Confetti Zigzag

I am a massive fan of L'Oreal's Confetti topcoat. I saw it sat on my shelf looking all lonely so I just had to crack it open! One of the things I like most about the Confetti the micro glitter partials, if you squint you may see it! But seriously, in real life, you can see it and I really think it adds too the whole effect.

To do this I used my ole faithful! Neo Whimsical by Essie. I use this polish more than I use any other (maybe on par with BarryM's Matt White)
I find it a great base for doing art and I am a big fan of a nude, oh behave!

I then used some of those fancy scissors to cut this shape out of masking tape. I am "borrowing" these off my Nan and she has lent me about 15 pairs of different shaped ones! She uses them for card making but they work really well for this.

The darker pink is Essie's Cascade Cool. I did try and do the Confetti in a zigzag and it did work, of a fashion, but I wanted to accentuate it so outlined in acrylic paint. The line is not exactly straight so that's a bummer but I am still happy with it.

Its been a while since I have done anything like this and I think I will be doing it more often, its really pretty :)

A design like this works in any colourway but just bare in mind to go from light to dark :)

I hope you like this everyone and please leave me a lil comment below, I love getting comments, its like the excitement I get when I am waiting for the postman!

Essie Lights with Glitter

Here is Essie Lights!

A beautiful bright pink. Its a creamy type of neon, and its bloody beautiful!

I think I would have used this whole bottle up by the end of summer. Its probably the brightest shade I own. Its not like a really eye burning neon but more of a creamy bold colour.

The formula is lush and is opaque in two thin coats.

The glitter is Guilty Pleasure  by InVogue.

I simply used a sponge to fade the glitter out.

What do you think of bright colours? What are your fave summer shades?

Essie Haul from Direct Cosmetics

 

I have been a bit silent on the blogging recently, sorry :(

 

I bought these at +Direct Cosmetics Ltd about a week ago and I've only just had time to have a play with them :(

 

These were a bargain at £2.99 each!

As you all probably know by now is Essie is my favourite brand, with their wide brushes and wide range of colours.

 

The colours I purchased are

(top L-R) Lights, Sweet Talker, Butler Please, Where's My Chauffeur,

 (bottom L-R) She's Pampered, A Crewed Interest and To Buy or Not To Buy

 

 this was the first time I have used Direct Cosmetics and on the whole they are a good company. What I didn't like was that I had to pay a surcharge to use Paypal. It is understandable though as they would have to pay fees to Paypal themselves.

 

Buy from Direct Cosmetics HERE

Essie Peacock

 Its our three year wedding anniversary next week and my lovely hubby bought me some very gorgeous Essie and OPI polishes from +Fragrance Direct 

Here Is Essie's Bikini So Teeny a stunning shimmering bluey grey type purple ha ha. This is the bottle I'm holding in the pic, 

Mojito Madness is the yummy green. This had a fantastic consistancy and was opaque in two very thin coats. 

and the pink is Cascade Cool. A dusky, pastel pink.

All the Essie polishes have, of course, a fantastic formula and colour coverage. 

The shimmer in Bikini So Teeny really catches the light and sets this polish apart from the few other pastel blues I own.

I used stamping plate BM-212 and used a dotting tool to fill in the centres. 

I have never met a Essie, that i didn't like :)

Accessorize Electric Purple

 This is Accessorize in Electric Purple. It dries a silky matte rather than a shiny finish, which i actually love! 

The colour is a beautiful, forget me not purple. 

It was really hard to photograph the actual shade of this polish. 

I would say that to my eye, in real life, it is a far more purplish hue. 

Although one of my neighbors said they saw it as a more blue shade.

 Well whatever the shade, it is one of my fave polishes at the mo. Really summery and looks great with embellishments. 

The one thing i will say that is has the same tendency as a metallic polish, it brings out your nail imperfections. So make sure you use a good ridge filling base coat. 

This is 2x coats with no top coat

This polish along with other Accessorize polishes are available from +Superdrug 

 

Barry M Ice Cream Collection

Ive been without a camera for a while, hence why i haven't posted recently. Did ya all miss me ?!

Well i have a camera now, so here is some Barry M Ice Cream swatches :)

I got these on my last haul from +Superdrug on a 3for2.

First up is Blueberry Ice Cream, a lovely creamy light blue. This is quite an opaque shade. Here is 2x coats with no topcoat.

  It applies well, although there was some visible brush marks. This would easily have been smoothed out with a top coat.

Next is Lemon Ice Cream. A sunny bright yellow. Here is 3x coats with no top coat.

This needed three coats to be opaque but totally worth it! i mean look at this lovely summer shade!. Again this applies really well. 

And last up is Berry Ice Cream. A pale, pastel violet. Here is 2x coats with no top coat. 

As you can see its a very pale shade but it does have a really good coverage and is opaque in 2 coats, 

This shade is really nice but is my least favorite of the three.

