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

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 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

Mix & Match Mani!

Hi everyone!

This mani was actually done for halloween, I was really pleased with this but the more I look at it the more I tell myself off for going over the top with the gold beads!! Oh well we live and learn eh?
This mani was created by using 2 coats of black as a base (over a clear base coat) Then 2 fingers were topped with a chunky hex glitter polish from Primark. 2 nails were made matte using Rimmels Pro Matte Finish mattifying topcoat, i then used a dotting tool and the original black to make the polkadots. The middle finger was finished off using the gold beads. Everything was topped off with 2 coats of Sally Hansens advanced hard as nails.
It's not the neatest but I was in a rush to get out and I knew the gold beads wouldn't last the night (I'm a picker)

Unil next time.....

A x

Konad has arrived at Nail*d it!

It's finally here!!! Since reading about nail stamping on various other blogs I've been dying to get my hands on some nail stamping goodies! So after quitting smoking I decided to treat myself. I chose Konad's special set and I must say, I'm in love!!!
Now I will admit I'm shocking at freehand with my lefty, my right hand hardly resembles the work on the left, I'm getting better with practice, but I doubt that what I do with my left will ever be as good as my right!!
So if your like me then nail stamps will be your new best friend!! Now I messed my first mani up but that was purely down to me not reading the instructions properly because I was too eager to get stamping!! The second mani I did with this showed just how easy it is to get perfection....on both hands!!!
Aside from it helping us girls who aren't quite as ambidexterous as others once you get the technique down it's a great way to get a super quick yet detailed mani!
I really can't say enough about konad. I am so pleased I took the plunge and bought this set. It has introduced me perfectly and I will most definatley be buying more to add to it, just as you are sure to see stamping again in plenty of my manis!
The first mani (leopard) is the one I messed up. I used gold as a base coat, then one dry stamped using Konad's black pearl and plate M57. I then decided it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted so i slathed it with a black and gold glitter top coat!
The second is a poor picture of a mani I loved, it is possibly in the top favourites of all the manis I've ever done. I started off with a gradient basecoat of mint green, purple and pastel pink. Then stamped using Konad's white and then black pearl, the plate used was M57 again. This was finished off with a coat of Konad topcat.
Enjoy.
A x

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

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