A dream within a dream for new year

Hi everyone and happy new years for tomorrow! I'm getting my new year nail art blog post out today as it will be my 100th blog post in 2021! The most I've done in a year before is 99 so I feel the need to beat that this year! There has definitely been a lot more nail art from me since the pandemic started! So this year my new years nail art was left a little to the last minute and I couldn't decide which of my lovely new nail polishes to use! Last year I did two looks I loved so had a lot to live up to this year. I decided to keep it simple and just to some stamping directly onto my nails.

I started with my favourite base coat (Nails Inc Nail Kale) and then a layer of magnetic polish I was excited to receive for Christmas (colours listed below pictures). Once dry I added another layer and had fun with my magnet trying out different patterns on each nail. The patterns have spread out a bit now as I left it a while before top coating but I actually quite like that, gives it a bit of a crushed velvet look. Next I used Mo You London's Festive 05 stamping plate (a real go to!) to add festive images, the clock face is my favourite. Once dry I added a quick dry topcoat, and marvelled at the magnetic flare! I'm really glad I chose silver to stamp with, I think these were easy to do and came out just as planned :)

Now to get ready for this evening! Wishing you a fabulous new year!

Colours used: Dream Within A Dream - Cirque Colors, Foil Effects in Silver - Barry M

Merry Christmas You Great Big Pudding!

Hello and Merry Christmas again! This nail art is what I intended to have on my nails for Christmas day (alongside my last post) but got some what distracted by preparing the house etc! Unlike my last post I do love these, they would have been perfect for Christmas day, but that said I liked the ones I ended up wearing for it anyway. I've done Christmas pudding nails for Christmas day once before years ago, and they came out well then too. These are way better though!

I started with a peel off base coat and a layer of sheer pink (colours listed below the pictures). I then added a couple of coats of snow effect nail polish and let it dry. Next I added a semi-circle of brown glitter (absolutely love this one!) on each nail using the brush from the bottle. I added two coats for full coverage. Next I used a small nail art brush to add the white icing dripping down the puddings, these got better as I went along I think! I decided not to attempt freehand for the holly and I think this was the right choice! I used part of an image from Mo You London's Festive 06 stamping plate to create decals using my Uber Mat. I used two more of the new Holo Taco Holoday glitters for the holly and they went perfectly! Finally I used a dotting tool to add the sparkly red berries.

So as I mentioned I love these, they were pretty simple to do but combines a little bit of basic freehand and some stamping and felt like a triumph!

Colours used: Birthday Suit - Barry M, Snow Wash - No.7, Choco Holo - Holo Taco, White Moonstone - Barry M, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Everything Is Pine - Holo Taco, Naughty List - Holo Taco

Oh Christmas Tree!

Merry Christmas! I hope you had a great one if you celebrate it, and if not I hope you're not sick of all the Christmas nail art! This one was initially going to be part of my Christmas Day nail art look, but what with getting things ready it just didn't happen! To be honest it's maybe for the best as these didn't really come out how I wanted and I really liked the ones I had on before! They were also meant to be for Boxing Day's Christmas Tree Glam Nails Challenge prompt but I didn't do them till Monday evening and then I kept not getting round to blogging! 

I started with a peel off base coat and a layer of sheer pink. I then added a couple of layers of reflective red gel polish as it's so stunning and festive! The thumbnail went well but the two fingernails were a bit lumpy as I'm not great at gels! I then applied decals on my index and little fingernails which I bought some time ago from Charlies Nail Art supplies. They were surprisingly easy to use, I did only use one Christmas Tree though which perhaps wasn't enough for a Christmas tree look. I think this one was all a bit of an experiment to be honest. More Christmas nail art to follow!

Colours used: I'll Be Fireside - Uber Chic, Nail Wraps - Charlie's Nail Art

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, only a hippopotamus will do! A Christmas song I came across for the first time a few years ago when my sister fell in love with it after hearing it at work! I love the sillyness of it and it gets in my head so I decided I wanted to honour it with some nail art. It's meant to represent a hippo being found among the Christmas presents and toys. I was in a bit of a rush when I did these but they came out much better than expected!

