Mid-week Manicure: Claire's Butterfly Sequins

Currently listening to:  You're  Still You by Josh Groban

Hello ladies,

Today's manicure features my first polish from Claire's Accessories (or is it just Claire's these days?).

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A fellow blogger recently alerted me to the fact that Claire's stocked multi-coloured glitters, akin to the type I'd only previously seen sold by indie polish makers so I felt obliged to see what I could find in my local shop.

 There were so many colours I was tempted by but not knowing the quality of the brand, and not needing any solid colours, I decided to stick to a couple of glitters.  This first one is called Sequins and consists of black, white and pink confetti suspended in clear polish.

 I layered it over Barry M Silver Foil and then stamped a couple of butterflies on each nail using MUA shade 2 and Konad plate m36.

 I like the way this turned out and I'm excited to try Sequins over a white base.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Digital Butterflies

Currently listening to:  I Follow Rivers by Lykke Li

Good morning ladies,

The sun was hiding when I did this manicure and all I could see from my window was grey skies and raindrops yet I was inspired to bring out my holographic polishes.

 

 

I started by painting my accent nail with Nail Pop Dusky and my other nails with Milani Digital.

 Not knowing how well a holographic polish would stamp, I then stamped two butterflies on the accent nail with Nail Pop It's Mint and Konad m36.

 My final step was to fill in the butterfly wings using a dotting tool and Color Club Angel Kiss.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Sunday's Sparkles: Butterfly Fairytale

Currently listening to: Worry About You by Tyler James 

Hello ladies,

Today I'd like to show you a polish I bought a while ago online from Korea Department Store.  It's always risky buying online as it's hard to tell how accurate the sample pictures are and I have to say I was disappointed by how pale and sheer this polish turned out to be.

Not to worry though, I made it work by applying two coats over a coat of Essence Sweet as Candy.

 I then stamped butterflies with H&M Purple Flash, Konad m36 and Bundle Monster 307.

What do you think girls?  Do you ever buy your polish online?

Bye for now,

Laura

Sunday's Stamping: Oriental Butterflies NOTD

Currently watching: The X Factor 

Good afternoon ladies,

Today I have another butterfly manicure to show you, this time with a bit of an oriental twist.

 

I started with Barry M Gold Foil as my base but it was a bit harsh for my skin so I layered a coat of Beauty UK Topaz over it.  Then I used MUA Shade 2 to stamp black lines with Bundle Monster plate BM 316.  Finally, I stamped Konad m36 butterflies using a red polish and acrylic paint.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Elizabeth's Butterflies NOTD

Currently watching: Strictly It Takes Two

Good evening ladies,

As I'm sure all of you reading in the UK will be aware, Glamour recently offered a free Nails Inc nail polish with the latest magazine.  I chose Elizabeth Street, a pale pink which you can see below:

 

 For this manicure I stamped a pattern of inter-crossing silver lines using Barry M Silver Foil and a Bundle Monster plate.

 I then stamped lots of colourful butterflies using Konad image plate m36 and a variety of polishes by Nails Inc and Barry M.

What do you think of this girly design?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Purple Holo Butterflies NOTD

Currently listening to: Candy by Robbie Williams

Good morning girls!

Today I'd like to show you one of my favourite manicures, inspired by Theo over at Red Hair and Black Nail Polish.

 

 I used Milani Hi-Res to achieve a rainbow on each nail ;-)

 For my accent nail I used Barry M Prickly Pear for the base and stamped using Konad image plate m36 and a-England Lady of the Lake.  I then filled in the butterfly wings using Hi-Res.

I had intended to stamp using Hi-Res but it didn't show up well which is why I resorted to Lady of the Lake although I absolutely love the end result.

What do you think girls?  Who has inspired you recently?

Bye for now,

Laura

PS Don't forget to follow me on my new Twitter account @LH24Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Lilac Sorbet Princess NOTD

Currently watching: Strictly Come Dancing

Good evening girls!

Blogging has turned into a bit of a challenge now that there isn't enough daylight during the week either before or after work to take photos.  What's a girl to do?

