Wednesday 31 July 2013

Bourjois Amande Defile Swatch

You know sometimes you see something that gives you that lovely feeling of nostalgia, that almost takes you back to a different time in your life? Well, while walking past the Bourjois stand this weekend, I had that feeling whilst staring at this polish; Amande Defile, a pistachio green polish.

When I was about 11, I was given 3 polishes from Boots; a gorgeous lilac, a pale blue and a pistachio green. The green was my favourite, and I wore it whatever chance I had. So this polish is a blast from the past.

Bourjois-Amande-Defile-pitachio-green-nail-polish-pastel

Bourjois-Amande-Defile-pitachio-green-nail-polish-pastel





















Frustratingly, and very oddly, my camera would not capture this colour correctly......except for the lid! The lid is the EXACT colour, but the bottle and polish would not come out correctly. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Also frustrating was the application of this polish - like trying to apply milk! I'm going to leave the lid off for a minute or two next time I use this, hope it thickens it up a bit. I had to apply 4 coats it was so thin! But I still love this colour, I can see it being used with some of my lovely glitters:)


Monday 29 July 2013

Nom nom nom, strawberry nails.

Wow, what a day; beautiful sunshine, torrential rain, then sunshine again - confused much? The kitties and I have been hibernating indoors today, beginning to pack ready for the big trip this Saturday - Peru and Argentina here we come! 

(Lol - have just read that paragraph and realised that it sounds like I'm going to Peru and Argentina with my cats! No so thankfully, not sure they'd be up for it).

So before the rain set in i was in a very summery frame of mind, and so tried my hand at a bit of nail art - strawberries, the fruit that means SUMMER!




These were shockingly easy, I used Pink Blush and Red Alert for the base colours, and then draw on leaves using Green Tea (all Models Own). Then I used my lovely nail art pens to add a bit of extra detail.























A bit of advanced warning - I know I'm not the most regular of bloggers: usually I only post a couple of times a week. This is mainly because, as much as I love polish and nail art, I have many other commitments to keep up with. Whilst I am away (three whole weeks of holiday!!!) I'm planning on scheduling posts, probably a couple a week still. If they don't work, please bear with me lol:)


Wednesday 24 July 2013

Pastel chevrons

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what an awesome morning. A lazy get up, Marmite on toast and coffee in the garden, kitty cuddles, happiness:)

I not sure about you guys, but I have a definite summer/winter mindset when it comes to nail polish; I want bright, bright, bright or summery pastels in the sunshine, and darker, deeper polish in winter. This mani is a definite summer baby - glossy, lovely pastels:) Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Pastel-nail-art-chevrons-Barry-M-polish

Pastel-nail-art-chevrons-Barry-M-polish




Pastel-nail-art-chevrons-Barry-M-polish





















This isn't an original idea, but I can't remember where I saw it - doh! Anyhoo, this is my take on it, using my trusty Barry M pastels (Strawberry Ice Cream, Berry Ice Cream, Mint Green and Peach Melba) plus my favourite pastel ever, Adora-Bleu by Bourjois:) 

I used striping tape for the mani which resulted in a teeny mishap; the tape was blue and left a small stain on the lilac nail-grrrrrr! But I do love this; it's summer, but with an edge!

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Color Club Sky High Swatch

Hey hey!

I'm continuing on from yesterday with another swatch from the Color Club Take Wings collection, this time with the very beautiful Sky High,a blue polish with purple shimmer.

Color-Club-Sky-High-blue-shimmer-nail-polishColor-Club-Sky-High-blue-shimmer-nail-polish



I've had soooooooooooooooo many compliments for this polish:) The one thing I will say though is that it takes along time to these polishes to draw - and it's not easy to get them to shine, you'll need a good couple of coats of a shiny top coats:) But with my trusty Stay Perfect top coat by Boots, I'm ok. 

Monday 22 July 2013

Color Club Take Wing collection - Daisy Does It swatch

Oooooooooooooooooooooh I love TKMaxx! Love, love, LOVE! I nipped in the other day to pick up some holiday stuff (less than two weeks, woooooohooooo!) and found the Take Wing Collection by Color Club.

I've never been that fussed about shimmery polishes, but these......well, WOW!

                               

Oooooooooooooh, look at those. They're all gorgeous colours, and I'm swatching them as we speak, but that yellow! Swoon:) I rarely love yellow, but this one is stunning. It's got the cutest name, Daisy Does It, and for me it is just summer in a bottle!

Color-Club-nail-polish-Daisy-Does-ItColor-Club-nail-polish-Daisy-Does-It

Color-Club-nail-polish-Daisy-Does-ItColor-Club-nail-polish-Daisy-Does-It



It's a very sheer colour, so I layered it over Rimmel Sunshine. This is 3 coats of Daisy does It, and I love the shimmer that builds with each coat. It makes it a very easy yellow to wear; I find it isn't a great colour on me but the shimmer softens it and makes it a lot more flattering. If, when winter rolls back round, I want to remember the summer, this shall be the polish of choice:) 

Wednesday 17 July 2013

G'day mates!

Hi guys,

I hope you're enjoying the heatwave? I am, with the small exception that I'm having to be on tan alert - I'm a bridesmaid in a few weeks and DO NOT want ridiculous tan lines, so am factor 50-ing up constantly! But still, the sunshine has put me a great mood:) 

I'm not really sure where my idea for Aussie themed nails came from, but here they are - the dots were actually very simple, these are ones of those awesome manis that look a lot harder than they actually are:)





I used Barry M Mushroom as a base, then dotted using Sinful Colour Rich in Heart (a deep chocolatey brown that looks good enough to eat!), Barry M Cyan, and various nail art pens (shown below). Like i said, simple:) 




Bonza!

