Wednesday, 31 July 2013

Nail Art Challengez - Black and White Day 2 - Stamping

Hi all!

Can't believe its already Day 2 of the Black and White challenge hosted by Beauty Shoes Nails and Fun.

So Day 2 is Stamping. Terrified of this day as I am very very poor at stamping!

Today I chose a messy stamp (CH16) from the Cheeky Vibrant collection - at least since I messed it up its not too far from what it should be! I enjoyed the practice even though I did have to have a few 'calming' moments away from my mani-table (the dining table!). I found it is easier (still hard) to stamp on shorter nails - these nubs have an upside :)

Don't forget to check out everyone elses manis!

Rachael xxx

Black and White Wall of Inspiration

(Be fair...Add the code to your post in order to add your link to the library)

1. Rachos Nail Love	2. Galactic Lacquer	3. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun	4. An Accent Nail
5. Cubbiful	6. Polished Art	7. I'm just me...ChiChi	8. Glitter Me This
9. Light of the Moon Nails	10. Cubbiful	11. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun	12. Seriously Swatched - stamping
13. Seriously Swatched - Geometric	14. I'm just me...ChiChi	15. Rachos Nail Love : Stamping	16. An Accent Nail: Stamping
17. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Stamping	18. Rachos Nail Love : Freehand	19. Galactic Lacquer	20. An Accent Nail: Freehand Free For All
21. Light of the Moon Nails	22. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Freehand	23. Cubbiful	24. Seriously Swatched - Freehand
25. I'm just me...ChiChi	26. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Glam/Cute	27. Galactic Lacquer	28. Seriously Swatched - Glam/Cute
29. Rachos Nail Love : Glam/Cute	30. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun/Freehand	31. Light of the Moon Nails - Freehand	32. Mina
33. Mina	34. Rachos Nail Love - Faux Fur	35. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Faux Fur/Animal Print	36. Galactic Lacquer
37. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun: Cute/Glam	38. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun/Faux Fur	39. An Accent Nail: Glam and Faux Fur	40. Polished Art: Stamping
41. Seriously Swatched - Faux Fur	42. I'm just me...ChiChi	43. I'm just me...ChiChi	44. Light of the Moon Nails - Bling
45. Light of the Moon Nails - Faux Fur	46. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Recreate A Favorite	47. Galactic Lacquer	48. Polished Art: Freehand
49. Polished Art: Glam	50. Polished Art: Faux Fur	51. Mina	52. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun/ with a hint of color
53. Rachos Nail Love : With a hint of Colour

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Swatched - OPI I'm All Ears

Good morning all!

Today I have another swatch for you of a slightly older polish - one of the Minnie Collection 2012. This one is I'm All Ears.

I'm All Ears is deceptively red in the bottle. It does have a strong pink tint but you do think it will be red on your nails. Well its not. Its all kinds of awesome on your nails, but in a pink way. A very in your face, sparkly, awesome pink. And I don't say that about pink very often.

This was another bargain from the polish barrow in Metro Centre for £3.99 - definitely money well spent. Formula is gorgeous, its a jelly like formula which dries glossy and has beautiful micro glitter in for that extra sparkle. This is two coats over a base of Rimmel Stronger.

What do you think? Would you wear it? Do you own it / want it? Or are you not a fan?

Rachael xxx

Monday, 29 July 2013

Nail Art Challengez - Black and White Day 1 - Geometric

Hi all!

I love doing challenges - they really push me to try something new and different. So I've joined another one - the Black and White challenge hosted by Beauty Shoes Nails and Fun. So first of all, thanks go to her for hosting this fab challenge! X

So day 1 is Geometrics. Not going to lie, I had to google what that was to make sure I wasn't completely mistaken! Good thing is, I was heading in the right direction after all :)

The pattern I chose is one I've seen over at Lucy's Stash - its called Jonqal. I was going to do full hand, but it took so long with my shakey hands to do one nail that I was really glad I started on the accent, and thats where I'm finishing! Hope you like it!

Don't forget to check out everyone elses manis!

