Polish to create a French tip design and added a Rimmel top coat. This was my first time using this plate and I had heard that it is one of the hardest plates to use due to positioning and ensuring there is enough polish filling the design. I didn't find it that much of a problem, and I think my positioning was alright for a first try.

Another plus with this polish is that a top coat didn't ruin the holographic at all! And I know how much of a problem that is with more expensive holos. The only problem is getting a good photo of the holo-y goodness! So all in all I'm pretty impressed with my little bargain.

Thanks for reading!