Deciding what to wear for Spring

I'm never been much of a bright colours person, but of late I've been stretching my colour boundaries and trying not only some new colours in my wardrobe but also on my nails.

This was my first attempt and was inspired by a skirt I bought from Forever21 which as the design shows below is green with black polka dots. I love it. It's a pencil skirt and I paired it with bright purple shoes and a 'black' T-Shirt and denim jacket. I didn't want to over do the colour.

I bought these Models Own HyperGel polishes in a set from Superdrug and they are a slightly smaller bottle size at 10ml. These really are lovely bright shiny polishes and the other great thing about buying this set is that it included bright colours that I might not normally have purchased.

Next was a Spring gradient, as this Colour Show Bleached Neon in Chic Chartreuse has been sitting on my untrieds rack for some time. I thought it would make a nice transition from purple (which you can't see very well here) through to blue and then the green.

Plan was to stamp over this with gold, but didn't have enough time after creating the gradient, so left it as it was!

Cats and more adventures in Nail Art

After my adventures in Nail Art, I have been inspired but however unimpressed with my efforts. I did create a shimmery grey manicure with triangular metal studs, however I wasn't patience and mushed the polish when applying them.

Then my other half picked these puss puss decals up that were on the dining room table and said "When are you going to use these?". No better excuse so I thought I would.

I purchased these gorgeous decals on Etsy from NorthofSalem for the small sum of £3.41. The shop is in the US, but they arrived very quickly and the nice thing about these is that they are all different sizes, so great no matter if you have long or short nubbins.

Here's what I created with them along with an attempt to use some untrieds polishes.

In particular I needed to use this Acid Wash polish from ColorShow and based my theme around this. Personally I think it's too busy, I like the dotty nails and the cat decals, just not keen on the accent nail with the Acid Wash polish. I have all four of the Acid Wash polishes ColorShow came out with. The only one I really like is the one in the clear base. The others are to gloopy and sheer that you need several coats to make the base colour opaque. In the mani I layered it over the olive colour I used on my other nails, I stilled needed two coats.

Unfortunately you have to be VERY careful with Top Coating these decals, the first one I applied I topped with HK Girl quick dry top coat and it basically melted the decal. This one I used a bog standard top coat and then after I took this picture I decided I wanted to pop some H K Girl on too. I thought it would be OK having been top coated already, however it partially melted it's bum!

This manicure didn't stay on long and I'm pleased to say, third time lucky, I was very happy with my next Nail Art attempt. Inspired by the pattern on a top I bought from Primark, I created this design.

It's an abstract flower design, really pleased with the way they came out, and even better I figured out the macro lens I bought for my phone, so here's an EXTREME CLOSE UP!

I just used a nail art brush to dab the polishes on and layered each colour over each other. Very pleased with the results and this will be staying on my nails for as long as possible.

Whilst I was creating this manicure this is what my cat was doing, sitting on my nail art brushes. She doesn't like to sit on my lap when I do my nails, she doesn't like the smell of polish and remover.

Adding to my crazy cat lady theme, when hunting in Hobby Craft for Nail stuff and glitter, I came across these adorable little wooden cats. My friend makes jewellery and so she helped me make them into these lovely earrings!

I've also bought shed loads of glitter and things to stick on to my nails. I also bought quite a few glass pendants and housings so I'm hoping to make some nail polish jewellery, more on that soon!

My Top 5 Polishes

This post was inspired by Samantha Rogers over at The Nail and Beauty Files who did a post on her Top 5 polishes. Go check her blog out, she has some great post on not just nail related stuff but also make up reviews. 

So it got me thinking on what mine may be, a few sprung to mind straight away, and then when delving into my stash, it became very difficult to whittle them down to five. Here's what I came up with:

My choices are from top middle, and clockwise order:

Deborah Lippmann - Video Killed The Radio Star

Barry M - Persian

Color Show - Rose Chic

OPI - Love, Peace and OPI

Orly - Oui

Let's start in no particular order with 'Video Killed the Radio Star'. This stunning blue polish is from Deborah Lippmann's Summer 2014 80's Rewind collection. It's the brightest pure blue polish that I own and formula is spot on.

WARNING this polish stains like a bitch if you're a doofus like me and apply it without a base coat, but hey I was out and about and had to try it. I've topped it here with 'Floral Street Muse' from Nails Inc. If you're a fan of blue polish, like me, you need this in your collection. The shade is like no other blue polish I own.

Next up is a Barry M polish from their Aquarium collection called 'Persian'. It's a Duo-chrome that shift from purple, to gold to burgundy. I do have a soft spot of Duo-Chrome polishes and this one really delivers on the colour shift. 

It's one of those polishes that when you put on you can't stop looking at. Barry M just keeping coming out with these gorgeous effect polishes and glitters at the moment and they are so well priced.

Up next is a colour that I don't normally wear, it's a pink, well rose gold polish if you want to split hairs, from Color Show. I'm not sure what made me buy it, think it was when Superdrug were doing one of their buy one and get on half price offers. However I'm a sucker for a textured glitter polish and this is exactly what this is. 'Rose Chic' is one of four textured polishes from the Crystallize collection. Just a mini rant here, Maybelline released four Crystallize polishes over here in the UK, and in the US they released six, this seems to be a common theme. 

Next is a polish I love but haven't warn in ages and decided to pop it on my nubbins tonight as I didn't have a swatch to show. Possibly my favourite polish brand when I first started collecting these little bottles, OPI was something that I thought was unobtainable, at first...

This is OPI's 'Peace, Love and OPI' and is another colour shifting polish. As per, the picture does this polish NO justice, as it shifts from a gun metal grey to burgundy/brown which you can see here and green. Blummin gorgeous and formula amazing, I wish I hadn't left it so long to wear again.

Last but not least is Orly's 'Oui' which is everything I hoped that this polish would be. Again this was a brand that I can't buy anywhere near me and on a trip down South I was taken to a shop called Bond Link and I bought this polish and I think I may have even bought 'Love, Peace and OPI' at the same time too. 

Now I have several polishes that look to be the same type of colour and effect in the bottle but this is the only one that really transitions the shimmer on to the nail.

It shifts between a purple and burgundy, again like some of my other polish picks, but this also has a gorgeous gold shimmer running though it. I think I may need to pop this on my nails next.

Hope you liked this post and that the polishes I picked weren't too similar. I made a conscious effort to pick polishes from different brands but not colours or effects. I love Duo-Chromes and purple, burgundy and blue polishes so this is where my favourites lie. So I think I'll blog soon about my fav. purple polishes, as I have A LOT.

 I'd be interested in hearing what your Top 5 polish picks are, let me know in the comments below.

Fire and Rainbow - Challenge Day's 19 and 20

Trying  catch up with me days this weekend but still falling behind. This quick evening manicure after the Monet success was a firery type affair. I tried the old marbling on the nail type of technique where you blob a couple of different coloured polishes on your nails and then use a tooth pick to drag and swirl the polish. I think the mistake I made here was choosing polishes that were to close in colour and shade. There are actually four different colours here, from gold to copper and light to a darker red. 

I wanted to use glittery and metallic polishes too to create a more abstract design rather than a obvious yellow to orange to red flame.  

Bright colours and rainbow type nails are not my favourite and I struggled to decide want to do both in last years challenge on the rainbow day theme and this. Oh yes I remember now, I did a Waterfall manicure using a few different colours, so not to gaudy.

This time I took my inspiration from Vlogger Jessface90 who did this rather dazzling Watercolor Nail Art Tutorial using OPI Sheer Tints. I've only used my mini tints once so a perfect opportunity to dust them off.

I used Maybelline Color Show in 'Light Up' which is from their Crystallize collection. It's a textured glitter polish very much like OPI Liquid Sands. The finish is gorgeous and even more so when I took the coloured top coats to it. I tried to merge the colours together and put the blue sheer tint next to the yellow so I'd get a bit of green in there too. Loved the way they came out.

You don't need to buy the OPI Sheer Tints if you fancy a bit of colour in your top coat. You can make your own coloured top coats by just taking a clear top coat (I'd recommend not using a quick dry one) and adding a few drops of any coloured nail polish to get the desired shade.

You can make a whole bottle or just mix together a little on some tin foil or plastic and use straight away. 

Catching up with day's 9 and 10

Day 9 asked for a Red Base, and red isn't a colour I choose to wear very often, but when I do I'm pleasantly surprised. In this instance I didn't know what to pick as I have quite a number of red polishes that I have yet to try... here's a gander at them! Which one would you have chosen?