I started with a few layers of ILNP's Fired Up for some warm sparkle, and then created some decals on my Uber Mat, you can see how here. The toy and present images I used are from Uber Chic's Happy Christmas stamping plate and I kept the colours consistent and Christmassy across all nails. I also used Mo You London's Noel 03 plate to make a little bird decal to sit on one of the hippo's. I've seen hippo nails before but I'd like to think that I'm the first to paint a hippo with a bird wearing deely boppers on it's head on my nails! While the decals were drying I painted some sort of semi-circle shapes on my thumb and ring fingernails in blue. I followed this up with a line of blue to define the hippo's nose, and then added ears using a small nail art brush, and eyes and nostrils using a dotting tool.

In conclusion I'm super happy with these. I'm planning to do my nails again tomorrow but I'm not sure I want to take these off! Will also depend if I have time.

Colours used: Fired Up - ILNP, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Blueberry - Barry M, Cobalt - Barry M, Pink Lemonade - Barry M, Jolly My Roger - Painted Polish, Red Velvet - Mark, Emerald Green - Barry M, Cappuccino - Barry M, Yellow - Barry M

A festive mouse!

Hey everyone! Back with some more Christmas nails (what else?!) for another Glam Nails Challenge prompt of Christmas Cookies. I'm not fitting in all the prompts for the December as I've been short on time and I have a few ideas that don't quite fit. Really looking forward to share my next ones! So for my Christmas cookie theme is a cosy mouse in a jumper, enjoying a hot cocoa with some giant cookies around for nibbling! I technically for me these are biscuits not cookies as I am in the UK, but as the theme is Christmas Cookie I shall call them that!

I started with a deep red base which to be honest I'd forgotten I had! It was a lovely and rich one coater and perfect colour for Christmas. I added the Merry Christmas writing in gold from my Mo You London Noel 03 stamping plate, and created decals for the other images using the same stamping plate, you can see how here. I should have filed my thumbnail down a little more as it looks weirdly long compared to the others and the cup is a bit small for it, but overall pretty happy with these. I'm really enjoying the strong red colour!

Colours used: Marquise Maroon - Models Own, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Jolly My Roger - Painted Polish, Grey - Barry M, Staying In - ILNP, Bright Lights - Barry M

Underneath the mistletoad!

Hello again! More Christmas nail art today of course! This look is one I didn't get round to trying last Christmas so am glad to do it this time! The Mo You London Noel 10 stamping plate features this strange and cute little Christmas toad image which is a definite winner for anyone who enjoys a pun! I used a few of the other images on this plate last year but ran out of time for this one.

I started with a base of dark green on three nails and ILNP's Christmas Cookie on the other two. Christmas Cookie is such a perfect base for Christmas nail art! I then used some metallic polishes and Mo You London's Holy Shapes 19 plate to create the plaid effect on the green nails. I went for a simplistic look but still managed to mess them up a bit with wonky lines! For the toad image I created a decal on my Uber Mat. It was a little fiddly but came out rather well I think! I'm enjoying this shimmering shade for the toad.

Overall I'm quite pleased with these. The tartan nails certainly could have been better and I think I should have used a slightly lighter green, but I really like the toad ones in the middle!

Colours used: Christmas Cookie - ILNP, Prince I've Been Gone - Cuccio, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Bright Lights - Barry M, Rain On Me - Barry M, Jolly My Roger - Painted Polish, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Emerald Green - Barry M, Cream Soda - Barry M

Winter Spices & Christmas Vices

Hey everyone! Bit of  break from the Glam Nails Challenge posts as there are some more designs I want to try out and time always flies so fast at Christmas I never have time to do all the designs I think of! So this look is using a stamping plate I bought just after Christmas last year so haven't really got to use it yet, although it is wintery not just Christmassy so could probably have been used a little earlier. The plate is Mo You London's Noel 07.

I started with a base of off-white on three of my nails, dark green on one and gold on the other. I then stamped the wintery images onto the white nails in black and added some layers of gold glitter to the gold nail. Once the stamping was dry I added a top coat to protect it and smooth it out for the next step. I wasn't sure if I'd need to water the sharpie ink down but it turned out to be fine as it was, so I used the pens to colour in the images on my nails. Could have done with two shades of orange really but orange and yellow did the job I think! Once all was dry I finished off with a glossy top coat.

