Haunted Forest Nails

Good evening and happy Mole Day! Got something Halloweeny to show you today as we're getting close! I was inspired by @themermaidpolish on Instagram, who did some pretty purple nails with a stars, forest and howling wolf. I decided to do something similar with some Halloween stamping plate images I have. For the base I did a shimmering gradient with a couple of shades of purple from A England. Due to the stamping I don't think the gradient was that clear on all of my nails which is a shame.

For the graveyard, haunted house and bat images I used Mo You London's Festive 16 plate, using a dotting tool to remove excess bats from the stamper when placing the bat images above the trees. I used Uber Chic's Woodland Chic plate for the forest and tree images, and there was a small contribution from the Mo You London's Gothic 10 plate (I added some birds to the thumb nails to try and make them a bit less Christmassy... not entirely sure it worked!). The only thing I did additionally to the stamping was to create a full moon using a dotting tool to carefully create a circle, I'm quite pleased I managed it that neatly to be honest! Underneath all the black images I stamped a star/ galaxy pattern from the Maniology & Kelli Marissa stamping plate in white stamping polish. While it adds something extra I do thing it makes the thumb nails a bit more Christmassy - it kind of looks like snow!

So overall I was pleased with these but couldn't keep them on for too long as I have various nail art ideas to squeeze in over the next few weeks! There are a couple of bonus pictures this time too as I wasn't sure which ones to use! Also much as a believe in getting Halloween (and my birthday) out of the way before getting Christmassy, I did kind of like having sneaky little Christmas nails on my thumbs, it was an accident I promise!
Colours used: Je Reviens - A England, The Scent Of Azaleas - A England, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Crystals Return To Manderley

Hello nail people! More advanced stamping today, shock - horror! It's been a while since I've posted as I've worn polish without nail art a few times to try out some new shades. I didn't think I could write a whole blog post on those so I'll post some pictures on Instagram instead.

Started with a base of white on my thumb and middle finger nails, and one coat of shimmery topper before adding the images. I used the advanced stamping technique as usual (see how here). The plate used was Crystal 01 from Mo You London, it was the first time I used it and thought the A England Return to Manderley collection would work well with it. I especially like the pale purple for the crystal image.

Couldn't choose which way round to put the images so I alternated them on each hand. Also glad I added another feature nail of the magenta shade Rebecca rather than using black for all other nails. The images below show them in different lights so you can see the holo flare.
Colours used: Mrs Danvers - A England, Rebecca - A England, Je Reviens - A England, The Scent of Azaleas - A England, Manderley - A England, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Good Vibes Only - Nails Inc

A England - Return to Manderley Review

Hey everyone! Finally getting round to putting up my swatches of A England's Return to Manderley collection (insert heart eye emoji)! Disclaimer: my swatch pictures are really not the best. I suppose at least it gives you a glimpse at them in different lights. When I'm trying to decide whether to buy a polish, I quite like to look at some lovely well presented images, and a few more casual ones to try and get a fair picture. I think these still look good in all pictures though :)

So this collection is themed around the book Rebecca, by Daphne de Maurier. A England polishes tend to be themed around books, pieces of music, art or ballet. I haven't bought any for quite some time and forgot how good they were! I enjoy the classy themes of the collections as well. There are seven polishes in the collection, all have a holographic flare and a semi-matte satin sort of finish. I've written a little about each of them tomorrow.

