Back from a Blogging Break

I've been away from my blog for a little while now, but my love for nail painting didn't stop, I was still posting weekly on Instagram, but felt I was struggling to keep up with posting, along with finishing the planning for my wedding.  I have enjoyed my little break, but I want to get back to my blog again.

I thought I'd share the nails that I did whilst I was away.  I won't go into details about them as there are quite a few, and they are all on Instagram, but I thought it would be a nice post to get me started again.

Pink Ombré Nail Art

I think sometimes simple can be more effective, and that's what I've gone for this week with a pink ombré.

I've done a similar look before with purple tones, but it was a long time ago now.  I think the colours that I picked this time around compliment each other much better and I prefer the light to dark ombré starting with the lightest shade on my thumb.  I think it looks more balanced.

From thumb to little finger I have used the following colours - Essie Ballet Slippers, Models Own Strawberry Tart, Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, Revlon Fuchsia Fever, and China Glaze Traffic Jam.  To match the finish up on all the shades I've finished with a coat of Collection Sparkle Top Coat.

I've got some exciting reviews and a nail swap coming up on my blog so keep an eye out for those soon.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Coloristiq Nail Polish Rental Service Review*

Do you ever see nail polishes that you'd love to try, but their price tag is just a little to steep for you to justify buying the whole bottle for perhaps only a few uses?  If so, it sounds like you could benefit from Coloristiq's nail polish rental service.

*Press sample - sent to me for review

My Top Three Nail Colours

Posts like this are really difficult to write because how, out of my collection of 192 colours, can I just pick three?  I figure that if I use a colour a lot that it must be a favourite otherwise why would I keep reaching for it over and over?

I whittled down my choice to these three beauties, and tried to include something for everyone, and to suit most budgets.  Also, they are all great for spring.

Tiffany & Co Nails

Hello all,

Whilst I was out shopping at the weekend, I got distracted by something shiny... Glittery nail polish to be precise!  How could I not come away with nail polish when I was out for a girly day of shopping and the cinema with my mum?

I got an exciting new addition to my Essence collection which will feature on my blog soon, but what I have to show you today is number 184 from Laka.  It's the perfect green glitter to add to some Tiffany & Co. themed nails.

I have done Tiffany & Co. nails before (you can see them here) and they are just so cute to do; so I was excited to try out some more.

Multicoloured Dots Nail Art

Hi all,

I don't know about you, but I'm still not quite ready to say goodbye to bright colours, and this week I couldn't decide which one to use, so I used them all!

When I'm short of time my go to nail art of choice is polka dots.  I used my Models Own dotting tools to create various different sized dots for this design.  I started with a base of Models Own Snow White.  I have been using this so often recently, so much so that I just finished a bottle of it, and I don't think I've ever finished a bottle of polish, ever!  Usually they go gloopy before I can get to the end,  It's just fabulous and such a brilliant white to work with.  I then used lots of other polishes that to complete the look.

Orange - Graffiti Nails Tuscany

Green - Essence Roller Coaster

Blue - Miss Sporty Pop Fiction

Purple - Morgan Taylor Bright Side

Pink (pictured) - China Glaze Purple Panic

I have just had a bit of destash and said bye bye to 19 polishes.  I originally thought it was going to be really difficult to go through and get rid of some, but it was much easier than anticipated.  They were ones that had dried up a bit, or ones that I just wasn't going to wear again, but there were some in there that only just made the cut!  It was good to have a proper look through though and it meant I came across the Miss Sporty one and realised that I hadn't used it yet, so thought I'd début along with these other gorgeous colours.  Isn't it pretty?

Graffiti Nails and Essence have been a recent favourites of mine, so I had to include them, and I love the quality of China Glaze and Morgan Taylor.  Whilst they are on the pricier side for nail polishes I really do think you get what you pay for.  Every time I use these it's like using a brand new bottle of polish.

Overall I think this is a fun design and pretty eye catching; I've even had men at work admiring my nails today!

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Polish Party: Inspired by Another Member - Leopard Half and Half

Hello all,

I am very excited about the theme for this month's Polish Party - Inspired by Another Member!  We vote each month and since setting up our facebook group I have suggested this theme each time for the poll and it has narrowly been out voted by something else.  This month it finally came up on top though - Yay!

The only issue left after getting it through was picking who would be my inspiration.  There are so many fabulous ladies in the group who create such amazing nail art. so it was always going to be a tough choice.  In the end I decided on a half and half leopard print from Lauren at The Naily Mail.

Here's my version...

And here's Lauren's original design...



I had a shortlist of three designs including a galaxy manicure, a fish tail/plaited design with glitter, and this one. Lauren does gorgeous half and half manicures and I think it looks really effective which is what made me really want to try it out.  I love the gold she has used here, but I have done subtle coloured or realistic animal print nails before so I wanted to go really out there with a bright bold colour (If you followed the link above you will have seen Lauren's bright pink zebra nails, which were a source of more inspiration to do the animal print in a different colour).

Christmas Tree Dotticure Nail Art

Hello all,

I have my last Christmas nail art of the season and more importantly it will be what I have on my nails on the big day!

This was a 'pinspired' design this week.  This year I have seen lots of Christmas trees done with striping tape, so I was looking for something different and came across this pin.  I loved it so much that I just had to have a go.  Clicking through and reading the blog post about this I found out that it was inspired by another blogger as well, so it's really going around now!

