Glitter & cocktails on my nails!

Hi everyone! Some bright and summery nails to share with you today, with a boozy theme. It's one I'd been meaning to do for a while as the Bottoms Up plate from Uber Chic has so many good cocktail images, but I could never quite make my mind up how to order them. Ended up pretty much making it up as I went along and kept changing my mind about what would go where!

I mostly used colours from the Cirque Colors Facets Collection, but did also include a super sparkly nail on each hand, using Barry M's Diamond Glitter. All images where stamped directly onto my nails, and I used a dotting tool to colour in a few small images, with the exception of the cocktails on my little fingers where I used a layered stamping image. I particularly like the wording on my middle fingernails - wise words!

On my ringer finger nails I sponged the glitter on for maximum effect, and had much deliberation over which image to use. I'm pleased with the one I finally picked as I think it stands out well against the glitter. I wasn't 100% sure about this look but it grew on me! Didn't last long though as I used a peel off base coat, so I have freshly painted nails to share with you shortly. TTFN!
Colours used: Tourmaline - Cirque Colors, Zircon - Cirque Colors, Peridot - Cirque Colors, Diamond Glitter - Barry M, Padparadscha - Cirque Colors, Citrine - Cirque Colors, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Yellow - Barry M

Watermelons, hooray!!

Hi everyone! As you can tell from the title today's blog post has a fruit theme. I did this nail art while away in Shropshire with my boyfriend and his family, so it brings back fond memories. It was a bit hit and miss but I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I was inspired by @pinkyconspiracie on Instagram, who used the watermelon pattern from the same stamping plate over a similar style of sequin creme polish. I only have one sequin creme polish as it's not my usual sort of thing, and I wasn't sure how well the stamping would show up over it but it worked well :)

For my thumb and ring finger nails I decided to add even more watermelon with the Mo You London Tropical 10 plate. I particularly like the way it came out on my thumb. As I was printing the other watermelon images over a white-ish shade I put white under the green for these ones too to keep consistency between the colours. The small watermelon images are from the Maniology MO28 Fruit Deco plate, it's one of the layered images, I was really impressed with how well it worked. It's definitely quicker than advanced stamping where you have to wait so long for it to dry.

On my middle finger nails I used some stickers from a nail sticker sheet I got from my boyfriends brother and his girlfriend, when they travelled to Japan. It's a shame there were only two of the Hooray stickers as I rather like them. I couldn't resist pronouncing it Hoo-Ray while I was wearing them! Strangely placing the stickers was what I found the trickiest part of this look!
Colours used: White Stamping Polish - Emily de Molly, Key Lime - Barry M, Forest Green - Mo You London, Passionfruit - Barry M, I Refuse To Be Invisible - Ellagee

Fluid Neons - I've finally cracked it!

Happy Sunday everyone! I'm actually up to date with my nail blogging for the second post in a row - it's a miracle! The pictures I'm sharing today are of what's still on my nails, and will be till at least tomorrow evening. As you will have gathered from the title I'm sharing fluid nail art today, and I think I've finally cracked it! This is actually the second time I've cracked it, I did a cool grey, black and sparkly one with bright red triangles a couple of months ago, but unfortunately I dropped my phone and lost the pictures. I'm hoping that I can get them back still though so will share if I do. I've learnt that the trick is to press the stamper down quite quickly on the polish for the best effect, though it's a bit hit and miss so I create more decals than I need and pick the best ones.

To create this effect I made decals on my mini Uber Mat, by blobbing two or three nail polish colours in a nail outline, adding one Spot It polish and then quickly pressing it with a stamper. I love watching the bubbles appear and move around a bit after I've moved the stamper! I created 12 decals and chose the best ones from the selection, this meant less of the red polish in the end.

I've gone for quite a wacky range of colours, the whole Cirque Colors Vice 2019 collection and a couple of Dance Legend Spot It polishes for the fluid effect. I decided to go for something different on most nails colour wise, and am pleased I did but could also see the merit in keeping them the same, or sticking to the more pastely ones for a consistent look, as the fluid effect gives some variation anyway.

