Thursday, 5 December 2013

Distressed Catching Fire Nails

Hi there!! After this post I'm hoping for everything to go full Christmas, I LOVE Christmas and I want to do some more unconventional Christmas nail art this year. But winter is here and my lighting is gone, expect to see some different lighting situations. Seriously 4pm my lighting is gone (I mean gone, it is very dark), sometimes it's gone before that and I get home from school after 4pm so I have issues.
Anyway on Sunday I watched Catching Fire and yes it was amazing and I was muy emotional and Josh Hutcherson was perfect and they were very true to the book. I feel like they casted very well, the acting was great and they created some brilliant tension, seriously during the film I was so on edge. And I wanted to do some Catching Fire nails for the movie, I did my nails for the last Hunger Games film and maybe one day I'll show them to you, but for now I have distressed fire nails.

Everybody has been doing distressed nails and I had to jump on the boat cause they look really cool. I used Chalkboard Nail's tutorial and it's really easy and packs on the colour (I love packing on colour). My 2 cents on distressed nails are use a light hand, the distressed effect it better the lighter you lean. I thought the fire and the distressed would go perfect together, not to hard to piece together considering the film's release and the popularity of distressed right now. I really like the way it looks it has that edgy that I love and crave.

Have you guys seen the film? Pretty much everyone I've talked to has really really enjoyed it, I really hope they do a good job with the 3rd and 4th film cause I didn't like the 3rd book but if the film can change my mind I'll know they've done a good job. But I have to say I preferred the film of Catching Fire over the book (I wasn't crazy about the 2nd book, I bet people are yelling at me), I just loved having the story play out for me, maybe I'll get the 3rd book better in film form.

White: Barry M - Matt White
Black: Rimmel - Black Pearl
Red: M&S - Poppy and OPI - Jinx
Orange: Essie - Fear Or Desire and Models Own - Beach Party
Yellow: M&S - Maize and Rimmel - Sunshine


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

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Guest Post At Lacqueerisa!!!!

Hello there lovely one!! As you can tell by the title I have a very exciting post that is existing on Lacqueerisa, my best nail peep as she is so lovely and her nail art and blog is fabulous!!

I did this little design for the post, to read more about it, the concept behind it, why I chose to paint, what I used and all that other fun stuff, click here to read the post (yes I've linked it twice in this post :P)!!! :)

Saturday, 30 November 2013

Wario Nails (for Movember)

Hi there guys, I hope you're having a great weekend. Exam freedom is one of the most beautiful things of life, so I'll be living my next week in peace (well hopefully) and I have something very exciting for the blog coming up in the next week so yay!! :D I left my Movember (moustache growing worldwide for prostate cancer) nails quite late this year, but I finally had time to go to them and they're pretty funky.

Sorry about the cut that I edited out, winter (well autumn, almost winter) is unkind to my cuticles, very very unkind
So I present Wario, one of the more distasteful Nintendo characters, so basically he's not cute but he's got quite the moustache. Last year I did Mario nails for Movember and loved them, the concept of this manicure is very similar. Also I really like this mani, when painting I was not sure if he was going to turn out right but I think we can all agree he looks very maniacal (sorry for the nightmares) but I like how terrifying he is, I do not know why but I like the way he looks here!! I was going to add garlic and money to the other nails but new polish changed my mind.

Eeeeeeeeeeee the purple is a new!! And a Liquid Sand!! Well I visited my love TK Maxx yesterday and there were OPI sets (the selection of nail polish brands was great) and this called my name. Ok OPI DS Lapis was there but the price point made my decision also the fact that the set I got was limited edition and came with a base coat.
I legit haven't owned a base coat for over a year, and yes I have used a "base coat" but it's a french manicure pink (which was actually a great base coat) but it's nice to have a real base coat for once. But when I applied it I wasn't used to having my nails clear and not a shimmery blue in pink. I've been using the french manicure pink since I started this blog (fun fact: majority of manicures on this blog use that Sally Hansen french manicure pink as the base coat).
Also totally coincidental that it works with this look, I was going to be doing my Movember nails no matter what but I was going to use a different purple as yellow and purple are Wario's colours. Also I haven't seen many (or any) swatches of this so I was curious. I love the Liquid Sands cause they're SO sparkly O.o

