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!

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: 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.

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: 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!!

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.

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!!

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.