Munchkin Mondays...

Happy Christmas eve everyone!!!

Today is the final festive edition of munchkin Monday.

Munchkin wanted candy canes and snowmen this time. So without further ado....

Base colour is Barry M's matte white and Rio nail art pens were used to add detail.

That's me done now!!! Just scheduled the final 12DoC post so I will be back after Christmas.

Happy holidays everyone!!

A x

12 Days Of Christmas - Day 11

I hope you're all prepared and ready for Christmas!! We went on the Santa train today with munchkin so we are well and truly in the Xmas spirit!! It never fails to put a lump in my throat when I remember how magical Christmas is for a child. I must admit I'm still like a child at Christmas, I can hardly sleep for excitement although nowadays it's mostly for my daughter than myself!!

Well onto the nails.....Today is the penultimate day of the 12 days of Christmas challenge and the prompt was tinsel.

I tried to recreate the look of tinsel wrapped around a tree with a Rio nail art pen, I then sprinkled with silver glitter and did an accent nail of a shard like silver glitter polish I picked up at the pound shop! My base colour was Barry M's raspberry, such a beautiful shade, these pictures really don't do it justice.

Don't forget to check out everybody elses tinsel nails!!

A x

12 Days of Christmas challenge - Day 10..

Hi guys!!

Well its Christmas eve eve today!!! 

It is also day 10 of the challenge, today's prompt is Elves, heres what I came up with....

Photos aren't perfect, but there's not very much natural light around here this time of year!!

Apart from being too impatient with my topcoat and smudging Mr Elf's eye I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out.

Polishes used were Barry M's silvery lilac and spring green. Rio nail art pens were then used to add the stripes and detail.

Don't forget to check out everybody elses elves....

A x

12 Days of Christmas challenge - Wreaths.

So today's Christmas challenge prompt is Wreath.

After I ruined my Saran wrap the last challenge I decided to recreate it and do it justice again for this challenge.

Here are my wreaths..........

I did the Saran effect using Barry M's spring green and watermelon. Once dried I stuck a page reinforcer on each nail and carefully went around it with Barry M's limited edition gold and then added the detail using my nail art pens.

So much happier with this mani than the last!! It's a shame I have to take it off so soon to do the rest of the challenges but I'm looking forward to them too!!

Don't forget to see how everybody else did on day 9....

A x

Festive nail art...

Hello Lovelys!!

I've had a couple of Christmas manis that I have been meaning to post for a while but kept getting side tracked.

The first is the most recent, I was so pleased with this mix and match I had it on for quite a while, the only reason I took it off was to do a challenge mani.

From right to left I did a gradient half moon, Saran wrap, glitter fade and stripe. My thumb (not pictured) was red and green water marbled.
I used Barry M's spring green, pomegranate and red glitter. Tools used were a make up sponge, cling film and striping tape.

The second mani I was so pleased with but looking back it's not all that great!! It was my first attempt at free hand and came about because I wanted to test out my new Barry M Gelly's.

The theme of this mani was ugly sweater....

Gelly's used were blue plum, pomegranate, watermelon and plum, The white is No7's Tip whitener and the design was done using a dotting tool and a cocktail stick.

Be sure to came back tomorrow for another instalment of the 12DoC challenge.

A x

12 days of Christmas challenge - Ornaments.

Hello lovelys! The 8th day of the challenge is upon us and today's prompt was "ornaments"

Now I had an idea in my head. It was going to be beautiful. I would Saran wrap my nails in 2 tones of green to give the effect of a Christmas tree, then using polish and nail art pens I would paint a series of interlocking baubles........ sound good??

This is what I ended up with.........

Not quite the look I was going for!! It was my own silly fault for not having a few trial runs with the nail art pens first but what with Christmas, a poorly munchkin and the usual joys of being a working mum I haven't had time, nor did I have time to re do the mani so alas, this shall have to do.

It all started so well I was ever so pleased with my Saran wrap...

But the baubles were just a disaster, oh well we can't win them all can we!

To do this mani I used Barry M's spring green, watermelon and raspberry. Then to do the mess detailing on the baubles I used Rio's professional nail art pens in black and white.

Check out everybody elses blogs to see how they got on with day 8

A x

12 Days of Christmas Challenge, Day 7

Wow! I don't know about you but I'm really starting  to feel christmassy!!

Today is day 7 of the challenge and the prompt was "Snowflakes" We haven't had any snow yet, lots of frost and ice but no snow. These snow flakes hit the spot though!!

I've been doing alot of manis with very bold, dark or vibrant colours recently and I wanted to tone it down a little and make it more delicate, I'm glad I did, I think the colours I chose go really well together and there was just the right amount of shimmer.

So here are my snowflakes.........

My horrendous photography really doesn't do this mani justice! 

All photos were taken in natural light and in the last one I tried to capture the lovely lilac shimmer in the snowflake.

I only used 2 polishes for this mani, Barry M's silvery lilac and Nails INC's Elizabeth street. A dotting tool was used to create the snowflakes and once they were dry I finished it all off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Don't forget to check out everybody elses snowflakes.

