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'.

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: Rainbow

Unfortunately, due to work I was unable to paint my nails yesterday so, sorry, this is a day late!

I have known for ages exactly what I wanted to do for this prompt!
I have a stamping plate (MLS301) from Born Pretty Store with a rainbow on which I have been meaning to use for a while.

I created the background by sponging on Ciaté Doll Face, Baby Doll and Poppet in random places on my nails. I then created a stamping decal of a rainbow using the Born Pretty plate and more polishes: Ciaté Unrestricted Glam , Colour Couture Pink and Lilac and Essence Let's Get Lost! Finally, I used the same plate to stamp lots of stars onto the design.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! My stamping isn't perfect but I love the overall look!
The only thing I would want to change about this would be to add some glitter!!

The other girls did some amazing rainbows:

Day 14: Holo

I don't own many holo polishes. I think this may even be the only one, and I kind of think of it as more of a topcoat than a polish. Hence, this prompt was tricky for me.
Plus with meetings at work this evening, I have been short on time so I apologize for this post being rather boring!

Although simple, I do quite like this. I used a few coats of Ciaté Unrestricted Glam, then painted over it in this grey holo indie topcoat by Wonderful and Strange Nails. On my ring finger I stamped at few simple stars using Ciaté Sand Dune and Plate MLS301 from Born Pretty Store.

Remember, you can get a 10% discount at Born Pretty Store using the code: EHG10.

I took this blurred picture in an attempt to show the real-life sparkly-ness and all the beautiful colours in there!

Everybody else's photos are much more interesting than mine today, so go check them out!

31DC: Monochrome

Monochrome nails today!
I have had a grey 'spotty' polish with black matte glitter pieces in for a while. It is from Primark and I havn't even tried it since I bought it around 6 months ago, so I was determined I would use that polish. Other than that I had no plan for this mani when I started out. I just started painting and thought, 'I'll see what I come up with!'.

I then stamped the diamond pattern and the roses using MoYou London Gothic plate 03 and Barry M Black Multiglitter.

The 3D rose, which can be found here was sent to me in a set by Born Pretty Store. They are the perfect size for my nails. Big enough to stand out but small enough that they don't take over my whole nail! You can see the size compared to a hair grip in the picture below. They also sit nice and flat on my nail, reducing the chance of them being pulled off each time I run my hand through my hair!

Remember you can get 10% these using the discount code EHG10.

31DC: Tape Mani

The prompt for day 2 is 'tape mani'.
I do love tape nail art, but very rarely have success doing them myself. However, I think today's was one of my more successful attempts and I really like how it turned out. :)

I used two Colour Couture polishes, which I got as part of a Christmas present: Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Are You Afraid of the Dark?.

I love the black polish, it has the perfect hint of gold shimmer.

12 Days of Christmas: Glitter

Today the prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas challenge was Glitter!

I may have gone a little overboard with this, but I love it!

I used two Ciaté loose glitters from my Mini Mani Manor: Let it Snow and Slumber Party.

I used a wet brush to put them onto my nails and create a gradient effect.

I love how these turned out, so christmassy! The glitter is lasting really well too, I have been wearing this mani for two days now and there is only a small amount of tip wear.

Doesn't it look even more beautiful when blurred!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Disney Nails: Minnie Mouse

This weeks Llama Nails theme is Disney.
Disney is my all time favourite film genre!! I know, I'm sad!

 I have chosen to paint Minnie Mouse on my nails today. Though I have to admit I have another  Disney mani coming tomorrow!
I know she doesn't feature in many Disney films nowadays, but in the past she has been in lots!

I used Essence Do You Speak Love? for the ring finger, thumb and the dots, Ciaté Amazing Gracie for the middle and pinky fingers and an unnamed nude Revlon for the index finger, with details painted using Barry M Black.

I really like these. Themed, without being too much for a change!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Guest Post

Go check out my guest post on Nail Parade today for more details on this distressed nail art look!

Crime Nails: Kill Bill

This week on the Llama Nail Challenge the prompt is Crime Movie/Book.
Again, this was a difficult one for me, but after looking through the Crime section of IMDB I knew exactly which film I wanted to do!

If you can't tell, these nails take their inspiration from Kill Bill.

I love the way the texture of the 'blood' contrasts with the smooth shininess of the black strip on my ring finger!

I used only polishes for this nail art:

Rimmel Sunny Days for the background yellow.

Rimmel Red, Steady, Go! for the blood.

The black stripe and handle of the sword are Barry M Black.

The Silver for the sword is Ciaté Fit For A Queen.

Check out the other Crime Nails done for the challenge:

An InLinkz Link-up

Rocky Horror Nail Art

It's time for the Llama Nails challenge again! This week the promp is Cult movies/books.

I have based this mani on a film which is amazing, but the show is even better!!

It's The Rocky Horror Picture Show!! I hope you can tell from the nails!

These are defo not as good for real as they were in my head! I just could not get the corner of the lips right, or the teeth, although I am pleased with my use of striping tape.

