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 Weekly Challenge - C is for Mentality Cyclone

Hey again! 

3 days in a row! WOW!

Well today is a little more complex - this is by far one of my favourite manis ever. The base is Mentality Cyclone, a lovely holographic pale purplish brown colour, depending on how the light hits it. The formula on this was excellent - one coater for my currently short claws.

I then took Mentality Monsoon and used this to stamp over with a floral MoYou XL image from their Pro 14 plate. The effect was pretty subtle but it was just perfect for a week at work, and lasted a whole 6 days before I had to remove it!

What do you think? 

Rach xxx

(Don't forget to check out the hub page for all the C manis!)

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

A little hallowe'en stamping

Hey all!

Last week may be a bit quiet as I have one of my other loves in my life. Pokémon! Yes, it was released last weekend, so I have devoted a fair amount of my life to it!

So I sat down yesterday and decided to have a go at some designs and get making my blog a bit more lively. No matter what, they just weren't working out.. apart from this one.

A nice simple design, but I love it none the less - the polishes and the plate are just perfect together! I wanted something I could wear for work and I got so many compliments, nobody believed I had done myself - I got accused of having salon nails and also of having used foils - compliments indeed!

I used the MoYou London Pro Collection 05 XL plate and used the cobweb design from the top row. The polishes I used are Zoya - Raven for the base and Mentality - Scalawag (my favourite stamping polish) for stamping over.

I am so pleased with how these stamped - the Mentality polish is perfect opacity and in light has a beautiful holo rainbow to it. Beautiful! And the stamp, I am so in love with these MoYou London plates so far - they are just perfectly engraved, pick up beautifully.. I just can't fault them at all!

What do you think? Do you like the simple finish or would you have gone more detailed and added something else? 

Dont forget to check out what other British Bloggers are doing!

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

Nail Art using MoYou London stamping plates

Good morning all!

Just a quick little post to show you my autumny nails - these are my first full hand of successful stamps - I feel like I have just 'got' stamping!

I used an image from one of the new MoYou London plates - I picked up a few when they released some of their new collections. This is one of the XL plates, although my nails are easily small enough for the small plates at the moment.

The base is the beautiful Butter London Tee Total. I then used Barry M Gold Foil Effects as the stamping polish (because its brilliant for stamping!) and used the tree rings from the top row. I really love this plate and can't wait to try out some more images - the tree rings turned out really crisp - they picked up well from the plate and then transferred brilliantly from the stamper to the nail. Really really happy!

You will definitely be seeing more stamping from me! Those cobwebs are definitely on my to-do list for Halloween! 

What do you think? Are you yay or nay for stamping? Do you have any of the MoYou plates yet? What do you think? 

Rachael xxx

Nail Art with Revlon's French Mix 'Sneak Peek'

Hey all!

Today I have some nail art to show you using one of Revlon's French Mix dual ended polishes in 'Sneak Peek'.

I actually picked this little beauty up in TJ Hughes a while back for £2.99 as its last years line, but after getting some of the Moon Candy range, I wanted to try these.

I've only just read reviews of this line while searching for the name of the polishes. I was surprised to see that so many people haven't rated them at all, but I really love the combination of light blue and a sort of difficult to describe golden caramelly brown colour. 

Here is my nail art - I am determined to master stamping, so I tried out my NC01 plate again and used the small dandelion image to stamp onto two of my nails. Its really quite subtle, but the image transferred well and both polishes dried nice and quickly.

Sneak, the pale blue needed 3 coats to be completely opaque. I wasnt surprised as pastel cremes are notorious for needing so many layers, but they dried quickly and levelled nicely so I couldn't complain too much.

I was worried after waiting for those layers to dry that Peek (the shimmery golden coppery caramelly brown) wouldnt stamp, but luckily it did and next time I will be double checking by stamping first!

What do you think? I know these are supposed to be for french manicures which I am sure I will try at some point, but I quite like the subtle stamping design. Please let me know what you think!

Rachael xxx

Pink Wednesdays for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Hey all, I have a new little wednesday installment for the next month - Pink Wednesdays for Breast Cancer Awareness month.

I know there are already a lot of reasons for wearing pink on wednesdays, so I thought why not mix the two together.

So here is my first pink mani of the month - a stamped mani using one of my new MoYou London plates - the Princess plate 14.

I am loving so many of the MoYou London plates - I still have about 10-15 (and soon to be more with the new Mother Nature release) on my wishlist. I picked up 3 in my first purchase - this was one of them. I love the flower design, as well as the swirly dots and hearts, the jigsaw puzzle pieces and the interlocking hearts and the gingerbread men. I will definitely get plenty of use from this plate!

I used the swirly hearts design for this one - I was worried it wouldnt pick up as if you run your finger over it the design is so shallow and delicate that you can barely feel the engraving. But it picked up beautifully and looked lovely over the paler pink. The two polishes I used were both Essie - We're In It Together for the base and Big Spender for stamping with.

What do you think? 

Rachael xxx

An InLinkz Link-up

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

Flip / Flop February Challenge - Day 15 - Stamping / Jelly Sandwich

This has been a right 'mare of a day :(

I can't figure out this stamping malarky, they won't go on straight so I've had to use little individual  stamps to try and create a hawaiian style effect.

I'm not a fan, but its done and out of the way! Blue finger didn't end up looking as good as I had hoped - need an opaquer polish to stamp with. Should've chosen jelly sandwich!

 

See what everyone else did today!