Day 4 of 33DC - Tribal

Hello peardrops

I'm a smidgen late with this one but I'm sure you'll forgive me as I was off having a glorious break with my family. So...

I think I may have gone awry with this one.  Most of the challenge responses I have seen have been geometric tribal patterns over a vast array of colours - I went with something that screamed tribal at me: Dreamcatchers.

Dreamcatchers originated with the Ojibwe people a First Nation Native American people from the area of north Mexico they because a worldwide trinket in the 60s and 70s and are now hung up in dorm rooms the world over!  They are supposed to be made from a willow hoop strung to look like a spider's web and then decorated with sacred beads and feathers. The ones on my nails are not sacred, I just think they're pretty to look at.

For this mani I used a base of BM's Turquoise, BM's black art pen and BM's Blood orange and gold foil for the dots and I also used a few small studs from Born Pretty. On my ring and pinkie fingers the glitter topper is Copper Fields by Emily de Molly.  And here it is!

Check out the other responses below.

See you tomorrow!

N

Day 2 of the 33DC - Most used colour

Hello gumdrops

Well it's a Wednesday so it's challenge day.

Today's challenge courtesy of the 33DC that The Crumpet is running is artwork featuring your most used polish.

My most used polish is Utopia from Model's Own - it's a fantastic base for most artwork and doubles as a lovely colour in it's own right for work or anything lowkey.  I was just going to have her on my nails with an accent of glitter (Barry M's Rose Quartz) but I'm now pathologically incapable of just having a plain colour so I chucked some dots on there using BM's Matte White. So now I've got a quirky subtle take on a frenchie.

And here we go:

I'll love and leave you until Friday.

See below for some more pretty pretty art.

N

First Swatch - And it's an indie

Hello Sweetpeas!

I don't normally do swatches for a variety of reasons but I received this glorious nail mail from The Nail Arcade* yesterday and the first thing I did was remove my mani and put this lovely girl on my fingertips and she's so beautiful she needs to be showcased.

The polish in question is Serum No 5's Beach Cruisin'. A Glitter topper with large green, medium blue and small gold glitters in a sheer shimmery pinky/beige base. She really does remind me of the sea. Because the polish is sheer I layered her over one coat of the multi-purpose Barry M's Lychee and it was a perfect match. This polish does guzzle top coat and there's two coats of Seche Vite but it could probably have used a third.

 

 

And an extreme close up of one nail.

I love this polish. There's so much glitter, I've used two coats here and I dabbed once to get all that lovely gitter on my nail. She's a breeze to apply and I can't stop staring at my nails.

So my love affair with glitter indies continues apace (and I blame all of the talented bloggers out there for opening my eyes to this world).

There we have it, my first swatch.  What do you guys prefer seeing? Swatches or nail art?

Check out the other British bloggers below.

N

*Nail polish paid for by me.

An InLinkz Link-up

My Enchantmint skittle

Hello Cupcakes,

Whilst my nails were in a horrendous state I still bought nail polishes and one of those was the most gorgeous mint green holo from Lilypadlaquer called My Enchantmint from Sally Magpies (run don't walk she has all manner of indie goodies). Now that I have lush long (fake) nails I busted this out last night to do a skittle that I'd had in mind for a while now.

In addition to my new love I also used Emily de Molly's Copper fields, Rimmel's Sky High and Kiko 381. Top and tailed by Rejuvicote base coat and Seche Vite quick dry top coat.

Lookie what came out:

I used dotting tools, striping tape and scotch tape cut with craft scissors for the thumb, index and pinkie finger.  The middle finger is free handed using a tutorial by the inestimable Crumpet which can be found here. Mine aren't as good as hers (obviously) but I hopefully will get better with practice.

And I just wanted to draw your attention to my ring finger:

This was simply My Enchantmint topped with a coat of Copper Fields from Emily de Molly. Which is my absolute favourite glitter topper of all time - it's the one that got me into glitters in a big way.  Just look at those gorgeous ladies together.  This photo whilst pretty does not do them justice at all - you should see them in the sunlight or even in person.

I also made a decal last night so that might feature in my next post.

See you soon!

N

An InLinkz Link-up

Glitter Mani: Barry M and NYC

Hello dears!

I fancied doing something a little bit elegant and sparkly that I've seen on numerous nail blogs over the past few months. So with my brand new bottle of Blackberry Hi Jelly Shine from Barry M and an old glitter from NYC that I've never used before but seemed perfect, I did a simple glitter gradient by dabbing on the glitter with a make-up sponge.  This method is truly idiot proof and I think looks so good.  You may be seeing a few more of these from me as I get over my infatuation with them.

The Barry M polish is absolutely divine.  It's coverage is so good that one coat is sufficient but they don't call me Two Coat Tilly for nothing. (Actually no-one calls me Two Coat Tilly, sadly). And so I put another coat on for good measure.  It's a beautiful formulation and colour and I can't wait to try some more in the series.  I do hope Barry M continue to bring new shades out in this line.

Please ignore the cuticles.  A combination of spring cleaning and a dry cold winter means I can't keep my hands moisturised for love nor money.

What's your favourite idiot-proof manicure?

N