Taras Talons Order

Hey! Im a day late with this post. Sorry!

A few weeks ago you may know that indie polish maker Tara of Taras Talons had a sale on. Now, this is a brand I have been following on social media for a long time, however I have this little rule with myself that I will never buy a brand for the first time at full price... just in case!! So, of course I had to take advantage of this and buy a few to try.

I ended up with 6 of her polishes and this week I have managed to try out 3: 'Ol' Blue Eyes', 'Candy' and 'Fairy'.

First up was 'Ol' Blue Eyes'. As soon as I opened the parcels I needed to try this out! I am a sucker for a good blue polish and I found instant love with this polish!! It applied smoothly, opaque in two thin coats, is the most amazing electric blue AND it has a beautiful holo shimmer. 

Next I tried out 'Candy'. I loved this in the bottle and it applied well, again opaque in two coats which is great for such a light shade. However something about this polish didn't really do it for me. I think I expected some bigger pieces of glitter in there. I have nothing bad to say about the polish, it's just not a winner for me.

Finally we have 'Fairy'. Again, great application, becoming opaque in two coats. I didn't have to do much fishing for glitter in this which was good, though I did give it a good shake beforehand! This is another polish I really loved and can see myself getting a lot of wear from.

I did do some art over two of these polishes, but this post is going on a bit now so they can wait for another day! Or they are both already on Instagram if you want to check them out @nailsmustbepainted :) 

Neon Dotticure

This week I have a bright summery mani to distract from this miserable weather we're having at the moment!

I have had this grey/neon yellow pattern pinned on my pinterest inspiration board for ages, but never got round to doing anything with it until now.

I used Ciaté 'Chinchilla' for the base, then used Barry M 'Black' and Illamasqua 'Rare' for the the dots. 

I really like how this mani turned out. It's just a shame my nails or so short and ugly at the moment! I think I'll be trying this design again with different colours once I get my nails back as I like them! 

Rosey Stripes

Hey!
Unfortunately I'm having to rely on false nails this week. I went climbing with my dad yesterday and so I had to cut all my nails short, otherwise they would have been broken anyway.

I really really love how these turned out though and I hope they last and don't all pop off tomorrow!!

I used some striped falsies from Primark to start and a plain white false nail on my index fingers. Then I painted the index fingers pink using George 'Raspberry Forest'. I dug out some old Born Pretty decals I had which matched the pink polish and added a few of these to jazz up the mani a bit! 

Bedazzled

Hey!

Way back in November I bought a 2-pack of Rimmel glitter polishes. Up until now I still haven't got around to trying them out, so this week I decided that whatever I did with my nails I had to use one of them! So that's what I did!

I'm really pleased with how these turned out actually. :)

I used Barry M Black as a base on my index and middle fingers, followed by two coats of Rimmel 'Bedazzle'. I really like the colours in this glitter! I tried to match the other polish as closely as I could to the pink glitter, so I ended up using a really old unnamed pink polish by the sports brand 'Animal'.

Cheerful and Childish

Today's nails are, as the title says, very childish and cutesy. They make me feel cheerful and think of happy times!

I started painting my nails with very little direction or plan. I knew I wanted a gradient, so I picked two polishes at random to start with. I ended up with two Sally Hansen polishes: 'Pinch of Punch' and 'Coastin' By'.

The gradient I ended up with was cute, but felt it needed something else so I opted for some stamping. I used a plate from Born Pretty Store - MLS301, with a cute sweetie design and stamped using Barry M Silver Foil Effect polish.

I like how these turned out. They are very cutesy, remind me of unicorns and magic!! If only I hadn't had to cut all my nails short they would have looked even cuter!

NYE Nails

Hi!

Over Christmas I received a few random nail polishes as gifts. Usually I get much more than this, but lots of people told me they didn't know what I already had to get me any! 

I got 2 Cien polishes in 'Raspberry Glitter' and 'Metallic Rose', from Lidl. I tried these out and was surprised how good they were, especially for stamping with.

I also got Barry M 'Silver Foil Effects', George Gel Pro in 'Nude Pink' and an unnamed pink polish by High Brow, which I think came from B&M.

So, for my New Year nails, of course I had to use some of the new polishes:

They are not very New Year themed, but I like how they turned out. They are pretty, girly and glittery whilst still being simple and subtle.

I used George 'Nude Pink' as the base colour and Cien 'Raspberry Glitter' on my ring finger and to stamp on my index and middle fingers.

Hope you like these! xx

It's Christmassss!!

Hello!
So I know I said I would only be posting one photo per post, but as I am just restarting I wanted to show you some of the Christmas mani's I have painted this year! So this post will have several different mani's and several pictures!

