Sunday 29 July 2012

Naughty Gradient

I decided to try another gradient and the technique held up again! I was obviously just doing it wrong before, but I have mastered it now, so all is right with the world.

This mani has a very summer holiday feel to it. I kinda wish I had done my nails like this for when I went away so I could actually enjoy them in summery weather instead of the hail stones and thunder and lightning we are having here...

Anyway...

Before top coat

I applied Rimmel base, two coats of Naughty from the B and M Store which is a very bright pink jelly with a matte finish (I don't know how that works, every jelly I've come across before was super shiny). This is from the same set as Glam which wasn't even properly dry after 24 hours (you could still mark it by pressing a nail into it). This time I applied very thin coats and waited longer between them and it dried perfectly! I was so happy with this. I then used the sponge method of applying both Naughty and 2true Shade No. 25 (a beautiful orange shimmer) to my nails.

 With top coat
With top coat

 I then finished it off with a coat of Espirit's Clear Glow with is a very subtle silver microglitter top coat. You can barely see the top coat in the pictures but it gives the mani a pretty sparkle in a certain light.

I'm tempted to add a white stamped hibiscus flower just to amp up the summery feel even more so if I do end up doing that I'll upload a few pictures.

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Ikat/Aztec Nails

In my last post I talked about using Jen's tutorials in the future. I never meant I would use them for my next manicure but I was watching her videos and I was inspired!

I decided to try her Ikat Print Nails Tutorial with a few changes to the colours used.

I do have all the colours she suggested but I decided to change the centre colour for a red (although it is quite a corally red).




First I applied a Rimmel base and two coats of  Golden Rose's shade 88, which is a lovely light blue jelly. I then followed her instructions with half diamond shapes using a white striper from Pink Tease. I then added a blob of red in the middle of the diamond shapes using OPI's Red Lights Ahead…Where? (which I am in LOVE with). I then used a black striper from Pink Tease for the outlines and blobs in the middle. I finished it off with NYC's Grand Central Station quick dry top coat.





I love this manicure. I can't stop staring at my nails and I keep being asked if I have nail stickers on. I'll take that as a compliment! 

I definitely recommend Jen's tutorials, they are a lot of fun and very simple, none of that complicated stuff that you KNOW will look like a two year old has done it when you attempt it (only me?).

Thanks for reading!
 

Monday 23 July 2012

Bronze Rage Gradient

I decided that I needed some work on my gradients.  My previous attempt here went pretty well but before that I had tried one that didn't involve glitter and it was a bit of a disaster so I never even bothered to post it.

I decided to watch a different YouTube video to the one I had used before, thinking that maybe a different technique was what I needed. And I was right. I used this YouTube tutorial and Jen's technique worked a treat!

Before I had only put one colour on the sponge and had sponged layers of colour onto my nail. While this worked with glitter it was a lot less effective with regular polish. The technique of painting both colours onto the sponge worked a lot better as the colours merged better on the sponge as I was dabbing it onto my nail.

Here are the results!



I applied Rimmel base, two coats of Maybelline MNY in 445 and 2true top coat (I used top coat as I was originally planning on stamping my nails until this idea came to me). I then painted Bronze Rage by Models Own and Maybelline's 445 onto a small makeup sponge and sponged it onto my nails. I topped it off with another coat of 2true top coat.



I have seen 445 described as a shimmer but I would definitely say it was a microglitter with a lot of pale gold microglitter and a little silver and bronze too, which gives it a more textured look on the nails. Bronze Rage is a bronze metallic that I absolutely love, one of my favourite polishes.


I am so pleased with the results! I will definitely be using Jen's nail art tutorials again as she made it so easy to follow and explained everything really well.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday 22 July 2012

Fantasy Fire

I bought this polish a while back after seeing tonnes of great pictures and reviews online. I finally got around to trying it out for myself and I definitely wasn't disappointed. 



I applied Rimmel base, two coats of Avon's Vivid Violet, one coat of Max Factor's Max Effect Fantasy Fire and 2true top coat. I added a clear rhinestone to my accent nails. I used Vivid Violet as I thought that applying Fantasy Fire to a colour very similar to it, it would come out like the bottle colour. This didn't really work, however the effect was still eye catching.



These pictures make the polish look quite blue, it was a much more pinky purple in real life.  This polish is beautiful under bright artificial lighting (like a museum/art shop kinda light) as well as natural light and firelight.

