Review: Born Pretty Store Flakies

It's the weekend, hurrah!  Although I did only work one day this week (and that wasn't work so much as watching people present and eating a free lunch)...but still, weekends mean family time :)  And even more so this weekend because the in-laws have come to stay!

Today I have the second item I received for review from Born Pretty Store.  Prepare yourself for holo flakie goodness.

Honestly, the pictures do not do this justice (blogger fail...oh well!).  I literally gasped when I applied it.  I do like me some sparkle...

I was a little confused by the instructions though.  Not that they weren't clear, more that I was a doubter.  So it says for a full coverage mirror look you should cure your no-wipe gel top coat and then dab it on - the pot even comes with a little applicator by the way!  Alternatively, for more of a flakie look, the instructions say to apply to your top coat before curing.  I didn't understand how it would stick after curing, so I went for the flakie look.

The flakes are mostly a lovely warm purple and dark blue.  Then there's also holo glitter in there so you get the flashes of that as well.  Frankly, it is perfection.  Oh and it's shown here over black polish for best effect of course.

I used this with gel polish as per the instructions (I'm a stickler for following the rules don't you know).  When I googled for reviews of it though whilst trying to sort out my confusion about when to apply it, most reviews I read had just used it on normal polish applied to wet top coat, so that's also an option.  If you don't use gel, you don't need to miss out!

You can find this glitter here, and the colour I've used is #3.  Don't forget, shipping is free to wherever you are in the world and you can get 10% off with the code LKL91.  And while you're there you might as well treat yourself to a few other bits...

Blue Feather

Hello once again :)  It is so nearly Friday and  I cannot wait for this week to be over!  I STILL have a cold and I'm feeling very fed up, but sadly not ill enough to not go to work :p  I'm meeting up with some friends this weekend though, which I'm very excited about.  We haven't all gotten together since Christmas :)  We're going for a spot of lunch, followed by wine tasting and I imagine it'll all go downhill from there (we once managed to drink a pub dry of prosecco, but I like to think that's because they were poorly stocked...).

Anyway, nails.  I bought some feathers absolutely ages ago after seeing a great feather nail art tutorial on the Nailasaurus (which you can see here), but they've since sat unused and unloved like so many other nail art supplies...  So I decided it was finally time to use them!  

When I bought these, for some reason they only had brightly coloured feathers in Hobbycraft.  Nothing remotely natural looking.  So, I present to you my bright blue feather manicure:

Remember that glitter from my last post that I said ended up everywhere?  Yep, that's it there on my middle finger.  Oops.

The polish that has been unceremoniously dusted with leftover glitter is China Glaze Manhunt - definitely one of my favourite blues.  It's just so darn glassy.  On my thumb I added a coat of Barry M Blue Glitter over the top, and then added a little freehand feather just to try and tie the look together a bit.

On my little and ring fingers I used Nails Inc New York Noir - I know it's irrelevant because I top coat everything, but this polish is so amazingly glossy.  For the feather accent I pretty much did what's in the Nailasaurus' tutorial except not as well.  I decided I didn't want all the thin, sparse bit at the end of the feather on my nail so I just stuck like a middlish part of the feather on my nail and for some reason thought I'd be able to trim around my cuticle with scissors afterwards?  I blame my cold...it's affecting my brain.  Anyway, as you can see, that didn't work,so don't do that.  I did manage to trim it down a bit shorter but I stopped before I started shredding my cuticles, so it isn't as clean a line as I'd like.  You live and learn... Also, I added another coat of Seche Vite after filing off the excess feather, just to ensure my ends were wrapped and it was all sealed in.

What do you think?  Have you tried using feathers in your nail art before?  I'd love to see if you have :)

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An InLinkz Link-up

Multiple Blings

Hello!  Yes, I'm still alive.  I can't believe I haven't posted all year, oops...  This year is just flying by though, as if we're in May already.  Is this just what happens when you get older?  I don't like it at all...

