Mid-week Manicure: Mystic Rose Quartz Butterflies

Currently listening to: To Where You Are by Josh Groban

Hello dear readers,

Today's manicure features one of my favourite polishes, Mystic Mauve by Models Own.

It's not one I wear often, partly because I never know what colours to combine with it for stamping and partly because I really don't like the smell of Models Own polishes.

 I decided to use black for stamping and I went will a butterfly image from Bundle Monster plate BM 307.

 For my accent nail I added a layer of Barry M Rose Quartz Glitter.

 Afterwards I couldn't decided whether the accent nail was a good idea or not.  What do you think?

Bye for now,

Laura

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

Tuesday's Talons: Glorious Blue Moon

Currently watching: Grey's Anatomy

Good morning girls,

I'm back after a short leave of absence with the manicure I wore over the Easter weekend.

This is two coats of Barry M Blue Moon topped with Essence Glorious Aquarius.

 There's only about 1/3 of Blue Moon left in the bottle but it applied surprisingly well for a polish at that stage of its life.  It's not a polish I'd wear on its own as I feel it doesn't suit my skin tone but I can't deny how pretty it is.

 Glorious Aquarius is a great layering polish, one which I think I'd previously only worn over silver.  I like how it looks over blue.

 What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Kiko Stamped with Essence Flowers

Currently listening to: The Fall by Bo Bruce

Hello ladies,

Today's manicure is one I'm really proud of and absolutely loved wearing but of course it was really difficult to photograph.  Isn't that always the way?

I started with a base of Kiko 254, a very pretty magenta pink full of shimmer which I've only worn a couple of times since buying it several years ago.  I will definitely be wearing this more often in the future now that I've been reminded how special it is.

 I then stamped a full nail image using Barry M Silver Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM 310.  This is one of my favourite images to use for double stamping.  I love how crisp the image stamps.

 To finish, I used Essence Free Hugs to stamp the flower pattern on Bundle Monster plate BM 224, another of my favourite images.  I was surprised how clearly this stamped for a pastel shade.

 This made me think of cherry blossom, which I absolutely love, and I'm sure I'll be reproducing this manicure in the months to come.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: MUA with NYC Lights Camera Glitter

Currently watching: Mind the Gap

Good morning girls,

A while ago I cut my nails as they were just getting too long and I was experiencing a few peels.  This was my first manicure with short nails.

This is MUA shade 5, a green polish that I loved so much that I bought a back up.  That was the only time I have ever bought a back up.

If I bought this polish now I definitely wouldn't buy a back up.  I think nowadays I try to buy shades I can get more use out of ie work appropriate.

 I added NYC Lights Camera Glitter to the tips of my nails, a clear polish full of blue, purple and silver glitter.

 What do you think girls?  Do you regularly buy back ups?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Kiko 255 Violet Microglitter

Currently listening to: Secrets by One Republic

Hello ladies,

Another purple manicure for you today,  this time featuring Kiko Violet Microglitter, shade 255.

Despite loving this shade, I've worn it only a handful of times since buying it almost three years ago.  I somehow think it's too dark or troublesome to remove to bother with but wearing it on this occasion made me rethink how I feel about this sparkler.

 Giving you an idea of how old these pictures are, I actually wore this on New Year's Day as I had no time for nail art but wanted something with some added interest to mark the day.

 I have no access to Kiko polishes where I live (and I don't want to buy them online) but I'm going to Paris in May and already I'm excited about going to the Kiko store and picking up a few new shades.

What do you think girls?  Do you have Kiko polishes in your collection?

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

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

Mid-week Manicure: Magical Autumn Flowers

Currently watching: Location, Location, Location

Good morning girls,

Taking advantage of the last few days of autumn, today I'd like to show you an autumn-themed skittle manicure.

From left to right: Nails Inc Porchester Place, Stylure 102, Barry M Coral, 17 Knockout Red, Nails Inc Tate

 I used the majority of these colours for another autumn-themed manicure last month I think and really loved how they complimented each other.

 Unlike last time however, I decided to stamp using brown instead of gold and oh how glad I was with my decision.

I stamped using Accessorize Magical Mocha, which showed up better over the orange tones than gold would have and looked so beautiful over the red shades, and Bundle Monster plate BM 205.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Leaves Falling on Belgravia Gardens

Currently listening to: I Have Nothing by Russell Watson

Hello dear ladies,

I have yet another of my new polishes to show you today, Nails Inc Belgravia Gardens, which is a camel-toned shade of brown.

[You'll have to excuse the discolouration on my index finger; I trapped my finger in the door and was left with this bruise.]

 

 

 I felt this shade was perfect as the background to falling autumn leaves so once the polish was dry I stamped a pattern from Red Angel plate RA-116 using Nails Inc Fenchurch Street.

 I then stamped a variety of other leaf designs in other colours from Red Angel plates RA-121 and RA-118 and Bundle Monster plates BM04 and BM05.  I hardly ever use my Red Angel plates but I think I should reach for them more often!

 Polishes used, from left to right; Barry M Pomegranate, Accessorize Pink Spice, No7 Queenie, Nails Inc Belgravia Gardens, Nails Inc Fenchurch Street, Essence Just in Case, Accessorize Magical Mocha, Accessorize Storm

What do you think girls?  Do you like multi-coloured stamping?

Bye for now,

Laura

Mid-week Manicure: Butterfly Decals

Currently watching: Glee

Good morning ladies,

Today I'd like to show you a manicure I created featuring some butterfly decals sent to me by Born Pretty Store.

I started by painting my nails with a green holographic polish from Kiko, shade 401.  I love this shade, it makes me think of tropic rainforests. 

 I then decided to apply the butterfly decals to my thumb and ring finger.  I've used water decals before and haven't experienced any problems with them but for some reason these would not stick to my nails.  The first picture shows the original position of the butterflies and the second shows how the butterflies moved on my ring finger when I applied a top coat to make them stay on my nail.

 The effect is pretty but the fact the decals didn't stick to my nails was really annoying.  I still have plenty of other butterfly designs to try so I won't give up on these yet.  Fingers crossed that next time will be better.

If you like the look of these and want to try them, or any nail art supplies, for yourselves be sure to use my code APL91 to receive a 10% discount.

What do you think girls?  Has your experience of water decals always been good?

Bye for now,

Laura