Wednesday 31 December 2014

New Years Fireworks

These are my nails for New Year's Eve.  The base is "Violetta" by Avon which is a gorgeous matte purple colour.  I stamped over this using Essie's "Good As Gold" using the Fireworks plate by Pet'la.


Christmas Day Nails

This was my Christmas day Manicure.  I used China Glaze's "Ruby Pumps" - A gorgeous red micro glitter polish that has a great formula, is opaque in two coats, and does not stain!  This was stamped with Konad white using a MoYou London image from Festive Plate 03.


Matt Lilac Snowflakes.

Here I used the same base as the previous manicure, namely OPI's "Alpine Snow" and "Ski Slope Sweetie.  I stamped it using "The Shrinking Violet" by Too Fancy Lacquer  Finally I added a matte top coat.  The snowflake image is by Bunny Nails on Plate HD-I


Christmas Reindeer

The base is two coats of OPI's "Alpin Snow", followed by one coat of OPI's "Ski Slope Sweetie".  I then used China Glaze's "Joy" to stamp the Reindeer which are by MoYou London on Festive Plate 03.


Blue Glitter Snowflakes

This is "Dark Depths" by Emily De'Molly which is a gorgeous deep blue jelly polish packed with glitter.  I stamped over it with Konad White using a Snowflake image by Bunny Nails on Plate HD-E


Red Christmas Sweater

Created using Zoya's Posh, and then stamping with Essie's "Good As Gold".  The image is from MoYou London's, Festive Collection, Plate 04.


Christmas Holly

I started with a white base coat using Sally Hansen "White On", then made decals using a Holly Image from MoYou London - Festive Collection 03.  I stamped the image using Konad Black, and coloured it using holographic polishes from Smitten Polish.  The colours used were "Between The Baubles" and "Nose So Bright".


Green Winter Sweater

Here I used Zoya's "Veruschka" as the base and stamped over it with Essie's "Good As Gold".  Veruschka dries matte, but I added a glossy top coat here.  The stamping plate used is Bunny Nails - HD-F


White Glitter Snowflakes

For this manicure, I started by sponging Sally Hansen "White On" over the tips of my nails, then I painted a layer of Different Dimensions "Imitation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery" - This is a Holographic and Silver Microglitter in a clear base.  Finally, I stamped over this with Konad white using a snowflake image by Vivid Lacquer - Plate VL-006.


Lilac Snowflakes

The base of this manicure is a thermal polish by Fun Lacquer called "Purfect For Me".  When cold it is a mid-tone purple colour and as it gets warm it changes to a light icy blue-purple.  I stamped the snowflakes over it using Konad white, then finished it off with a layer of matt top coat.  The snowflake stamp is from Bunny Nails, Plate HD-F


KPT - Same Fall Different Beginning

This is a thermal polish that is a deep berry colour when cold, then changes to pink, followed by gold as it warms up.  It is also pack with holographic glitters and gold flakes.  Here it is in it's varous states of colour.  I used two coats, plus HK Girl Top Coat.



After wearing this polish for a day or so, I decided to stamp over it, so here it is stamped with Barry M "Foil Effect Gold"  The stamping plate used is MoYou London's, Pro Collection, Plate 21



Fall Leaves

This is probably my favourite nail art of the year.  The base of the stamped nails is Barry M "Coconut", which was then top coated with a Matte Top Coat.  Afterwards, it was stamped with a mixture of three metallic colours, namely, China Glaze Poetic (A Rose Copper), A-England's Perceval (Bright Red), and Essie's "Good As Gold".
The accent nail is painted with Zoya's "Posh", and a square gold stud was added.
The stamped images are from DRK-C (leaves) and Messy Mansion (text)




White and Gold Swirls

This is two coats of Sally Hansen "White On", stamped with Barry M "Foil Effects Gold".  The stamped image is from DRK-B.  The accent nail and thumb were painted with OPI's "My Favourite Ornament"


Midnight Cami

Midnight Cami by Essie is a very dark blue, which looks almost black in some lighting conditions. It is a nice colour that has a good formula and does not stain.

