Wednesday's New Design NOTD

Currently watching: Glee

Good morning!

I know you're probably fed up of seeing this manicure by now but I made some changes to yesterday's manicure and I really wanted to share them with you:

First, I have to apologise for the quality of these photos. There was no daylight when I left my house so I had to take these photos in my car when I got to work and in the car park. Second, please excuse the wear on my thumb nail.

So, the first change I made was mattifying the manicure using my Rimmel mattifying top coat. I love the way it makes my nails feel like satin.

I then used a dotting tool and a Miss Sporty silver shade to put silver dots in the centre of the flowers. This is something I've never done before despite admiring it on many of your manicures. I can't believe how much it changes the look of the manicure and lifts the whole thing!

What do you think girls? Did you prefer this manicure shiny or matte with silver accents?

Bye for now,
Laura

Tuesday's Talons

Currently listening to: Our Kind of Love by Lady Antebellum

Good morning girls!

As you know, it's hard for me to leave a plain manicure alone so I modified yesterday's Miracle Cerise manicure with some stamping:

I stamped using Bourjois Bleu Asphalte and Bundle Monster plate BM16.

I absolutely love this Bourjois polish for stamping and I really like this image too; although the image is neither long enough nor wide enough for all my nails, I still get good coverage and double stamping the odd patch of nail is easy with this design.

What do you think?

Bye for now,
Laura

Monday's Manicure

Currently watching: Winter's Bone

Good morning girls!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead. I'm making a colourful start to my week with this manicure:

This is one coat (yes, one coat only) of Miracle Cerise by No7

I have to be honest and say that although I have had this colour for at least two years, possibly longer, this is probably only the second time I've worn this polish.

Looking at it now, I can't understand why that is, especially as it's a one-coater!

I think this shade is quite unique although in reality it's not as orange as these pictures make it seem. It has a nice shimmer to it and it has the added bonus of being a work-appropriate colour.

I really like this polish. What do you think of it girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday's Subtle Stamping

Currently watching: X Factor

Good morning girls!

How is your weekend going so far? I had to work yesterday and attend a stock take so that wasn't much fun but at least I have today to myself so I can finally blog again :-)

During the week I painted my nails using Yves Saint Laurent in Pink Moon which is a lovely terracotta pink shade full of purple shimmer.

I then stamped using Lilac Ice by Collection 2000 and Bundle Monster plate BM203.

Please excuse the tip wear, my photos were taken after three full days of wear.

I really like this stamp but I can never decide if it's best to have a light base colour with a dark stamping colour or the other way round for this image.

What do you think?

Bye for now,
Laura

PS I saw Breaking Dawn this week and really loved it! Did anyone else like it?

Please Read If You're a Dutch Blogger

Hi girls,

My boyfriend is going to Amsterdam next week and since Essence cosmetics aren't available in the UK, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to stock up on some Essence nail polishes via him. The only problem is, I have no idea how easy it will be for him to find an Essence supplier. Do you know where Essence products are sold in Amsterdam? Any information you have would be gratefully received!

Thanks!

Bye for now,
Laura

Monday's Manicure

Currently watching: Strictly Come Dancing

Good morning girls!

Let's start the week on a positive note with today's manicure :-)

I used E.L.F Desert Haze, which is a pesky polish to apply, as my base. I think it's hard to get a good finish with this polish so, although I like the colour, I don't think I'd wear it on its own.

My next step was to stamp using Barry M Mushroom and Bundle Monster plate BM19.

I absolutely love this stamp but as it's from the old Bundle Monster set, it's too small for many of my nails and double-stamping never turns out well for me. I really wish they had enlarged this design and featured it on the second set of image plates they released.

Anyway, apart from my double-stamping issues, I really like how this manicure turned out as I think the two colours compliment each other well. What do you think of it?

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday's Stamping (and my first Franken)

Currently watching: X Factor

Hello girls!

Are you having a good weekend? Yesterday I discovered how fun it is to create frankens. Mine didn't turn out at all as planned but I think I may have a new hobby ;-) Here's my first, Fairytale Ending:

It looks much better in the bottle than it does on my nails. For some reason, hardly any of the glitter actually transferred on to my nails.

I then stamped using Bourjous Bleu Asphalte and MASH plate m64. I hadn't tried this pattern before and I'm not sure I will use it again to be honest. It looks like henna, which I like, but for some reason I just don't think it works. What do you think?

I applied a coat of Nail Tek Foundation, which dries matte, rather annoyingly, and then had to layer over another coat of China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat. I haven't been using Nail Tek Foundation long enough to see results but I can say straight away that one disadvantage of it compared to OPI Nail Envy is the fact it dries matte.

What do you think of this manicure girls? Do you make frankens?

Bye for now,
Laura

Saturday's Swatch (Magnetized Polish)

Currently listening to: I Want You Back by Cleopatra

Good morning girls!

