Monday's Manicure: Pink Floral Double Stamping

Currently watching: Grey's Anatomy

Good morning girls,

I started today's manicure with two coats of Yes Love K021, a pastel pink shade.

I think the Yes Love polishes cost under €1 so I never expect much from them but this shade applied really well for a pastel so I was pleasantly surprised.  If I hadn't planned on covering it with stamping I would have added another coat to hide the ridges in my nails ;-)

 My second step was to stamp diagonal lines using a white Easy Paris polish and Bundle Monster plate BM 310.  I say this every time but this pattern is one of my favourites to use as a base for double stamping.

 I then stamped some flowers using Yes Love 477 and Bundle Monster BM16.

 Finally, I added a layer of Kiko Sparkle Touch but it didn't show up well on camera unfortunately so I don't have a photo of the final look but this is pretty close.

What do you think girls?  Are you ever pleasantly surprised by the quality of cheaper polish brands?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Hello Kitty Love

Currently watching: The Big Bang Theory 

Good morning lovely ladies,

The other day I was looking at Brit Nails' recent manicure which featured nail stickers and commented that as much as I liked the manicure, I wasn't a big fan of nail stickers because I don't like being able to see the edges of the stickers, even after a topcoat has been applied.

And yet, when I was painting my nails on Saturday and wondering what to put on top of my pink base (Yes Love shade 21), I found myself reaching for these Hello Kitty stickers I got a couple of years ago.

 Before applying the stickers, I applied a coat of Kiko Sparkle Touch to lift the pink base and also match the sparkle in the Hello Kitty stickers.

 I really liked this look, especially as it's quite different from any manicure I've done in the past so I may find myself reaching for my stash of stickers more often from now on.

What do you think girls?  Are you fans of nail stickers?

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Neon Pink Floral NOTD

Currently listening to: False Alarms by Josh Groban

Good morning girls!

Today I have a very bright floral manicure to show you:

I started with a base of neon pink by Yes Love (shade 17) and then applied a layer of fairy dust, also known as Kiko Sparkle Touch, shade 228.

 I then stamped a full nail floral pattern using Easy Paris shade 48 and Bundle Monster plate BM 321.  I smeared one of my nails when I applied my top coat but it wasn't at all noticeable in real life.  I've been wearing this manicure for four days now and I still can't stop admiring it.  Because the pattern is so big and bold it kind of makes me think of nail wraps :-)

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Sunday's Simple Spotted NOTD

Currently watching: River City

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

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

I started with a base of Catrice Dirty Berry, my one and only Catrice polish which I bought on my travels during the summer.

 Using my dotting tool I added a row of dots along my tips with Barry M Silver Foil and added extra purple dots on my accent nail with Yes Love 18.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Flying Snowmen NOTD

Currently watching: One Tree Hill

 

Good afternoon dear readers,

 

So enamoured was I with my previous snowman manicure that I decided to try another one:

 

This time Yes Love shade 3 was my base colour.  I stamped using Konad Special White and Bundle Monster plate BM 318, added some colour to the snowmen using my dotting tool, sponged Barry M Matt White on my tips and, for the finishing touch, added dots in the background.

What do you think girls?

 

I won't be posting tomorrow so I'd like to take the opportunity just now to wish you all a very Merry Christmas :-)

 

Bye for now,

Laura

Saturday's Stamping: Multi Coloured Stamping NOTD

Currently watching: Strictly Come Dancing

Good morning girls,

Today I'd like to show you my first attempt at multi coloured stamping, as the title of the post suggests ;-)

 

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Essence Enchanted Princess.

 I then stamped a full nail image using Bundle Monster plate BM310, Yes Love 477 and Dior Graphic Berry.

 Next, I layered a coat of Barry M Pink Iridescent over the stamping.

 I then stamped two pink butterflies on each nail using Bundle Monster plate BM05 and Konad Special Pink Polish.  For the finishing touch I added some Saffron glitter to the tips.

What do you think girls?  Have you experimented with multi coloured stamping?

Bye for now,

Laura

Wednesday's Colour Block Nail Fail

Currently watching: The Apprentice UK (Series 4)

Good morning dear readers!

I have a few more stripey manicures to show you which I am very excited about but I'm going to give you a break from my new love and share with you a recent nail fail using the three colours shown below:

 Yes Love, Nails Inc Spitalfields and Barry M Pure Turquoise.

I saw a beautiful block manicure in this style on a blog recently and decided to try and recreate it, using different colours.

 This was my first attempt at colour blocking and my first attempt at a tape manicure.  I think you can see from the pictures that it was a disaster.  It was all very "lumpy" as I ended up making the yellow strips too narrow so had to widen them without tape when the polish had already started to dry and then I did the blue strips without tape too.  Perhaps I shouldn't even call it a tape manicure since the majority of this ended up being free-handed.

Are you fans of tape manicures and the colour blocking trend?

Bye for now,
Laura

Monday's Manicure

 Currently watching: The Voice

Good morning girls,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead.

Today I'd like to show you the nail art I added to Yes Love 622, which I showed you yesterday.

 I stamped a floral image using All About Nails Honey Pink.

 Positioning proved slightly problematic but I liked the results; the colour of the flowers reminded me of cherry blossom.

Can anyone recommend a good, affordable baby pink polish for stamping?  This one showed up fairly well here but it's only a small bottle!

Bye for now,
Laura

Sunday's Swatch ft Yes Love 622

 Currently watching: Ramsay's USA Kitchen Nightmares

Hi girls!

Today, if you didn't already know from the title, I'd like to show you some swatches of one of the new polishes I got from Spain, shade 622 by Yes Love:

 This is a cerise jelly which I absolutely love.

 Application didn't cause me any problems at all; the photos show three coats of the polish.

 As is normal with jellies, my nail line was visible.  I'm not sure if that bothers me or not.  Does it bother you?

Overall I was really impressed with this polish and I love the shade, especially as it's work appropriate.

What do you think of this shade?  Have you tried any Yes Love polishes?

Bye for now,
Laura

Thursday's Talons

Currently watching: The Apprentice UK

Hi girls!

Just a quick post tonight to show you a subtle manicure I did for wearing at work earlier this week which started with a coat of Eyeko Tea Rose Polish:

I really like this shade as I think it's quite flattering. I only used one coat here but if I was wearing it alone I would use two.

I then added two layers of my new pale pink Yes Love 622 polish. The difference isn't obvious but the polish added a touch of shimmer.

My final touch was to stamp two Konad butterflies using Barry M Silver Foil.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft Yes Love

Currently watching: Titanic

Good evening girls,

I hope you are well and enjoying the start of your week.

This evening I'd like to show you some swatches of the grey Yes Love polish I recently acquired:

It's not often I'm surprised by a polish but I was certainly surprised by this polish. Firstly, on account of how dark it is compared to how it looks in the bottle and secondly, because it dries matte.

I don't think it's very flattering on me but I'll probably save it for stamping.

Since I wasn't too pleased with the way this polish looked on its own, I decided to add some Boots 17 heart stickers. That was a mistake.

I then added a layer of Barry M Pink Iridescent. Also a mistake.

What do you think girls? Would you have been pleased with this manicure or, like me, would you have removed it straight after taking these photos? ;-)

Bye for now,
Laura

Saturday's Star Stamping

Currently reading: The Hunger Games

Good morning girls!

I had a bad week nail-wise, hence the lack of posts, but towards the end of the week I finally did a manicure that I liked enough to show you! Here are the polishes I used:

Yes Love 477, Natural Collection Hibiscus, MUA 20, MUA 15, Asos Blake

I decide to do a pink skittle look although unfortunately the differences in the pink polishes weren't very distinct.

On the bright side, because it was a subtle manicure it was appropriate for work ;-)

The Yes Love polish (used on my thumb) is from the collection my uncle brought back from Spain. I really like this polish, especially as it's a jelly.

I then stamped stars on my nails yesterday (dress down day at work) using Barry M Silver Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM05. I need to use this plate more often!

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura