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

Silver snowflakes - my first adventure into stamping!

Wow - this is embarrassing. My soon to be sister in law very kindly gave me a wonderful gift for my birthday, a Konad stamping kit. I was thrilled and resolved to start stamping asap. 4 months later......

But better late than never. And as it's Christmas, what other stamp could I use, but snowflakes:)

The base coat is Accessorize Electric Purple. I used Barry M Silver Foil Effects for the stamping and Bourjois It's Raining Stars for my silver glitter accent nail. 

This was hard work; I stamped off centre to disguise the fact that I struggled to get the whole image on my nail! Some of these took several attempts, but I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with them. 

We all like a Christmas pudding

Wayhay - my first Christmas manicure of 2013.....I bring to you..................

CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS!

I'm so pleased with these; I couldn't stop staring at them:)

I used Barry M Lychee for a neutral base, then painted semi circles on using Barry M Mushroom. I 'iced' my puddings with my Models Own nail art pen, then added a cheery with the ever wonderful Barry M Red Glitter. A randon nail art pen in green was used to add the holly and Sinful Colours Rich in Heart was dotted on for the currents:)

Tra-lah-lah-lah-laahhh, la-la-la-laaaaaaaaaaaaaaah:)

Purple Leopard Print

It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, it's Friday, .......................etc.

As this scheduled post posts, I shall be pouring a bottle of wine, unwrapping some Ferrero Rocher and snuggling on the sofa with my wonderful fiancee. Happiness is a tipsy Friday night.

These leopard print beauties are the last of the 'oldies' stored on my computer; from now on, it's Christmas manicure time! 

I love the base colour, Electric Purple by Accessorize, so much that I've almost finished the bottle. I'll be needing a back up asap:) The Models Own glitter is Bora Bora. 

Christmas manicures here I come:) 

Clouds!

Some nail art for you today guys:) I totally nicked this idea from Jane at nailside, so no kudos for originality, but I do love this manicure, particularly the colour scheme.

Btw, you'll notice by the length of my nails that this is a few weeks old - I actually hated having them this long, they get in the way! I don't know how some of you other blogging lovelies do it:)

The blue is an un-named mini Accessorize polish that I got in a gift set a while ago, while the beige is the wonderful Lychee by Barry M. 

Meanwhile, the silver is one the many drug-store polishes I bought whilst in Argentina over the summer - it's surprisingly good considering it cost me less than 50p! Great coverage, this is one coat only. 

An easy manicure, I urge you to visit the nailside to follow the tutorial if you fancy giving it a go:)

Red glitter gradient

So, I seem to be a bit fixed on red at the moment; this has been my weekend manicure, and I've LOVED it! I've been trying to use an unused glitter from Claire's for ages but just couldn't think what to do with it......then inspirations struck!

I don't know the name of the Claire's glitter, but it's  red glitter hexes in a clear polish.

 I layered Barry M Red Glitter over Models Own In the Navy, then added the large red glitter.

Love this....I really must do more glitter gradients!

Red Chevrons - Barry M Blood Orange and Nails Inc Luminous Red

Searching through my nail pictures last night, while fiancee watched a truly dreadful movie, I came across this; some chevron nail art that I remember loving, yet somehow totally forgot to post. Doh!

So, here we are; red chevron nail art in red. 

I used the Nails Inc polish that I got as part of my free haul a while ago; as you can see from the pictures, it's called Luminous Red. I can't say it's my favourite colour; to be honest, it looks like tomato soup. It's far too orangey-red for my liking.

So, to improve it, I painted a layer of Barry M Blood Orange over, marking out the triangle using some striping tape. To finish it off, I added a triangle of the awesome Red Glitter by Barry M. 

Triangle-tastic!

I think next time I try something like this, I'll start with the Blood Orange - it's such a stunning colour.

Flutter by butterfly!

Ahhhh, holidays - they're the best!

I've been on my holibobs this week and it's been great! I've caught up with friends, made cakes (photos below), snuggled my kitwits and generally rested. Bliss. 

My relaxed state has also led to me getting back in the mood for some nail art, which led to this creation. I've been wanting to try it for ages and finally had the time and inclination; they're not perfect, but I'm pretty chuffed with them. 

Sadly, my impatience got the better of me, and as you can see, I applied topcoat before they had properly dried! Fail!

The base colour is the gorgeous Pink Fever by Models Own, a pearlescent pink with a stunning blue shimmer. Lush. The art was done using my Models Own nail art pens. 

Randomly, whilst perusing Bloglovin this morning, I noticed that the lovely Laura at She Who Does Nails had also posted a stunning  Monarch butterfly manicure - check it out!

Oh, btw, the cakes I mentioned?

Mocha cupcakes, made using my Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. Nommy!

Halloween nails - Color Club Fly With Me with black drips

Happy Halloween peeps!

Not sure when it happened that we get so obsessed over this somewhat odd 'celebration', but hey ho, I'm not one to avoid a chance to do some themed nails, so here are my Halloween nails. I wasn't actually going to do any, but whilst going through my unused I found Color Club Fly With Me sitting there sadly, waiting to be used. Perfect. Mwaaaahahahahahaha!

I love this colour, although it's a pain in the backside to apply - this is four coats, and I still had to cover some bald spot! Gah! But it's worth it; as you can see in the close up, it's an unusual polish, more lime green than the photos show, and it almost looks like it's made up of teeny tiny pieces of glitter layered to make the ultimate shimmer! 

Anyhoo, this isn't the scariest of manicures, but I really love it - Halloweeny but not too in your face. Also, only my second time doing drips, I think I'm getting better:)