I hand-painted these Christmas trees today, and these are the nails I will have for Christmas day.

I used Barry M 'Matte White' as a base colour, Revlon 'Rainforest' and Sinful Colours 'Kissy' for the Christmas trees and Ciaté 'Chinchilla' to add a bit of shading in the snow around the trees. I also sponged on some unnamed grey holo from Wonderful and Strange Nails, to add a bit of sparkle.

Next I have these adorable little penguins! I love these little guys, they are so cute!

I used Barry M 'Black Multiglitter' for the background, Barry M 'Matte White' for the tummies and eyes and NCLA 'I Only Fly Private' for the feet and beak.

I also painted some Christmas lights on my nails. These were very popular with my colleagues and my mum loved them too, although I wasn't too happy with the black lines.

I used W7 Gel polishes for the white background and the black line. Once these were set I then used Illamasqua 'Aorta' (Red) and 'Rare' (Yellow), Sally Hansen 'Pacific Blue' and 'Kiwi Bikini' (Green), and a small nail art brush to paint on the light bulbs.

Earlier in the month I had another Christmas tree mani. This is much more abstract, a dotticure tree!

I used Revlon 'Rainforest' as the green, Color Club 'Barely There' for the nude and Barry M 'Starlight' for the stars and glitter.

This was my first mani of December, so not too Christmassy! I went with more of a wintery, sweater look. I have no idea what polishes I used for this, it's too long ago to remember, sorry! I do know that the stickers were from last years Ciaté advent calendar.

Finally, I have this Rudolf mani, which I painted for my mum (Hence the awkward hand pose and misshapen nails!!). I used all gel polishes to do this. We mostly have W7 gels, but I know the Red is by OPI.

I'm Back!

Hello!

I have decided that I have missed blogging over the past 10 months, so I am back! Yayy!

I have still been posting on Instagram, but I have missed having the opportunity to explain my processes and the inspirations behind certain designs.

But there will be a few changes to my blog/posting habits:

•  I am no longer going to be blogging all over whenever I feel like it!

I have got into a better routine with doing my nails. I no longer have the time to do my nails most days, so instead I am doing them only once a week, making a much better job of every mani and using a gel topcoat to make them last. I tend to do this on a Sunday afternoon, so I intend to post each Monday. This gives me time to edit photos and write the blog posts.

• I will only be posting 1 picture of each mani.

Editing and adding watermarks takes time. Too much of it! 1 picture per post is manageable. Very occasionally you may get more. For example, if I want to show you a particular detail of the mani, or if I have more than one mani per post. This may happen more with the first few posts as I have a huge backlog of nail art from the past months!

I'll be back later today with my first blog post, then will get into the swing of things on a Monday! xx

Valentines Roses

Earlier today I was thinking I wanted to paint my nails for Valentines day. I knew I wanted roses, but haven't been happy with lots of my roses recently. So I went on Youtube and watched millions of different rose painting tutorials before I began painting, not following any particular tutorial, just using the info I learnt.

I absolutely love how these turned out. 

By far my best roses yet. So happy with them!

I used Barry M Rosehip as the base colour, then painted the roses freehand using acrylic paints and detail brushes from Born Pretty Store.

I literally never want to take these off! Haha!

Valentines Hearts

I painted these a few days ago, in the run up to Valentines day.
They are very cutesy and girly, not really my usual style of nails but I quite like them!

I used all Ciaté polishes for this skittlette design. 

The base colour is Strawberry Milkshake, which is one of my favourite pink polishes. I then used Serendipity to create a glitter accent nail and I stamped the heart pattern with Kiss Chase and MoYou London Mother Nature plate 01.

They are definitely girly-girl nails, which I am, but I very rarely show this side of me on my nails! 

Lilac Chevrons

Sorry I haven't been around much since completing the 31 Day Challenge. After all that I needed a bit of a break! Plus I seem to have been really busy.
I have still been painting my nails regularly (though not every day!), just not blogging, so now I have a few posts to catch up on.

The first is this simple stamped chevron design.

I used Barry M Matte White as my base colour and stamped the chevrons with MUA Frozen Yoghurt and Born Pretty Store plate QA91.

Remember, you can get 10% of anything from Born Pretty Store using discount code: EHG10.

I was pleased with how clean the lines were from the stamping, as I was uncertain whether vinyls would have been a better purchase. Vinyls would have been much more fiddly so I am glad this plate stamps well!

Blue Spikes

Today's nail art is very simple. Definite lazy day nails!

