Feminine Light Pink Glitter Nails with Revlon 'Sparkling'

Today I decided to do something a bit more subtle so I've done some light pink glittery nails which I think look really quite cute.

I started with 2 coats of Rimmel's French Manicure colour in 'Rose Praline'. The colour itself is really nice - a light pink colour with a nice shimmer to it. I can't say I'm massively impressed with the application however. It was definitely not opaque after 2 coats and it was quite streaky. I managed to get away with 2 layers because I was putting on a couple of coats of glitter. Maybe it would be ok for a French manicure? I'll have to try it.

I then dabbed on (much better way to put on glitter rather than normal brushing which will drag it down to the end of the nail) 2 coats of Revlon's 'Sparkling' (261). This is a lovely polish. You'd need a lot of coats to provide full coverage (in fact, it's probably not really possible) but it looks great on. In fact, I've found a great blog post showing the coverage after 1, 2, 3 and 4 coats - you can take a look at Imagination in Colour here.

I finished the look off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Teal Green and Gold Nail Art: Stripes and Glitter

Today I've decided to do some bright, funky nails using a deep teal polish and some bright gold striping tape and glitter.

It took a while to do (I'm no good at getting the tape lined up well) but I think the results look good. I used Accessorize 'Teal' as the base colour (unfortunately my camera doesn't like photographing teal colours so they always look more blue than green. I would have tried to colour correct it but with the gold it would have made everything else look really weird).

I then used this gold striping tape to create the gold stripes across the nail. I then used some clear polish and some gold glitter on my ring finger for an accent nail. I finished off with a couple of layers of Seche Vite - in fact I think I used 3 on the glitter nail (I swear glitter just eats top coats)

Comic Strip Nail Art!

Today I'm sharing bright comic-strip inspired nails. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with how these came out!! 

I used Rimmel 'Tangy Tangerine' for the base then I used the cling film (seran wrap if you're in the US) method to dot on some Collection 'Big Hair' (can't find a link I'm afraid!), a great bright red polish that I picked up in Superdrug.

I then used stamping plate BM-305 with MUA 'Black' polish to create the zagged lines. The ring-finger design is done with sellotape and MUA 'Black' again and Accessorize 'Crystal' (can't find a link again but I picked it up at Superdrug)... 

Of course, I finished the look with a coat of my trusty Seche Vite. What do you think? Have you done anything similar? I got a lot of complements for these as I think they are quite unusual. although they are a bit loud  for some occasions! 

Pink and Black Lace Flower French Tips

Hi everyone, today I've done some really pretty pink and black lace flowery nails. They are kind of like a slanted french tip effect on the nail. 

I started off with a couple of coats of Sally Hansen Hard As Nails in 'Terracotta' I love this polish - it's so nice and easy to apply! I then used some nail stickers I bought from Ebay. I actually bought these ages ago so the link I've included is for some different but similar ones. I could manage to find the exact same ones unfortunately.

I finished the look off with a couple of coats of my trusty Seche Vite, which you can buy here. Still my absolute favourite, favourite top coat (some things don't change!)

I'm really impressed with the effect overall. I think they look really elegant and striking! I'm definitely going to be buying some similar stickers to try this again!

Swatch: Sally Hansen's Insta-dry in Lovely Lilac

So, you may have noticed that I'm back! It's been a while I know but I've had a pretty hectic couple of months with Christmas and then I stated a new job...

So, I've bought a lot of new polish lately! I have also managed to get a lot of it pretty cheap, so I've decided that I'm going to do some posts with polish swatches to share some of the gems I've picked up...

So, here's the first one for you - today I'm swatching

Sally Hansen's Lovely Lilac'...

You can pick it up from Amazon here...

It's a lovely light lilac colour which I think is great for everyday wear...I only needed one coat of it so it's was nice and quick to apply. The consistency of the polish was good - not too thick - it actually probably looked a bit thicker than it was so I ended up with too much on my brush at first.

