Pick and Mix - Week 2 - 2nd Prompt

Hiiiii

Well, I was feeling challenged, so I thought I would give a 3 colour gradient a go! I saw some beautiful nails over at Shamelessly Polished. I can't pull off those tones, but they inspired me to try my own version.

I used two coats of L'Oréal - Rose Bagatelle as a base, then sponged over a gradient of that plus Sinful Colors - Timbleberry and Sinful Colors - Soul Mate.

Here's my final gradient - not 100% but hopefully some more practice will make it better. I am certainly happy to have my beautiful points back anyway.

I then thought what can I add to improve this - the answer is always glitter. So I put a layer of China Glaze - Fairy Dust on it. 

What do you think? If you have any tips on gradients I'd love to hear them!

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Pick and Mix - Week 2

Hiiii!

Well I had this fantastic idea, but as per usual it involved something I am no good at - chevrons!

Practice will make perfect I hope! Anyway, this week one of the prompts is pink. I used two coats of Sinful Colors - Timbleberry, and one coat of Sinful Colors - Pinky Glitter for most of my nails.

My accent is 3 coats of China Glaze - Glistening Snow with some fairly wonky chevrons of Nails Inc - New York Noir.  I cut strips of Scotch tape and laid them over my accent nail before adding a layer of polish, but for some reason even though I removed straight away, the tape broke in two places so I had to go all surgery on them with a pair of tweezers to try and salvage it.

What do you think? If anyone has any tips for chevrons then I would love to hear them!

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Inspired by... Kitty's Painted Claws

Hey all!

So we're at my second inspired by day already! I chose someone close to home today. My best friend Becca from Kitty's Painted Claws.

I loved these when she did them. I even sat and watched her as she did them (I am not a stalker.. promise!). Here is her original post for them. Just divine!

We have both recently got stamping - Becca before me, and I have ogled her stamped nails ever since! I didn't have the exact plate that she used, so I perused my (now scarily vast!) collection and picked out BM-406 for a swirly design. Couldn't find similar studs either (god only knows where the safe place is that I have stashed them!) so I chose some new ones I got.

The polishes/studs I used were:

Sinful Colors - Secret Admirer

Kate Spade by Nails Inc - Soho Silver

3.5mm Silver Shells (which I was bought as a present but I believe are from She Sells Seashells )

Really love this mani - I heard that the Nails Inc doesnt stamp, but it worked just fine for me. Well chuffed!

What do you think? 

Rachael xxx

Tuesdays in 2014 will be 'Inspired by..' days

Hey all!

I have seen some fantastic manis over the last year. Too many to count, but loads that I would love to recreate. So starting today and hopefully continuing throughout 2014, I will be doing an 'Inspired by..' feature where I show off some of my favourite manis from other bloggers and show you a look I have done that is either a copy or my own take on it.

I am not the most creative blogger on the planet, but I don't claim to be either - I take lots of inspiration from other bloggers I follow through various social media, and its them that keep me inspired to keep blogging and painting my nails. 

Here is the first - I actually only saw this posted on Facebook a few days ago. It's really stunning and you can't beat a bit of animal print. I loved it so much that I went for a pretty much full on copy of it on my nails.

Here is Kristine from Pink and Polished's mani:

You can see her full post here. Stunning!

And here is my attempt at it! I hope I did it justice!

The polishes I used were:

Kate Spade by Nails Inc - Soho Silver (thanks to Rachel from Monkey Nail Art for getting me this!)

The Nail Junkie - Tea

Sinful Colors - Black to Black

What do you think? I had so many comments on these nails, even the OH liked them! Shocker!

Rachael xxx

Can't beat a bit of blue when you're blue!

Just a cheeky little easy, cheer you up mani today!

Here's my new favourite blue - Essie Butler Please, with a coat of Sinful Colors Hottie.

I haven't had much time for painting nails recently, what with being on holiday and then having the mother of crap weeks back at work.. so I've really tried to catch up with myself and get back to posting. I love painting my nails, I love sharing them, I love finding out what you think. I really don't want my main hobby to be pushed aside because I am always so busy at work. I need some me time, I just need to find room for it!

What do you think? Would you wear it? Do you own either colour?

Rachael xxx

Swatched: Sinful Colors Green Ocean

Hello all! 

I just have a simple swatch for you today, but it is a beautiful one.

I managed to get my mitts on Sinful Colors Green Ocean. A beautiful green/blue flakie polish with a handful of triangular holo shards thrown in for good luck. I think (dont quote me) that it was released around St Patricks Day this year. I havent seen it anywhere in the UK, but we were flooded with swatches of it, giveaways of it.. but I never managed to get hold of it until now. And it was only £1! Bargain! :D

So here it is over black - I truly love it and can't stop looking at my nails. I have actually used it for a base for a challenge, so keep reading over the next few days to see what I did with it!

What do you think? Were you lucky enough to pick one of these up somewhere? 

Rachael xxx

Back to School NAC - Day 1 Apples

Hellooooo!

Promised you a post, so here it is! My apples mani for Day 1.

