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

ER31DC - Day 21 Inspired by a Colour (Nail Lacquer Heart or Love review)

Day 21 - Inspired by a colour time!

I was not inspired by this at all, so asked Becca from Kittys Painted Claws to suggest something, anything for me. She then delegated the choice to her other half.. who not knowing me so well.. chose PURPLE. ARGH!

My initial thoughts.. do I OWN any purple polish? So I had a little rummage about in my unorganised helmer drawers and discovered my little untried beauty from Megan at Nail Lacquer.

When she announced this was coming soon, I just had to have it. Megan was kind enough to give me one as a present, before it was released for sale. How lovely is that?

Heart or Love is a beautiful glitter topper packed full of circle glitter. Heaven. I LOVE CIRCLE GLITTER!

Not my usual colour combination - theres some purple in there, along with pink and blue.. but omg I love it so much! Here I have it layered over Sinful Colors Black on Black. Didn't want to take it off! Perfect going out / special occasion mani! Application was great, lots of glitter and the circles came out fairly easily. It levelled nicely and dried in good time. The circles laid flat to the nail with no curling. Can't fault it!

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

Rachael xxx

Back to School NAC - Day 6 Free for All and Fake Tattoo Review

**part of this post was sent for me for my honest review**

Hello all!

Got my free for all nails for you today. I am so excited to show you these as they use some fantastic products that I was sent by Fake Tattoos. They were kind enough to send me two separate packs - the very cute Hearts and Bows pack, and the Ocean Design. Each pack contains at least 62 tattoos on 2 sheets with clear instructions on how to apply. They cost £6 a set, with free delivery worldwide.

Now you may think.. hang on, her nails are supposed to be school related, she'll definitely pick the Hearts and Bows.. but no, the Ocean Design have some surprise designs that I wouldn't call ocean related, but fit perfectly with the school theme - paper aeroplanes!

When I saw these, I just had to use them! I have never used Nail Tattoos before, but they were so simple to use and easy to place. They work just as temporary tattoos do. Cut out your design, remove the plastic layer over the surface, place design side down on your nail and then wet thoroughly. Hold in place for around 1-2 minutes and then peel away the paper to leave the design on your nail. Top coat to protect your design for longer. Perfect!

The designs are a lovely size - I tested them on my newly shortened nails. The base is 3 coats of Butter London - Cream Tea, Sally Hansen and Bondi NY Fuschia-tastic. They fit really well - I placed mine not directly centre (as part of the full mani design) however they would fit on centre of nail, or possibly two if placed carefully.

I wore these for 5 days before removing them along with my otherwise freehanded design. They lasted perfectly - the tattoos stayed perfectly on the nail with no wear, lifting or smudging of any kind. What do you think of them? I love them! I will have some more designs for you in the next week!

Don't forget to check out everyone else's free for all nails!

Guest Post over at Seriously Swatched!

Hello lovely readers!

Organised as ever, yesterday I had a guest post over at Seriously Swatched - Please go check it out, these were my nails that I wore for my Dad's 60th birthday <3

Thanks again to Cordia for letting me guest post - hope you're all having a fab day!

Rachael xx

Taras Talons - All Work and No Polish! Swatch

Hey all!

Another Taras Talons polish here - got a few more in my untried pile, but I'll break them up so I don't spoil you all at once haha!

This is a single mini (5ml) that caught my eye a few weeks back. I'm normally a bar glitter hater but its very sparse in this polish so I thought I'd give it a try. All work and no polish is a sheer grey base with a mix of black, white and pink glitters in a variety of hexes and bar glitters in black and white only. It can be built into an opaque look on its own, but I decided to layer it over Sally Hansen - Ion for quickness. 

I decided to wear it as an accent as you know how much I like non-matchy nails. So I went for 2 coats of Sally Hansen - Ion on my pinky and pointer, 2 coats of Catrice - Raspberry Fields Forever on my middle finger and 1 coat of AWANP over 2 coats of Ion on my ring finger and thumb (not shown).