A x

12 Days of Christmas Day 6

Hi all!

Are we really halfway through already?!?


Before we get on to the nail art can I just give a big thank you to Pink & Polished and Over Polished for creating this challenge and giving me the opportunity to take part. I can safely say this will not be my last challenge. I've thoroughly enjoyed myself and although my nail art isn't going to win any awards I'm quite pleased with what I have achieved and feel as though I have progressed even in such a short time. So thank you Ladies, and thank you to my fellow challengers, you're all such a lovely bunch!!

So onto the nail art!!

Today's prompt was "Gifts". Easy peasy I thought......no!!

I was so pleased with my free handing for my holiday movie nail art I'd allowed myself to slip into a false sense of security. I figured I could free hand ribbons and bows on my nails!! Hmm....
I may share this disaster at the end of this post!!

After the horror that was my first attempt I decided to do something abit simpler and came up with this....

The first picture was taken with flash and the last two in natural light.

Polishes used were Barry M's pomegranate, red glitter, watermelon and spring green topped off with 2 coats of Seche. Striping tape was used to create the lines.

Here is my disaster........

 Not a good look haha!!

Be sure to pop over and see how everybody else is doing!!

A x

12 Days of Christmas Challenge Day 5

It's day 5 of the challenge and today's prompt is "holiday movie". The Nightmare Before Christmas is a popular film in our house all year round, but even more so at Christmas  I love it. especially when I'm tucked under a blanket with a hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and marshmallows!!

So here are my Nightmare Before Christmas Nails....

The first picture was taken in natural light (It's dull at the minute!!) and the last two were taken with flash.

This mani was created using striping tape, dotting tools, cocktail sticks, brushes and a make up sponge. Polishes used were Barry M's black and pomegranate, No7's tip whitener, Avon's coral beat & sunshine were used for the gradient.

I hope you like them!!

Don't forget to check out everybody elses blogs to see which movie they chose!!

A x

12 Days Of Christmas Challenge Day 4

Is it really day 4 of the challenge already!?
Today's prompt was snowmen, so without further ado, here are my snowmen......

I used Barry M's silvery lilac and denim for my base coats, I then used No7's Tip whitener and Barry M's black for my snowmen and "snow" polka-dots and a coat of Rimmels glitter ball on the polka dot nail.

I cant wait to make a start on day 5's Christmas movie nail art!!

Don't forget to check out everybody elses snowmen!

A x

12 Days of Christmas challenge; Day 3.

It's the third day of the challenge and  today's prompt was candy canes.

I used striping tape for the first time to do this mani and for a first attempt I was really pleased with the results. After the original headache of cutting all the strips i found it relatively easy to use.

To do my candy canes I painted a base coat of No7's tip whitener and once completely dry I added the striping tape randomly across my nail, I wanted to achieve the candy cane effect by having lines of varying thickness. Once all my striping tape was on I added a coat of Barry M's pomegranate and a coat of red glitter for my accent nail.
Don't forget to pop over to everybody else's blogs to see how they're getting on!
A x

Wheeeeeeeeeeen Santa got stuck up the chimney.......

....he began to shout!
You girls and boys wont get any toys if you don't pull me out,
My beard is black, there's soot in my sack and my nose is tickling too,
Wheeeeen Santa got stuck up the chimney...........
Achoo!! Achoo!! Achoo!!

Today is day 2 of the 12 days of Christmas challenge and the prompt was "holiday song" in case you haven't guessed already, I chose When Santa got stuck up the chimney. I love this!! Every time I look at my hand it makes me giggle. So Without further ado, Here is my holiday song nail art.

The first two pictures were taken in natural light and the last with flash.

Polishes used were:
Barry M silver foil, pomegranate, blue plum, black and hologram hexograms. The white is No7's stay perfect tip whitener. I used a toothpick and a dotting tool to create my design.

Don't forget to check out how everybody else is getting on I wonder what holiday song they chose?!?

A x

Paint your pinky PINK!!

To support breast cancer awareness people have been painting their pinkys pink, this is my mani in honour of this.
The paints and tools used for this manicure are in the bottom photograph.
Sorry this is such a short post, I've finally got chance to enrol on my nail technician course so I've been spending alot of time studying recently.
I will try my best to deliver a more detailed post tomorrow.
Best get back to it!
A x

Movember Mani

You really will have to excuse the crappy picture, I'm no photographer and it was dark!!
Anyway...first time doing a moustache mani and I must say they're harder than I thought they would be!!!
I think I need a tad more practice to get my tash down!! I can safely say I will most definatley be trying these again. I'm a lover of all things tashy, so much so I have one tattooed on my finger!
My base coat was Barry M's 'nude' and the moustaches were done using black nail polish and a dotting tool. I did a chevron and stud design on my middle nail to break it up a little.
I hope this post makes sense and isn't just a large jumble of letters and punctation!! I apologise if it is I'm posting this from my phone and half asleep....never a good combination!!
A x

Lest We Forget....