My favourites were the pastely ring and little finger nails on the top pictures and the index finger one with red on the bottom pictures. I know I've got lots of possible combinations here I could try again which is good as I love the fluid nail art look, I think it works particularly well with neons, it often reminds me of those marbling things we used to so at infant school with plastic trays. Must try that again some time!
Colours used: Vitamin D - Cirque Colors, Electric Daisy - Cirque Colors, Game Over - Cirque Colors, High Roller - Cirque Colors, Miami Dade - Cirque Colors, Rehab - Cirque Colors, Spot It Blue - Dance Legend, Spot It White - Dance Legend

Cirque Colors Facets Collection 2019: Lazy Swatches

Hey everyone! Some swatches to share with you today, which is rare for me! I've done what I did a few years back when I reviewed the first Facets collection and have painted a colour on each nail, in what I call lazy swatches! This collection was very good for that as it consists of five polishes! If you weren't already aware, Cirque Colors first launched the Facets collection in 2016, with 6 gorgeous gem inspired shades. These were a huge success and remain my fave collection of all time! Due to all the hype they re-released them in 2018, which six new shades, and this year they were joined by five more (earlier in the year this time).


Above are the polishes in different lighting, they are all stunningly sparkly in direct sunlight or bright artificial light. With the exception of the deep purple I'd say these shades are more summery than the previous collections, which makes sense given the time of year they were released. You can see my review of the original set here. Looking at it now I wish I'd done the same hand poses with these! Keep reading for a review polish by polish.


First up is Peridot, I would call this a grass green, with lots of lovely flakies, as all the polishes in this collection have. Above I have used two coats, as I have done with all the swatches for this blog post, but you may want three to get it really opaque. This was one of the two most sheer of the collection, but not too much effort to get a good build up! I was a bit concerned this would turn out to be the same as Someday by ILNP, but although similar I am pleased to say it's not the same. This is a tad darker with fractionally larger flakies, whereas Someday is more of a Spring green.


Next we have Citrine, which is a lovely sparkling amber shade. This as it turns out is my birthstone, I googled it after I saw people commenting on Instagram that their birthstones were included in the collection. This polish is quite unusual, and completely different to anything else in my collection. I don't normally go in for this sort of shade but I love this with the jelly effect and all the glitter! I think it will be a great one for autumn. This is two coats but again you may want three, this is one of the sheerer polishes in the collection.


Next up is Amethyst, a rich purple with a galaxy of flakies. I was looking forward to this as I knew I'd love it, and it did not disappoint. I have many sparkly purples, but I feel like I probably can't have too many... I'm very drawn to them. To me this is a very classic shade of purple. I used two coats for consistency with the other swatches but it's definitely a one coater, very opaque.


Next up is Tourmaline, another gem I had never heard of! Tourmaline is a bright pink jelly polish with the classic Facets flakies. Cirque Colors released some stunning pictures of this coming out of the bottle, where it reminded me so much of a sparkly jam I once bought at a market! I sense some jam themed nail art coming soon! The above is two coats but again this is a one coater, and possibly the most opaque of the collection.

And finally we have Crushed Ice, a beautiful and immensely sparkly silver. Now I must admit, I find it a bit frustrating that it's called Crushed Ice. I can't deny the beauty of the polish itself but I would have hoped it would have another gem themed name like the others in the collection, maybe Diamond. I suppose perhaps they previously had another polish called diamond. Anyway, I've used two coats here and was really impressed with how well it built up. I'd recommend 2-3 coats. It's definitely the most sparkly as you'd expect with a silver, I've included a bonus picture on the left where you can really see the sparkle!

So which one is your favourite? I'm finding it very hard to choose! Crushed Ice is the most sparkly, while Tourmaline and Citrine are the most different to things I currently have. I've thought about it and to be honest I don't think I have a favourite, I love them all! I am marginally more excited about Citrine as it's so different and will be so lovely for autumn designs, I have some ideas already! Also maybe Amethyst, can't get enough of those sparkly purples...

I absolutely adore Cirque Colors, it's hard to say as there are a few that I really love, but I think Cirque Colors may be my favourite brand. As well as being beautiful and often unusual, their polishes come in such lovely collections with great themes behind them. They must be sick of me tagging them in Instagram by now as I seem to always be wearing their colours at the moment!

Cirque Colors Vice 2019 Stripes

Hello nail world! Today I bring you neon! Lots and lots of blindingly fun neon, courtesy of Cirque Colors Vice 2019 collection. This is the first time I have bought some of the Cirque Vice neons, and I got the whole 2019 set. This isn't the first time I've worn them, you can see most of them on my hen do nails here. But this look shows off their brightness I think.