Here I used Deborah Lippmann Modern Love as a base colour, an unnamed red Essie (472) for the apples, Catrice I'm Not a Greenager for the leaves and Mentality - Proper for the stalks and pips. The half apple also uses Ciaté Cookies and Cream for the flesh, and of course any white is my trusty Sinful Colors Snow Me White.

Pretty pleased with how these turned out! Don't forget to check out everyone else's nails for this challenge! If you're thinking of joining in - please do! More the merrier! 

Rachael xxx

One from the vault..

Hey all!

Never believed I would do my nails often enough to have 'a vault', but I do have one mani to show you. I was saving this for a nail art competition, but I got rejected so many times for even being in the short listing that I just gave up even trying. 

So here are my nails which I was going to enter into the Grazia and Nails Inc competition on Twitter. They were a second version of my black and white nails with a twist which were a couple of weeks ago. I loved these and wore them for several days.. I really love neon still and am gutted that summer is coming to an end and all the autumn colours are coming in.

My pointer and pinky have two black Born Pretty studs each. What do you think?

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Pokémon NAC - Week 2 Fire - Cyndaquil

Hey all!

What a surprise, I'm super late with this one.

Cyndaquil is the HARDEST ever pokémon to freehand. And I chose to do him on two seperate nails? Whats wrong with me?!

Anyway, here is my mani. Not my best work but its all a learning curve :)

Still loving my Sinful Colors UFO glitter which is on my middle and pinky over the Zoya base colour.

What do you think? Is it as bad as I think it is?

Rachael xxx

ER31DC - Day 19 Galaxy Nails

Day 19 tiiiiiiime :) Galaxy Nails!

I've done these before but it doesn't matter how many times I do them, they always feel new! I do always try different colours - this time I used Illamasqua Faux Pas and a dark navy blue Sally Hansen I can't remember the name of. I really quite like the result!

What do you think? This could be my favourite colour combo I've tried so far!

Don't forget to check out everyone else's galaxy nails!

Other posts you might like:

ER31DC - Day 18 Half Moons

Hello again, its Half Moon Day!

I went a little outside of my own personal box today and started with a yellow base (Ciaté Big Yellow Taxi). I then chose to paint white triangles where my moons would be, and outlined with a double black line. 

What do you think? I'm not sure yet. But it reminds me of Brownies. Did anyone go to Brownies as a kid? It reminds me of the jumper and neckerchief I had to wear :)


Don't forget to check out everyone elses Half Moon manis!

Other posts you might like:

ER31DC - Day 16 Tribal

Hey all!

Here I am again - am I sick? Maybe. Catching up super quick for the 31 Day Challenge. Today is Tribal. I took inspiration from the tribal artwork we used to study in art at school. Absolutely loved it and still stop to ogle it if i see it in a gallery or shop window. This is the picture I took inspiration from - can you see the different sections I took from? 

The colours I used were Sally Hansen - The Sky's the Limit, Barry M - Mushroom and Sinful Colors - Black to Black and Snow Me White.

What do you think? Would you wear it? Does it look tribal to you?

Other posts you might like:

ER31DC - Day 15 Delicate Print

Good morning! Catching up quickly with the 31DC again. Here's my 'delicate print' mani.

I think I may have gone off on a tangent here, but I did these because I have seen them done and I always think they look delicate - so this is what popped into my head when I looked at today's theme. Dreamcatcher nails!

What do you think? Would you wear them? I have to admit, I am in LOVE with the base colour - Deborah Lippmann Modern Love. The other colours I used were Sinful Colors Black to Black and Snow Me White. I think this would look lovely with another colour interjected, maybe for the beads and feathers such as pink or blue. Will definitely do these again!

Don't forget to check out everyone's delicate print manis!

Other posts you might like:

ER31DC - Day 14 Flowers

Hey all!

Back again with Day 14 of the Extra Relaxed 31 Day Challenge. Today is Flowers. As you know I love floral patterns and you'll see a lot of vintage roses, poppies and sunflowers on my nails. I decided to go a bit different today though and took inspiration from another of my favourite flowers - the Iris. Then I just went a bit abstract on my nails - they're sort of IKATish maybe?

What do you think? It looks quite nice from afar - I quite like the colour combination, but it doesnt really look anything like an iris, does it? The colours I used were Illamasqua Faux Pas for the base, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Black on Black and Lets Meet.

Don't forget to check out everyone else's floral manis!

Other posts you might like:

ER31DC - Day 9 - Rainbow

Haha bet you didnt think youd see one of  these again any time soon! 

I am soooo behind - but planning to get caught up soon :)

So here is something simple for my rainbow nails - inspired by their catchphrase 'taste the rainbow'.

Skittles! 

Polishes used are: 

Barry M - Block Orange

Barry M Gelly - Key Lime

Ciaté - Big Yellow Taxi

Sinful Colors - Gogo Girl

Sinful Colors - Snow Me White

Loving the red and orange which are jelly like in texture. Beautiful!

Whatve you got on your nails atm??

Rachael xxx

Flowers for Mom Nail Art Challenge - Day 4 - Sunflowers

Good evening all!

I'm here again with another installment for this challenge - Sunflowers. I love sunflowers, theyre so beautiful. I have great memories of growing these as a child with my mum, so theyre a perfect flower for me to do for this challenge. 

