Pick A Polish: China Glaze - Life Is Rosy.

Hello lovelies. How are you all? I have had a looong day today and I am glad its over.

It's time for Pick A Polish. This week I chose China Glaze - Life Is Rosy... another pink! I do have a lot of pinks, but I feel like random.org is biased towards the pinks in my stash.. I'm sure I will eventually run out of them and show you some different colours I own.

I am starting to run out of pink nail art ideas though lol.

Click below to see what I did with this polish.

Copycat Saturday: Colourful Sponged Manicure

Hello loves. How are you all? I hope you all have wonderful weekends. My laptop is doing strange things at the moment.. I hope it doesn't die on me :(.

For Copycat Saturday this week I recreated this design by Polish You Pretty. I have always known about their blog, but have only literally just found their bloglovin' button so have only just started following them properly (it's hidden right at the bottom). But I have had this design pinned on my pinterest for ages so I figured it was finally time to give it a go.

For more pictures click below.

Abstract Floral Print.

Hi everyone. How was your day? Mine was busy and I still have lots to do, I'm glad I wrote this post up in advance!

Today I have another random manicure to show you all. I saw a top whilst I was out with a print like this on, so I decided to put it on my nails. I'm not sure if it is meant to be, but it reminds me of flowers, so that is what I am going with.

For full details on this manicure click below.

Pick A Polish: Essie - Neo Whimsical

Hello everyone. I hope you are all well, I'm in a surprisingly good mood for a Monday!

So for this week's Pick A Polish manicure Essie - Neo Whimsical was chosen.

For a swatch and some nail art click below.

Pick A Polish: OPI - Sparrow Me The Drama

Hi loves. How are we all? I can't believe it is New Years Eve tomorrow already, it's crept up so fast.

It's time for this week's Pick A Polish manicure. The polish for this week is OPI - Sparrow Me The Drama. Doing these posts every week has made me realise how many pink polishes I own, nearly every week has been a pink polish so far lol. I promise I do own other colours too!

I got this polish a while ago on ebay.. I am not 100% sure if it is real because the bottle feels very slightly different from the rest of my OPI's, but it still does the job and I got it cheap so I am not going to complain.

Sparrow Me The Drama is a rosy pink cream. This photo shows 3 coats without topcoat. It was fairly opaque and was almost okay in two coats, however there were a few slight bald spots so I added a third to even it out completely. I had no issues with the application.

Click below to see the nail art I created..

Pick A Polish: Essie - Like To Be Bad

Hello loves. I'm feeling a lot better today, I have just finished my shift and now I have the rest of the week off for Christmas, yay! I hope you all have wonderful plans for Christmas :).

 I'm here a day late with this week's Pick A Polish due to the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge yesterday. But now that is over I shall be getting back into my normal blogging schedule. This week I picked Essie - Like To Be Bad.

I haven't used this polish a huge amount before, but have somehow splattered it all over the bottle. I have no idea how that happened.

Like To Be Bad is a soft pink cream. In the bottle it does have a slight shimmer but it doesn't  translate onto the nail. This photo shows 3/4 coats, it is quite opaque but streaks a bit which is why I needed the extra coats on some nails. It's not the easiest polish to apply. 

Click below to see the nail art I created..

Pick A Polish: Rimmel - Show Off

Hi everyone. I hope you are all well.

It's Monday so that means its time for Pick A Polish. This week it is the turn of Rimmel - Show Off.

Read on after the jump.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 7 - Christmas Animals

Hi lovelies. I hope you're all well. I have had a super stressful day and need a break but I still have to work tomorrow, waah!

It's day 7 of the 12 Days Of Christmas Challenge and today's prompt is Christmas animals. I thought long and hard about what animals to do, I was planning on trying to do something different. But in the end I just went with very unoriginal Rudolph nails.

You can't really go wrong with Rudolph though can you.

My base colour is OPI - Don't Burst My Bubble.

The reindeer's heads are OPI - A Taupe The Space Needle and the antlers are OPI - Warm Me Up. Although these two colours don't actually look as different as I was expecting them to.

I added the eyes with a dotting tool using Color Club - White and Rimmel - Black Cab. For the noses I used a coat of China Glaze - Hey Sailor and then a coat of OPI - Underneath The Mistletoe. I wish I had used a more bright, glittery red.

I'm not in love with these, but they are definitely not my worst effort. I probably could have made them better but I was a bit rushed whilst doing these.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

Pick A Polish - An Unnamed Color Club!

Hello my loves. I hope you are all well. I have a day off work tomorrow, so I am looking forward to having a day to catch up on bloggy stuff. These challenge posts keep creeping up on me too quickly!

