NOTD - The quest for the perfect purple continues...

Hi all!

I can't get enough purple at the moment. Don't know why. It's always been one of my favourite colours, not just in nails, but I've really had a thirst for purple nails over the last few weeks. This is also another Accessorize polish, Purple Dream. I applied three coats, mattefied it, then shiniefied the tips (made up words FTW). It applied well, was less sheer than the other Accessorize polishes with the same formula but was a little bit draggy so you need to load your brush up well.

Close up to see pretty violet and blue micro glitters

I was happy with this manicure, and even slapped some glitter over to keep it going an extra day (post on that to come...). Until I took it off and found it had turned my nails GREEN! Green? From purple polish? Worst staining I've ever had too. I was considering naked nails for a few days because of the terrible peeling I'm getting (you can see some of it on the pic below, and that's not even the worst of it) so I think it was lifes way of telling me I can't go unpolished.

Bleaurgh!

What's the worst staining you've ever had? How do you solve it? And as for peeling, any remedies? I'm trying to moisturise as much as I can, and I'm using nail envy as my basecoat. I can't get any acetone free polish remover anywhere near me atm, but when I next go into town I'll try and get some. I've also chopped a few of my nails and I'm going to keep them shorter until the splits grow out. I know you should file a split out, but I can't if they're lower than the nail bed. LeSigh.

Hx

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NOTD - I don't wanna see your Peacock...

Hi!

Today I have a fail of a polish to show you. I swear it wasn't my fault, I wanted to love this polish, I love the colour but it wasn't to be. 17 Fast Finish Peacock is a pretty turquoise metallic. But that is where the "good" points end. Firstly, it was super sheer. 4 coats and there was still VNL under some lights. Secondly, the colour just didn't suit me, not the polishes fault I'll admit, but I think I was expecting more teal and less green. Thirdly, 17 weren't joking when they called it fast finish - it was too bloody fast! After the first coat the polish started drying on the brush before I even got it anywhere near my nail so it was draggy and streaky and a pig to apply. There were even a few lumps in there. Ew. But, I somehow managed to get sheet marks and wrinkles, even though I didn't go to bed until at least 2 hours after I finished painting. Finally, I got a duff brush. I was pretty unhappy with this mani from the word go, but I wore it for a day and didn't have time to change it last night, so to be able to bear it another day I did what I do best and shattered all over it.

A coat of MUA Nail Quake in Broken Arrow and order was restored. I even think it looks kind peacock feathery, doesn't it? And I got lots of positive comments on it at playgroup today. I swear all the other Mums think I'm bonkers. They might have a point...

Hx

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NOTD - Multi-tasking pigments

Hi!

If you're anything like me you have a ton of eyeshadows you'll never use up, especially loose pigments and powders. I came across this post by Beauty's Bad Habit and I knew I had to try it. I love it when I find an alternative use for a product. I have an entire crapload of loose shadows that are super old (I'm talking 10 years plus, Edit - actually closer to 15 fuuuuuu... from my first ever job as a Saturday girl in a pharmacy, the only make-up they carried was Miners and every Saurday I used to buy something with some of my wages, I can't bring myself to get rid of these!) so expect to see these on my nails a lot. For this mani I actually used a Models Own loose eyeshadow in Gold, over Essie Wicked (an ebay bargain).

It's a really simple and really effective mani, Beauty's Bad Habit has a picture tutorial, but here's a quick Helly-explanation for you. 1. Base coat. 2. 1st coat of your chosen polish. 2. Add the second (or third if it needs it) coat of your colour. As you do each nail (so it doesn't have a chance to dry) place a bit of your loose pigment at the base of your nail, I used an orange stick for this. 3. Tilt your nail downwards over something that wont get ruined (I used a plastic bag) and blow the powder across your nail. Repeat 2 and 3 on all nails. Once colour is dry blow again to remove any excess, then add top coat. Once all that is dry wash any left overs off your hands, or like me leave it to the morning and wake up with a sparkly face :) Done!

My favourite nail.

 And bonus pic, Ollie saw me taking pictured of my hands and wanted one of his taken too. Excuse the dirty nails, he's a boy, he attracts dirt like I attract the loonies on the bus (seriously, why do they always think it's ok to talk to me?), what can I say.

