NOTD - Peachy Plait or Fishtail Fail?

Morning!

I must have pinned 11tybillion of these fishtail/braided designs, so I decided the other day to try one, in my favourite peachy tones. I used Barry M Peach Melba, Collection 2000 Hot Looks Fruit Salad and Barry M Gold Foil. I did two accent nails, ring and middle, with the plait detail and the other three fingers with the separate colours. Every version I've seen of this has been beautiful, and the tutorials have looked so deceptively easy - but can I just say I didn't find this easy at all! It was a pain in the arse, messy, took ages because I had to let each stripe dry before I could do the next one and when I was finished I didn't like it. Hmph. I forced myself to keep it on (mainly because it was about midnight by the time I was finished and I couldn't face the prospect of going to bed with naked nails) and it's grown on me I guess. It doesn't look so bad now it's cleaned up, and I've had some compliments on it so I guess it doesn't look too bad...

Maybe if my nails were a bit longer it would look better? I don't know, I'm just not sold on this one, on me at least. Maybe it was just more effort than it was worth! Kudos to everyone who does on every nail - you have more patience than me!

So what do you think, peachy plait or fishtail fail?

Hx

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Adventures in Stamping - Pulsating Pink and Purple...

...er what ever that means! After last weeks disappointing fail this week I wanted to do much better, and I think I did! The summer theme still didn't win, but I cheekily combined the two...wink wink ;)

I started off with a base of one coat of Barry M Strawberry Ice Cream, then sponged the gradient with Accessorise Lilac Sorbet (I've said it before and I'll say it again, this is PINK not lilac), a lilac creme by Miss Sporty (which I suspect my be an Illamasqua Jo'Mina dupe but this is to be investigated...) and Sinful Colors Amethyst. I added a coat of Pink Dazzle by George at ASDA for a bit of sparkle (the pulsating bit if you will) and once that was all dry with the aid of a coat of Poshe I stamped with Konad Special White and fauxnad image plate Q1. *Helly wins the award for longest sentence EVAH* The image I chose is a really long one, so I just about fitted the ice cream and one or two sweeties on my ickle nubbies.

Gradient alone..........................Gradient avec sparkles

A thousand million times better than last week, right? It's girly and fun and totally not suited to the mod I'm in right now, but every time I've lookd at it today I've admired it and it's taken my mind of some of the shitty stuff that's going on around here at the moment. And I think my use of the ice cream image means I ticked two boxes - summery, and pink and purple in one mani. Up here for thinking, down there for dancing my friends...

Hx

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Best of British Weekly Round Up!

Sunday again, and we're growing daily! Check out what us Brit Gals have been up to this week!

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The weather in the UK may have improved a little but not enough for Vic to justify running off to Cornwall to catch the surf. Instead she's made do with her Surfin' USA mani.

It's been KBShimmer Week this week at The Crumpet 5 polishes, but which was her favourite ?

Laura has been trying out stamping for the first time this week and was particularly fond of her classyblack and silver floral design.

PrettyKittyClaws has been making the most of the sunshine by copying The Crumpet with a Red Holo Dotticure. feautring Ozotics 518

Helly at the Nail Newbie got her holo on with a purple holo gradient featuring OPI DS Original!

Charlotte at Charlottes-nails has been catching up with the lazy days of summer challenge with a ruffle accent nail.

Alexis at Glitter Tips managed to overcome a nasty case of nail art block with a Black and Gold NOTD inspired by her jewellery collection.

Claire at nuthin' but a nail thing managed to get hold of some OPI Black Spotted and gave it a go over some bright NEONS.

Seeing as the British weather has been seasonably rainy, there has been a lack of barbaques this year. Unless it is in the form of nail art from Enigmatic Rambles.

Lou entered the Golden Jungle over at Painted Nails & Baking Scales finding some new polish species to describe

This week at Northern Nails there are Turtles in a Guest Post , Also Jo has started a new series of posts called Mashups!

Emma's been busy swatching the newBarry M Burgundy Croc Effects over different colours on Imagination In Colour!

