Oops! I've managed to go ages without blogging again, somehow. I have been doing my nails though, honest! So here's a quick catch up of some of the nails I've had over the last couple of weeks.
I wore these for 4 days or so before Christmas. This is two coats of China Glaze Ruby Pumps (one of my favourite polishes ever) with an accent nail using China Glaze Mingle With Kringle and a stencil from What's Up Nails, and a stud for extra accent.
These nails were made with some polishes I got as a Christmas gift set - this is a base of Maybelline Watery Waste, a silver metallic polish. I then used tape and Maybelline Downtown Red on top, and Maybelline Black Magic on top of that. Black Magic is an interesting matte finish glitter, which I really liked. I added topcoat for shine.
These nails were something I wore for a couple of days around new year. I started with a base of Barry M Persian, a pretty purple-gold duochrome. I added rhinestones, and an accent nail using sparkly white glitter dust.
I love wearing rhinestones!
Finally, these are the nails I'm wearing now - I've had these on for a couple of days now. I started with a base of Barry M Butterscotch Sundae, and then used What's Up Nails vinyls and a variety of polishes for the pattern.
I sponged on a mix of Barry M Guava and Blood Orange, Illamasqua Prosperity, and Models Own Island Hop, Sarong Wrap and Beach Fire. I'm not totally happy with how these came out, as the colours got a bit murky in places - I really wanted a brighter, zingier blend. I'm still pretty happy with them though.
I hate this time of year! It's wet and cold and clammy and work is stressful and everything is just generally uurgh. Hence the lack of blogging I suppose. I have done my nails, but I've only taken photos of some of them.
Anyway, here are some nails I wore a couple of weeks ago. I started with a gradient using China Glaze Riveting and Barry M Sparkling Amethyst. I wore these like this for a couple of days at work.
I then stamped over the gradient using Konad Black and.... probably one of the MoYou London XL plates, although I can't remember which one.
I really liked how these looked. The stamp is supposed to be floral, but I think it's ended up looking more abstract here. I love Riveting (the shimmery orange one) but haven't worn it for a really long time - I clearly need to dig it out more often!
I've been stamping a lot recently, and I felt the urge to do some freehanding for a change. The weather has been grey and damp, and I wanted something bright and cheerful, so I went for my favourite flowers, sunflowers.
I started with a base of China Glaze For Audrey (my bottle has gone a bit thick and gloopy - it's now a PERFECT one coater!) and freehanded the flowers using some MoYou stamping polishes and a fine brush. The yellow is Bahamas Punch and I used two greens for the leaves, Key Lime and Spring Green. I really like how pigmented and rich the MoYou London stamping polishes are - they're not too gloopy to do nail art with, but they're still opaque over strong colours.
The brown flower centres are Barry M Cocoa.
And just to show you that I do always do both hands (apparently some people don't! Who knew?) here's my other hand as well. The cleanup's not quite as good, but I'm pretty pleased with these.
Weirdly, I posted a pic of these on Twitter, and my friend Wendy from MASPOOASE pointed me at the sunflower nails she did almost 3 years ago today, and they're almost identical!
I've been a bit lacking in enthusiasm for blogging recently. No real reason, I just haven't felt like it.
Anyway, these are the nails I wore for a few days earlier in the week. Yes, I did both hands.
This is a base of Barry M Pearl, and the stripes were done using China Glaze Glow with the Flow and Jacava Crimson Crush and some striping tape.
I deliberately made the stripes uneven in size and pattern as I knew if I tried to make them the same I wouldn't manage it!
I fell in love with the MoYou London Steampunk plates, and bought two of them. However, I'm not quite sure what to do with them!
Today I used a couple of metallic autumnal shades and the XL plate 01, with a few tiny studs. I'm not convinced by the whole look. It's nice, but it doesn't blow me away.
I used OPI's Germanicure by OPI and China Glaze Harvest Moon. I stamped using my very precious and diminishing Barry M Gold Foil. The studs are stuck down with topcoat.
I really like the clock design on my thumb! The gold isn't a high contrast with the China Glaze polish, so in hindsight I'd have used black to stamp on those nails.
