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: Beth's Blue Flowers

Currently watching: Grey's Anatomy

Good morning ladies,

I'm starting the week with a simple floral manicure.

 The base is Models Own Beth's Blue, a pretty cornflower blue shade.

 A variety of floral designs was stamped using Konad Special Polish and Konad plate s9.

Which design is your favourite?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Oh My Glitter Boogie Nights

Currently watching: Top Gear

Good morning ladies,

Sticking with the glitter theme, today's manicure is purple based.

I started with Essence Oh My Glitter, a pretty purple with red, bronze, purple and blue shimmer running through it.

 I then added Models Own Boogie Nights.

 This is a clear polish featuring assorted colours, shapes and sizes of glitter.

 It was fairly easy to get an even distribution of glitter on each nail and most of it lay flat, apart from a few troublesome metallic shards ;-)

What do you think girls?

Monday's Manicure: Color Club Makes My Nails Pop

Currently listening to: Only If by Enya

Good morning ladies,

Today's manicure is bright and almost spring-like as we make our way ever closer to that season.

I used three colours for my base: Color Club Harp On It, a silver holographic shade, a white no-name Color Club shade and Nail Pop It's Mint, the bluest shade of "mint" I've ever seen.

Using a design akin to those I've seen on various blogs and Instagram pictures I then painted dots on three nails.

I even managed to capture the holographic effect when the sun was kind enough to shine.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Nails Inc Loves Paris

Currently watching: Top Gear

Good morning girls,

Today's manicure is a tribute to Paris, a city I love.

My base is Nails Inc Elizabeth Street, a very pale pink, which I then covered with a layer of Essence Night in Vegas.

 I stamped my accent nail with a black polish and MoYou London plate Tourist Collection 07.

 I then stamped my other nails with 17 Knockout Red and MoYou London Pro Collection 09.  Unfortunately the polish wasn't dry when I stamped so my pinkie nail smudged quite badly.  In other words, don't look too closely ;-)

 What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Barry M Butterfly Nail Art

Currently listening to: Echoes by Bo Bruce 

Good morning ladies,

How good it is to be back!  First post of 2014!  I started a new job at the beginning of January and since then have spent most weeks away on business, staying in hotels with limited wi-fi, limited opportunities for nail art and no opportunities to photograph any manicures I might have created.  I've tried to make time for nail art whenever possible at weekends so I do have a small selection of manicures to show you, starting with this one featuring a whole host of purple shade and some butterfly stamping.

I used Eyeko Lilac Polish as my base and then added a layer of Essence It's Purplicious glitter.

I then stamped various butterfly images on my nails using Barry M Blackberry and MoYou London plate Pro Collection 09.

I hadn't used any of these images before so it was a good chance to try them out.

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Holiday Holly

Good morning girls,

Today's festive manicure features Nails Inc Mayfair as the base.

This is not a colour I would ever wear on its own but it's a great base for nail art, especially when you want something softer than white, which can be a bit harsh.

 I then stamped holly in the corner of each nail using Born Pretty Store plate QA58, Barry M Teal and Nails Inc Tate.

 For the finishing touch I added some more holly on my thumb and ring finger.

 Simple but pretty!

What do you think girls?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Sweet Snowflakes

Currently listening to: The Bells of New York City by Josh Groban

Good morning dear readers,

Today's manicure is for those of you who love all things pink and glittery.

I chose Barry M Dragon Fruit as my base which I managed to smudge badly after taking the above photo so I applied a layer of Kiko Sparkle Touch to hide the smudges.

 I then stamped using Easy Paris shade 3 and ye old faithful Bundle Monster plate BM 323.

 Kiko Sparkle Touch didn't add as much sparkle as I had hoped so I topped off the whole manicure with Barry M Pink Iridescent glitter and was happier.

 Kiko Sparkle Touch looks so pretty in the bottle but I've never had great results using it.  I wonder if it looks better over darker colours?

What do you think girls?  Do you have any recommendations for using Sparkle Touch?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Bobbing for Argyle Print

Currently watching: The Big Bang Theory

Good morning ladies,

Today I'd like to show you one of my new Essie polishes that was in my recent haul, Bobbing for Baubles, and some experimental nail art I tried over it.

  

Bobbing for Baubles is a grey-toned navy blue which, in real life, is not as bright as it appears here.  I think it's a great shade for autumn and winter so I'm going to try to get a lot of wear out of it over the next few months.

 Orange it's Obvious came in the same set as Bobbing for Baubles and while I'm not a huge fan of orange I decided that since the two shades were in the same pack, somebody must have decided they would look good together.

 Not being sure if the orange would be opaque enough to stamp over the navy, I freehanded my first Argyle print design instead and used a Technic nail striper for the white lines.  I should point out that you're seeing my right hand for a change because I had a huge smudge on my left hand hence my lines are a little shakier than normal ;-)

I absolutely love Argyle print but for a nail art design it's a bit too challenging for me.  What do you think girls?  What designs do you struggle with?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: Army Florals

Currently watching: Location, Location, Location

Hello ladies,

I was at a loss when deciding how to paint my nails at the weekend so I ended up looking in my "inspiration" file.  It did the trick as I was inspired to try a manicure I'd recently seen on The Polished Perfectionist's blog.

 The colours are not very "me" but I think it's good to try new things, especially when it comes to nail art.

 I started out by painting my nails with a military green shade, Kiko 346.  I used a no-name cream shade from Color Club for my accent nail.

 I then applied a floral nail decal to my accent nail which is from a pack I bought from Born Pretty Store during a flash sale several months ago.

 My final step was to place a silver glequin at the base of each nail to complete the look, a look which I was really happy with.

What do you think girls?  Which bloggers have inspired you lately?

Bye for now,

Laura

Monday's Manicure: 24/7 Circus

Currently reading: 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult 

Morning girls!

Let's start with some good news: I found out on Friday that I passed the three exams I sat in July!  I think that calls for a bright and glittery manicure to celebrate ;-)

 

My base colour is 24/7 by Sinful Colors, a polish which I had been wanting to purchase for months but it always seemed to be sold out.  I finally got it and while I do love the colour, I was very disappointed by the application and finish.  Neons are troublesome polishes.

 This isn't a polish I would ever wear on its own, purely because the finish is so streaky and the ridges on my nails are really emphasised.

 I still wanted to keep the manicure bright and playful so I added a layer of Essence Circus Confetti, a multicoloured glitter topper.

What do you think girls?  What good news have you received lately?

Bye for now,

Laura