Christmas Day Nails 2018

Merry Christmas everyone!  These are my Christmas Day nails for 2018, done in between various preparations yesterday! I started with a white base and then a couple of layers of shimmering top coat to give a wintery, snowy effect. I then used my Happy Christmas plate from Uber Chic to choose a selections of images from around the home at Christmas. most of which I stamped in black onto my Uber Mat. I then coloured them in using various Christmassy colours, including a few from the newer Cirque Colors Facets collection.

Once dry I covered with another layer of clear top coat to create decals, and once that was dry peeled them off to apply to my nails. You can see the full process here. I finished off with a quick dry top coat and hurried downstairs to drink mulled wine and watch Mole's Christmas! (a half an hour wind in the willows cartoon we watch on Christmas Eve every year). I'm pretty happy with these, they don't quite beat 2015's for me but I think they are my second fave of all my Christmas day nails, so pretty pleased!

I have had a lovely day with my family (and will go re-join them again now!) and some lovely presents including a couple of nail polishes of course. Hope you have all had a lovely day wherever you are :)
Colours used: Floral Street - Nails Inc, Good Vibes - Nails Inc, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Forest Green - Mo You London, Ruby - Cirque Colors, Emerald - Cirque Colors, Sapphire - Cirque Colors, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Bronze Bae - Barry M

Silent Night Nails

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! I guess these are my second to last Christmas nails for the year. Might squeeze some in between Christmas and New Year and at least I have New Year nails to do! (I have plans) I wanted to do a silent night theme nail art, and also to use Sapphire from the newer Cirque Colors Facets collection polishes, it seems like the perfect blue for a starry night!

I used a clear jelly stamper to place the images on my nails in white stamping polish. Originally I had planned to do shimmering silver over the top, but I liked how it looked in white so left it as it was. On my left hand I have a manger scene and three wise men on camels, and stars on my thumb. On my right hand I have Santa's sleigh and reindeer, and various star patterns including a shooting star. Though simple to create I have enjoyed having these on and will be sad to take them off for my final Christmas nails tomorrow!
Colours used: Sapphire - Cirque Colors, White Stamping Polish - Emily de Molly
Stamping plates used: Christmas-01 - Uber chic, Festive 01 - Mo You London, BM - XL213 - Bundle Monster

Santa Gnome Nails

Three sleeps to go! Hopefully there is enough time for me to blog all my Christmas nail art too! These nails were done for our trip to Norway last weekend. I chose to do Santa gnomes as we saw lots of them in Norway last year. I would 100% recommend a pre-Christmas trip to Norway! This year we went to Tromsø which is very far north and is a fascinating and beautiful place. It felt so arctic!

I tried out Ruby from the Cirque Colors Facets collection in this nail art. It is of course beautiful! I used Santa gnome and tree images from the Uber Chic Happy Christmas plate, and the advanced stamping technique (as usual) for the  gnomes. I added trees first on my middle fingers as it seemed like to much white space otherwise. I think I should have possibly added more trees but overall I like it. I'd forgotten how lovely Cirque's Estate is too - it's sparkles in the light!
Colours used: Ruby - Cirque Colors, Floral Street - Nails Inc, Estate - Cirque Colors, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Key Lime - Barry M, Spring Green - Barry M

Christmas Paper Nails

Hello all - not long till Christmas now! :D Behind with my nail blog again of course, as work has been manic, and I've also just got back from a wonderful long weekend in Norway. The next nail art I blog about will be my holiday nail art for that trip.

This nail art was experimental and I wasn't sure about it initially but liked it very much in the end! I wanted to make it look as if each of my nails had been wrapped in different Christmas wrapping paper. I also wanted to use some Christmas images on my Uber Chic Christmas plates which I wasn't sure I would otherwise use. The plates I used for this were the Happy Christmas and Christmas-01 plates.

