Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all my lovely followers and friends! I hope you're in a chocolate coma somewhere!

These are my sickly sweet Easter nails - a pastel gradient, eggs and pink bunnies complete with fluffy tails! I started with a base of white, then did a pastel gradient using, from cuticle to tip, China Glaze Peechy Keen, Models Own Lemon Meringue, OPI You're Such a Budapest, Models Own Green Apple and OPI Pink Friday. On the accent nail it was two coats of white and the bunny was done with Pink Friday and flocking powder from MUA. The eggs were stamped with plate HB38 and Konad SP white. Nomable!

Have a great day! If you have any unwanted chocolate, I'll gladly take it off your hands...

Hx

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Tri Polish Challenge day 4

Mornin'!

Last day of this month's TPC and I have to say I'm super happy with how all of my manicures turned out, for once! For the final day this month, I went with a fish scale dotticure using my coral, green and purple, and adding silver in the form of GOSH Holographic Hero. I love how well it turned out, and how the addition of a little bit of holo really makes it look fish scaley. And the sun even came out long enough for me to get a semi-decent pic.

So, that concludes the Tri Polish Challenge for March! Can you believe it's almost April? Next month's colours are pink, turquoise and orange, so I better get my thinking cap on!

Hx

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China Glaze Surreal Appeal and Water You Waiting For

Hi!

Today we have a poorly sick Helly (I'm just getting over shingles and today it's winning) so I've got a bright fun mani to show you. I think it's safe to say that China Glaze is my favourite polish brand - there is always at least one polish from every collection they release that I really really want. The two polishes I'm showing you today are from the Cirque du Soleil collection (which I have 8 out of 12 of, and I might have to have the other four too). First of all I applied two coats of Surreal Appeal, a bright neon coral toned pink. Barbie nails! As with most neon-leaning polishes, it dried with a matte finish, but a swift coat of Poshe sorted that out.

I then sponged some of Water You Waiting For at the cuticle for some bling! Water You Waiting For is made up of different sized small blue glitter, with a few pieces of green glitter too, in a clear base. I can't wait to wear this one on it's own, it's so pretty.

I got lots of compliments on this look, even from my hairdresser who didn't believe I did them myself! In the UK you can buy China Glaze from Beauty Bay here.

What are your China Glaze picks? I've got one of the hologlam polishes on it's way to me and I can't wait!

Hx



Sponsored post.

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Nail decal tutorial and YouTube debut!

I promised you a tutorial, and here it is! I don't know if it was brave or stupid (or both) but I ventured into the world of YouTube for this - it was my first time so please be nice! I know it's shaky in parts, I know the lighting isn't great, I know the music has just tipped over onto the wrong side of cheesy, but I hope you get the gist of it! I'd welcome any feedback, constructive criticism and suggestions, and if I get a positive reaction I might make more videos in the future...might! If you want to subscribe, my channel name is HellysHands, since none of the variations of The Nail Newbie I tried were available. So, here goes! Please don't laugh too hard...

 Hx

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Tri-Polish Challenge day 3

Hello!

Day three of the tri-polish challenge and I sort of ran out of ideas...so I went with a fairly simple patchwork mani. I've done this before and really loved it, but I found it hard work so this time around it's accent nails only! But that's ok because it means I get to showcase my chosen polishes more, right?

Simple and cute :) Just like me *licks window*

Hx

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Oi, Winter, NO!!!

I don't know about you, but I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of winter now! Would someone please wake Spring up and tell him we're sorry, we miss him and want him back? I woke up yesterday morning to a thick blanket of snow on the ground and wondered if I was still drunk from Friday night! It's Easter next weekend for goodness sake! It should not be -2 out...

Anyway, rant over, on to the nails. This week's Adventures in Stamping Sunday theme was Spring Flowers, so I am hoping that all the lovely flowery manis over there will encourage Spring out of his hidey hole. I went for a simple reverse accent nail again, and used two Orly colours as my base- Preamp (gorgeous sparkly pink that I couldn't quite capture) and Au Champagne. The rosebuds I stamped were from GA36, and I stamped using Barry M Gelly Grapefruit and Konad SP White.

