Sunday 17 March 2013

St Patrick's Day Cling Film Nails

Happy St Patrick's Day! Are you doing anything to celebrate? I've been at work today so I think I'm just going to take it easy, but I did paint my nails last night to reflect my Irish ancestry (I'm a quarter Irish). I decided to do a cling film/saran wrap manicure because I haven't done one since the Olympics last year!

I started with two coats of Revlon Minted and, when this had dried, painted on a coat of Essie Mojito Madness. When this was still wet I dabbed it with scrunched up cling film and followed with a coat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment for a bit of sparkle.

You can see last year's St Patrick's Day nails here.

Monday 11 March 2013

Pastel Retro Squares

Good evening! Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, life got in the way. :( I'm back with a fun nail art design inspired by spring and the sixties: pastel retro squares. I chose pastel colours because I thought it was very nearly spring. Having said that, I did this design on my nails last night and woke up this morning to a blizzard!

I started with a white base before using striping tape to mark off the squares. I used the bottle brushes to carefully paint each coloured square - you definitely need steady hands for this! The colours I used are OPI Done Out in Deco (lilac), OPI Banana Bandanna (yellow), Revlon Minted (green), and a random Color Club pink that doesn't seem to have a name.

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, but if you look closely you can see the white bled a bit on my index and little fingers. Boo. Oh well, you can't tell from a distance. :)

Saturday 16 February 2013

Dior Rosy Bow

Good evening! I have a polish from Dior's Spring collection to show you today. Rosy Bow is a gorgeous pink creme shade with a hint of coral. I'm not usually drawn to pinks but when I saw this one in store I knew it had to come home with me! The formula was brilliant, I used two coats and had no problems.

It's a bit more pink than it appears in my photos; it's one of those shades that's very difficult to photograph accurately!

Thursday 14 February 2013

Owl Always Love You

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm single (again) this year, but instead of moping I like to think of it as a 'me' day. So I'll be spending the day with my hamster Claude, plus Molly Ringwald and the rest of the Brat Pack - yup, I will be watching cheesy eighties films this evening. :) Are you doing anything for Valentine's Day this year?

My Valentine's manicure this year is based on a design by Chalkboard Nails. She freehanded an adorable pair of owls and I knew I had to give it a go. I love owls - according to my parents I've been obsessed with them since I was little - and recently I've been going owl mad. I've bought an owl necklace, jumper, snood and ring. Owl nails seemed an obvious progression!

The base colour for this design was OPI My Very First Knockwurst, a pinky nude. The two pinks I used for the owls themselves are Essie Tour de Finance and Essie Sure Shot (which I also used for the hearts on my thumb). The heart-shaped rhinestones are from a set I got on eBay.

Right, I'm off to watch Sixteen Candles and eat too much chocolate. Have a great day!

Sunday 10 February 2013

Studded Leather Nails

Good evening! Yesterday I showed you the Nails Inc leather effect polish in Noho, and today I'm showing you some nail art I did with it. I used the nail glue that comes with the set and some square gold studs from the Born Pretty Store to give my nails the look of studded leather.

I really liked wearing this but it's not very practical for everyday wear! I think it would look great for a night out though. :)

Saturday 9 February 2013

Nails Inc Leather & Skulls in Noho

Hello! Today I have one of the Nails Inc leather effect polishes to show you. I think 2013 is going to be the year of the textured nail polish, and Nails Inc is always at the forefront of new trends. When I first heard of the leather effect polish I presumed it would simply dry to a rubberised finish, but in actual fact it's much cooler than this; it dries slightly bumpy and really does resemble leather.

I used two coats of the leather effect polish. It's not quite as opaque as a normal black so it does really need both coats. It takes a little longer to dry than normal nail polish and you obviously can't apply a top coat or it will ruin the effect, but as long as you're prepared to wait it's fine. It's worth noting that while the polish doesn't dry smooth it also isn't gritty - it doesn't snag on anything. I actually found it quite entertaining to stroke my nails with this on!

The set costs £19 on the Nails Inc website and includes some 3D skulls, but I chose not to use these. I did, however, do some different nail art with this polish, which I'll show you tomorrow. :)

Have you tried the Nails Inc leather effect polish? What do you think of the texture trend? Are you a fan or do you prefer a smooth finish?

Thursday 31 January 2013

Sonnetarium After the Rain & If We Could Meet By the Sea

Good evening! Sorry for not posting for a bit, I've been on a course in Wales. To make it up to you I'm showing you two swatches from the indie brand Sonnetarium. I've had these for a while - I bought them at the same time as Samurai Princess - and I've worn them both before, but kept forgetting to photograph them. Anyway, here they are.

After the Rain has a blue shimmer base with multi-coloured glitter - I could see white, red, green, yellow and purple glitter. The base is pretty opaque so it doesn't need undies; this is two coats on its own. It has a great balance of glitter to base and was a breeze to apply.

If We Could Meet By the Sea has small teal and white hex glitter, smaller white glitter and teal bar glitter in a clear base. It's a really pretty combination and it does remind me a bit of the ocean. I've shown a single coat over Essie Turquoise & Caicos - again, it application was very easy. I think this is my favourite of the two!

Monday 21 January 2013

OPI Stay the Night (Liquid Sand)

Good evening! Today I have one of OPI's new Liquid Sand effect polishes to show you, Stay the Night. I ordered this and Can't Let Go online before Christmas but they only arrived on Friday...and, fair warning, I am about to rant about why.