First up and above left is Mrs de Winter, an unusual shade. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, it's a mauve/brown/grey I suppose! I like how unusual it is and how sophisticated it looks. The holographic flare really adds a lot to it as well, turning it into something gorwn up and ordinary to something a bit special. I used one coat for this and most of the other polishes, I'll let you know which one needed two. If you have long nails like me you might need two, but I was impressed with the opacity. Above right is Maxim, a sophisticated pinky burgundy with a lovely hint of rust in the holo flare. This is the most unusual of all the polishes, I thought it would be similar to things I already have but the rusty tint to it is unique.
Next up above left is Mrs Danvers... of course she would be in black! Didn't really capture the holo flare in this one unfortunately  which is a shame as it was a good one. I have another polish similar to this but this one is definitely more holo! Again one coat used and the polish has a great consistency. On the right is Manderley - makes me a little sad! Another lovely colour though, it makes me think of the posh cars they drove to and from Manderley. I can't actually remember if any of them were green but I imagine them that way! Again I didn't capture the holo very well but it does also have a good holo flare.
Above left is The Scent of Azaleas. I think this one is my favourite, despite the quirkyness of Maxim. It's a gorgeous bright and super sparkly/holo purple.  The image is a little blurry but gives you a hint of the holo! Another one coater but a little closer to needing two for this one. Above right is Je Reviens, a holographic silver with a hint of lilac. I really love this one too, not sure how well the lilac shows up in this, or it might be because I've put it next to a more purply purple - but in person it's definitely a little lilac. I would recomend using two coats for this one as it's a tad thinner than the others.

And finally, Rebecca! This one is a holographic magenta and very fitting for the character I think. It is also my name! Though pink isn't my usual colour of choice I did think my collection was missing a holographic pink - I'm sure it will come in handy! It's not too garish ether, and is quite subtle away from bright lights. I wore this one to a client meeting last week.

 So overall I am of course pleased with these! They are a lovely set of colours and I enjoy the theme. It's a great book and of course my name - so I had to have them really. I was impressed with the opacity of all of them and the holo flare was better than I thought it would be too!

Autumnail

Good evening nail people! Technically here it's not really the evening, it's almost twenty past midnight!I'm not ussually up this late on a work night, but I think it must be a child like sense of excitement that's keeping me awake, as it's now technically my birthday! :D

Tonights design is not my birthday mani, but one that I wore last week while on holiday in Switzerland, and then Norfolk. I had such a wonderful time at both, and it felt so wonderfully autumnal in the Norfolk countryside! Crunchy leaves everywhere! There are some pictures on my Instagram (link top right). Needless to say these bring back fond memories.

To create this look I used the advanced stamping technique, using my Uber Mat. I started with a base of this new smoky purple shade from Barry M, Oasis. Then on my Uber Mat stamped on the mixed leaf design over some clear polish I'd applied earlier, On my index and ring fingers I stamped another leaf pattern directly onto my nails. I think they look a little like stars! One to keep in mind for Christmas. Both images used are from Born Pretty (BP - 19).

On the images on the Uber Mat I used a dotting tool to fill in the leaves with subtle  autumnal colours (listed below pictures). Once dry I applied another layer of clear polish, and let it dry. I then peeled the images gently off the mat, and applied them to my nail, cutting off any excess that I could. I went round the edges with a clean up brush and nail polish remover to tidy them up, and then applied a shiny top coat. Voila - cosy autumn nails!
Colours used: Oasis - Barry M, Gold Foil Effect - Barry M, Copper Mine - Barry M, LakoDom - Picture Polish, Wuthering Heights - A England

Stamping Sunday: A Subtle Holo

Happy Sunday everyone, it's been nice and sunny in the south of the UK today, hope it's been sunny for you too! Sun is the perfect kind of weather for showing the manicure I'm blogging about today, though unfortunately it did not quite go to plan.

I started with a base of shimmering and lightly holographic cobalt blue from A England (details below pictures), it's a really beautiful shade and suits me well I think. I decided I would try out a pattern from my new Back to the 20's 04 plate from Mo You London. I tested out the image in paper first using a metallic and a holo polish, and went for the holo as although more subtle I love the way it caught the light.

Sadly what I did not think through was that over dark blue the polish would be even more subtle, to the point where in some lights it's barely even visible, oops! The pictures below are in good light so you can see the design, I couldn't capture the holo very well. Still, I love the pattern and very much look forward to using it again with a better colour combination!
Colours used: Spirit Of The Moors - A England, Mega - ILNP

Shimmering Leaves

Hi nail world! Tonight I'm showing you a design I love, using one of my all time favourite nail polishes, a new (to me) indie polish and one of my beloved Mo You stamping plates. The colour on the left here is Baker Street from Nails Inc, and I am on  my second bottle! This is the first colour I got from Nails Inc some years ago, and I still adore it. I ended up getting a back up as part of a multi buy set in a sale, and it's a good job I did! It's such a lovely colour and paints on really nicely.