Will you be trying this? Even though I have at least 6 loose pigments I'm going to order a black one from Models Own (50% off on their website with the code FIFTYFIFTY. Good luck getting it to work though) so I can do red with black. Don't think I'll ever get bored of this :)

Hx

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NOTD - New Boots 17 Crackle Topcoat

Hullo!

Just a quick post tonight to show you this new crackle polish from 17 at Boots. They already had a mediocre gold crackle topcoat (which you can see here and here), and now they've released a purple and, most exciting for me, a black with gold glitter! Seriously I nearly wee'd a little bit when I saw it (ahem, I do have a life, kind of...) The purple is pretty, with a kind of golden shimmer to it by the looks of the bottle, so I don't have anything like it and I'm sure I'll be adding it to my extensive crackle collection shortly, but I had to have the black one. Here it is layered over China Glaze Peace on Earth, a yummy golden metalic olive green that I've had for ages and never worn. Shame on me, it's lovely. I left the ring finger plain, coz you know how I love me an accent nail.

Odd texture at the tip of my ring finger here...not visible IRL

I do like this combo, I think it looks kinda snakeskin-esque, and the topcoat crackles well, but I wish I'd put a more visible colour underneath. I bought No 7 Poolside blue (with my £5 off No 7 voucher which is Boots current promotion) and the OH said on the way home I should put the crackle over that. I didn't agree but I wish I had now. Oh well, you live and learn.

Talking of Boot's promotions, thought I'd just mention just some of the ones I saw while I was there. If you buy 2 things costing over £4 from Collection 2000 you get a third free, there's the No 7 £5 voucher when you spend a certain amount (£5 I think?) and with any two purchases of 17 products you get a free Summer Nudes palette, consisting of two eyeshadows, a lip colour and a cream blush. It's actually a nice sturdy little palette, I picked up my polish and a lipstick for £2.29 (also on offer - the original price is about £3) and got the palette free. Bargainous.

Picture credit - boots.com

So, I said this would be a short post but I've rambled on as usual. Happy Sunday everyone, I hope Monday treats you well!

Hx

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Stash Raiders!

This is a serious warning for fellow polish hoarders. There have been several reported sash raids in recent days. The suspects are said to be short, cute and very very cheeky. If you spot these stash raiders in your vicinity, hide your polish quick!

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Giveaway winner!

I'm very excited to announce the winner of my wee giveaway! Chosen by Random,org the winner is...

Lacquertopia!

Look out for an email heading your way :)

Thank you again everyone who entered, I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my ramblings. I wont be holding a giveaway at every milestone follower number, I would love to but funds simply wont allow, but I will be picking up bits and bobs every now and then so there are possible things on the horizon!

Hope you're having a nice day, and remember just by following my amazing blog and being graced by my presence you're a winner! Tee hee :)

Hx

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Pink Wednesday - I know, right? (O.P.I I Lily Love You funky french)

Bored of the Mean Girls quotes yet? Well, if you are, tough! :P

Teehee, sorry. Anywho, for Pink Wednesday this week I wanted to use I Lily Love You again, so I created a funky french manicure using MUA Shade 16 for the tips and accent nails. Shade 16 is a really pretty deep fuschia and has a great formula - I LOVE these products. I haven't found one yet that I don't love - they eyeshadows in the MUA range (regular and Pro) are exceptional, and I really want to try their new primer. Anyway, I digress. After my base coat I used tip guides to create a french tip using the pink polish on all but my ring finger and thumb on which I painted the whole nail, then once they were dry I added 2 coats of I Lily Love You.

I wore this all day feeling a bit "meh" about it. I think it's the pink tinge to the ILLY that was making me unsure. I think it was making my nails just look a bit stained. I did love it over the MUA polish though - such a great combination of high end and absolute bargain! In the end I decided to slap a layer of my trusty matte top coat by 17 over the top, and it was transformed from "meh" to "oooooh"...

 It softened the whole look down and gave the flakies in ILLY a kind of ethereal quality. Prettyful. If I were to do this again I think I'd do the tips over ILLY instead of under so that they were more prominent. And maybe wear a nude polish under the whole lot  - I'm not used to seeing "real" nail under my polish anymore!

