Adventures in Stamping - World Music Day

Hi!

Apparently yesterday was world music day, so to celebrate this week's stamping Sunday theme was music. I decided on a bright gradient with some music notes in black for a summery look! The three polishes in the gradient were all from the Models Own Polish for Tans collection - Bikini (yellow), Beach Bag (peach) and Shades (pink) over Crabtree and Evelyn Snowdrop. The stamping was from Cheeky CH31 and I stamped with a new-to-me black - MUA Pitch Black. I usually use Konad Black, which is ever so slightly more opaque but an absolute pig to clean up. This is the only other black that I've been happy with stamping wise, and you can pick it up on the high street for a quid! I would suggest grabbing it if you see it as I've been looking for a while and kept coming up empty handed. Now I'll grab another as soon as I can!

I think keeping it simple over a bright busy base is the way to go. It looks striking without being too in your face. I really like and I'm glad it didn't chip after spending most of the day swimming today, so bonus!

Hx

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GOT polish? Freestylin'!

Hi!

Sorry I've not posted for a few days, technology has not been on my side! For this week's Golden Oldie Thursday we could do what the hell we wanted, so I did! Actually the base was a brand spanking new Barry M Summer Ltd Edition from Boots called Bikini, a lovely perriwinkle blue, my "oldies" were the stamping polishes and the glitter. I stamped peacock feathers (I rather like peacock feathers, in case you didn't know!) using Color Club Perfect Mol-ten, Cold Metal and Hot Like Lava from the Foiled collection, and the glitter gradient tips were done with Icing Lemme See Your Peacock. The stamping plate was MoYou Pro 03, and Nails Craze NC01 on the thumb. Loved this mani, perfectly me.

I'm currently sporting a gel polish pedi, but when it comes off I think something similar to this will be replacing it! It'll match my tattoo nicely ;)

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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The sun has got his hat on!

Hi!

We seem to have had an uncharacteristic run of good weather in the UK last week, which was very welcome after a thoroughly soggy winter! So, I celebrated by digging out the remaining untried colour from the Models Own Polish For Tans collection from the three I picked. This is Bikini, a white based neon yellow which in the bottle just looks like lovely, neon perfection. Oh how wrong could I be. This is a devil of a polish and by the third nail I wanted to throw it at the wall. I very nearly did, but managed to restrain myself and add some thinner, which didn't help at all. It was streaky, gloopy, lumpy, thick yet somehow still craptastic enough to flood my cuticles and make a complete mess. I struggled through two coats before giving up and slapping some China Glaze Fairy Dust on top in the hopes it would improve. Then I had to clean the bugger up. I have been trying really hard to be neat with my clean up lately, really making an effort to get good lines and crisp cuticles, but f&*k me it wasn't easy! I then stamped some sunglasses from Cheeky CH37 to distract from the lumpy mess a bit more, and managed to smudge that too. This mani was not meant to be! I endured it for a day, and then it came off because I was too cross and every time I looked at my nails, it made me grrr.

I want to give Models Own the benefit of the doubt with this, but I had similar issues (though not as bad) with Beach Bag from the same collection, so I'm pretty sure I didn't just get a bad bottle. I took it off and replaced it with a Mentality matte polish that just glided on like butter, practically applied itself. If an indie can get it so right, how can a mainstream brand get it so wrong?

Have you tried any of the recent Models Own releases? Have you had formula issues? I'm keeping this polish for nail art purposes, but you can bet your rarest OPI that it will never grace my nails as a full mani again!

Hx

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GOT Polish? Red!

Hi!

What a bad blogger I am! I promised you this post yesterday but I'm a day late again - at least it's only a day this time and not a week! I'm doing a part-time job three mornings a week (only temporary at the moment) and it's knocked me out of whack a bit. I will try to be better I promise! Anyway, this week's Golden Oldie Thursday is bought to you by the colour red, and I decided to be brave and try out a Robin Moses design. If you haven't heard of Robin Moses, google her, youtube her, stalk her on Instagram because she is awesome! I also cracked out the acrylic paint which I bought years ago, tried once and then threw into the nail art drawers when I couldn't get them to work to fester ever since. Impatient, moi? Anyway, I think I will need more practice since my lines were a little thick (and a thinner brush, maybe) but not too bad for a first (ok, second) go. The polishes I used were Nails Inc King Edward Street and China Glaze Fairy Dust in the negative spaces, along with black acrylic paint.

You can see the Robin Moses original here. I don't think she has anything to worry about...

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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GOT Polish? Silver accent!

Hi!

This is actually last week's Golden Oldie offering, I'm a bad bad blogger! But hopefully I'll get this week's up a little later so you get two for your money! Last weeks theme was silver accent, and I went for a mini ombre with a dotty silver accent, inspired by Of Life and Lacquer (go follow her!). The pinks were OPI Pink Friday and Elephantastic Pink, and Models Own Raspberry Crush, and the dots were done over Barry M Silver Foil.

Now, fingers crossed I get this weeks Golden Oldie up in time...

Hx

An InLinkz Link-up

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Picture Polish Illusionist - galaxy in a bottle!

Hello!

I'm going to jump straight in today and say I can't do galaxy nails. The fact I've only actually tried them once, about three years ago is irrelevant. It was a fail and I shelved the idea and never tried again. Galaxy nails are so pretty, I "ah" every time I see one, traditional or pastel, and I think to myself I really should try that again someday. But in the back of my mind I still have the fail and a little niggle that says don't even go there. So I don't try. But now, along comes a polish that does it all for me, in one little bottle! Picture Polish Illusionist is a beautiful glittery multi-chrome polish with just the right amount of holo glittery flakies running through it to make it twinkle like the night sky. So. Beautiful. As multi-chrome polishes tend to be, this is sheer so I layered two coats over Sally Hansen Navy, Baby so you can see the full shift from pink to purple, blue and turquoise, and even a rusty red at the extreme end (which you can see in the underwater pic at the end). I combined it with a silver accent nail and some simple white stamping. But the Picture Polish is the real star of the show.

