Thursday's Talons:Valentine's Double Stamping

Currently listening to: What a Buzz by Olly Murs 

Good morning dear readers,

It's been a while since my last post, hasn't it?  Unfortunately all I've done this week once I've come home from work is to switch my work laptop on and continue working.  I've managed to visit some of your blogs but haven't been able to post as my nail photos are obviously on my personal laptop and switching on two laptops has just seemed like too much effort...

But enough about me, let's move on to the photos you've come to see!

 

For this manicure I started with a base of Essence Free Hugs.

I then layered a coat of Saffron London pink glitter on top.

 My next step was to stamp the wonderful heart image from Bundle Monster plate BM 317 with Barry M Pomegranate.

This didn't *pop* as much as I wanted it too so I then stamped the same pattern in white using Easy Paris 48.  It's a bit early for Valentine's manicures (not that I'm complaining) but I'd happily wear this all year round.

What do you think girls?  Do you ever stamp the same pattern using more than one colour?

Bye for now,

Laura

PS Did you know I'm on Instagram as LH24Laura?  Follow me for pictures of new NOTD as well as manicures from my archives and snaps of my personal life.

Saturday's Stamping: Glitter Daisy NOTD

Currently watching: Glee

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

It's a gloriously sunny day here in Manchester so what better way to celebrate than with a pretty glitter daisy manicure?

 

My base is two coats of the Accessorize duochrome Pink Spice covered with a coat of Tony Moly pink glitter.

 

 

It's the same glitter I showed you on Thursday.  Recently I really like using it as a subtle topper.

 

I then stamped a flower in the bottom corner of my ring finger nail and the top corner of my thumb nail using Easy Paris 48 and Bundle Monster plate BM03.  I've had that plate for years but I do believe this is the first time I've used it.

I then finished the manicure off by placing a yellow dot in the centre of each flower using a dotting tool and Nails Inc Spitalfields.

What do you think girls?

 

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Glitter Hearts NOTD

Currently listening to: In Her Eyes by Josh Groban

Good morning girls,

Today I have a pretty purple manicure to show you featuring Barry M Prickly Pear as the base.

 After painting my nails with two coats of Prickly Pear, I decided to add a layer of Tony Moly GS10 glitter.  As you can see in the bottom picture, the red, gold, pink and silver glitter is suspended in a milky base so adding this to my purple base made Prickly Pear paler than its original lavender shade.

 I don't think I've ever stamped over glitter before so I thought it might be nice to make an accent nail stamping a heart pattern using Barry M Blackberry and Bundle Monster plate BM317 (definitely one of my favourite plates).

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Starry NOTD

Currently listening to: Misty Mountains

Good morning lovely ladies,

Here's another new brand I'm trying this month, 2true:

 

 

 This brand is sold in Superdrug and retails for £1.99 although often there's an offer on which enables you to buy three products for £4.99.  I tried this brand in shade 48 (no name, annoying) which is a pale blue packed with silver shimmer.

 I added some Saffron shade 5, a blue, purple and silver glitter and then stamped some white stars using Easy Paris shade 48 and Cheeky plate ch26.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Tiffany's Mint Bow NOTD

Currently watching: Africa

Good morning girls,

I decided that since I really have no need to add to my polish collection colour-wise, it might be a good idea to add to it brand-wise.  Bearing this in mind, when I saw that Look Beauty was offering a 50% reduction on its make-up range I couldn't resist picking up a couple of nail polishes.

 

 

 The first one I tried was It's Mint, a great shade for spring.  Application was easy, the quality is great and I'm really happy with this polish, especially as I paid only £2.50.

 For my nail art I used my dotting tool to add It's Mint polka dots over Easy Paris shade 48 and my accent nail was stamped with Born Pretty Store plate m59.

What do you think girls?  Are there any brands you'd like to try this year?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: My First Taped Mani

Currently listening to: What a Buzz by Olly Murs

Hello dear readers,

January is often heralded as the month for trying new things so based on the positive feedback from my first attempt at kawaii nail art, I thought I'd continue trying new things and go for a taped manicure.

 

 My first step was to paint my nails with two coats of Kiko shade 378 (nail polish names are listed on the website but not on the bottles, what's the point in that?), a soft, dusky mauve shade.  I love Kiko polishes; application is so easy and the quality is great, especially for the price.

 My next step, once the polish was completely dry, was to stick four strips of tape on my accent nail and paint the remaining space with Milani Hi-Res, a purple holographic polish.

 As soon as I painted my accent nail I removed the tape to reveal the results you see in these photos.  My lines weren't as crisp as I would have liked but I think I did pretty well for a first attempt.

What do you think girls?  Are you fans of the taped manicure?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Kawaii NOTD

Currently watching: The Graham Norton Show

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

Today I have some nail art in a new style (for me) to show you:

 

To start with I painted my nails with a clear base coat then, once dry, placed stickers over the bottom section of my nails, which is what I always use when creating a half moon manicure.  I painted my nails using Essence Free Hugs (pink) and Easy Paris shade 48 (white).

 I then added polka dots using my dotting tool.

For the finishing touch I stamped a purple bow at the base of each nail using Barry M Blackberry and Born Pretty Store plate m59.

What do you think girls?  Have you tried this style of nail art before? 

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: My First Glequin NOTD

Currently listening to: What a Buzz by Olly Murs

Good morning!

Today I'd like to show you a manicure I did featuring some glequins (loose hexagonal glitter) I recently purchased from Born Pretty Store:

Oh and this also features one of my new Kiko holographic polishes which my boyfriend brought back from France while he was there for Christmas.  This is shade 402, which in reality had a brilliant holographic effect until I used a topcoat.  I'll be using this polish again though so you'll see it's rainbow of colours out in full force next time.

I stamped using Barry M Silver Foil and Born Pretty Store plate m79 then applied two lines of silver glequins to make an accent nail.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Swirly Bow NOTD

Currently listening to: Dear Darlin' by Olly Murs 

Good morning lovely ladies,

This morning I'd like to show you a manicure inspired by Julie over at Tales of Knit and Nails

When I saw her version of this, I thought it was so pretty and elegant.  Despite it not being a design that I would have come up with myself, I thought I had similar enough colours and the right image plates to try it myself.

My accent nail was painted with MUA shade 2 and stamped using Barry M Silver Foil and Born Pretty Store plate m59.  My other nails were painted with Easy Paris shae 90 and stamped using MUA shade 2 and Bundle Monster plate BM 314.  I loved how this turned out and found it really rewarding to be able to copy a design I admired.  Thank you for inspiring me Julie :-)

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Sunday's Simple Spotted NOTD

Currently watching: River City

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

As the title suggests, today I have a simple manicure to show you.

I started with a base of Catrice Dirty Berry, my one and only Catrice polish which I bought on my travels during the summer.

 Using my dotting tool I added a row of dots along my tips with Barry M Silver Foil and added extra purple dots on my accent nail with Yes Love 18.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Pink Sapphire Glitter NOTD

Currently listening to: Right Place Right Time by Olly Murs

Good morning dear readers!  Happy New Year!

For my first post of 2013 I'd like to show you a manicure featuring one of the new Barry M glitter polishes, Pink Sapphire Glitter.

 Pink Sapphire Glitter is a clear polish containing silver bar glitter, pink hexagonal pieces of glitter and tiny pink circles of glitter.

I applied mine over two coats of Barry M Matt White.

 The glitter was really easy to apply evenly and I absolutely love the end result.

What do you think girls?  Have you tried any of the Barry M glitters?

Bye for now,

Laura