Monday's Manicure: Pink Zebra NOTD

Currently watching: Spiral

Good morning lovely ladies,

I have to confess that I haven't been motivated by my nails recently, partly because of their short length and poor condition and partly because of the cold weather.  I take my photos on the window sill, with the window open, and the low temperatures make my fingers look so red and raw.  There's nothing I can do about the weather but I am using a variety of nail care treatments on a daily basis so hopefully I'll see an improvement in my nails soon.  I'll keep you posted.

 

Today's manicure features one of my favourite Essence polishes, Pink Hibiscus.  It's so shimmery, I love it.  Haven't worn it for a while though, strangely.

 I stamped an animal print pattern using Bundle Monster plate BM 223 and MUA shade 2.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Tiger Stripes

Currently listening to: Payphone by Maroon 5

 Good morning girls!

Isn't it funny how quickly we fall back into our old routines after being on holiday?  I'm back at work today, joy of joys.  At least I've now had time to unpack and, more importantly, paint my nails ;-)  I had to go for 11 days without changing my manicure while I was away so I'm sure you can imagine the state of my nails and the manicure when I got home yesterday!

 

Anyway, yesterday evening I decided to start swatching my new polishes and the first one I chose was Tangerine by Barry M.

 I'll let you in on a shameful secret: I only bought this polish in order to do this manicure.  Tiger stripes came into my head a few days before I went away and although I was doubtful of finding an appropriate orange polish on the high street, I headed to Superdrug and found the exact shade I was looking for.  I shouldn't have been surprised really, Barry M caters for all tastes.  I would never wear this polish on its own as it doesn't suit me at all but it's ideal for what I had in mind ;-)

 The stripes were courtesy of MUA Shade 2 and Bundle Monster plate BM 223.

What do you think girrrrrls?  Have you ever bought a polish for a particular manicure?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure (My Bundle Monster Entry)

Currently watching: The Voice

Good morning girls!  I don't think anyone likes Monday mornings but let's try to start the week off with a bang:

 

 

I started this manicure with two coats of a lilac polish by the Polish brand MV.

 

I then layered a coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire on top.  You can't really see the flashes of red that Fantasy Fire produced here but under artificial light they were really strong.

I then stamped using Miss Sporty 313 and Bundle Monster plate BM223.

To finish, I then stamped the star design using Barry M Gold Foil and Bundle Monster plate BM21.

I really liked this manicure and actually entered it into Bundle Monster's nail art contest to win a set of their new image plates.  Fingers crossed ;-)

What do you think of this manicure girls?  Have you entered Bundle Monster's competition?

Bye for now,
Laura

Thursday's Talons (Patriotic Double Stamping)

Currently listening to: Difficulty by KT Tunstall

Greetings dear readers!

I'm so excited to show you today's manicure:

I say it's patriotic as yesterday (30th November), when I wore this, was St Andrew's Day. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and our flag is blue and white therefore my colours were very apt :-)

I started with a base of No48 by Easy Paris. Although the name features the word easy, application was anything but. I had to apply four coats and each one was more difficult than the last to apply. It was such a mess I had to double stamp in order to cover it up.

First I stamped animal stripes using Bundle Monster plate BM223 and Miss Sporty silver. I didn't want this to feature prominently in my manicure but I wanted my patchy white base to be covered up and lifted.

I then stamped using Midnight Sapphire by Boots 17 and my favourite floral image from BM224.

Here's a close-up so you can see the silver stamping more clearly.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

NOTD

Currently listening to: Halo by Beyonce

Good morning girls!

Thanks so much for all your lovely comments about my previous manicure :-) Today I have a new one to show you which is a less detailed manicure but still special due to the background colour being GOSH Holographic:

I love holographic polishes. I wish I had more than this one.

I stamped using H&M Fashionista and BM223.

It was dark when I took these photos so in order to show the true holographic-ness of this manicure, I had to resort to taking pictures in artificial light

Hope you like!

Bye for now,
Laura

Friday's Floral NOTD

Currently watching: The Apprentice

Greetings!

I am so excited to show you today's manicure as I think it's my favourite out of all the manicures I've ever done! Enough words, here's the first picture:

Ah, I love it. The original base is from yesterday's post, Miss Sporty stamped with GOSH Holographic. Like most nail fans, if I like a manicure but don't particularly love it, I'll quickly add some modifications or change it. I couldn't leave this alone so I stamped with another full nail image from MASH m64 using Natural Collection Hibiscus.

I don't know why I like this so much, possibly just because I managed to double stamp two full nail images which I've never tried to do before.

This is not a subtle manicure, as evidenced by the fact that two men noticed my nails and admired them. I do believe that's the first time in 10 months a client has noticed my nails (I'm an accountant, my clients see my nails a lot).

Although present, the holographic polish isn't striking so I think using plain silver would work just as well. I also think trying this manicure in lilac and blue will work too. Can't wait to try.

What are your thoughts girls? Do you like this manicure as much as I do?

Bye for now,
Laura

Thursday's Talons

Currently watching: Grey's Anatomy

Hello dear readers!

I hope you are all well and having a good week. Half-way there now...

Today I have a manicure based on Tuesday's, using Twinkle Shine by Miss Sporty and GOSH Holographic.

This polish is so pretty. Application wasn't great and I could still see nail line after three coats but I can forgive that because of the colour ;-)

Then I used BM 223 again, this time with GOSH Holographic.

Once again, I had problems stamping but hopefully you won't be able to tell and in person it looks good.

It almost makes me think I have pink holographic polish. Ha, if only.

Are you a fan of this manicure? Do you have any holographic polishes?

Bye for now,
Laura

Tuesday's Talons

Currently listening to: Final Distance by Utada Hikaru

Hi girls!

This is a bit late in the day but I thought I'd show you the manicure I wore today, even though it didn't turn out very well.

I used one coat of Eyeko Tea Rose Polish as my base and stamped using a pink Midi shimmer and BM plate 223.

I don't know what went wrong with this but basically I had difficulties with my stamping so the full image never came out properly. I only kept this manicure as it was too late to redo it last night and I thought the many imperfections were quite minor and would not be noticed by my colleagues. I was right. Plus, I liked the *lift* that the shimmer polish gave to Tea Rose. It's subtle but slightly different.

What do you think of the manicure? Have you had any stamping fails recently?

Bye for now,
Laura