Graffiti Nails: Jet, Tuscany, and Pistachio with flower nail art

Hi all,

I've got a really quick post today, but I wanted to share a cute manicure that I did for a party over the weekend.  A while ago I got these three colours from Graffiti Nails, and have used Pistachio and Tuscany already and they have both been gorgeous on.  I thought it was about time that I used Jet as well.

Jet is such a stunning black, it goes on beautifully and in one coat.  I am so impressed because every other black I've tried has been streaky on the first coat.  I still can't quite believe that's all I needed.

After a coat of Jet I added on these simple daisy style flowers.  I added a dot of Tuscany on each nail and then some petals in Pistachio around each dot.  Sometimes something simple is all you need and I love how these colours all work together so nicely.

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Essence: Let's Get Lost and Magnetic Top Coat Review

Hello all,

I'm sure you will all know by now, but Essence has come to the UK!  They have stands in local Wilko shops and also a shop in Westfield.  If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen that I live near by the shop at Westfield and have already managed to visit there a few times.

I've already used Party Princess, It's Raining Men, and Roller Coaster (all from the top right picture).  It's Raining Men and Roller Coaster were featured in my Las Vegas nail art.

Today I have Let's Get Lost and I have tried it out Essence's Magnetic top coat.  I have tried out magnetic nail polishes before so was very interested in how a magnetic top coat would work as it has huge potential to mix up your whole polish collection.

The magnetic top coat comes in a standard nail polish bottle and you can get different magnets to create different patterns.  I chose Sweet Heart and Funky Check.  I decided to test our the heart one first.

Looking at the top coat it seems a bit scary at first because it's silver, but that's just the magnetic particles.  The idea is to paint your base colour and leave it to dry fully.  Then you paint on a 'generous layer' of the magnetic top coat.  Before it dries you then hold the magnet above your nail and the particles move into the shape of the pattern.  So here was my first attempt.

You can just about see the little heart shapes here.  They are not very easy to photograph, but I promise they are more obvious than this in person.  I do however think I need to practise a bit more with this magnet.  This one seems a bit more tricky than others I have used before because it's a single shape on the magnet rather than a pattern that covers the whole nail.  I don't think I held the magnet over my index finger for long enough as the edges of the heart are a little faint and on my ring finger I think I must have moved the magnet slightly as I have a bit of a double edge.  I don't have a clue what happened to my little finger... It doesn't seem to be a heart at all! Ooops!  The other thing I found with this being a single image is that you can still see some of the magnetic particles around the edges of the nail.  To see if it made a difference, I used a false nail to paint just a patch of the top coat, rather than the whole nail, but I only got half of the heart shape.  You'd have to be really certain where the shape was in the magnet to make sure you got the particles in the right spot.  Over all I am still very impressed with this concept and I am looking forward to trying the Funky Check design as it's a whole nail pattern.  Have you tried this Sweet Heart magnet and have any tips?

The colour, as I mentioned before is Let's Get Lost.  I love this colour.  It's such a pretty turquoise blue.  It paints on beautifully and has a nice rounded edge brush which makes it very easy to apply.  It was a bit patchy with just one coat, but with two it's perfect.  I also love Essence's bottles.  The lids match the polish, making them easy to find in your stash and the rounded end makes them comfortable to hold whilst painting.

In my haul pictures at the top of the post you can see that I have also tried out the Quick and Easy Sponge Nail Polish Remover.  It worked really well to take off glitter polish (the one in the picture is Party Princess).  My litter finger and ring finger show three coats and my middle finger shows it in progress of removal.  You might be able to see on my index finger that my nail is peeling/flaking at the end.  I get this quite a lot, so I got the Express Nail Peeling Pen.  It has a little rubber massage applicator at the end which helps to massage the product into the nails and cuticles.  This seemed to really help even on the first use, so I will keep you updated.  I also got, and have tried, the Express Nail Oil Pen.  I have been using a Nails Inc nail oil pen which I really liked, but it ran out and is rather expensive to repurchase, so I thought I'd give the Essence one a go.  The brush tip is lovely and soft and the oil smells fresh and... well, I don't know how to describe it, but it's nice!

So far I am loving all the Essence things I have tried, so I wouldn't think it will be long before I need (yes need!) some more.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm really excited about the Glow In the Dark topcoat that I got as well.  It's really bright in the bottle.  My first little haul of three colours was only about £4.99 and then my second haul of 11 items (which also included a mascara) came in at under £24! As far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong.  Which items do you think you'll be trying out?

Thanks for stopping by

Aimée x

Snowflake Nail Art

Hello all,

I have done my first festive nails! Yay!  I love doing these snowflakes and this has become a sort of tradition now as I have done a variation of this design for the last few years.

I think these are the best ones I have done so far as I love the extra layer of sparkle I added.  I think this gives this design something a bit extra!  I started with two coats of Models Own Top Turquoise, then used a coat of NYC New York Colour in Lights-Camera-Glitter.  Then it was on to the snowflakes.  I used Models Own Snow White for these.  I used a striper brush from another polish for the star like bits of the snowflakes and then my dotting tool for the ends.

It's a really simple design which is why I like doing it.  The picture unfortunately does not do this glitter justice as you can't really see all the particles.  There are small bits of silver glitter and large glitter particles in blue and pink.  I think it really adds to the design making it look really frosty and wintry.  Hmmmm... now I've just got to decide what to do next!

Fancy French Manicure

Hello all,

I just wanted to share with you a really simple way to make a French manicure more fancy.

I had a bit of bother with my nails on Sunday night/Monday morning.  I painted them a really pretty lemon yellow and added some nail decal stickers on /Sunday night, then when I woke up in the morning they were covered in imprints from my hair! The nail polish hadn't set properly in the hot weather so off it all came.  I had to go to work with naked nails!!!  Anyway, yesterday evening I redid my nails in a simple French manicure but I wanted to add something a bit different.  I used pink, turquoise and black stripers to add three small lines on my ring finger.  I then used a small dotting tool to add a row of dots in the same colours next to the stripes.  I then added a single dot on the rest of my nails, other than my thumb where I have a row of dots of the three colours again.

I hope this gives you an idea on how to tart up an ordinary manicure in a really simple way x