Once this look was complete I went straight out to a Christmas market and didn't take pictures till later. While I was putting wrapping paper away - disaster struck! Nail disaster that is... I caught my ring finger nail on the cupboard door and it snapped. Such a shame - right before Christmas too! It could be a lot worse, but it's a shame I didn't get some nice pictures before it happened, I had to patch up the nail polish at the end which it why it looks a bit lumpy. Otherwise I was pretty pleased with this look!

Colours used: Cream Soda - Barry M, TBC - Cuccio, Gold Digger - Barry M, Gold Glitter - Barry M, Chelsea Embankment - Nails Inc, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Various Sharpies

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, had a very sparkly nose!

Today is the day of sparkly reindeer nails! I knew as soon as I ordered the Holo Taco Holodays 2021 collection that I had to to some sparkly reindeer nails, so the Glam Nails Challenge Reindeer prompt and the Holo Taco Holodays 2021 challenge seemed like the perfect time. The polishes are sooo sparkly and sparkly brown of course calls for reindeer nails!

I started with a base of mani mask from Barry M for a natural look, and then added a couple of layers of Choco Holo for the reindeer faces. You may have already noticed that I forgot to do their ears... I didn't notice till I looked back at some old reindeer nail art I did and now I can't un-see it! I used a dotting tool to add the eyes and noses (mostly black and then one red one for Rudolph of course!). I then used a small nail art brush for the antlers. I kept these simple as I knew painting with glitter would be hard and I'm not great at freehand as it is!

In summary, I'm pretty happy with these, they're cute and very sparkly. The nail tip element to the look is fun too. The catch my eye and I think they work with my nail shape. Could have been slightly better if I'd remembered their ears though!

Colours used: Birthday Suit - Barry M, Choco Holo - Holo Taco, Black Holo Wish - Holo Taco, Naughty List - Holo Taco, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Lady In Black - OPI

Santa is on the loose!

It's beginning to look a lot like... CHRISTMAS! OK so maybe it's past beginning to look like it, we're in full swing Christmas! This look is one of this months Glam Nails Challenge prompts which is Santa Claus. I decided to use Mo You London's Noel 01 stamping plate to create this look depicting Santa delivering presents. I just couldn't resist those adorable little house images!

I started with a base of pale blue, then used black stamping polish to add the festive images. I added a quick dry top coat to protect the images and once dry I used sharpies to colour them in. I wasn't sure how it would look but I actually really like the pale blue effect for the snowy scenes! Unfortunately I messed up the Santa stamp a little and then smudged it which is not ideal, but I do rather like the rest! I did also have some issues with my ring light, leading to these images being a bit yellow!

Colours used: Borrowed & Blue - Essie, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Various Sharpies

All the jingle ladies, all the jingle ladies!

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! This nail art is for yesterday's Glam Nails Challenge project which was jingle bells. I couldn't resist getting Beyonce in my head on a loop again with some 'all the jingle ladies' nails! I did these over the top of my Holo Taco Christmas swatches from my last post. The bell reverse stamping images are from Uber Chic's Happy Christmas plate. You may notice I have accidently placed one of the images the wrong way round! The jingle ladies writing is from Mo You London's Noel 10 stamping plate. This is a short blog post but there's not much more to add really! I have many Christmas nail art ideas to squeeze in before Christmas as always!

Colours used: Naughty List, Everything Is Pine, Plumb Luck, Gold Play Button, Choco Holo, Black Holo Wish - All Holo Taco, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, Silver Foil Effect - Barry M

Holo Taco Christmas 2021 - Lazy Swatches

Hello again! Got some lazy swatches to share today, showing off the new Christmas 2021 collection from Holo Taco. I was late to the party with their previous holographic Christmas collection but it was SO gorgeous that as soon as I saw this collection I knew I needed it! It comes out at a convenient time too as it was around the time of my Birthday! There are six colours in this collection, and as I only have five nails per hand I decided to put two of them on my thumbnail. I've included my thoughts on each colour below.

Naughty List - This is a beautiful deep read glitter in a sheer red base. Their previous pinky-red glitter was SO stunning so was super excited to see this one! Reminds me of jewels. Two coats for full coverage.

Everything Is Pine - I absolutely love the name for this one! Formula is just as above but with green, it's super sparkly too, I'm not sure I've ever seen such a sparkly green! Two coats for full coverage.