I really like how it looks, I love glitters, and these matte glitters are great for an every day look. I love the variety of colours and glitters in this and surprisingly like the addition of the bars. It was a beautiful formula and had a nice variety of glitters that went easily onto the nail. I did fish for the bars though as they are quite sparse, but thats how I want the polish anyway so its not an issue!

Small thank you to Becca from KPC too as these are all her polishes (bar All Work and No Polish) as I was having a polish afternoon at her house! It was her birthday last week, so I took over her presents and we had a swatch fest! Happy birthday Becca, love ya lots! 

Anyway, back to the polish - what do you think?

Rachael xxx

Back to School NAC Day 4 - Sports

Good evening all!

Bit late with Day 4 of the challenge - I'm a terrible host! Sorry!

When I was at school, I hated PE. I was terrible at most of it, and if you were terrible, teachers told you you were terrible, and other kids never wanted you on the team. Luckily for me, the school had a pool. While swimming was not cool, I was pretty good at it. So I had the pool to myself for two hours a week. 

I still love swimming now and regularly do swimming events such as the Swimathon (yearly 2.5k / 5k fundraiser for Sport Relief / Marie Curie Cancer Care) and the Aspire swim the channel challenge.

So here are my nails :)

Hope you like them! Don't forget if you want to join in, its open to anyone! And please remember to check out all the other wonderful manis!

Rachael xxx

Taras Talons & Pocket Money Polishes Collaborations - Swatches and Review

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey all!

Excited to show you todays polishes - some collaboration duos from Taras Talons and Pocket Money Polishes, two UK indie makers.

I was lucky enough to snag one Cinderella duo and one Beauty and the Beast duo for myself.

The first I have to show you is the Beauty and the Beast Duo - Mrs Potts by Taras Talons and Enchanted Rose by PMP. 

Here is Mrs Potts by itself. I can't decide if this is lilac or pink. I'm thinking a lilac leaning pink. Its really pretty and has a beautiful formula. This is 2 coats, with a base of Rimmel Stronger basecoat and 1 coat of Seche Vite. I would happily wear this on its own, its a rare pink that suits my skintone but I love this soft blush look.

And here it is topped with 1 dabbed coat of Enchanted Rose. These two polishes compliment each other perfectly - the various sizes of rose pink hex and a spattering of holographic hexes really make this look magical. As I said, I dabbed this on for even coverage, but thats just the regular for any glitter toppers if you want an even covering. 

What do you think overall? I think its super pretty as a duo, but Mrs Potts is great for a less sparkly occasion too! 

So here is the Cinderella duo. I found out about these really late, but was over the moon to find my favourites of the collection were the last ones available! These are Bibbity Bobbity Boo by Taras Talons and Magic Pumpkin by PMP.

You might think these are an odd match together, but I love them combined. Here is BBB (nobodys got time to type that over and over haha.. plus I can't spell it!) on its own. Its a beautiful turquoise shade. My favourite!

Application was perfect, lovely pigmented formula which self levelled perfectly. I only used 1 coat here with my Rimmel Stronger base and Seche Vite topcoat. Yay for short nails!

Aand here it is topped topped with Magic Pumpkin. The only slight thing I would mention is the base discolours turquoise. If any of you use Seche Vite, you will find it yellows certain colours and alters their true colour - mint green, turquoise etc are the most noticeable. Unfortunately this is the case for a lot of indie glitters too as they have the same ingredient in the base. Practically all my glitter toppers do this. A shame for the base colour, but it still looks good with the glitter shades Charlie has used. One thing I will say is that it doesnt yellow it as much as Seche Vite does though. This again has that magical sparkly holographic glitter element. Beautiful! This is one dabbed coat.

Do you have any PMP / Taras Talons polishes? Which is your favourite? 

You can find Taras Talons here:

Website

Etsy Shop

and Pocket Money Polishes here:

Website

Rachael xxx

Born Pretty Store - Neon Stud Wheel Review

**These products were sent for my honest review**

Hello all!

Today I have some Born Pretty Store products to show you. 

