Pick and Mix - 52 Week Challenge - Week 1

Good morning! Long time no see, I thought I would try and get myself back into the swing of things with a challenge. This one is Crumpet's Nail Tarts 52 Week Pick and Mix Challenge.

Every week there are a choice of prompts. You can choose to do just 1 prompt, both prompts seperately or a combination of the two. This week is Teal or 2-colour gradient.

I chose to combine the prompts - I did actually do this in advance, but then being a complete tool I forgot to photograph my nails, and I had to remove for work. I was gutted and so annoyed at myself! They were much better gradient wise than these, as I had the expert help from Becca (Kittys Painted Claws). I just can't do gradients! Maybe in another 2-3 years haha!

Anyway, I digress as per usual! The base for my nails is Zoya Wednesday and Sally Hansen Fairy Teal. I then used Nails Inc New York Noir and freehanded a sort of tribal pattern. 

And I'm going to be honest, I stuffed up my ring finger twice so if in doubt, cover it all in China Glaze - Glittering Snow.

Ta da!

What do you think?

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

BNB Colour Me Crazy - Green

Good afternoon!

I am super late with these, but after seeing the gorgeous nails by Anna Bean, I had an idea to do some of my own. Green is also my fave colour, so I didn't want to miss out doing these nails for the Colour Me Crazy challenge!

The base is 2 coats of Barry M - Key Lime, with one coat of Abuse the Ooze by Femme Fatale Cosmetics. This is one of my favourite brands and is particularly special as my other half specially went out and chose this colour for me.

I then used a design from MoYou London plate Artist 03 to stamp over and a generous coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out.

What do you think? Are you a green / glitter / stamping fan? 

Rachael xxx

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

A-Z Challenge - G is for China Glaze Glittering Garland

Hey all!

Another day of the A-Z challenge as I attempt to catch up - this is Glittering Garland. This was one of the very first polishes I bought in my fall into addiction.. and I still love it! I havent rated much that China Glaze has released recently, but I love this - the formula is beautifully smooth and pigmented - this is just one coat. Its also beautifully glossy - this is without topcoat.

Even though many people would probably wear this during the winter months or around Xmas time, I still love it and often wear it as a day to day colour or for work.

What do you think?

Go check out all the other G manis here!

Rach xxx

A-Z Challenge - E is for Layla Emerald Divine

Hey all!

Today I have a beautiful holo for you - Layla Emerald Divine. What a beaut! However, it is an absolute pain in the backside to apply without an aqua base (which I do not have!) and so this was 3 extremely careful coats and 4 on my middle finger. It just refuses to stick, and any sudden movements and you remove a full nail! ARGH!

..But it was worth every painful application for this holo! Wow!

Anyone got any hints for applying tricky holos without an aqua base?

Check out all the other E manis at the hub page!

Rach xxx

Untried Friday #5 - Nails Inc Battersea

Hey all!

Can't believe this is the fifth untried Friday already! Thank goodness for being on a low buy, or i'd probably have bought more polish than used up!

Today is yet another Nails Inc - they make up the majority of my mainstream untrieds. Infact, they probably make up the majority of all of my untrieds!

This one is Battersea. I'm not sure why I haven't tried this before now as I really drooled over this when it first came out, but I just couldnt justify £11 for one polish!

What do you think?

Rachael xxx

Untried Friday #4 - Revlon Chroma Chameleon Topaz

Hey all!

Today I have a 'cheapie' to show you. I picked this up off the barrow near me I think, or possibly from Poundland. Either way, I certainly didnt pay full price and I'm pretty glad.

The formula on this is super sheer - it took three coats to get the coverage you can see. After lusting after some of the multichromes that ILNP, KBShimmer and Nail Lacquer UK have been throwing out recently, I was just expecting some magic multichroming to happen.

Nope. Its green. 

Feeling pretty deflated, I turned off my lamp and was just about to remove it when I realised it was blue!

BLUE!

So I'm not sure if this is a true duochrome or not. All the others I have seen have been easily seen with a flick of the hand to catch the light. In this case, its the lack of light which totally changes the colour. 

On a positive note - the layers dried super quickly and evened nicely. Revlon know how to make a nice formula. 

I'm just not sure on this, I'm really not. Is it a duochrome? I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I feel a little let down with the end result. But hey ho, at least it wasn't a £6.49 waste!

What do you think? Do you have it or any others in the collection? Are they worth investing in?

Rachael xxx

Swatched - 'Mystery' Polish #2

Hey again everyone!

Another mystery Essie today - this one is a frosted forest green. I really love this one - nicely pigmented, applied nicely like most Essies tend to - it only needed 1 coat but I did apply two to see if it would make a difference. It didn't. I love it - beautiful Xmassy colour and you can expect to see it again soon!

