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

Inspired by.. I dream of lacquer

Hey all!

I follow most people on Instagram - when I'm in a rush, it's so much easier to have a quick flick through my instafeed than to scroll through Bloglovin and read everything.

One person I follow on Instagram is @Idreamoflacquer. Around two weeks ago, she posted this mani. I instantly fell in love with it and knew I wanted to recreate it.

Try as I might, I just can't get chevrons. They're on my to practice list. So my final mani is a bit different as it has a different pointer design and a different colour to the neon green, but the inspiration still shows pretty clearly I think.

I've also lost my DSLR battery charger, so I apologise but my photos for today are from my iPhone!

Polishes used:

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine - Guava

Kate Spade by Nails Inc - New York Noir

OPI - My Favourite Ornament

The leopard print is freehand, the pointer finger beads are a stamp from Pueen - Love Elements with OPI My Favourite Ornament dotted over.

Please let me know what you think - these sorts of mix and match skittles are by far my personal favourite!

Rachael xxx

Twin Post - Bead and Reel design with The Bubbly Brunette

Hey all!

January has turned out to be one hell of a month! (Not in a good way) so I'm glad I at least got some of my untried fridays scheduled ahead of time!

I actually have a second post for you today - a twin post (a new thing to me) with Christina from The Bubbly Brunette.

I had no ideas for this one at all so we decided Christina would design this months and I will do our next one.

Check out her lush nails here. I love them, the lilac base really suits her and the design is really cute.

Now I had several problems with this - 1. I do not own a single lilac polish. So I chose the lightest polish I could find - Deborah Lippmann Modern Love as the base. Then I chose the same colour families for the design as we didn't have any of the same polishes.

I also realised how easy it is to get out of practice with freehand - my hands were all over the shop! But I made it, with a small change to my pinky as I gave up on attempt 4 of not smudging it.

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

Untried Friday #3 - Nails Inc Portobello

Hey all!

Can't believe we're here again - how are we all?

I was certain that I had tried this - but turns out I have a similar shade which is also Nails Inc. Once on the nail I was just wowed by this polish, it was just what I needed to cheer me up during this dreary January!

Portobello has a wonderful jelly formula, I just love it! It is pigmented enough for full coverage in one coat, but if you don't like a visible nail line, you will need 2 or 3. I used 2, but at certain angles you could still glimpse the VNL. I actually quite like it.  

I am so glad I tried this polish - it was destined for my swaps box as I didnt like the colour in the bottle (I got it in a lucky dip) but I truly love it now. 

What do you think? 

Rachael xxx

Untried Friday - #2 Essie - Recessionista

Hey all!

Now I need to ask you first of all - what colour is this? Red or purple? I think its purple - I initially placed this with my reds and pinks as it is much lighter in the bottle. However when I applied it, it went on much darker.

The application on this was wonderful. Defo a one coater for shorter nails - I did have to patch a tiny bit with a thin second coat on my middle nail though. It dries super fast and is uber glossy even though it has a creme formula - I didn't even apply topcoat for these photos - if this is purple, then I've finally found one that I like AND can pull off! (Well, at least I think so!)

What do you think? 

Rachael xxx

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

Whats on my nails? #3

Hey all,

Got some more R&R Lacquers to be sharing with you today.

Being as excitable as a puppy and as patient as.. something really not patient, I have been dying to share these, but as Becca is much more sensible, she has made me wait until they have completed their sit test.

So here are 3 more prototypes. The first will be releasing with our first collection, and the other two will be released as part of an Avengers inspired collection a little bit later.

Again, no names - naming things is so hard!

Avengers inspired - 

#1

#2

There are more of the Avengers collection to come - watch out this week for the rest, the last of the first collection and also some sneak peeks of our spring collection!

Rachael xxx

British Nail Bloggers discuss.. Favourite Top and Base coats

Hey all!

So here is the post I was ACTUALLY supposed to do. If you want to read the 'accidental' mistake post of hand and nail care faves, you can read it here.

I am a creature of habit, so when I find something that works, I stick with it. I feel I am 'adventurous' when I order 1 of 3 dishes I have approved at the local indian takeaway, or the chinese takeaway - I am that boring. But if its not broke, don't try and fix it!