Here it is stamped with Essie's "Blue Rhapsody" which is a light metallic blue.  The image is by MoYou London and is Sailor Collection, Plate 05


Aquadelic Golden Leaves

Using the base of China Glaze's "Aquadelic", as shown in my previous post, I added some gold stamped leaf design to this manicure.  The gold polish is Essie "Good As Gold" and the stamped image is from Bunny Nails, plate HD-E


China Glaze - Aquadelic

A gorgeous bright turquoise with a great formula.  Seen here with two coats and HK Girl Top Coat. Highly recommended polish.





Glam Polish - Phenomena

This is a gorgeous bright Magenta jelly polish which is packed with metallic and holographic glitters.  Shown here in two coats with HK Girl Top Coat.


Dance Legend - Wazowski

DanceLegend's "Wazowski" is a gorgeous metallic green that shifts from green to blue, with golden hues.  Stunning polish.


Lilac Daisies

This is Essie's "Warm & Toasty Turtleneck" stamped over using Konad white.  The stamping plate used is Lily Anna 09


Lace Tips

Here I have painted Cadillacquer's "She's One Of A Kind" as the base which is a grey/blue polish with lilac shimmer.  One top of this I stamped a lace pattern over the tips using Konad white.  The image is from Lily Anna, plate...


Gold Swirls

This is a base of OPI's "Every Month Is Oktober Fest" which has then been stamped with Essie's "Good As Gold".  The image used was MoYou London's Pro Collection, plate 20.


Every Month Is Oktober Fest

This is "Every Month Is Oktober Fest" by OPI which is a gorgeous deep burgundy colour which is packed with a red to golden shimmer.  A must have colour and one of my favourites from the brand.  This is two coats toped with HK Girl Top Coat.


Tuesday 30 December 2014

Sinful Colors - Island Coral

Two coats of Sinful Colors Island Coral with topcoat.  Beautiful colour with a good formula.


Aqua Glitter

The base here is Color Club's "Angel Eyes" from their holographic collection, and it is topped with OPI's "The Living Daylights" from the James Bond Collection.


Lilac Butterflies

Using the base of Essie's "Go Ginza", as shown in the previous post, I stamped lilac butterflies using Color Club's "Eternal Beauty".  This is a linear holoraphic polish, and looked really beautiful when it catches the light.  The stamping plate is DRK- B.


Essie Go Ginza

This is a gorgeous pastel lilac colour by Essie.  The formula isa little tricky to work with, not unlike other pastel shades, but gives a gorgeous end result.  Two coats shown here with top coat.


Dance Legend Thermal 164

This is a thermal polish by Dance Legend that turns from a deep blue to a mid blue when warm.  It is a beutiful colour, though somewhat disappointing as a thermal polish as the effect is so subtle, it is difficult to see at all.  It was stamped with white Konad polish using MoYou London's, Pro Collection, plate 10.


Barry M RoseHip & China Glaze Emotion

Barry M Rose Hip is a beautiful pastel pink very similar in colour to Essie's Fiji, though a touch lighter.  It was stamped with China Glaze's Emotion which is a lovely metallic pink.  The stamping plate used was DRK - B


Monday 1 December 2014

Sand Tropez Fashionista

The base colour here is Essie's Sand Tropez (see previus post for how it looks alone), and it has been stamped in Konad white using a MoYou London Plate, in this case Fashionista 07.


Monday 24 November 2014

Essie Sand Tropez

Essie's Sand Tropez is a lovely sandy brown colour, opaque in 2 coats and dries to a gloss finish. Good formula too :-)


Dragonflies

For this design I started with a base of China Glaze's "Grass Is Lime Greener", then sponged on a gradient using the same polish plus China Glaze "To Yacht To Handle" and OPI "Ski Teal You Drop".



Next, I stamped the dragonflies using Konad Black polish and a stamping plate by Messy Mansion - MM17.  Finally HK Girl Top Coat was added.


Monday 17 November 2014

Lead Light Technique

Here I used the base colour from my previous post which is Color Club "Harp On It".

First I stamped over the silver base using Konad Black polish and a plate by Dashica (Big Sdp- L)...