Now I can't really take credit for the idea, as I was inspired by @rendxnails on Instagram, but I did paint it myself freehand so that's something! Sadly mine are not as neat as hers but I'm still pleased with it, the neon keeps catching my eye and I've been complemented on them quite a bit.

To do this nail art I used a small nail brush, and painted a line on each nail in red, then coral, then yellow/green and so on. I'm used to doing advanced stamping where most of the reason the nail art takes so long it all the drying time, so it did feel odd to spend nearly an hour solidly painting my nails! When I got half way through I was having second thoughts about whether it was a good idea! As I went through each colour I think I improved my painting technique slightly. I have to say it's lucky they are such good strong one coat colours, as I didn't fancy doing another coat!
Colours used: (L-R) Game Over, Vitamin D, Electric Daisy, High Roller, Miami Dade, Rehab - All from Cirque Colors

Bridesmaid Nails!

Hey everyone - happy Friday! Today I have some very special nail art to show you. It's special as it's the nail art I did to go with my bridesmaid dress for my best friends wedding last week! It was a truly magical day and I loved being a part of it! The only thing I would have changed would be to make it go on for longer, but I was pretty tired by the next day! The bridesmaid dresses were a sort of lilac shade, full length with lace at the top and a flowing skirt. I carried white flowers (which you can see in the bottom left picture below) which is why I decided to go for white rose accent nails. I also chose roses as I was wearing Rose Quartz from Cirque Colors - it's not my usual sort of colour but it is rather lovely!

After a base of three coats of Rose Quartz, I applied the decals I'd made on my Uber Mat, you can see how to do this here. I used the Mo You London Flower Power 03 stamping plate for the roses. When applying to my thumb nails I cut the decals in half first to spread the roses out a bit, as the images are designed for shorter nails than mine. I finished off with a glossy top coat, which I topped up again the evening before the wedding, as I did do these a few days before, in order to focus on doing the brides nails the night before!

I'm really pleased with how these turned out, as I've said before they're not my usual kind of look, but I think they worked well for the occasion and went nicely with my dress. I was originally planning on doing something more holographic (Soft Focus from ILNP) but I think Rose Quartz turned out to be the perfect wedding shade, as it's subtle but still sparkly! It was on my mind as I was excited about the new Cirque Colors Facets shades (mine arrived yesterday - will be reviewing them on the blog!), so thank you to Cirque Colors for releasing new polishes at such a convenient time!
Colours used: Rose Quartz - Cirque Colors, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, White Stamping Polish - Emily de Molly, Someday ILNP

Snazzy Snake Print Nails!

Hi nail people! Hope you're having a good weekend. I am feeling nice and relaxed after a couple of days off, Thursday to be a bridesmaid at my bestie's wedding, and Friday to chill out and go for afternoon tea with a couple of friends. The nail art I'm sharing today is not from the wedding, I was in a lilac dress so this wouldn't have gone with it! It's from a week or so ago and was my first use of the new Uber Chic Wild Luxury/ Cold Blooded stamping plate. I was inspired by an umbrella I had a few years ago and was quite fond of. It had a grey snake print pattern and a neon yellow round handle.

I started of with a base of pale grey (colours listed below the pictures), then chose a couple of images from the Wild Luxury plate, and stamped them onto my nails in grey. Using the same images and black stamping polish I applied the images again, slightly above or below the grey pattern, to give it some more depth. For the neon triangles I used my Mo You London Holy Shapes 03 plate. I took one of the images and each time I stamped it I removed any of the lines around the triangle shape from the stamper with a dotting tool, before adding them to my nails. As there was a dark background, I stamped it in white stamping polish first, then the neon yellow afterwards. Finally I finished it off with a matte top coat

I was pretty pleased with how these turned out though they were a bit messy on my left hand, so if I do it again I'll try and neaten up the images a bit before stamping. I have some more ideas in my mind to try with the Wild Luxury stamping plate so hopefully will be sharing those soon. Thanks for reading!
Colours used: White Hose Street - Nails Inc, Grey - Barry M, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, White Stamping Polish - Emily de Molly, Daisy - Cirque Colors