Then and Now #3: Roses

Hello again :)

Today I have a Then & Now post that I did so long ago it's almost more of a Then & Then!  This is the manicure I was recreating (as voted by you):

Ah, that sofa was ugly, but it was darn comfy.  Anyway, yes, hideous hideous photo, but I do still like the nails!  You can see the original post here.

And here's the new version!

I used all the same polishes as before (except the white is my trusty Barry M Matt White!), but went for a bit of a rougher more haphazard approach, rather than the smooth 'c' shapes I used before.  Apologies for the broken thumbnail and the fact that my skin looks like I'm about 80!

Which do you prefer?  And do you think there's any improvement??

Oh and yeah...I've just noticed the bit of glitter on my little finger.  Forgot about that!  I was going to add glitter highlights to all my roses but when I started doing the first one I realised the pink was too salmon.

If you'd like to see my recreate another old manicure, you can choose which ones by clicking 'like' on the photos in the Facebook album here.

Bridesmaids Nails

Right, I know I know, I've been a terrible blogger...but moving on!

My best friend got married last month :)  She asked me to do bridesmaids nails, so I tried out a few ideas for her.  We were wearing red dresses with white fur shrugs, so we decided to go with red and white, with gold accents, for the nails.

These are the designs I did for her to choose from (and thank you to everyone in various Facebook groups for suggestions!).

All I can say in thankfully she didn't choose the fishtail braid tip!

I didn't think I used that many different polishes, but now that I have to list them all out there are quite a few!  The main red is OPI Flick Chick Cherry, plus Barry M Red Glitter, Gold Foil and Matt White, OPI Minnie Style, China Glaze Pure Joy and Hits Atenas.

These nails were one of the runners up...

She didn't go for those in the end, which is a shame because they would have been dead quick...  I did bring the glitter with me in the hope she'd have a change of heart lol.

These are the ones she chose :)

The glitter is Saffron 02 and I used Konad white stamping polish with one of the MoYou Christmas plates (the one with the gingerbread house on!) for the stamping.  Now, you know I'm not a stamper, and it almost killed me doing 30 nails!  Thank goodness there was champagne!  Quite a few times I tried to stamp and the image just didn't transfer at all - any advice on what I was doing wrong here?  Maybe not drying off all the acetone or something?

Which nails are your favourite?

And I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year!  (Gosh, it really has been a long time since I posted...sorry!)

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!