Kawaii Cloud Skies Nails

Hey there ma peeps!! I'm on my half term break (thank goodness) and I'm hopping off to London so hopefully I'll have nice stories from that!! Today I have a cute sky scene nail art look and not gonna lie I love it. I think this is the first cloud design I've ever done and I wanted to make it cool (read: cute). Also 500th post!! That's a lot of posts, let's call it an achievement :)

Once I realised how perfect Asscher Blue is as a sky blue base I got to work on the cute clouds. For variety I made the clouds white and pastel and of course I needed a neon rainbow. That's where it's at. So after all the elements, I think it shaped out pretty sweet. Cause neon rainbow. And clouds are cute and blushing.

I used the brushes of the polish for the clouds and the polishes being pretty opaque it was easy to do. Details I did with a black nail art pen and toothpicks like usual. For the rainbow it was the same kind of deal except I changed my mind about which colours to use about a million times so some rejected colours were Etude House - No. 60 (I actually had to scrape that off and repaint), No. 7 - Me! Me! Me!, OPI - Charged Up Cherry, Rimmel - It's a Scorcher!, Rimmel - Sunshine and Barry M - Greenberry. But I painted over them so they contributed so shoutout to them :P

Blue base: Models Own - Asscher Blue
White: Barry M - Matt White
Pale blue: Barry M - Sugar Apple
Purple: Barry M - Prickly Pear
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
Pink: No. 7 - Me! Me! Me!
Light pink: Barry M - Dragon Fruit and Barry M - Superdrug Summer LE 2013 A
Neon pink: Nails Inc - Notting Hill Gate
Orange: Models Own - Beach Party
Yellow: American Apparel - Neon Yellow
Green: China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard

Thanks very much for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)

Grey Nails: Barry M - Chai

Hello there palios!! Happy Halloween!! You probably can tell I'm too fussed about Halloween, I didn't even attempt to do any nail art. Instead here I have swatches of the 1st grey polish I have ever owned. Exciting times. This is from the Autumn Gelly collection, legitimate exciting times. "Fall" is not my season, as you may be able to tell but I'm pretty much bright all year round. However I really did like the Autumn Gelly collection this year, the colours are perfectly appropriate and genuinely nice. When I saw there was a grey and it was Barry, I knew it was time to get my first grey polish.

Chai is your straight darkish grey creme. And it's fab, not incredibly fab like some other polishes but it's just really nice grey polish. That's all Chai promises to be and it lives up to that and more. My thought is that grey is a boring colour but honestly Chai kind of changes my mind and makes me see differently. Who can deny it's a nice grey polish?

I always get excited about the Gelly collections, always look forward to them. Go look up the other polishes in this collection cause they're really nice like every other jelly polish. Ok I think I'd like Chai more if it had shimmer, but you know straight up no shimmer polishes are needed in the world too. But after looking up Chai, I haven't seen any grey tea so I don't really understand the name.

The formula is perfect. Like a standard Gelly polish, it's perfect. You could totally do 1 coat and it'd be opaque, smooth and it would apply beautifully. I did 2 coats from habit and I got to glide twice.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!! :)

Green polka dots + gunmetal grey base nails

Hello there people!! Sometimes simplicity is the best. I was pushed for time and was tired (i was going to do a snazzier design) so I quickly blasted through this design, but I loved wearing it. It's also nice to do something different, I'm also now obsessed with polka dots and I want them in every design and this design triggered that.

You know me, you know cuticles issues :P

I like to think it as a mysterious grey base with some green polka dots. So simple, but so great. I don't know what made me want to combine those colours but I'm so glad I did. The combo is so weird, but so great again. I love weird things!!

I got my sponge and went to town, I wanted mystery with the silver but that led to glitter and flakes and I love it. The polka dots I painted with a toothpick so they're not exactly the same but that doesn't matter to me. I'm proud with how evenly spaced they are, that's very easy to mess up and I know this from experience.

Grey: Barry M - Chai

Sponged mystery: w7 - Silver Mirror, Topshop - Gypsy Night and OPI - Metallic 4 Life 

Green: Barry M - Kiwi

Thank you for reading this snappy post and I hope you have a fantastic day!! :)

Blue Nails: Models Own - Asscher Blue

Hey there guys!! I guess I've been chilling on the blog front right now (explaining the big gaps between posts) cause of business but I've had a good few (mental) weeks. I've obviously had my ups and downs and self-inflicted failures hahaha but it's nice to write and go cray about polish. This Diamond Luxe collection has seriously re-sparked my interest in polish. This one, oh this one. It's brill to say the least.

In case you didn't know I adore blue polish. This is the one. Asscher Blue is a bright kind of turquoise-y blue with lil flakes and a brilliant turquoise shimmer. The shimmer *faints* Bright blue is the best blue and I've been searching for a good one and this is it. So ahead and swoon.

