Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Tuesday's Talons: Bright Flowers

Currently listening to: Mockingbird by Darius

Hello girls,

Today's manicure is one which has been inspired by countless photos on Instagram (it my biggest regret that my phone will not allow me to upload pictures on Instagram, by the way) and feels very summery.


I painted my thumb and ring finger with a Color Club white shade, my index and small finger with Nails Inc Spitalfields and my middle finger with Color Club Harp On It.


 I then painted flowers on the white nails using a dotting tool and Essence Very Berry, Nails Inc Spitalfields and A'Pieu Glow.


 I finished by adding a few dots of Harp On It around the flowers.


What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Sunday's Stamping: Soft Lilac Flowers

Currently watching: From Up On Poppy Hill

Hello girls,

Today's manicure features Beauty UK Soft Lilac as the base.


I am partial to purple polishes but this has got to be one of my favourite shades.  It's actually one of the few polishes I feel I would need to replace once it runs out, which is strange considering I wear it so rarely.


 Sticking with the purple theme, I stamped a floral pattern using Kiko 378 and Bundle Monster plate BM 321.


 The Kiko purple is also another favourite that hasn't been shown enough love.


 To finish up I added a layer of Essence Waking Up In Vegas for a bit of sparkle.


Bye for now,
Laura

Friday, May 9, 2014

Friday's Fingers: Blue Gradient Butterflies


Currently reading: The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Good morning ladies,

Today's manicure features Color Club Harp On It, a silver holographic polish as the base.


It also features lots of lovely butterflies :-)

 

 I used a variety of blue polishes, from left to right: Barry M Blueberry, Barry M Pure Turquoise, Ciate Lauren, Barry M Indigo and 16 Midnight Sapphire.


 The stamping was done with Bundle Monster plate BM 307.


 The darker shades showed up better than the light ones but overall I was really happy with this design and I even managed to capture the holographic effect of Harp On It.


Bye for now,
Laura

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Mid-week Manicure: Mystic Rose Quartz Butterflies

Currently listening to: To Where You Are by Josh Groban

Hello dear readers,

Today's manicure features one of my favourite polishes, Mystic Mauve by Models Own.


It's not one I wear often, partly because I never know what colours to combine with it for stamping and partly because I really don't like the smell of Models Own polishes.


 I decided to use black for stamping and I went will a butterfly image from Bundle Monster plate BM 307.


 For my accent nail I added a layer of Barry M Rose Quartz Glitter.


 Afterwards I couldn't decided whether the accent nail was a good idea or not.  What do you think?


Bye for now,
Laura

Monday, May 5, 2014

Monday's Manicure: Pink Floral Double Stamping

Currently watching: Grey's Anatomy

Good morning girls,

I started today's manicure with two coats of Yes Love K021, a pastel pink shade.


I think the Yes Love polishes cost under €1 so I never expect much from them but this shade applied really well for a pastel so I was pleasantly surprised.  If I hadn't planned on covering it with stamping I would have added another coat to hide the ridges in my nails ;-)


 My second step was to stamp diagonal lines using a white Easy Paris polish and Bundle Monster plate BM 310.  I say this every time but this pattern is one of my favourites to use as a base for double stamping.


 I then stamped some flowers using Yes Love 477 and Bundle Monster BM16.


 Finally, I added a layer of Kiko Sparkle Touch but it didn't show up well on camera unfortunately so I don't have a photo of the final look but this is pretty close.


What do you think girls?  Are you ever pleasantly surprised by the quality of cheaper polish brands?

Bye for now,
Laura

Friday, May 2, 2014

Friday's Fingers: Textured Essie

Currently listening to: Bells of New York City by Josh Groban

Good morning ladies,

Sometimes, when my evening does not go as planned, I end up getting up very early the following morning and painting my nails before I go to work.  This never ends well.


Last week I painted my nails with Essie Cascade Cool at about 6.30am.  At 12.30pm I sat on my hands and ended up with the texture of the chair cushion imprinted on my nails!


 My rescue plan that evening was to add a layer of 17 Daisy Darling glitter and floral stamping with Barry M Pomegranate and Konad s9.


Have you ever had a nail disaster like this?

Bye for now,
Laura

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Mid-week Manicure: Claire's Butterfly Sequins

Currently listening to:  You're  Still You by Josh Groban

Hello ladies,

Today's manicure features my first polish from Claire's Accessories (or is it just Claire's these days?).


A fellow blogger recently alerted me to the fact that Claire's stocked multi-coloured glitters, akin to the type I'd only previously seen sold by indie polish makers so I felt obliged to see what I could find in my local shop.


 There were so many colours I was tempted by but not knowing the quality of the brand, and not needing any solid colours, I decided to stick to a couple of glitters.  This first one is called Sequins and consists of black, white and pink confetti suspended in clear polish.


 I layered it over Barry M Silver Foil and then stamped a couple of butterflies on each nail using MUA shade 2 and Konad plate m36.


 I like the way this turned out and I'm excited to try Sequins over a white base.


What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura