Pink and Purple Skittle

Inspired by Nail Polish Society

Base (pink) - Jacava - Raspberry Bavarois

Base (purple) - Jacava - Lavender Court

Base (black) - Sally Hansen - Blacky O

Base (gold) - Barry M - Gold Digger

Stamping Plate - UberChic 14-03

Shrimply Devine

Nails that Barbie would be proud of

Base (pink) - Sally Hansen - Shrimply Devine

Base (white) - Barry M - Cotton

Glitter Topper - Barry M - Amethyst Glitter

September - Pinks, Purples, and Glitter

Looking back over the past month I seem to have used lots of pinks, purples, and glitter, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Purples and pinks are my favourite colours so I'm not surprised that a had a whole month with a similar colour theme.

I started with Morgan Taylor's Bright Side with a glitter gradient.

Bright Side is a beautiful neon pink which dries to a matte finnish.  I used two coats here and you do need at least two coats as it's very streaky with just one.  I then used Holographic top coat from Nina Ultra Pro.  This has to be amongst my favourite glitters.  It catches the light and is jam packed with loads of sparkles.

During the month I was lucky enough to be sent some new colours from the Jacava Woodlanders collection to review, which you can see here.  I wore the grey base for a little while before I couldn't resit covering it in a coat of this super sparkly glitter, Glass Slipper from Accessorize.

This is my favourite design I have done in a while.  I have been doing some more simple things lately so decided to have a bit more fun with this one.  Being in a Autumn kind of place with another colour from the Jacava Woodlanders collection, I stamped some cute leaves and added some glitter and nail studs to match the theme.  I used Models Own Utopia for the base of the stamped nail and the golf glitter is Bora Bora, also from Models Own.

Last month I signed up to Nailbox, but just missed the cut off for the August box, but the September box was worth the wait.  I got this amazing Sinful Pro Shine polish, Show Off.  I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame when I opened the box so had to try it straight away.  I had placed an order a She Sell Sea Shells for some Nail Vinyls so thought that I'd try them out for some fun chevron accent nails with Turn On The Haute Light from OPI.

Do you have a favourite colour you find yourself reaching for all the time?  What colours are you loving this Autumn?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

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

Models Own: Colour Chrome Stamping

I know the Colour Chrome collection came out a while ago now, but I haven't actually had time to try them out yet.  I have to say, whilst they are pretty, they weren't my favourite collection from Models Own so I only bought two as they were my favourites out of the 10 available.

I have read loads of blogs where everyone has said how brilliant chromes are for stamping, so I thought I'd give it a go myself.  I chose my MoYou Sci-Fi 08 plate which features funky whole nail designs.

I have mainly seen the chrome collection stamped over black, which looks lovely, but black nails are a bit heavy for summer, so I picked a neutral base, Utopia, also from Models Own.  I paired this with Chrome Cerise for my stamped design.

If you have used stamping plates before you'll know that you can't hang around when picking up your design, and I found that the chrome colour dries really quickly, meaning I had to work even faster than normal.  Unfortunately this meant that I have a couple of little patches where the whole design didn't quite transfer, but I'm not going to tell you which nail in case you haven't noticed!  The large dots in the middle of my chosen design weren't as sharp as I would have liked them to be, but to fix them I used a small dotting tool and dotted over them.  I tend to find that the whole nail images on MoYou plates are not quite long enough for my thumb nails unless I have really short nails, so I used Chrome Cerise over the whole nail as a bit of a contrast.

Overall I did like the colour for stamping and I think the finished effect is lovely, but have to say that I am not keen on the over-all chrome finish.  There are far too many visible brush strokes for my liking and they aren't very forgiving on any little imperfections.

Thanks for stopping by
Aimee 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

Pink Dot Pond Manicure

I really enjoy scrolling through my social media feeds on Twitter and Instagram and seeing all the lovely manicures other people have been trying out, and in the last few days I have been seeing a few pond manicures pop up here and there and just had to have a go myself.

When I was looking at my polish collection I couldn't find anything quite sheer enough to get the right look.  I decided to use Models Own Pink Fever which is quite sheer with one coat, but when you build up further coats it wouldn't work effectively for this technique.  Using an empty polish bottle I mixed my colour with clear top coat to create something more sheer.  For the dots I used my Mo You stamping polish in White Knight.  The opacity of the stamping polish made it a perfect choice as I knew it would be visible through the rest of the layers.

To start I applied one thin coat of my new sheer pink, and then added on white dots in varying sizes. When this was dry I added another thin coat of pink and white dots.  I continued this process for about four layers.  I love the depth this technique gives.  As you build up the layers the dots gradually change in colour getting darker with each layer giving an ombré effect using only two colours.  I have tried overlapping dots like this before using different shades of a colour and it has always ended up looking messy, but I think the depth makes all the difference here.  I decided to leave the last dots white to make it look as though they were floating on the top layer.  I also thought that another layer of pink might have made the first lot of dots blend in too much.

I really like this technique and want to try it again with something more complicated than dots so I'm on the lookout for some nice sheer colours.  Any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Watercolour Tie-Dye Nails

I decided to try out a new technique this week but it didn't work to plan, so I had to change my idea part way through painting.  Luckily I didn't have to start all over again and I am really pleased with the outcome.  I have ended up with a watercolour tie-dye effect.

I started off with a neutral base so I had something to work on, and I was originally going to add watercolour bubbles, but I'm not sure that I worked quick enough to soak up the excess polish to give the right effect, so thinking quickly I started adding my watered down polish in splodgy sections over the whole nail.  The colours started blending together really nicely.  I added a few layers to build up the colours and cover any bare patches.  To even out the sections I added a fine glitter top coat from Collection.  A adore this top coat as it transforms any polish into something extra special.

I used Tuscany from Graffiti Nails which has to be my favourite orange polish I have come across. The pink is Gumball from Models Own, so not only are my nails pretty, they smell yummy as this is a polish from the Sweet Shop Collection.  Lastly I have used Yellow from Barry M.  I think all these colours work together beautifully.  What do you think?

Even though this wasn't what I originally had in mind, I think the effect I am left with is fun and eye catching.  And it's a different way of creating this look, rather than water marbling or dragging the polish when on the nail.  What do you do when a design doesn't quite to plan when you have already started painting?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Sweetheart Nail Art

Valentine's is just perfect for nail art as there are so many different things you can do - hearts, flowers, kisses, love letters, the list is endless.  I know I did hearts last week, but I couldn't resist sticking with them this week for this more girly heart print design.

I had a bit of a search through my stash to get together some pinks and reds (you can see them all on Instagram), and came across ones that I hadn't thought about in a while, including Jacava Raspberry Bavarois.  I absolutely love this colour so decided that it was going to be the main choice for this design.  It paints on so smoothly and is perfectly opaque in one coat.  I always use two coats for extra longevity on my nails.

I painted my index, middle, and little finger in pink and my thumb and ring finger in white.  Then using different sized dotting tools I created the hearts in Raspberry Bavarois and Strawberry Ice cream from Barry M.  Hearts are really easy to do, but look really effective.  All you have to do is get a good amount of polish on the end of your dotting tool and then drag diagonally downwards to form the point of the heart, then repeat the same again with another dot adjacent to the first.  There were still a few little gaps, so I added in a few little dots in both pinks.  I think they finished off the accent nails perfectly.

What's your favourite sort of design for Valentine's Day?  Leave me some links so I can see yours.  Also, keep an eye on my Instgram later in the week for another exciting Valentine's related post.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Barry M: Glitterati Socialite

Hello all,

With the party season here glitter is always a good choice.  I tried out Socialite a few weeks ago, but haven't had chance to post about it yet.

This was one of those essential buys in Boots to make up my total cost for bonus points.  It just had to be done, you know how these things are!?

I love this colour and I think it would be brilliant for Christmas parties paired with a black dress.  It has a slight texture to it because of the dense glitter, but if you use a top coat over it, it smooths out.

I was lucky enough to be able to catch it glistening in the sunshine and look how pretty it is.

What other colours from the Glitterati collection would you suggest?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Essence: Thermo Effect Polish - It's Hot Stuff

Hello all,


I love to have fun with my nails, so if there's a polish that adds to the fun it's going to be likely that I want it!  I spotted Thermo Effect colours from Essence a while back on a European blog, but that was before Essence came over to the UK.  When they arrived here, I sent them a cheeky Tweet to ask if we would be getting them as well and I was told they would be here soon.  On my last trip to Westfield I popped into the shop, obviously, and spotted this gorgeous pink that I needed to try.

Models Own: Diamond Luxe Oval Plum

Hello all,

I've got a quick post today, but it shows off something super beautiful, the new Models Own Diamond Luxe Oval Plum.

Look how pretty!!! As always with Models Own polishes it goes on really smoothly.  One coat of this gives full coverage and is more pink in tone, but I have used two coats here which gives a more magenta tone.

I also got Emerald Green, Pear Purple, and Asscher Blue, so I can't wait to try them out as well.

If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen that I've been organising my nail polish collection.

You may have seen the first step of my storage sorting but I still wasn't 100% happy with what I had done and still had more to sort.  I spotted my new drawers in Muji, and they were exactly the type of thing that I had been looking for for a while.  I got two sets, and as you can see they are already full!! ha ha!  If you'd be interested in reading more about my storage as it is today leave me a comment and I can start putting a post together.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

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

Pretty In Pink Nail Art

Hi all,

Even though I love Autumn, I'm not quite ready to give up summery colours on my nails.  Having said that I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do on my nails this week, so when in doubt it's a visit Pinterest to look at all the pretty nails I have pinned there for inspiration.  Scanning through I decided to go for a version of this design, but in pink.

I started with three coats of Ice Cream Sundae on my thumb, index and little fingers and two coats of Pink Flamingo on my middle and ring fingers.  Both colours are from Barry M.  For the glitter gradient on my middle finger I used Princess from the Royal Glitter collection, also from Barry M.  It just compliments the two pinks perfectly.  I then used my MoYou Pro Plate 09 to stamp on my thumb nail and ring finger.  I stamped in the opposite colour to the base and I think it worked out really well.  Overall I am really please with how these nails turned out and I think they are simple but effective.

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Manicure Swap with The Imperfect 10: Pink Butterfly Wings Nail Artwith Tutorial

Hello all,

I had such fun recreating my own design last week for the monthly Polish Party theme, that when Rachel from The Imperfect 10 asked if I'd like to do either twin nails with her, or a manicure swap I went for it.

After a bit of discussion we decided to go for a swap, so I picked a design from her blog and she picked one from mine.  Then all that was left was to paint.

So here is my take on Rachel's pink butterfly wings

I hadn't ever done butterfly wing nails before, so this was the perfect opportunity.  I have seen them about quite a bit on Pinterest and in the blogging world, so they seem to be a bit of a nail art staple, so really, it was about time!

I really liked that Rachel hadn't done the wings on all nails as I think the black details could quite easily overpower the nails otherwise.  Here are the designs side by side

My recreation on the left, Rachel's original on the right

As you can see Rachel went for a bright pink from Models Own, but I didn't have the same colour, so I chose to go for a pink gradient with two Barry M colours - Strawberry Ice Cream and Pink Flamingo.  I built up the colours in quite a few layers as I wasn't getting the coverage I wanted at first.  This meant that clean up was a nightmare though as the polish had dried on to my fingers in between.  Five cotton buds and a little nail brush later I was ready to add the details.

I used my black and white Barry M Nail Art Pens for the details as they are just so easy to work with.  For the non wing nails I added single dots of black and white down the edges as my double dots with black and white looked too messy.  Then it was on to the wings themselves.  I have put together this mini tutorial on how to create butterfly wings in 5 easy steps.  I hope you find it easy to work from - sorry it's shown on a nail wheel rather than my own nails.

1. Start with a curved line near the cuticles
2. Then add thee long lines down the nail towards the tip
3. Add tiny curved lines in between the long lines you just created
4. Fill in the tip of the nail with black
5. Once dry add tiny white dots to finish off the look

Don't forget to take a look at Rachel's recreation of my design as well, she went for my pastel rainbow ombré manicure.

Rachel's recreation on the left and my original on the right

How do you think we both did?

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Models Own: Sweet Shop Collection Review

Hello all,

I am really excited about what I have to show you in this post... Who doesn't love gorgeous new polishes? And if that's not enough these ones are even more yummy as they smell just like sweets.  What could be better?

From left to right I have Fizzy Cola Bottles, Pear Drops, Rhubarb and Custard, and Gumball.  Also available is Liquorice Allsorts, but that's not one for me.  Keep reading for a closer look and to see what I think of the Sweet Shop collection.

MoYou Nails Stamping Plates Review*

Hello all,

I have recently had quite a few goes at stamping and have found it really fun so I was pleased to be asked to review MoYou Nails stamping plates.  I chose plates numbers 102 and 220, and pink polish to review.