So this bank holiday weekend, my husband was away and I was far too ill to go anywhere further than the sofa, so I cracked out all my nail goodies and did a few manicures :)  It's ages since I did anything more than a plain manicure, maybe with a bit of stamping, and my first attempt was...erm...a bit of a disaster.  So I thought I wouldn't kick off with that, and instead I'd show you my second (far more successful) attempt.

The ring finger is a Kiss Nail Dress that came free with a magazine I bought ages ago.  There were 6 designs but only one of each, so totally useless other than for manicures that only survive long enough to be photographed on the blog, but there you go.  It applied very easily - it was thick but easily shaped to my nail, and still looked good the next morning, although that probably isn't a very good wear test...

Anyhoo, I then covered my little finger nail with blue glitter from Viva La Nails (you can see my review of this here).  It ended up everywhere...I foolishly glittered while all my other nails were still tacky.  Rookie mistake.

I used my favourite nude, OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons, on my index and middle fingers, then added some rhinestones in (slightly) different sizes to match the colours on the Nail Dress.  Lastly, on my thumb I used a Ciate nail foil.  Despite using Special FX Sealer, it still crinkled.  Any tips for a topcoat that works well with foils?

So there it is, my first post of 2015!  I hope you like it and I promise to be a better blogger and post more soon :)  Let me know what you'd like to see more of: leave me a comment or pop over to my Facebook page.  You can also get sneak peaks of upcoming blog posts by following me on Instagram @PolishedArt.

Halloween Challenge #4: Inspired by a Film or TV

It's finally here!  It's still Halloween week so it isn't really that late (we'll just ignore the fact it's November).  the next challenge I shall be more prepared, honestly!

So the prompt for the final day of the challenge is Halloween themed TV or movie inspired.

I'll be honest...mine aren't inspired by a TV or film (is that cheating?), so take your pick - Sabrina, The Worst Witch...

Here's what I did anyway:

Let's just take a moment to appreciate the fact that my camera has managed to accurately capture the colour of a purple polish :o

Moment over.  Anyhoo, hopefully you can tell I was going for witchy nails!  I used China Glaze Put A Bow On It for my base, and then all details were added using my Barry M Nail Art Pen in Black and White, with a touch of Barry M Gold Foil on my thumb.  Apologies for the very poor tip-wrapping on my thumb!

What are your thoughts?  I did fully intend on actually using tape on my ring finger, but laziness got the better of me.  Plus I flipping hate tape.  I also intended to colour the hat in a dark grey so that the creases would be black, but I decided maybe it'd look odd that nail being more grey when the others were black?

As always, don't forget to check out the final challenge manicures from all the other lovely bloggers participating!

An InLinkz Link-up

I hope you all had a great Halloween!

I'm Married!

Okay so I've actually been married for two months, BUT I am now finally getting round to blogging!  I have been working away doing lots of manicures today to show you over the next few weeks, but I thought today I'd show you what nails I had for my wedding :)

I'm just not a french manicure kind of person (plus I'm absolutely flipping terrible at doing them).  I wanted something a little different, but also didn't want to go wild and do something that I'd look back on in a few years and say "what on earth was I thinking...?".  So, I decided to keep it simple and go for a plain colour.  Believe it or not, it genuinely took my like a year to decide on these nails, and I now own about 7 different nail polishes in this shade, but in the end it had to be the polish that inspired the whole colour scheme (don't tell my husband) - Barry M Peach Melba.

For my bridesmaids, I went with a glitter gradient of Barry M Gold Glitter over OPI My Vampire is Buff, to match their gold and pearl accessories.

What are your thoughts?  Would you go more traditional or more adventurous?

(Shout out to Amber Skye Photography for our wonderful photos :) )

Glitter Comparison

A little while ago they had W7 Multi Dazzle in Poundland.  I got a little overexcited and bought three, despite the fact I already have ample supply of multicoloured glitter toppers.  But er...they're good for presents and stuff...?

Anyway, when I got them home, I thought it would be worth seeing just how similar it was to the glitters I already had.

Here's the line up:

Left to right we have: Technic Carnival, a classic cheap multicoloured glitter; W7 Multi Dazzle, my Poundland bargain; BeautyUK Intergalactic, which I was sent to review a little while ago, and Barry M Amethyst Glitter.

