Nail Polish Direct Haul, China Glaze at 20% Off... WINNING!

Ive been shopping, finally! Well online shopping but it still counts.
Nail Polish is a UK online nail polish retailer that stock all the good brands, they now even sell some gels.
There is a code for 20% off all China Glaze polishes so of course I had to make the most of it. These actually came in two deliveries as I bought some then decided I needed more.

Join me after the jump for all the names and details of the code!

Neon Disco Nail Art by Marcus

Marcus is back to do another nail art for you all!

When I was away I bought some new Neon and Pearl acrylic paint and we were dying to try them out. 

I also have 4 new nail art brushes from Moyra UK that I had been lusting after for a really long time and they do not disappoint!!! I am hoping to do a more in depth post on these soon so keep your eyes peeled (gross!) 

Marcus used Glitter Gal Brainfreeze for the base. This black in an amazing holo......

So Marcus saw the neon's and thought of DISCO! 

The neon paints didn't cover worth a damn so we put white underneath but I'm still not happy with the way they cover. Le sigh.

My picture isn't great as I HATE the way the light bleaches some of the image out... Any tips on this then please drop me and email lol.

Okay so this nail art is disco lights and on my ring finger there is a raver man! 

I don't think I have ever seen a nail art like this and I am not 100% on it but I know Marcus was happy with the shapes and the effect. 

Hes just pretty far out man....

Neon Graffiti Nails

Capturing neon's have got to be one of the hardest things in the world, okay its not brain surgery, but its up there. This is no where near how bright it is in real life. I mean I could halt a plane with these nails :P

Here is my take on a graffiti style stamping. 

Its nowhere near as crisp or lovely as I would want and the clean up was a pain in the proverbial's BUT its so bright I just love it!

I first used a white base, if you do not use a white base the neon's will be streaky.

Products Used 

Orly Glowstick 

China Glaze Kiwi Cool-Ada

BarryM White 

Konad Black. 

Cheeky Musical Nails Jumbo Plate

Seche Vite Top coat 

To do the gradient I first did a base of BarryM white, then applied two coats of GlowStick. 

I used a makeup sponge to then blend in the green. 

So what do you think of neon nail polish? Love it or hate it?

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

Love Nailz Indie Polish Swatches, Welcome To Glitter Heaven :)

This week the lovely Louise has sent me a whole bunch of beautiful glitters to swatch. 

Love Nailz is based in Canada and specialises in solvent resistant glitter and Indie polishes.

As you can probably tell i am in love with indie polishes at the mo, these glitters are literally insane! There is no way you would get this type of coverage or colour from a high street brand. 

First thing i would like to mention is that the brushes on here are fantastic. They are wider, think OPI. This enables the glitter to be picked up a lot better. It also enables a better coverage with less drag. I love a good brush :P

Here is the first of five, Edgy Princess. A clear base with pastel and iridescent glitter with black shards. So its very twinkly but also striking. 

I wanted to show it over a mix of colours so here's some multi coloured swatch backgrounds. 

This is two coats, no topcoat.

Here's a close up 

And a bottle close up 

 

 Applies really well. Looks fantastic, need i say more?!

Next up is Sunglasses At Night. This has neon hexes and mini rose hexes suspended in a translucent  lime green base. 

As this has a tinted base i decided to just show it over a white base. 

This is two coats. No topcoat.

And a close up...

Bottle...

 

This is beautiful as the green is a really nice green and was surprisingly streak free in one coat, so if you wanted just a subtle hint one coat would work too. 

I love the glitter placement of this. I didn't manually place any of these glitter featured today.

Here is Speckled Zap. This is a black, blue,silver and pink (although I see it as more red) glitter with holo strands. The base is a  translucent white/grey/blue. To me looks a bit like PVA glue colour :P

As above, I have chosen to show this over just a white as the base is tinted. 

Here is two coats. No topcoat.

 Close up...