Today I have this week's Pick A Polish post to show you, a day late since I was posting for the Christmas challenge yesterday. This week was number 157 in my stash, an unnamed Color Club. I hate having unnamed polishes, but I got this in a set from TK Maxx and I find whenever I get a set of Color Club polishes from there they never have names on.

This a a light pink jelly polish, my swatch shows 3 coats. It was very sheer on the first coat but was quite build-able. There was still a fair bit of visible nail line, more so in real life than in the photo. The formula was good and self levelled nicely. This would definitely be an appropriate polish for a french manicure, so that is what I did a twist on for my nail art...

Over my base I freehanded some french tips using a white cream (another unnamed Color Club). I haven't done proper french tips since my nails were a lot shorter, I think I definitely prefer them on shorter nails.

I freehanded the swirls using a detail brush and Rimmel - Black Cab. My thumb was my favourite.

I added some accents and dots using OPI - This Gown Needs A Crown.

I definitely pushed my freehanding skills with this mani, I'm not 100% happy with the outcome but it is always good to try something different. 

What's you opinion on french manicures? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge: Day 5 - Bells.

Hi lovelies. How are we all? I have just got home and I am about ready to go to sleep already lol.

Today is day 5 of the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge, its almost half way done. I will be sad when its over, I have been liking Christmas nails a bit too much. Today's theme was bells. I was  a bit stumped with what to do for this one, so I took to google and came across these nails. As soon as I saw them I knew I needed to steal the idea and copy them immediately, and I must say, I loved how they came out!

Here is my version..

My base colour is Essie - Like To Be Bad.

I freehanded the whole design with a detail brush. For the holly I used Barry M - Spring Green, China Glaze - Hey Sailor and Rimmel - Black Cab.

For the bells I used an Unnamed W7 Gold. The white on the ribbons is Color Club - White.

I was super proud of these, I think this is the best freehand design I have done. I spent my day at work sticking my fingers in people's faces to show them off. I didn't want to take them off for my next mani.

What are your thoughts? 

Don't forget to check what the other participants have done for their designs.

Pick A Polish: Loreal - Opulent Pink

Hi everyone. How are you all? I am super tired after work today.

Tonight I have this weeks Pick A Polish manicure to show you, this week Loreal - Opulent Pink was pulled out of the hat. I have had this polish for ages, my mum gave it to me a few years ago, but for some reason I have never used it. 

The colour is quite similar to last week's polish, but a bit darker.

Opulent Pink is a deep pink cream. It was sooo nearly a one coater, but I used two just to even it out completely. This photo is without topcoat, as you can see it is very shiny. 

I was feeling lazy with my nail art so wanted something quick and easy. I decided to go with the technique I used for the background on my #BritishBloggerSelection nails I did last week as it is so easy, but still looks interesting.

I got the idea from Chalkboard Nails. To do this I wiped most of the polish off the brush on the neck of the bottle and swiped the mostly dry brush over my nail. Which created this patchy effect.

The lighter colour is Miners - Marshmallow. I added a matte topcoat as I think it adds to the distressed look.

So overall I really loved this polish (I don't know why I haven't used it before) and I am pleased with the outcome of my nail art. This is definitely going to be something I do when I am short on time.

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for looking.

Pick A Polish: Leighton Denny - Plush Pink

Hello lovelies. I've got that Monday feeling today, is it the weekend yet?!

I am back with this weeks instalment of Pick A Polish, today it is the turn of Leighton Denny - Plush Pink. 

I don't own many polishes by Leighton Denny, but in my experience they are good quality and I like them.

Here is a quick swatch for you. This is two coats with topcoat, although it was shiny anyway so the topcoat didn't add to it in that way. This could possibly be a one coater if you applied a thick coat, but I applied two thinner coats. The formula was good, very easy to apply.

Onto the nail art...

For this design I was inspired by a packet of sanitary towels... yes you did read that correctly. I currently have a pink pack of sanitary towels in my bathroom that have a cute little skyline and buildings etc. around the bottom. I really liked how it looked so I decided to recreate it. This is probably my weirdest source of inspiration yet.

The base colour I used was Leighton Denny - Plush Pink.

I freehanded the skyline, the darker pink is OPI - Embarca-Dare Ya and the white is my usual Color Club.

I was happy with how these nails turned out, I think the tiny buildings are rather cute. I don't feel my photos quite do it justice however, the darker pink stood out more in real life.

Have you tried anything from Leighton Denny? What did you think of them?