That's 10 red polishes I own and have never worn. Now some can be justified, the essie which is a beautiful pillar box red, was part of a set I bought from TK Maxx, and my first essie polishes. Two of the the OPI's were presents, oh and the Nail's Inc and Leighton Denny were freebies from a magazine purchase, so that's half of them justified for.

So I chose, OPI's 'Affair in Red Square' for my Red Base manicure and topped it off with Orly's 'Star Spangled Banner'. Picture does this NO justice and I'd be interested to see how opaque the Orly polish would be on it's own, as this really has depth. The micro glitter really looks suspended in the polish. This is going to be my go to manicure if I want red.

Day 10 was glitter base and the last few days with work and training all day Saturday have left me little time to embellish these manicures with some nail art. However the polish I chose below, Maybellines Color Show in 'Rose Chic' from the Crystallize range needs nothing else. 

I can't believe I have NEVER used this polish before, it's freaking gorgeous! Formula is great, finish is slightly textured but not too bumpy and the other thing about this polish is it's one of those that when applied, doesn't look messy AT ALL. You could get a monkey to apply this to your nails and it would STILL look fabulous. I have no idea if you can still get these Crystallize polishes and looking online the range they had in the US was even more awesome!

I'm STILL wearing this, and don't want to take off, and I need to do Day 11's manicure. I do have a feeling that it's gonna need a soaking in acetone and wrapping in foil for removal.

November Untrieds Part 2

So my previous untrieds can be excused, but not this one! I went on a bit of a splurge at Rainbow Connection when they first started selling Cirque polishes. This is one I'd not gotten round to trying in 'Vaudeville' described as a muted lavender with gold and turquoise sparkles. As with all the Cirque polishes I purchased, formula is perfect and finish is stunning.

Time to step up my untrieds numbers with a saran wrap mani that I first tried on my last day of the 31 day nail art challenge. I picked three lovely shades to go together, No7's 'Cruising' and 'Betty Blues' and OPI's 'Skull and Glossbones'. Only second time round with this technique, happier with some nails more than others, but colour combo worked, and three untrieds ticked off the list.  

Next I really wanted to try the Chevron guides I was given in my Nail Polish Swap and do something a bit different with Color Shows Bleached Neon polish in 'Sun Flare'. This is what I came up with, using Barry M 'Blueberry' as the tip and chevon colour. A little messy on close inspection, but looked quite striking at first glance and provoked a few comments. Another two polishes used. Not really a winter colour scheme and it clashed with what I was wearing but maybe something to revisit in the Spring/Summer.

Excuse the chips in the next pic, I'd been wearing the polish a few days before taking a pic and had washed a few dishes. It was time to try these PS polishes from Primark that I'd been hearing about. These disappointingly don't have names, so this is just a creme red.

For £1 a pop, I was really impressed with this polish, the application and formula were as good as any £3-£5 polishes I have and the last time (barring washing dishes) was very good! I went back to Primark in December and purchased 'a few' more!

I got the blues

So on my recent trip to the States returning with several polishes I noticed that I have a thing for blues. I knew I had a thing for purples, but this was new!

Recently that trend has remained and the latest polishes I've been wearing and buying have been different shades of this lovely colour.

First up in Color Show's 'Lilac Rebel' from their Acid Wash collection.

I've just found a new Group on facebook called 'All Things Nails' and whilst I was searching for information on Color Show's Bleached Neon collection, someone posted a picture of one of these Acid Wash polishes. 

I'd never heard of them, or seen them in the stores, and it seemed like another limited collection had quickly passed me by. On further investigation it seems that these were still available in some places and after a visit to two Boots Stores I managed to pick up the above in a light blue and a minty green. They do four colours in this range, the others are a cream and a darker blue.

Overall I like the effect it gives, you don't have to fish for the white matt glitters and there are plenty of the larger hex ones. However the application was a bit tricky, the polish, although thick is quite sheer and it took three coats to get the polish fully opaque.

I will keep my eyes peeled for the other two polishes as both Superdrug and Boots seem to be doing offers on Color Show polishes, whether that's buy two get one free or buy one get second half price.

Whilst on the subject of Color Show, I watched Nicole from Young Wild and Polishes review on their Bleached Neons collection. She loves them and commented they were great for water marbling (something I have yet to successfully do!) Disappointingly the seven polishes they brought out in this range were not duplicated over here in the UK. Omitting three shades including the blue and purple that I was really hankering after! Why Maybelline, do you DO this?

The packaging is different too, here are the four available over here. Why didn't they swap out the orange for a blue to mix it up a bit?

And these are the larger and more interesting collection they released in the States.

So why do they do this? There is probably a very boring and unsatisfactory reason behind it, I wonder if any letter to Maybelline would unearth the reason, or make them consider making the whole range available over here... I think the nail market in the UK is big enough for Maybelline to consider this, let's see! 

So I did pick up the UK set. Bet I make a dogs dinner of trying to water marble, whether that's due to formula, the colours just being too similar or just my lack of skills!

More Gradients with Splatter Topper

I picked up Color Shows 'White Splatter' from their Street Artist collection sometime ago and been wanting to wear it ever since, but been distracted by other bottles!

So finally got round to doing a whole mani with the polish and not just an accent nail. 

I googled it first to decide what colour I wanted to layer it over, it looked good over black, maybe a purple, lots of grey and teal colours too. So not being able to decide I thought I'd layer it over at least three in a gradient type of way.

I used, for the grey; Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in 'Dorien Grey'. For the teal; Sinful Colors 'Savage' and for the purple China Glaze 'What a Pansy' from their latest City Flourish Summer 2014 collection. (One of three I picked up on a recent and secret trip to Sallys)

I used the sponge method to layer and overall happy with the end result, although the teal colour did over power the grey and purple due to pigment and formula being much stronger than the other two polishes. Just going to show that Sinful Color polishes being the cheapest of the three are a top notch brand, and I wish they were more available over here, along with their Sinful Shine range.

Mini Manchester Haul - Color Show, Butter London and Essie

Last week when in Manchester I was very disappointed not to be able to find the Nail Polish in TK Maxx. This week I found what remained of it near the tills!

I picked up (above) Butter London's 'Henley Regatta' a green and teal micro glitter in a clear base. Sorry about the chipped nail on the swatch. Bargain price of £4.99 when these usually retail at anything from £9 upwards.

I also bought Essie's 'Where's my Chauffer?', Essie do a very good line in blue polish and this is no exception. Almost a one coater, but as the polish is a very light shade of blueish/green two coats won't hurt. This was £3.99, perfect for Spring!

I was also after some new blusher, trying to find a berry toned blusher recently has been a challenge, and finally picked up a Maybelline blusher in Plum which is close to what I'm after. Superdrug was doing buy one get one 1/2 price on all products, so picked up one of their polishes from their Crystallize collection I think. I've never seen these before, this one is called 'Nearly Black'. It's a textured black glitter polish with micro glitter in cooper and green/blue. Really hard to tell, but gorgeous. All swatches are without top coat.

Then to my delight, a seller on eBay who was selling some of the Zoya polishes I've had my eye on, had 'Dream' on their list. I thought they had made a mistake, as when I checked back later pondering on buying 'Payton' also it was Sold Out.

Anyway sure enough the polish arrived yesterday and a little disappointed with the swatch as it's not as deep or sparkly as I expected. But it's by next manicure colour so I'll try 3 coats and top coat to see if I can get the effect I'm after.

Wine Shimmer

I've had my eye on a few Zoya polishes, which you CANNOT get over here in the UK. The main polish being a blue polish with a holographic glitter running through it called "Dream". It looks like the night sky! You just can't get it in the UK, even online (Tell me if you know otherwise). All Ebay sellers of this polish are overseas and you have to pay shipping too.

Zoya also do a number of other polishes that have the same effect but in various colours, to get a good look at these including Dream, check out Hannah Eve's Zoya "Color Your World" Haul video. 

So I had an idea, I have a dark red and a dark blue Zoya polish and topped with some Color Show glitter gel polish I thought I could recreate the same effect and it ain't half bad. The manicure above is one coat, yes one coat of Zoya's 'Toni' topped with Color Club's "Wine Shimmer". Not the best capture on camera, but you can see the variation in colour in the holographic glitter in the bottle, and on the nail. I just haven't captured the range of colours. In the right light you can see blue, green and gold, not just red. I bought the Zoya polish on Ebay and paid about £9, and Boots were doing 3 for 2 on all Color Show polishes so I bought "Wine Shimmer" this dark red jelly like polish with holographic glitter, "Ocean Blue" the same formula in a dark blue and the last one is a holographic glitter in a clear base called "Glitter It".