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

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!

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:Green/Yellow

Today's prompt was three shades of green/yellow.

I sort of made these up as I went. I don't love how they turned out, but they're ok!

I used two shades of green to create a saran wrap background: Ciaté headliner, and Essence That's What I Mint! I then added a green and blue glitter 'Mosaic Nail Varnish' by Pretty and stamped leaves over the top with Revlon Buttercup and Born Pretty Store stamping plate BP-19.

Remember, you can get 10% of this stamping plate and many more with the code: EHG10.

Check out the other girls designs':

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:

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: Happiness

Today's prompt is happiness.
However cheesy it is, spending time with my Mr. makes me happy, so I wanted to do a romance inspired mani.

I recycled the base from yesterdays water-spotting mani, stamping flowers over the top (from MoYou Mother Nature plate 01) in Sally Hansen Atomic Alloy, to create a tree-like backdrop. I then used another image from the same plate to stamp the figures with a Black Born Pretty Store stamping polish and freehand painted the word 'love' onto my index finger. 

I love how this mani turned out. Definitely my favourite of 2015 so far!!

Catch-Up: Other Nail Art

Here is my final catch-up post, showing the last of the never-quite-made-it designs!
Most of these are not too bad, I just didn't have time to post every single one.

I am just going to post pictures for this. If I tell you all the polishes used in every one of these, this post will end up ridiculously long! However, if you want to know a specific polish or have a question feel free to post in the comments. :)

12 Days of Christmas: The Song

Today the prompt for the 12 days of Christmas challenge was the '12 Days of Christmas' song.

I have kept it quite simple and chosen the line '2 Turtle Doves'.

I started with two coats of Ciaté Mineral Clarity, which is such a gorgeous deep blue glittery texture polish. I then stamped the doves using George Natural White and this cute stamping plate from Born Pretty Store.

The doves don't stand out quite as much as I might have liked. The George white polish is not the best for stamping, but my favourite Barry M Matte White has thickened too much to use. I desperately need some polish thinner!

An InLinkz Link-up

Pretty Peacocks

I recently received a long awaited order from Born Pretty Store which I have been waiting for since September!
I bought two of their new stamping plates and had to try one out!

This is Born Pretty Plate 04 'Dancing Peacock'. This plate has some lovely images on it. It is well engraved and my stamper had no problems picking up the details of the image.

I started with a base of George Natural White on my middle and ring fingers, with Revlon Aquamarine on my index and pinky fingers. I then stamped the peacock using Sinful Colors Kissy and added a Born Pretty green stud to my index finger. I felt the bottom of my ring finger needed something so I created a glitter gradient with H&M Blue bliss, also adding this on top of my pinky finger. I finished with a coat of Barry M Diamond over my middle, ring and little fingers to give a bit of sparkle. :)

Use code EHG10 to get 10% off these and other items at the Born Pretty Store.

Glow in the Dark by Primark

A few weeks ago I bought two glow in the dark polishes in Primark. One looked yellow in the bottle but was a clear topcoat, the other was blue.
I didn't expect much from these. The blue barely glowed at all, as I expected.
But the clear topcoat was pretty impressive!

Here are my nails in 'normal' light:

I started with a base colour of Rimmel New Romantic. This was followed by a coat of the Glow in the Dark polish. Once all was dry I stamped on top using MoYou London Princess plate 08 and Rimmel Right Royal Red and topcoated with my usual Essence Quick Dry Topcoat.

Now you'll have to excuse the picture quality, photographing glow in the dark nails is so difficult!! I took around 100 pictures and this was the best I got.

But wow, I was amazed when I saw this in the dark! I did not expect it to be so bright! If you want a glow in the dark topcoat on a budget I definitely recommend this! Bargain!

Silver Rose

With Christmas in the pipeline I am starting to introduce a bit more sparkle into my mani's, christmassy without being full-on!

For this mani I used Ciaté Boudoir and Ciaté Fit for a Queen as christmassy colours. Then to tone it down I used my MoYou London Mother Nature Collection Plate 01 to stamp the rose. The Ciaté polsih didn't stamp too well so I ended up painting over most of it again to make the colour stand out! I then finished with a matte topcoat by Jess Polish.

I really like how this turned out. I don't wear silver polish very often, but I really like this one. Just a shame the red isn't more opaque so that black stain didn't show through.

This could easily get away with being a Valentines mani, 3 months early!!

Disney: Ratatouille Nail Art

And I've done another Disney!
Can you tell I love Disney?! Haha!

This time I went for a less common Disney film though... Ratatouille.

I really like the colours of this mani.

I used Revlon Blue Lagoon as a base colour. On my ring finger I did the Saran Wrap method with Blue Lagoon and Sinful Colors Cool Gray. This was followed by a coat of Grey Holo by Wonderful and Strange Polish, which I also used on my little finger (3 thick coats, no base).

I painted Remy the Rat using acrylic paints and the Eiffel Tower was stamped using a No17 unnamed dark metallic grey and a BornPretty stamping plate.

An InLinkz Link-up

Born Pretty Haul

The postman came this morning with my latest order from the Born Pretty Store. :)

It's so long since I ordered it that I couldn't remember what I had ordered, making it more exciting!!