For most nails I stamped the images directly on using a clear stamper (colours listed below the pictures), and for the ring fingers I created decals using my Uber Mat. My favourite is the on in the bottom left picture, I can picture it around my presents! The only one that didn't quite work as I'd intended was the gingerbread men. The white polish didn't show up so I had to re-do it in black.

Hope you like them!
Colours used: King Tut's Gem (Blue) - Jessica Polish, Wite Knight - Mo You London, Metallic Red (no name) - Mark by Avon, Foil Effect in Silver - Bassy M, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M, Emerald Green - Barry M, Gold Digger - Barry M, Silver Lining - Barry M, Midnight Mischief - Barry M, Coca - Barry M

Oh Christmas Tree!

Oh Christmas tree oh Christmas tree, how sparkly are your branches! These were my work Christmas party nails and to be honest I wasn't a fan, good job I loved my outfit! :D

I started with a peel of base coat (UNT ready for take off) followed by gel polish. I felt like the base wasn't thick and it would be tricky to get off but it was actually quite easy and satisfying to remove the next day! I used two layers of black gel polish, and then a gold chrome powder over the top. It was a cheap one I got on eBay so I suppose it's always a risk, but I just didn't think it looked that special. I thought it was going to be a mirror chrome! I have other cheap eBay ones where I can see my face in them, but I guess you can't always win!

To add something to the rather bland gold I made a decal using my Uber Chic Christmas-01 plate and some glittery green (Fun Lacquer Secret), and stuck a star on top using some top coat. I used regular top coat over the trees as I wasn't sure how well more gel would work over the regular polish I used for the trees. Anyone got any tips for getting a chrome powder to be shinier?

Nutcracker Nails - My 1st Christmas Nails of 2018!

First Christmas nails of 2018! I did these on Saturday 1st December and it got me in a Christmassy mood. That morning I had picked up my order from Nail Artisan including a the new Uber Chic Happy Christmas stamping plate, so enjoyed looking at all the little images and thinking of ideas for the rest of this year. On Saturday evening I went to see the Nutcracker ballet with my Mum and sisters so these little guys seemed appropriate!

On the off-white nails I used the advanced stamping technique and my Uber Mat, filling in the images with Ruby and Emerald from Cirque Colors new Facets Collection. You can see how here. On the other nails I used Emerald from the new Facets Collection shades. I was so excited to get these as I love the original Facets Collection  but haven't actually tried that many of them yet. Emerald is just as lovely as I expected! I had been intending to put some patterns over the top in gold but it was too lovely so I kept it as it is.

Looking forward to doing some more Christmas nail art. I have so many ideas though and not enough nails!
Colours used: Emerald - Cirque Colors, Ruby - Cirque Colors, Cream Soda - Barry M, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish

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!

Barry M Rainbow Fish Disco

Hey everyone, long time no see! It's out busiest time of year at work so I'm struggling somewhat to fit nail polish and blogging in, This design is one from last week which I did keep on for just over a week, it lasted well but I persuaded myself to take it off in order to start swatching some new A England polishes.

For this design I started with a metallic silver base (colours listed below the pictures) followed by a silver holographic polish. The holo was stronger and more pigmented than I expected so I possibly didn't need the metallic layer. On my index finger I topped up the holo, and on the others I prepared fish/mermaid scale decals.

I used the Bundle Monster twi_star collaboration plate for the scale image. It's a really handy one which I have used for a few designs. You can do a lot with it, and it's quite long so works for my nails at any length! I created decals on my Uber Mat using Barry M's newest additions to their underwater collection. I like the newer ones better than the first lot as they're brighter colours. I left a few scales blank for the holographic polish to shine through. You can see how I created the decals here.

So overall I really liked these, can't go wrong with fish/mermaid scales! The colours make me think of birthday parties.

Colours used: Silver Lining - Barry M, Harp On It - Color Club, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Moonfish - Barry M, Seahorse - Barry M, Pacific Flame - Barry M, Electric Eel - Barry M

Little Bit of London On My Nails

So this blog post will probably always annoy me as there are two rather blurry pictures, but I would otherwise have been left with only two pictures and somehow this was the lesser of two evils! Need to be more careful when I'm taking them I guess!

I've been meaning to do some London themed nail art with my Mo You London Scandi plates for a while, and it turns out I have the perfect sparkly Big Ben shade, which I guess could mean I have too much nail polish... (shock, horror!). I decided early on I wanted some sparkle in this, I think it's the time of year now where I will always be a little bit sparkly!

I used the Scandi 01 plate from Mo You London for the bus and phone box image, and the Scandi 03 plate for the Big Ben image. I was going to go all our with the London Eye etc but am glad I kept it simple as I think it goes well with the black. I used the advanced stamping technique to colour in the images, you can see how here. I didn't do too well with the red, I think it was because I was sleepy but they did look a little messy! Big Ben came out a lot better. Just re-doing my nails with something mermaidy - but looking forward to the imminent start of Christmas nails!
Colours used: Higitus Figitus - Danglefoot Polish, Cream Soda - Barry M, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, Madder - Cirque Colors, Taupe Temptation - Painted Polish, Wuthering Heights - A England 

Halloween Scenes

Only a week late I am finally blogging my Halloween nails! I couldn't really get great pictures of these but I was quite pleased with them. I only ended up doing one lot of Halloween nails due to timing with it being so busy at work.

I started with a metallic purple base, it's a ten year old Barry M polish so I was pretty impressed with how good it still is! I couldn't quite choose which images to use so used a different one on each nail. For some I've coloured them in using the advanced stamping technique, you can see how here. For others I layered the images to try and make them stand out a little better. On my little fingers I painted the glitter on freehand.

I used four different stamping plates for this: Festive 16, Gothic 10 and Minimal 10 from Mo You London, and H08 from Bundle Monster. My favourite image was the one with the witch in front of the moon. I used an image from the minimal plate and a witch from the Festive 16 plate to create a decal for this. I used a bit of shimmer on the moon images and church window which didn't really come out in the picture but I liked.

Hopefully I can be more organised next year!
Colours used: 191 - Barry M, Midnight Mischief - Painted Polish, White - Emily de Molly, Nauti Nudist - Painted Polish, Good Vibes Only - Nails Inc

Space Turtles! Inspired by The Great British Bake Off

Hi everyone and happy Sunday! Today I'm sharing some nail art I based on my favourite creation so far on this years Great British Bake Off. This is the first year I have watched it (shock, horror!) and I'm really enjoying it. Kim Joy is my favourite to win as I love the beautiful things she creates and the themes. My favourite theme was the 'space turtle' cake she made earlier in the series.

These didn't really turn our how I had intended, unlike Kim Joy's wonderful cake, but they're still cute! I might try again with a different colour scheme another time. I started with an off white base on all nails, and then applied a couple of coats of Barry M's Electric Eel on three fingernails, and Butterflyfish on my ring finger and thumb nails. On the brighter blue nails I used the Kelli Marissa Bundlemonster and some gold nail polish to add some space images. I don't think I chose these colours very well as it doesn't really show up!

On my ringer fingernail I used a turtle decal and some dark green nail polish for the turtle shapes. I stuck the centre of the decals on my thumbs rather than using more stencils as it saves the others for another time. On the turtles I used a couple of different glitters (colours listed below the pictures) to continue the galaxy theme. I used tiny pieces of sponge for this as I hope to create a galaxy look but it was a bit too fiddly so I just ended up with very sparkly turtles!

So these didn't really come out as I'd hoped, and as I'm now onto Halloween nails I don't think I'll have time to try again before the Bake Off ends, but they were still cute and I liked wearing Electric Eel for the first time.
Colours used: Cream Soda - Barry M, Butterfly Fish - Barry M, Electric Eel - Barry M, Catwalk Queen - Barry M, Diamond Glitter - Barry M, Hang Up The Heels - Essie, Foil Effect in Gold - Barry M