Thanks for stopping by.

Pick A Polish: Avon - Rose Quartz

Hello lovelies. 

Today I have this weeks instalment of Pick A Polish, this week was the turn of Avon - Rose Quartz. This is a pretty old polish in my collection and I haven't used it for ages. To be honest I don't love it, which is probably why I haven't used it in so long.

I think the reason I have used a fair bit out of the bottle is because it needs so many coats!

I used 4 coats for this swatch, it was very sheer. In real life I still had some visible nail line, but you can't really see this in the photos. It is a pretty colour however, and has a nice shimmer when the light hits it. 

Onto the nail art...

I used Rose Quartz as my base... obviously.

I then freehanded the pattern with a detail brush and W7 - Black.

I am not 100% sure what the pattern is meant to be inside the hearts, I just kinda painted it. It sort of reminds me of roses, in an abstract kind of way.

I was fairly pleased with these. They aren't the best thing I have ever done, but I don't think they are bad. As you can probably tell I am still a bit undecided about this one!

What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for looking.

Neon Pond Manicure

Hi everyone. I hope you all have exciting weekends planned, I am still trying to rest my feet!

Today I have a 'pond manicure' to show you. I took inspiration from Chalkboard Nails' post here, but instead of flowers like hers I did my lines thinner to try and make them look like stars. According to her post this technique was originally by Olive View Fashion. I really want to try this with a dark blue jelly now, so I have ordered one just to try it out, if it comes out how I imagine it will be like stars in the night sky (hopefully lol).

If you are not already familiar with this technique you use a jelly polish (as it is sheer and you can see through the layers) and add nail art or stamping etc. after each coat of polish. So you can see the pattern at different depths through the polish. Did that make any sense? 

I used China Glaze - Shell-o and my usual unnamed Color Club white.

I really really loved how this came out, I didn't want to take it off. Like I said earlier, I will be trying this again in blue. So if it works out you will be seeing this again at some point. 

What are your thoughts? Have you tried anything similar? 

Thanks for stopping by.

Concrete and Flowers.

Hello everyone, I hope we are all okay. It was my first day back at work today after my 2 weeks off, so its back to reality for me now :( lol.

Today I have some nails to show you which was inspired by this picture. As soon as I saw this I knew I needed it on my nails, I really liked the contrast between the hard, grey concrete and the soft, pink flower. I didn't replicate it exactly (since when do I ever do that? Its way too hard lol) I more used the colours and idea as inspiration.

I used a base of Rimmel - Little Bo Peep.

I sponged on Sally Hansen - Ion and a bit of Barry M - Grey, but I mixed the Barry M with white as it is quite a dark grey.

I then added a few blobs of Barry M - Grey (this time not mixed with white) and an unnamed white Color Club using a nail art brush.

For the flowers I used Essie - Splash of Grenadine, Mac - Heroine, Barry M - Dragonfruit and more white. I freehanded these with a detail brush.

I also added a matte topcoat after a little while, I think I prefer it matte.

I really enjoyed wearing this design, I was pleased with how the flowers came out in particular.

What do you think? Do you prefer matte or shiny?

OPI Pink Of Hearts Nail Art

Hello everyone. It's the weekend and I am going on holiday in a few days, this makes me very happy :).

I bought the OPI - Pink Of Hearts 2013 set a little while ago, and since October is breast cancer awareness month, I figured what better time to try it out. I set out with the intention of this being a fully fledged breast cancer awareness themed manicure, with the little ribbons and stuff. But that kinda went out the window whilst I was doing it and I ended up with something else lol. Does that ever happen to anyone else?

The Pink Of Hearts set consists of a pink creme (Pinking Of You) and a matte glitter (More Than A Glimmer), I wasn't blown away by this set. Pinking Of You was nice, but nothing special. More Than A Glimmer just wasn't my kind of thing unfortunately, but I know a lot of people love it. I don't regret purchasing it though as it is for a good cause.

For my nail art I started with a base of Pinking Of You on my thumb, index and middle fingers. On my ring finger I used 3 coats of More Than A Glimmer.

On my thumb I added some pink and purple studs, secured using topcoat. 

On my index and middle fingers I added the lines with China Glaze - Fancy Pants and Barry M - Raspberry. For the dots I used Essie - Splash Of Grenadine.

On my little finger I did a gradient using the same 3 polishes.

I can't say I loved how these came out, I started them quite late in the evening and I feel I ended up rushing them in the end cos I needed to go to sleep. Nail art and rushing are not the best of combinations!

Has anyone else purchased this set? What did you think?

Thanks for looking.