I started with a base of my favourite blue, Barry M Blueberry Ice Cream. Then I used striping tape to create the triangular shapes and filled them in with an unnamed shimmering blue Animal polish.

Although these are super simple I really like them! Also, they make my nails look even longer!

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: Something You Never Tried Before

This was another difficult one for me. Most techniques I like the look of I try!

Eventually I came up with Sugar Spun nail art. I haven't tried it previously and thought I might be able to make it look ok!

I found it quite tricky to create as the polish strings went really  thin, but I think it looks ok.

I used all Barry M polishes for this; Rosehip, Papaya and an old LE pink polish without a name on (#NPP1).

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: Blue Base

Just last week I received an order from Born Pretty Store which included plate BP-33.
The plate is nautical themed, so this prompt seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out.

I love it! I like that it is nautical, but more traditionally nautical rather than the red, white and blue patterns you see more often.

I used Make Up Gallery Sky Blue as the base colour and stamped using Rimmel Punk Rock. All the images stamped are from BP plate 33.

Use discount code EHG10 at Born Pretty Store to get 10% off.

Check out more 'blue' nail art:

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: Non-Glitter Topper

This was another prompt where I knew exactly which polish I wanted to use.

I have a blue Barry M crackle polish which I bought on a whim about a year ago. I have no idea why as I was never a fan of the crackle look. This was the perfect opportunity to give it a try!

I used Rimmel Punk Rock as my base colour and the Barry M blue crackle over the top, no topcoat.

I actually really like this. It has a very grungy feel to it and was so, so simple.

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: Recreate your own mani

I struggled to find something I actually wanted to recreate for this!
A lot of my earlier mani's are horrendous designs, which would look no better for improved skills. They were just bad ideas!

Eventually, I found a lace design, which was my first mani posted on Instagram. I liked them at the time and I still like them now, so why not recreate them!

The first pic is the recreation and the second pic is the original.

I can definitely see huge improvements in my painting, clean-up and photography! Don't get me started on that watermark, so glad I downsized a little!!

I do miss that nail shape in the original photo, but working with kids it is just not practical! I don't want to accidentally stab anyone with my nails!

For the recreation I used Barry M Silk Poppy and white acrylic paint.

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: Fishtail Braid

I have only ever painted a fishtail design once before and I wasn't too pleased with the outcome so I wasn't looking forward to this prompt.

However, I was surprisingly pleased with my mani!

I used Maybelline Berry Sweet, Maybelline Vibrant Fuchsia and Ciaté Silhouette.

Here are some of the other amazing mani's for this prompt:

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: Complement and Contrast

Day 25's prompt was complement and contrast.
I opted to use complementary colours from the colour wheel. Pink and purple paired with yellow and orange in a colour blocked design.

Sorry about the Instagram photo. I painted and photographed these before I killed my laptop, so the 'proper' photos are still on my old laptop, where I cannot access them. :(

I started with a base of Ciaté Amazing Gracie, then used Sinful Colours Cream Pink, Maybelline Fuchsia Fever , Missguided Missmatch and Ciaté Big Yellow Taxi with striping tape to create the squared pattern.

I really love these!

Check out the other ladies work:

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: Decals

Yay, I'm back!
I spilt a glass of wine on my laptop last week and killed it. But, today I finally have a new laptop and lots of 31DC posts to catch up on! My ancient version of Photoshop won't work on my new laptop, so please excuse any dodgy photos whilst I try to find a decent editing app.

The first of the prompts I missed is decals.
I just want to say, I did keep up with the challenge, I was just unable to blog about it!

On my middle and ring fingers I used full nail decals from the Born Pretty Store. 

Remember, you can get 10% off these and other items using code EHG10.

On my index and pinky fingers I used Barry M Black.

I'm not a huge lover of these full decals but they are quick and easy so ideal if you don't have much time/ struggle with nail art!

An InLinkz Link-up

31DC: White Base

Last weekend I finally invested in some nail polish thinner. I have a growing collection of old colours which I love but are now too thick to use. It arrived yesterday. Yay!

So this prompt was the perfect opportunity to test the thinner out by reviving my favourite ever white polish which I haven't been able to use in around a year!

I'm so happy the thinner worked! :D

Two days ago I also received some exciting new nail mail from Born Pretty Store. Included was this stamping plate (QA96). Of course, I had to try out something new! I love it! I have been looking for a similar pattern for a lonnng time and I finally found it. :)

I used Barry M Matte White as the base for this and stamped with Nails Inc. Hanover Square.
Just wish the stamping on my middle finger was straighter!

Remember, you can get 10% off this stamping plate or any other Born Pretty Store items with the code: EHG10.