I used Ciaté Boudoir and Barry M Matte White. The black is acrylic paint, as I am visiting my parents for a few weeks and couldn't bring my entire collection! I also topped two nails with L'Oreal Confetti in Amour and used striping tape to create a fishnet look on the index finger. I finished with a few dabs of Rimmel Space Dust in Aurora on the ring finger.

Check out the other amazing entries in the challenge:

An InLinkz Link-up

Black Swan

This weeks Llama Nails Challenge prompt is Thriller Movies/Books.

 I found this prompt really really hard! Thriller's are not my thing, at all!! After trawling through IMDB's top 100 Thriller's I finally found a film I had actually seen at number 80!! Black Swan.

Although it took a while to get there, I actually really like this mani. I tried to show the progression of the transformation from white to black swan. Not sure how well I did that, but I still really like it!

I used quite a few polishes in this mani so I'm just going to list them below:

• Sinful Colors Cool Gray
• Barry M Matt White
• Barry M Black
• Rimmel Cupcake Pink
• Rimmel Golden Hour
• Rimmel Red, Steady, Go.

The feathers on my middle finger are water decals from the Born Pretty Store.

I'm really enjoying this challenge, it always makes me think carefully about what to do and I actually spend a lot of time on the mani's for it, rather than just rushing something!

An InLinkz Link-up

Going Dotty!

Today's mani has been done to work for two different challenges!
The Simples prompt for this week is dots within dots, and the British Nail Bloggers Colour Me Crazy Challenge has a Red theme for the week. 

So I have Red dots within dots on my nails! :)

I used Rimmel Red, Steady, Go as the background colour. Then for the dots I used Barry M Black Multiglitter, an unnamed No.17 Polish (Dark metallic silver) and an unnamed Animal Polish (Light metallic silver).

I'm not a huge fan of this look! I like my colour scheme, but the dots within dots thing is just not something I particularly like. Although I can't really say I dislike it either! But it's good to try everything once!

Leopard Print

Today I have a tried a pink Leopard print look. This is something I have seen around a lot but it never really appeals to me. For some reason though, I felt like giving it a go!

I used Sally Hansen Strawberry Icing for the base colour, which is much pinker than it appears here (There is a more colour accurate picture at the bottom of this post). The spots were done with Barry M Silk in Heather, and outlined with Barry M Black.

I actually really like how this mani turned out. I think the colours work really well together.

I liked my Left and Right shots I did on my last post, so here they are again!! This may become a regular thing, although I find it difficult to photograph my right hand, as I shake too much and they end up blurred!

This picture is a little more colour accurate than the rest as it was taken in natural light.

When I was in Kenya, I actually saw a Leopard on Safari, so I am adding this to my Kenya Inspired posts, although I haven't done any of those for a while!

Here he is... Just chilling in a tree!

Saran Wrap

Last week for the Simples group, the challenge was to do a Saran Wrap mani.
I had a go but mine was not very successful in the end (here, if anyone really wants to see!), so I decided to have another go at the weekend!

This was the outcome:

I much prefer them to my last attempt and may even be  beginning to like Saran Wrap mani's!! 

This time I chose to use more contrasting colours, to make the effect more obvious, as I felt this was the biggest problem last time (OPI, Where Did Suzi's Man-Go? and Barry M Black). I also used a 'dabbing-off' technique, rather than dabbing the second colour on, which I did last time. I think this was much more successful! :)

Father's Day Nails

For Father's Day I have painted my nails based on a passion of my Dad's!
His Classic Car, a Morris Minor 1000. This was very tricky!!

I used Barry M Matt White as a base colour. I then used a black Berol to carefully draw on the front half of a Morris Minor. I based this on the picture below, which can also be found here. This was very difficult and I have to admit, this was my second attempt!! The first was not so successful, although I am reasonable happy with these. 

I painted my Index finger with Barry M Black, to represent the oil this car leaks really badly and which my Dad ends up covered in whenever he work's on the car!!

I then used a Barry M Blue Crackle polish on my other fingers and also on the background of my ring finger, to make the car stand out more. His car is white/cream, so I left the car itself as it is.

I finished with a Primark Matt Topcoat on all except the black finger. As this finger represents oil, I thought it should be left shiny!

I did this mani to enter into the Nailpolis Father's Day Contest, which can be found here.

Fingerfoods Challenge: Gothic

The theme for this weeks Fingerfoods Buffet Challenge was Gothic.
Being a complete girly girl, I couldn't get any further from Gothic if I tried. Hence, I found this theme incredibly difficult!! I ended up basing my mani on Gothic Architecture after much Googling.
I'm not sure about the result... I like my thumb, reminds me of Alice in Wonderland! Not so keen on the others!

Excuse the sideways pictures, for some reason Blogger turned them when I uploaded.

I used Rimmel's Right Royal Red as the base colour, then freehanded the designs onto the nail using a Black Sharpie.
I've never used this Red polish before, but I really liked it! I love the pop of bright colour, which was achieved in just 1 coat. And I hadn't realised before that it's a gel finish polish, and it is super shiny! I just wish it had a better brush. I love the bigger, flat brushes most Rimmel polishes have and was disappointed this didn't have one. Nevermind!