Polish Party: Halloween - Frankenstein Nails

Hi all,

It's Polish Party time again - Yay!  This month's theme is Halloween... Well how could it not be?

I was a bit stuck for what to do, because you can often see a lot of the same things when looking at Halloween nail art, and whilst I haven't steered too far away from 'the norm', I hope I have come up with something a bit different.

I wanted to keep to the same colour pallet on all my nails as I didn't want too many colours all trying to compete with the others, so once I had decided on Frankenstein nails I chose the others based around that.  So obviously I had green and black.  I then paired those with silver and a bit of glitter.

I painted my thumb and ring finger in the limited edition green from Barry M that was out in the summer from Superdrug.  Then my middle finger and little finger are painted in Sterling Silver from Models Own. To finish off my base colours I used Knockout from Revlon on my index finger.

For the details on my silver nails I have done some simple stripes and dots.  I used the Models Own nail art pen for the stripes and a dotting tool dipped in my Revlon black polish.  On my index finger I kept it simple with a coat of Startlet by Jessica.  It's such a pretty multi toned glitter that would go with anything.

My thumb nail is a little bit more fancy.  I have done the ends of a plaited nail just on the tip.  I added a diagonal stripe in silver first and then another in the opposite direction in black.  As you can see from the photograph the silver over the green has actually gone a greenish gold colour.  It's a happy accident as I really like it, but obviously wasn't meant to be like that.

On my ring finger we have a not so scary, but rather cute Frankenstein.  I simply added some dots of black for his hair near my cuticle and then wiggled the polish around to create the cover required.  I then added two white dots for his eyes with a smaller black dot in the middle.  Using my nail art pen with striper I added his little stitched up mouth.

I really enjoyed doing this design even though it wasn't what I had originally planned.  Don't for get to check out the other girls taking part in Polish Party this month x

Rimmel Space Dust: Total Eclipse

Hello all,

I had to do a mid week nail paint last week, which I don't normally do, but I had used nail foil and unfortunately even with a top coat on it doesn't last long.

I has spotted Rimmel Space Dust polishes in Boots when I was in there looking for some other bits and had already mentally made a note to put them on my Christmas list because I love anything glittery!  Anyway, I need one less now as my mum happened to buy me one - Aren't mums the best!

This is Space Dust in Total Eclipse.  Its a pretty green textured polish with different sized and shaped glitter particles.  It has a duochrome effect, because in some lights it's really green and then in other lights you can see purple flecks.  When textured polished first started coming out I wasn't sure about them to be honest as I love to go for a smooth shiny finish, but they have really grown on me with the ones that I've tried now.  I really like the texture of the Space Dust as it's not too bitty, but still has the same effect.  I have added a top coat over the colour as I like a nice shine, but it didn't take away from the texture at all.  Now you're probably thinking that it's all very well that it's a pretty colour and a nice texture, but that it will be a pain to take off... well it's not! Woo!! I thought I was going to be scrubbing away for ages with cotton wool (I have run out of foil to use that method!), but I was pleasantly surprised and it was off in a flash.

Overall I would say that so far that this is my favourite textured polish and I look forward to trying the other colours in the collection.  Have you tried any? I'd love to see them if you have, leave me a link so I can take a sneaky look x

Barry M: Chameleon Pink with Nail Foil

Hello all,

So... I had a bit of a disaster with my nails this week.  I got Chameleon Pink from Barry M and completely misunderstood the effect.  I painted this lovely pink on and left it to dry.  Then I painted on my normal top coat admiring how, when it was cold with the top coat it changed to a pretty purple.  As my top coat was drying, I spent ages watching my nails as they warmed up to see the two tone colour.  Only after a while with no changes did I look properly at the bottle and realise that it changed colour with the top coat and not with heat! So there went my idea of two tone nails changing from hot to cold! Silly me! What you're actually meant to do is paint on a design with your top coat and those are the bits that change.  So having full purple nails now I had a think about what to do and decided to use some nail foil.

I chose this pretty lacy design which I think worked really well over the purple.  I have had my nail foils for about a decade so I was very impressed to find that my foil adhesive hadn't dried up.  I have found the same pattern in this foil in a different colour here.  I really like this effect so I think I'll have to do some more foil nails soon with my other designs.

Who else has tried nail foils? Leave me a link so I can take a look 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