In the name of fairness, I used two coats of each polish.

The obvious one that stands out here is Barry M Amethyst Glitter - this is clearly intended to be a full coverage glitter rather than a topper.

Slightly less obvious is the difference between BeautyUK Intergalactic and the other two.  Intergalactic contains a mixture of square and hex glitters, whereas the other two only contain hexes.

So that leaves Carnival and Multi Dazzle.  They've swapped sides no just to confuse you - Multi Dazzle on the left, Technic on the right.

I really can't see a difference in composition here - they both seem to contain the same size and colour glitters.  Carnival is a little more dense though.

So, I've hopefully mostly justified owning several seemingly identical glitters.  And, added bonus, if you're after Technic Carnival but can't be bothered waiting for delivery, pop to your local pound shops and see if they have any W7 Multi Dazzle in stock :D

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...

Belated Breast Awareness

You'll notice a theme here in the titles of my posts...late, late, late.  But shouldn't we be aware of breast cancer all the time?  Yes indeedy, so why the heck not have breast cancer awareness nails in November?

I wanted to keep it quite simple, so I just went for Butter London Rosie Lee (which has come out a bit of a funny colour in this picture - definitely more of a light pink IRL) with a ribbon drawn on with my Barry M Nail Art Pen in White.

This is the first Butter London I've tried.  I was in town one weekend and saw that there was a new make up shop in the shopping centre.  They had loads of Butter London and Bad Apple (and I got excited when I saw lots of China Glazes but they were all crackles...boo), so I definitely paid over the odds for this, but I was so darn excited I just had to buy something.  And it is super pretty, so it's all good.  I do love full coverage glitters...sigh.

I hope you've all had a lovely start to the week!  I'm heading into London to do a bit of MRI tomorrow, which means an early start.  Bad times...  At least I don't have to brave the tube though!

Femme Fatale: Noble Garden & Sea Pony

Hello all :)  I hope you've had a lovely weekend (just a shame it has to end!).  I'm feeling a little delicate today...  My parents, sister and friend all came to stay this weekend for us to go to the National Wedding Show, and obviously we had to have a tipple to celebrate and...well...if I never see a glass of wine again I think I'll be happy.  Had a great weekend though!

Anyhoo, as promised, today I'm showing you the other two polishes I was sent by Femme Fatale.  They are Noble Garden and Sea Pony.

First up, Noble Garden!

What a polish.  Super super densely packed with all different size green glitters, with a sprinkling of different coloured large hexes (think pinks and oranges) and a scattering of little glitters that flash bluey-purple.  This is all in a clear base, so you can layer it over any colour you like (bet it'd look amazing over black or white!).

I used one coat of Noble Garden (yep, just one!) over Barry M Spring Green.  Application was great, with even coverage over the nail.  I reckon you could get this to full coverage without too many coats... (Should I have a go??).

Next up is Sea Pony.

Sea Pony has red and pink hex glitters in all sizes right up to those awesome extra large ones you can see, plus some small black and yellow glitters, which I think add a really interesting twist, and I love the depth that the black seems to add.  All this is suspended in a purple jelly base, which is full of these lovely teeny little bronze glitters.  The purple base is warmer than it appears here, but you know...my camera hates purple (makes me sad).

I used two coats of Sea Pony over Barry M Berry Ice Cream.  A little clumping occurred with the large hexes and I had to spread them around a bit to get a more even look, but I think this is fairly standard for glitters like this.  I finished this off with two coats of Seche Vite, just to make sure any bumps from those gorgeous massive glitters were smoothed out.

A really pretty polish with an unexpected mix of colours, and I just adore those large hexes - I think they look so good!  This one got the thumbs up from my other half :)

You can check out the full range of Femme Fatale polishes here.  They cost $10 (Australian dollars!), which is a little under £6.  Please note, the bottles I've shown here are just samples, the bottle you buy are 12ml!

Depending on where you are in the world, Femme Fatale polishes can also be purchased from:

Harlow & Co.

