Friday's Fingers: Cherry Blossom

Currently listening to: Let Go by Frou Frou

Hello ladies,

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, that manicure was a base for today's design which features my attempt at free-handing cherry blossom.

In addition to the three polishes I showed you yesterday (Essence Sweet as Candy, Barry M Diamond Glitter, A'Pieu Twinkle Nail Touch), I also used a pink shade from Yes Love, Accessorize Lilac Sorbet, No7 Beanie and Essence Free Hugs.

 I drew branches on each nail using No7 Beanie and a nail striper brush.

 I then used the Yes Love polish and a dotting tool to place several circles on each nail to form the centre of each flower.

 Finally, I used my dotting tool and Accessorize Lilac Sorbet and Essence Free Hugs to form the petals of the flowers.  The spacing on my right hand was better than my left so for once I'm actually showing you my right hand as well.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Friday's Fingers: Lilac Sorbet Confetti

Currently listening to: This Is How a Heart Breaks by Rob Thomas

Good morning ladies,

Another glitter manicure for you today, something bright and spring-like to end the week.

This is Accessorize Lilac Sorbet topped with L'Oreal Confetti.

 As much as I like Confetti, it is difficult to control the glitter distribution and achieve an ever coverage, as evidence by the abundance of black glitter on my middle finger!  I don't think it detracts from the prettiness of the manicure though and a colleague actually complimented me on my nails when I wore this to work so that was nice.

What do you think girls?  If you own this polish do you find it hard to control as well?

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

Sunday's Stamping: Paisley Printed Mocha

Currently listening to: La-Bas by Natasha St Pier

Good morning girls,

Today I have another Accessorize polish to show you, this time Magical Mocha.

Didn't I just say that I wasn't a fan of Accessorize polishes and here I am showing you two in a row?  Yep.  It's really the cremes I have a problem with and Magical Mocha is a frosted shimmer polish so that's okay ;-)

 I'm not a coffee drinker so I don't know how accurately the name describes the polish but it is a very warm, rich shade of brown.

 As we're nearing the end of November, I thought this may be one of my last chances to create an autumnal manicure as surely the beginning of December signals winter- and Christmas- themed manicures, and I have to say this turned out to be my favourite autumnal manicure of the year.

I stamped a paisley pattern using Bundle Monster plate BM 315, Barry M Pomegranate and Essie Orange it's Obvious.  Not only do I love the colour combination, I also love the way the cremes contrast with the frosted background.

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

Bye for now,

Laura

Friday's Fingers: Pink Spice Flowers

Currently listening to: Happy in my Heartache by Josh Groban

Good morning lovely ladies,

Today I have one of my absolute favourite polishes to show you, Accessorize Pink Spice.

I've had this for a few years and showed it here on numerous occasions but I can't help but reiterate what an amazing polish it is and how strong the duochrome effect is with ever-changing flashes of pink and orange.

 

I'm not a big fan of Accessorize polishes but I can't fault this one.  My bottle is nearing the half-way mark so I'll definitely be buying a back-up bottle soon.

 Inspired by the orange tones in Pink Spice I decided to stamp a floral pattern using Essie Orange it's Obvious and Bundle Monster plate BM 321.

 I liked the outcome of this as in some lights the stamping appeared to be very subtle whereas in other lights it was very strong. 

What do you think girls?  Do you have any back-up bottles of your favourite polishes?

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

Saturday's Stamping: Glitter Daisy NOTD

Currently watching: Glee

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

It's a gloriously sunny day here in Manchester so what better way to celebrate than with a pretty glitter daisy manicure?

 

My base is two coats of the Accessorize duochrome Pink Spice covered with a coat of Tony Moly pink glitter.

 

 

It's the same glitter I showed you on Thursday.  Recently I really like using it as a subtle topper.

 

I then stamped a flower in the bottom corner of my ring finger nail and the top corner of my thumb nail using Easy Paris 48 and Bundle Monster plate BM03.  I've had that plate for years but I do believe this is the first time I've used it.

I then finished the manicure off by placing a yellow dot in the centre of each flower using a dotting tool and Nails Inc Spitalfields.

What do you think girls?

 

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Ding Dong Merrily on High NOTD

Currently watching: Miranda

Good morning lovely ladies,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas :-)

Today I'd like to show you my final festive manicure which features Accessorize Pink Spice as the base.  I stamped my accent nail with a bell from Bundle Monster plate BM 302 using Barry M Gold Foil and my other nails were stamped with Cheeky plate CH26.

What do you think girls? 

 

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Dotty Topaz NOTD

Currently reading: Remember Me by Melvyn Bragg

Good morning lovely ladies,

Today I have a very simple manicure to show you but it's a design that's new to me.

 I used Beauty UK Topaz as my base and then with a dotting tool added different sizes of dots in Accessorize Storm and (I think) Yesensy 32.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Fireworks NOTD

Currently watching: Boardwalk Empire 

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

In recognition of today's date (ie Guy Fawkes Day/Bonfire Day in Great Britain) and the fact that tonight the skies will be illuminated by thousands of fireworks, I thought I'd do a fireworks manicure.

 

I started with two coats of MUA Shade 2 and stamped using Barry M Gold Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM21.  I love the look of black nails but you'll rarely see them on me as I hate the removal process.

 I then added pink dots using a dotting tool and Accessorize Pink Spice and filled in the stars with Milani Hi-Res.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Spice Storm NOTD

Currently watching: Strictly Come Dancing

Good morning dear readers,

Today I have what will probably be the last of my autumn leaves manicures to show you.

 

This one features Accessorize Storm as the base.

I then sponged on Accessorize Pink Spice.

My final step was to stamp golden leaves using Barry M Gold Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM 04.

What do you think?

Bye for now,

Laura

Sunday's Stamping: Golden Leaves NOTD

Currently watching: Skyfall

Good evening girls!

My posting schedule has gone right out the window, hasn't it?  I apologise.  This week will be better!

 

 Tonight I'd like to show you a manicure which you've seen better in a different colour scheme.  Originally the base was Accessorize Pink Spice and when I wore it to work a colleague requested I did it again in colours more suited to her colour palette (ie browns).

This time I used Beauty UK Topaz as the base, stamped the leaves using Barry M Mushroom and Red Angel plate RA 121 and used a dotting tool and Accessorize Magical Mocha for the dots.

What do you think girls?  Do you like repeating manicures in different colours?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Pink Mocha Leaf NOTD

Currently listening to: The Flood by Take That 

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

I warned you in my last post that you'd be seeing a lot of manicures featuring autumn leaves this month.  Here's my second one :-)

 

 

I used two coats of the beautiful Accessorize duochrome Pink Spice and stamped two golden leaves on each nail using Barry M Gold Foil and Red Angle plate RA 121.

 I then took inspiration from Spellbinding Nails once again and added dots to my nails with a dotting tool and Accessorize Magical Mocha.  At least I think it was Magical Mocha.  The only other possibility is Accessorize Storm.

 I really liked the way this turned out, especially as it was my first team teaming dots with stamping.

 However, I didn't stop there, I ended up adding a coat of Rimmel Mattifying Top Coat to give my manicure a matte finish, which I also really liked.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura