Whittling down the untrieds - New Look Gold Giles Salute

It has occurred to me the other day that many of my untried have actually been tried once but didn't 'make the grade' - that is, something made me stop painting, take the polish off and use another one. This is certainly the case with today's polish, Salute by Gold Giles (sold in New Look). The application is dreadful - gloopy, sticky and smelly, with a drying time that makes it impossible to do anything for an hour. Oh, and it bubbles. Can't think why I haven't used it earlier......

It's a shame, as the colour is actually quite nice. Not great, but nice. It's a military style green, a sort of army green. But as you can see, despite waiting a while for each layer to dry, it still bubbled:(  

Given the green, I had to try this nail art out - camouflage! I added studs cos I was scared that my nails would just blend into the background otherwise lol. Thinking about it, gold studs would have been better, but still, I kind of like this manicure. I would try a darker brown if I did this again; for this I used Models Own Prey and an unnamed green also by New Look. Still, not bad.

I think I might have to try this design in neon - something is calling me to rock neon camouflage! 

My Christmas mani - a sparkly skittle!

Merry Christmas Eve peeps - are you all prepared for tomorrow? I'm wrapped, packed and full of chocolate roses, so as ready as I can be:)

I've ummed and ahhhhed over my Christmas manicure for a while now. I'm off visiting family for 5 days, so it had to be something that would last and that would fit in with most of my outfits. It had to include glitter (because duh, it's Christmas!). And it has to be nail art, because I need to practice.

Tadah!

These were heavily inspired by the amazing work of the The Nailasaurus, so I can't claim originality, but I'm pleased with how my skittle turned out. I also love the Skandi colours, so very fashionable right now (because, I'm like, all about fashion lol - as I type this, I'm in my pjs with walking socks on to keep my tootsies warm and a scarf wrapped around me). 

I think my favourite is the heart; I have to confess, after messing it up several times, eventually I painted the heart of to a plastic poly-pocket and then peeled it off and stuck it on my nail.

 Legen- OMG my nails look hot - dary! 

These are the polishes that contributed to this mani; from the top, clockwise- Claire's unnamed glitter, Gold Giles Green, Models Own Nail art Pen in White, Barry M Matt White, Barry M Blood Orange, Sinful Colours Rich in Heart, Barry M Red Glitter. 

Have an amazing Christmas peeps - I hope you have a wonderful time with your friends and family and that Santa brings you all the nail polish you could ever wish for. x x x x x

Oh Christmas, oh Christmas tree.....

Let me start by saying that this manicure is in no way an original idea; it is my version of an amazing design I saw on The Crumpet and loved.

So, now that's off my chest, here is my take on Christmas trees:0

I'm dotty about Christmas trees (groan, Dad joke alert!!) partly because I still don't have one! HTB (husband to be) and I can't think of anywhere that we could put one that won't end up with it becoming a play thing for the cats. Sad face:(

These are the polishes that made this manicure possible; from top, clockwise; Models Own Green Tea, Models Own Utopia, Barry M Watermelon, Barry M Emerald Green, Barry M Silver Foil Effects, Gold Giles Green, Bourjois It's Raining Stars.

Hope you're all getting excited about the big day; I've finally wrapped all my pressies so I'm feeling pretty dam Christmassy:)

New Look Green - Giles Gold

Ahhhh, this is my Christmas green - it makes me think of Christmas trees, warm heavy blankets, holly......

It's a oldie, I think I bought this over a year ago and whilst I'm fairly sure I swatched it at the time, I'm doing it again because a) it's THE Christmas Green and b) my swatches are so much better now. Not perfect, but better:)

The problem with this polish is twofold; the smell (bleurgh) and the drying time. You can see a patched up smudge on my pinkie, I smudged it hours after I painted them; fail!  I seem to remember it was £1 from New Look, so I can't really complain. But for this colour, I don't care:)

 I see this being used in some Christmas tree nail art asap!

Cupcake nails!

Hola amigas!

So I have to admit I was incredibly proud of these bad boys. I did them because I was keen to do a 'then and now' style comparison; then I realised I'd lost the 'then' photos lol:) C'est la vie!

So here's a now photo of cupcake nails.

 A bit gutted that what I thought was a teeny tiny mistake was so visible, but hey, you win some, you lose some. Overall though - CHUFFED:)

Here are the polishes that made this manicure possible:) I used Nails Inc Elizabeth Street as a base and Barry M Strawberry Ice-Cream for the cakey goodness!

This is a quick close up of the rhinestones I used; £2.50 from New Look, a total bargain!

Kelly Brook for New Look Nail Polish - Swatch

Hope you've all had a good weekend peeps. It's back to work for me tomorrow (boooooooooo), so I've spent all weekend with that Sunday night feeling. 

Anyhoo, when I hit the sales after Christmas I found a few polish bargains in New Look:) It's not somewhere  I'd have thought to by polish from before, but this colour (frustratingly un-named), from their Kelly Brook collection, really caught my eye. 

It's a really unusual colour, and I couldn't place whether it was red, orange, bronze, copper - it seemed to change every time I looked at it:)

The formula? Well, it retails normally for £2.99 (though I got it for the bargainous price of £1!), so I wasn't expecting much. Ii smelt odd, kind of like sweets, and took forever to dry! However, it lasted well and didn't chip for the few days I wore it. If you're broke and have a few hours to spare maybe worth a try lol:)

As I'm never quite happy with just one colour on my nails I went for a design. Leopard print seemed like a good idea. However I don't actually like the colour scheme on this; it just seemed like dodgy 70's wallpaper! 

So would I buy a polish from this collection again? Yes, but only if they had a colour that I hadn't seen anywhere else, I wouldn't use it as a basic range. Or if they were £1 again.....I'll buy almost anything if it's £1:)