And you've guessed it....

 

This just reminded me so much of a gobstopper! Its nearly as yummy, although please don't eat it ;p

Again the coverage was really fab and the glitter is well distributed so there is no messing around trying to get it even. 

This is Tropical Fruit Punch, Multi coloured hex's, squares and shards. The base is clear although the bright glitter as tinted the base slightly. This is common in neon indie polishes and does NOT mean it is an inferior product. 

Here it is over a few different colours, two coats. No topcoat.

 Two finger close up...

Here is the bottle close up, for some reason my silly compoooter wouldn't let me rotate it!

This is definitely a tropical themed polish. I love all the different colours and again it is jammed packed with glitter. 

Last but by no means least is Gotta Wear Shade. A beautiful neon hex glitter, in pink, green and holo silver. Jam packed into a clear base.

Two coats over a range of colours

Excuse the little finger. I thought it was dry...

Close up 

 

 Bottle shot

 

 This was the hardest glitter to place I think, I still didn't manually place these though.I think its because all the glitter is the same size. This would be an ideal glitter for manual placement in nail art.

Okay so there is some serious swatch spam! 

Every time I put on a new glitter i decided it was my favorite! 

I think though it is either Speckled Zap or Edgy Princess or Sunglasses At Night.... Oh i don't know!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE. 

Glitter is so on trend right now and i am so glad to have these in my collection. I can see these coming out a lot this year :)

All these polishes are 3 Free and Cruelty free. 

These are available to purchase HERE. International shipping available. YAY!

 KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED FOR A GIVEAWAY FROM LOVE NAILZ ON LIFE IN LACQUER 

TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!

My Life In Lacquer, My Custom Polish!

 

 Today I received my own custom made indie polish by TarasTalons!!

I have been waiting by my front door for this polish and I am so happy with the result. 

I really wanted a bright glitter and I knew I wanted lots of different sizes of glitter. 

 I really like the coverage of this polish but I think it would be easier to apply with a wider brush,but Tara doesn't usually make polish with such big pieces so i cant expect her to stock a new bottle just for me :P 

This has a FANTASTIC amount of glitter in and this is only ONE slightly thicker coat of polish!

 I did want the base clear but the pink neon hex glitter did turn the suspension base slightly pink, Although i actually really like the base colour and i cant see it makes a huge noticeable difference:P

 I wanted to show the glitter over black and white and over a few differnt colours and I just love them all! 

It would work really well as just a feature nail or even as a whole mani. Very summery and bright and i think this is also very on trend as i have seen a lot of neon's and glitters this year!

I chose to call this "My Life in Lacquer" as I wanted a polish and a name very personal to me and theres nothing more personal than a blog (well maybe a couple things, *wink*)

 I think my fave out of these is the blue or the green. I love an excuse to have multi coloured nails though!! 

I used Barry M Matte White and Black for the first pics 

I used Barry M Bright Purple,Lemon Ice Cream, Blueberry Ice Cream and Sinful Colors Pistache. 

All these pics have ONE thicker coat of My Life In Lacquer over 2 Coats of underneath colour. No top coat.

If you are also looking to own a custom designed polish by yourself or an original UK made indie polish then please check out TarasTalons HERE. 

You can also you the exclusive Life in Lacquer discount code for 20% off any order. 

Enter Code lifeinlacquer20 at checkout :)

so what do you guys think? 

Is there a colour combination you prefer?

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!

Velvet nails,fluffing rubbish!!!

As promised i have given the MUA nail fluff a go and all i can say is its infuriated me.

I followed the instructions on the back and its just messy and doesnt really work how i expected, maybe i need more practise but after that i dont think ill be doing it again. This picture shows my SECOND attempt! 

Even the neon Kleancolor Neon was patchy, i dont think its my night :(

Would the Sam biddles velveteen work better?

it just wouldnt bloody stick! It looks sooo messy!!

** Disheartened**