Holo Taco Anniversary Fun!

Hi again! This one was a bit of a nail fail but I think the amount of sparkle saves it! It's around the time of the nail polish brand Holo Taco's 2nd anniversary and they have done another nail art competition. I wasn't feeling particularly creative but thought I'd get the 1st anniversary collection out and try using some nail tape for some sparkly colourful nails.

I started with a base of navy blue (colours listed below pictures) and once dry I used some nail tape in diagonal lines on my nails to create sections. I then added some of each of the 1st anniversary Holo Taco's before peeling off the tape. It looked so fabulous with the tape on I was a bit disappointed when I peeled it off! This was partly because the blue polish wasn't quite dry enough so made a bit of a mess, but also because it removed an element of contrast from the look. I therefore added some silver lines to disguise the mess. This did make it look better but it's still pretty messy! 

Although these did not come out as planned I'm still enjoying wearing them because of the sheer gloriousness and sparkle of the Holo Taco 1st anniversary flakies!

Colours used: The Serpentine - Nails Inc, Purple Flakie Holo Taco, Blue Flakie Holo Taco, Gold Flakie Holo Taco, Dazzle - Orly

Pastel Dino's for Sammy of My Nail Envy

Hey everyone! Got some nail art to share today :) This one is for a birthday collaboration on Instagram for Sammy at My Nail Envy. The theme was animals, and though dinosaurs possibly stretch that theme a little I wanted to do a pastel dino look as she once created another pastel dino look of mine! It was good to use the Jurassic Park plates again and this gorgeous mint Starilly Polish (Mint To Be).

So I started with a lovely sparkly mint green base - a good start in my opinion! I then used the Jurassic Park 02 stamping plate from Mo You London to create a few dinosaur decals on my Uber Mat (see now here). I also added a few layers of leaves from the same plate on my thumb and ring finger nails. I started with just gold and silver but it was a bit too pale so I added some black leaves for more contrast. I finished with a shiny top coat to seal it all in.

In conclusion I'm pretty pleased with these, they're cute and fun. Can't go wrong with dino nails! I hope Sammy likes it :)

Colours used: Mint To Be - Starilly, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Pink Lemonade - Barry M, Wardour Street - Nails Inc, Seymour Walk - Nails Inc, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Foil Effect in Silver - Barry M, Hatch - Cirque Colors, Blueberry - Barry M

Cirque Colors Facets 2021

Hey everyone! Blogged a bit less than usual last month and I think it might be another month of the same as I'm managing to do more social stuff at the moment. Going to try and take it easy this coming weekend so may have a bit more time for nails!

Today I'm sharing my swatches of the new 2021 Cirque Colors Facets Collection polishes. I was surprised and excited to see them release new additions to the Facets collection as it is my favourite collection of all time! I did think some of these were a little similar to some polishes I already have but on receiving them I think they're totally worth it! As I have been short of time and reviewing them later than intended I have done my lazy swatches with a colour on each nail rather than each hand. I've listed my thoughts on each colour below the pictures. It's a really gorgeous collection and has all that beautiful sparkle you'd expect from Cirque Colors Facets polishes.

Champagne Diamond - On my index finger in the top left picture. This is a gorgeous champagne gold and really classy. It's one of the most sparkly in the collection too! It took 3-4 coats to get the look I have here but also looks beautiful as part of a more sheer look and would look good over other colours.

Spinel - Middle fingers in the top left picture. This gorgeous purple is a little lighter than Amethyst (previous collection) but still a gorgeous rich colour. Only a couple of coats needed though I did do a small third one just for extra depth!

Pink Diamonds - Ring finger in top left picture and bottom left. This was another fairly sheer one that needed a few coats and was super sparkly!!

Aquamarine - Little finger in top left picture and middle right. Again gloriously sparkly and fairly sheer so did need a few coats. 

Tsavorite - Middle left picture. This one is a little less sparkly than the others but the perfect shade of tree green (lighter than Emerald and darker than Peridot). I used two coats.

Fire Opal - Bottom right picture. This combined with Tsavorite make a great Christmas pair! This is a lovely rich colour (lighter than Garnet but darker than Ruby) and I think the name really suits it. It has great depth. I used two coats.

Snazzy Sea Creatures!