Out of all three my fav would have to be Lemon Ice Cream with Blueberry coming in a close second. 

I love pastel shades and Barry M doesn't disappoint. Especially when they are only £2.99 Each! 

You can purchase them HERE

Austin-Tatious Turquoise

 This is OPI's Austin-Tatious Turquoise. From the Texas Collection. 

A sheer shimmering blue. This is three coats. As you can see it is still not completely opaque but with 4 coats it would have been completely opaque. Next time i think ill layer it over a blue base to cut down on all the layers! 

As you can see its very shimmery and its a lovely bright summer shade.

 

I purchased this from +Fragrance Direct at the very good price of £3.99! You can get it HERE

Blue Rhapsody

 This is Essie's Blue Rhapsody. A beautiful iced blue metallic shade. Its not overly blue.

It applies okay, although there are some visible brush strokes caused mainly by the quick drying time. The drying time on this is really fast. 
I also find that streaks are normal in metallic polishes but usually they are not that noticeable, not enough to cause a problem.

 

**The bump on the middle fingernail is not a bump, its my cameras reflection!**

This is two coats with no topcoat. I added a flower sticker just to jazz it up a tad, but its a showy polish on its own so I didn't want to over do it.

Essie are one of my favorite nail polish brand as they have a wide range of colours and a perfect brush, in my opinion. the brush is wider than usual so you can apply in less strokes causing less streaks. Although there is visable brush stroke on this polish. 

Blue Rhapsody dries slightly matte.

The one thing about metallic polishes like this, regardless of brand, is that they really do show up any imperfections you may have in your nail so its best to use a ridge filling base coat. 

Beautiful!

Kleancolor Matt Holo Glitter

 

 

 

 2x Coats of Catch Me by Kleancolor

3xCoats of Chunky Holo Teal by Kleancolor

1xCoat of Matte Top Coat by Orly

 

I know the stamping is smudged but i really wanted to show this design

I love the look of matte glitter and this blue is truly beautiful in real life.

This glitter is lovely, it really catches the light and shows off the all the different colours.

 

 

here's some pictures without the stamping

 

Also i love the lid of the Orly Matte topcoat as its all rubbery and so easy to grip. Nice :)

The only problem i have is that Kleancolor polishes never last on me which is such a shame as they are so beautiful. Has anyone had the same issue?

It literally peels off in big bits :(

 

 

Nautical Nails again :)

 

 I apologise for the messiness of this application, i had a few problems with this design and i was getting abit annoyed ;P

 

OK so here we have another nautical design using Barry M polishes.

I used Cheeky Plate CH36 from the summer 2012 collection.

Stamped using Barry M Gelly Pomegranate and Blackberry.

Base is Barry M White

Holographic striping tape and diamante to finish.

I do love this design as i really like this stamp, but i maybe should have kept all the nails the same design as i think it looks abit "busy"

 

I used Lumos top coat to help the tape stay down and i left the polish a good hour before applying and is STILL smudged the stamping.

does anyone have any tips on how i can prevent this?

I'm thinking of changing to Seche Vite as i find the Lumos only completely dries on professional polishes and not on budget or high street ranges. I find it works really well on China Glaze for instance but not very well on say Barry M or Kleancolor.

 

 

Matte Monster Nails

 

Ive been so busy this week ive had no time to do any nails :(

 

My eldest son started playgroup this week and i thought i would use that as inspiration for these nails

 

Monster Nails for my little monster

And for a change I used a matt topcoat.

 

 

 

Barry M white x2 coats

Cheeky Plate CH32 (from the summer 2012 range)

Stamping colours are

Thumb:17-Jitterbug

Index:China Glaze-City Siren

Middle:Kleancolor-Barbie Pink

Ring:Kleancolor-Plum

Pinky:Kleancolor-Neon Aqua

 

Orly Matte topcoat

The colours arnt as bright as I hoped they would be, i really should invest in some actual coloured stamping polishes.

 

Hope you enjoy these cheeky nails, for my little man who isnt so little anymore.

The Velvet Manaicure, Fluffy!

"Its been around for ages" I hear you shout, yes it has but im still yet to try it!

When i first saw it on +Sam Biddles Website i admit i thought i was strange but very funky and i love new innovations but on later reflection and when pictures kept popping of really messy application i really changed my mind. Plus i really love Sam Biddles products and have followed her career avidly since i got into nails.

But when i went for a stroll in Superdrug i noticed that MUA  now do a range of nail fluff i just had to give it a go. And it was only £3 for a quite big pot.
EDIT: it is now £2 on thier website HERE

 

Questions keep popping into my sceptical head like, what happpens when it gets wet? how long will it last? Is it easy to apply?

Later on today im going to have a nice old mess around with it and see if it will infact change my mind.

Keep your eyes peeled for my design later tonight x