I suppose I can start by showing you a manicure I created last weekend which featured Accessorize Lilac Sorbet as the base:

 

 I like this polish; I have no issues with application and it's suitable for work which is always a bonus, especially now that my firm have tightened up our dress code.  There's no mention of nail polish in the dress code policy so let's hope it stays that way.

 Looking at this picture below you will realise you have seen this manicure very recently, but in blue.  I liked it so much that I wanted to wear it to work so I changed the colour scheme to pink.

 I sponged Essence Party Princess on my tips and stamped using m36 and Konad Special White polish.

 Party Princess is a jelly which made me worry that it would look very thick when sponged on but a layer of topcoat got rid of any worries I had.

I loved this manicure the first time I did it, in blue, and I love it just as much, if not more, not that it's in pink.  What do you think of it girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

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

Tuesday's Talons ft Pink Butterfly Gradient NOTD

Currently listening to: Almost Everything by Wakey Wakey

Hello lovely ladies,

This morning I have a pink butterfly gradient to show you, as the title of this post suggests.

My first step was to create a gradient using Essence Enchanted Fairy, Lm 21 and Barry M Fuchsia:

I then stamped black butterflies using MUA Shade 2 and Konad plate m36.

 Next, I sponged Barry M Pink Iridescent glitter on my nails.  This polish is full of tiny particles of glitter which shimmer in a rainbow of blue, purple, gold, pink and silver.

 My final step was to sponge a heavier glitter, Saffron London Shade 9, on to the tips of my nails.

 The Saffron polish consists of magenta and silver glitter.

Here are the polishes I used:

I was really happy with this manicure although on reflection it might have looked better with grey butterflies so the gradient was more obvious.  Maybe next time!

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

Thursday's Talons: Fantasy Butterflies

Currently listening to: The Call by Backstreet Boys

Good morning girls!

Today I'd like to show you a manicure which was inspired by a beautiful design I saw on Mini Nail Blog:

 I didn't take pictures of the different stages but I plan to recreate this manicure on my own nails whenever I can and I'll take more photos then, if you're interested.

The polishes I used for the background were Kiko 255, H&M Fashionista, Saffron London 62 and 17 Midnight Sapphire.

My first step was to paint my nails using the magenta polish by Saffron London.  Once that was dry, I  sponged Midnight Sapphire on the bottom corner of each nail and Fashionista on the top corner.  I then realised Fashionista didn't really show up so I added a layer of Kiko 255 ;-)

I added the butterflies using Konad plate m36 and Barry M Silver Foil.

 

My final step was to add a coat of Essence Night in Vegas, my very first flakie!

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

Bye for now,

Laura

Friday's Minty Butterfly NOTD

Currently listening to: Exit Wounds by The Script

Hello lovely ladies!

The weekend is in sight so to end the week in style I'd like to show you a manicure featuring Eyeko Vintage Polish and Technic white nail striper.

I started with two coats of green polish and then added white vertical stripes down the length of each nail.

I love these Technic stripers, I really do.  They are so easy to use and for the price (3 for £1.99), I have absolutely no complaints.

I finished off this manicure by adding two black butterflies using a black MUA polish and Konad plate m36.

 What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

Friday's Framed Fingers

Currently watching: The Apprentice UK

Good morning dear readers!

I'm quite excited about today's post as it features a new type of manicure for me. But before I show you my efforts, let's start with my base colour, Kiko 346:

I absolutely love this colour yet this is only the second time I've worn it after purchasing it last spring!

I'm not sure how to describe the shade although the pictures are quite accurate. Green agate maybe? Dark green jade?

Now we get to the framing :-) I'm sure there's plenty of potential here for colourful and creative designs but as this was my first time I wanted to keep things simple. I used my dotting tool to place dots of Barry M Silver Foil around the edges of my nails.

I then decided to stamp a butterfly in each frame using Konad plate m36.

What do you think girls? Is this a trend you like?

Bye for now,
Laura