I ordered from Nail Polish Direct and my previous experiences with them have been very good, but there is no way in H-E double hockey sticks I'm ordering from them again. When my order hadn't arrived after two weeks I emailed them twice to ask where it was and received no reply either time. Like I said, it finally arrived on Friday with no word, just as I was planning to see if I could get my money back through PayPal. Their Facebook page, it turns out, is full of stories similar to mine - although I'm one of the lucky ones because my order did eventually turn up. So basically...order from them at your own risk.

An-y-way. I had to put Stay the Night on immediately. It has a black base with hot pink glitter and dries to a gritty finish. I thought it would mostly just be like glitter that hasn't been top-coated, but it's definitely got something matte going on. I used two coats for the photos.

I wasn't sure what I'd think of the Liquid Sand effect but I actually really like it. I'm still wearing it and I keep running my fingers over my nails to feel the texture. It's rough but not enough so that it's going to catch on anything. My dad is usually pretty uninterested in my nails but when I showed him these he thought they were pretty cool - then suggested I sandpaper the banister with them!

Have you tried any of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes? What do you think of them?

Friday 18 January 2013

Estée Lauder Nouveau Riche

Good evening! I have a swatch to share with you today. Estée Lauder Nouveau Riche was a birthday present from a very lovely friend. It's a beautiful bronze-gold that, when you look closely, is actually comprised of pink and gold flecks (you can see them better on my little finger in the second photo). The formula was fantastic and I think it was opaque in two coats, but the lighting was rubbish when I painted my nails so I did a third coat just to be sure!

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Retro Half-Moon Manicure

Good evening! At the beginning of December one of my best friends had a murder mystery party based on a 1920s theme. For the uninitiated, a murder mystery party is just what it sounds like - it's a boxed game where a fictitious person gets murdered, and each party guest plays a particular character who is both a suspect and has to figure out whodunnit. We all dressed up like our characters. Mine was based on Chanel so I wore a little black dress, black heels, and a Chanel-esque cream cardigan that I found in Primark for a tenner (bargain!). Naturally, I had to paint my nails to match the theme!

Yup, I went with a half-moon manicure. I've done it once before for a vintage weekend at work (you can see it here) but I like this one more. I used a brighter red this time, Orly Ruby, and I think it looks kinda sexy. ;)

I wasn't the murderer and didn't even guess correctly who it was...boo. But I had a great night anyway. :)

Sunday 13 January 2013

Glitzology Swatches - Part Two

Good evening! This is the second part of my swatches from the indie brand Glitzology; you can find the first part here.

Bad Things is inspired by the TV show True Blood, so I knew I had to buy this polish. It has a deep red jelly base with different shaped red glitter, small black hexes, and silver holographic micro glitter. It also has red hearts - you can see one on my middle finger! This is a surprise favourite for me; I didn't expect to like this polish quite as much as I do. You can build it to opacity on its own but I chose to layer one coat over Orly Ruby.

Second is Diet Cokehead. I love love LOVE the name of this one - it describes me perfectly! Hello, my name is Sophie and I am a Diet Cokehead. I drink it every day (sorry, teeth). Anyway, the polish contains red square and hex glitter, black hexes, and red and black bar glitter in a shimmery silver base. Basically, it looks exactly like a can of Diet Coke can. As with Bad Things it's opaque on its own but I layered it over Barry M Silver Foil instead.

Finally I have Snow Day to show you. It has matte white glitter and disco glitter (which looks slightly yellow in my photos for some reason...) with an iridescent blue shimmer. It's a wintry polish but I think it can look good all year round depending on what you wear under it; I used Essie Borrowed & Blue here. It's packed with glitter so I dabbed it on rather than applying normally, but it wasn't really a bother.

As with yesterday's, the polishes needed two coats of top coat to make them perfectly smooth, and there were no curling glitters. I am a huge fan of Glitzology now and I'll definitely be placing another order very soon. :)

Saturday 12 January 2013

Glitzology Swatches - Part One

Good afternoon! Today and tomorrow I'll be showing you some nail polishes from the indie brand Glitzology. It's quickly become one of my favourite indies, both for the quality and uniqueness of the polishes and for the fantastic customer service. The three you'll see today are glitter bombs in clear bases; the ones tomorrow each have a coloured base.

First up is As You Wish. I'm not ashamed to admit I bought this mostly for the name, as The Princess Bride is one of my favourite films. It has large white and holographic teal hex glitter and smaller fuchsia and lavender glitter in a clear base. I layered it over China Glaze Gothic Lolita; there is a lot of glitter in As You Wish so I had to be quite careful applying it that I didn't overload my brush. It gave great coverage in just one coat.

Next up is My Viking Boyfriend. The creator of Glitzology, Stacy, says this is named for her boyfriend, which I think is really cute. This is blue and silver holographic hex glitter, silver squares, dark blue hexes, and silver holo micro glitter. As with As You Wish it's absolutely packed with glitter, so I found it easier to dab it on rather than apply it normally. This is one coat over Nails Inc Baker Street.

Finally I have Skeleton Key. I believe it's inspired by the movie Beetlejuice, which I haven't seen. I absolutely love this one, I think it's my favourite of the three. It has matte black and white glitter (instant WIN) and two shades of purple glitter, all of various shapes and sizes. It contains bar glitter so if don't like that I'd steer clear; I personally love bar glitter! Again this polish is crammed with glitter so you have to be a little careful applying it. I layered one coat over Rimmel Grey Matter; as you can probably tell, I did a slightly thicker coat on my middle finger.

As a general note about all three polishes, they gobble up top coat so I did two generous coats of Poshe to make everything smooth. I'm happy to report I didn't experience any problems with curling glitters (hurrah!). Thanks for reading and pop back tomorrow for part two! :)