Rachael xxx

Black and White Wall of Inspiration

(Be fair...Add the code to your post in order to add your link to the library)

1. Rachos Nail Love	2. Galactic Lacquer	3. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun	4. An Accent Nail
5. Cubbiful	6. Polished Art	7. I'm just me...ChiChi	8. Glitter Me This
9. Light of the Moon Nails	10. Cubbiful	11. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun	12. Seriously Swatched - stamping
13. Seriously Swatched - Geometric	14. I'm just me...ChiChi	15. Rachos Nail Love : Stamping	16. An Accent Nail: Stamping
17. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Stamping	18. Rachos Nail Love : Freehand	19. Galactic Lacquer	20. An Accent Nail: Freehand Free For All
21. Light of the Moon Nails	22. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Freehand	23. Cubbiful	24. Seriously Swatched - Freehand
25. I'm just me...ChiChi	26. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Glam/Cute	27. Galactic Lacquer	28. Seriously Swatched - Glam/Cute
29. Rachos Nail Love : Glam/Cute	30. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun/Freehand	31. Light of the Moon Nails - Freehand	32. Mina
33. Mina	34. Rachos Nail Love - Faux Fur	35. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Faux Fur/Animal Print	36. Galactic Lacquer
37. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun: Cute/Glam	38. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun/Faux Fur	39. An Accent Nail: Glam and Faux Fur	40. Polished Art: Stamping
41. Seriously Swatched - Faux Fur	42. I'm just me...ChiChi	43. I'm just me...ChiChi	44. Light of the Moon Nails - Bling
45. Light of the Moon Nails - Faux Fur	46. Glitter Me This: Black & White Nail Art Challenge-Recreate A Favorite	47. Galactic Lacquer	48. Polished Art: Freehand
49. Polished Art: Glam	50. Polished Art: Faux Fur	51. Mina	52. Beauty Shoes Nails Fun/ with a hint of color
53. Rachos Nail Love : With a hint of Colour

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Friday, 26 July 2013

UK Indie Treats - Taras Talons Part 2!

Hi all!

Today I have another bottle of my Tara's Talons to show you! :) Don't forget - check out her shop and use my 20% off code - RACHO20 (go on, treat yourself!)

As a reminder, here are her details:

This one is Bubble Bath - I knew I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't buy at least one blue or green, so this is what I chose :)

Bubble Bath is a gorgeous frosted blue, creme like polish with tiny blue glitters and what looks like opalescent white hexagon glitters (on closer inspection, theyre silver, but they look opalescent white on the nail).

The first coat applies quite sheer and patchy, but evens out nicely on the second coat. The formula is average - not too runny, not too thick, and there is a nice amount of glitter in there. The only downside I see to this polish is that the silver glitters dont stand out too much - the pigmentation of the polish hides them and they are only noticeable on close inspection. However, on the other hand this does give the polish a softer appearance - it reminds me of winter snow actually, and so I think it depends on what you're looking for out of this polish.

This is definitely a winter polish for me - it's the frosted element and the silver / white glitters that make it. I have already visualised many many different designs - snowflakes, snow men.. etc :) so watch out for me whipping this beauty out from November onwards!

I decided after wearing it for awhile to jazz it up a little - so here it is with some Born Pretty Store accessories!

What do you think of this one? Is it a colour that you'd wear? Are you bothered about 'seasonal colours' or do you just wear what you want, when you want? Yay or nay to the accessories?

Rachael xxx

Thursday, 25 July 2013

Men in Nail polish!

Just wanted to share this because I follow some awesome men who polish their nails. Their nails are gorgeous and most likely even better than mine - better painted, better nail art, just better! And what I love most is that they're not ashamed of wearing nail polish and in the end - why should they? No one ever said nail polish was for girls, girls just took to it first.

Here's a picture of Rylan that Rebel Nails shared on Facebook today (I for one LOVE him for making the most of himself after X Factor - i'd lap up any publicity I could if I had been on there!) and look at his gorgeous nail wraps! Good for you Rylan <3

Rachael xxx

Swatched - OPI The Colour of Minnie

Hi all!

Today is just a swatch post of a polish I picked up recently (by recently, I mean in the last 2-3 months haha.. so slow at getting round to trying polishes!)

The barrow in the Metro Centre is one of my favourite places to shop - they recently acquired some of last years OPI collections - I picked up two polishes both from the Minnie collection 2012 - The Colour of Minnie, and I'm All Ears for only £3.99 each. Definitely money well spent!

I don't own many OPI polishes, but what I can say is both have fantastic formula (and should, for their suggested retail price here!). I'm only showing you the one today so I'll just talk about that one. I used two coats here over a base of Rimmel Stronger. The formula like I said is fantastic - its one of those polishes you just cant fail to get even - its beautifully smooth and has an almost jellylike texture. It dries glossy and has a faint pinky silver shimmer that is more noticeable in the bottle than on the nail.