I'm so happy the weekend is here even though I don't have anything planned. Sometimes it's just nice to relax and have some time to yourself :-)

Today I'd like to show you my first attempt at using Boots 17 Magnetized Nail Polish. Oh, and do you know why it's the first manicure I'm showing you since Tuesday? Not because of the lack of light for taking photos, no, but because my new China Glaze top coat allowed me to keep my previous manicure on, relatively chip-free for a whole five days :-)

Anyway, on to today's swatch:

Although I have this polish is three shades, I decided to try Green first.
I'll be honest and say that I really struggled with the technique.

I'd seen plenty of pictures on blogs featuring this polish and everyone had managed to create beautiful waves. Everyone but me. I didn't know whether the magnet had to be moved about in order to create the waves, whether you had to move the magnet quickly or slowly...

I became really frustrated with the results I was getting but then I found a video which showed me exactly what I should be doing.

By this point I already had about three layers of polish on so when I tried a fourth layer using the technique shown in the video, my results were a big improvement but not as good as they would have been had I done it properly from the start. Nonetheless, I love the effect that the magnet creates and in real life, my nails look 3D, especially when I move them in the light and the waves seem to roll.

Now that I know what to do, I'm really looking forward to trying my other two colours and working on perfecting this design :-)

What do you think of these nails girls? Have you tried magnetized polish? Did you struggle like I did in the beginning? I'd love to know!

Bye for now,
Laura

Wednesday's Wishlist

Currently watching: Young Apprentice

Good morning girls!

What's the weather like where you are? It's turned a bit chilly here in England the past few days, it's almost time for scarves, gloves and hats. What better way to warm up once inside than with a hot drink?

I was once lucky enough to be given Whittard hot chocolate as a Christmas gift a few years ago but since then, I've never been tempted to go back to it due to the price tag. However, I was in a Whittard outlet store last month and saw that tubs of hot chocolate were reduced from £5.50 to £3.
I wouldn't pay £5.50 for this but I think £3 is reasonable.

So why didn't I buy any of these when I had the opportunity? Because I wasn't yet ready for the hot chocolate season. How silly of me. It really was a missed opportunity as I won't be going back to that outlet store anytime soon.

What's your favourite winter warmer?

Bye for now,
Laura

Tuesday's Tweet

Hi girls!

Just a quick message to say that I have changed my Twitter account to @LCH241 so if you followed me on my previous account (butterflyport) then please erase that and join me at my new account. And if you weren't already following me, please feel free to do so :-) I'm new at tweeting so the more followers I get, the more inclined I will be to become acquainted with Twitter.

Thanks girls!

Bye for now,
Laura

Tuesday's Talons

Currently listening to: No Strings Attached by NSync

Hello dear readers :-)

As much as I like Victoria, I couldn't leave her alone so I ended up stamping autumn leaves using Miss Sporty 312:

The pattern is from Bundle Monster plate BM04.

I've seen this pattern showcased by many bloggers and always thought it looked fab but I hadn't tried it myself until now (why I waited, I do not know).

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

Monday's Manicure

Currently listening to: Bye Bye Bye by NSync

Good morning girls!

I feel this week at work is going to be one of stress so the least I can do is have a manicure that makes me feel good, right?

I decided to try out one of my new Nails Inc polishes which I got with Glamour magazine, the darkest of the four available shades, Victoria.

As I've found with a lot of polishes this dark, it's difficult to capture the true colour of it. At times it looks dark brown, at times it looks blood red.

Application caused no problems and the finish was very glossy (although I did seal it was a coat of China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat afterwards).

Here you can see what it looks like with two coats. Adding another coat would have brought out the darker brown tones I think but I was happy with this result.

What do you think girls? Did you pick up any of the polishes Glamour were offering this month?

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday's Swatches: Going for Gold

Currently watching: Glee

Good afternoon girls!

I hope you're all having a lovely Sunday. I've spent the day catching up with last night's X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing shows while painting my nails. I'm choked up with a cold at the moment (which I blame on working in a school last week) so a relaxing day is just what my aching body needs.

Yesterday I showed you the polishes that I've added to my collection and today I have a swatch of Barry M Gold Foil for you. I thought I only owned one gold before my purchase but actually I owned two so I now have three golds:

It's amazing how many shades of gold there are. Below are swatches of (from left to right) Marks & Spencer Goldrush, Barry M Gold Foil and Miss Sporty 312.
I'm not a fan of Goldrush at all but I think it suits my skintone which is why I'm hanging on to it. The Barry M swatch shows that the foil polish definitely lives up to its name but I'm not sure how flattering it will be with my skintone.

What gold polishes do you have? Do you find them flattering?

Bye for now,
Laura

Saturday's Shopping (New Nail Polish)

Currently watching: Have I Got News For You

Good afternoon ladies!

Are you having a good weekend? I thought I'd show you the new nail polishes I acquired during my lunch break yesterday. Seven nail polishes in an hour...

Green, lilac and blue Boots 17 Magnetized Nail Polish

Victoria and Tate Nails Inc nail polish, free with Glamour magazine

Gold Barry M Nail Effects

Midnight Sapphire Boots 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish

They're all rather wintery shades I think and ones which I'm very much looking forward to trying in the near future.

Do you have any of these? What polishes have you added to your collection lately?

Bye for now,
Laura