I finished the polish off with a coat of Seche Vite (of course!) What do you think?

Top 5 Gifts for Nail Polish/Art Lovers!

I've decided to stray away from the norm today and write about what I think are some of the best gifts for nail lovers everywhere!

I've tried to give an explanation as to what each item is for and I've ordered them by price (high to low). I'm hoping that this will also be a great guide for anyone who doesn't know anything about nails so if you're reading about any of the products and, well, scratching your head then leave me a comment and I'll happily give you some further information about what the heck you are looking at :)

A (pricier) gift for the girl who likes long lasting polish

Under £70

I bought the Sensationail kit mid-2012 after reading some pretty rave reviews about it. Basically you use a special polish with it which needs to be cured under a UV light which then makes it stay on a LOT longer than normal polish. I have to say - it does work and it's really easy to apply. I think the longest I've gone without having to re-apply is about 2 weeks but I never go easy on my nails (they get hammered daily at the mercy of the keyboard and I never wear gloves for washing up, cleaning, re-grouting the bathroom ha ha)... The kit includes enough to do 10 sets of nails - a lot cheaper than going to a salon which will set you back around £30 a go for Gellish/Shellac nails.

For the girl who wants easy, uber-impressive nails...

Under £30

Ok, so this is kind of 2 items, but you'll be needing both of them. The stamps provide a pattern to transfer to the nails and of course the stamper puts it on... If you're a regular on my blog you will have seen lots of examples of how impressive nail art stamping can be. It's so easy to do and looks absolutely great. If you want to go all out you can also buy the special polish to stamp with, but I actually just tend to use a normal polish and although it doesn't work with them all, it does work really well with some - you just need to experiment a little.

For the girl who always moans about weak nails...

Under £20

I've got pretty weak nails in general, and since I've been using nailtiques formula 2 I have to say that I've noticed a big difference. I don't believe there is a miracle product out there but this is definitely as close as it comes! Having said that, I have never used it as the instructions say (which is to apply a coat every night, reducing to every other night as you see improvement). I always just use it as a base coat and as I often wear a manicure for a couple of days, I've never applied it daily. It takes a few weeks to see any difference but I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this to someone!

For the girl who wants some nail inspiration!

Under £10

WAH-nails started in London in 2009, and now have reached some pretty dizzying heights as one of the authorities on nail art - you can even now find them in Topshop in Oxford Circus (and I believe Manchester).  This book is great as it shows some really great tutorials of varying difficulty (and some of the simple ones are actually among the most visually impressive!)

For the girl who likes some bling!

Er, under £10... again...

I love nail wheels and I have far too many - this kit is great as you get a selection of fimo pieces (basically, small colourful images printed on fimo material to stick on), colourful stones and small flat-sided beads/pearls. This kit will put a great finishing touch to any manicure!

NB: I'm well aware that one of the reviews on the Amazon page for this product says that it wouldn't make a good gift because of the packaging. I've never bought a nail art wheel set and found the wheel to be of good quality - just needs a bit of ribbon to pretty it up and it's great :).



So, hope that's helpful to some people at least :) Feel free to leave me a comment if you want any more information about any of the products...

Ice Cream Nails - Dessert - The Lazy 15

So here are today's Lazy Challenge nails, and on time for once!

I was between doing strawberry nails and these, but decided that ice cream is A far more fun dessert in my opinion. The look I've gone for is mint choc chip ice cream with chocolate sauce over the top!

I used Barry M 'Mint Green' for the base and No7 'Beanie' for the chocolate chips and sauce. I then dotted some bright acrylic paint colours over the top to look like hundreds and thousands. I used Seche Vite as a top coat.

This was my first attempt at doing drip nails and they aren't quite neat enough for me to be happy, I didn't have time to re-do them though and they were ok enough for me to post!

Here are the great nails from everyone else in the challenge: