Tuesday's Talons: Dusky Daisy

Good morning ladies,

I spent the past week at my parents' house where I don't have my usual nail station so the manicure I'm showing you today has been on my nails for a while.  It's held up really well, which is the great thing about glitter polishes.

I had been contemplating buying Essie A Cut Above but couldn't justify the expense, especially for a polish that, realistically, I wouldn't wear that often.  However, when I saw the No7 set below in Boots reduced by 50% I grabbed it as the pink polish on the right looked pretty similar to Essie A Cut Above.

 Originally I had Nail Pop Dusky as my base, a pretty pink shimmer, topped with Barry M Pink Sapphire Glitter.

 I was happy enough with that but when I bought the nail polish set on Boxing Day I decided to add the pink glitter too, Daisy.

 I'm not sure I've layered two glitters like this before but I'll definitely be doing it again the result was so sparkly and feminine.

 What do you think girls? 

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Glitter Snowflakes

Good morning dear readers,

Today I have a totally out-of-character manicure for you. 

I do love my snowflake manicures but I realise I have shown quite a lot of them so this may be the last snowflake design this year.

For this look I sponged my tips with Easy Paris shade 48 then stamped various snowflake designs using Born Pretty Store plate QA58.

 I then applied lots of glitter using Essence Night in Vegas, Kiko Sparkle Touch and Barry M Diamond Glitter.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: (Merry) Christmas Sweater

Good morning girls, Merry Christmas!

If you celebrate Christmas I hope you have a lovely day with your family and friends and receive plenty of presents from Santa Clause :-)

Here's what's on my nails this Christmas: yet another Christmas sweater.

 I used Barry M Matt White as my base and stamped with Nails Inc Victoria & Albert.

 Instead of fighting with my MoYou London festive plate, I decided to stamp with Born Pretty Store QA57.  As tends to be the case when stamping this type of design, the results are not very crisp but I have to say my manicure looks a lot better in person than it does in these pictures and I was really happy with it!

What do you think girls?  And what did Santa bring you?  I'd love to know!

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Holo Winter Scene

Hello ladies,

For this year's Christmas Eve manicure I decided to go with a holographic winter scene using Color Club Blue Heaven as my base.

Winter lighting is always an issue but I actually managed to capture Blue Heaven's holographic effect!

 On my thumb and ring finger I stamped a snowman using Bundle Monster plate BM 318 and Easy Paris shade 3.  I then added some detail using nail stripers.

 The snowflakes were stamped with Born Pretty Store QA57.

 Subtle in some lights, magical in other ;-)

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Holiday Holly

Good morning girls,

Today's festive manicure features Nails Inc Mayfair as the base.

This is not a colour I would ever wear on its own but it's a great base for nail art, especially when you want something softer than white, which can be a bit harsh.

 I then stamped holly in the corner of each nail using Born Pretty Store plate QA58, Barry M Teal and Nails Inc Tate.

 For the finishing touch I added some more holly on my thumb and ring finger.

 Simple but pretty!

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Sunday's Stamping: Cherry Juice Snow

Currently listening to: Glasgow Love Theme by Craig Armstrong

Hello ladies,

Today I have another Instagram-inspired manicure, this time by @pumpui_topnails99.

I started with a base of Essence Cherry Juice, a beautiful cherry-red jelly.  My camera was misbehaving when I took my photos so what you see is not colour-accurate at all; in real life this shade is much less orange and neon-looking.

 I then sponged a white Color Club shade on my tips and stamped a snowflake on each nail using Born Pretty Store plate QA57.

Next, I added a layer of Kiko Sparkle Touch.

Finally, a coat of Barry M Diamond Glitter finished off the look.  I wish I had planned this manicure better and stamped multiple snowflakes on each nail but I'll know for next time.

What do you think girls?

Bye  for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Midnight Snowflakes

Currently listening to: La-bas by Natasha St Pier

Good morning ladies,

Today's manicure sees a return to my favourite image plate for this time of year and some surprising sparkle.

I started with a base of Boots 17 Midnight Sapphire.  I used only one coat as I knew I would be stamping over it and didn't need it to be fully opaque.

 I then added a coat of Kiko Sparkle Touch.  The last time I used this I had a pink base and the sparkle didn't show up at all so, following your advice, I tried it over a darker colour and am pleased to report it's much more effective.  Look at the difference!

 I then stamped using a white shade from Easy Paris, Bundle Monster plate BM 323 and Born Pretty Store plate QA58.

 I don't usually mix and match my image plates but I'm glad I did for this manicure.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Friday's Fingers: Mayfair Christmas

Currently listening to: Streetcorner Symphony by Rob Thomas

Hello ladies,

Today's manicure was inspired by one I saw on Instagram by @pukupuku15.

I started with a base of Nails Inc Mayfair.

 Starting with my thumb nails, on each alternate nail I added a green and red glequin from Born Pretty Store.  That looked really good on its own so it may be a future manicure.

 The next step was to freehand Boots 17 Knockout Red on my index finger and Ciate for ASOS Lily on my ring finer.  I then added a strip of silver glitter with Essence More Than Glitter.

 The final step was to add two white pearls on the red and green sections.  If I did this manicure again I might skip this step but I was really happy with how this turned out, especially as it's so different to my usual style.

What do you think girls?  Who would you recommend following on Instagram?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Christmas Sweater

Currently listening to:  A Different Beat by Boyzone

Hello dear readers,

As promised, here is the follow-up to yesterday's Christmas sweater manicure.

As you already know, my base is Nails Inc Tate.

 The stamping was done with a white Color Club polish and MoYou London festive plate 04.

 Again, the quality of the stamping is disappointing although I do prefer the design to the one I showed yesterday.  My plan for next time is to have a white base and try stamping with a red polish to see if that produces better results.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Christmas Sweater

Currently listening to: Let Me Go by Gary Barlow

Good morning girls,

This time next week Christmas Day will be upon us (yay!) so in order to make the most of festive manicures I'm planning to post every day until then.  I hope you'll enjoy what I have to show you :-)

Today's manicure features Nails Inc Tate, a blood red shade, as the base.

I then stamped using Konad Special Polish in white and MoYou London festive plate 04.

 As with my previous experience of using this plate, the image wasn't as crisp as I wanted it to be and I did have some transfer issues.  For that reason, I decided to use a different design on my other hand, which I'll be showing you tomorrow.

What do you think girls?  Have you started wearing your Christmas sweaters yet?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Sweet Snowflakes

Currently listening to: The Bells of New York City by Josh Groban

Good morning dear readers,

Today's manicure is for those of you who love all things pink and glittery.

I chose Barry M Dragon Fruit as my base which I managed to smudge badly after taking the above photo so I applied a layer of Kiko Sparkle Touch to hide the smudges.

 I then stamped using Easy Paris shade 3 and ye old faithful Bundle Monster plate BM 323.

 Kiko Sparkle Touch didn't add as much sparkle as I had hoped so I topped off the whole manicure with Barry M Pink Iridescent glitter and was happier.

 Kiko Sparkle Touch looks so pretty in the bottle but I've never had great results using it.  I wonder if it looks better over darker colours?

What do you think girls?  Do you have any recommendations for using Sparkle Touch?

Bye for now,

Laura