I used my Mo You Tropical Plate Collection 06 plate for the leaf pattern, and stamped it onto my Uber Chic mat. Once dry I used a dotting too to fill in all the leaves with a gorgeous silvery white shimmer from A England, Morgan Le Fay. I haven't used the colour alone yet, or over a plain colour, but look forward to trying it eventually! After painting some more clear polish onto the images and letting them dry I peeled them off and placed them on my nails.

I used scissors and a clean up brush to clean round the edges, added my favourite top coat (Nails Inc's Kensington Caviar) et voilà! I really like the simplicity of this design and think it makes a sophisticated looking mani (if I do say so myself!). What do you think?

Colours used: Baker Street - Nails Inc, Black Knight - Mo You, Morgan Le Fay - A England

Stamping Sunday: Cathedral Nails

Today's stamping Sunday manicure I would call a kind of Gothic Easter manicure...ish! I still have a few dark colours I wanted to try before it gets into Spring colours, so quickly getting those in now! The main colour in this manicure is Jane Eyre by A England. It's a red/black with tiny flecks of red shimmer. It is so dark though that it looks black at a small distance, and a kind of chocolate minstrel brown up close. It was only really in the bottle that I could see the red.

For this design I decided to use my Uber Mat again for some advanced stamping with my Mo You Gothic Plate Collection 10. I love the stained glass patterns on this plate and was also curious to see how the face image would look (see below on my thumb - came out fairly well). I've still got a bit to learn with advanced stamping, particularly when the image covers the whole nail, but standard stamping comes easily to me now. Finally!

On my ring finger I used a white base (colours listed below pictures) and stamped an image onto my Uber Mat in gold. I used a dotting tool to colour some small areas of the design blue, and the rest in a teal/green. I did a few images to see which came out best, so when I placed them on to my nails and missed a corner, I was able to patch up the gap with part of another image/decal. I finished off with my favourite topcoat (Nails Inc's Kensington Caviar) to seal it all in.

Colours used: Jane Eyre - A England, Alpine Snow - OPI, Uptown Glamour - Nails Inc, Warwick Way - Nails Inc, Baker Street - Nails Inc

Monthly Indie Review: A England

Time for this months indie nail polish review! I aim to post these around the 20th of the month, but on the 20th of this month I am moving, so won't have much time between building ikea furniture! So glad to finally post this as I actually bought and tried them a little while ago.

Today i'm reviewing Wuthering Heights and Spirit Of The Moors from A England. Both polishes are from the 'To Emily Bronte' collection which consists of five truly beautiful polishes. It was hard to choose just two, and I can see myself ending up with them all at some stage!

Left are the polishes in their lovely bottles. It's a classy bottle design and the glass is particularly shiny.



So on to the polish, first up is Wuthering Heights. I'm quite a fan of grey nail polish, and this one has a lovely twist of slightly holographic shimmer so had to give it a try. I'd describe it as a medium grey with lots of shine. the shimmer is subtle and catches the light nicely. Consistency is smooth and not too thick, two to three coats required.


Next up is Spirit Of The Moors, I knew this would be the favourite from the outset, and I was right! Bright cobalt type blues are my favourite colour so when I saw this shimmery one it was love at first sight! As with Wuthering Heights this one has a subtle holographic shimmer, it's slightly stronger in this one which might just be to do with the vibrancy of the colour. I don't know what more to say, a truly beautiful polish! It's like a more glam version of Barry M's denim effect.


So, did I like them? As you've probably gathered the answer is yes! I have already purchased three more (there was an offer, I couldn't help myself!), including one from the To Emily Bronte collection. I look forward to trying them and sharing the results.