My Stash!

Hey everyone! 

I am sooo poorly :( :( 

I have no energy to do my nails which is so sad as i have a few new ones this week! 

So instead i decided to give mine a little dusting and take a pic to show you all. 

Now i know this doesn't look like a lot compared with other peoples or bloggers but i only have a limited budget and often buy them in sales or from "nail friends" 

I usually have them stored on shelves in my living room and that's another reason i only keep my faves as I don't have room for more shelves! 

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks i should have my new indies coming from the likes of Polish Me Silly, KBShimmer and some samples too. So keep an eye of for those babies.

If i am honest I am getting sick of mainstream brands. Alot of the "new" releases seem to be dupes either to other brands or the same brand just a few seasons ago. I like that Indies can offer a fuller more varied range although some of them are starting to look a tad same-y. 

My favourite brand fro main stream has to be Zoya. I love PixieDust and their creme shades are delightful! 

I just wish the brush was slightly wider. 

I hope you've all had a good week and have a great weekend folks! 

Tropical Paradise

It has been so hot here recently and I just had to do a tropical themed nail art. 

I apologize about my terrible cuticles! They are just getting worse and worse!

For the gradient I used BarryM's Lemon Ice Cream as a base. I then used a makeup sponge and Essie's Fear and Desire and Orange it Obvious to create the fade.

I used Kleancolors Holo Poppy for the glitter. 

The Palm tree is painted using acrylic paint.

I hope you are all having a lovely hot week!

Glitter, If You Moust!

I'm in love! 

This is OPI's If You Moust You Moust. Taken from the Vintage Minnie Mouse Collection 2012.

2 coats for perfect coverage. Although it was a tad streaky at times. 

A Beautiful Bright but light pink.

 I used Kleancolors 24 Carat for the glitter. Holo gold glitter with holo diamonds. This glitter is one of my fave glitter polishes I own as it really shines!

I used a sponge to apply the glitter to avoid over clogging the nail with excess polish.

Panda Skulls!

 These are the decals that were sent to me by Nail Delights. 

I chose to do a gradient using Sinful Colors Pistache and OPI's Don't Mess With OPI.

I Also used Kleancolors Peaceful Heart as the glitter. 

It was hard to get enough glitter for the effect that I wanted so this is about 3 coats. The problem i fine with Kleancolor glitters is that they don't self level so they leave an uneven finish. They remain silky and shiny to the touch but you can feel that they are not even. 

I love this panda design and i havent seen a decal like this before now. I chose to do green as it reminded me of bamboo. I also like the way the fade is subtle.

You can get the Decals HERE

*some of these products were sent to me for an HONEST review. The views on this product are COMPLETELY my own.*

Something Blue

 

These are my take on the Bridal Weekly Challenge on the nail Polish Lovers Community on Google+

 

I was going to do a nude pink but I saw this Pastel Bue By Kleancolor and I thought this blue shade would make a nice change.

"Something Blue"

 

I used 2x coats of Kleancolors Pastel Blue

Lace Nail Stickers

Flat Back Faux Pearls

1x coat of Poshe

As you can probably see I smudged a few of them when I applied the stickers.

 

I have noticed that a lot of fast drying topcoats do not speed up the drying time of Kleancolor? I have no idea why?! But its really frustrating as I always expect it to be dry and make silly mistakes, like this :(

 

And I couldn't even redo it as I ran out of stickers boooo :(

 

Look At My Stash!

 

My Granddad has been every lovely and made me some shelving for my beauties!

 

I had to get rid of a few as they had gone abit gloopy :(

I have arranged by shade and by brand, it took me forever!

it looks so good and I cant stop looking at it!

Its like a beautiful glittery rainbow

But.......

Where am I going to put all my embellishments and other equipment.....

and how am I going to secretly buy polish and then hide them from the other half?

 

I'm sure I'll find away!!

 

Love Leopard Design

 

As you have probably noticed I love leopard print!

It is one of the easiest nail art designs to do and it can be done in so many different ways

On this design I have used a full nail water decal and cut it into a heart shape. Then used Barry M nail art pend to do the print.