*Press sample - sent to me for review

I was sent a catalogue of all the latest products, a bottle of special polish in pink, the two plates, and a stamper and scraper, which is obviously very handy.  Both plates have floral designs, 102 have small single designs and 220 has larger designs meant to cover the whole nail.

It's quite tricky to get a picture of the plates, but this one I uploaded to Instagram shows them quite well.  On first impressions the plates seem rather thin and therefore not very sturdy when picking up the images.  I think they could do with a thicker backing.  The stamper and scraper are pretty standard in comparison to others that I have come across.  I had trouble with another stamper before which was very shiny on the surface so I had to buff it before it would pick up an image.  This one wasn't shiny, so I thought that it would be better however I still had to buff it quite a lot before I was able to use it properly.  

To get going with the manicure I started off with a coat of pink polish on all my nails apart from my ring finger.  For this one I chose to use Essence in It's Raining Men.  I wanted a darker colour to test how the stamping polish would work over a darker colour.  I then stamped with the opposite colour to the base.

I found that the polish dried really quickly and it needed two coats to get full opacity.  Whilst the speed of drying time was good for stamping on to, it wasn't brilliant when trying to stamp with it.  You have to work pretty quickly when stamping anyway, but with a quick drying polish it did make it more difficult.  As you can see I have stamped a selection of different designs from the plate which are very pretty.  On my ring finger I stamped a full nail design with the pink polish.  It worked quite well, but doesn't show up as much as I would have liked.  I think in that respect it's a little disappointing for a stamping polish.

Overall these are not my favourite plates, but there is a nice selection of different designs.  Do you have any tips for stamping to get the best out of them?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Models Own: Sun Hat Butterfly Nails

Hello all,

Today I have super pink manicure that Barbie would be jealous of.  What better colours to pick from other than neons for this sunny weather that we've had recently so I have chosen to use Models Own Sun Hat from the Polish for Tans collection.

I have used two coats of Sun Hat all on nails other than my ring finger which is Models Own Snow White.  I used my MoYou London Scholar 05 plate to stamp the butterfly on my ring finger.  I love this plate so much, the doodle like images are so cute and fun.  To add a little something extra to my nails I added two coats of Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter on my thumb, middle finger and little finger.  Then on my index finger I attempted a waterfall of white polka dots but it didn't quite work out as I'd hoped.  To finish off I added a matte top coat.

I'm really pleased over all with this and I'm very happy with my stamping.  I'm getting better at it with practice.  What are your go to shades and designs for the summer? I'd love to see.  Leave me a link in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Models Own: Hyper Gel Sundress with Nail Tape Tutorial

Hello all,

I have wanted to try a more nail tape designs for a while now so I thought I'd give it a go along with a half moon manicure.  And what better way to test out my new Hyper Gel from Models Own.  Sundress is one of the new pinks from the summer Hyper Gel collection.

To create the half moons I used hole re-enforcers that you can get from stationery shops. Then to add to this and make it a bit more fancy I added some stripes using the nail art tape from my Models Own Nail Art kit. I haven't done a step by step in a while so I thought I'd give a new style picture tutorial a go.  I picked Models Own Bora Bora as my base colour for this design.

1. Paint your base colour and wait for it to dry completely
2. Add hole re-enforcers and nail tape to create your pattern
3. Paint your top colour over the tape
4. Before this coat of polish dries remove the tape
5. Clean up around the edges of your nails, add a top coat and you're done

Sundress is such a pretty deep raspberry pinky red polish.  It was opaque with just one coat making it perfect for my nail tape design.  Lots of people have had concerns about the summer Hyper Gels being similar to the other ones that came out originally, but I think it's difficult to tell from pictures what they are really like.  Here is a comparison between Sundress (on the left) and Cerise Shine (on the right).

I'd love to see more swatches of the other summer Hyper Gels, leave me a link if you have some of them and let me know what you think of my mini tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by
Aimée x

Models Own: Nail Art Kit Review*

Hello all,

I always wondered why Models Own didn't have a nail art kit because they seem to love nail art as much as we all do, and then the other week I came home from work to find this beauty waiting for me

A brand new Nail Art Kit from Models Own! Fancy that!  Of course I had to take a picture straight away, so this is from my phone, but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out anyway.  Then it was just a case of finding a bit of time to play with it all.

* Press sample - sent to me for review