Rememberance Sunday is upon us. A day to remember all the brave and wonderful people who fought for what we all take for granted today. Sons, fathers, partners, husbands and grandfathers. The poppy is the symbol of rememberance day, so in honour of that todays manis are poppy related.
The base coat for both manis was made by layering 2 coats of Barry M's 'Nude' over 1 coat of Hard Candy's 'complex'. The poppy's were created by using red and black polishes and a dotting tool.
The first mani is mine I decided to do smaller poppys and have more in each finger, the second is my mum's (done by me) who decided on a larger poppy on each finger.
Which is your favourite??
Ax

WANTED....Topcoat Reccomendations + Barry M croc effect

Good evening my lovelies!!!
Just a quick one as it's waaaay past my bedtime!!!
Firstly I was wondering if you would all be so kind as to let me know what your favourite topcoat is. I haven't really found one yet but saying that I've not really looked. Just used what I had handy.
When I firt started using a topcoat I used one that I got in an acrylic set. This has probably been the best one I have used so far, fast drying, super glossy and the most chip resistant, but alas it ran out and I could never find it again, nor could I tell you the name as I can't read Chinese.
Topcoat #2 was just a generic one from a french mani set, only good thing I could say about this one is that it was glossy. It dried no faster than a normal polish and had little to no chip resistance, infact I could go so far as to say my nails chipped more with it on!! strange!?!
Last but not least I'm using Sally Hansen hard as nails advanced. It's not the worst nor is it the best. Dries fast enough, nice and glossy but still isn't stopping the chips.
I need a really hard wearing topcoat. I'm a cleaner so my hands/nails get alot of stick, they don't get a rest at home either house proud + mummy = scrub, scrub, scrub!!
I always make sure I get full coverage and slice across the tip so I don't think it's a problem with the application. Am I asking for a miracle here?? or is there a topcoat out there for me?
Seche Vite is on my to try list it seems some of you swear by it where as others can do without so any suggestions/reccomendations will be greatly appreciated!!
What was that I said about a quick one?!?
Now onto the mani!!
I love this mock croc effect from Barry M its so simple to apply and really makes a statement. No doubt I will be experimenting further with this and trying out different colours and combinations. For now all I have is this messy mani!!
I used a thin base coat of Barry M silvery lilac then once that was touch dry applied a thin coat of the Barry M croc effect. It's amazing to see the croc effect appearing before your eyes (or so I think...small minds eh!!) I then added a coat of Rimmel glitterball to finish it off.
Laters lovelies!!!
A x

The Frenchies....

I love a good french manicure! They're so versatile, colour options are endless and they can be as simple or complex as you like.
The first mani was done using Sally Hansens white tip and Rimmel glitterball, I don't tend to use guides for normal tips just free hand.
The second dotty one was done by using a clear base coat and applying sellotape at a slant once the basecoat had dried, I then used a red polish to make the slanted tip and painted a line across using Barry M's red glitter. I then used a black polish and a dotting tool to finish.
Simples.....!
A x

Oh em geeeeeee!!

Hi Nailistas!!
I haven't posted for a while! Plenty of reasons, main reason is I stopped smoking!! Go me!! But I did this with champix which unfortunatley sent me off the deep end!! Now it dosen't do this to everyone.... seems I was one of the (un)lucky ones!!
Anyway enough of my ramblings and onto nails!!
I have a stack of manis lined up and photographed....inbetween tears I fortunatley still found the time to do manis!! I'm also bringing in a fun new feature for Mondays but I shall be keeping that under wraps until I have all the stuff together for it.
So here is a mix 'n' match mani I did using Barry M's 'Cyan blue' and 'Lemon ice'...........



I love Barry M's range of polishes. They're so versatile and oh so affordable and there's a shade for every occasion!!

I'm currently sporting a simple mani of nails inc sprinkles in 'Sweets way'.

I love this polish it has such an indulgent feel to it and I always drag this one out when I need a pick me up.

On a final un-nail related note, I have been smoke free for over 2 weeks now and just wanted to give a shout out to all of you that feel like you cant do it.....You can!!!

See you tomorrow my lovelies!!

A x

Water Marble Manis

First two attempts at watermarble manis, pleased with the results and it didn't take up as much time as I thought it would! Polishes used for blue and purple mani were: Avon romance, No7 betty blues & blackberry, for the green, yellow and orange mani I used Barry M's spring green and Avon's coral beat & sunshine.
Theres tons of tutorials out there and if you haven't tried watermarble  yet give it a go it's well worth the faff!!!
A x

First Attempt At Gradient.

Well my first attempt at gradient turned out to be a galaxy/gradient hybrid whatever possesed me to use so much glitter in one go i will never know. I started off with a base coat of Barry M's red glitter then sponged on a purple glitter polish from claires, i finished with a sponging of No7's Betty Blues and hey presto my moment of madness mani was created!! As you can guess removal of this was a hellish process and I can never see myself recreating this mani however I got more compliments than expected!!
Please excuse picture quality, i don't think my camera could deal with all the sparkle!!
A x