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 :) 

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

12 Days of Christmas: Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

Today's prompt for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge is Snowmen.
Of course, being a primary school teacher I had to paint everyone's favourite snowman of the moment... Olaf!!

I used a Primark Blue Glow in the Dark Polish for this. It doesn't actually glow, but the colour is just beautiful. Although the polish is blue, it has a very subtle gold shimmer which appears in certain lights. I also added a coat of Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Royal Icing on my index finger. Olaf is painted using acrylics.

The snowflakes were sent to me to review by Born Pretty Store. 

They arrived in a little plastic pot which was actually a lot bigger than I had expected.

They are very cute and sparkly. Because they bend easily they sat quite flat on the nail, meaning they stayed on around a day... which is longer than I manage to keep most 3D type things on my nails! I would say they are definitely worth the £2.33 they are on the website for!

Get 10% off these here or other items at the Born Pretty Store with voucher code: EHG10.

Check out the other entries to the challenge here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Fringed Nail Art

Today I have some very... different nail art!
I heard about the Quiz Dress Your Nails competition and wanted to take part. I was looking through their dresses to find the one I wanted to use when I came across this fringed dress.

Straight away I knew what I wanted to do, I just had to figure out how I could possibly make it work!

A quick Google search found a grand total of 0 other fringed nail designs, so I had to figure it out for myself!!

.

This is how it turned out. Not quite what I had in mind, but not too bad!!

I had a nightmare trying to figure out how I was going to do this! I ended up using white cotton thread. I used a piece of kitchen towel, which I painted in Barry M Black. Once dry I began gluing pieces of cotton onto the kitchen towel. I then splodged the ends of the cotton with black acrylic paint and a small amount of gold Primark nail polish to get the colour.

Once I had two pieces of kitchen roll complete with 'dyed' cotton thread I painted the nail black. I then used clear topcoat to attach the kitchen roll pieces onto the nail, overlapping them slightly as is the case with the dress.

These didn't turn out quite as I had imagined, but it took an awful lot of experimenting and I am quite proud that I eventually found a way to make this idea work, even if they aren't the most attractive nail art! At least they are original! :)

Liebster Award

Hello!
Today I have been nominated for a Liebster Award by Emily from Nailsxo.

Here are the rules:

1. You must link back to the person who nominated you

2. Answer the 11 questions asked by that person

3. Tell us 11 random facts about yourself

4. Choose 11 bloggers to nominate for a Liebster Award

5. Post 11 questions for those nominated to answer

Here are the questions Emily asked:

1. What’s your favourite animal?

My little hamster, Simba! :)
2. What is your favourite nail polish brand?

This is constantly changing, at the moment probably Sinful Colors.
3. Is there anything you dislike about blogging?

The time it takes! Taking photo's, editing photo's, writing posts!
4. What do you do to make sure you have time for your blog in the busy lives we all lead?

Do lots of mani's over the weekend and try to pre-schedule posts.
5. Which is your favourite social network for posting your work & interacting with other bloggers?

Instagram... so quick and easy. @nailsmustbepainted
6. Do you have any other hobbies outside of your blog?

I'm a teacher so I don't have much time for hobbies! Occasionally running.
7. What’s your favourite food?

Chocolate!
8. What manicure are you currently wearing?

Pink watermarble - excuse the bad quality picture from my phone!

9. Do you plan which manicures you want to do, or sit down and decide at the time?

I sometimes try to plan but usually change my mind when it comes to it, so I just do what I feel like!
10. Do you watch any T.V. series? If so, which is your favourite?

Educating the East End.
11. What’s your favourite film?

Not sure I could choose just one favourite! Frozen and Little Mermaid are both up there!

11 random facts about me...

1. I was born with teeth!

2. I am very short, 5 foot 1.

3. I love anything creative - painting, drawing, sewing, photography.

4. I have a degree in Educational Psychology.

5. I am a major Disney addict.

6. My car is bright yellow.

7. I like to be busy. I get bored so easily!

8. I come from Yorkshire.

9. But currently live in Southampton.

10. Floral is my style!

11. I taught at a school in Kenya earlier this year. There were 72 children in my class!!

Now I have to try to think of 11 people to nominate. I don't know many nailie people so I have tried to pick blogs/instagram accounts I love!
1. Nail Parade! 

2. Pound Store Manicure

3. Elanor's Nails

4. Mama Hearts Polish

5. The Sparkle Queen

6. Life In Lacquer

7. Roz's Nail-scapades

8. Vicky Loves Nails

9. Tipped off Nails

10. Fixin to Faff

11. Light of the Moon Nails

My Questions...

1. What is your all time favourite polish?

2. Where do you get most of your inspiration?

3. What is your favourite indie polish?

4. What is your favourite pattern?

5. What is your favourite song?

6. What is the most interesting place you have travelled to?

7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

8. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

9. What is your favourite Disney film?

10. Do you have any pets?

11. What colour do you wear on your nails most often?

Phew... longest post ever!! Hope you will all join in the fun. :)