Saturday 13 July 2013

Pink and silver leopard print madness!

Wow, the weather today is AMAZING! I've been chillin' all day (apart from a brief, but epic, gym session!) and and now relaxing indoors watching Star Wars. Happiness is drooling over Han Solo. Swoooooooon.

Anyway, I'm still on my mission to clear out the old piccies from my computer, so here is a mash up of pink and silver and glitter and leopard print; basically, most of my fave things combined:)

Pink-glitter-silver-leopard-print-nail-art

Gaaaaah - smudges on the leopard print! But still, a great combo I think:)

Pink-glitter-silver-leopard-print-nail-artPink-glitter-silver-leopard-print-nail-art

 




















The pink base is an unnamed polish by Accessorize, it came part of a multi-pack, it's a gorgeous colour. The pink glitter is Bling by Nail Pop and the silver is Barry M Silver Multi Glitter - one of the best polishes EVER!!!!!

I hope you're all enjoying the sun, I'm off for a small glass of wine in front of Star Wars:) 


Thursday 11 July 2013

Electric Liquorice!

It's almost Friday! Wayhay!

Work is going at a bit of a slower pace at the mo, so again, I'm sat in the sun with a cold one (juice this time though, don't want you getting the wrong idea about my drinking habits lol) - and trawling through old photos that I've forgotten about. 

This one is gorgeous; Accessorize Electric Purple topped with Barry M Confetti in Liquorice. 

Electric-Purple-nail-polish-Barry-M-Confetti-Liquorice-Black-WhiteElectric-Purple-nail-polish-Barry-M-Confetti-Liquorice-Black-White


Electric-Purple-nail-polish-Barry-M-Confetti-Liquorice-Black-White

This was a tricky one to photo; the colour purple does NOT make my camera happy lol:) The above is probably the closet attempt.

Electric-Purple-nail-polish-Barry-M-Confetti-Liquorice-Black-White

Btw, it has occurred to me that my furbabies have not featured recently; they're currently scampering around me, hinting that they'd like some kitty treats - I swear Dreamies are cat crack! - so here are piccies of them indulging in their current favourite activities.


Boo trying to hid behind a leaf (fail for her) and Smoky sleeping in the laundry basket, thus ensuring a good layer off fur over any clothes taken out of the dryer (fail for me and bf!) 



Monday 8 July 2013

Silver nails with neon bows

Ahhhh; the sun is shining, my nails are shining (current glitter mani!) and I have a small (promise) glass of wine in my hand as I sit outside reading:) Bliss.

This manicure is one from a few weeks back that I forgot to post; I'm getting scatty peeps, or maybe it's all this wine in the sunshine?

Anyways, here it is......

Silver-Multi-Glitter-nail-art-pink-bow
Silver-Multi-Glitter-nail-art-pink-bow


Silver-Multi-Glitter-nail-art-pink-bow

I only have 3 polishes that I've almost finished; Barry M Berry Ice Cream (the perfect Lilac), Accessorize Electric Purple (it's a bright purple, need I explain more?) and this; Silver Multi Glitter by Barry M. It's just perfect; silver glitter with teeny tiny adorable specks of red glitter, so dense it covers in three coats and just stunning!!!

I'm off back to my wine.......wait, it's almost empty! I'm going to blame Boo the cat, it couldn't possibly have been me lol.

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Cath Kidson nails

So today hasn't been the greatest; more cat related drama I'm afraid!

I woke up to see that poor Smokey had what looked like a large swelling on his neck. Lovely bf took him to the vet and it turned out he had a nasty abscess - rubbish! So he had to have a mini operation to drain it (eeeeeeew) and is now a very groggy kitty. He's home (yay!) but looks very odd - a big patch of fur was shaved off and he's got a big grumpy face on! But still, he's home and on the mend, phew:) 

On the plus side, I was rocking probably the best nails ever, which cheered me up a tad whenever I looked at them - Cath Kidson-esque rose nails!

pale-blue-pink-rose-nail-art-Cath-Kidson

Please excuse the dreadful clean up, I totally missed a huge patch!






 I used my newest polish, Shade 15 by 2True, a stunning baby blue, and a random mini Accessorize pink to compliment it. The roses were made using a blob of Barry M White and Models Own Pink Blush, mixed together with a cocktail stick. The stripes and dots were made with my Models Own nail art pen. 

pale-blue-pink-rose-nail-art-Cath-Kidson

I'm off to snuggle Smokey lol:)
 

Monday 1 July 2013

Orange and blue tribal nails

Happy Monday peeps!

Today's manicure is from a few weeks ago, not sure why I didn't post it, but here we go..........orange and blue tribal nails:) 

Orange-blue-white-black-gold-tribal-nail-art-Barry-M-Models-OwnOrange-blue-white-black-gold-tribal-nail-art-Barry-M-Models-Own


Orange-blue-white-black-gold-tribal-nail-art-Barry-M-Models-OwnOrange-blue-white-black-gold-tribal-nail-art-Barry-M-Models-Own




Apologies for the photos, they're a little dark aren't they? Odd. Anyhoos, for these I seem to remember I painted a base of Barry M White, then added H&M Blue My Mind and Barry M Block Orange. I used my Barry M and Models Own nail art pens for the detail:) Happiness. 

P.s - don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin if you're not already:)