Thursday's Talons: Heart Shaped Bunting

Currently listening to: Pase lo que pase by Carlos Baute

Good morning girls,

I really enjoyed using Color Club Harp On It as the background to one of my earlier festive manicures so I thought I'd use it again here.

The lighting wasn't ideal for photographing a holographic polish so I didn't take any pictures of Harp On It by itself, instead we're jumping straight to the stamping stage.

The stamping was done with Nails Inc Tate and Bundle Monster plate BM 317.

This isn't an image I had used before and I have to say I doubt I'll be using it again.  Stamping on my left hand was just about okay but as for my right hand, oh what a mess; I could not get my head around the best way to stamp this diagonal image.

What do you think girls?  Any tips for stamping this image well?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Iced Hearts

Currently watching: The Apprentice UK

Good morning lovely ladies,

Last week I was on holiday in Croatia, a beautiful country which I had never visited before.  I stayed in Dubrovnik where I had a great time.  Of course while I was there I was excited to find what polish brands Croatia had to offer but I came away disappointed as Dubrovnik is not the best place for shopping, or at least the areas I explored weren't great for shopping,  All the global brands we're familiar with were on display but I couldn't find any brands I didn't already have in my collection, except for She.

That explains why these three polishes make up my very small Croatia haul.  I wasn't excited by any of the Essence toppers and felt a lot of the basic colours were dupes for those already in my collection so I chose Peaches & Cream and Iced Strawberry Cream, shades I usually stay away from.  From She, I chose Farben.

 

 

The first polish I chose to try was She Farben.  What a bad buy that was.  It looks like a beautiful Barbie pink creme but, as is often the case with such shades, it turned out to be a jelly.  I used two coats of it before deciding I needed to cover it up.

 My choice of cover-up was Essence Iced Strawberry Cream.  I'm not sure why I bought this.  I think it was because the sun was shining, I had a bit of a tan, the shop lights made it look great against my skin...

And actually, I don't mind it.  It's an oyster pink shimmer which I think looks quite flattering although I doubt I would wear it alone.  I stamped over it using Easy Paris 48 and Bundle Monster plate BM 317.  I really loved the end result as I think the pink and white go very well together.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Nautical Love NOTD

Currently listening to: Titanium by David Guetta

Hello lovely ladies,

I've loved seeing all your Valentine's-themed manicures over the past couple of days, despite not producing many myself.  Here's one I had planned for ages which went, mostly, according to plan:

 I used 17 Knockout Red as my base and drew horizontal lines across each nail with my white Technic nail striper.  My accent nail was painted with Barry M Denim.

 I then stamped a heart on my accent nail using Red Angel plate RA 110.  I initially tried to stamp in red but for some reason the polish wouldn't stick to my stamper so I ended up stamping in white and then stamping over it with red polish.  It was probably for the best as I doubt the red would have shown up very well on Denim.

 

So what do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

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.

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 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

Thursday's Talons

Currently listening to: A Team by Ed Sheeran

Good morning ladies,

How's your week been so far? Looking forward to the weekend rolling around? Today I'd like to show you a manicure I did last weekend featuring GOSH Holographic:

There was no sun to bring out the holographic-ness of this polish when I took these photos but even indoors you can see it's a pretty special polish :-)

Application is awful but let's not talk about that today as I'm sure I've covered it before ;-)

I then decided to add some fun nail jewels, which is why this had to be a weekend manicure. As much as I love nail jewels, they are not practical for everyday wear at all and it upsets me to look down at my nails and discover yet another jewel has become loose and vanished.

They're great for a short while though :-)

Are you a fan of nail jewels?

Bye for now,
Laura

Thursday's Talons

Currently watching: One Tree Hill

Good morning lovely readers!

Here is my last (probably) Valentine's-themed manicure, featuring Dior Graphic Berry and Barry M Silver Foil.

I bought the Barry M polish at the weekend specifically for stamping. The Miss Sporty one I'm used to using is good but it can occasionally cause me a little trouble. Plus, it's almost empty.

For my stamping I used my ever faithful Red Angel RA110 plate and Mash m56.

As you can see, stamping my tips was difficult. The quality of my image plate isn't the best. I'm sure the original Konad version of this stamp is much better.

If I'd been inclined, I'm sure I could have improved the hearts along my tips using a small nail brush easily enough but the gaps don't bother me too much.

Do you like this one? Do you ever touch up your stamping?

Bye for now,
Laura

Monday's Manicure

Currently watching: One Tree Hill

Good morning dear readers!

As Valentine's Day is this week and I've been seeing a lot of Valentine's-themed manicures on your blogs recently, I decided to join in the fun!

I chose Honey Pink by All About Nails as my base. I love this colour, I really do. And it was only 99p.

I then stamped using a black polish by Wibo and Red Angel plates RA110 and RA120.

This polish isn't the best for stamping so once it runs out I think I'll be investing in a Barry M black.

I then added a glitter coat using Color Combos.

What do you think?

Bye for now,
Laura

NOTD (Grey and White)

Currently reading: ICAEW Assurance Study Manual (first exam is on Monday morning)

Good evening ladies,

Just a very quick post from me tonight as my boyfriend's just told me off for taking an extended study break.

Anyway, thank you for all your positive feedback regarding my previous NOTD. I hope you'll like this one too :-)

This was done on Thursday evening after it was pointed out to me during the day that I'd had my current manicure (the beautiful pink and white one) for three days. My college classmates are becoming cheeky.

This is my first grey polish, courtesy of Beauty UK, a random brand I found in Superdrug. I bought a lilac as well and had great plans for a grey and lilac manicure (grey background, purple hearts) but alas, the lilac didn't show up when I stamped it so I went for white as my stamping colour.

I love the colour combination although the manicure itself is a bit of a mess due to me stamping before the grey had properly dried and getting lovely smudge marks as a result.

I chose two Bundle Monster images, a floral design and lines with hearts dotted over them. It's not usual for me to mix patterns but I like this!

Bye for now,
Laura