Lauren at The Naily Mail did some gorgeous geometric nails last month, and I've been thinking about the design several times over the last few weeks. Today, when I was a bit stuck for inspiration for what to do, I decided to do my own version of them.
I started with a base of China Glaze Pink-ie Promise (which is lovely, but takes ages to dry well!) and then used striping tape with Zoya Blaze and Barry M Xmas Limited Edition 2012 to make the pattern, and then I added a coat of Seche Vite for extra gloss.
This was easy peasy to do (apart from waiting for Pink-ie Promise to dry) but I'm in love with how it turned out! I love the colours together and I love the effect, and the contrast between the creme, the metallic and the sparkly Zoya.
I really like this design, and I think this will be something I will be doing again with different colour combinations.
Today's nails are a bit of an all-in kitchen sink mani! I started with no overall plan in mind, I just added bits and made it up as I went along!
I started with two coats of Barry M Full Throttle. This is a really pretty peachy orange colour, but it's a streaky, awkward formula, which I always forget. Still, it's a good colour.
I then taped off a couple of nails with a grid of striping tape, and sponged a gradient of Full Throttle and Barry M Satsuma. I decided to add some glitter for good measure, and used China Glaze Electrify, which is packed full of gold and red glitter. I sponged this over the tips, with the odd dab further down the nail.
I loved how the quilted nails looked, but it took a while to do, and was quite fiddly, so I did something different with the other two, and used striping tape, Satsuma and Electrify to add some blocks of colour. The Satsuma looked quite overpowering on its own, so I then added the tiny studs.
I'm so pleased with how these look! And they were a total happy accident, which makes them even better.
I was in the mood for a different sort of post this weekend, so today I'm going to share my favourite nail and hand care products with you.
These are my favourite and most-used items for keeping my nails clean, strong and in decent condition most of the time. Sometimes my nails break, or my cuticles look dry anyway, but that's usually because I've either neglected them, or because I've done something stupid like trying to prise things open with my nails!
My number 1 most essential, CANNOT live without nail care product, by a country mile, is OPI Nail Envy. I go through gallons of the stuff! I use it as base coat for every mani, and I paint it under my nails whenever they're long enough. I paint it on the free edges of my nails, I paint it on the sides of my nails. If my nails are feeling particularly delicate, I use two coats. I buy mine on Amazon, where it's usually half the price of places like Boots. I always keep empties too, because they're useful for putting stuff in, like homemade peel-off basecoats, or spare acetone for cleanup.
The rest of my essentials, in no particular order are:
HAND CREAM! I'm currently using this lovely Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream, which was a gift. It's pricy though, so I don't buy it for myself! Any hand cream is better than no hand cream at all, and I have some everywhere - on my nail desk, next to my bed, in the bathroom, in my handbag, in the car, in my desk drawer at work... I can't get enough. This Clarins one is gorgeous though, really nice and soft and non-greasy.
Next up is cuticle oil. This is my favourite, China Glaze Peppermint Cuticle Oil, in a mini bottle. This stuff smells AMAZING - it's like Christmas! The brush is stiff, and I like to cover my nails top and bottom, and rub it in and let it soak in, every couple of weeks or so. I also use it on my cuticles only (just a dab) after most manis, just to soften and get rid of any dry bits.
Another cuticle product I really like is Sally Hansen Cuticle Rehab. I use this less often, as it's really greasy and takes ages before nails are ready for nail polish again, but it's a really good product for very dry cuticles. The brush is soft, and the product squeezes out at the base of the brush, and is sort of an oily gel consistency.
Next up is a nail brush. I've always used a nail brush almost daily, and in the past used a cheapy traditional one. I've recently switched to a BruzZ though, and I'm a total convert! See my earlier review here.
Another of my essentials is a glass nail file. My first one was a gift, but I managed to break it (don't drop your glass nail files on concrete!) and I replaced it with a Leighton Denny one, which I'm sorry to say I hated. I didn't like the texture of it, and the blunt, rounded end was a pain to use. My current one is (I think) a Mont Bleu, which I bought on Amazon.
