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

Shimmery Work Friendly Nails

Hey everyone! Something work friendly and shimmery to show you on my nails today. Also trying out one of the polishes from ILNP's Monarchy collection. I spent so long deciding which of the Monarchy polishes to get (and resisting getting all of them) that I ended up getting only one of the ones I wanted, but it did not disappoint! I used Bloodline on my thumb, index and little finger nails and really enjoyed watching it catch the light, you can see that effect in the bottom two pictures. I like how it's classic while at the same being different to any other burgundy polishes I have. I do regret the quality of these pictures though, I really need to up my photo game!

On my middle and ring finger nails I used a cream base colour, and then metallic gold to stamp a leaf image from UberChic's Lovely Leaves 01 plate over the top. The look was more subtle than I had intended, especially next to Bloodline, so I added some gold sparkly spots with a dotting tool to give it something extra. I was a bit underwhelmed with this look at first, but I grew to love it, especially have Bloodline to gaze at! (I gaze at my nail polish a lot, anyone else do that?!)
Colours used: Bloodline - ILNP, Cream Soda - Barry M, Gold Foil Effect - Barry M, Gold Glitter - Barry M

Miaowing In The Moonlight Nails

Hey nail people! Got something quite autumnal (and with a subtle nod to Halloween) to share with you today. This was one of the first ideas I had after getting the latest installment of Cirque Colors Facets collection, and I have saved it until now due to the autumn colours. I used the Mo You London Animal 15 plate for the cat themed images. I particularly like the one of the cat on the moon, it's an image I've been meaning to use for aaaages!

On my thumb and middle finger nails I used black stamping polish directly over cream polish, and on the ring finger nails I used the advanced/reverse stamping technique on my Uber Mat. All in all this wasn't too fiddly or time consuming to achieve, and I really enjoyed wearing it. I particularly liked wearing Citrine from Cirque Colors as it's quite different to what I usually wear colour wise, and of course it's sparkly!
Colours used: Citrine - Cirque Colors, Cream Soda - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Stamping Sunday: It's Raining In London

Hi all, hope you've had a lovely weekend! I am feeling very autumnal and have some weather appropriate nail art to share with you today. I wore this a week or so ago, and was heading into London for work, with a forecast for rain, so I thought this would fit. It's an idea I've had for some time based on the Scandi 01 & 03 plates from Mo You London with the Big Ben in the rain image, but I had even more options with the UberChic Forecasting Glam plate I got this year.

I started off with pale grey nail polish on two nails on each hand, and pale blue on the rest. For the cloud in the rain I used the layered stamping images, and for the Big Ben, London bus and umbrella images I created decals on my Uber Mat, you can see how here. On my middle finger and thumb nails I stamped cloud and raindrop images in white. I had to go over the clouds again on my middle finger  as they didn't come out very well. On my thumb nails I added the cuddle weather wording, which really appeals to me. Love a bit of cuddle weather once I've accepted that summer is over!

I finished off the look with a matte top coat to make the colours pop a bit better. I did end up smudging some of the wording a little as my matte top coat isn't the best. I was pleased with these overall but think the busses could have been neater, it's quite a tricky image to colour well! There is also one wonky Big Ben, I like to think it's dancing!
Colours used: Laguna - Barry M, Little Bo Peep - Rimmel, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Cappuccino - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

New York to London Nails

Hello nail people! I have been so behind with my blogging since our holiday, and am hoping to catch up a bit this weekend. This nail art is the first I did after getting back from the US. We flew back from New York so I decided to do a New York to London themed look, with Picture Polishes London and New York shades. I also used the Clairestelle8 plate from Maniology for the first time. It was one of those things I was so keen to get my hands on but then didn't end up using for ages! I look forward to trying some of the other images.

Anyhoo, this look was straightforward to achieve. I painted grey on one hand and pink on the other. Then for the skyline images I used white stamping polish to do London over the grey and New York over the pink. I then followed up with the black stamping polish, placed slightly lower than the white so that it shows through a bit behind and makes it look a bit more 3D. I was pleased with the final look and enjoyed wearing these lovely polishes again.
Colours used: London - Picture Polish, New York - Picture Polish, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

A Cactus Glitter Explosion!

Finally getting round to sharing my holiday nails! A week ago yesterday we got back from our two week trip to Canada and the US. We travelled flew to Toronto and travelled from there to New York, stopping at many places on the way. We squeezed a lot in so though amazing, it was also quite tiring! I feel like I've fully recovered from the jet lag now, though I wouldn't say no to a three day weekend just to be sure!

So this is the nail art I had on for that full two weeks. I wanted something that would last well, and as chunky glitter is so hard to get off I thought that would do the trick - and indeed it is! I was intending to go for a bit of a negative space look, with sheer pale pink under the glitter, as any chips would then be less obvious, but I did go a tad overboard with the glitter so it was reasonably solid.

For the cacti I used the Uber Chic Succulents and Mo You London Hipster 18 plates and created decals using the advanced stamping technique (you can see how here). It took a while as I created a lot of decals (most of the cactus images have been separated as decals so I could place them side by side on my nails, showing in different positions than they were on the stamping plate). I was inspired by someone on Instagram for this nail art but I can't remember who! They definitely went more subtle with the glitter! I was fairly pleased with these and enjoyed being super sparkly, I was pleasantly surprised by how long they lasted too, only one chip in two weeks!

Colours used: Bashful - Barry M, Yellow Topaz - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Green Park - Nails Inc, Can't Find My Czechbook - OPI, Pomegranate - Barry M

Stamping Sunday: When Life Gives You Lemons Part 2!

Hey everyone! Today I'm back (already!) with some more fruit themed nail art using the Maniology Fruit Deco M028 stamping plate. Having used the watermelon layered stamping images I was keen to try out the lemon ones too, I love stuff with lemons on at the moment, and particularly enjoyed pairing these with a lemon printed top yesterday, who needs double denim when you can have double lemon?

I chose bright blue to go with the lemon print as I think the colour combination really works. I used the exact same shade for some other lemon themed nail art I tried a few years ago which you can see here. This time I wanted to add some zig-zags for some more contrast, for this I used the Tropical 34 plate from Mo You London. This stamping plate has got a cute lemon image on it too but when I've tried to layer it up over zig-zags before it hasn't worked too well, even when stamping over the zig-zags in white first. For the lemons I started with outline image in black, then went in with the yellow and green using a clear stamper. I find it really satisfying using the layered images, and it's definitely quicker than making decals!

So despite the title life is not giving me lemons right now :) I just can't resist a pun! In summary I'm really happy with this nail art, and think that it suits my newly filed down nails. I'm enjoying the novelty of having them a bit shorter, the length was starting to annoy me a little before.
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Bruton Place - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Yellow - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M