Today's nail art was inspired by some I saw by Hanninator on Instagram. She used the newest UberChic mermaid stamping plate to add some cute sea creatures to her nails over their new blue nail polish. The look made me feel nostalgic as it reminded me of some of those inflatable armbands we used to have as kids! I decided I had to have a go at creating something similar with my UberChic Just Beachy plate as it has some great layered sea creature images too (layered stamping I mean - not layered sea creatures! :D)

I started with a blue base of High Tide from ILNP as this was my most similar nail polish to the shade Hanninator used. It was lovely to try it out again, it's so rare these days that I put the same colour on all nails! Next I used some well pigmented nail polish colours (all listed below the pictures) to add the sea creature colours, and then black stamping polish to add the outlines. After doing the jellyfish I realised (should have know really!) that the colours wouldn't stand out well enough on their own over the blue so I stamped the image underneath in white first for the others.

Overall I'm really pleased with these! They're cute and fun and were great to wear for a trip to Brighton, felt very appropriate when I was swimming in the sea!

Colours used: High Tide - ILNP, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Pink Lemonade - Barry M, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Papaya - Barry M, Key Lime - Barry M, Watermelon - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend

Stained Glass/ Sweetie Wrapper Nails

Hey everyone! Couldn't really decide what to call this one so I've gone for two things it kind of reminds me of. I'd had the idea of digging out my ILNP Spring 2018 metallic collection again to try a pattern, so when the latest Nail Addicts Collab theme was announced as patterns I had to give this one a go! I tried to create a pattern with the colours as I went across the nails with the colours too but it didn't entirely go to plan.

I started with a base of Soft Focus from Polished for Days. This is a good natural base and I wanted to have something there underneath the decals as I know I can't layer them up for opacity! For the decals I used Mo You London's Crystal 01 plate and the advanced stamping technique, you can see how here. I feel like planning the colours had an almost mathematical element to it which is probably why I struggled with it! Still, overall I'm happy with this look. You can't really see it in these pictures but it really sparkled in the sun!

Colours used: Hi-Fi, Blueprint, Fun House, Short Circuit, Checkmate, Sugar Coated - All ILNP, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Soft Focus - Polish for Days 

Fisherman Nails Inspired by Staithes

Ahoy there! Sharing some nautical nail art today which was inspired by our trip to the North York Moors a couple of weeks ago. We did some lovely coastal walks and had dinner in a lovely little town called Staithes one evening. This nail art was inspired by that trip, it was lovely eating dinner by the sea and watching the world go by.

I stared with bases of yellow, blue and pale blue before stamping images from Mo You London's Sailor 01 and 18 stamping plates onto my nails. I used one of their Tropical plates for the stripes. I created lighthouse and fisherman (or hipster - however you want to look at it :D) decals on my Uber Mat to go over the waves and fish on the light blue nails. I really love the fish shoal image! I finished with a shiny top coat (Nails Inc's Kensington Caviar). 

I'm really pleased with these and am enjoying the nautical theme and bright colours. They feel very fitting as I'm off to the seaside tomorrow!

Colours used: Borrowed & Blue - Essie, Cobalt - Barry M, Yellow - Barry M, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Charlotte - Nails Inc, Cappuccino - Barry M

When Life Gives You Lemons Make Nail Art... Again!

I couldn't resist re-using the title for this - what else does one call a lemon themed nail art blog post?! Today's nail art is a fine example of just how much my freehand needs some work - it's always harder than I expect! I was inspired by Naileenj on Instagram and had to give this look a try! I started it on holiday in the North York Moors, sat outside on on a goat farm! I ran out of time to finish it here though so had to do the rest at home, which was probably more practical in the end.

I started with a base of neon pink on all nails except my little fingernail which I painted yellow (all colours listed below the pictures). I planned to use pens to draw onto my nail as I did when following the One Nail To Rule Them All tutorials a while ago, but I couldn't get it to work at all so used a small brush to paint on the lemons, leaves and the outline. They were definitely not as neat as I had envisaged! Still, it was an abstract look I was going for so I suppose it's not too far wrong...

Colours used: Bikini Bombshell - Wikkid Polish, Sunny Days - Rimmel, Key Lime - Barry M, Lady In Black - OPI