Color4Nails

Beauty So Fly

Norway Nails

International shipping is available direct from Femme Fatale for any British ladies (or anywhere else not served by these other suppliers!).  It is pricey though, as you'd expect, so it's worth considering group buys :)

If you have any other questions, just ask!  I hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening :)

KKCenterHk Ebalay Glitter Polish

Helloooo!  Get on my posting two days in a row, I'm a new woman!

Today I'm showing you a fab little glitter polish from KKCenterHk called EBALAY Charming Bronze Glitter Polish.

The glitter is primarily lovely bronze hexes, with a smattering of medium and small white hexes, and a few white bar glitters (skinny enough to be inoffensive!).

I layer it over Barry M Berry Ice Cream.  I think it's perfect for a glitter gradient like this :)  And although it looks beautifully soft here, it would be really striking over a darker colour.

Application was great, no issues whatsoever with the formula or brush.  I used my usual technique of two-ish coats here, and was happy with the amount of glitter and the distribution across my nail.

You can see this polish here.  It's $7.82 for a 15ml bottle (decent sized polishes - yay!), which is about a fiver in British money.  And, don't forget, you can get 10% off with the code polishedart.

I have a bit of a hectic weekend coming up, so I may do a disappearing act again until Sunday.  Tomorrow after work there's a retirement party for one of the ladies, then my parents (plus dog) are coming up Friday night, and I'm off to the National Wedding Show on Saturday!  If anyone knows of any dog-friendly pubs in the Maidstone area, do let me know!

BeautyUK: Queen of Hearts and Gold Digger

Morning all :)  I hope you're all having a lovely Sunday so far!  I'm about to begin my Sunday with a yummy cooked breakfast!

On Wednesday I showed you two glitter polishes from the BeautyUK Posh Polish range.  Today I'm showing you the other two polishes I was sent to review :)  These are Queen of Hearts and Gold Digger.

First up is Queen of Hearts.  I thought from the bottle that this was going to be quite dark and not the sort of polish I'd like, but actually it's really pretty on the nail.  It's made up of medium matte black and shiny pink hexes, with black microglitter.  It's actually quite a delicate-looking polish.

I used two coats of Queen of Hearts over OPI Skull & Glossbones.  Great coverage and great formula.  I think this would also be really pretty over a light pink.

Next up is Gold Digger.  This is primarily gold hexes, with a sprinkling of larger silver holo hexes.  The coverage of this was much better than I expected - I used two coats here.  You could probably get this to full coverage with a few more coats (or fake it with a shiny gold basecoat).

Here I'm showing it over Jessica Ruffled Bottoms.  I think this would benefit from a few more of the larger hexes, I ended up with only 1 or 2 on each nail and they weren't very noticeable.  Interestingly though, I bought this polish a year or so ago and my version is different - the glitter is a darker gold, and it has silver square glitters instead of the large hexes.  Don't know why they changed it, but I think the squares were a bit more interesting, but then the formula and coverage with this one are much better.  I could do a comparison if people would be interested in seeing that?

You can find these polishes here for £3.49 each, or they're also available in Superdrug :)

BeautyUK: Intergalactic and Twinkle Twinkle

Hello lovelies :)

I spent all night last night painting my nails (and er...drinking a bottle of wine) so I should hopefully have lots of posts coming up for you soon!

Today I'm showing you some glitter polishes I was sent from BeautyUK.  BeaultyUK is a British brand that produce colourful and affordable cosmetics.  You may have seen them in your local Superdrug :)

The polishes I was sent for review were glitters from the Posh Polish collection.  Today I'm showing you Intergalactic and Twinkle Twinkle, and you'll have to pop back later this week to see what else I was sent!

Rather than saving the best until last, I've decided to start with my favourite!  Intergalactic is a multicoloured glitter, made up of both square and hex glitters.

Intergalactic contains large hexes in gold and red, large squares in purple, green and red, medium hexes in blue, red, green and gold, as well as teeny little purple glitters.  It's pretty hard not to love a multicoloured glitter, and this is certainly no exception.  I love the little twist having some square glitters in it (and it also means you can totally justify buying it if you already own something like Technic Carnival).