It's texture time in the BFF Challenge and Kerrie from PishPosh and Polish made great use of Heart-Shaped beads but was it a success?

Ruth had some fun with pastel colours and created some colourful zebra nails using her new stampers!

Steph is showing off. Peacock feathers in the (rare) sunshine.

It's been a special week for Allie and in celebration she's been wearing some Sea Green Glitter Birthday Nails.

Dimpal is absolutely loving these fish egg nails Fish Egg Nails she also did Nicole's Me+Blue Mani

Sarah Louise reviews LeaLaC's Stamping Plate XL - A See the post for swatches and a manicure using her first Bettina Nail Polish.

Sam at Polished Art kicked off the 31 Day Challenge with a red leopard print mani.

Kerry starts the first off Nail Inc Sprinkle swatches with Sweets Way.

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If you're a British Nail Blogger and you'd like to join in, clicky the piccy! (Drunk Helly is not drunk....)

Hx

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NOTD - In a New York Minute...

Hello!

Today I have a manicure from the pre-nub days for you. NYC isn't one of my favourite polish brands, but I do love their fast dry clear polish as a day 2 mani shine giver. They're usually on offer in Superdrug at £1.99 each or two for £3, but this time it was 2 for £2.49 and since they only had one bottle of the topcoat, I picked up Times Square from their New York Minute range. Times Square is a hot hot raspberry creme that is super pretty. I probably have a million "similar" polishes in my stash, but who cares when it effectively cost 50p?

On top of 2 coats of Times Square I added glitter tips in Barry M Blue Glitter just by using the brush that comes in the bottle fairly dry and building up to opacity towards the tips. I love the bright combination!

Times Square alone

Now for the reasons NYC isn't one of my favourite polish brands. Yes, they're cheap, but the colour selection is really limited. And, forgive me if I'm wrong but they never seem to bring out anything new. Am I wrong? Whenever I look at the stand it's always the same old polishes. Secondly, and probably more importantly, they chip. Badly. On me at least. I rarely get a mani to last more than a day or two at a push, but I do like my polish to last at least until late afternoon/early evening. I polish in the evening and it it's ruined by the next evening, fine. But his manicure lasted me a few hours at most. By lunchtime most of the glitter part was gone. And because I can't polish during the day when the kids are around (asking for trouble) I had to go through the day sporting the skank look. I get enough of that with my useless hair... Tipwear, a few chips, I can accept. But seriously? Half the polish? And it wasn't just this colour either, other NYC's I've had are the same. Maybe the range is called In a New York Minute because that's how long it lasts...

Never mind, it was pretty while it lasted!

Do you have any NYC favourites?

Hx

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NOTD - Purple. Holo. Gradient. featuring OPI DS Original!!!

Hello lovelies, have I got a beauty to show you today!

Yes, this is OPI DS Original, a polish I never once considered I'd own. I'd seen it, loved it, then put it away to the back of my mind because I knew I'd never afford it. I didn't even bother putting it on my wishlist. But then one day I got a surprise package from my lovely birthday club friend Nicole of Epitome of Superficiality all the way in Australia. She found some DS polishes at a beauty supply store, and was selling them at cost price, but it was the week of my little ones second birthday so I passed. Then a few weeks later I got a card through saying there was a package at the post office for me, and this was it. A few of the birthday club girls had clubbed together and sent me it! How nice of them! I love love love my birthday club, you are all stars!

Anyway, onto the polish! prepare for a lot of pictures, a  few bottle shots first. I actually gasped when I took this baby out in the sun the first time.

Of course when I changed my polish that night I had to break it out. 2 coats later...

I didn't dare add any topcoat for fear of dulling the holo, so I had some tip wear after a day. Not wanting to take it off though I added another coat and then sponged Glitter Gal Dark Purple 3D Holo on the tips. I did topcoat this time, to smooth it out, and I don't think it dulled the holo at all :)

LeSigh. How yummy? How awesome would it be if everything was made out of holo? Blingtastic.