Purple: OPI - My Current Crush
Now this isn't mega sparkly like I love it (can't wait to topcoat it when I "swatch" it). I've mentioned I HATE the colour plum but this is just about not plum for me and I really like it. I do love a purple polish and it does have a nice sparkle. The name is also adorable.
Peach: w7 - Linen
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
White: Barry M - Matt White and Lovely Me:Ex - White
Pink: Per Una - Pink (no name)
Yellow: Rimmel - Sunshine
Dark Blue: Barry M - Indigo
Light Blue: The Face Shop - GR501
I really wanted to add the light blue to the sides of this eyes so it was the most accurate it could possibly be.
Brown: w7 - Brownie

Thank you for reading, I hope you had a great Movember and only have a better December (or Decembeard)!!! :)

Thursday, 28 November 2013

Ombre Ikat Hearts + Green Jelly Sandwich

Hi there guys!! My exams are nearly over and this makes me a very happy bunny, but arguably my worse exam is tomorrow so I'm hoping I can keep my cool and do my best.
I did this jelly sandwich and I liked the way it looked but I didn't want to leave it plain and it took me ages to decide what to paint on top. But I eventually decided on ikat hearts cause I really liked the way they looked the last time I did them.

I know I could've painted this much better, the ikat just isn't very spiky and I wanted more colour. But it was at a point where there was too much colour and I had to go over with the white again. But then there was too much white and I didn't want to keep going in circles. Though it would've looked better with more colour. I like the heart on my thumb but this mani is just missing something... :/ But hearts are always sweet and the jelly sandwich looks pretty cool with it. 

I started with white polish, dabbed the colour on and then did the black spiky parts (excluding the whole adding more white polish step). They're more gradient hearts cause for an ombre it's only meant to have one colour but ombre sounds nicer, sorry if it bothers you cause it would bother someone like me :P

Jelly Sandwich Base: Barry M - Guava, Orly - Ridiculously Regal, Barry M - Ruby and Topshop - Green Room
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
White: Barry M - Matt White
Red: M&S - Poppy
Coral: OPI - Jinx
Orange: Essie - Fear Or Desire
Light Orange: Models Own - Beach Party
Yellow: Barry M - Lemon Ice Cream


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

Monday, 25 November 2013

Yellow Nails: Ciate - Loop The Loop

Hello there lovely one, hope you are well. This is my first ever yellow nails post, I guess yellow just isn't my colour (also it really doesn't suit me). This was a gift from my bezzie (very many thanks to her) with some caviar beads and who knows when those will see the light of day. I know I said I'd be posting less due to exams but I'm actually posting a decent amount, I guess I've got a little bit of myself together (let's not mention the state of revision).

Loop The Loop is just a very nice pale (but not too pale) yellow. I wasn't sure if I'd be a fan (didn't look all that special in the bottle) but surprisingly I am!! It's a very pretty shade I found myself looking and thinking it was lovely which is pretty rare for me and yellows. It's somewhat clean if you get me.
It might become my go-to yellow (which isn't all that prestigious to be honest), as my Barry M (Lemon Ice Cream) is gloopy as anything, w7 (Sheer Lemon) is too pale and requires too many coats and the Rimmel (Sunshine) stains. Also helpful that this Ciate is very aesthetically pleasing.
And just saying that I'm very pleased with my swatch, it looks legit.

I'm not sure how I feel about the brand Ciate, I will very graciously accept the gift and free gifts from magazines but I'm not sure if I'd ever buy any with my own money. None of them really get my attention as personally I don't think they're particularly magical. Also I don't like them taking others ideas then putting an extortionate price on it. But I really like this polish and Ciate's "ethics" don't really bother me all that much.

The formula wasn't perfect (which was a reason I thought it wasn't going to be all that great), the coats are a combination of quite opaque and streaky. Some patches covered and others just not. 3 coats was definitely required, but I don't think anymore would be needed. I used 2 thick coats and 1 thin. The brush of the polish was a bit messed up for me (one of the bristles was sticking out) but it didn't affect anything.
I was totally cynical when applying but honestly for a yellow it's pretty good and I'm just glad it's not gloop city for once and actually applied smoothly.