What do you think? 

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

Swatched - A-England St George

Good morning!

I have my 2nd A-England purchase today. I picked up this beauty and Dragon when A-England had their £6 sale.

I have to say, I love this even more than Dragon. You will have to pry this from my dead hands! 

Again, pigmented but a much richer colour with 2 coats. This is Nail Envy base, 2 coats of St George and 1 coat of SV.

What do you think? Did you pick up any lovelies in the A-England sale??

Rachael xxx

Pokémon NAC Week 6 - Grass - Chikorita

Good morning!

Got some more Pokémon nail art for you today! Still trying to best my Chinchou nails, but not sure I'm there quite yet. 

I chose Chikorita cause its definitely the cutest starter from Gen 2. I always want to collect all 3 starters, but I normally choose Cyndaquil or Chikorita to start as Totodile is just annoying in the anime and my dislike has kind of stuck! I also love Chikorita in the anime as she adores Ash and is dead jealous of Pikachu and any other pokémon's relationship.

I used my new A-England's Dragon and St George and tried a gradiented base. Semi successful I think?

Chikorita kept going derpy, so this is attempt 2. I couldnt get the eyes quite right! I realised after I took the mani off that they didnt photo quite right either, but I was still pretty pleased with them anyway.

What do you think? Do you think it looks right? 

Also, check out all the other cute pokenails this week!

Rachael xxx

Swatched - OPI Thanks a Wind-Million

Good morning all!

Just a swatch post here. I had to share this beauty that I picked up recently in the UK OPI sale. Someone (whoever you are, my addiction thanks you.. my bank balance does NOT!) posted in one of my nail groups that there was an OPI sale.. I picked up two beauties. This and Jade is the new Black. I went halfers on an order with Becca from Kittys Painted Claws and after swatching, she was sooooooo generous to give me OPI Animalistic as well. I have yet to swatch the other two, but anyway.. I digress.

I swatch a lot of colours, mainly to do nail art on top of and I rarely decide to share on their own. OPI is probably the main brand that I end up having to share swatches of, because they are just so lovely!

So here is Thanks a Wind-Million. For a creme polish this is SO easy to work with, I just love it. A one coater! It is very thin for a creme polish, but pigmented enough for full coverage. I did have to do 2 on my middle nail which is a fraction longer, but definitely just one coat needed if you have short nails. All photos have no topcoat on and its beautifully glossy. Definite keeper!

What do you think? Do you have this colour, would you wear it?

Rachael xxx

August Tri-Polish #4

Hey all!

Last tri-polish of the month today. Here they are. I just had to do this because the colours scream drugs and rastafarianism to me. When I was a kid and drugs were cool, I used to wear loads of badges with these colours and the cannabis leaf on them. I had earrings to match. Now, I think drugs are stupid, but I have fond memories of my old clothing and accessory choices!

Also, my Ciaté Big Yellow Taxi finally gave up the good fight.. so I had to substitute for my new Bondi NY Brick Road. Its much more straw yellow than my Ciaté, but its the best option I had.

Rachael xxx

Dragonglass Nails - UK Indie Review and Swatches

Good morning!

Today I have for you a new UK indie brand - Dragonglass Nails by Georgia.

I stumbled across them originally on Instagram and then after stalking them for a while, finally parted with my cash in exchange for two polishes - Good Witch and Bad Witch.

I tried Good Witch first. Both polishes are described as being textured, but I found the two to be very different. Here's how Georgia describes it:

Good Witch is a pink iridescent shimmery polish. It is sheer and best used over another colour (both pictures show it over a pale nude colour, but it can be put over any colour) and layered to be more pink and glittery. It can be made opaque in 4-5 coats and gives a "jelly" appearance, but it has to be left to dry in between or it will go squidgy. Give it a coat of clear or matte top coat, and it's good to go! 

I found Good Witch to be incredibly thick, it definitely needed a drop of thinner. I dabbed it onto my nail for even coverage, over 2 coats of We're in it Together by Essie (a bright baby pink). I think it looks quite pretty, but for me I definitely need to tone down the undies as they really werent the best choice for me! Good Witch was very textured, so I decided to leave it that way - it was already very sparkly so didn't need a topcoat.

I did then see that Georgia recommends wearing it over nude. So i tested one finger with Ciate Cookies and Cream as a base. I also topcoated and you can immediately see the difference. It has a much softer, delicate look and is incredibly even more sparkly. This was 1 coat over 2 thin coats of Cookies and Cream.

And here is Bad Witch.

Bad Witch is a black polish with green sparkles that glitter in the light. It is opaque in one coat and dries to a leather-like finish, which can then be made smooth and sparkly with one coat of your favourite top coat.

