Tuesday's Talons: Glittering Gems

Currently listening to: Devil May Care by Jamie Cullum

Good morning dear readers,

I suspect you will have noticed in recent weeks that I have a new favourite nail art design.  I hope you're not bored of it yet because once again this design is making an appearance on my blog ;-)

 I didn't take photos of every step of this but my starting point was to paint my nails with two coats of a-England Iseult.

 Then I sponged on a layer of Essence Enchanted Fairy as I had intended to do a pink gradient but it didn't work as I had planned.

So, to cover up my mistake, I used a coat of Barry M Pink Iridescent glitter.

 Then I stamped the ever faithful hibiscus flower on the corner of each nail using Barry M Fuchsia and Bundle Monster plate BM 313 and added a pink nail jewel to the centre of each flower.  I also added a stripe of silver glitter to each tip using an Essence striper but it didn't show up very well.

What do you think girls?  Do you love this design as much as I do?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Flakie Flowers

Currently watching: One Tree Hill

Good morning ladies,

Today I'd like to show you a very simple manicure which I recently wore.

 A polish I bought fairly recently but hadn't worn as a base was Barry M Fuchsia so I decided now was the time to change that.  To give it a bit of a lift, I added a coat of Essence Night in Vegas.

 I kept my manicure like that for a couple of days before stamping a gold floral pattern on top using Barry M Gold Foil and Mash plate m64.

 This is one of my favourite designs to stamp but I haven't been able to use it at all this year until now as I left the image plate at my parents' house in December and didn't find it again until a couple of weeks ago.  So happy it's back where it belongs now!

 Do you like this manicure girls?  Which stamping designs are your favourites?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Art Nouveau NOTD?

Currently watching: Beauty and the Beast

Hello girls,

I'm going on holiday today, to France and Switzerland, until the beginning of September so although I do have some posts scheduled for your viewing pleasure in my absence, I won't be able to reply to any comments or visit your blogs for a while.

Today's manicure started with two coats of Barry M Matt White and a layer of Essence Night in Vegas to add some sparkle ;-)

 I then added two black stripes to my tips, using a Technic striper.

 My final step was to stamp a red rose on each nail using Bundle Monster plate BM14 and Yesensy 32.

What do you think girls?  I really liked this manicure but next time I will stamp the roses before painting the black lines so there is no overlap ;-)

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Holographic Floral Nail Art

Currently reading: The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Good morning lovely ladies!

Today I have a manicure to show you which is based on a design I showed you last week.

 I used Milani Digital as my base colour and tried to capture its holographic beauty for you.

 I then used a pink Technic striper to paint two stripes at the top of each nail.

 Next, I stamped a white hibiscus flower using Konad Special Polish in white and Bundle Monster plate 313.

 For the finishing touch I added a silver nail jewel to the centre of each flower. 

Definitely one of my favourite manicures of this year but what do you think?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons ft Iseult Stamped

Currently listening to: Crashed the Wedding by Busted

Good morning girls,

Today I'd like to show you the second a-England polish I purchased during their summer sale, Iseult.

Iseult is described as a "delicate romantic pink with opalescent pearly reflection" and is very pretty.

 I then stamped a full size floral design on each nail using MUA shade 2 and Bundle Monster plate BM 221.

 I love this stamp although I don't actually use it that often.

 To add a touch of sparkle, my final step was to apply a coat of glitter using this Color Combos polish.

Do you like it girls?  Do you own any a-England polishes?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft Jewelled Hibiscus

Currently reading: Comfort and Joy by India Knight

Good evening ladies,

Continuing in the same vein as yesterday's post, I would again like to show you a manicure heavily influenced by another blogger, this time by MyStefyNail

My first step was to apply two coats of Crystal Lilac, a very sheer duochrome by No7.  I felt this was the polish I had in my collection which most closely resembled that used by MyStefyNail.

 Next, I sponged some Saffron pink glitter polish on to my tips.  This was the messy stage, as evidenced by the patches of glitter on my skin.

 Then I used a Technic pink striper to draw to stripes along the tips of my nails.

 After that, I stamped a hibiscus flower on the top right of each nail, using Bundle Monster BM313 and Konad special polish in white.  The finishing touch was adding a silver jewel to the centre of each flower.

I was thrilled with this manicure because it's so different to my usual designs.  Plus, although I thought the jewels would fall off quickly, they actually stayed in place for five days before I decided to remove this manicure.  Talk about staying power!

What do you think of this girls?  Which bloggers inspire you to try different types of nail art?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure ft Denim Hearts

Currently reading: Secret Asset by Stella Rimington

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

Today I'd like to show you a manicure which was inspired by http://pieseyes.blogspot.co.uk/

I only found this blog recently but on my first visit I saw a manicure which I absolutely loved and knew I would have to try myself.

