Tuesday's Talons: Bright Flowers

Currently listening to: Mockingbird by Darius

Hello girls,

Today's manicure is one which has been inspired by countless photos on Instagram (it my biggest regret that my phone will not allow me to upload pictures on Instagram, by the way) and feels very summery.

I painted my thumb and ring finger with a Color Club white shade, my index and small finger with Nails Inc Spitalfields and my middle finger with Color Club Harp On It.

 I then painted flowers on the white nails using a dotting tool and Essence Very Berry, Nails Inc Spitalfields and A'Pieu Glow.

 I finished by adding a few dots of Harp On It around the flowers.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

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

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

Tuesday's Talons: Berry Christmas Sweater

Currently listening to: Les Voyages en Train by Grand Corps Malade

Hello ladies,

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

I decided to use Catrice Dirty Berry as my base, a grey-toned purple polish which I think I've had for a couple of years and used only a couple of times.  I absolutely love how it looks which made me question why I've worn it so rarely and I think it's because a) I struggle to find polishes which stamp well over it and b) my old camera could never capture it regularly.  Now that I'm using a different camera these photos are colour accurate so at least that's one issue solved.

 I then stamped a Christmas sweater pattern using MoYou London plate Festive 04.  On my thumb and index finger I stamped using Easy Paris shade 3 then, unhappy with the blurry transfer of the design, switched to Konad Special Polish in white. 

 I thought the Konad polish produced crisper results but these pictures don't really show a difference so now I'm not too sure. Are there any white polishes you would recommend that stamp well?

 This is the first time I've used MoYou London stamping plates and while I do love the designs, I nearly cried when I saw how big the images are because they are just far too big for my nails.  I find the images in the third Bundle Monster series are the perfect size for me and as you can see below, the MoYou London ones are considerably larger.

What do you think girls?  Have you tried MoYou London plates before?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Mini Haul

Currently listening to: Book of Day by Enya

Good morning girls,

Don't you love it when fate makes an appearance?  Last Wednesday I watched a video on Youtube where the vlogger was wearing Essie Miss Fancy Pants on her nails.  I thought it looked very chic and despite it not being the type of colour I usually favour I decided to add it to my wishlist.  

The following day I took a trip to TK Maxx where upon browsing the nail polish section spotted a lonely trio of Essie nail polish.  What do you know, Miss Fancy Pants was included in the trio along with Bobbing for Baubles and Orange, it's Obvious.  I like finding these trio packs because in TK Maxx they retail for £9.99 whereas one Essie polish on the high street sells for £7.99.

I added it to my basket and also picked up this set of Nails Inc polishes too.  From left to right, Porchester Place, Fenchurch Street, Mayfair and Belgravia Gardens.

 

To be honest, I can't see me getting much use out of the two polishes on the left but who knows, maybe I can rustle up a few more "autumn leaves" manicures this month before the opportunity escapes me.

Do you own any of these polishes?  What bargains have you found lately?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Purple Flash

Currently watching: The Women

Good morning girls,

Today I'd like to show you a manicure with some subtle stamping.

 I started with a coat of H&M Purple Flash.  Yep, one coat was all I needed to achieve this opaque finish.

 I love this shade, it's such a pretty metallic.

 Purple and gold always look great together so I decided to stamp a swirly fern pattern using Barry M Gold Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM20.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Queenie's Topaz Leaves

Currently watching: Homeland Season 2 

Good morning ladies,

Today I have another autumnal manicure for you.  I feel slightly more justified this time as the leaves have well and truly started to change.

 

 I started with No7 Queenie as my base. 

It's a deep vampy red full of red shimmering particles.  I used three coats for a more even finish.  

 My original plan was to stamp gold swirls on this (similar to my previous manicure) but I just felt that would be too festive and would look better at Christmas / New Year.

 Instead, I decided to stamp autumn leaves using Beauty UK Topaz and Bundle Monster BM04.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Mystic Purple Flowers

Currently watching: Location, Location, Location 

Good morning dear readers,

Today's manicure features three pretty purples and some bad stamping.

 

I started off by painting my nails with Barry M Prickly Pear and created an accent nail with Models Own Mystic Mauve.

 I then stamped a floral pattern using Barry M Bright Purple and Mash plate m64.

 I don't use my Mash plates often but when I do, I usually choose this image as it's one of my favourites.

 Unfortunately I messed up the stamping on my middle finger but hey, I don't think it's that noticeable in real life.

What do you think girls?  What brand of stamping plates is your favourite?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Glitter Feather NOTD

Currently reading: The Beginner's Goodbye by Anne Tyler 

Good morning lovely ladies,

Today I have a manicure to show you which I wore at the end of last week and all during the weekend since I absolutely loved it. 

 

My base colour was Essence A Lovely Secret, a beautiful purple shade with a subtle hint of shimmer running through it.

I then stamped a feather on my accent nail using Easy Paris shade 48 and Bundle Monster plate BM15.  Why have I not worn a feather manicure before now, especially considering this plate is from Bundle Monster's first image plate series?!

 On my other nails I applied a coat of NYC Lights Camera Glitter, a clear polish packed full of silver, blue and purple glitter particles.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Rose Quartz NOTD

Currently listening to: Payphone by Maroon 5

Good morning girls,

Today I have a very simply glitter manicure to show you, the style of which I'm sure you've all seen many times before now but I don't think this ever gets old.

My base is Nails Inc Elizabeth Street, a very soft and feminine pink shade.

I then applied Barry M Rose Quartz Glitter to the tips of my nails.

I think I ended up with more glitter on my nails than I had planned but I still like this.  There's no such thing as too much glitter anyway ;-)

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Korean Haul

Currently listening to: Titanium by David Guetta 

Good morning lovely ladies,

At the start of the year I said that I was going to make a conscious effort not to buy nail polish from brands I was already familiar with and try brands that were new to me.  I think I've done well so far, making purchases from only Sinful Colors, Color Club and Essie.

A couple of weeks ago I read about Korea Depart, an online Korean department store and decided to try a few more unknown brands.

 My order arrived within two weeks and was well-packaged.

 The website doesn't have great pictures of the polish and photos of swatches were difficult to find so I took a bit of a gamble with some of these but I think I'll wear them all.

 The prices were very reasonable although it is worth nothing that these bottles are quite small.  I'm happy to have so many new brands to try though and it's good to have some colours which were not already in my collection.

What do you think of my haul girls?  Do you recognise any of these brands?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Angel Kiss

Currently watching: Homeland Season 1 

Good morning lovely ladies,

Apologies for the mini blogging break; I stuck with my Fairy Godmother manicure for a while and didn't actually paint my nails until the weekend.  I've just realised now how well that manicure lasted as I don't think I had any tip wear or chips when I removed it and that was after a week.  Wow.

 

Anyway, moving on to my weekend manicure.  The sun was out on Saturday so I thought it was the ideal time for a holographic polish.

 I decided to go for the green holo in the Color Club 2012 Halo Hues collection, Angel Kiss.  When I was swithering between buying the whole collection and just buying a couple of colours, this green shade was definitely one which I thought I could do without.  Oh how wrong I was.

 I haven't managed to capture the full holographic effect as I didn't take any pictures in direct sunlight but this is such a pretty shade and I can see it being really versatile; a great polish for all seasons.  It's also really flattering and not at all difficult to wear.

What do you think girls?  Are there any polishes you've bought which you've been pleasantly surprised by?

Bye for now,

Laura