I love the way this one feels - it's so smooth and gentle, but really effective at shortening and smoothing nails, and the pointy end means it's easy to get in to the sides of your nail if you need to (and you can use it to clean under your nail too). The crystals are so pretty, and the file is pretty much everlasting, unless your concrete floor comes into play!
Last of all, I use a basic, traditional cheapy pair of nail clippers. I don't regularly use them to cut my actual nails (only if I have to drastically shorten all of them at once) but I do use them to clip off ragged corners, or those tiny bits of hard cuticles or hangnails at the sides of my nails. The pointy bit it also really useful for cleaning under the nail, for pushing back cuticles, and for helping to peel off latex protector layers round my fingers.
If I sound like an advert in places here, I really don't mean to! I'm not being paid or sponsored or anything else for mentioning these products - I just really really like them. Most of them are things that I have used and loved for years.
What about you? Do you like these products? Is there something else you love and want to recommend?
For the last couple of days I've been wearing China Glaze Mingle with Kringle, a gorgeous, sparkly, gold foil polish. It looks wonderful on its own, but last night I decided I wanted to add to it.
I stamped using Models Own Chrome Cerise, and a Born Pretty Store stamping plate BP-48, which I blogged about previously here. This is a really nice plate, one of my favourite Born Pretty ones.
As you can see, apart from the bit I missed on the side of my thumb, this has stamped really cleanly, and I think it looks fab!
The pink looks more red over the gold, which is fine with me.
Today I was in the mood for a water marble. I wanted to make a neon rainbow one, but I just could not get the polishes to spread on the water, so I gave up that plan and made a pastel one instead using China Glaze polishes.
I started with a white base, and then used Tart-y For the Party, Pink-ie Promise and Keep Calm Paint On for the marble.
I've added topcoat for shine. This looks a bit scruffy round the cuticles, especially on the thumb, as I found it quite hard to clean up for some reason. My cuticles are really dry at the moment too. I need to do a deep-moisturising treatment!
I toyed with the idea of keeping my French mani plain for a day, but I just couldn't do it!
I used a fine paintbrush with China Glaze Mingle with Kringle and Jacava Blackberry Fool in order to do this design. It's only simple but I do like it.
The gold lines are a bit thicker than I meant to do, but I suppose that doesn't matter.
What do you think?
Today I have another Born Pretty Store stamping plate to show you. This is plate BP-58, which is available here for $2.99. As you can see, this plate has lots of cute birds, and some lovely individual feathers.
I did two looks with this plate, one with a full nail design and one with an individual feather.
This first design has a grey base of Nella Milano Mercury Haze. I then stamped using the birds on a wire part of the plate and Barry M Silver Foil.
The plate stamped really well, apart from that one spot on the tip of my index finger - that was my fault though, not the plate's.
The second look I did was with the peacock feather in the centre of the plate. I started with a base of Chanel Peridot, which is a polish I just love for its gorgeous greeny gold finish. I had initially planned to stamp using a bright turquoise metallic blue, but apparently none of my polishes were suitable as they just didn't show over the gold. Nothing to do with the plate, it was just the polish wasn't pigmented enough.
Instead, I used China Glaze Don't Make Me Wine, which is a gorgeous dark metallic reddy purple. This stamped beautifully, and I love how this looks! Don't look at my poor stumpy thumbnail! It broke badly across the corner a week ago, and is still not really presentable.
This looks fab in the evening sunshine!
I think this is a really nice stamp, and I can definitely see this one getting a lot of use. I think the cute cartoon birds in the heart would make a lovely spring or Valentine's mani.
The plate is currently $2.99, but you can get 10% off using my discount code.
I received this product for review purposes, but words and opinions are entirely my own. I do not receive anything if you use my discount code, although when it's been used ten times, BPS will let me host a giveaway for my readers! See my Disclosure page for more details.
Today's nails were very subtle! I was hoping for more contrast between the base colour and the stamping, but I do think the final effect was very pretty and work-appropriate!
I started with a base of China Glaze Pink-ie Promise, and then stamped using Barry M Caspian, a pretty rose gold from the Aquarium collection, and MoYou London Tropical plate 11.
The stamped design is actually part of a tropical leaf, but I like how it looks sort of Art Deco here.
