Sunday's Stamping: Bluetiful Tribute NOTD

Currently watching: Game of Thrones

 Hi girls!

I've been away on business trips for the last three weeks so all the posts you've been reading were scheduled.  To tell you the truth, before today I hadn't had the chance to paint my nails for a week!  I'm sure you can imagine how much I missed my nail polish and how happy I am to be back home :-)

 

 

For today's manicure, I decided to copy a design I'd seen on Canadian Nail Fanatic's blog back in July.  I don't own the polishes that she used for her manicure but I was lucky to find similar shades in my collection.

 I started with two coats of Essence Absolutely Blue.  Models Own Beth's Blue has been on my wishlist for ages but I haven't been able to find it anywhere so I decided to buy this Essence polish last month as I thought it was a good substitute for Beth's Blue.  Whether it really is, I don't know, but I'm happy with it.

 I then sponged Essence I'm Bluetiful on my tips before sponging on NYC Lights Camera Action to add some extra sparkle.

 Finally, I stamped my tips using Konad plate m36 and Konad special polish in white.  This was actually the first image plate I got, and I never really knew how to use this image.  I love that Canadian Nail Fanatic has given me a new way to incorporate this image into my manicures :-)

What do you think girls?  Do you have any images you're not sure how to use?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Mystic Bows NOTD

Currently listening to: The Sun by Maroon 5

Hello ladies,

Today's post will be short and sweet as this manicure is so simple it needs few words.

 

My base coat is Mystic Mauve by Models Own, one of my favourite polishes.

 I then stamped a bow on each nail using Born Pretty Store plate m59 and Dior Graphic Berry.  This polish stamps so well, it's brilliant.

 Et voila, nothing more to add!

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Desert Haze Rose NOTD

Currently listening to: Hall of Fame by The Script

 Good eveing lovely ladies,

Today's manicure is inspired by Kelsie from Kelsie's Nail Files.  Recently Kelsie created a beautiful vintage rose manicure using two Red Angel plates.  I had never thought of using two stamps together in this way and since I have the plates, I thought I'd give it a try.

 

I started by painting my nails with Desert Haze by e.l.f.  I really don't like this polish as application is so troublesome but it was the closest polish I had to the one used by Kelsie.  To cover up the streaky areas, I added a layer of Essence Night in Vegas.

 

 For the stamping, I first of all stamped the rose stem using Barry M Teal and Red Angel plate RA 115.  Then I added the rose using Yesensy 32 and RA 116.  I stamped my roses in the opposite direction from Kelsie and they weren't so nearly as well placed as she managed but overall I was pleased with this manicure as it was only meant to be an experiment.  Next time will be better!

What do you think girls?  Whose nail art have you been inspired by lately?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: I'm Bluetiful Floral NOTD

Currently watching: The X Factor

Hello ladies!

Here's another of my new Essence polishes, I'm Bluetiful:

This polish is a grey toned blue full of silver particles of glitter.

 The true colour isn't faithfully represented in these photos; in real life it's definitely not as bright.

 Due to the amount of the silver glitter in this polish, I thought the best colour for stamping would also be silver so I stamped a full nail floral design using Barry M Silver Foil and Born Pretty Store plate m65.

 I was happy with the end result :-)

What do you think girls?  What colour would you have chosen for stamping?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Multi Coloured Stamping NOTD

Currently watching: Strictly Come Dancing

Good morning girls,

Today I'd like to show you my first attempt at multi coloured stamping, as the title of the post suggests ;-)

 

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Essence Enchanted Princess.

 I then stamped a full nail image using Bundle Monster plate BM310, Yes Love 477 and Dior Graphic Berry.

 Next, I layered a coat of Barry M Pink Iridescent over the stamping.

 I then stamped two pink butterflies on each nail using Bundle Monster plate BM05 and Konad Special Pink Polish.  For the finishing touch I added some Saffron glitter to the tips.

What do you think girls?  Have you experimented with multi coloured stamping?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Indian Ocean NOTD

Currently listening to: Out of My Heart by BBMak 

Good morning lovely readers,

Today I'd like to show you a manicure featuring a polish which a lot of you said you were excited about seeing when I featured it in my haul post, Indian Ocean by Models Own.

 

Due to the level of interest expressed in this polish, I was reluctant to use it for a manicure until I had a good idea of how to use it so I really hope you like this girls!

 Indian Ocean is a silvery blue polish with a pink duochrome effect.  It's a sheer polish so I layered it over two coats of Barry M Blue Moon.

 To pick up on the pink duochrome, I decided to stamp using Barry M Fuchsia and a design from Bundle Monster plate BM 310.

 I then applied Essence Glorious Aquarius glitter topper to my tips.

What do you think girls?  Did I do this polish justice?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Golden Sunset

Currently listening to: What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction

 Hello ladies,

Today I'd like to show you a manicure I created by applying two coats of Barry M Tangerine followed by sponging on Barry M Fuchsia:

 

I wasn't really concentrating when I was sponging Fuchsia so I ended up going right up to my tips, which I hadn't planned at all and wasn't happy about!

It all turned out okay though when I stamped this design using Barry M Gold Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM 301.

I actually really liked this manicure, despite the shaky start.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Bad Boys in Winter NOTD

Currently reading: At Risk by Stella Rimington

Good morning girls,

I'd like to start the week by showing you I Love Bad Boys by Essence, a vintage teal green polish packed full of blue and green shimmer.

 

 

This isn't the type of colour I usually wear so I don't know why I bought it but I'm so glad I did, it's such a beautiful colour.

My next step was to paint silver lines down my nails using a Technic striper.

 

Then I stamped a full nail image using Konad Special White and Bundle Monster plate BM 323.

The design could be viewed as either flowers or snowflakes but I think it looks more like snowflakes, hence the title of this post.  This is a manicure I'll definitely be recreating later in the year.

What do you think girls?  Are you already starting to think about your winter manicures too?!

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Essence Peel Off Base Coat

Currently listening to: Wings by Little Mix

 Good morning lovely ladies,

Today I thought I'd share my experience of using Essence Peel Off Base Coat with you as I know this is a polish a lot of bloggers have been excited as it could lead to the end of glitter removal nightmares.

I decided to test it on the glitter manicure I showed you on Tuesday:

 

Before painting my nails, I applied a coat of Peel Off Base Coat, which applies white and dries clear after about 10 minutes.  I applied my other polishes only after the base coat had turned from white to clear, as instructed.

Two days later, I decided it was time to remove my manicure so, starting with my thumb nail, I picked at the lower edger of the polish and was delighted when it lifted up.

I thought it was great, until I started trying to do the same thing with all my other nails.  The problem I found was removing the polish on the upper half of my nails.  It just wouldn't peel off.  So I was left with this mess:

I've seen a lot of positive reviews of this base coat on blogs so I don't know why it went so wrong for me but I'm really disappointed.  

Have you tried this base coat?  Do you have any tips for me?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Party Princess Sees Stars NOTD

Currently listening to: Hunter by Dido

Hello ladies,

I have another glitter manicure to show you today, as if yesterday's wasn't enough ;-)

 

This one features two coats of Essence Party Princess, which I applied over a coat of Essence Sweet As Candy, a pale pink jelly.

Party Princess is also a jelly so next time I think I will wear it over a darker pink as I don't like being able to see my tips like you can here.

I then stamped stars on each nail using Dior Graphic Berry and Bundle Monster plate BM 05.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Purple Glitter NOTD

Currently watching: The X Factor

Good morning dear readers!

Today I'd like to show you two purple Essence polishes I bought in Switzerland, Oh My Glitter! and It's Purplicious.  I started with two coats of Oh My Glitter!

We all know how difficult purple polishes are to photograph but I think this top picture is pretty accurate.

 Application was easy, no complaints there, although I'm not sure about the name of this polish.  It is packed with rainbow shimmer (purple, blue and orange are the predominant colours) but I wouldn't say that warrants having the word 'glitter' in the name.  Just a thought.

It's a beautiful polish though, regardless of the name, and I would definitely recommend adding it to your collection when you have the chance.

 Of course I couldn't leave it alone so I decide to add a coat of It's Purplicious, a glitter topper.  I actually saw this in Holland in June but decided not to buy it and bitterly regretted my decision so I was really happy to unexpectedly find this in Switzerland two months later :-)

 I added Rimmel's matte top coat to see how different this manicure would look mattified.  Er, not that different.  Still awesome though ;-)

What do you think girls?  Have you ever regretted not buying a polish when you had the chance?

Bye for now,

Laura