I'm really impressed with how well the Barry M Gelly stamped. I don't have many in my collection, and I've not tried any others for stamping but if they're all this good I need more!

I'm going to try and get the tutorial for the decals up for you tomorrow, since I got lots of comments asking for it! And then we're back to the Tri Polish Challenge on Tuesday. Has Spring arrived where you are yet? If it has, could you send some my way please?!

Hx

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Tri Polish Challenge - day 2

Morning!

Second tri polish challenge mani for you this morning! Just a quick reminder, the aim basically is to create 4 different manicures using the same 3 polishes, and this month's colours are green, coral and purple. This time I created a saran/cling film base with China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On over white. Then I added a little butterfly decal that I made using my coral and purple polishes, Natural Collection Antique Coral and OPI Parlez Vous OPI.

I'm hopefully going to make a tutorial on how to make the decals over the weekend, if it's something you'd be interested in? They're really easy! Not something I'd usually wear actually, but I'm trying to encourage spring to hurry up!

Hx

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Born Pretty QA40 Stamping Plate Review

Hi!

I'm back with another review of something from Born Pretty Store, this time a stamping plate. They have a large range of stamping plates, starting at just 99 cents! I've got quite a few stamping plates from Born Pretty and I'm always pleased with them - this one was no exception. I chose QA40 purely for the feathers. I adore feathers (especially peacock ones) and anything feathery attracts me like a magpie to a ruby, so I had to have it! The cats are cute too, and I love the butterfly mask, so all in all a fab plate.

I chose to use it over Emily de Molly Black Forest, which is such a stunning polish and I feel like I didn't do it justice. I will have to swatch it again to show it to you properly because it really deserves a post of its own. I used Barry M Silver foil to stamp lots of feathery goodness!

I had no trouble at all with any of the feathers, and I simply love the whimsy of it; feathers just floating through the air!

I swatched the rest of the images onto paper using Konad Special polish black pearl. As you can see, they all stamped perfectly, with the exception of the aristocat which has really thin lines. But, I always have trouble with Konad's black pearl and when I swatched it using regular black I got a better result.

Over all, I couldn't be happier with this plate. The feathers are perfect and the cats are super cute. I love the detail on the whiskers on the cat face, so I think I might have to use that one next!

QA40 is available from Born Pretty Store for just $2.99, along with a huge range of other nail art goodies. Don't forget discount code NBL91 for 10% off, and delivery is free worldwide!

Hx

Product provided for review consideration. Opinions, as always, are 100% my own.

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Tri-Polish Challenge - day 1

Morning!

Today sees the start of a new challenge over at Crumpet's Nail Tarts- the tri-polish challenge (can't help but think of the Tri-wizard cup when I say that...) The basic premise is that we do 4 mani's a month (on the 3rd and 4th Tuesday and Thursday of the month) using the same 3 polishes. Each month we are given 3 colours, we each chose 3 polishes representing those colours and have to stick to those for the month. We're also allowed to use black, white, silver, gold and glitter toppers. There is no theme, you can do whatever you like as long as you stick to those colours. You have to use at least 2 of the colours in each manicure, and all 3 for at least one out of the four. Confused? Read on...

This month's colours are coral, green and purple. Sounds yukky, but I actually didn't have too much trouble coming up with my polishes: China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On, Natural Collection Antique Coral and OPI Parlez Vous OPI. The green and coral polishes are fairly similar: pastel shades with fine shimmer, so I thought they'd work together. But of course, pastel purple is lilac, a completely different colour, so I chose the OPI as I thought the dustiness of the colour would compliment the other two.

So, I went for something simple for my first manicure, adding white (Barry M Matt White) and Gold (Avon Golden Vision) and freehanding some stripes. Simple, really pretty and spring-y! I love it :)

Check out the other lovely ladies taking part, and watch out for part 2 on Thursday!

Hx

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Kiss Me I'm Irish!

I'm sure you've had your fill of St Patrick's day manicures, but I'll share mine with you anyway! I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but it needed to include some stamping to fit with Adventures in Stamping's Sunday stamping prompt, so I went for some green and gold skittles. The main colour is Barry M Spring Green. Then I added OPI The Man With The Golden Gun to my little finger, stamped with Barry M Gold foil and Bndle Monster 303 on my ring and index. On my middle finger and thumb I did a reciprocal gradient (see Globe and Nail for the original tutorial) with Spring Green, Nails Inc Spring Mews and China Glaze Holly-Day. I did think of adding some gold, maybe a fine gold glitter, to tie it in with the rest of the nails, but I was so chuffed I'd managed to do it without effing up that I thought I'd better leave it. If it ain't broke and all that...

So that was my obligatory green mani for the year! I do actually have some Irish heritage, so you can kiss me if you like ;) 

Tomorrow, I'm starting on a new challenge, with Miss Crumpet's lovely nail tarts again. We're starting the Tri-Polish challenge- using the same 3 polishes for 4 different manicures in a month...this month's colours are coral, green and purple...wish me luck!

Hx

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NOTD - Cheeky Squiggles

Hi there!

This was actually Sunday's NOTD; now I am back in the land of technology, I can partake in some group challenges again, and Sundays mean stamping. Our awesome stamping group Adventures in Stamping on Facebook has a challenge voted for by it's members every week, and this week we had to use a plate ending in 6. Since I just treated myself to the Cheeky Vibrant set I chose CH16 and these simple squiggle nails. The base was China Glaze Keep Calm, Paint On from their Avant Garden Spring collection and Orly Au Champagne, and I stamped with Konad Special White and Color Club Perfect Molten.

I had gone with something simple because I desperately wanted to join in this week, but I wasn't feeling well (I have shingles :( I've honestly never felt so ill), but I actually think it looked really nice :) It ended up being my mothers day mani too. And Keep Calm, Paint On is so pretty! I think I might have to grab Mimosas Before Manis from this collection too...

Hx

PS Guess who worked out how to get a curvy watermark?! What do you think?

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Studded Skittlette - Born Pretty Store Review

Hi!

It's been a while, again! We all know technology hates me, and my camera decided it wasn't going to transfer the pics I'd lovingly taken with it onto my computer. But I threatened it with a sledgehammer bought a new USB cable and it seems to be working again...

So, I'm back with a rather kick-ass mani, even if I do say so myself! The lovely Daisy from Born Pretty Store sent me an awesome nail art wheel full of studs to play with, so play I did! The wheel contains 12 little compartments, each containing a handful of studs of various shapes, sizes and colours. The lid turns so you can take out one group of studs at a time, which is useful if you're clumsy like me because if you dropped it you'd only be chasing around one compartments worth of tiny studs!

I like the variety I got in my wheel. There are: 3 different square studs (silver, gold, and a slightly smaller bronze colour), 4 different round studs (tiny gold one, medium black ones and larger ones in silver and gold),  rings in silver and gold, large silver stars, gold hearts and gold petal shapes. I think the stars might be a little big for my nails, but you can use these to decorate practically anything, not just nails.

I decided to create a skittle mani using some of the gold square studs and neutral colours. For this manicure the polishes I used were Color Club Nomadic In Nude, Seventeen Rock Hard Nail Effects Grey (textured polish), Beauty UK Slate Grey and a black striper. I used topcoat to attach the studs, although you could also use nail glue (I can never manage to not stick my fingers together though...)

As you can see, I can fit 4 of these studs down the length of my middle nail, which I was pleased with. I loved the finished look and got lots of compliments :) Look out for these in lots of future looks because I loved it and they were so easy to work with! They're a bit heavier than glequins or normal rhinestones, so I did have to be a bit more cautious when placing them, but so worth it. And as I was able to remove them carefully with an orange stick, I'll be able to use them again!

The studs are available from Born Pretty Store here for just $4.89, and they have a huge range of other studs and nail art goodies too. And of course you can use my discount code NBL91 for a further 10% off - and delivery is free to! Huzzah!

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