Are you sitting with the plastics this week?

Hx

PS I am working through verifing all the entries for my giveaway and hopfully will announce the winner tomorrow, or certainly by the weekend. Thank you to everyone who entered, and hi to all my lovely new followers! There are now 181 of you, which is incredible!

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Giveaway now CLOSED!

This is a scheduled post to say that my giveaway is now officially CLOSED!

I will collaborate and verify entries over the next few days and hopefully announce the winner at the weekend.

Thanks for entering and good luck!

And here, for your viewing enjoyment, is a cat.

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NOTD - Another splattericure...

Hi de hi!

Yesterdays PAA theme was splatter mani, and though I've done it already I thought I'd give it another go. This time I used yellow, orange and red to make a summery version (not quite ready to let go of summer yet, stay away autumn!) I used three coats of Barry M Yellow to get an opaque base - for a yellow this one is good - not streaky, doesn't pool badly but if you want it opaque three coats are needed. Then I splattered on MUA Shade 6 (red), Nails Inc Candy Orange and Miss Sporty Taxi using a straw and lung power.

Cleaning up a splatter manicure is not my idea of fun. 

My right hand looks a bit better, but I can't show you due to my utter klutziness. I knocked my knuckle against a 3 blade razor when I was cleaning the bathroom last Friday and as a result I have three vertical cuts across my middle finger which wont stop bleeding. Yes, it's now Tuesday and I still have a plaster on it because it bleeds every now and then. The plaster itself is rather fetching, it has monkeys printed all over it. Take one look at me and you know I've got young children...

Anyway, back to the nails. I kinda wish I'd used a different background colour, as I'm not keen on yellow nails on me. I love seeing yellow on other blogs but on me? I look like a have a disease. Maybe a peachy colour, like Barry M Peach Melba would have been better, or even white. But, you live, you learn.

In other news, my giveaway ends TONIGHT! You have just under 16 hours to enter, so click the link in the sidebar if you haven't already!

Have a good day, I'm off to get weighed...

Hx

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NOTD - Half mooning with the kool kidz

Happy Sunday everyone! I always have mixed emotions about Sundays. On one hand it's usually a chilled out, relaxed day full of food, nice walks and playing with the kids, but then again, it's Monday tomorrow. Meh.

Anyway, I decided to create a half moon manicure because it seems to be the thing to do at the moment. And it looks good so why not? I wanted to wear purple on my nails so I applied 3 coats of Accessorize Pin Up (acquired from Jen's blog sale), which as it turns out isn't as purple on the nail as it is in the bottle. It's purpley-red glitter in a sheer burgundy base (along a similar line to Aztec which I showed you last week) and is very pretty when it catches the light. It is a tricky one, again a bit draggy and patchy until you hit the magic thee coats, but it looks fine after that. BUT it took an AGE to dry and when I removed the french tip guides after adding my half moons (in Rimmel I <3 Lasting Finish Your Majesty - perfect opaque silver, if only I could get it to stamp...) I removed the polish underneath more than once. I patched it up, slapped on a thick coat of NYC and you can't notice the bumpy bits - it's a bumpy polish anyway.

Apologies for the pics-taken-in-the-car. I noticed a bit of wear so quickly snapped these while waiting for the OH to put his face on and wax his bikini line or something...

Sorry if this post seems a bit angry. I am in a foul mood thanks to broken promises and lack of sleep. Normal service will resume tomorrow, hopefully.

In other news, my giveaway ends at midnight on Tuesday - have you entered yet?

Hx

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NOTD - Missguided MissTique Nail Splash

Hi :)

I got the polish I'm wearing today as a magazine freebie last month. I want to say it was from cosmo but I can't remember...anyway, you can't get the magazine anymore but you can get this polish on the Missguided website for £5. MissTique is a lovely teal creme, unique in my collection and applied perfectly in 2 thin coats. I didn't want to leave it plain, so I tried to stamp over it. I say tried because I went through at least 10 stamp/polish combinations before I got one that worked. Sort of. In the end I (wonkily) stamped this swirly pattern in Miss Sporty Electric Beige.

The next picture isn't pretty. This polish stained my nails an skin like a mo'fo' when I removed it. Look away if you're of a sensitive nature...

Ew!

Anyway, that's me for today. Have you picked up any magazine freebies lately? There are loads around!

Hx

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I really do Lily Love You

Hello!

I told you yesterday that I blinged up my OPI-ish silver shatter mani, and this time it was with an O.P.I polish - I Lily Love You from their new Nice Stems collection. As soon as I saw this polish I wanted it, and I was lucky enough to find a bottle on ebay for just £4.99 with postage of 50p! I thought it would be completely fake, (especially as he had very little feedback) but I think it's a genuine bottle and the guy selling it didn't realise what he had (he must have come to his senses a little because they're now £6.99 and postage is more, but that's still a good price. Here is a link to the seller I bought it from, if you're interested). But he was absolutely lovely, had great communication and the item arrived quickly. If it is a fake, I'm not too bothered. I'm not a nail polish collector, I buy the polishes I like based on the colour not the brand, and I buy them to be used. And believe me this one will be used a lot!

Sorry for the bad picture, I just can't get the lighting right unless there's some sunshine and I didn't get a chance to take a sunny pic yesterday. But you can see some of the different sized flakies and they're so pretty! The base is sheer pink so that made the silver shatter almost mauve.

Again, sorry for the bad pic, and the crackle polish perhaps wasn't the best one to chose to showcase it layered with. But never fear, I will be using this lots so there will be loads and loads more pics to come!

Any requests or what I should layer it over or do with it?

Hx

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Pink Wednesday - Check out her Mom's boob job! They're hard as rocks!

Or - how to dupe OPI...kinda...

I recently went on a search for a dusty pink polish, something in the same genre as Sparrow Me The Drama from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection. It seems that UK polish brands don't do dusty (apart from Beauty UK Smokey Lilac - can you please do a pink version!), but I found Playful from MeMeMe which is pretty similar, perhaps a little darker. Sorry about the badly lit swatch...

This polish was a dream to apply thanks to the super wide brush. I think my nails are pretty average in width, so someone with slimmer nail beds would struggle  but for me it means perfect coverage in one stroke on most nails. I did 2 coats but if you're clevererererer you'd get away with one.

Then, because OPI bought out their Silver Shatter with the Pirates collection, and because all the cool kidz are doing it I added a coat of MUA's silver Nail Quake, Shattered Ice. I believe the OPI Silver Shatter  has sparkly bits in while this is matte and sort of like brushed chrome, so it isn't a dupe at all, but it's all I have! I was going to pit some silver glitter over it too but can ypu believe I don't have a silver glitter? How did that slip by unnoticed? Anyway, I added something else instead eventually, but I'll show you that tomorrow...

Look at my poor index finger on my right hand :( Was veery sore for a few days.

I've had a few breaks on my nails, just as they were a nice shape again. The middle finger on my left hand was super square until yesterday when I chipped the corner. And I broke the index finger on my right hand so badly it bled. Ouchie. It's always the thumb and index finger that end up breaking and peeling. Waiting for the Nail Envy to kick in...

So that's me for another pink Wednesday. Don't forget to check out the other pink ladies at http://onwednesdayswewearpink.com/ and you can now follow us on twitter @pinkwednesday

Hx

PS just under a week to enter my giveaway - link in the sidebar :)

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NOTD - MUA Shade 1 + cat nail art

Hello

First off, I just want to say something about the looting and rioting In London and around the UK over the last few days. I'm a Londoner born and bred and though I no longer live there it is still very close to my heart, and the majority of my family are still there. What I've seen on the news and heard from friends and family is utter mindless devastation, livelihoods are being destroyed and people's lives are being put at risk. If you or anyone close to you are in any of the affected areas please stay safe, don't get involved and put your trust in the country's emergency services that order will be restored. I fear we haven't seen the end of it yet, so please please stay safe.

On to something less somber (although I'm really not feeling it today). Another Monday means another PAA theme and this week it was animals - which meant either animal print or an actual animal. I'd been wanting to use this cute little cat stamp from my BM plates and had an idea to create a silhouette against the moon. I started with two coats of MUA shade 1, a dark almost black blue with gorgeous blue sparklez. Can you blieve this polish is only £1? It could have been opaque in 1 thicker coat but I did two thin ones because I'm neater that way (still not all that neat I know...) Then I swirled a mix of Barry M Blue Moon, Natural Collection Topaz and Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom with a large dotting tool and painted the moon on my ring fingers. A coat of seche (as the moon was very thick) and 20 minutes later I tried to stamp on the cat using Wet n Wild Black Creme. The first stamp, which I tested out on paper came out perfectly, but after that do you think I could get the image to pick up properly? Gah, every time half the head was missing or it didn't have it's tail. So in the end I ended up half stamping, half freehanding with a little nail art brush. I filled in the eyes as well, because silhouttes don't have eyes... And then tipped the accent nails under the cat so it looked like it was sitting on a wall. Here's the result. A little messier than I anticipated, but I still love it.

Close up of the accent nail in shade, excuse the TC over the cuticles. Funny how you only notice after the photos have been taken...

Blurred to see the sparkle a wee bit

What I used L-R: OPI Nail Envy, MUA Shade 1, Natural Collection Topaz, Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom, Barry M Blue Moon, Wet n Wild Black Creme, Seche Vite

Hope you like it, and please please stay safe where ever you are.

Hx

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NOTD - Beauty UK Frozen Kingdom + Stamping

Two posts in one day? You lucky buggers!

Ahem, anyway. Here I'm showing you my current manicure. Shamefully I lusted after Beauty UK Glam Nails Frozen Kingdom for weeks before I got my paws on it, and it's been sat in my untrieds ever since. Bad Helly. And I really don't know why I waited so long to use it. It's a lovely off-white with gold shimmer and an occasional hint of pink. Sounds a bit old-lady-ish but it really isn't. It was a bit of a pain to apply, but it's white so I'll let it off. 3 coats and it was even enough to not notice any booboos (mostly from my sloppyness) with a bit of stamping. I chose this full-nail leaf-vein pattern from BM something or other and Miss Sporty New Black - dark grey with a little shimmer.

Pretty!

The OH was out when I did this, and when he came home he said he thought they were nail wraps because the stamping looked "too crisp and perfect"! I don't think it looks perfect at all, but I'll take whatever compliments I can get!

I really like this stamp, and it was easy to use. It didn't take me long to do this mani at all, which is a relief as I have had a few stamping fails lately.

What do you think? What's your favorite stamp image?

Hx

PS giveaway is still open! There's a bottle of Beauty UK polish up for grabs, so click the link in the sidebar!

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NOTD - Accessorize Aztec - Orly Space Cadet Dupe

Hello

Today I have to show you Accessorize Aztec, which apparently is a dupe for Orly Space Cadet (As Pink Spice was a dupe for MAC Bad Fairy - any other Accessorize dupes?). I'm not particularly mad over dupes - I like a polish for it's colour, not the fact that it's trying to look for something else. But I had admired Space Cadet on other blogs so when I heard it had a dupe I picked it up. Like I needed an excuse...

Aztec is multichrome particles (not glitter - not sparkly enough, but small 'bits' if that makes sense) suspended in a sheer teal base. At different angles you can see green, gold, bronzey-rose and purple, so very purdy! I tried to capture it as best I could on a non-sunny (read monsoon downpours and thunderstorms) British summer day.

I initially did 2 coats of this polish, but had to add another the morning after I did it as it was patch city. It is a tricky one to apply as the very sheer base dries quickly so it can drag if you're not quick enough, and is patchy as a result. But three coats was fine for me. It's a teeny bit gritty, which top coat would solve. But I didn't use any and it still lasted 2 days on me with just a little tipwear. With top coat it would have been even better. 2 days on me is good for any polish!

No, I haven't become a hand-model for tabasco! I submitted this picture into Liquid jelly's FFAN (Friday Food and Nails) post, for a bit of fun! Every week she is going to posting a collection of people's nails showcased with food, so take a look at this weeks pics here, and here's info on how to submit an entry for next week.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I've got a pretty stamping mani to show you tomorrow :)

Hx

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