This is probably close to perfect in shade for me. I do tend to go more for orange leaning reds for my skin tone, but I really love this pinky toned one and surprisingly I think it looks quite good! So did Chester obviously, as he decided to try photobombing me for attention, so I took a proper picture and he was happy :)

What do you think? Do you have this shade? Love it / don't love it?

Rachael xxx

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Love the basics - Zoya Raven

Hi all!

I've been sat today preparing a couple of manis for a new challenge I'm starting next week, when I realised how much I ADORE this polish.

I was very lucky to pick it up when Zoya had a promotion on, and a very kind friend let me have it posted to him, then he sent it across the water for me. So I am really not looking forward to the day this runs out, and I do keep swapping between it and my trusty Sinful Colors.

I always forget how much I love black manicures. I always think oh it'll wash my hands out, look too gothic for me and make me look pale. But it doesn't. It looks classic, timeless, elegant.. I could go on. I really love Zoya Raven for this because of its formula and finish. It dries glossy, has a beautifully smooth formula, and is a definite 1 coater with careful application. I can't capture it on my camera but it also has a very very fine, faint charcoal grey shimmer to it. It also dries speedily, but not so fast that you have to rush your nails. Perfect. It is also a staple colour for pretty much all manicures - I hardly ever don't have a black element somewhere in the mix.

So what do you think - are you a black mani fan? Have you tried Zoya Raven or do you have a different favourite black polish?

Rachael xxx

Pokémon Nail Art Challenge Round 2 - Day 1 Normal Nails

Can't believe this has come around already, and yes, I'm late!

Today is Day 1 - Normal Nails. I had a look through the list and immediately spotted the pokémon I wanted to do.

The first time I played a Gen 2 game, I started late at night. So the pokémon I came across were totally different to what most people picked up. I picked this little beauty up at Level 2, and played with him all through the game until completion - love him!

Hoot Hoot! <3

So here are my nails! Quite proud of these, though I think a diff background colour for the accent would have worked better. I also took these outside and the reflection on them is terrible! I am sorry!!

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

Pokemon Nail Challenge Gen II, Week 1

1. Kitty's Painted Claws : Togepi

2. Rachos Nail Love : Hoothoot

3. Pokénailart: Teddiursa

4. Nails for the Sake of Sanity: Snubbull

(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)

Monday, 22 July 2013

UK Indie Treats - Tara's Talons!

I have something extra special to share with you today (and some more days in the future!) Swatches and review of some indie polishes by Tara from Tara's Talons :)

I spoke to Tara the other day after seeing some gorgeous swatches of her polishes over at Special Girl Nails (go check em out!). She was so nice, she even HAND DELIVERED my polishes so I could get them faster - how lovely is that? <3 She also offered me a discount code to share with all my readers - no end date! Read on for that, plus some gorgeous polish porn!

Little bit about Tara's Talons first - Tarastalons is a UK based indie nail polish and nail art creator shipping worldwide! All nails are hand designed and all polish is handmade and limited edition, with a maximum of ten polishes of each shade being made and more often only one of each polish being made! Tara also create custom polishes and nail art! Check her out using the various links below!

Etsy

Back to the polish - I was a bit greedy (or buy happy!) and picked up 6 colours. The first I have to show you is "Don't talk, just polish".

I was intrigued by this, as it looks slightly textured in the photos Tara has of it. But what sold it for me is the beautiful Coral-Orange shade. You all know how much I heart orange! Such a beautiful summer colour - don't you think?

When it arrived, checking out the bottle it looks like it is filled with little glass flecks, the size of grains of sugar.

On the nail is beautiful - can you believe it - this is ONE coat of polish. When I opened the bottle, it looked very grainy and I worried about application but it was surprisingly smooth and very easy to work with. Formula is just the right thickness and perfectly pigmented for full coverage in one stroke. It dries to a glossy finish and does have a textured feel. It is my first textured experience, and I am unsure how I feel on it. I am sat debating it now, while stroking my nails! It is not rough in any way, it is not something that would catch or click on your clothes.. so I think maybe in time I will love the feel. However, for now I will add a coat or two of Seche Vite and admire the beautiful glass like flecks and the beautiful colour :)

These both have 2 coats of SV to even it out. Top coat hungry! You can see in the bottle how the little glass flecks look :)

So why are you not over at her Etsy shop yet? Code for all you lovely readers is RACHO20 to take 20% off your order :) keep reading over the coming days for my other colours.. they'd come faster but I can't take this off just yet!