Plumb Luck - This is a stunning plum coloured polish with the same formula as the two above. Really dense glitter and great pay off. Two coats gave me full coverage. A really glamorous vampy shade!

Gold Play Button - This one is slightly different to the others in that it's in a clearer base, but the glitter pay off and formula are otherwise the same, and it is SO sparkly! Just what's needed to sit alongside their silver holo glitter, Rainbow Snow. I used two coats in the pictures here for consistency, but another would be needed for full coverage.

Choco Holo - A brown holo, sounds odd but it's lovely! A really unique shade and surprisingly sparkly. Really good coverage (same as the first few) and a gorgeous warm autumn/winter shade.

Black Holo Wish - This one is not the sort of thing I'd expect to find in a Christmas collection but it fits well and I know many people have been asking for it. It's in a black jelly/sheer base which is packed with holographic glitter. Glitter pay off is great and it covers in two coats, no need for sponges!

In conclusion - obviously I love them! I know they would be amazing and they didn't disappoint! It's hard to choose a favourite. The gold is of course super sparkly, and plumb luck is understandably popular, but I think Choco Holo and Everything Is Pine might be the stand out ones for me, it's such a gorgeous glittery green and the brown glitter is so unusual. Much like their last holographic Christmas glitter collection I really love the depth in these and the different sizes of glitter.

Colours used: Naughty List, Everything Is Pine, Plumb Luck, Gold Play Button, Choco Holo, Black Holo Wish - All Holo Taco

Some well timed 1st frost nails!

Hi everyone! Got some wintery nail art to share today and I'm excited about moving closer to Christmas nail art! This look was for the Glam Nails Challenge prompt of First Frost, which was very fitting as it's just started getting frosty here in the UK and we even had some snow yesterday which is quite unusual for us in December, in the south anyway! I was totally crazy and went for a lake swim yesterday morning! I love wild swimming and I have done so in the autumn and been fine, but during frosty weather was perhaps a little too far for me!

For the first frost prompt I knew I wanted to try a beautiful look I'd seen on Pretty_Pawlished on Instagram. Mine isn't exactly the same as we had different snowflake images, but I'm really glad to finally get round to it! I started with a base of two layers of blue glitter (colours listed below pictures). I was impressed that I only needed two coats as the glitter was so densely packed. Once dry I added a glitter grabber layer, and then a layer of magnetic polish for that gorgeous colour shift! Finally, I used Mo You London's Festive 02 stamping plate to add some snowflakes towards the edges of my nails - followed by a glossy top coat.

In conclusion - I am very happy with these!! The nail polishes are simply gorgeous and combined (particularly under bright lights) they have the most stunning sparkle and colour shift! I actually bought the blue glitter because of seeing the original look on Instagram. I shall have to see with my work situation but I'd like to keep these on as long as I can!

Colours used: Lifestyle - Fun Lacquer, Fascinating - Fun Lacquer, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection

Edwin Coffee Fangirl Nails!

Edwin Cawwfee! This is a somewhat obscure reference to a podcast I love listening to while I cook - the Off Menu podcast with Ed Gamble and James Acaster! Edwin Coffee is a coffee addict from New York who appeared when Ed was doing accents. For today's Glam Nails Challenge theme (coffee) I decided to do some Edwin Coffee fangirl nails!

I started with a base of cream, brown and sparkly taupe (colours listed below the pictures). I then created decals for my middle two fingers and thumbnail. The middle two decals were made using Mo You London's Cookbook 04 stamping plate - you can see how here. I don't even drink coffee but this plate was a hand me down from a friend who doesn't really do nail art anymore! The images were slightly short for my nails so I added a little frame which I really like on my ring fingernail. I used the same plate to add the pattern on my other two fingernails. As you can probably tell I free-handed the thumbnail!

In conclusion I actually rather like these! They are fun and strange and quite different to other things I've done. I'm really enjoying this nail length too. The ring fingernail is definitely my favourite.

Colours used: Cappuccino - Barry M, Cream Soda - Barry M, Taupe Temptation - Painted Polish, Red Hot Rio - OPI, Black Stamping Polish - Dance Legend, White Stamping Polish - Rainbow Connection, Cocoa - Barry M