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!

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!

Peacock Nails

I love peacock feathers. I think their shimmery iridescence is absolutely stunning so when I saw people using the Bundle Monster plate BM212 (which I own) to make peacock nails I just HAD to have peacock nails too.

I had always wanted to do peacock nails and first saw the plate being used when I was searching YouTube for peacock nail art. This is the video I first came across using the plate.  I also saw a blog post by Gwenn at Sugar Nails using this plate too.

I started off with a Goodbye Yellow (Barbara Daly) base and a Rimmel base as the green polish stained my nails really badly, despite a base coat, the last time I wore it.  It's one of my favourite polishes but I always hated wearing it but the base combo seemed to stop any staining, so I'm very happy :)

I then painted two coats of Peacock Green (perfect name for this mani) by Models Own. I added a 2true top coat then I stamped using Nail Supreme's gold and the BM212 plate.  I then used a dotting tool to place alternating dots of Maybelline MNY in 553 and Barbara Daly's Carnival. And topped all of this off with a Rimmel top coat.

All the tutorials and blog posts I saw using this stamp all stamped with a silver polish and I couldn't understand why.  Peacocks have a very warm, golden shimmer through their feathers so I decided to use gold and I definitely think it was the right decision.

I received sooooo many compliments for this mani and it is definitely my favourite of all the manis I have ever done, so this will probably be a regular appearance on my nails!

Thanks for reading!

15. Splatter Nails

15 Grab a straw and do some paint splatters over that blue! One coluor, multicoloured, whichever you please! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see this tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqiCfnXWw9Y

I hadn't ever considered doing splatter nails before this challenge because I always thought they would be super hard to do.  I was SO wrong! They are really easy, the only downside is the clean-up but that's easy enough.

Right Thumb

I decided to use a purple that one of my best friends bought my for my birthday. Maybelline's MNY in 553 (don't you just hate it when companies are too lazy to give their polishes names?! Such a pet hate of mine) is a gorgeous plum purple with a slight shimmer to it, although that isn't very clear here.

Right Hand

So on top of the blue mani from mani number 14 I added a splatter of 553 with a straw.  I found the technique of dipping the straw in polish and blowing through it very easy although it was kinda frustrating when the straw didn't pick up polish and all you got was air coming through. But when it worked it was marvellous!

Left Hand

I taped up my fingers to just below my nail so avoid getting polish all over my hands, but there was still a lot of clean-up to do around my finger nails.\

Left Thumb4

I really loved how every nail had a different design on it, and the colour combo was very vibrant and striking in real life. These pictures don't do it justice!

Thanks for reading!



Silver Rose

So I was kinda stuck on the silver polish from my last post and decided to use it again because I loved it so much.                                                                

  I used a Rimmel base coat, two coats of Maybelline's Silver Speed and two coats of a nameless silver glitter from Claire's on all my fingers but my thumb.  On my thumb I used my stamping plates and used a large rose design. And a 2true top coat over everything.

I love this manicure!  Glitter in general just excites me so much, but this silver glitter is astonishing in person.  I adore it!  And the rose was very simple but added to the look, stopping it from looking too rediculously glittery.

I got a lot of compliments for this manicure and I will definately do this again at some point :)

Maybelline's Silver Speed and Cosmic Flash

With this design I decided to have a little fun with my stamping plates and see what I could do with this pretty design.

I appled a Miss Sporty base coat, two coats of Maybelline's Silver Speed on all my fingers except my ring fingers, which had two coats of Maybelline's Cosmic Flash.  I then finished with a Miss Sporty top coat.  Added the stamp from a fake Konad plate and finished with my thick Rimmel top coat that I keep for stamping :)

I really wish I had painted all my fingers silver and just put Cosmic Flash on top of that on my ring fingers.  I think that would have looked much better, but que sera sera.  At least I will know what to do if I ever try this manicure again!

But apart from that I really like it!  I love silver polishes, they always make me think of space and stars which makes me happy :)