It started with a coat of Barry M Denim.  If I had been wearing this polish on its own I may have used two coats but as I knew I'd be stamping over it, I felt one coat was sufficient.  I'm happy to say that application was better this time than the first time I used this polish.

 I then stamped a full size heart image on my nails using Barry M Silver Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM317.  I was so happy this image stamped well as it's one of my favourites in the new set.  [Please ignore the loose bits of polish, this picture was taken pre-clean up]

 My final step was to apply a topcoat which unfortunately had the effect of smudging some of the stamping.  The flaws weren't as obvious in reality as they are in the photo. 

I was so happy with this manicure, not only with the design but also with the colour combination, and loved how it looked like I was wearing foils.  What do you think of it girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Sunday's Search (Recommend a Nail Art Blog!)

Currently watching: 24

Hello girls,

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.

Today I have a request to make.  I've noticed recently, especially with the increased popularity of indie polish brands, that a lot of bloggers are dedicating posts to swatching.  While I'm happy that so many ladies are finding success with these polishes and obviously everyone is entitled to post about whatever they may wish to, I'm struggling to find blogs featuring nail art and not just nail polish.  So, with that in mind, I'm asking you to please leave me a comment with the link of any nail art blogs you enjoy reading and would recommend.  Feel free to leave a link to your own blog too of course.  Thank you, girls.

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons ft New Purple Holos!

Currently reading: At Risk by Stella Rimington

Good morning lovely ladies,

I recently took advantage of the a-England sale to order my first a-England polishes.  I bought Iseult and Lady of the Lake, a beautiful purple holo which I'll be showing you today.  Another brand I also sampled for the first time recently is Catrice.  Back in June I purchased Dirty Berry which, although completely different from Lady of the Lake, I would also describe as a purple holo.

I couldn't decide which to use first so I went with both, using Dirty Berry on my accent nail.  Of course the sun wasn't out when I used these beautiful polishes so unfortunately I can't show you the holographic effects but in real life these were both stunning in the sun (and even in doors, as you see them).

Both polishes were really easy to apply and neither caused me any problems.

I then decided to stamp a floral pattern using both polishes and Bundle Monster plate 321.  As you can see, the results were quite subtle.

As I was creating this manicure, it reminded me of something that one of my favourite bloggers would do so I decided to go the whole way and finish it with something which you have never read on this blog before, a funky French à la Fingers.

What do you think girls?  It was totally out of my comfort zone but it's always good to try new things.  I just can't wait to use both these polishes again and hopefully next time the sun will be out!

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft My Candy Shop / My First Glitter Sandwich

Currently watching: The Shawshank Redemption

Good evening girls!

Today I'd like to show you my very first glitter sandwich which also happens to be based on Deborah Lippmann's Candy Shop!
 

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Lm shade 21.

Then I added a coat of Essence Circus Confetti, a clear polish packed full of multi-coloured glitter.

Next, I added another coat of my pink Lm polish, thus finishing my very first glitter sandwich!  I know glitter sandwiches are usually done with jellies but this shimmer polish seemed to work just as well and I loved how it turned the glitter particles pastel.

However, part of me wondered if I should take it a step further so I applied a coat of Rimmel mattifying topcoat before deciding matte pink doesn't suit me and applying a normal topcoat to bring back the shine.

What do you think girls?  Have you tried glitter sandwiches before?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure ft Freehand Fail

Currently listening to: Payphone by Maroon 5

Good morning dear readers,

Remember a couple of weeks ago I said it was easy to freehand roses?  Well I need to take that comment back as today I have a freehand fail for you :-(

I started with two coats of Eyeko Vintage Polish:

 

 I then used Barry M Matt White and my dotting tool to place white polka dots on each nail.

 Then I used my acrylic paints and attempted to paint three roses on each nail.  I don't know what went wrong but they just weren't as good as last time so I removed this manicure as soon as I'd finished photographing it.

Have you had any recent fails?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping ft Poptastic Holo Floral NOTD

Currently watching: Singin' in the Rain

Good morning girls!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend planned ahead of you.  To start mine, I'd like to show you a floral manicure I recently wore which started as two coats of Barry M Matt White.

 Unfortunately I didn't take photos at every step of this manicure but the next step was to sponge Kleancolor Holo Pink on to my tips.

 I then stamped a floral design using MUA Shade 2 and Bundle Monster plate BM 205.  I had a lot of trouble stamping this design and I made it even worse by smudging the black polish when I applied my topcoat.  Grr.

 To finish, I used my dotting tool to apply Holo Pink to the centre of each flower.

I felt this was a fun and cute manicure which I absolutely loved.  The smudging did annoy me but nobody who admired my nails picked up on it ;-)

What do you think of this manicure girls?

Bye for now,

Laura