Monday's Manicure: Pink Stripes

Currently listening to: LoveStoned by Justin Timberlake

Good morning lovely ladies,

Today's manicure features a polish by a brand called Lm as the base:

 

 This is a very cheap polish (purchased in Spain for less than £1) and not one I'd recommend as despite the pretty colour and pink shimmer, the smell is very strong.  It definitely isn't 3-free!  I do love the way it looks though so I'll continue to use it until it runs out.

 To create the pattern I painted stripes down the length of each nail using my Technic nail stripers in pink, white and purple.

 The pattern was inspired by the tshirt I was wearing at the time of painting my nails ;-)

What do you think girls?  What have you been inspired by lately?

Bye for now,

Laura

Thursday's Talons: Vegas Roses NOTD

Currently watching: John Bishop: The Sunshine Tour

Good evening lovely ladies,

The lack of light when I come home from work is having a seriously negative effect on my inspiration and motivation :-( 

 

However, I managed to create this colourful manicure for you a few days ago using LM 21 as the base layered with Essence Night in Vegas.

 I stamped using Barry M Pomegranate (another polish from the Gelly Hi-Shine collection) and Born Pretty Store plate m76.  The idea was to stamp the floral image in two diagonal corners but my placing was a bit off and my nails aren't really long enough for what I had in mind.  Still, I was happy with it and I loved the lift Night in Vegas gave this manicure.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft My Candy Shop / My First Glitter Sandwich

Currently watching: The Shawshank Redemption

Good evening girls!

Today I'd like to show you my very first glitter sandwich which also happens to be based on Deborah Lippmann's Candy Shop!
 

I started by painting my nails with two coats of Lm shade 21.

Then I added a coat of Essence Circus Confetti, a clear polish packed full of multi-coloured glitter.

Next, I added another coat of my pink Lm polish, thus finishing my very first glitter sandwich!  I know glitter sandwiches are usually done with jellies but this shimmer polish seemed to work just as well and I loved how it turned the glitter particles pastel.

However, part of me wondered if I should take it a step further so I applied a coat of Rimmel mattifying topcoat before deciding matte pink doesn't suit me and applying a normal topcoat to bring back the shine.

What do you think girls?  Have you tried glitter sandwiches before?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons ft Pink Butterfly Gradient NOTD

Currently listening to: Almost Everything by Wakey Wakey

Hello lovely ladies,

This morning I have a pink butterfly gradient to show you, as the title of this post suggests.

My first step was to create a gradient using Essence Enchanted Fairy, Lm 21 and Barry M Fuchsia:

I then stamped black butterflies using MUA Shade 2 and Konad plate m36.

 Next, I sponged Barry M Pink Iridescent glitter on my nails.  This polish is full of tiny particles of glitter which shimmer in a rainbow of blue, purple, gold, pink and silver.

 My final step was to sponge a heavier glitter, Saffron London Shade 9, on to the tips of my nails.

 The Saffron polish consists of magenta and silver glitter.

Here are the polishes I used:

I was really happy with this manicure although on reflection it might have looked better with grey butterflies so the gradient was more obvious.  Maybe next time!

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,
Laura

Saturday's Stars NOTD

Currently watching: Crazy Stupid Love 

Good morning girls!  Thank you for all your positive feedback on the design I featured in my previous post :-)  Today I have a design to show you featuring another one of my new Lm polishes, this time a darker and brighter shade, merely numbered 106:

 

These photos show two coats of LM 106 although, as we all know, purples are notoriously difficult to capture accurately on camera so what you're seeing here is not a true representation of the real shade.

 My next step was to use purple striping tape to section off the top of my nails and then I stamped a star on each nail using Bundle Monster BM05 and MUA shade 2.

Unfortunately I stamped my nails before they were fully dry so I ended up smudging the polish and had to rescue the manicure with a layer of Essence Night in Vegas.  I actually preferred the manicure without the flakie top coat; the striping tape was much more vibrant before.

What do you think girls?  Is the flakie top coat too much?

Bye for now,

Laura

Tuesday's Talons

Currently watching: River City

Good morning lovely ladies,

I resorted to buying false nails to keep my blog going while my own nails grow.  I'm only wearing them for the purpose of this blog so I haven't made a big effort to get the right fit or file them nicely so please ignore the ill fit of these nails and just concentrate on the colour ;-)

The picture I showed you of my Amsterdam haul actually contained some polishes that my uncle bought me in Italy, which I received in Amsterdam.  The first one I tried was this pink shimmer polish from a brand I hadn't previously heard of, Lm.

Judging by the smell of this polish, and the type of polishes my uncle usually gets me, this isn't an expensive brand.  The colour is so pretty though.  It's not as pale in real life as it appears in this photo and the shimmer is definitely more obvious.

I then layered a coat of Essence Circus Confetti, one of the polishes I bought in Amsterdam, on the top.

Last month I was tempted to buy Models Own Ibiza Mix but I held off as I knew I'd be able to get Circus Confetti on my holiday, at half the price of Ibiza Mix.  It's not an exact dupe but all that matters is that I have a bottle full of colourful glitter :-)

Do you like these two new polishes girls?  Have you tried Lm polishes before?

Bye for now,

Laura