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

Saturday, 23 November 2013

Blue + Teal Leopard + Rainbow Cookie Spots

Hello there guys!! Happy weekend, good to see you here. I've finally done another leopard, 30th of June was my last leopard :O I had a pact to make sure I only did maximum 2 leopards a month. Now it's been nearly 5 months since the last leopard :O Well I'm glad I branched out into different things but it's now is the time for a leopard print.

I also wanted to use all the colours quite clearly. You know I love me a leopard, I only do the crazy colour ones (well there was one exception), it is the best way to get ALL THE COLOURS into a mani.

I also wanted a gradient, at first I regretted the rainbow cookie spots and thought I should've done a gradient leopard but in the end I really liked the rainbow. I love all things rainbow.

Blue gradient base: M&S - Ultraviolet (similar to Essie Bikini So Teeny, soooooooo up my street), Rimmel - Azure and Rimmel - Disco Ball (I love the holographic glitter in this)
Teal gradient base: Barry M - Guava (I love this, post on this soon), M&S - Peacock and Barry M - Sour Apple
Black: M&S - Petrol
When my friend kindly gave me the box for the Marks & Spencers polishes the back said "textured" and I was like "Marks & Spencers is doing textured???" like the fact they were doing nail polish was baffling and textured polish was just mind blowing. I began to try to guess which one was the textured one and I did guess Petrol due to the glitter. It looks beautiful, especially that green glitter/shimmer, I can't wait to try it on it's own!!
Pinky Red: OPI - Charged Up Cherry
Peachy Orange: Essie - Tart Deco
Green: Illamasqua - Nomad
Purple: Illamasqua - Jo'Mina
Pink: No.7 - Me! Me! Me!
Orange: Bourjois - Tangerine Fatal
Yellow: Ciate - Loop The Loop
Light Purple: Barry M - Prickly Pear
Yes all the colours, some regulars in there as well as some new ones. I hope to post swatches of everything eventually, just cause I want to!! :P

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

Thursday, 21 November 2013

Retro Flowers + Saran Wrap

Hello there you very fine folks!! Hope you are well, today I have a nice little look with flowers and my first ever saran wrap!! Or just cling film to me but saran wrap sounds fancier. I thought my first time doing a saran wrap mani would have more of a fanfare but I just grabbed some cling film and went. Also I will be saran wrapping all the time now just it's SO easy and looks really pretty. And yeah I love me some flowers so that had to happen.

It was another not particularly keen on this but then the next day I really really liked it. I love the combo of the flowers and saran wrap and I'm just please with this look, I think it looks sophisticated and delicate. Another criteria was to use new polish and this design and my next design I'm posting fulfils that, I want to swatch everything, but patience me, you don't have the time now. I'm just mega happy with how this turned out!! :)

The saran wrap really is just, painting your base (waiting for it to dry), painting a layer of polish and dabbing it off with cling film and repeat if you please, the results are awesome. I want to use darker colours so that it stands out more. I don't want to clash yet in case the colours blend then make a gross brown, I don't want that.
I tried to make my flower segments as equal as possible cause when they're not I get tres annoyed. I started with the pink, then red, then darker red blobbed on the pink. Did some leaves and outlined, that's about it.

Yes, I added a flakie-shard glitter on top, probably didn't see that til now, I have to put this glitter over a darker colour cause I know it'll look amazing
Saran wrapped base: Barry M - Blue Moon, Illamasqua - Jo'Mina and Barry M - Berry Ice Cream (in that order)
Flakie shard glitter: M&S - Light Mix
Pink: M&S - Peony
Red: M&S - Poppy
Dark Red: Barry M - Raspberry
Green: Rimmel - Block Your Green (love the subtle subtle shimmer in this)
Black: Lovely Me:Ex - Black
I never knew Marks & Spencers really did nail polish (Marks & Spencers is a supermarket to me) but I'm very impressed so expect to see more cause I'm a fan of the colours and the formulas.

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