I tried to use the Barry M Silver Nail Art Pen around the heart but Ive found its really not that bold. (not pictured) Its quite translucent and that's a real disappointment as I have so many designs in mind!

The base is Kleancolor's Pastel Pink. I wouldn't personally describe this as a pastel colour as i always imagine pastels as a lot lighter than this. But it is a great pink, very girly!

The glitter is also Kleancolor 24 Carat.

Pictured with Poshe Topcoat

Fruity Grape Mani

 

 

 

Today I've taken part in the Nail Polish Lovers Weekly Challenge to create a design inspired by fruit.

 

I chose to do grapes and a stamped accent nail.

 

Base is Kleancolor Love is in the air

Grapes are Kleancolor Plum and accented in Konad Special Polish in white.

Vine parts are Sinful colors Envy and Manhattan Rock Topia in shade 4

 

Kleancolor's love is in the air is actually a beautiful colour, it has a really nice green shimmer to it i have done two coats here but i feel if i wanted it to be really opaque it would require three. I didnt want the base colour to be to bold though so i opted for two.

 

 

Accent nail is Kleancolor Plum as a base and Konad polish in white. I also used cheeky plate number CH42 from the summer 2012 collection.

 

I know the stamping has smudged abit but this was already my second attempt, i have no idea whats happened to my stamping recently?! It used to be so easy!

I must just be having and off week.

 

The grapes where super easy to do all i used was a dotting tool. I'm starting to use these more than the finer brushes as most of the time i feel they give a better result for me. Brushes tent to streak.

 

What do you think? Would you wear a fruity mani?

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 :(

 

 

Cupcake Nails

 

Messy hands...Naughty!

 

 

Ive never tried doing cupcake nails before but i have seen so many other good examples on other blogs, its time i gave it a go.

 

I used nine polishes for this design!!

Its hard to see in these photos but the cases are Matte and the frosting is shiny!

 

I used Barry M Mushroom and Kleancolor Mocha for the cases. Kleancolor Mocha is the stripes.

 

The blue frosting is Kleancolor Pastel Teal with Kleancolor Starry Blue glitter sprinkles.

The pink icing is Essie Flawless with Barry M Silver Cascade sprinkles

 

The cute little hearts are Kleancolor Twinkly Love

 

There is a base colour on this design by Kleancolor called Cream Pearl but you really cant see it unless you look really closely. I just didn't want the nails to be bare underneath as I'm not keen on this idea.

 

I used a very thin dotting tool to do all of this. And i picked out the glitter individually using the dotting tool too. I did try a brush but it didn't cover very well and looked streaky.

 

I also think that i should have made the cases smaller especially on my ring finger.

 

here is a close up of my little finger.

 

 

what do you all think?

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.

Galaxy Nails. Far out!

 

 
Galaxy nails are just so beautiful,they catch the light and make me keep looking at them.

This is Barry m Black x2 for the base colour

Kleancolor Barbie Pink and Pink Fairy for the glitter

China Glaze Sexy in The City for the blue

and Calvin Klein Cabernet for splodges of an oil slick tint.

 

I hand painted some stars and dots with Barry M Foil silver but to be honest i wish i hadn't, why didn't i just use a stamping plate??? it would have looked so much neater. My silly brain didn't even think of this until hours later, DUH!!

 

So when i do it again,which i will, ill use stamping plates instead to do the stars.

 

The application of this is really simple.

Base colour

use a cosmetic sponge to apply the different colours or glitters,sometimes needing multiple layers

then topcoat!

TaDa! :)

 

I find that up close they don't look as good but at hands length they are out of this world! Sorry i couldn't resist it :P

 

Have you ever done galaxy nails? How about sending me a link to yours so i can be nosey :)

Kleancolor Blue Spirals and Waves

I actually did this quite a while ago but i never actually got round to putting it up, but here it is!

I used Barry M white base, 3 Different Kleancolor Blues and Kleancolor Holo Teal

I'm really unsure of this design but i wanted to give my new brushes ago.