Application was great - I used my normal two coat method here for this glitter gradient over OPI Skull and Glossbones.  The consistency was good, and the glitter's really dense.  Happy nail painter here.

Next up is Twinkle Twinkle.  From the bottle this looked like it was just going to be silver bar glitter, but I was totally wrong.

It's actually primarily silver holographic microshimmer, with a sprinkling of silver holo bar glitters.  Again, great consistency and glitter payoff.  I used two coats here - one was pretty enough for the microshimmer, but two gave a nice amount of bars I thought - over Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream.

Overall, I'm really pleased with these polishes - the quality is great and I think they're a bit different from what most high street brands offer.  It's nice to see brands coming up with new ideas rather than just recreating what the bigger brands have done!

BeautyUK Posh Polishes retail for £3.49 and you can check out the whole collection here.  They're also available in Superdrug, so you can pop in for an impulse buy as well!

Born Pretty Store Polish Review

Hello, happy Tuesday!

Today I have a polish that I was sent from Born Pretty Store to show you.  I was so excited when I saw these go up on the website, I was itching to get my hands on one!

They have the rather catchy name of Candy Color Glitter Sparkle Yoghurt Series.  The bottles are quite a cute shape, and not a bad size at 10ml, and the brush is quite similar to a Barry M brush.

The colour I have to show you is #17.

The polish consists of red a gold medium hex glitters, with silver microglitter, all in a lemon jelly base.

Coverage was good, I used two coats for these swatches and I didn't have any problems with dragging or the glitters clumping.

And here's a macro shot!  I love that silver glitter in there so much.

You can see this polish, and all the other colours, here.  They cost $4.36 (£2.94) and shipping is free to wherever you may be in the world.

Don't forget, if you decide to make a purchase of this or any of the other nail art goodies, you can use the code LKL91 for 10% off.

Nail Art In A Hurry #1

Hello lovelies :)

I hope you all had a good start to the week.  We still have lovely weather here, although I do wish sunshine didn't have to come hand in hand with high pollen counts. I've scratched my eyes so much today I'm amazed I even have eyelids left...

Anyhoo, today I have the first in a short series of posts of Nail Art In A Hurry.  Countless times I've heard people say "when I'm in a rush I just put on some polish and a glitter topper".  Well, if you've got time to do that, you've got time to do these things too!

I have four short tutorials for you this week (unless I think of anymore...), and these are just simple, and most importantly quick, ways of making your manicure a little more interesting when you just don't have the time to do something more complicated.

Nothing here is ground-breaking, but hopefully it may be inspiration for you to give your nails that little bit more love next time you're in a rush.

So, first up, the reverse glitter gradient.  This is one of my favourite fall back manicures.  And if you've got time to apply polish and glitter topper, you've definitely got time to do this, because it's basically the same thing!

1. Prepare the nail and apply your base colour.

2. Apply your glitter over the bottom two-thirds of your nail.  Fairly dense glitters work best for this, but not full coverage ones!

3. Now apply your glitter over the bottom third of your nail.

4.  Topcoat, and you're done!

Here are a few more ideas for colour combinations, and don't forget you can use any shape glitter for this, why not give the feather/confetti ones a go?  And if you've got a little more time on your hands, glitter gradients make a great choice for skittle manicures.

As always, if you have any requests for tutorials, or suggestions for nail art, please let me know in the comments!

Untried Challenge Day 8: Glitter

Hello lovely ladies!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend (extra lovely if you're in the UK with the bank holiday!).  I went down to St Ives for the weekend to meet up with my fiance's family, which was lovely :) I  also managed to sunburn the bottom of my legs whilst wearing turned up jeans, despite being freezing.  Slightly concerned about what's going to happen to me when I go to Portugal in a couple of weeks...I'll come back a beetroot.