So here are my base and topcoat loves:

Base - OPI Nail Envy

I wear this for strenghtening my nails. It works fantastically as a base and only needs doubling up for extreme stainers. I did try a stint with Seche Clear, and although it did lengthen my mani life, it was only extended until my nails started breaking left right and centre. So I decided that OPI Nail Envy was the wiser choice - I would rather have nice length nails and change my mani more often than have longer wear but uneven and forever breaking nails. It makes me go cold just thinking about it! I have tried the original and the matte and I am actually veering towards liking the matte more, but in all honesty, I buy whatever is cheapest when I restock!

Top - Seche Vite

I LOVE ITS GLOOPINESS! I am probably the only person who does, but it just envelops everything and smoothes and glosses over any imperfection. It also dries super fast and I weirdly love the smell of it. Don't get me wrong, I don't like it super duper gloopy, but I like how after you've used it twice or thrice it's thicker than any other topcoat. It's also the only topcoat I know that doesn't smudge my nail art. I sacrificed a whole bottle of OPI topcoat for a franken because it was about as much use as a chocolate teapot when it came to not smudging things. It was also a slow drier. OPI, your topcoat stinks! The only thing I don't like about Seche Vite is that it contains Toulene, and most polishes are free of that now. 

And thats it! Simples!

Don't forget to check out everyone else's choices for this! I am excited to see what everyone else thinks!

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Fridays are Untried Days! Untried Friday #1 - Kate Spade by Nails Inc - Soho Silver

Hey all!

As you will know, I wrote a bucket list for 2014 - things I wanted to achieve in nail blogging. One thing for me is to reduce (if not eliminate) my untried stash. I have so many untrieds, I honestly couldnt give you a certain number or even a realistic estimate. So I started today swatching some of them, so I hope you will check out the posts over the coming weeks.

Today is a freebie from a magazine - Kate Spade by Nails Inc - Soho Silver. I searched high and low for this silver, and it was only thanks to Rachel over at Monkey Nail Art who kindly found it and posted it to me that I ended up with it!

I don't think I have ever worn silver alone. This wasn't a nice experience to apply either. I had read that it was pretty watery - mine wasnt - mine was really quite thick formula wise. The first coat was however very sheer, but the second and third although they built up the opaqueness did not level nicely. 

Once dry, I did like the shine - it was blinding! I will definitely try this again and see if I can apply more carefully for a smoother finish. I did also try it for stamping and found it stamps quite well! You'll see it used for stamping next week sometime!

What do you think? Do you have it? Do you prefer another silver? 

Rachael xxx

2014 - The Year of the Bucket List!

Hey all!

Just another quick post today - I hope you all had a wonderful new year and are well recovered if necessary by now!

I had a lovely quiet night in with my other half after he managed to bruise the end of his nose. It was like a giant black smudge right on the end, so he didn't want to go out in public bless him!

Anyway, I digress. I have been thinking for some time that I need to get out of this comfortable rut I've been in for awhile. Being careful, sticking to things I've done before and that I'm comfortable with. Things that are easy! I will never get better at doing my nails if I don't try new things, so I've written a small bucket list of things I'd like to do in 2014 for the blog.

1.  Use up more of my untrieds. This is more for me than for the blog - I have so many polishes I have never even tried,  so I want to regularly try and share some of them with you. I will be starting 'Untried Friday' where I share some of these.

2. Trying new nail art techniques. I have gotten into a bit of a rut lately with nail art, so I want to try and do something new at least once or twice a fortnight. I know there are only a set number of different techniques, so this is why I want to try and recreate some of the wonderful manis that I have seen other bloggers do. 

3. Get back into challenges, and finish them. I love challenges, but often fall by the wayside and struggle to finish them. So I have joined a couple of less full on challenges for the weeks ahead, so look out for some of those posts soon!

4. More tutorials / pictorials and possibly videos. The latter will be the last to arrive if ever, as I'm pretty shy and awful at talking in public! But I do want to build on my tutorial skills. Any tutorials you would like to see, please let me know!

5. Get more involved in what the British Nail Bloggers are doing. I often see link ups and find I have missed something, so I will be making sure I share more of what they / we are up to this year!

6. More interactivity - I would love to know what you want to see on the blog. What do you like / dislike, what you want to see more / less of. And please comment! I love reading all your comments even if I do sometimes forget to reply. I am often browsing on my phone and my phone hates comments and makes it really difficult to post them, so I'm sorry about that! 

7. A couple of giveaways. I will have another one soon as I am running late on my 1 year blogiversary, so keep your eyes peeled!

Have you written a bucket list for 2014? Anything you definitely want to achieve in the next 365 days?

Rachael xxx