 *forgive my dirty hands,i was in a nail art frenzy!*

Leopard Print French Style Mani

I absolutely love this! Pastel Blue And Barbie Pink by Kleancolor with Leopard print using Black and Special Effect Silver Foil by Barry M

I used tape to make the lines super sharp

I'm in LOVE!!

Leopard Nails,Roar!

I'm feeling feisty today so here are some gradient leopard print nails.

Ive never done free hand leopard print before and it was soo easy! Just use a dotting tool to place you main colour then draw black around in a broken circle.

I think i may have put too many actual print marks on though as they look a bit crowded?

Here's how i did it.....

Three coats of Essie-- Neo Whimsical

which doesn't give a complete streak less covering but it doesn't matter as Ill gradient over it.

Then do the gradient using a sponge, I literally used a washing up sponge, a brand new one obviously :P

I used Essie--Flawless

this also doesn't have to be super good as you'll be painting over the top.

Then add the print. I used Kleancolor--Neon Aqua for the blue and Barry M--Black for the outline.

Barry M polish was abit thin to be fair but its the only black i could find! Surprisingly as i own sooo much polish!

And that's it!

Aboriginal Inspired Nails

 

This boomerang was bought for us by my husbands step father on his recent trip to Australia.

 

I love aboriginal art and just had to give it a go.

 

these nails are relatively simple to do and i used

Base: Maybelline Color Show- Midnight Taupe

Dots:China Glaze-Papaya Punch

Barry M Gelly: Blackberry

Sinful Colours: Exotic Green

Kleancolor:Catch me

Kleancolor:Neon Yellow

17:Risky Red

NYC:french tip white

and a dotting tool. Smaller dots for the filler and a larger one for the main dots

 

The only thing to bare in mind is the colours used for the dots need to be opaque in one coat so they stand out against the dark back round.

 

Plum And Leopard Stamping

 

 

2x Coats Of Plum By Kleancolor. Bundle Monster stamping Plate 221 and NYC white to do the leopard print. 

 

Please bare in mind that the NYC polish is very old and thick that's why it is so good for stamping, so don't chuck away your thick old nail polish! It'll come in very handy for stamping

 

As I've mentioned before, i love nail stamping and I love Bundle Monsters Plates. They work just as well as Konad but at lower cost.

I also used to use stamping alot when i was doing other peoples nails and it really is a crowd pleaser and people always comment on my nails when i have stamping on.

 

i prefer to just have stamping on the ring fingers on maybe the thumb too but this design would look just as lovely on all fingers.

 

Feature nails, as i call them, are very fashionable and if you look at celebrity nails you will find lots of people with just the ring finger "accessorised." Making this style suitable for both work and play as its not too "in your face"

 

This Kleancolor polish is very thin and didn't cover very well.Patchy and Streaky :( If using this colour again i would do 3 coats.

 

Ive been finding the Kleancolor with lumos bottom and base coat has not been lasting long at all on me. I think its my fault as i think i put the kleancolor on too thick. I have never had a problem of polish lasting on me when i use China Glaze and Lumos. China Glaze is a much better polish obviously, but it still doesn't really bother me as i don't tend to wear polish for more than a day :P

Ravishing dahling with added moons :)

 2x coats of ravishing Dahling by China Glaze with 1x glitter from Kleancolor Pinky Moon

 

Lumos top and base coats

Pinky moon has lovely holographic dots,lines and moons.

Picked the moons out using a cocktail stick to avoid too much polish on the nail.

think the glitter could of benefited from another coat as the glitter is quite sparse.

I fine that this China Glaze polish can be quite patchy, so could benifit from more coats if wearing alone.

 

The painting of my nails looks quite messy here and i always find that of darker red colours.Any mistakes are harder to rectify as it sort of smudges it

 

Cute stripy and dotty Kleancolor Pattern

Kleancolor Pastel Purple & Barry M White

 Cute Spots And Stripes

I used striping tape to do the stripes but it didnt come out as crisp as i hoped. **EDIT** the reason it didnt come out very crisp is because i left the tape on too long. Always remove tape when polish is still wet.

Then dotting tool to do the spots.