Then after this step I used a dotting tool to add colour as per the Lead Light Technique.
The colours I used (and applied in the order listed) were:
  • Smitten Polish "A Wedding Dress That Isn't Bright Turquoise" (for the aqua circle centres)
  • Dance Legend "Cosmic Rainbow" (for the purple outer circle rings)
  • Smitten Polish "Not Your Mamma's Easter Grass" (for the star-lke shapes between the circles)




Color Club - Harp On It

This is a silver coloured linear holographic.  Shown here in both indirect indoor lighting, aswell as artificial lighting.

Indirect Indoor Lighting

Direct Indoor Artificial Lighting

Saturday 15 November 2014

Stamped Hibiscus

Using the base colour Daffodil from my previous post, I added some stamping to this manicure using DRK-C and a combination of Color Club holographic polishes in Eternal Beauty and Over The Moon.


Liquid Sky Lacquer - Daffodil

This is a beautiful, creamy pastel yellow polish which has a matt finish with some shimmer too.  Formula is good and it is extremely easy to apply, as well as fast to dry.  It did require three coats for full opacity, but you could probably get away with two if they were generous.  I think this polish would also look good with a top coat as it would bring out the tiny particles more.  However, I wanted to wear it as intended on this occasion.






Friday 14 November 2014

Maybelline Porcelaine & OPI Solitaire

Created for a challenge where the theme was to use your oldest untried stamping plate or polish.  I used a combination of both.  Maybeline's Porcelaine is a very pale pearlescent pink colour.  It was opaque in two coats, but left a lot of brush marks due to the frosty finish.  It also bubbled a little on most nails, so I probably wouldn't wear this polish on it's own.

The ring finger and thumb were painted with OPI's Solitaire which is a silvery white texture polish.  I found it a little sheer, so applied three coats, but it was a great formula, very easy to apply, and looked very pretty when dry.  It looks like glistening snow on your nails.  I would definitely recommend this one!

For the stamping I chose Konad plate M51.  Konad and Bundle monster were the very first plates I purchased, but they go mostly uused since the designs are often too small to fit my nails, especially my thumb nails as the full nail images are just not wide enough (hence the accent nails).

I can't say that I'm thrilled with this manicure, but it's ok, and the challenge got me to use things I hadn't before.


Thursday 13 November 2014

Serum No 5 - Blushed And Flushed

Blushed and Flushed is a delicate pastel pink crelly filled with medium and small silver hex glitters as well as pink micro glitters.  This polish has a great formula, is easy to apply and is opaque in two coats.


Oopsie Daisies - Blueberry Muffins

This is an absolutely gorgeous polish by Indie brand Oopsie Daisies.  It consists of a white crelly base which is packed full of metallic glitters in shades of gold, copper brown and blue.
Application was really easy and it was opaque in two coats.  Highly recommended polish!


OPI Teenage Dream

I managed to hunt down a bottle of OPI's Teenage Dream on ebay after reading a lot about how much people enjoyed this polish.  I was actually not that impressed, and didn't really see any special qualities to this polish.  It s a pink micro glitter with holographic sparkles, that is dense enough to wear alone in 2-3 coats. However, since I was not partial to this shade of pink, I used it here as a topper over Mentality's Amy which had the effect of adding more blue tones to the pink.  (see previous post for how Amy looks alone)




Mentality Amy

Mentality's Amy is a matt polish, that dries with a very slight shimmer.  Amy is from Mentality's pastel matt collection and is a grey blue colour.  Polishes in this collection are extrememly light almost white shades with a subtle hint of colour. Amy was opaque in two coats and dried very quickly.


Tuesday 11 November 2014

Skittles

Skittles manicure created using the following polishes:
Pinkie: Maybelline "Mint For Life" & Essie "No Place Like Chrome"
Ring Finger & Thumb:Rimmel Spacedust "Shooting Star"
Middle Finger: Essie "Fiji" & Essie "No Place Like Chrome"
Index Finger: OPI  "You're Such A Budapest" & Essie "No place Like Chrome"

The heart embellishments were originally silver and were painted with coordinating polishes.
Stamping plate by Dashica (Big SDP- O)


OPI Jinx

Jinx is a bright coral texture polish by OPI that dries matt with golden shimmers.  Really beautiful in person.


Monday 10 November 2014

Royal Jeans

Royal Jeans is a linear holographic polish by Too Fancy Lacquer.
This is an amazing denim colour with flawless formula and very strong holographic qualities.  My favourite Indie polish to date!