Review: Sparkly Nails

Hello everyone!

I have a few products for a new-to-me e-tailer tonight.  Sparkly Nails sell a huge range of nail art products, and even better, they're based in the UK!  That means no waiting 6 weeks to get your goodies :)

I was sent two products to review.  First up, some lovely Christmas water decals.

Now you all know I love a good water decal and these are no exception.  There's Christmas trees, baubles, "Merry Christmas"s and some pretty squiggles.  There are 20 decals in the pack, and I don't think you'd want to use one on every nail so you'd get a fair few manicures out of this.

I used OPI Flick Chick Cherry and Barry M Gold Glitter.  I didn't have any problems with the decals crinkling or the like, although I did find they needed more like 30 seconds soaking than the 15 seconds stated on the instructions.  I like that they're so delicate :)  That's exactly what you want from decals - something that you can't do freehand!

This pack costs £1.65 and you can see it here.

Next up, Father Christmas fimo!

I've never used fimo before so I don't really have anything to compare these to.  You get absolutely loads in the packet - I don't think you'd have to worry about running out of these!

I used OPI Flick Chick Cherry again, with a white nail art pen for the tips.  As you can see, the fimo pieces aren't all the same size.  Whether that matters or not depends on how you want to use them I suppose (or how OCD you are...it bothered me a little lol).  The thickness also varied a little - the one on the right was really thin and I had problems with it curling.  They are cute though, they make me laugh.  They look like little baby Santas...

These cost £1.20 and you can see them here.

There's still time to order them before Christmas as well!  UK Priority or Express will get them here in time if you order by 3pm Friday or Monday respectively.

I've just about finished packing to go home to my parents' for Christmas.  Unfortunately, there is no way my laptop's fitting in my bag, so I'm afraid I won't be blogging over Christmas.  I shall be back on 6th January.  So, I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a fabulous new year!

Christmas Robins

Helloooo!

Finally some Christmas nail art!  Honestly, I am rubbish.  I'll do better next year...hopefully.

Anyhoo, I have for you today some Christmas robins :)

I know, they're adorable, even if I do say so myself.  And yes, I know that robins don't actually have yellow beaks, but shhh...

I used...umm...lots of polishes.  China Glaze Call of the Wild and Hits Folk Rock for the robin's body, OPI Flick Chick Cherry and Barry M Red Glitter for his red chest, then a few dots of Barry M Matt White and Black, and Rimmel Sunshine to finish them off.

If you'd like to have a go at these yourself, just follow my penguin tutorial and change the colours!  Because robins and penguins look exactly the same, honestly...

Top 10 Products for Christmas

Evening all :)

You may have seen a little while ago that some of the British Blogger ladies posted their Top 10 Polishes.  I decided not to join in, because how could I possibly choose??  When I read everyone else's posts though I was sorry I'd missed out on the fun, so when Rachael from Rachos Nail Love suggested we do a Christmas Top 10, I was in!

So, in no particular order, my top 10 nail goodies for the Christmas season...

1.  Full Coverage Glitter Polish

 And lots of it.  I completely adore creme finish nail art over a glitter base.  As you can see from the fill lines on these, I've had quite a bit of use out of them!  The China Glazes are all from last year's Holiday Joy Collection - now THAT is how you do a Christmas collection.

2. Nail Art Pens

Essential for all that Christmas nail art!  Unless, you know, you're skilled enough to paint things with a brush...  Barry M's are my favourite (I actually don't even know how I did any nail art before these wonderful things were created), but there are plenty available a lot cheaper on ebay :)

3. Holographic Polish

Now, I don't want to hear any of that rubbish about holo polishes being for Summer.  No, we don't see any sunlight in December, but artificial lighting will do the job.  This is Layla Gold Idol.  Gold + holo = Christmassy wonderfulness!

4. Loose Glitter

 All the glitter!  Find any glitter you can and put it on your nails!  Some of my favourite Christmas nails that I've ever done were just glitter.  It was before I started my blog; I just bought a pack of craft glitter from Wilkinsons and used it on wet polish to cover my  nails.  Looked amaaaazing!  Just be prepared to wear it for the whole Christmas period...removing it almost broke me as a person...

5. Red and Green Polish

Goes without saying you need red and green!  Can't go far wrong with Barry M (again).

6. Foils

These are great for glam, shiny nails in a hurry.  You could even just randomly dab on a few bits to liven up an old manicure if you don't have time to redo your nails completely.

7. Snow!

Well, technically flocking powder.  But if it looks like snow and it tastes like snow...  Perfect for adding a little fluffiness to Santa's beard, or sprinkling on a snowy manicure.  Ooh and with black as well you could do little fluffy penguins!

8. Tutorials

There are SO MANY Christmas tutorials out there, and some of them are just so adorable.  It's a great time for trying out some new nail art - they're usually easier than you think! (Shameless plug: you can see my Christmas tutorials here).

9. Tacky Stickers

I'm all for the classy nails normally (ahem), but frankly you need a bit of over the top tackiness at Christmas.  Christmas stickers are a really easy and quick way of spicing up a plain manicure as well.  I should add though, these stickers were from Poundland and were particularly awful (see here) and I am not in any way, shape or form suggesting you buy them.

10. More Glitter

This time in the form of toppers.  Put them over everything (even glitter) and spaaaarkle!

Don't forget to take a look at all the other Top 10 posts!

Guest Post at The Crumpet

Pop on over here to see my contribution to the Crumpet's British Blogging Christmas :)

In Keeping With The Late Theme...

Hello lovelies :)

So 11th November was a little while ago, but today I have some poppy nails to show you.  These are water decals that I was sent from KKCenterHk.

I foolishly forgot to take a picture of the decals before I used them, so here's a picture from the website:

It's one of these full sheet ones that you just cut out the bit you want.  Shall I start with the negatives and end on a high...?  The sheet isn't big enough for all 10 nails.  I think you'd be lucky to get 7 nails maybe.  And I think I have fairly average width nails, not particularly wide.  Also they're very long - obviously that's a bonus if you have very long nails!  But it does mean if your nails are short or mid-length you're not going to fit the full design on.  That being said, I think the length of the design I managed to fit on my nails looked good :)

So here's the manicure I did!

 I used the decals over Barry M Matt White.  The decals were great to use, as always from KKCenterHK.  I used Barry M Red and Red Glitter for my accent nails, with a few splodges of glitter on the poppies as well.

You can see these decals here.  They cost $2.54 (about £1.55), and don't forget you can use the code polishedart for 10% off all orders.

I have something quite exciting coming up this week...  You may have seen the Crumpet's British Blogging Christmas, and I shall be making an appearance!  Keep your eyes peeled :)