Mid-week Manicure: Glequin Half-Moon

Currently listening to: Without You by Glee

Hello dear readers,

As the title suggests, today I have a glequin half-moon manicure to show you:

 

 The base is a no-name, no-number shade from a Polish brand called Glamour.  I bought it in Poland three years ago for about 50p but judging from how much is still in the bottle, I haven't used it often.  The quality isn't great (not a surprise considering the price) and the colour isn't as bright as the bottle suggests so I think this will be the last time I use it.

 After creating my half-moon manicure, I painted my nails with my top coat and applied silver glequins (pieces of glitter) to the edge of each half-moon using a small wooden stick.

 I love how effective this design is, especially considering how simple it was to create.  I can't wait to try it again using different colours.

What do you think girls?  How do you incorporate glequins into your nail designs?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Daisy Trail NOTD

Currently watching: Africa

Good morning girls,

I was really touched by the positive reaction I received to my kawaii manicure recently so I thought I would do another manicure with natural half moons:

 

 

My first step was to create a half moon manicure using Barry M Fuchsia.

 I then stamped flowers along the base of Fuchsia using Easy Paris 48 and Mash plate m57.  I filled in the centre of each flower with my dotting tool and Nails Inc Portobello Market.

 For the finishing touch I filled in the unpainted section of my nail with Barry M Pink Iridescent for a little bit of sparkle.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Holographic Rain NOTD

Currently listening to: Hunter by Dido 

Good evening girls,

Today I'd like to show you a discovery I made the last time I was in Marks & Spencer: a beautiful pink holographic polish!

I was actually buying nail polish as a gift for someone when Purple Rain by Autograph caught my eye and I just couldn't resist getting it for myself.

 It's a beautiful colour, regardless of how strong the holo effect is.  Due to a lack of recent sunshine, I could only capture it under artificial light, which isn't the best, but you get the idea.

 I wore this polish on its own for a day before deciding to jazz it up by doing a half-moon manicure with Kiko 255, a similar type of polish.

I then decided to add a layer of B.O 59 glitter and position a silver star at the side of each nail.  I kind of wish I'd left the half-moon as it was though...

What do you think girls?  Have you found any holographic polishes in unlikely places?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons: Half-Moon NOTD

Currently watching: The X Factor

Good morning ladies,

Today I'd like to show you a Barry M polish I recently bought, Coral:

 

I picked this up in August but I'm not really sure why.  To be honest, I don't think I'll get much use out of it as it's a jelly.

I didn't really have an idea in mind when I started this manicure so after discovering that Coral was a jelly, I covered alternate nails with Barry M Fuchsia.  Don't look too closely though, I had a lot of problems with smudging.

 To cover up most of the smudging, I decided to do a half-moon design and chose Barry M Gold Foil as my main colour.  I really like the combination of orange, pink and gold.

 However, I thought the end result was too futuristic so I added a coat of gold Saffron glitter.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft Holographic Half Moon NOTD

Currently listening to: Brooklyn by Wakey Wakey

Good morning lovely readers,

Today I'd like to show you a holographic half moon manicure I did using GOSH Holographic and Milanic Hi-Res.

I started with three coats of GOSH Holographic, the most troublesome polish ever.

I won't complain about application too much though as the end result is stunning and it's a polish I wear quite rarely due its scarcity.

I then used sticky reinforcers to create half moons with Milani Hi-Res.

I showed you a manicure in the same style a few weeks ago, which I got a great response for, but this time my lines are not as clean.  I don't think it matters too much though due to the holographic effect.

I liked the futuristic effect of this manicure but what do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft Half Moons

Currently watching: One Tree Hill

Good morning dear readers!

Today I'd like to show you a half moon manicure I did at the weekend.  I think this is the second half-moon manicure I've done during the past two years, mainly because my first one was a bit of a disaster, but I'm really pleased with how this one turned out.

 

 My first step was to paint my nails with two coats of Soft Lilac by Beauty UK.

 I love lilac polishes, I think they suit everyone.  I have three polishes which could probably be called lilac but they all have their own subtle differences ;-)

 My next step, once the polish was completely dry, was to stick a reinforcer on the lower section of each nail and paint the remaining nail with Marks & Spencer Limited Collection Lilac (G0) polish.  I peeled off each reinforcer almost as soon as I had painted each nail.  The last time I tried this manicure, I waited until the polish had dried a little before removing the stickers and I was left with lots of flaws.  This method seemed to work much better.

 Et voila.  A simple, two-step manicure.  Like I said, I really like how this turned out and I think the colour combination works well.  Lilac (G0) is a relatively new polish in my collection but it's a gem, a lilac packed full of golden shimmer.  I think it's relatively expensive (£3.50 for 8ml) but it's a unique shade and I don't think there are any cheaper dupes available.  Luckily I had a voucher for 20% off when I bought this so I managed to pay only £2.70.

So what do you think of my half moon manicure girls?  Are you a fan of this design?  Do you like my new nail polish?  I'd love to know your thoughts :-)

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure

Currently listening to: A Different Beat by Boyzone

Good morning ladies,

Did you have a nice weekend? What are your plans for this week? My plan is to blog a lot to make up for last week's silence ;-)

Today I'd like to show you a half-moon manicure I attempted using yesterday's Saffron polish as my base:

This is the second time I've tried this style of manicure and although it's not perfect, it's a lot better than my first attempt.

I started with my pink Saffron base then when it was completely dry, I placed reinforcer stickers on the bottom third of each nail and painted the remaining nail with H&M's Fashionista.

As soon as I'd finished painting a nail, I removed the sticker and after repeating that nine times, I was left with this:

What do you think?

Bye for now,
Laura