I have quite a few holos in my collection now (although I am still searching for the as yet elusive GOSH Holographic Hero, as soon as I get my mitts on one I will be wearing it to death) so I might do a holo week soon if the sun stays :) I'd like a blue holo before I do though, any recommendations?

Hx

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Pink Wednesday - Pink Ruffles

I've seen quite a few of these types of manicure floating around, in differnt colours and rainbow shades, so I decided to go for a pink one! It was super easy to do, all you need are at least 3 fairly opaque polishes (I used Accessorize Lilac Sorbet, Models Own Pink Blush and Color Club Foil Me Once I think - it was a while ago!) Paint your nails with the a coat of the lightest shade and then create your ruffles by using a dotting tool to make a dotty line in one colour, then overlap with the next colour and repeat. Mine isn't the neatest, but it was still pretty.

Pretty! I might try rainbow colours next...or blues...

Are you sitting with the Plastics today?

Hx

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NOTD - Ming-ing?

Aloha!

Today I have to show you...more stamping! I can't get enough at the moment! I actually feel the title of this post might be a little misleading, I'm referring to ming as in the Ming dynasty, vases etc as it's a blue and white design. Something I'd wanted to do for a while, and now I have a ghood white stamping polish I went for it! The base white is Orly Au Champagne, the blue is No7 Poolside Blue and the white stamping polish is Konad Special White, and the stamp is BM 306.

I love the shimmery delicateness of Au Champagne, and much prefer it to a stark white creme. Any suggestions on a white creme by the way? All mine are awful, streaky 3 or 4 coaters which isn't ideal for nail art or stamping on top of. I might have to invest in a decent one...

So what do you think, Ming or minging?

Hx

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NOTD - W7 Salt and Pepper

Hello!

Today I have to show you a polish from a range that's taking the UK blogosphere by storm, due to it's more than passing resemblance to the Nails Inc Sprinkles collection. You would expect a high end brand like Nails Inc (£11+ a bottle) to be bang on trend, but a £2 market-stall brand, perhaps not so much. But W7 have a fab range of polishes and always keep up with the trends. Neons, glitters, crackles, duochromes, magnetics...I could go on. This little range contains 3 polishes - Mosaic (a dead on dupe for Nails Inc Pudding Lane, which I showed you a while ago), Lava Flow and Salt and Pepper, which I'm showing you here.

Salt and pepper is a white cream base packed to the rafters with matte black glitter. On me, it was opaque in 2 coats (might take one more if your nails are longer) and the formula was great. It's not too gritty and one coat of Poshe on top was fine (but if you're more fussy add another!) Super pretty, it remind me of the inside of a dragon fruit!

I had some tipwear after a day but I wasn't ready to take it off yet (it's a glitter, need I say more?) so I added some black French tips.

I have Lava Flow too, which is similar to this but with the addition of red glitter - you didn't think it could get any more awesome, right?! But alas I'm trying to avoid glitters too much at the moment because I'm sure soaking my nails to get the glitter off isn't helping the peelies. As soon as they're improved I will be getting it out!

What do you think? Are you a fan of the matte glitter? You can find W7 at www.NailPolishDirect.co.uk which is where I got mine, or check your local market. They also have recently set up a Facebook page and Twitter too, so get liking!

Hx

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Monkey See, Monkey Do Monday - Kayla Shevonne's Chic Coral Stripes

Hello!

Now, we all know I love a bit of coral, and one of my favourites is the origianl Nails Inc Baker Street (they've now recycled the name for a bright royal blue that is becoming somewhat a cult shade because if a certain bootylicious Beyonce wearing it). I picked this up on ebay after looking for the blue and I'm glad I did because it is lovely!

Still on the search for cute ideas for my nubbins I cam across this design by the awesome Kayla Shevonne and pinned it for future reference. She used tape in her manicure, but I wasn't bothered if mine was a little bit wobby (adds to the charm dontcha know) so I freehanded mine. I started with two coats of white, blocked out the coral parts and then added the stripes with a black striper polish. Cute and chic!

I love how you can see a perfect reflection in the polish lid in this picture!

Kayla didn't show what she did on the thumb of this manicure so I made it up. And actually I think it's my favourite nail! Once again, it was easy enough to do on my right hand too, so they even match :) Maybe nubs aren't so bad...

Check out the other Monkey See Monkey Do-ers below!

Hx

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Adventures In Stamping - Ready for Fall

I would just like to categorically state that I am NOT ready for fall/Autumn. I feel like we haven't even had summer yet, so autumn can wait! But ready for fall won the Adventures In Stamping vote this week, so ready for fall it is...

Maybe it should have been ready for FAIL because that's what this mani is. It wasn't the stamping that failed, it was my colour choices. The base colour was too dark and shimmery so the stamping barely shows. Good idea, bad execution. The base is Sally Hansen Arabian Night and I stamped with Color Club Revvvolution and BM206.

Can you see it? Thought not. Here is the image I was going for...

And if I wasn't cheesed off enough, then this happened.

(Ironic how you can actually see the pattern a little better here, no?)

Le Sigh. Was not my day.

Hx

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Best of British weekly round-up!

Time for this week's British Blogger Round-Up, we've all been very busy!

It's been a week of Themes over at The Crumpet - the new collection from 365 Days of Color and Red Week - which was your fave? Naturally Debbie wants to show everyone her Monkey See, Monkey Do mani: Britishness.

Vic got a little carried away with one of her Summer Challenge manis this week. Bumble bees suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. Perhaps you've already guessed...

Lou played with some of her polishes from a recent US Polish Swap and had a lot of fun!

Helly wears her heart on her nails with her Love Love mani featuring OPI Steady As She Rose.

Has Misha mastered the freehand acrylic paint flower on Enigmatic Rambles?

Abi celebrated her A-England haul with one of her favourite stamps at Volatile Varnish.

PrettyKittyClaws is feeling summery with a Summer Sunset Gradient and has been making room for more with a blog sale!

Emma put up her first giveaway of GOSH Golden Dragon after arriving back from a relaxing holiday!

Sarah played with some of her recent Tony Moly Glitter polishes and created a Strawberry Love Affair Manicure . Also check out her swatches for Tony Moly's GS10 - Pinky Star, GS08 - Milky Way & GS09 - Shooting Star

Jo has been real busy in the real World this week and has a rather empty blog Busy Busy but if you check back later today you may find a suprise post! ;) .

Steph showed us a few of her "favourite things" Also check out her attempt at some nail art =)

Kerrie over at PishPosh and Polish attempted Tribal Nailsas part of her Black and White Challenge this week and is happy with the result.

Charlotte from The Colour and The Sparkle has a review of some W7 fluorescent polishes.

Charlotte at Charlottes-nails has been swatching China glaze deviantly daringfrom her recent polish haul.

If you're a British blogger and you'd like to join in next week, click the image below and them them Helly sent you!

Stay tuned for an Adventures in Stamping post coming up!

Hx

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NOTD - Wild Neon and Nude

Hiya!

Today's mani is from a time long ago, when nubs didn't exist and I wasn't stressed to the max because of bloody school holidays. Whose idea was it to give school kids 6 weeks off school all in one go? Seriously mate, whoever you are (and it's bound to be a bloke) do you have kids of your own? I suspect not, because if you do I doubt kids would get any holidays at all...

I digress, this mani started off as a base of Nails Inc Basil Street, my favourite nude. I them stamped a leopard print over it and filled in some of the print with neons from the Color Club Poptastic collection using a dotting dool and not much care and attention, it seems...

I do like an animal print. Classy.

hx

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NOTD - Gotta Love a Gradient

Hi peeps!

Today I have to show you a gradient manicure that the pics do not do justice to. I was in LURVE with this manicure, and I just looked at my pictures (it was from the laptop-coma period and therefore old) they were sucky. Boo. Anyway, the base was Revlon Luna, an inky black that is almost a blackened blue. I can't make my mind up. I sponged using Barry M Lilac Foil and this was the effect I got.

Pictures; crappy, cuticles; crappy, clean up; crappy. Manicure in real life; good! You believe me, don't you?!?

Hx

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