Racing Flags

When I made my (rather undramatic) return to blogging and showed you these nails, I told you that these weren't actually the first nails I did, but the first ones were just too bad to show you after not posting in such a long time.  Well, the time has come.

I was struggling for inspiration, so I dug through a load of old stickers and transfers that I bought way back when before I even started this blog.  I selected some tip stickers that sort of remind me of racing flags, and decided to pair them with Viva La Nails Creme Brulee.

Here you go...are you ready for it..?

I think I actually would have done a better job if I'd freehanded them, which is saying something...  Unfortunately, the stickers weren't quite wide enough for my nails, and something funny happened around the edges of the stickers when I added top coat.  I also, somehow, managed to get a load of yellow polish in my hair.  So yeah...not my best.

I hope you all have a lovely start to the weekend!  I'm back in Wales this weekend, taking my sister to see One Direction...lucky me...

Viva La Nails Water Decals

Here's the final product I have to show you from Viva La Nails!

These fab little water decals come in a pack of 20 (there are 5 more that you can't see!).

These work just like normal water decals - soak in water for about 15 seconds, then slide them off the backing paper and place on your nail.  They're easy to move about until they dry, so you don't have to worry about getting them perfectly positioned first time round!

They're also thin enough that you can't see the edges (as you'd expect from water decals) but I didn't experience any tearing or other nastiness.

I used them over a base of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, with a little Orly Halo gradient.  I love that these all have slightly different designs, it just makes it look that but more interesting, and you don't have to worry about getting every nail lined up the same!

You can check these water decals out here.  They're a bargain at £1.99, and there's also loads of other designs to choose from, so you might as well have a look while you're there.  It'd be rude not to...:p

Zig Zag Glitter

Hello everyone, I hope you're all enjoying a nice lazy Sunday :)

I'm having a great weekend so far - I went into London yesterday with a few people from work and we went wine tasting at this place called Vinopolis.  It was great fun!  You get a quick session showing you how to taste wine properly (I struggled with the slurping technique as first, but I got there in the end!) and then you have a card loaded up with electronic tokens, and you just pick a wine to taste, stick your card in the machine and it dispenses it into your glass.  And if you were in the right place at the right time, you could get the odd free glass as they changed the bottles lol.

Anyhoo, I promised you some more Viva La Nails products and that's exactly what I have for you today!

When Viva La Nails sent me some polishes to review (you can see that review here) they also sent a few nail art goodies.  One of these was a pot of glitter dust.  

I don't have a picture of the pot for you, because I got too excited to get in and get at the glitter.  But it's a 5g pot (it's the same size as some that I ordered on ebay last year, so it's a standard size) and you can see what it looks like here.  I just wanted to mention how good the packaging is though - in the past I've had glitter products arrive that have leaked everywhere, but this seals tight and also has a little plastic layer that you place over the top of your pot before putting the lid on.  So all your sparkliness is nice and secure.

On to the pictures!

I decided to create a simple design using tape.

I used Sally Hansen Green Tea for my base colour, and then I used some tape when the polish was dry to get the zig zag accent with the Viva La Nails zure Glitter Dust.

I did some dots of glitter on my thumb, but I made a rather amateur mistake.  I forgot to let the base colour dry before sprinkling glitter over for my dots.  Oops.

The glitter is super fine (and super sparkly) so, as you can see, I didn't have any trouble getting clean lines and sharp corners with this.

And just because I got my ring back from the jewellers yesterday, here's another picture :)

You can see this product here, along with all the other colours.  Each pot is only £1.95 with free shipping if you spend over £25 (that's a lot of glitter).  Also, if you're in the UK, then your product should arrive the next day!

Viva La Nails Polish

Hello again my lovely readers :)

My fiance (eeeee!) went back to sea again today, so I'm all on my lonesome!  I do have a wedding to plan though, so that should keep me entertained :)

It also means I have more time to paint my nails!  Today I have a new brand to share with you.  Viva La Nails is a European nail art website (don't worry - they ship worldwide!).  They've recently started some new nail polish ranges, and so I was contacted to ask if I'd like to review a few of them.  Prepare yourselves for lots of pictures.

First up are two polishes from the Garden of Colour range.

The bottles are 15ml (same size as OPI) and they cost £3.95.

This is Truth Or Dare.  I chose this polish because it looked like a lovely deep colour, but I didn't realise until it arrived that it's a flakie.  Swooooooon.

The polish is a gorgeous wine/burgundy colour, leaning a little brown in certain light, and packed full of shimmer.  The flakie glitters add this amazing glow in the polish that makes it look fire-y :)

The flakies shift from orange through to yellow and green.  So pretty....

Application was a dream.  Honestly, the formula on these was amazing.  I didn't need to do any clean up at all, the polish was very well-behaved and flowed lovely over the nail.  All these swatches are three coats with top coat.

Next up is the aptly named Creme Brulee.  Yeeeaars ago I had this manicure in my head that I wanted to do, but I needed a particular shade of yellow for it.  In the end, I made do with Rimmel Sunshine, because I just could not find the shade I wanted anywhere (although 'anywhere' back then was Superdrug and Boots - so young, so much still to learn lol).  This, my friends, is the colour.

It reminds me of those slices of fake cheese that we have a barbecues :)

The formula on this was as good as Truth Or Dare.  Yellows can be a bit of a pain to get opaque, I normally layer them over white because I can't be bothered applying five coats and still having VNL.  This, however, was perfectly opaque in three coats.  I think you'd get away with two to be honest, but I went for three because macro mode is very unforgiving :p

A quick mention of the brushes.  They're a medium size (similar to a Barry M) and hold a good amount of polish - I didn't have to re-dip and I didn't have blobs running down the brush.  Really easy to get a clean cuticle line with this.

So, massive bottles, gorgeous colours and fantastic formulas all for £3.95?  These get a massive thumbs up from me.

You can see the whole Garden Of Colour range here.

Lastly is a polish from the Colour It range.

These are gel polishes (i.e. ones that are set with UV light) and sell for £6.95.  This is shade 40.

I don't have much experience applying gel polish, so I did struggle a little with the thicker formula of this, so apologies for the messy cuticle line!  Definitely need more practice :)  The brush on this is wider than the one above, and the polish needs a little stir before you start painting.

The colour is lovely though, a pink-toned nude.  I want to call it blush?  This is two thin coats without any topcoat - super shiny.  If you're a fan of gel polish, it's worth taking a look at the Colour It range here - a much cheaper alternative to some other brands out there and a great selection of colours.

So far, I'm loving the quality of Viva La Nails' products.  I'm having a good old nose at what nail art products they have available now - I may have to treat myself.  Do you think I can use trial runs for my wedding manicure as an excuse to buy lots of stuff...?  (I should probably have a venue before I start planning my nails, but there we go!).

I was also sent a few nail art goodies to review, which I'll show you later in the week.  For now I shall just say this - prettyyyyyy.

What do you think of all these polishes?  Will you be giving Viva La Nails' products a go?