Also I think that the colour of sunflowers really just cheers you up - how can you feel down, sad etc when a big yellow flower is smiling back at you? :)

Colours used:

Sinful Colors - Savage

Ciate - Big Yellow Taxi

Different Dimension - My Bear

I wasn't sure about these when they were finished.. but they're definitely growing on me! No pun intended! Only one photo as well as I was too impatient to photograph and I caught one on the desk edge and took the sunflower clean off :( sad times!

Please check out everyone else's beautiful flower manis!

Rachael xxx

Cubbiful  

 Dipped in Lacquer 

  Makeup and Nails, Not War 

 Paint Those Piggies!  

 Paulina’s Passions  

Polish and Repeat 

 Tes Did It Nails

The Tenner Challenge @ Pocket Money Polishes

Morning all!

I decided to share something a little different with you today. Charlie at Pocket Money Polishes currently has a competition running with Sally Magpies to win a £10 voucher. All you have to do is explain what you would spend your only £10 on polish wise.

I worked quite hard to make good use of my £10 - so I thought I would share with you today :)

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If I only had a tenner to spend, I would definitely like to get my moneys worth. I am the same with clothes - theyre only worth it if I can wear them a number of ways. So first of all, to save money I would use my own DIY tools. I use things you can find around the house pretty easily - a rubber, paperclip, pins and nails of different sizes (free). I can then put these together (stick in the rubber to make it easy to hold each one) to make some different sized dotting tools. There is an orange stick here, but it is only for mixing which you can also do with the paperclip :)

I would then spend £2.20 on some Scotch Tape (available most places - mine is from Asda). Scotch tape is really versatile and you can use it to make lots of different patterns. I would also splash out on some striping tape from eBay - its a little faffy but so cheap I dont know how they afford to make and produce it without a loss. I got mine for around £0.25 for 10 different colour rolls.

My favourite thing at the moment is the Bling it On sets from Nails Inc - in particular the large skulls and studs sets. I can't afford one of those sets on a good day for £19, especially with the measly number of studs you get - so back on eBay again - a pack of 10 skulls in either silver or gold for £1.49. If you want to be slightly different there are two other skull choices for an extra 10p a pack.

Now for the colours. Like I said, I like to shop around and get the best deal. Poundland is one of my favourite places to check - I know some people are wary of the age of the polish, but if you use your common sense you can pick up some decent products - my favourites are the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure and Insta-Dri ranges, (the former which still retails at £6.99 in places like Boots) and also the odd Sinful Colors, Wet n Wilds and some others which pop in occasionally. My latest find for £1 is Me Me Me! in Carefree, which looks bright blue in the bottle but comes out an acceptable blue navy on your nail. While I'm in Poundland, I'll also spend £1 on some makeup sponges which work out nice for gradients and mottled effect backgrounds.

Total spend so far: £5.94

I did originally choose to use my LA Colors Art Deco pen. Theyre around £1.50 but only place I know I can get them is Boyes - which are few and far between. So i changed my mind - the basis of my collection is now my extensive Sinful Colors range so I picked a white from that instead. They do some gorgeous colours as well, all at only £1.99 each. If you can catch them on Boots 3 for 2 offers, then you can pick up a good range fairly cheaply. The colours I can't live without are Snow Me White and Black on Black, but I use the white much more often. Its great for mixing and you can then franken any lighter shades you might need. So I have picked two colours for today - Snow Me White and a muted pink - Soul Mate. (£3.98). Watch out for Snow Me White in Poundland - I have picked up a few back up bottles from there for the reduced price of £1. :)

Total spend: £9.92

And here is my final mani - a bit of a skittle but gives you ideas of how you can really stretch that £10 to come up with some different designs.

And also with some roses :)

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What do you think? Would you spend your £10 in a similar way?

Please please please go check out Charlie's blog. You can find details of the competition here along with some of the entrants (including mine!), and you can check out what other people would spend their £10 on here and here. Even if you don't plan on entering, please go take a look - there are some fabulous ideas in there!

The contest is open until 30th May 2013 so a winner can be picked on 31st May. Good luck to you if you have entered / plan on entering!

Rachael xxx

Flowers for Mom Nail Art Challenge - Day 1 - Roses

Yeeeeeeees, I've joined ANOTHER nail challenge. This one isn't massively demanding so I am looking forward to it :)

Day 1 is Roses - I've done rose manis before, but I saw a special one I loved on Instagram a few days ago, so I tried recreating it from memory. I now have some fantastic polishes that I can use for it as well, so I'm really pleased!

The polishes I used were:

Sinful Colors - Black to Black

Ellagee polish - Lime-O-Rama and Way Orange

Essie - Off the Shoulder and Mojito

L'Oréal - Opulent Pink

What do you think? Are you a neon / roses fan? Do you think they work well together?

Don't forget to check out everyone else's rose nails today!

Cubbiful  

 Dipped in Lacquer 

  Makeup and Nails, Not War 

 Paint Those Piggies!  

 Paulina’s Passions  

Polish and Repeat 

 Tes Did It Nails