Stunning! I nabbed my bottle from the wonderful Sally Magpies when there was a sale, but even though it's back to full price now I suggest you grab it because it wont be in stock for long!

Maybe next time I wear it I will attempt some galaxy art over the top...or maybe I'll wimp out and just admire it instead!

Hx

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We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

Hi!

On Friday last week, I spent a lovely day getting sunburnt seeing the animals at Whipsnade Zoo with my 6 year old's class. Their topic this term is Africa and so our agenda for the day was to see as many of the African animals that the zoo houses, and so I had to had nails to match! It was hard to resist putting penguins on my nails, as they're one of my favourites that the zoo has to offer but in the end I settled for a skittle comprised of cheetahs, tigers, giraffes, zebras and snakes! We had an amazing day, and I especially loved the giraffes - they're just beautiful, and they had babies! Adorable, and I'm totally jealous of their eyelashes! I wasn't allowed to take any pictures while we were there, but I'll try to get some of the animals from the school website when they go up. In the meantime, here are the nails! I'll list polishes below, because there were a few. Stamped with a mix of Cheeky and Bundle Monster plates.

So: cheetah was Barry M mocha stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black, tiger was Barry M Mango sponged with Crabtree and Evelyn Snowdrop and then stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black, giraffe was China Glaze Kalahari Kiss stamped with BM 313 in Barry M Mocha, zebra was Crabtree and Evelyn Snowdrop stamped with Cheeky CH2 in Konad Black and the snake was China Glaze Rare and Radiant stamped with BM 215 in Konad White. Lot of polish, but it was worth it!

I loved my zoo nails, and the kids got a kick out of them too! Talking of the kids, I better go and grab them from school!

Hx

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#GuessThePolish winner!

Hi!

Thanks to everyone who entered my #GuessThePolish giveaway last week! If you didn't already know the answer was *drumroll* Beauty UK! They're reformulated their polish line with a sleek new bottle and 22 on trend shades to chose from for just £2.99 a bottle! Congratulations to Alicia S who wins her very own (branded) bottle of Coral Burst. Your prize will be in the post in the next few days!

There are some lovely colours there, I especially like the look of Let's Hit The Peach and Tealed With A Kiss. I might just have to stop by the Beauty UK stand next time I'm in Superdrug...

Hx

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Why did the banana go to the doctor?

Because he wasn't peeling well! Ba-dum, ching! Joke courtesy of my 6 year old, his first joke that's actually been funny! I'm thinking of getting him a joke book now he can read a bit better, but I have a feeling I'll regret it... Anyway, on to the nails! There is a reason for the banana themed puns, banana nails! this week we could choose between two themes for Stamping Sunday over in AIS, and me being me, I went with both. The first was a re-do of an old theme, pulsating pink and purple (you can see my first attempt here on uber-nubs, almost two years ago!). And the second was positive and negative, so I simply flipped the colours on two nails. The base colours are Barry M Grapefruit and Color Club Pucci-licious, and I stamped with Models Own Pukka Purple and Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Speedy Sunburst. The stamping plate is Cheeky CH42. I need a brighter pink that stamps over dark bases, but otherwise I like this design. My nails are a nice shape now so I face a dilemma - keep them this length and shape, or grow them and almond them again. The problem with growing them is that any longer than this and some of them start to curl under and go funny - much like that awkward growing out a bob hair cut stage... Anyway, I've chatted far too much! Nails!

I've neglected the blog far too much this week, but I have had a busy one. I have a picture polish, last week's GOT polish challenge and awesome zoo nails to post in the next few days!  Yep, I said zoo nails! I went to the zoo with my sons class on Friday, so of course my nails had to match! Not so sure I'll be matching them to the sunburn I got while I was there though...

Hx

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#GuessThePolish and win!

Hi!

I'm excited to share something a bit different with you today! A week or so ago I received a lovely surprise package featuring a mystery polish! The polish is a juicy coral red from an exciting new range that has been launched. All you have to do to win a bottle is guess the brand and follow me for a chance to win! Your guess doesn't have to be correct to be entered, just have a go and all will be revealed next week! Onto the polish - this is three perfect, fast drying coats and no topcoat, so you can see how shiny it is! I wouldn't normally chose this colour for myself, but I was surprised to find I love it, and would be great for everyday or to dress up an outfit - perfect for a summer wedding! I, of course, couldn't leave it plain and had some fun with a bit of stamping - could it be a clue I wonder... The bottle I'm holding has had the branding removed, but the bottle you could win will reveal all!

To enter, fill in the Rafflecopter form below with your guess, a way of contacting you if you win and confirmation that you're a follower of my blog, and a winner will be chosen this time next week. There are a few extra fun questions for extra entries too! There will be extra entries to be gained on Instagram and Facebook over the next week too, so keep checking!

Now the boring bit - due to postage restrictions the giveaway is only open to UK residents. If you are under 18 you will need your guardians permission to give me your address so I can send the prize to you. The giveaway will run until midnight on Sunday 8th June 2014 and a winner will be chosen the following day and announced here at 6pm. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. That's it, have fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check back next week to find out if your guess was right! Good luck ;)

Hx

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