Direct lighting to try and show the shimmer, it's too great

Again this is from the Diamond Luxe collection, a totally stunning collection and I'll probably hop out and get more at some point. The shimmer. It's the shimmer. After a quick google search I've found out that asscher is a type of diamond. Very appropriate, I like what they did there ;)

The formula is very good, I mentioned that Radiant Pink is quite thick but there were none of those issues with Asscher Blue. It's not as smooth as a creme, but then it's not a creme and the formula is still very good anyway. I used 2 coats for opacity, and it built very well. For long nails, the opacity was great.

Thanks for taking time out to read this, I hope you have a lovely day!! :) 

Totoro Nail Art

Hello!! I hope you're doing swell. Nail art day!! It's Totoro!! Who doesn't like Totoro? Embarrassingly I don't know much about Totoro and it's totally something I should specialise in, oh well that never stops me from doing nail art of cute cartoons.

Sorry I thought my cuticles were ok when I took the pictures but apparently not

I did a simple little Totoro design with Totoro on the accent and then a little leaf which seems to be his thing. What animal is Totoro anyway? I'm not sure. Shamefully I just wanted Melange to shine (which looks great with topcoat) but it's a great background for Totoro, it fits the woodland magic feeling :P

I did the basic shape of Totoro with the brush of the polish then did pretty much everything else with the toothpicks. The nose and the bridge of it was harder than anticipated, you know, positioning issues. The leaf was hard too, I don't know why, I still was completely happy with it in the end. 

Base: Illamasqua - Melange

Grey: Barry M - Chai

Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black

White: Barry M - Matt White

Green: Barry M - Kiwi

Light Green: Etude House - No. 86

Thank you for reading!! And I hope you have a fabulous day!! :)

Pink Nails: Models Own - Radiant Pink

Hey there!! I'm travelling along as usual, getting stuff done. I don't know if you heard but Models Own released a Diamond Luxe collection (which apparently has real diamond dust in it or whatever, that's not what I care about) and basically all the polishes have a fantastic shimmer and I'm obsessed. I got 2 but more shall enter my life :P

Gurl don't you have enough pink polish?? It's true. I do. But from browsing the collection obviously the pink is going to speak to me (can you guess what other colour I got? It's even more me colour).
Radiant Pink is a borderline neon blue-toned medium pink (but different from my other medium pinks, I can assure you!!) with (this is what makes it special) white shimmery flakes that sparkle real nice and it's really pretty. It's not a crazy sparkle, it's subtle but it goes perfectly. I have been obsessed with shimmer after realising how nicely it can be done with Illamasqua Melange so yeah all the shimmer polishes.

You can see the white flakes better here and they're SO NICE. I think Models Own has been releasing some great polish recently and it's a brand I've really liked for a long time but they seem very consistent throughout their polishes, and when they do something good. It's good.

Pologies for weird lighting, I was trying to get the polish colour accurate. That's also the problem with editing at night :/

I found the formula weird for this one, I don't know if it was me or if I need to use the polish more cause it was quite thick and difficult to control. Not enough to not use it again (come on the polish is lovely) but I could be wrong (it's happened when a polish isn't great the first time it's tried but after its fine). But 3 coats was good for opacity but as usual you could probably do 2. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a very pleasant day!! :)

Geometric Gradient Line Nails

Hi there!! This nail art look is inspired by the one and only Chalkboard Nails where she did this design during the 31 Day Challenge and I thought it was sweet. But also on that note, I'm so glad I didn't do the challenge this year. There's just no way, I can barely do my nails once a week let alone everyday. Madness that challenge is, madness. Girl has homework.

This is a bad time of the year for my cuticles :/

I thought all the lines looked really funky, the gradient making is especially so. I mixed up the colours for fun and otherwise I think this looks really cool. I would just stare at the design in school cause of gradient really, gradients are great. 

I got to work with my toothpicks and initially I tried to make the lines thinner but when that didn't work it was chubby lines all the way. I first did the 3 main colours then went to the intersects and did the blending colours, worked quite well if I do say so myself. 

Pink: Models Own - Radiant Pink

Glitter (I had to add some glitter): M&S - Light Mix

Beige: Nails Inc - Sao Paulo Streets

Brown: Nails Inc - Porchester Square

Purple: Illamasqua - Jo'Mina

Light Purple: Barry M - Prickly Pear and Essie - Lilacism

Blue: Essie - Bikini So Teeny

Light Blue: The Face Shop - GR501

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a really funky day!! :)

Green Nails: Illamasqua - Melange

Hello guys!! This is the polish. I'm real here and this is just the best. I'm sure you've seen swatches of this beauty cropping up every now and again and from those swatches I decided I need this polish in my life. And I was right. And then some. If you can look at this polish and not fall in love then I don't know anymore.

I'm not a bottle shot gal but I had to

Can you deal? Cause I can't deal. Maybe I'm not very good at dealing. But is this not the most fantastical green polish you've ever seen?? I need this in all the colours.
Melange is a dusty camouflage/asparagus green (I actually like the sound of that) with the most stunning gold and red/copper flakes (those flakes though, they're wonderful). I'm finding it hard not writing in all caps. IT'S JUST BEAUTIFUL!! I think it's been a while since I've really been wowed by a polish, but Melange has changed everything. Everything. :P

Illamasqua, you've done it again. As I always say Illasmasqua is the only high end brand I'm willing to splurge on and this is one of the reasons. Melange is from this year Autumn collection called Once, it's very ethereal and is evocative of fairytales and that. Seriously, go look at the press photos they are so nice. Melange is the only polish to come out with the collection, but that's all the collection needs. I ran out to get it, I infrequently do that. Melange is worth it. There are so many gorgeous Illamasqua polishes, why you cost so much??
I looked up what Melange is and it's a formation of different shapes and types of rocks which may not be the most exciting thing. But I do geography in school and in the physical aspect, we cover rocks (kind of) and that kind of stuff. But I love geography (hence why I do it ;)) and so I have connections with the polish. I'm great at sounding crazy.

The formula is also totally and utterly flawless. I used 2 coats and they applied like a dream, imagine a dream gliding onto your nails. That's what Melange is like. Also when I messed something up, when I reapplied, I only used 1 coat and the opacity was perfect. This is all you'd ever want in a formula of a polish.

Bonus picture because I can

Thank you for reading this wordy post about this extraordinary polish, I hope you have a fantastic day!! :)

Parrot Print Nails

Hey there guys, hope you're having a good start to your October. I think things have slightly calmed down, at least this week I know things are going to get insane again in a couple of days. By the time you read this I will have done a concert with the BBC and I guess that'll be cool :) I'm quite behind when it comes to writing up posts but I remember being very happy with this design, hopefully you'll think it's pretty sweet :P

This is inspired by a parrot top I got during the summer from New Look, it's cobalt blue with rainbow parrots and it's my favourite top ever. However not too long ago I did a butterfly design (which I also loved) and the colour scheme is very very similar.
So that called for a more green/pink colour scheme which is very feminine, an aspect I like from time to time. I think the green and pink combo is a good one, I added a little bit of blue too for fun. This is the first time I've done something unintentionally artsy and I think it actually works!! Highly suitable for a bird too. The bar glitter is also for a feather effect (like the Nails Inc polish but this is a Barry M but it's totally a dupe for the Nails Inc polish).

I started with a white base, I didn't intend to completely cover it but I'm glad I did. I started with the beaks, and I tried to highlight certain areas with different shades of green. I did the same with the pink, blue and bonus green, trying to make the dark colours fade to lighter colours (art yo). Finally I got my black polish and toothpick and did light strokes and just generally not completely stark opaque lines.
I'm proud that it worked cause when I want to do something artsy it normally doesn't work haha. But success!! Generally I think prints are really nice.
On another note, I added extra glitter to find that it was overkill, and while I managed to pick most of it off some of the glitter was quite jammed on so I painted over it, covering up = another solution.

Base: Barry M - Greenberry, Barry M - Sour Apple and Claire's - Dizzy (which I painted over)
Black: Rimmel - Black Pearl
Green (from light to dark): Etude House - No. 86, China Glaze - I'm With The Lifeguard and Barry M - Kiwi
Pink (from light to dark): Barry M - Dragonfruit, Barry M - Superdrug Summer LE 2013 A, The Face Shop - PK105 and Madame Milly - Pink (no name)
Blue (from light to dark): Revlon - Blue Lagoon and Revlon - Dreamer
White: Barry M - Matt White

Thank you much for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day!! :)

Who's that Pokémon? Marill!

Hey there guys. Man it's been a while since I've written; I've been scheduling due to the masses of homework I receive on a weekly basis. But hey, I have slightly less this week so I get to talk to you!!! Honestly it's been a while since I did this design, but I still remember how much I loved it so let's get started!! :D <-- I'm not even that happy

I'm really thinking of making this Pokémon thing a series cause I seriously ADORE Pokémon nail art. I painted Marill a cute lil' water type. Once again I don't know if Marill is actually good in play or not (I suspect or not), but my favourite Pokémon are the cute ones. I wanted Marill to stand out so I did a nice gradient background, which I liked but it was nothing special. How glitter can magic all things!! After the glitter I felt like I was looking at a magnificent night sky with flower petals falling down. I get very emotive about this kind of stuff ;)

I really do intend of actually getting into Pokémon one of these days. I've rediscovered my cards properly and I want to battle!! From watching gameplay I'm getting more and more interested in it. Also the video-game looks so good and OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire are coming out kind of near my birthday, so maybe now's the time (if school would let me)!! But more Pokémon nail art is a definite. 