What do you think? Do you own any indies / UK indies? Do you like textured polishes?

Rachael xxx

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Nail Art Challengez - Comic-Con Geek Week Day 5 - Space Themed

Today (yes these are late!) is Space themed! I went for galaxy nails - apart from my thumb for Day 3, I have never done them before - so I thought I would try it again with some different colours and as a full mani. I really love the end product - and theyre sooooo easy! They look pretty complicated, but they take minutes to do!

What do you think? I did add Sephora by OPI - Only Gold for Me as an after thought, but it really overpowered them.. much better as photoed above!

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

Here's who I'm pretty sure is participating!

Peace Love Lacquer (Host)

Makeup and Nails not War

Glitter Me This
Samarium's Swatches

Leslie Loves Nails

Rachael xxx

Friday, 19 July 2013

Nail Art Challengez - Comic-Con Geek Week Day 4 - Inspired by a Comic Book

Today is Inspired by a Comic Book!

This was so HARD!

I am not a regular comic reader really, apart from the odd XMen comic.. but I am a big manga reader! My favourites (dont hate me) are Naruto, Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2, all of which I watch too!

So I decided to go simple - these are my Ranma 1/2 nails - featuring my favourite character - Ryoga / Pi-chan! He is forever the underdog, and you have to root for him for being such a tryer! <3

Quite proud of my thumb detail, though I realised after I did all my nails that he doesnt wear a leopard print neck tie.. its striped. DOH! Nevermind!

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

Here's who I'm pretty sure is participating!

Peace Love Lacquer (Host)

Makeup and Nails not War

Glitter Me This
Samarium's Swatches
Leslie Loves Nails

Rachael xxx

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Nail Art Challengez - Comic-Con Geek Week Day 3 - Inspired by a Movie

Today is Inspired by a Movie! Sooo many options for this, but I have certain ideas for Day 4 and 5, so I went for something different today!

STAAAAAAAAARGAAAAAAATE! The film that officially initiated me into geekdom. I have loved all things futuristic and fantasy since I saw this!

Can you work out what each nail is? Most of them turned out how I planned, so hopefully you will get them all!

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

Here's who I'm pretty sure is participating!

Peace Love Lacquer (Host)

Makeup and Nails not War

Glitter Me This
Samarium's Swatches
Leslie Loves Nails

Rachael xxx

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Nail Art Challengez - Comic-Con Nail Art Week Day 2 - Inspired by a TV show

Day 2 already! Exciting times!

Today is Inspired by a TV Show. I found out that my first choice was already someone elses choice too - but thats okay, cause its an awesome one! My absolute favourite TV show!

My mani isnt great, but the idea is Dean and Sam's demon ward tattoo on my thumb and the markings from the demon tablet (Season 8) are on my accent.

Had really shakey hands today so I'm not 100% happy with the accent but its the best its going to get! Now for the random Supernatural GIF spam!

I absolutely loved this season, especially Dean and Benny's friendship. Love Benny soooooo much! Loved these moments so much, I won't say anything else in case you haven't seen it yet!

But of course, I havent gotten to Season 8 without loving everything else - always get choked up at their brotherly 'caring' moments!

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

Here's who I'm pretty sure is participating!

Peace Love Lacquer (Host)

Makeup and Nails not War

Glitter Me This
Samarium's Swatches
Leslie Loves Nails

Rachael xxx

Monday, 15 July 2013

Nail Art Challengez - Comic-Con Geek Week Day 1 - Inspired by books or video games

Eeeee, so excited for this short mini challenge - 5 days of pure unadulterated geekery!

This is kindly hosted by Kelly at Peace Love Lacquer - thank you so much Kelly!

So first day is inspired by a book, but was later decided this could be a video game too :) so I went for the latter. I read SO many books I really struggled with an idea for my nails but there are so many possibilities for games - hope I wasn't too obvious with this choice!

Yay! Sonic! This brings back soo many good memories from my childhood :) I spent many an hour on this game and I was still shockingly bad at it! Never mind! The above photo was when I first did them - camera battery was dead, so its a rubbish phone pic. The below are after a full days wear so I'm sorry theyre a bit scrappy!