They very kindly sent me this gorgeous neon stud wheel. It contains 12 different studs in 6 different colours in both square and circle shapes. They are all 2mm in size. The wheel retails at $7.59 (£4.89). You can also get 10% discount using my discount code: ZNL91.

These studs would look great over black or white, but I went for a less obvious choice - Deborah Lippmann Modern Love (a darker nude shade).

I have just used a variety of studs on each nail to show you how versatile they are. Please note, the black studs come from a different nail wheel which is also from Born Pretty Store. 

The studs are perfect size for both flat and curved nails as they can lay flat to the nail. They are small enough to be adhered with top coat, though nail glue will keep them in place longer. 

You can find Born Pretty Store at the following places:

Website

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

Make sure you follow for special offers, flash sales and more!

What do you think of today's nails? Are you a fan of studs? Whatre your favourite products from Born Pretty Store?

Rachael xxx

Pokemon NAC Week 5 Flying - Natu

Hey all! 

Got another edition of the Pokemon nail art challenge today! 

I had a fab idea to try watercolour nails as the background for this mani - I tried following the tutorial over at Paulinas Passions, but I think I must need pure acetone as nail polish remover was just not doing the job - my polish would not go watery and even, just globby. 

So you'll see my background is less than satisfactory, but I decided to not be wasteful and use it anyway!

Today's pokemon I chose was Natu - I always choose Natu in the games as my flying and psychic type, especially for the league as I try and have an even balance of pokemon types, strengths and weaknesses. 

So here are my little lovebird Natus. Unfortunately one of them is a bit derpy!

Again, if you're a lover of pokemon, cartoons or just fancy a bit of a challenge, feel free to join our facebook group! Everyone welcome! Its a free challenge, no time limits, so you can start when you like and post when you like - very relaxed!

No facebook? No problem - you can always share with me on my Twitter account, or feel free to email me or share links to your photos in the comments! 

Rachael xxx

Taras Talons - Polish Club September

Good morning all!

Today I have my very first indie subscription to show you!

Taras Talons recently set up polish club - the first UK indie subscription box. For a small price of £10 a month, you will receive 2 unique polishes, 1 full size (10ml) and 1 mini (5ml). These are like all Taras polishes and will be one offs.

The two I received I was uber pleased with. Theres a story behind one of them, which I'll fill you in on. The mini I received is called Forget Me Not. As soon as I saw this I loved it. More so for the name. September is my 'big Gran's birthday month. She passed away when I was in school - I was about 14/15, so over 10 years ago now. I've always wanted to get a tattoo to remember her by, and as I'm a big scaredy cat, and also because I want something tasteful and small, I decided that when I'm brave enough, I'll get a small forget-me-not in her memory. So of course when this polish arrived I did get a bit of a lump in my throat, but I do only have wonderful memories of my big Gran and wearing this on my nails will only make me think of her and how much I love her more.

Forget Me Not is a beautiful mulberry colour. Its unlike anything I own already and isn't something I would instinctively choose, but it was a lovely colour on my nails. It does look slightly more brown in the photos, but when it hits the light you can see the red tones and the lovely shimmer.

My second polish, the 10ml was a glitter polish. I won't lie, I did initially feel a bit disappointed at a gold glitter. But once I applied it I realised how lovely it was - its not a two dimensional flat gold glitter, but a mix of gold and gold holo hexes and multiple sizes of glitter, so its so sparkly! It transformed Forget Me Not from a classic work-appropriate mani to a beautiful sophisticated special night out mani. The polish is glitter packed, so rather than a full nail, I decided to lightly sponge it on as a glitter gradient. I had no problems with application, the formula was great and no problems getting glitter out. Lovely! Only problem was the dying light, so although you can see tiny flecks of holo, I didnt manage to capture just how sparkly it really was!

I am so happy with this subscription and can't wait for next month. I really think for £10, its a good price for something hand made and unique. 

If you fancy trying Polish Club, you can sign up for it at Taras Talons via Paypal.

What do you think? Did you sign up for polish club? What colours did you get / would you like to see? 

Rachael xxx