So for this design I used a sponge to do the gradient (it wasn't the best gradient) and the brush of the polish and toothpicks for everything (this is something I would do). I was going to get Marill to do a different pose but I painted the blob too small so things had to change. But in the end it didn't matter cause I still think Marill looks cute :3

Blue Gradient: Barry M - Indigo, H&M - Blue My Mind and Revlon - Dreamer

Snazzy Glitter: OPI - Last Friday Night and OPI - Minnie Style

Blue: Barry M - Blueberry Ice Cream

Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black

Light Blue: Barry M - Sugar Apple

White: Barry M - Matt White

Teal: Barry M - Guava

Pink: Orly - Basket Case

Thank you very much for checking in here, I hope you have a fantastic day!! :)

Red Nails: M&S - Poppy

Hello!! Red nail polish here and I have been quite a red girl recently. This is such a nice one (though I still believe a girl only needs so many red cremes ;)), and I'm really proud of my swatches this time.

Poppy is a medium red creme polish. It's not ground-breaking but a good one to have. It's pretty similar to other red polishes I have but it does get used over other red polishes I own. I don't really know why, it just works well for nail art.

My close pal-ios gave this to me as a birthday present (along with 11 other polishes) and I didn't know how much I'd use it but it has been one of my most used of the set. It's an M&S polish which are very legit and I have been impressed by it generally. Now when I go to M&S I make sure I check out the polish. I'm sure it has brilliant alternatives for certain colours that would cost over double the price of M&S polish. Pro tip?

The formula of this is really nice, I think 2 thick coats are sufficient but I used 3 thin coats cause that's generally what I do. It was very flowy so it was easy to apply and the brush was a really good shape for my nails, that's a nice bonus.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a lovely day!! :)

Retro Gladiolus Flower Nail Art

Hi there you!! I wanted to redeem myself for the awful gladiolus flowers I painted a little bit back. They're bad, very bad and I wanted to prove that I can paint flowers cause it seems the opposite the majority of the time. So here's my rendition, it's a bit wacky but I really like it.

The flowers aren't perfect but I really liked them ya'know. The little bonus colours really made all the difference, like the bonus bit of Sugar Apple really heightened the design. I tried to stray from the black outline too. The polka dots were definitely bonus thoughts by the end but I really like them too. This is where the retro comes from.

You know me and my toothpicks. I started with the basic shape of the petals and then did "artsy strokes" from then on. Lots of dabbing and such. The polka dots at the end were moulded around the design with a toothpick.

Base: The Face Shop - GL112
Polka Dots: w7 - Brownie
Yellows: Rimmel - Sunshine, Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream and American Apparel - Neon Yellow
Oranges: Etude House - No. 60, Essie - Fear Or Desire, Rimmel - It's a Scorcher! and Body Collection - Orange Pink (no name)
Greens: Barry M - Kiwi, Illamasqua - Nomad, Max Factor - Cool Jade, Barry M - Sugar Apple, Rimmel - Block Your Green! and Barry M - Guava

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you have a fab day!! :)

Blue Nails: Barry M - Indigo

Hey there guys!! How is it October already?? I was starting school yesterday and now a month has past and it's October :/ This post was a long time coming but my bottle was running low and it's difficult to get polish out!! This is also my final reswatch, you couldn't even call my last swatch of this a swatch cause it was so gross in every way and I didn't even write much about it.

Indigo is a lovely dark blue with purple tones (as you'd suspect with a polish called Indigo) which can be demure sometimes but bright other times depending on the lighting. Really pretty colour here, my favourite dark blue and just a great blue in general. I would so use it more if my polish wasn't so deplenished, I used to use this colour a lot when the bottle was fuller.

This is a pretty old Barry M and I got it in 2011, always been quality that Barry M. This polish made it into my 2012 favourites which attests to it's greatness. You know many a Barry has been in my favourite, it's just the best and nobody does it better. I am pumped to check out the new Autumn Gelly collection :)

I just want to say that the brush of this polish is very thin (not all Barry M's just this one) so that's why it's difficult to get polish out.
I was afraid to use this polish but it was so much more opaque than I expected!! I used 2 coats and that was all I needed. Also why the coats took a bit more effort and patience, it was worth it and not even that big of a hassle. So it's acc great, even more so if you have a full bottle!!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a nice day!! :)