Anyhoo, here's a reminder of the challenge prompts for the Untried Challenge:

So far I've been going in order, and I've got up to 'oldest'.  I'm now going out of order though (although my newest polishes - some rather lovely Illamasquas - are sitting poised and ready for the 'newest' challenge).

Today I'm jumping ahead to 'glitter'.  I'd wanted a black and white matte glitter (such an oxymoron...) for aaages, but I didn't really want to pay indie prices and not really know what quality of polish I was going to get.  So, when this polish was released, I HAD TO HAVE IT.  I ordered it immediately, then swooned at it when it arrived...then put it in my storage box and never used it.

It is, of course, China Glaze Whirled Away.  Not quite as elusive as It's A Trap-eze, but this still sold out in a lot of places pretty quickly!  I was seriously impressed with that whole Cirque du Soleil collection.

The white glitters required a bit of fishing, which is most most reviews have said.  A little bit of placement was required to get an even coverage, but it certainly wasn't the most difficult polish to apply.  I've used two coats here over OPI Can't Find My Czechbook from the Euro Centrale collection.

The other ladies, whose laptops didn't decide to give up on them, are now up to day 13.  Take a little look-see what they've been up to:

Jonochi at Just Add Polish

Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily

Amy at Fancy Side

Amanda at Designer Nail Accents

Patricia at Polished and Glittered

Lizajane at Organic Neglect

Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails

Kristina at Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Erica at Coat of Mani Colors 

Untried Challenge Day 6: Cool

Right then, let's see if I can catch up with this challenge before it finishes!

Here's a quick reminder of the challenge prompts:

For my cool manicure, I chose NYC East Village and Lights Camera Glitter.

It doesn't show very well, but I did a reverse glitter gradient on all my nails, except my ring finger which I fully covered in glitter and then blinged up with some rhinestones.  The glitter's probably a little to sparse for this, but it is very pretty.  I love the little purpley hexagons.

East Village on the other hand is useless.  That's gone straight in the 'get rid of' pile.  This was four coats (albeit 2 of them applied by candle light during a power cut) and it still wasn't opaque.  And this sort of finish just isn't for me.

I'm not doing too well at getting through the untried stash really.  Since starting the challenge I've bought 13 new polishes...I think I sort of missed the point.  They are all pretty though, and they were all bargains - how could i refuse?  I can't wait for my first ever Illamasquas to arrive!  Come on Mr Postman!

Don't forget to catch up with all the other ladies:

Jonochi at Just Add Polish

Masha at Lost In Lacquer
Raine at Lacquer Lily

Amy at Fancy Side

Amanda at Designer Nail Accents

Patricia at Polished and Glittered

Lizajane at Organic Neglect

Blueberry Pie at Blueberry Nails

Kristina at Lacquer Fetish

Missy at Gnarly Gnails
Uni at Acetone FIles
Erica at Coat of Mani Colors 

New Technique: Jelly Sandwich

Ah, it's the weekend! We were promised horrible weather, but it looks pretty nice outside to me! I'm going to take a stroll in to town later (this will undoubtedly result in some nail polish being purchased...).

So last week you voted for me to give a jelly sandwich a go. I've dodged this technique for quite some time, the main issue being that I don't own any jellies...

But anyway, that's not going to stop me! I decided to use China Glaze Manhunt - when I first used that I thought it had jelly-like qualities, it's quite glassy and squishy-looking.

After two coats of Manhunt, I used two coats of Barry M Hologram, which is made up of medium holographic silver hexes.  I was going to add one more coat of Manhunt to finish off, but then panic struck.  Would it be too opaque?  Or maybe too streaky?

So I cheated. Instead I finished off with a coat of 2true Glitterati Shade 3, which is essentially a pre-made jelly sandwich.  You can still see the later of Barry M glitter through it though, so I think overall it ended up being very pretty.

I can't believe how difficult this was to photograph though!  It was super squishy-looking and shiny, but the photo has just made it look totally flat!  Any tips for how to capture this sort of look well on camera?

Are you a fan of jelly sandwiches?  Or would you go for quick cheat like me...?

Pop on over to my Facebook page to vote for which technique I should give a go next week :)

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!