I started off with two coats of Snow White from Models Own.  This is a fab white polish.  A bit streaky of first coat, but perfect in two.  I then used Barry M Red Glitter, China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Models Own Bora Bora to create my dots.  Using different the two different end of my dotting tool for the large and medium dots and then end of a cuticle stick for the tiny dots.  I repeated this pattern on all my nails, but left my ring finger free for my Christmas tree.  For the tree I started by dotting Emerald Sparkle in a single dot in the centre of my nail just below the cuticle.  Then two dots at the tip of my nail to create a triangle pattern.  I then filled in the rest of the tree with some extra green dots.  I then added three Red Glitter dots for baubles and three Bora Bora dots for tinsel.  The star had to be something a bit special so I added a yellow gem to sparkle away at the top of the tree.  Then came the tricky part... Top coating without causing drag on the dots over the white! And look... It worked!!!!!!! Yay!!

I love how festive this manicure is and what was even better was that it was so simple!  I also did some nail art for my mum and sister as well...

A fancy swirly tree for my mum and snowflake for my sister.

I hope you all like my Christmas tree dotticure and have a very Merry Christmas x

China Glaze Purple Panic and Maybelline Pretty in Polka

Hello all,

I've got a really quick post this week to show off my new goodies that I was bought from America.  China Glaze Purple Panic and Maybelline Colour Show Polka Dots, Pretty in Polka.

As you can see Purple Panic isn't really purple at all, but more of a fuchsia pink.  It's such a pretty colour.  I first saw this on another blog and had it on my wish list from that point onwards (along with another China Glaze which has been discontinued - boooo!!)  I was surprised to find out that it was a matte finish though.  I had only seen it glossy!

The Maybelline Colour Show Polka Dot colours are such a pretty collection.  Pretty in Polka has black and white polka dot shapes in various different sizes in a light pink base.  As I chose to layer this over my China Glaze I don't actually know what it looks like on it's own, but I would imagine you'd need quite a few coats for it to be an opaque colour without a base.  I love the dots, in this polish, it's a fun textured look without having glitter.

I am loving the fact that this manicure still fits with Breast Cancer Awareness Month - I can still show my support in pink!  I'd love to see other people's swatches of Polka Dots - leave me a link in the comments x

Turquoise Stone Nail Art

Hello all,

I went for a 'Pinspired' manicure this week from Pinterest.  I have been seeing lots of pretty designs and thought that I would give one a go.

I have the gorgeous For Audrey from China glaze and having done a couple of different Tiffany & Co. designs with it, I was searching for something else to use it for.  I spotted Turquoise Stone nails and they were just perfect! I saw them done a few different ways but here is the pin that I got my main idea from.

 

 

Now I don't know about you, but I hate cling film! It clings to everything that it's not meant to and nothing that it is; mainly itself which is very frustrating!  This is the perfect revenge for cling film though as you just lightly screw some up and use it to dab on the colour.  I just dabbed the cling film into black polish from Revlon and removed the excess on a scrap of paper and then dabbed it all over my nails.  You can see the steps on the pin that I followed, but I didn't copy it like for like as I wanted to add my own touch.  I also thought that painting on the thin lines might look too overdone. 

 

I had seen some other pins that did the dabbing of colour with gold polish instead, so I thought that I would add a little bit of gold as well.  After the black had dried I dabbed Models Own Bora Bora over all of my nails using the cling film as before.  This added a slight sparkle like you can see in turquoise stones.

 

Before I was lucky enough to get China Glaze For Audrey I had tried some other polishes as dupes for the colour.

 

 

Here you can see China Glaze For Audrey, Orly Gumdrop and Marks and Spencer Duck Egg.  Duck Egg was the first one that I had and whilst I love the polish as you can see from how much has been used, it's not the best dupe for For Audrey.  It's much lighter and very shimmery.  I was bought this when looking for dupes and it seemed right at the time until looking at pictures afterwards.  I must say that if you are looking for a light pretty blue/green I would recommend Duck Egg as it's just lovely.  Having then searched online for dupes I found Orly Gumdrop.  It's a really good dupe if you can't get your hands on China Glaze.  As you can see it is slightly lighter, but it's not at all bad.  Have you found any good dupes for this or other colours?

 

 

I'm really pleased with the finished effect of my turquoise stone nails.  What do you think? Are you on Pinterest? Have you tried any designs from there?



Tiffany & Co Nails

A while ago now I did a different Tiffany & Co. nail design that I have included in this post.  I had seen it on Pinterest and loved it so thought I'd give it a go.  For my first go at this design I used Orly Gumdrop as this was a pretty close match in colour, because living in the UK we don't have China Glaze (I had read up on dupes of China Glaze For Audrey).

My mum went to America and I asked her to bring me back a For Audrey so that I could have another go again at the design with the perfect colour!  I didn't want to do exactly the same again for the design this time round so I decided to go with an accent finger painted in silver, the rest of my nails in For Audrey with silver tips. My thinking being that hopefully whatever might be in the Tiffany box/bag would be a lovely shiny silver.

I hope you like my Tiffany & Co. design

 

 

Here are my Tiffany nails the first time that I did them (Sorry that the photo isn't great - it's from my phone)