Looks like Blogger has decided to start rotating my pictures itself again. Annoying!

4 sets of pretty water decals. :) I am excited to use the Panda's! No idea what for, but they are super cute!

Black and White Stamping Polish. 

I used to have no problems using my Barry M Matte White for stamping but recently I haven't been able to get it to work, so I bought these to see if they are any easier to use. Hopefully I'll be testing them out soon! 

And a cuticle pusher. I generally just leave my cuticles alone. Or use my other nails to push them! But I figured I should start doing it properly!

I also ordered a '3 Item Lucky Bag'. I didn't expect much from this! I actually got 4 items though and 2 of them I will definitely use. 1, maybe, the last, no way! Unless it fits in with a fancy dress theme somehow!!

I got this cute stamping plate with little japanese (?!) characters on.

Some Water Decals. On the left are butterflies, on the right are cobwebs. The butterflies will defo get used and the cobwebs will be perfect for Halloween!

These false nails. I can honestly say I will never, ever wear these! Not my thing at all! If anybody would like to swap these for something feel free to get in touch!

Not sure what to call these... Nail Decorations?! I like the Hello Kitty ones, they are cute and will definitely be worn at some point. Although I'm not sure how I would attach them, or how long they would last. The bows would be nice if they didn't have the dangly bits. I might wear them. Or I might try and pull the danglies off first!! Haha!

All in all I'm quite impressed with this lucky bag. For 60p I have got 3 things I will probably use. Not bad! I'm quite impressed  too that they have looked at what else I have ordered. All of my order was for nail things, so they have only sent me nail things in the lucky bag.

St Patricks Day Nails

Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day (and my birthday!), so I thought some appropriately themed nails were in order!! I also wanted to use these as my Tri-Polish Tuesday Nails. I know its only Sunday, but I rarely have time to do them on a Tuesday, so I've tried to stick with Purple and Green, two of the colours for the challenge this month.

The top picture is the closest to the real colours, the next two are without flash and the one right above this is with flash. The green I used is Sally Hansen Kiwi Bikini and the purple is Barry M Silk in Heather. I then used Kiwi Bikini again to freehand a clover onto the purple nail.

 I also had another fight with one of my new, disappointing BornPrettyStore stamping plates! This time I tried to stamp a rainbow. I tried with a white and a black Barry M polish but neither of these would work with the plates, even though they both work fine with my MoYou plates. So I ended up using a No.17 dark silver, as this was the only colour that worked. It doesn't show up very well on this coloured nail though, so below I have included a close-up for you!

Galaxy Nails: Tri Polish Tuesday

This week for Tri Polish Tuesday I tried something I've wanted to try for a while but never gotten around to... Galaxy nails! And I remembered to post it on the Tuesday!!!
After looking at a few galaxy mani's online I thought Blue, Green and Purple were the perfect colours to use for galaxy nails so I found a sponge and went for it!

I used Barry M Black Multi glitter as the background colour, then blended Sally Hansen Kiwi Bikini, an unnamed purple shimmer Animal Polish and an unnamed electric blue H&M polish.  I then used a BornPretty stamping plate to stamp stars onto my nails using another unnamed Animal polish in silver. Finally, I used a Kiss glitter polish as a topcoat to add a bit more sparkle.

I love this mani and it was so easy to do! Even better, its completely impossible to reproduce exactly the same!

Bows and Lace - Very late Tri Polish Tuesday!

This design was done earlier this week for the Tri Polish Tuesday Challenge, I'm just a little late posting! This months colours are Blue, Purple and Green, so this week I'm just using Purple and Blue.

After my delivery last week I was desperate to try my new stamping plates. So I did a base of Barry M Silk in Heather and decided to stamp some cute lace designs over it.
I do quite a lot of stamping with my MoYou plates, and usually they work pretty well, I like to think I'm not bad at stamping! But this was so difficult! I tried a few of the different lace designs and the stamper really didn't pick the patterns up very well off the plates. I'm not sure if it was the plates or the polish (Maybelline Dark Denim) I was trying to use but it just wasn't working. :(
So I decided on a bow across my nails instead, which was a much simpler design. This was a little easier and did work to an extent. It just didn't seem up to the same quality, they were a bit hit and miss, some bows came out really well whilst others were patchy and had bits missing.

I know I should have expected this when they were so cheap but I didn't think they would be this bad. I'm going to have another go at some point with a different polish which I know usually works well for stamping but I don't have too high hopes any more. I'm also hoping some of the other stamps are a bit better.
Hopefully the water decals will be more successful too!!

Dandelions

So today I've got an old mani for you. This one's from the beginning of January, it was very cute but I'm afraid I only have one good picture, so it's going to be a short but sweet post today!
Here it is:

This is the Maybelline Dark Denim polish #630, then I used Barry M Matt White to stamp the dandelions, using the MoYou Pro Plate #04. The colour is much closer to the top picture in real life, but I wanted to include the zoomed version as it shows the stamping so much clearer. :)

My nails are such a perfect length on this picture, I wish they could always be this long and never snap!!