The shimmer comes through very pink/purple on top of the purple base, however blue, red, green and gold all came through in different lights I just wasn't able to get a picture of it.

This polish practically glowed on my nails, probably thanks to Vivid Violet which is a lovely bright purple on it's own, providing the perfect backdrop for Fantasy Fire.

The  next time I wear Fantasy Fire I will probably try it over a colour a little less similar to it so that I can see the colour shift more. The purple allowed it to blend in a bit and appear as if I was wearing a normal shimmer at times.


Wednesday 18 July 2012

Dive Bar

Today I have my very first Essie polish to show you!

I have seen a lot of different Essie's on all the blogs I follow so when I saw this one in the Duty Free at the airport in Turkey I just had to have it!

It is so different to any polish I've seen before and I fell in love with it the moment I picked it up.

Dive Bar is a blue/purple duochrome shimmer in a black base and it is absolutely gorgeous.


Because it is a dark colour I thought it would be bound to stain so I applied two base coats, one of Rimmel and one of Barbara Daly's Goodbye Yellow. I then applied two coats of Dive Bar and a coat of 2true top coat.

Here is a close up so you can really see the gorgeous colour of this polish.

I added a silver fleur de lis using a silver striper from Fing'rs on my accent nails. I'm quite proud of my little fleur de lis actually!


I was slightly disappointed that the purple duochrome that is so evident in the bottle really doesn't show on the nails at all. But even with out that the polish is absolutely stunning, definitely one of my favourites.


Thanks for reading!

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Cafe Au Lait

This is a manicure I did a LOOOONG time ago. I just found the pictures floating around in my computer and thought it would be a shame to waste them, even though they are pretty pathetic!


This is a Rimmel base coat, one coat of Becca's Brown by Models Own. two coats of Avon's Cafe Au Lait and 2true top coat.


This is a lovely brown pearl shade which I really do adore. It is very similar to Avon's Freezing, which I used in this manicure last month. This shade is darker and more chocolatey though. I really can't decide which I love the most, they are both so pretty!

I can't remember much about application or durability but I do remember being please with it, despite the slight bubbling but that was no doubt due to my own impatience!

Thanks for reading!

Sunday 15 July 2012

Peach Holo

Like I said in yesterdays post, I bought a lot of polishes while I was in Turkey.

My initial plan had been to keep the same manicure for the whole two weeks I was there but who am I kidding? A week in and I had already bought myself 8 polishes, some nail polish remover and some cotton pads.

I decided to try my holo over one of the polishes I had bought seeing as I had loved it so much over the silver.

This polish is number 27 from Cecile and is a gorgeous peach with silver glitter dust (what is it called when it isn't a shimmer but isn't quite glitter either? I'm gonna call it glitter dust) through it. I will definately show you it on its own at some point in the future. It is just as pretty without the holo.



Due to my plan of not painting my nails I had no base or top coat with me, so this is just two coats of 27 and one coat of Catherine Arley's 676 over that.




This is SUCH a pretty combo in real life. I loved it even more than I liked the silver and that was a LOT.

Due to the lack of base/top coat there was minimal tip wear and chipping but considering I was in and out of the pool all day, plus going out at night I think it fared pretty well! This lasted until today, so about a week with only a little damage. Not bad.

Thanks for reading!

Saturday 14 July 2012

Holographic Catherine Arley 676

So I have returned from my two weeks in Turkey with a much lighter purse, twelve new polishes and two manis to show you.

Like I said in my last post I took my holographic on holiday with me to see how it would look in PROPER sunlight, not the silly lightbulb strength light we get in Scotland.

I got Catherine Arley's holographic 676 as a birthday present from my mum and hadn't got around to trying it out yet, so I decided a holiday in 100+ degrees was the perfect time to try it out.

The day before I left I did my nails.




I used Rimmel base coat, a coat of Maybelline's Silver Speed and two coats of 676. I didn't apply a top coat as I have heard a lot about top coats ruining the holographic effect and I really wanted to see it in all it's glory.



It fared well for a over a week with minimal tip wear. The only problem was that the chemicals in my suncream seemed to dull the holographic effect a bit which was disappointing. Also the heat seemed to melt the polish a little to it was possible to scrape off a layer with your fingernail quite easily...

Apart from that I was very impressed with the holo. It is much better than what the pictures show, but we all know that holos are notoriously difficult to photograph.

Thanks for reading!