 

This was pigmented enough to wear alone - I wore two coats over a base of OPI Nail Envy and with 2 coats of Seche Vite. It DRANK the first coat, so definitely needed the second to smooth everything out. This was nowhere near as textured as Good Witch. Infact, I would say it was more like regular indie polish - just in need of a good topcoat. I really liked this otherwise though - a great choice for Halloween which is scarily not that far away. Also, a great evening choice for green lovers (like myself). It was so sparkly in person, I really did struggle to capture how glittery it was on the nail. Unlike Good Witch, I could apply this like regular polish with no need for any dabbing.

What do you think? Have you tried any Dragonglass Nails polish before? 

Rachael xxx

August Tri-Polish #3

Morning everyone!

Here's my third tri-polish effort. I quite like these, I got the stitching idea from a mani that Cazzy did over at SpecialGirl Nails.

What do you think?

Don't forget to go check out everyone else's Day 3 manis!

Rachael xxx

August Tri-Polish #2

Hey all!

Here's Day 2. Technically I should be onto Day 10 by the time this didnt go completely wrong!

Hope you like it!

Don't forget to check out everyone else's Day 2 Tri-Polish manis!

August Tri-Polish Mani #1

Hey all!

Trying something new today - my first attempt at the Tri-Polish challenge. This is the genius idea of Debbie over at The Crumpet, but if you feel like finding out more such as the 3 colour choices for each month, you want to head over and join the Facebook group.

This month's colours are red, green and yellow.

I've picked Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri Rapid Red, Ciaté - Big Yellow Taxi and Barry M - Spring Green.

So here's attempt one. I decided to go retro and crack open the black crackle. Gotta get my money's worth - this baby cost me a whole £1 from Poundland!

Don't forget to check out everyone else's Day 1s!

Rachael xxx

ER31DC - Day 11 Polka Dots

Hey all!

Here I am again with the 31 Day Challenge - today is Day 11, Polka Dots.

I decided to try out my new polish as a base - Essie Naughty Nautical. I LOVE IT! My dots are Barry M Gold Foil Effects.

What do you think? Would you wear it? 

Don't forget to check out everyone else's polka dot posts!

Other posts you might like:

Nails Inc Lucky Dip - Part 2

Good morning :)

Here I am with the 2nd half of my lucky dip!

The colours I have today are:

Bruton Mews

Hammersmith

Seymour Walk

and Park Lane

I was pretty pleased with the range of colours I got this month, but some were definitely not summer colours! The first I have today is Bruton Mews. It's a really dark, grungy green colour, which shows almost black in some lights. 

I am honestly unsure of this one. I spied it only a couple of days ago at the Nails Inc counter in Debenhams, and in the bottle, it definitely looks more green. So I think overall I was disappointed with this one.. but at the same time, I feel like I have to hold on to it to try again at a later date. I am annoyingly on the fence about it. 

The second polish is part of the same picture - Hammersmith. From the bottle, this reminded me of Nail Junkie by Sinful Colors. The different sizes of glitter and the consistency are very similar. But I definitely feel I made a fail thinking I could pair this with Bruton Mews - I think I was thinking Nail Junkie which is more green, whereas Hammersmith is more blue and silvery and therefore not at all a good choice for Bruton Mews. Really do not know what I was thinking! But the polish itself is really quite pretty - very dense - only 1 coat over the base colour. What do you think?

The next is Seymour Walk. This reminds me of L'Oréal - Opulent Pink. The formula for this is nicer though - thicker, creamier and possibly a tad lighter? Not sure though. There's nothing all too special about it, it doesn't really wow me in any shape or form.. but it is a nice summer colour.

And last, the most surprising of the bunch for me - Park Lane. As soon as I saw this, I definitely thought oh no, another version of Amethyst Nail Jewellery (which was a massive disappointment for me). But once I got this on, I was literally shocked at how much I loved it. I generally hate purple. It does nothing for me and its purple. End of. 

Park Lane is made up of one size of glitter - lots of small violet ones. The consistency is nice - I used two coats and had a near full coverage, but enough for me to be happy with it. No dabbing required either which was great. I added a topcoat for this one, but in all honesty my nails weren't very rough without it, it just levelled it out a little better. 

So what do you think of these? Do you have any / want any? 

Swatched - Essie Mojito

Hi all! 

Today I wanted to show you a swatch of a polish I picked up on the cheap. By now, I'm sure you know I love a polish steal - I picked up this beauty for £1.99 from the 'bargain barrow' near me. 

I have used this quite a lot for nail art, but never as a full mani. The formula is gorgeous and almost a one coater. I am completely in love with this - the shade, the price, everything! I love the Essie brushes as well - the wide brush is so much better for painting your nails - my smaller nails are literally one stroke!

What do you think? x